Nursery Progress

I know that I said I would post some pictures from my baby shower last weekend, but after reviewing them...Imagine the thought that I am not crazy about how I look in most of them! Ha! Silly I know, right?! Anyhow, I am waiting no some other ones from other people so that I can post summary post about the shower...But for now...Here are some shots on my parents and my sister working on Cooper's nursery...




*Mom painting the new green color-It has turned out soo beautiful!



*Bruiser has been an active part of the nursery process, he has been in and out of that room supervising whatever is going on...constantly!!



*Dad putting up the grasscloth wallpaper...



*Dad and Ashley tweaking the wallpaper...



*All the white chair rail put up around the room



*After moving most things into the Nursery from the baby shower...This is still FAR FAR from completion!!



More Pictures to Come as I get the decor on the walls and everything else in place!!

Hospital Update

Some of you may know that I was admitted into Labor and Delivery yesterday morning while attending my BPP Ultrasound visit. During the ultrasound, Baby Cooper was not as mobile as he has normally been, and they were not able to detect too many movements from him. I was then set up for an NST (non-stress test) to monitor his heartbeat for while. This test, he seemed to be fine, but also my blood pressure was seeming to rise. About 3 hours after my initial appointment time, 2 Ultrasounds, 2 meetings with the Dr, and some lab work...They decided to admit me to LMC for 24 hour monitoring.
Once checked in, I was given some food (FINALLY) and was also given some steroids to help boost babies lungs! I was worried at this point, but Dr assured me that he would not be trying to make an appearance anytime in the next 24-48 hours that the shots were just a precaution.
I had received rave reviews from my Dr. about how well I had been controlling my gestational diabetes, but on the down fall, the steroids do make your blood sugar sky rocket.. (i.e. mine went from about 115(ish) to 188 after the shot!!! Yikes!!) So, I was given some insulin to help bring it back down.

To add to my stress and worry, I had to call Brandon who was in Fayetteville in the middle of his grandfathers funeral to let him know that I was being admitted...but NOT to worry or rush home!! But he did indeed get home as quickly as possible and stayed by my side all night long.

They monitored Cooper's heart beat continuously as well as me and if I had been having any contractions. I did experience some Monday while there and a few minor contractions this morning, but nothing too alarming. Baby's heart rate however did look solid for about 99% of our stay! Whew!!

They took me down for another BPP ultrasound this morning, and when my Dr. came back in to visit she let know that he passed with all 8 of 8 points! Which was great compared to the 2 of 8 that he was scoring the morning prior!
She continued with another steroid shot, and gave me a script for some more insulin which I will be injecting for hopefully only 2 more days until I return on Thursday for another NST and a follow up for my hospital visit.

So, some stress and some nerves had relaxed a little at this point and we have returned home late this afternoon. We are still all very nervous and cautious about what Cooper is doing in there, but if he is anything like his mommy and daddy...This stubbornness doesn't surprise us one bit!

I will post an update on Thursday on the medical aspects of what all is to be expected after my follow up...but on a MUCH happier note...
I was able to attend my baby shower this past saturday, which was more than anyone could ask for!!
I will post some pictures and give you all the scoop tomorrow once I have gotten a little more rest!!!

Lets play Catch Up!

Alright, so I feel like every time I get around to posting a new update I must apologize for the delay between posts...So, in true Amy Style..."my apologies"!
Things have been somewhat crazy lately and honestly, every day I say to myself that I want to do a post..but then all those crazy pregnant emotions kick in and I either A.) forget B.)get a case of writers block, even though Ive been dwelling on tons of things to post or C.) just plain procrastinate!

To catch you up a little on what has been going on...Most of you may already know that I have been having a few complications.
My Dr. called me labor day weekend...on Sunday...Mine and Brandon's FIRST anniversary....To let me know that my test results came back and that I was preeclamptic/toxemic and that I was to be confined to bed rest...Well heck, what a way to spend your first anniversary! Dont ya think?!

**For those who are unaware of what Preeclampsia actually is and are interested in know the details, check out THIS article on BabyCenter about the condition, symptoms, causes and what exactly I am experiencing!

