L.i.f.e.

As I sit here I have a secret or not so secret prayer in my heart that my husband will get on with the police. This will be our third attempt ( twice in Lethbridge and now once in Calgary) and I am really hoping the third time is the charm. Andrew has always wanted to be a police officer and although he has been doing really well in school this past semester I know that it isn't where his heart is. Andrew has worked so many dead end jobs with horrible hours and hard labour that I really pray he gets on with the police. He is meant to be a police officer. Andrew is so compassionate and he knows how to diffuse possible confrontations. He has a heart of gold and definitely the build of a good police officer...seems like we have been lacking those lately in Lethbridge. Anyways, Scarlette and I are going to try to be super quiet tonight as Andrew has a polygraph test tomorrow and then a psych test on Thursday ( we will be going to see the Calgary temple in the afternoon on Thursday!). Everyone pray that if it is the Lord's will for us to get on with the police we will!! Our little family would love to have a career and to start setting financial goals. We love our Andrew Pandrew!! Here's hoping he will have a good nights rest tonight and do well tomorrow!

Also, Scarlette is losing her hair and it is sad...that is all.

09.25.12

Can I just say....that I always have a hard time beginning a post haha. This week has been pretty uneventful. We spent some time at my parents house this weekend while Andrew was driving limo. My dad made the most delicious steak and due to being off dairy I basically demolished a huge piece as I feel like I am starving myself! For anyone who is lactose intolerant...I am sorry...I can't believe how much of the food that I eat has dairy in it. I am always craving a big glass of skim milk, sour cream, melted cheese and butter!! In place of those things I am drinking Silk Soy milk, no sour cream, no cheese and coconut butter.....they are dece...but they don't even compare to dairy!!

Scarlette and I got out so much last week and I am finally feeling almost 100% back to my old self. I took Scarlette to Wal-mart with me and we also stopped at Chapters to look through the books. We cleaned the house from top to bottom and finally got everything put back in its place since Scarlette arrived. Since being off dairy she has been such an angel baby! She will sit in her swing for half an hour while I get ready and she loves to stare at her turtle mobile and giggle at it. We recently bought a bouncer chair and honestly it was the best $30 I ever spent. As long as you are bouncing her she is happy as a clam...no more standing up and getting exhausted from bouncing her. She is sleeping so good as well. I usually pump a bottle a day and warm it up really warm right before bed and she will sleep from 11pm till about 4am and then she eats again/bum change and she is back in bed by 4:30am till 9am. However, she always has one night a week where she somehow does not want to follow that schedule and she stays up till 2:30am...those are our rough nights. 

Anyways, that is all we have to report for this blogpost. Scarlette is getting blessed on Sunday so I will have to put some memories up of that next week. Have a happy day! 

My Cute Babe

I just wanted to share a cute little story about my sweet girl that I don't want to forget. The other night, Scarlette and I were cuddling in bed while I waited for her to fall asleep ( I don't like falling asleep before she does). She kept looking up at me and sticking her hand into my nose. I thought she was doing it on accident but when I moved away she kept stretching her arm up to hit me in the nose again. She finally fell asleep with her hand pressed right up to my nose after a couple attempts of me trying to change positions and thwart her! I then realized that she likes the warmth of my breath on her hand haha. Every night since then we have fallen asleep with her hand pressed right up to my nose...it is SO cute....maybe just to her mother haha.

In other news, my baby is already 5 weeks old! She is starting to smile and make lots more noises! She is getting sooo big, no longer wearing anything newborn. She is already wearing 0-3 month clothes snugly (mostly because she is so long). We have another appt. with the doctor in a couple weeks and then her 2 month shots.....I'm really not looking forward to that. The last couple weeks have been GREAT! I have finally got use to all the things that I must get done before getting out of the house and I am getting faster at doing them.

Last Saturday my brother Brock got baptized and my brother Austin got to baptize him. Andrew and I have been enjoying having Scarlette in our lives and so there isn't much news to share about us....cus were always with her! Andrew started school a couple weeks ago and has been working his butt off! We really appreciate all his hard work and did I mention how great of a Dad he is?!?! He is always snatching Scar from me and running off to cuddle with her, he loves her soooo much. We went out walking on Saturday morning and then to Costco to get some groceries where he enjoyed showing her off! In other words....were pretty boring....hopefully I've got some good stories for my next post!

