moved

Well, we survived the move across town. I can't express enough how grateful I am for all the people who helped. Between packing and the moving, more than 20 people helped us. There is no way we could have done it without each of them. It is very weird to be in a new home having done so little of the work to get us here. Now that we are here, it's especially hard that I can't do the unpacking and organizing. I have to sit nicely and tell Jared what to do. Things are just going to take a little longer to get organized.

I'm still having contractions throughout the day. I'm just doing my best to keep them to a minimum by staying put as much as possible. I did go to church yesterday, but only for sacrament meeting. I still need to figure out a time to go into work one more time, but I want to wait a few days and take it really easy.

And the kids are coming on Saturday! The plan had been for us to meet them in New York next week to visit Jared's family, but since we can't go anymore, they are coming straight here instead. We are very excited to see them and spend the summer with them. The other day their mom told Jared that Isaac talks about Baby Asher every day. He is so excited to have a little brother. We just don't want their little brother to come too soon!

31 weeks

How your baby's growing: This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

Every week has new significance now that our baby might come early. Fortunately, he's probably a little bigger than the average for 31 weeks based on the ultrasound they did last week. So if he does end up coming early, hopefully he won't be too, too small. He's certainly having fun in there moving lots.

the latest

We went to see my doctor today. The good news is that my doctor thinks I'm only dilated to a 1 or 1 1/2 right now. My cervix is definitely still effaced about 50% and Asher still has his head down in my pelvis. Dr. Schlegel could feel his head when she checked me.

I am still having contractions sporadically, and they come more when I move around, so I'm basically on a modified bed rest to keep them to a minimum. I'm probably going to go into work one more time next week to wrap things up there. And our trip to New York is off. But I feel grateful that I'm not in the hospital and not on complete bed rest.

This is just a stressful time for all of this to happen since we are moving on Saturday. I'm so grateful for everyone from church who is helping out. We really couldn't do this without them.

my new toy

Remember how Jared got that grant from BYU? Well last night he ventured out to the Apple Store and came home with one of these beauties:I am sitting pretty here on my bed playing on the new laptop while Jared works on the desktop. Life is good.

He also brought home one of these from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory:

Delicious!!! I may have to be on bed rest right now, but my wonderful husband is taking good care of me. After all, he brought me home an Apple and an apple. What more could a girl want?

In other good news, I've only had one contraction so far today! And little Asher is being quite the wiggle worm this morning. It's fun to feel him.

bed rest for now

Quick update... I spoke with my doctor this afternoon and she wants me on bed rest at least until I see her on Thursday. These next few weeks are crucial for our little guy and we want him to stay in there! I went into work for a couple hours today just to wrap up some loose ends but I probably won't be going in the rest of the week and might be done completely since next week was supposed to be my last week anyway. We'll see. I've been having more contractions so I'm trying to really limit my movement. Jared is actually going to get a new laptop tonight, so that will be nice for me to have during this. Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers! It means so much to us.

home from the hospital

The story:

Saturday night I started bleeding. It wasn't tons of blood, but it wasn't stopping either, so we called the hospital and they told us to come in and get checked out. The doctor said it probably wasn't a huge deal but I should be checked out to make sure. We got there about 10 pm, went up to Labor and Delivery and they set me up in a triage room. The first year resident came in and did an exam. She said there was quite a bit of blood in there and had the attending come in to look. He checked me out and then checked my cervix and discovered I am 2 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and -2 station. Not a good thing when I'm only 30 weeks. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and I was having contractions about every 3 minutes. The crazy thing is that I wasn't feeling them at first. I had to pay close attention and then ask the nurse to confirm I was having one. I wasn't in any pain. There would just be some tightening and my abdomen would get hard.

Another resident then came in and did an ultrasound. They wanted to check the baby's size, etc in case labor progressed. Asher is head down and partway in my pelvis but he looks great. They guesstimated his size is even a week or two ahead of schedule--about 3 1/2 pounds. Good news. And his heart rate is perfect.

So the doctors said I'd have to stay the night and be watched. They gave me a shot of steroids to help Asher's lungs mature should he decide to make an early appearance. They also hooked me up to an IV to get some fluids in me to help slow things down. Over the course of the next few hours, I continued to have contractions but they eventually slowed down. (Although they did get strong enough that they were very obvious to me.) They checked my cervix again and I hadn't dilated anymore so they decided I wouldn't need to be on any other medication to stop labor, took me off all the monitors and let me sleep. It was about 2 am at this point.

The next morning they moved me up a floor to the Maternity ward. I felt good all day, except for the boredom. I wasn't even allowed to leave the room. I could only get up to go to the bathroom. I was still bleeding a bit but it slowed down a lot. And I wasn't having contractions. But it was a long day stuck in a hospital bed. Poor Jared was getting pretty antsy.

About five my relief society president and visiting teacher came to visit. It as a very nice distraction. Thanks for the yummy cookies, Dianna! I also talked to a couple friends on the phone which helped too.

I went to sleep about 10:30 and then they woke me up around 12:15 to give me another shot of steroids. I slept until about 6:30 this morning. A resident came in about 7:30ish and told us as long as everything looks good we'd be going home soon. She came back a little later and checked my cervix again--still a two. I wasn't bleeding any new blood and hadn't been contracting, so she said I could get dressed and she and the attending would be in soon to talk to us before I left. The nurse hooked up the monitors one more time to check on Asher and make sure I wasn't contracting. Things still looked great. The doctors came back after 9 and we talked about what I can and can't do.

