Lincoln & the past 3 months

Well, Lincoln is 6 months already... where did the last 1/2 of a year go?!?! He is growing so fast: 17 lbs & 26.5 inches. He has 2 teeth, is crawling, pulling himself up and trying to stand (although he often forgets he has to KEEP holding onto the furniture! LOL), babbling and starting to feed himself. I look back at pictures as I update his babybook and already wonder how he can have changed so much! (and I'm already dreading looking back at all of this when he is a teenager or having babies of his own!) I am so glad I have been blessed with the ability to stay home and wittness all of these changes (a luxury I know many of you do not have, and I certainly do NOT take for granted, even on his (and MY) crabbiest days!).

In the last 3 months we have tried to spend time with the Grandparents, although I think they would say that they don't see Lincoln nearly enough! Living an hour away from each of them makes it hard to just pop over to visit, especially around a 6 month old's schedule of naps and eatting. We did get to see both sides for Thanksgiving, and even the Great-Grandparents on my side and the Finers on Brian's. Lincoln has definitly become the center of attention at family functions!

We were hoping to see some of the extended family on my side at my cousin's wedding this past weekend, but we had a blizzard and were quite literally "snowed in". At our house we got 15", and it took Brian 4+ hours to shovel the driveway (when we only had about half the snow). So we couldn't leave our house to drive across the cities to where the storm was even worse. I was disapointed we didn't get to see everyone, but many of the people we haven't seen in a while or hadn't met yet (the new little ones!) didn't make it either. Hopefully there is another time soon we can all get together before there are too many more new ones to meet!

Christmas is already next week! (Luckily the tree is up, the presents bought and wrapped, and plans made) I am excited for our first holidays as parents! As I looked back while writing our Christmas cards I realized each of these past few years we have had major milestones: in 2007 we were engaged, 2008 we were married, 2009 we were pregnant & 2010 we are parents... wonder what 2011 is going to bring! Hopefully each of your holidays are as wonderful & blessed as I know ours will be!

Busy with baby!

Wow, it has been a really long time since I posted anything on here! Preparing for Linclon's arrival, and then having so much fun with him once he came made me completely forget, so I apoligize!

Lincoln arrived on his due date, May 24. His birth was kind of crazy and didn't go at all as I'd expected, but he was healthy and that is all that matters. I ended up going in on Friday May 21 for an appt. and by BP was a little high, so my midwife sent me over to the hopsital for tests. Everything came back fine for baby and me that day, but there was a 24 hr one they were still waiting on. We didn't hear anything Sat. so we assumed that it all was fine, but Sunday we got a call from the hospital saying the test came back showing that I had preeclampsia. The only cure is to deliever the baby, so I was going in later that afternoon to be induced.

We got to the hospital at 5:30pm and they gave me some medicine to ripen my cervix and get things going because I was at 1cm. I only got one dose of that because it started making me have more than 3 contractions every 10 mins, but it wasn't doing anything for my cervix. At 8 the next morning I was only at 1.5-2cm but they started me on pitocine to see if they could get things going with more/stronger contractions. By 12 I was having contractions almost twice as hard as they want to you have in the last stage of labor, and was only at 3 cm. They decided to break my water and see if that did anything. I only got to 4cm and had been in labor for 22 hours with no drugs and quite strong contractions, so they decided that I should try an epidural. They thought that might help relax me enough to progress more, and if not I'd need it for a c-section anyways. I didn't progress any farther in the next 2 hours, so after 24 hours of labor that should have had progress a lot, if not had the baby out I was going no where. So I got prepped for a c-section.

At 6:31pm on May 24, 2010 Lincoln Alexander Hanson was born. He weighed 8lbs and was 19 inches long. He is healthy and beautiful!