My personal challenge! ( For women's eyes only!)

So I haven't really blogged much since the baby came but it is honestly because I am sooo busy all the time! I am definitely realizing why they say that motherhood is the hardest but most rewarding job. The past 4 weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions....ask Andrew..haha. Due to my really great pregnancy and labor/delivery, I thought that I was just sailing through this motherhood thing......then came breastfeeding. I'm guessing most people who read my blog will probably be mothers now a days because some of my posts are definitely going to be considered TMI!!!

The first week of having Scarlette went wonderfully! I was on a crazy high from being a new mother and admiring my beautiful baby girl. We had a bunch of visitors so everyone got to see her and I was so happy to show her off. Then came the second week. The second week was A LOT harder for me. I think this was a combination of my milk coming in, my realization that I couldn't just get up and go whenever I wanted and the fact that I was breastfeeding 24/7. It was super awkward having visitors because I honestly walked around in my nursing bra all day. Anyways..this is where my struggles with breastfeeding come into play...don't judge. I have inverted nipples....yup...if you don't know what those are then look 'em up! One is borderline just flat so it hasn't really given me much problems but the other one is completely inverted and such a weird shape! Scarlette HATED breastfeeding on the one side because she was use to how easily she could draw out my nipple on the other side. Needless to say, weeks 3 and 4 have given me the most challenges. My defective nipple had a huge crack in it because Scarlette was having trouble latching correctly and I honestly feel like this nipple just sucks no matter if she was a pro at latching or not. Therefore, it was incredibly painful and I was soooo close to giving up on breastfeeding. I read up on single sided breastfeeding and I have resorted to doing a mixture of pumping 4 times a day on the defective side (to relieve the pressure and to start a milk storage) and feeding Scarlette on the right side. I know I will probably end up being lopsided but I hope this lessens the degree of lopsidedness. The past couple days Scarlette has begun to learn that she can drink all the milk she wants in 25 minutes as opposed to hours and hours of hanging out on there. I think this is due to her being awake more often and wanting to discover the world around her instead of always be on moms boob. SOOO... the reason why I wrote this semi-awkward post about my personal breastfeeding challenge...is to possibly help anyone else that may run into this problem and to make a list of breastfeeding must haves for new moms!

1. Lanolin or a prescription cream- This is definitely worth the $13 for a tiny tube of healing magic! Even if your baby is latching correctly, your soft luscious--never been sucked by a leech before--nipples will get sore due to the friction of baby sucking. I put this cream on in the morning after her feeding and at night before we go to bed. You can put it on after each feeding and it is not harmful to your baby.

2. Breast Shields--- I bought Medula* breast shields to draw out my inverted/flat nipples and they also provide an air vent to keep your nipples dry and to increase the speed of healing. These little gems have honestly SAVED me from giving up on breastfeeding. You'll notice in the first week or two that your constantly changing your breast pads because they are soaking wet (the body needs time to get use to how much milk your baby needs). So your nipples are constantly wet and this increases your cracking and slows down your healing time. Also, I kept them on at night for the first couple weeks but now that my breasts don't leak as much I have started taking them off at night and I stay dry throughout the night.

3. Breast Pads--- I don't know how it works for the general public but in 4 weeks I have gone through 5 boxes of Johnson & Johnson* breast pads (60pack). I bought one box thinking that it would last a while.....I was VERY wrong. I probably went through 20 per day during the first week....and then it has slowed down since my breasts started regulating my milk (about 10-12 per day now).

4. Breast Pump--- I bought the Medula* manual pump but found that with my inverted nipples I needed something stronger and more effective at drawing them out. This pump was cheapest at Superstore or Wal-mart but I definitely would have gone straight for the electric pump if I would have known the struggles I would have. The Medula* electric swing pump is what I bought to keep from giving up on breastfeeding and it was $200 at Wal-mart and Superstore. Even though it is really expensive, I am really glad I splurged on it. Also, as a new mom I had no idea how much milk that I should be pumping. The first time I used my electric pump I got about 50 ml and thought that I was drying up! BUT since the milk increases as baby needs more I discovered that my 3 week old should only be drinking around 50-100 ml per feeding. Baby is more effective at getting the milk she needs per feeding so I have to pump 2/3 times to get enough milk for one feeding.

