Interesting, Uncomfortable, and Strange Dreams

I have had a plethora of vivid dreams lately. Here are a couple quick snippets of some more recent ones:

• I went to the doctor because I thought my water had broke. They told me my water hadn't broken, and it turns out I just wet my pants. 
• Baby E was born with no arms and only one leg. She was still cute, though.
• My feet, hands, and face swelled up so much that I could no longer put on clothing. I had to call my scheduled long term sub and let her know she had to start early because I couldn't put on clothes. 
• I went to the doctor for a routine check up. He told me that I had been carrying the baby for long enough, and that it was Bryce's turn now. He then scheduled a day and time for the baby to be transferred from me to Bryce. 
• I had just given birth and the doctors asked if Bryce wanted to cut the umbilical cord. He said no, knowing that it would probably make him pass out. But the doctors forced him to do it, anyway. He then threw up all over Baby E. 
• I apparently gave birth to a child without recalling it. I was handed a baby that looked EXACTLY like Hailey does in the picture below. (In fact, I now know that the child in this dream really was Hailey several years ago.) I was very confused how I could not recall going in to labor and giving birth, especially when the baby was as big as Hailey in this picture. But everyone told me I was a trooper, and that it only took 3 pushes to get her out. 
  

Anyway. There are a lot more that I have had, especially in the beginning, but I had them too long ago for me to remember the details. 

Most Recent Bumps

Here I am at 36 weeks

just before coaching on Saturday. 

Bryce and I cannot wait! It all makes me so happy. You know what else makes me happy? 

How excited Bryce is. 

I think it makes me even more excited to see how happy Bryce is and how excited he is. 

He is going to be the best dad. 

4 more weeks until we get to meet our baby girl!!! 

35 Weeks

35 weeks! I coached Saturday and decided to have Bryce snap this photo before I left to compare Baby E to a soccer ball. 

Well, the newest thing with pregnancy is "nesting." But maybe not in the way that normal pregnant people nest. I have been spending a LOT of time at school working on organizing, cleaning, decluttering, and preparing for baby girl. I feel this huge sense that I need to get ready ASAP for this baby to come. That includes 2 main things:

1. Sub plans. This is a lot more work than you would think. When a teacher is sick for, let's say, one day, it is a LOT more work to prepare stuff for a sub than it is to just suffer through a day of work while being sick. Well, just multiply your sick day preparation by 6 weeks, and that is what it is like getting ready for maternity leave. Although it is a lot of work, I actually have a lot of fun organizing and getting things ready for the sub. Yah, it takes a lot of time, but it kind of feels good getting this stuff ready. 

2. Getting my 4th graders ready for the annual 4th grade Lewis and Clark Play. This has been pretty fun and the kids are SO excited about it. But it is also a LOT of work. When I started working with my partner teachers getting things ready for the play, there was seriously an entire tub (like one of those big rubber made tubs) full of papers. Old play scripts. New play scripts. Play scripts with scribbled notes on it. Play songs. Parent notes. Old programs. Anything you can think of that has to do with a huge play production for ninety 4th graders. Nothing was organized. Nothing was digitized. Last year's program literally had one of the teacher's names whited out with a new name on top, and the picture they included with it was taped to the front so that they could make copies with the picture on it. All of this sort of looked like the stuff my nightmares are made of. But guess what. My nesting instincts kicked in, and I have almost completely finished typing up a brand new version of the play, prepared a new program, scanned in all the songs, compiled all of the audio, and typed up new notes for the parents. Then I put all the master copies in a 1/2 in binder and put all the digital versions of everything on a thumb drive and hooked that in the binder as well. Then I seriously threw away EVERYTHING from that tub and it felt great! I am excited that they will have this so nice and organized in the years to come! Also it was very therapeutic for me and my nesting urges. :) 

Anyway. That's it for now. :)

Thanks, Bryce.

This is kinda a personal post, but I just feel like I need to write this down somewhere so that I personally don't forget it. And since I don't keep a journal anymore, this is the place I am going to write about it. This is just a warning. Don't feel obligated to read.

So, as I mentioned in my last blog post, I have been in a lot of pain lately. For the last few weeks, I have found myself multiple times a day fighting back the tears and trying so hard to be brave, but nothing has been working. Nothing I researched, nothing my doctors have told me about, no stretches or exercises I have attempted... nothing. Nothing was helping me. Frankly, I have felt like a pansy. Normally I think I am strong and brave and normally I like to think I have a relatively high pain tolerance. But I have truly been humbled lately as Bryce occasionally has literally had to pick me up and carry me around the house, allowing me to literally cry on his shoulder because walking at times was just too painful.