Of course, if you are like me..When you are working 40+ hours a week you dream of the day when you can stay home, lay around, enlist someone to do all of your household chores etc....Well, let me just say..That this scenario is enjoyable for about 1-2 days! After that, it is pure torture!! I do not like asking someone to get things for me, clean things for me, cook for me etc....If I am going to be at home, I want to be doing something productive!!
Being on bed rest really does take a toll on you emotionally, physically, and mentally! I have been one ginormous ball of hormonal emotions lately!! :(

Moving on...Considering the emotional horror of being put on bed rest I found myself thinking...Well, atleast I can drown my sorrows in ice cream or something sweet....Reality Check #2....The same week I found out I was going on bed rest, I was also informed from my Dr. that I would be having to do the 3 hour glucose test to check for gestational diabetes since I failed the original glucose test!
Fast forward almost a week and Pow! No more sugary sweets for me! I am now checking my blood sugar with a meter 4-5 times a day. I have not yet been put on any medication or insulin since we will review my levels at my appointment on Tuesday this week. So, we will see...However, I have noticed that my levels are not as high as they have been...(This being said, of course I have been trying to sneak in SOME type of sweet treat at least once a day)

I go to a diabetes class tomorrow afternoon and then go to my Dr. on Tuesday for an ultrasound to check on Baby H's weight and growth!
After this...I promise to update! :)

Maternity Must Have!

After talking with the Dr. at our last appointment, she advised me that I needed to take it easy. I was a little emotional
( Imagine that... me+pregnant=emotional..LOL) about the numbers on the scale as I walked out of the lab area. Once Dr. Gee came in we discussed my concerns about that "fabulous number" and she then began to check the swelling on my feet, legs, hands, arms and even my face. I have been retaining an un-godly amount of fluid!
I haven't been able to wear my wedding/engagement rings now for about 2 months and I had to resort to wearing a pair of Crocs Clogs EVERYDAY with EVERYTHING since that was the only thing my feet would fit into...(*And a special Thanks to Bruiser chewing up pair #2 of Rainbows)
I finally broke down and bought some new shoes....I bought (yet another) pair of Rainbows and I also bought a pair of Sanuk Flip Flops, that caught my eye b/c they are made with real yoga mats!!


After wearing these around for a day or two I decided I loved them soo much and they were sooo extremely comfortable..That today I took the Rainbows back and exchanged them for another pair of Sanuks in brown!!
These flops are absolutely a pregnant woman's best friend!!

I wanted to share another amazing discovery that I came across today as well. On my journey through the experience that is Wal-Mart I went looking for some type of "foot care"...(*Granted, the flips are great but they do not help the swelling) since I had read an article about recommendations (which consisted of mostly $20 and $30 tubes of products...Out of my budget)
I noticed a few different options and then suddenly spotted a Sally Hansen "Instant Foot and Leg Relief Gel"....It was reasonably priced (About $6.00) so I opted to try it....

I started with only putting it on my right foot and leg to see if I could really tell a difference between before and after...
There was a difference!!! My feet did not feel as heavy and "logged down" and I started to think I could almost feel the blood circulating a little better ( Probably just my imagination, I know)....However, I was more than impressed!!
That being said, I then got Brandon to massage it into my other foot and leg and the feeling was even better...(especially since I didnt have to try and reach down to my feet again)

As far as the physical swelling, I dont believe I have had it on long enough to notice too much of a difference. I rushed right into my blog-o-sphere to share this amazing new product!
Here is picture however of my Flintstone Feet just shortly after I put it on... (*WARNING--My feet are NOT pretty at the moment..Ive got a Pedi scheduled for next week!!)

Seeing as how I have been slack and missed some Tuesdays, I wanted to share a place that is close to home but yet allows you to feel as though you are miles away from worry!!
Back in April on last year the Dr. that my sister works for allowed her to use his beach house on Folly Beach for the weekend. We chose this time to get a little girl bonding time in. We loaded up a house with 10 girls...Drank wine, Layed on the beach, Shopped in Charleston and all in all got in some GREAT bonding time!!!
Here are a few shots of time there...I cannot wait to do this again...ASAP!!
The house is located at 1105 East Arctic and has 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms...It is absolutely amazing!!! If you are planning a trip to Folly, I highly recommend this place!!
You can check it out at Fred P. Holland Reality!!






The dogs even LOVED the beach!!!

ABC's of Me

A- My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: 70! This non stop hundred-something degree heat does a number on a pregnant lady!! Not to mention, the sun shines directly on the front of our house all day and the ginormous windows do not help a bit!





B- My BEDROOM theme is: A wreck at the moment! There is no current theme, just 3 tan walls and a chocolate brown accent wall...However, I do LOVE my comforter!! It is Vera Wang and I had wanted to get it from Kohls for a while, but they stopped selling. :( Thank Goodness for Ebay!