5. Vitamin D drops-- I didn't read about these before giving birth but buy them beforehand and then you can conquer jaundice quicker if you start using them the first few days of your babies life. I didn't pick them up till she was about 4 days old and I had one ORANGE baby.

6. Cleanser- This is kind of just a tip...but get a cleanser that doesn't have a scent to it. Shower EVERY DAY and make sure you clean your breasts with something that won't irritate your baby or mask your personal smell. Also, after showering I found that if I lay down my boobs don't leak and I can let them air out for 10-15 minutes...it sure is a luxury I never thought I would appreciate HAHA. I read a book that says you can rub your own breast milk over the nipple at the end of a feeding to keep it clean.

ANYWAYS...I know this was a massive post but I wish I would have known someone who breastfed and had problems with inverted/flat nipples before I started breastfeeding. I am finally started to feel like I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I am so glad that I held on.

Just a note on Scarlette's growth---She is 8 lbs 5 oz, 21 and 3/4 inches and is completely healthy! She sleeps 6-7 hours every night but is a complete princess during the day and loves being held and cuddled ALL the time. She still has all her dark hair and is starting to make cute Cooing noises more often. Were anxiously waiting for her first deliberate smile!!!

Labour and Delivery Story!!

Well, I'm just sitting in my bed looking over at my sweet little sleeping girl and thinking "I can't believe I have had her for a week already!!". I thought maybe I would take some time out of my morning to share my labour and delivery story since I have got asked about it a couple of times. So it starts out a couple weeks ago when I got my membranes stripped. After my membranes were stripped I started having some contractions but they never worsened in pain so I knew it was false labour. Every morning I would wake up around 5am with contractions and each day they would taper off and I would be left with no baby...slightly depressing. After a couple days of getting my hopes up, I decided my body was not meant to go into labour and that I would have to wait for my looming induction date. Sunday evening, Andrew and I went down to Indian Battle park and celebrated our friend Brandon's birthday. When I got home I was feeling a little nauseous and I knew that had been how my moms labor had started but I definitely just wrote it off because I didn't want to get my hopes up again. Around 3:30am I started getting contractions, even though they came earlier then normal I decided to go upstairs and begin my normal routine. By about 6 am they were getting a bit worse and about 6 minutes apart......so I had to decide whether to tell Andrew to phone in to work or not...I didn't want another false alarm!!! He decided that he would phone in and I decided that we should wait till about 8am before heading to the hospital. The contractions continued to get worse but they stayed about 5 minutes apart and they were VERY bearable. We got in the car around 8:30am and headed to safeway to get some snacks in case this was the real deal. By the time we got to the hospital it was 9am and no one in the E.R. believed I was in labour. The girl at the desk took FOREVER getting all our information together and I was wondering what the big hold up was! We got up to labour and delivery and apparently they were swamped that morning. They put us in a little draped area where they hooked me up to check my contractions and to see how baby was responding. I was still feeling GREAT and I was scared they might send me home because my contractions were 5 minutes apart. After 30 minutes of being on the machine our nurse came back and checked the results. Apparently my pain tolerance is higher then I expected because my contractions were 3 minutes apart and I was only feeling the strong ones PLUS I was already 5 cm dilated. We had to wait till about 11am to get into a labour and delivery room because they were so busy but once we were all set up I called my mom to tell her the news! At about 12:30 am the doctor came in and broke my water and it was the grossest feeling ever!!! It was like sitting in a huge pile of pee. He also told me that because there was so much fluid, Scarlette's head wasn't able to effectively put pressure on my cervix to start labor....explains why she was so dang late!! Side Story---my regular doctor went away for only 2 days and this little girl decided to come when he was gone!!! so I had the doctor on call...he was very good though. Anyways, I had no pain medication thus far and was feeling pretty optimistic about having a natural birth. After they broke my water they checked me and I was only 6cm. They let the amniotic fluid keep leaking out and Scarlette's heartbeat kept dipping when I would have a contraction so I got hooked back up to the machine for a while to monitor it. The nurse kept a close eye on her but decided that because of all the fetal movement going on, she was doing good enough that I could go in the shower. At about 2 pm they got me all naked and got the birthing ball out and I headed into the shower. Contractions were definitely getting worse but I was still able to breath through them and Andrew kept making