Basically, I'm allowed to return to normal activity but I need to be hyper-vigilant about everything. Any little thing out of the ordinary is a reason to call my doctor/hospital. I also realized after talking to them that I've been having more contractions than I realized. Times where I thought Asher was just pushing on me were actually contractions. And Braxton Hicks are no longer part of our vocabulary because I'm dilated. If I have more than 4 contractions in an hour, I have to call the doctor.

So tomorrow I'll be calling my doctor and hopefully getting in to see her very soon. I'm allowed to go back to work as long as I take it easy. The big thing this week is that we are moving (just across town) and there is still much packing to do. Some of the lovely ladies from church are going to come over a couple nights this week and help out. I'm so grateful for that support system. I can't imagine how we'd manage without that.

I have been having a few mild contractions this afternoon and am trying to pay really close attention to them and keep track. I just never realized that contractions could be so hard to discern. I have had no pain or discomfort. But Asher is doing great. We just want to get through at least another 4 weeks so he can get a bit bigger. And chances are he'll stay in there longer than that. But keep us in your prayers! I'll keep you updated.

about 70 days to go... we hope.

This is Jared, and I just wanted to write a little update post. Katrina and I had an unexpected wake up call last night, though right now everything looks like it is going to be fine. Katrina was bleeding a bit yesterday, and so we decided to go in to the hospital and have it looked at. We were quite surprised when we found out that Katrina is already 2 cm dilated! In fact, for a bit there it looked like Asher might make an appearance then and there... Katrina was having contractions that were mild but only 3 minutes apart, and was 50% effaced. Those have now stopped, but the doctors are keeping her in the hospital through tomorrow. They have given her steroids to help Asher just in case, but the people we talked to seemed confident that things are going to be fine, and that we hopefully still have close to two months left before Asher arrives.

It doesn't take much out of the ordinary to make one evaluate our lives and appreciate what we have. It was so hard for me to see Katrina uncomfortable, though she did a great job. So we are going to be really careful for the rest of the pregnancy. For my part, I am going to hurry up and get the work done that I need to for summer projects! We appreciate your thoughts and prayers, and I am sure Katrina will post about this when she comes home.

and they're nice guys too

One more thing about Idol and then I'm done. I just wanted to say how great it is that both the Davids seem to be such nice, humble guys. Case in point:

David Cook: You know, the respect that I have for David Archuleta is very much past a competitor thing. He has more talent at his age than I know what to do with at 25. So, to be able to share the stage with him was an honor for me. Read more here

David Archuleta: Cook, he’s like my big brother. I’ve learned so much. I’ve looked up to him since the beginning of this. He’s just such a great guy — really humble, down to earth and I just feel like I can’t believe I’m standing next to him. Read more here

Isn't it nice to know that they genuinely like and respect each other?

david cook takes it home

photo from the huffington post

Let's talk Idol.

Was anyone else surprised Cook took home the prize last night?

First let me say that I LOVE David Cook! He's been my favorite from early on. Although Archuleta is a talented boy, he just didn't do it for me. I found him a bit on the boring side. Sweet, humble, and very talented, but boring nonetheless. However, after Tuesday's show, I really thought Archuleta was gonna win. He had a better night. David Cook was awesome, but he didn't bring the house down the way little David did. And with all those teeny-boppers and Mormons out there, I had pretty much given up hope that Cook would win. Not that I didn't vote for him... more than once.

So last night... I was really impressed when Simon actually apologized to Cook for his comments the night before. I'm glad that Simon realized upon watching the show again that it maybe wasn't the "knock out" he said it was. And then Ryan read the results. When he said the winner won by 12 million votes, I still thought it was going to be Archuleta. But then he said David.... Cook!

Yeah, I'm happy. He totally deserves it and he's going to make a killer album! And Archuleta is going to be juuust fine. We all know that you don't have to win to go on to be successful.

What's crazy is that more than 97 million votes were cast overall, 23 million more than American Idol's previous high.

Did you vote? Who did you vote for? What did you think of the results?

full-time

I'm going to become a full-time mama a little sooner than I was planning on. My plan had been to work just afternoons once the kids are here because Jared teaches in the mornings. Unfortunately, I found out today that the powers that be at work have decided they won't let me go part-time in June and want to hire someone full-time to replace me. So my last day of work will be June 6. (btw, I haven't worked here long enough to get maternity leave.)

I have to say I'm pretty surprised. I honestly thought they'd be more open to the idea, especially since it would only be for a few weeks, and then I'd be leaving to have the baby anyway. So I'm feeling lots of mixed emotions right now. On the one hand, it will be really nice to not work. I will definitely have plenty to keep me busy with the three kids here and a baby to prepare for. And I am definitely sick of this job. On the other hand, I had mentally prepared myself to work through most of July, so it's very strange all of a sudden to only have 10-11 days of work left. Plus, obviously, it would have been very nice to have that income.

But such is life.

We did get some good news this week however. Jared received a VERY nice bit of money from a BYU grant. He's using it to buy a new laptop, which he'll need to teach his class this summer. And there will still be a very nice chunk left over. What's awesome is that Jared found out about the grant after the deadline had passed, but he followed through and they let him turn it in anyway and he got it! He has always had the gift to make things happen, and once again it really paid off. Thanks, BYU!