While they were getting ready to close everything up they looked at my uterus to see if they could tell what the issue was, and see the severity of my "heart shape" I talked about in earlier posts. They saw that my uterus (a muscle) was only 1/3 of the thickness it should be at the top of the "heart shape", but normal elsewhere. So they think I was having strong contractions pushing in on the sides, but not strong enough at the top to push him out (he wasn't even engaged in my pelvis when he was born). This made all of my labor pointless and risky, because I could've had the uterus tear being it was so thin. This means I am going to have a scheduled c-section for the next birth, since there is a 95% chance I would have to anyways, and it would be risky not to.

Lincoln is now 3 months old! He is smiling, giggling, and holding onto his favorite thing: a bear blankie. He has been to the cabin and gone swimming in the lake, we go on walks at the park, and will soon be doing a baby class through ECFE. We are enjoying every minute of being parents, and I love getting to spend time at home with him. I am fortunate enough to be able to do that until he and his future sibling to school. Hopefully from now on I will get on here more often and update, but if I don't I am sorry... I will be out enjoying life with our new little son! :-)

Crazy Busy!

Wow! I just realized how long it's been since I updated this! We have been really busy these past few weeks, and it's not going to slow down anytime soon.

We only have 7 & 1/2 more weeks until Lincoln is supposed to arrive, and it seems every one of them is full! This past weekend was my brother Matt's 23 b-day, and a trip to MOA & dinner for my upcoming b-day. This coming weekend we have a Dr. appt on Friday, a tour of the Birthing Center on Sat and Easter/Family celebration of Matt & My b-days on Sun. The week after that is Bro-in-law Chris' 24 b-day on the 8th, my 25 b-day on the 9th and a baby shower on Brian's side Sat the 10th. Sat the 17th is a BBQ/Baby Shower for family friends. As of now the weekend of the 24th is clear, but I am sure something will come up by then! Sat May 1st is a baby shower on my side. May 9th is mother's day, the weekend of the 15th is empty, but hoping maybe baby is here by then, and the weekend after is preparing for d-day, since I am due Monday the 24th.

It's gonna be crazy, but hopefully it will make the time go fast and he'll be here before we know it! We are getting really excited (and I am getting more sore, and sick of waking up every hour to pee or turn over (which is quite and ordeal with this belly!)) and ready for his arrival!

Shopping and Dr.'s Appointments

On Tuesday I went shopping with my friend Kim. She is about 8 weeks behind me in her pregnancy with her 2nd little boy, so it was fun to be looking for cute little boy clothes! We found some good deals at gymboree (a rack of $2.99 and under for spring/summer outfits that were originally like $25). So many cute clothes! Plus it was just nice to get out of the house, since I have been cooped up in here for a while!

Wednesday Brian came home from a bussiness trip. It was a crazy day though, his truck wouldn't start in the airport parking garage, so he had to pay a towing co. to come jump it. Then on the way home he stopped to get gas and when he went to start it back up it kept dying! Now it has been sitting in the garage and we are down to one car until we get it fixed/find a new one. One car is usually ok for us, but of course Thursday I had a doctor's appt so right away we needed 2 cars! I had to drive Brian to work and pcik him up so I could have the car in the middle of the day.

My Dr.'s Appt. didn't go so well either... I got a call at 9am saying my midwaife was at the hospital delivering a baby, but since it was my glucose screening that I should come in anyways for that and hopefully she would be able to make it over. I am not a fan of getting blood drawn, but I have to say I hated the finger prick even more (ouch! my finger it brusied they did it so hard!). I had levels of 132 when the cut off is 130! So I just missed it, so now I get to go back again on Monday for the whole stinking day! I get to have my blood drawn 4 times in 3 hours and drink 2x as much of the sugary drink without being able to eat for 8+ hours before. So that is from 8:30-11:30, and then I have an appt. with my midwife at 1:30 because she never was able to make it over. So there is another day we need 2 cars! Hopefully everything with that test goes fine and I don't have to think about it again!

Please, please can next week be less stressful than the end of this one!?!?

All stuff baby!