my drink my ice water haha. We had been in the shower for about an hour and a half when I got this huge contraction that honestly made me feel like I was going to die!!! I thought that the next one might be a small one and I would be able to breath through it but it was also just as painful. I looked over at Andrew and said..." I think I want the epidural". I made this decision because I still thought I had about 3 cm to go and for first time moms they estimate 1 hour of labor for each cm...meaning 3 more hours of labor....NO WAY could I last with these contractions. Andrew promptly went and told the nurse and she came in super fast and helped me get off the ball and up on my feet. When I stood up I felt like my body was going to fall apart....the contraction felt like it was never going to end but it was actually just pain from all the pressure that baby was putting on my cervix. My pelvis felt like it was on fire!! Anyways, I started to shake uncontrollably and went into a little bit of shock with all the pain I was in. The anesthesiologist was already in the room when I got back to my bed and she explained what she was going to do. I was in so much pain that I don't really remember any of it. I didn't feel the I.V. go in, I didn't feel the freezing in my back and I definitely didn't feel the epidural. I laid back down in bed and the contractions were still so horrible but within 15 minutes they had tapered off and the nurse decided to check me. This is when she looks up at me surprised and says "your fully dilated!". So in 15 minutes I went from 6cm to 10cm and it was time to push. I asked the nurse if I could have a little rest before I pushed and she said that was ok as long as the baby was still doing alright. It was now 4:15 pm. By 4:25 the nurse was back in and told me the doctor was coming so she was going to teach me how to push. Andrew and her held my legs and I started to push....my first contraction I was pushing when the nurse told me that Scarlette had a head of dark hair. I honestly thought she were pulling my leg...I did not picture my little girl with dark hair! The doctor came in around 4:35 and we started really pushing...now you will have to ask Andrew about this part because I was just concentrating on pushing but he could explain better what was going on where the doctor was sitting hahaha. By 4:54 pm my baby girl was out and I was in no pain at all! Andrew did AWESOME and he helped me the whole time without getting sick. They put Scarlette on the warming table and I just couldn't believe she was my child. She had dark dark hair, dark skin and looked just like her daddy! We were instantly in love and it was so weird having her on the outside! Overall, my labour and delivery was awesome! I wouldn't have asked for it any other way. I was in enough pain that I feel like I experienced enough labour to appreciate our little girl and all it took to bring her into the world. I only had pain relief for the last hour and a half but the remaining 12 hours of labour I had done all on my own. The epidural did not hurt at all when they put it in and I will definitely be getting one again. It was nice that I went into labour and delivery with an open mind and I was willing to get the pain relief I needed to enjoy the pushing part of labour which also allowed me to enjoy the first couple moments with her even though I was getting stitched up.

Andrew and I love our little girl SO much. We feel extremely blessed to have her finally in our home and she brings the sweetest little spirit into our lives. I feel joy every day when I am able to feed her, cuddle her and kiss those sweet little chubby cheeks she inherited from her momma. We love Scarlette Mikenna Maclean!

9 days to go....

YEP! I am still around and kickin' it pregnancy style!

I really hope and pray this is my LAST blog post being pregnant. I was telling my mom today, the first 3 months seems to go by so fast and you start thinking....why do people complain so much...only 6 more months to go. Well, 9 months is WAY to long to be pregnant...haha I am DYING. The heat has been extremely bad....especially since we live in a brick building that absorbs the heat like nobody's business! I have been hitting the pool about once a week and trying to mooch of my mom's cool house as best as I can without feeling like I am abandoning Andrew in our sauna. The past week of being of work has been AWESOME! I thought that I would be completely bored but I simply have not run out of things to do. I have cleaned the whole house...the "deep clean"....scrubbing bathroom floors, cleaning kitchen nooks and crannies, organizing paperwork, setting up all our baby stuff and putting the car seat IN the car. The hospital bags have been packed for a couple weeks but I have added a couple things to them to help me get through labour and delivery. At prenatal classes, it was suggested to us to bring tennis balls, massage tools and magic bags....just to have a variety of pain relief/focus changers. The whole point of breathing exercises is to divert your attention away from the pain.....so why not put a modern twist to it and make Andrew massage me for hours on end??? that sounds like a WAY better focus changer. I got my hair done this morning and bought my Nikon D90 on Wednesday so I'm pretty much set for the baby to come.