C- The CAR in the driveway is: my new "mommy mobile"... A white 2009 Dodge Caliber. Also, the hubby's BMW 323i, its white also..just like our house...Hmmm....


D- My DESK looks: Fairly clean at this point since its about to be moved into another room.

E- The EXACT time I wake up daily is: Numerous times...I have been in and out trying to battle this headache all day...

F- The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: my hair...Or if im not washing my hair, then my face

G- My GARAGE is filled with: Christmas things along the sides that have yet to be put into the attic (If only we had those stairs installed), a chest freezer full of who knows what, a ping pong table, other misc. things and of course the Hubby's BMW.

H- My HOUSE is: so cute! I love the windows (although they do NOT help the temperature inside) and the the master bath and closet are absolutely stunning! Those are definately what sold me on the house!!
*I am not crazy about the slight incline/hill that the house sits on, but we manage :)

I- If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: my unmade bed with my "fortress of pillows" (As Brandon refers to it), a basket of unmatched socks ( Ha Ha)...

J- My favorite JUICE is: Depends on the time of day....Ive been drinking alot of Apple and Orange juice lately...

K- The best part of my KITCHEN is: the theme. I love the coffee theme of my kitchen! I had so much fun finding things to go!

L- The LAST person who visited my home was: My bestie from PA, her husband and my sister and her other half!

M- The last piece of MAIL for me was: Probably a bill..Or a Magazine! Im slightly addicted!!


N- My NEIGHBORS think I'm: Hmmmm, Thats a good question...I should probably check into that...
We only converse on a regular basis with the teacher & Accountant across the street and the Preacher & teacher next door. We do however have a family 3 houses down with twins that we wave to EVERY time we drive past and they do have the cutest little dog that Bruiser loves to irritate!

O- If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: ALMOST NOTHING! I cleaned the fridge the other night after work...There is literally a gallon of milk, a pitcher of Sweet Tea, 2 Snack Packs, a few bottles of water and some condiments in the door...That is it!!

P- My last house PARTY was: A while back...There was a lot of beer pong, karaoke and catch phrase that night..What a blast!


Q- A QUICK meal I like to fix is: Peanut Butter Sandwhich!



R- My favorite ROOM of the house is: My gamecock office...Which is about to transform into Coopers Monkey Nursery!

S- The SHAMPOO brand I use is: Depends, I have a few that I switch between..


T- My largest TELEVISION is: 50" in plasma in one room, and 42" LCD in the bedroom...

U- UNDER my bed you will find: An array of socks and toys that Cohen and Bruiser have drug under there...




V- The last time I VACUUMED was: A while back, Brandon has been doing most of the vacuuming since I got prego!

W- Looking out my WINDOW I see: A jungle of a backyard that I would love to tackle...If only this baby would come and the heat would disappear!!

X- I wish I had X-TRA: Money...Of course!!

Y- My YARD is: Not too kid friendly out front with the incline, and needs to be cut! Out back- Its a jungle!! This heat has made it impossible to get things done out there!!

Z- ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: All the time...I try and sleep whenever I can since it comes it short spurts nowadays!



I hope you've enjoy reading this! Please let me know if you do one too! I'd love to come read it!! xoxo

To kick off Travel Tuesdays I wanted to share a fabulous little getaway near Cherokee,NC. The Chalet Inn is an off the beaten path, cozy bed and breakfast just minutes from all the historic attractions of Cherokee. I ran across this place a few years back while trying to plan a surprise birthday trip for Brandon. I wanted something romantic but at the same time, within short distance of Harrah's Cherokee Casino so that he could do some gambling.





The Innkeepers here are so welcoming, and the food is absolutely amazing. The prices are very reasonable and the setting is calming and serene.
You can go to their website and sign up for their email list and they will email you GREAT deals!!
Make sure to check them out!
WWW.THECHALETINN.COM
You will not be disappointed!

Come hang out @ my Crib

Brandon and I went crib shopping this weekend. Well, I use that term lightly as I had really already decided on which crib I had wanted prior to me "dragging him along" to the store. Upon entering the store, I immediately saw the set that I had come for. I made a B line straight for it....and amazingly, Brandon liked it too..( VERY rare that he agrees with something of the same style and price point that I do).
It took some time to decide if we wanted the style with the fold down gate, or the stationary crib. Each one converts from crib to Toddler- to Twin bed, but we just weren't sure of we felt safe enough with the gate. So, that being said...We decided on the Baby's Dream Ocean Stationary Conversion Crib in Glacier. I love it because its not too feminine, and its simple but modern at the same time.