Thursday I had another Dr. Attp. They started measuring my giant belly, and it was right where it should be: 25cm. I also got weighed again and FINALLY gained weight! 6 lbs after 6 mths! LOL :-) Hopefully I don't just gain weight like crazy now though! We got to hear the baby's heartbeat again: 160 bpm. It is always so reassuring to hear that little flutter! Next time I get to do the glucose test, which I heard is not so fun! But I will also be ing the 3rd trimester finally then, so that will be exciting.

This week we went to register for all of our baby stuff at Babies'R'Us and Target. It was fun, but definitly a long day! We picked up our changing table at the same time, it was a little more work to put together than the crib and doesn't match exacty but it still looks nice.

While registering we found out all of the main stuff we wanted (high chair, pack'n'play, travel system, etc...) was getting clearanced out, so we needed to either find another one or buy it ourselves. I had done a ton of research trying to find which one we wanted and tried looking for another after we found this out, but couldn't find one I liked 1/2 as much. So we dropped a couple hundred bucks and bought the things we wanted.

After we registered we had Brian's work party. It was fun to see everyone (last yr they didn't have one, so I had only met most of them once before we were married). We had a casino night and played some Texas Hold'em. Brian did pretty good, I was just ok. It was nice to get out and have a date night though.

Sunday we went to IKEA to get the rest of the buckets for our closet and then headed to Brian's parents for lunch. We were planning on staying for the Super Bowl, but the snow started and I was getting a cold so we decided to go home and relax there. Now the snow has stopped and hopefully we can dig ourselves out!

More Preparation for Baby and a Vikings Game

On Saturday we went to Babies"R"Us in Richfield to look at changing tables and carseat/Pack'n'Play/High Chair Patterns. It was fun to look at all of the cute stuff, even though we made no decisions that day. After we went to IKEA and got some buckets for our shelving we are putting into the baby's closet (instead of a dresser). They were a bargain for $1.49. After all the shopping we went to The Hanson's house to hang out, see pictures of their new vacation house in Naples and show them pictures of the nursery.

Sunday we watched the very disapointing Vikings game. Peterson should have been benched for fumbling so much and Farve, why didn't you run with the ball to put us back into fieldgoal range with you have 15yds open in front of you instead of throwing an interception!?!?!? We should have won that game, but as Brian always says "We are the Vikings, this is what we do".

Monday I went to Babies"R"Us in Maple Grove and ordered a changing table we found online. I guess we saw it in the store, but didn't take a second look since it was a natural finish and we need cherry. Online I saw it comes in cherry, so we could order it and get it shippied to the store. Hopefully it matches our crib close enough (it is always so hard to tell the real colors online).

Last night I finished knitting my first baby blanket. I had some pink and purple yarn already, as well as some cool furry pink/purple/peach yarn to use as trim, so I started it long before we knew what we were having. Now that we are having a boy, it was a good practice blanket and will be a nice gift for my old boss who is expecting a girl the week before me. Now I am starting a seafoam green and sky blue blanket with blue/green/yellow furry trim for our little one. I am excited to see it progress into something our little guy will use!

Well, I am off to feed my hungry and ever growing belly! Next week we have another appointment and I get to start having my belly measured. I wonder how much it has grown! LOL!

Happy New Year!

Well, we survived Christmas. We luckily didn't get as much snow as they were saying we would get, but we got some rain that turned into ice... so that stunk! Brian's parents came out on Sat to help us dig out after being gone for 3 days, so that was a help.

For New Year's we went out to lunch at Champps and then saw Avatar in 3D. It was fun to go out, and we were home early (like 6:30) so we didn't have to deal with all the drunks and got to watch the ball drop (at least that was the plan, but I fell asleep by 10:30!).

Tonight we get to go to my parent's house for a party. They have lots of people coming over that we have not seen in a while, so it will be nice to hang out. There will be appetizers and games (some Wii Karaokee anybody?) so it should be fun.