Anyway, I was sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday listening to testimonies. One girl got up and talked about priesthood blessings. It really hit home to me. I have had multiple times in my life when I have wanted to ask for a blessing, but I always hesitate thinking there is a level you have to meet before asking for a blessing. Like, things have to be a certain level of "badness" before it justifies receiving a blessing. For instance, I vividly remember sitting in my bedroom in high school with a ridiculous amount of anxiety about something (I don't remember what it was about) but I remember thinking for hours that I wanted to ask my dad for a blessing. But I didn't. Because I convinced myself that it was a silly reason, and things weren't "bad enough". Anyway. That's terrible, but the truth, nonetheless. As I was sitting in sacrament meeting listening to this girl talk about priesthood blessings, I knew right then that the only way I was going to get better was if I asked my husband for a blessing, and I had a very strong prompting to do so.

So it happened. Later that day, Bryce gave me a blessing.

And I am not saying that the blessing was some "miracle cure" for the pain I have been feeling, but I'll tell you what, today has been one of the best days I have had in what feels like a really long time. I needed to put my faith in Heavenly Father, and just realize that I can't do everything on my own. This whole experience has caused me to reflect on my favorite scripture in a deeper way:

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things;..." - Alma 26:12

Thanks, Bryce for being there for me, and for worthily holding the priesthood. I know that things won't be perfect for the remainder of this pregnancy, but I know that because of the priesthood blessing you gave me through the power of God, I can be strengthened, and I can make it. Because "in HIS strength I can do all things."

34 Down, 6 To Go

Yep! That's right! I will get to have a cute little girl in my arms in about 6 weeks. :)

Baby E has passed every doctor's appointment and test with flying colors. I hope she keeps it up. My doctor always says, "Well that was a boring appointment. But as far as baby appointments go, boring is much better than any other option." So, for now I will be satisfied with my boring doctor appointments because that means that everything is just fine.

Not a ton has changed since my last pregnancy post, other than I have diagnosed myself (with the help of Mandi and TJ) with Sacroiliac Joint Laxity, which causes super painful posterior pelvic pain. And I, for the sake of my pride, am going to say that I have it really bad. I am sure that if this issue (which apparently is common) was as bad for other women, I am pretty sure I would have heard a LOT more about it before. I won't complain about it too much on this blog, but if you want to hear my sob stories about this whole thing, feel free to call me. Or call Bryce... haha.

Anyway, here is my 34 week bumpie. As you can see I look about the same as my last photo from back on December 8th, but I definitely feel that my baby girl is growing! I bet she is feeling pretty squished in there, now! According to my pregnancy app, most babies that are born between 34 and 37 weeks are generally just fine, and usually don't need much time in the NICU and they are usually just as healthy as babies born full term. I told Heavenly Father today that she can come any time, and that I would approve. :) We will see what He thinks, I guess haha. However, having her born around her due date will be the best timing for work, so I guess I can wait.

Oh and PS. Ever since I was a little girl, I have had weird skin on my arms that is red and dotted and splotchy. Normally it doesn't bother me, but my original photo of the picture above made it really obvious and made me feel self conscious. So don't look too closely at the picture because I did a really bad job of trying to edit the skin on my arm, and now I don't know how to get back to the original photo. Oh well. Haha. 

Baby Showers

Oh my heck I feel so loved! I got to have 2 baby showers over our Christmas break.

The first baby shower was given to me by Alesha and Camie and all their girls. It was so cute and fun. I wish I had pictures from that night! (If you took pictures from that night, you should send them to me:) That night, we played games and had some delicious cute little finger foods, because we need to "treasure the little things in life." I felt so loved!

My sisters and mom also put together a baby shower with my friends that were in town. There weren't a ton of my friends around, but we had a ton of fun getting together and visiting over lunch. We went to Smokey Mountain Pizza and Pasta, and ate a delicious meal. In addition to my mom and sisters and friends, my aunt Kathy, my grandma and Hailey and Kylee also came to celebrate my baby with me!

Baby E got the most adorable clothes, toys, and bedroom accessories. Holy cow this girl is so loved and so spoiled! Here is a shot of part of her room so far. :)

Also, my mom sent this cute little "stroller blanket" to me in the mail the other day. I love it so much that I cuddle with it on a regular basis.... even though baby girl isn't here yet. Hopefully she won't mind!

Bryce's Life

Bryce is working SOO hard, and this semester is going to be a killer for him. The plan was to make his last semester really light so that he can watch our baby while I go back to work. But if that is the plan, then that means he has to cram a lot into this semester (even though this is the semester that our baby girl will be joining our family!)

He is going to be such a great dad. He is already sacrificing so much for our family. But we all cannot wait until July when school is finally finished! Everything is totally worth it. Then we are Boise bound. We are excited about the next chapter of life that includes a full time job at HP for Bryce and a stay-at-home mom for me. We are also excited to be able to rent Kim and Matt's old home, too. :)