**This is the Crib, except in Expresso...We are going with the Glacier White



**Here is the Crib in white once it is converted into the Twin

A little Laughter

OK, this was WAY too funny not share....I think its absolutely fabulous!!!!
I cant believe this is what I have to look forward too...

It's a Boy!

So, I know that I am a week or so late in making the blog announcement, but hey...it has been kinda crazy!
We had our ultrasound on July 6th and honestly, I was nervous!! I had kept telling myself that I didn't mind either way what baby's gender was, but I was worried that if the Dr. told me it was a girl I might would realize that I had secretly been wanting a boy, or vice versa...Brandon and my BFF were laughing at me telling me how ridiculous I was for being nervous....
Before we were taken back into the room, I could tell I was getting butterflies in my tummy...(Or, I guess it could have just been Baby H moving) but either way..It felt like it was taking FOREVER!!!
Fast forward about 15-20 minutes and there we are, watching the miracle moving around on the TV. When the nurse finally asked the anticipated question of if we wanted to know the gender...I felt even more nervous..Stupid I know,( in the words of both Brandon and my BFF "its not like they were going to tell me it was a horse")
Finally... "Its a Boy"
My immediate reaction was to look over at Brandon, whom I knew was instantly the most proud (soon-to-be) Daddy in the world....I was flooded with emotions honestly, can't even begin to tell you how I was feeling in that moment...I do however, know that I was falling more in love with my husband and "little boy" as the seconds ticked by.

We cannot wait to welcome Baby H into his fabulous Gamecock Nursery that is in the works...I will post some pics soon for your eye candy and for opinions!!

The Chicken Curse has been REVERSED!!

Wow....What an interesting past week this has been....

I have been preparing myself for the upcoming news on Tuesday when we find out if "Skippy" ( our little nickname for Baby H) is a little Amy or a little Brandon...but all of the anticipation has been overshadowed by a little something known as the College World Series...

As most of you who know me are well aware that I am an avid baseball fan, and have always enjoyed playing,coaching, and watching America's favorite past time...and add that together with my absolute love and passion for the Gamecocks...You can imagine this has been one amazing and emotional journey for me to watch my team on the Road to Omaha!

Brandon and I both get highly emotional and vocal during any Gamecock event, so you can imagine the intensity that we were feeling! There was many times when Brandon had to "call me down" for fear of getting too excited and bouncing "Skippy" all around due to my excitement!!

Words cannot express how amazing this feeling is! I honestly believe that I cannot put it into words! A lot of people I know are "over it" and insist on moving on, but ladies and gentleman..only a TRUE GAMECOCK FAN can feel how much of a big deal this is!! THE CHICKEN CURSE HAS BEEN REVERSED!!!

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the series, the welcome home celebration (which was ROCKIN) and the SC State House flying the almighty SC GAMECOCK FLAG!!

(PS...Lauren, I stole your pics of the State House, Thanks for the Email!) :)

Diapers

So, I just realized that it has totally been a month since my post....Things have been ridiculously crazy around here ( which is something that I will save for another post in a few days, trust me)!!

However, I wanted to share a "milestone" that is still making Brandon and I "freak out" I guess you could say.

We took a grocery trip yesterday to get some good deals and do some major "coupon-ing" and we are proud to announce that we purchased our first pack of diapers!!!

It was interesting to realize that we really had no idea what we were doing! We had coupons for a few different brands and types, some of which were on sale, some not. After about 10 minutes of trying to decipher the differences in diapers and of course, the best deal that we could get, we finally grabbed a pack and put them in our buggy!!

The whole rest of our "assault on the grocery store" ( as Brandon likes to call it) we kept turning to each other and saying "Babe, we really have our first diapers"......So hilarious, but so cute ( I think)!!

Oh Baby Baby...

Each time I start one of these..I get slack...But, given our little bundle of joy that is to be arriving I hope to keep up a little more than I normally would. I have deleted all other previous blogs and plan on using this one..and only this one.

Of course, I will keep everyone updated on baby news so that friends and family near and far can be update to date with any developments.., but would like to vent and discuss other things as well.

So, lets get started with playing a little catch up....

We have not been documenting things with baby heydt yet due to the fact that we have both been EXTREMELY busy and frankly, haven't made our "public announcement" until recently...I will post soon in "retrospect" about how we came to find out that we were expecting, what we have been doing and experiencing, but for now..Surprise!! We're having a baby!! (Yikes!)