We are also still counting down the days until our big ultrasound (6 more!!!). So hopefully next Friday we know it we are having a boy or a girl (I think I will be very disapointed if the baby doesn't cooperate!).

We are looking forward to a wonderful 2010 and all that it brings us! Happy New Year!

Staying at home and lots of snow!

Well I started this week with my last official day of work. They needed to lay somebody off and I volunteered since our plan was for me to hopefully not work after the baby was born. I will still be going back to sub on and off if my Dr's allow it (we will see the progress of my pregnancy at my next appt/US and hopefully know if bedrest/preterm labor is in the picture or not). I will miss seeing the kids everyday, but am a little glad to have some rest for my aching back.

We are preparing to leave for all of our Christmas activities tomorrow, but they are talking about a hue storm. Brian was supposed to work 1/2 a day, but hopefully he wont have to go in so we can get on the road earlier. We are supposed to get 12-20", so we may be delaying plans to go to my parents for a day, so we miss driving in the main part of the storm. It should be an interesting Christmas, that is for sure!

We hope you all have a safe and happpy holidays! Enjoy all of the snow if you are in the midwest!

Merry Christmas!

One week until Christmas! I am so excited for the holidays! It is weird to think that next year we will be parents and "Santa" will be coming to our house, LOL. I have a feeling it is going to be a crazy couple of days, just like Thanksgving we have a million places to go. We are going to Brian's parents on Christmas Eve for church and opening gifts with them. After spending the night there we are heading to his Aunt & Uncle's at 11am, then to my Grandparents on my mom's side at around 1pm, and my Grandparents on my dad's side at 4ish. Then off to spend the night at my parent's house and open gifts with them the next morning. All in all it will be nice to see everyone this year (we cut out a few stops the last few years) even with all the craziness... but next year we will be downsizing! I don't think we are doing all that driving, spending nights and other people's houses and having "Santa" come there instead of our house, with the baby.

I am also excited it is only 3 more weeks (21 days!!!) until our ultrasound! I have started knitting an adorable blanket, but the only colors I had we pink and purple. I figured pretty much everyone I know is having a girl right now, so if we end up with a boy it will make a nice baby shower gift (although Brian thinks I am jumping the gun just a little by starting a girly blanket now, LOL).

I also got some more big news at work this week... more to come on that next week though. Yay for the holidays and time with family/friends. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Work and Cookies!

This week was a really long one. I started preparing for maternity leave at work. I am now a float teacher, instead of a preschool teacher with my own class. They promoted my assistant to be the teacher and put another assistant in there so they could run the room before I leave. It is nice to get to float to all of the classes and fill in, but a little stressful for someone who likes plans.

Brian has had a long week at work as well, staying late for the big order he went to work on last weekend. But even with the stress, we are just glad we have employment in this tough economy.

I am excited, tomorrow we are going to my parent's house to make/decorate Christmas cookies. I love frosting the sugar cookies and getting to use the sprinkles to make them pretty! It has always been my favorite part (I think even more so than eatting them!)

Hopefully next week goes better and faster than this one. I am counting the days until our big ultrasound (28 if you were wondering!) and hoping that the time goes quickly!

A little bit of everything week...

Last Friday we got to go see "New Moon". It was a good movie, but we both still liked "Twilight" better (although to be fair, I like that book better too...). It was nice to get to spend a day out relaxing. We also had lots of fun this past Sat. at my parents house for our second Thanksgiving. The food was good, it was nice to see family, and we stayed late to play some games with my parents (Wii resort sports).

This past week we got all of our Christmas cards out, the tree up and most of our presents bought/wrapped. I am excited to be done and even more excited for Christmas to come! It is weird to think this is our last holiday without kids! I am sure next Christmas will be a blast!

On Monday we both had the day off and got to hang around the house for Brian's b-day. He ended up putting a cable/internet hook-up in the kitchen so we can finally start moving the office out of the nursery.

Yesterday we got to go to another appt. We heard the heartbeat again (this time 150 bpm) and got to make our appt for the big ultrasound!!! We will find out if we're having a boy or a girl on Jan 8th. I am sad it isn't in time for Christmas, but excited we finally have a timeline!


Today we are going to Brian's parents to celebrate his and his dad's b-days. Brian had to go into work for a few hours, so we are there right now before we head to Eagan. I am going to spend the morning at the mall while he builds some giant servers... LOL.

Giving Thanks...

Thanksgiving was wonderful yesterday, and we get to do it again tomorrow! I had not seen all of Brian's cousins from Georgia since 2007, so it was nice to catch up with all of them. Brian's parent's house was packed with people, but full of love as well. We ate food, we shared what we were thankful for and we played some really crazy games that involved a lot of laughter!

Brian's aunt and cousin gave me a beautiful necklace that has two little footprints cut out of it and says "Our family just grew by two feet". It is the cutest thing I have ever seen! It was nice to get to share with our family my growing belly and starting to have everyone want to touch it, LOL. They are all so excited and we had a big debate whether it is a boy or girl (I think girl won).

Today we are excited to start putting up Christmas decorations, finish Christmas cards, and get to go on a date to see "New Moon" and go out to eat. It will be a nice relazing day before more family tomorrow and a Sunday full of football. We are also lucky enough to both have Monday off as well, since it is Brian's 26th Birthday. Then next week will be a fun short week until Friday when we have our next Dr. appt. (the last one before we find out what it is!).

We cannot believe how fast this year has flown by, and how crazy the holidays already seem! We are thankful for everything we have been given this year. For being happy, healthy and loved. For friends, our home and jobs. For our growing family, and existing one. For each other and the grace of our Lord. Happy Thanksgiving and remember what you are thankful for this year...

End of First Trimester!

Yay!!! As of monday I will officially be 14 weeks and in the second trimester! 1/3 of the way done! As of this week I all officially don't fit into my regular pants anymore, LOL! They work ok while standing, but while sitting (which I do at my work, on the floor with the kids, a LOT) they are not so comfortable. I am excited to be starting to get the cute little belly though, so I guess buying new pants are just going to be part of that.

I am also very excited for Thanksgiving next week! We get to spend Thursday with the Hanson's and a lot of extended family. Brian's aunt, uncle, cousins and grandma are flying in from Georgia, and his aunt, uncle and cousins are coming over from Bloomington as well. I think that will make 17 of us at his parents house... so it will be packed! Then on Saturday we are having dinner at my parents, which will be a little smaller. My brother Matt will be out of town, and my dad's parents will be at my step-aunt's in Missouri. That just leaves my parents, mom's parents and brother, so 7 of us. I am mostly excited to only be working 3 days out of the next 11!
It will be a nice break to relax and hangout with family.

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and count your blessings! We know that we have a lot to be thankful for this year!

TGIF!!!

I am going to start off by saying I am SO glad it is Friday! It has been an incredibly long week. I had conferences at work with the preschooler's parents Monday and Tuesday. Then I had observations of my classroom for a kindergarten readiness program Tuesday and Thursday. Add a few meltdowns by the kids and a GIANT canker sore and that was my week in a nutshell. I am ready to spend tomorrow with the Hanson side of the family for my mother-in-law's birthday and relax a little.

Last Saturday we went to my cousin's wedding reception at Pier 500 in Hudson. It was the first time I have seen my extended family since we announced we were expecting. I didn't know so many people could ask you the same question in less than 2 hours... How have you been feeling/Have you had morning sickness? I also found out that my cousin who is a month older than me is expecting her first child, due May 12th. So our kids will be about 2 weeks apart. It will be nice for our kids to have somebody close to their own age, since I don't think they will have cousins of their own for a while!

Well, I think I am going to go enjoy my day off of work and maybe take a nap! I guess I should enjoy being able to do that before the baby comes! :-)