My Uncle Ron has a concoction that involves castor oil, orange juice, almond butter, water...and some other special ingredients....it has worked on twelve out of the thirteen girls he has tried it on...pretty good success rate if I may say so myself. Anyways, before you freak out and tell me it is a horrible idea...keep in mind that I am an intelligent person and that I have done the research involved in trying something like this. Midwives have used castor oil for many years to help get labour going and most of the time it will only work if your body is ready to go into labour anyways. The biggest negative about using castor oil is that it can cause dehydration if not used correctly...so yes...I will be staying very hydrated the whole time. I'm going to try this concoction on Sunday night after church so that Andrew will be around and if something does go wrong he can take me straight to the hospital. When I do take the concoction I will be 39 weeks....very close to my due date...and lots of doctors will agree to strip membranes at this point if women are extremely frustrated being pregnant. I promise not to complain about my pregnancy because I have been blessed with a very good one.....but just so you know.....having a pinched nerve that only allows you to sit a certain way....in 32 degree weather....in a sauna house...is just about getting on my last nerve. If baby is ready...she will come....if she isn't...then she will not come.

So I've decided to just do a little sum up of my pregnancy in case anyone cares to read. (questions were found in the baby book I bought for Scarlette)

1. When Mom discovered she was expecting.....

When I first discovered I was expecting it was really surreal. Andrew and I thought it would take us a long time to get pregnant because I had been using birth control for a really long time for acne purposes. We got off birth control in the middle of September and thought we might get pregnant by January. My first period didn't come till October 24th so I went 38 days without a period when usually I would only go 28 days between cycles. Thinking that my body was just adjusting to being off birth control, I got caught up in exam week and went almost 50 days without a period after the 24th....I didn't have any signs of being pregnant so I didn't think I was. PLUS, Andrew was gone with work A LOT that month.....I know... TMI ....but I really think this little girl was meant to be HAHA. When Andrew finally got back from travelling with his work, we went out to dinner with Brooke and Dexter ( who were about 6 weeks farther along then us) and decided to go to the dollar store after to grab a pregnancy test JUST IN CASE. I remember Andrew running to the dollar store and when he got back in the car he said that the lady ringing him through was saying what a nice christmas gift that would be to find out we were expecting. When we got home I decided that it was a perfect time to see if we were pregnant or not....I honestly had been feeling crampy and bloated for that whole week ( my tell tale signs of an oncoming period) so I was NOT expecting...to be expecting haha. I stood in my undies while waiting for the test to come back with one line......so the one line appeared and I waited a minute longer just to make sure there was only one line....when I looked back down a couple seconds later I saw a second line......HOLY CRAP......there is a human being growing inside of me. I ran out of the bathroom and said "ANDREW...were having a baby!!" ..as I was saying the "baby" part, I burst into tears and had a crazy cry fest because I had never felt that kind of emotion before. I immediately asked Andrew to get the baby clothes down that were hidden in the closet and I held all the baby girl clothes that I had bought and couldn't imagine that our baby was a boy. We then grabbed the period calendar and figured out how far along we were and then searched on the internet how big she was......it was an amazing moment that I will never forget, my biggest dreams were coming true!

Who is the first people we shared the news with? To be honest... I told Sherri Hill very first because she works at the drugstore as a pharmacist and she knew we were trying. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't hurting my baby because I had been taking melatonin to help me sleep. Obviously, she told me to stop taking melatonin but that it shouldn't have affected the baby. Andrew and I waited till Christmas morning to tell our families and it was such a funny experience. This one year my parents told us that we were either getting a puppy or a baby for christmas and mom was FOR SURE not pregnant...so we were expecting a puppy...but we woke up christmas morning to a little yellow ducky blanket. So Andrew and I planted a tummy time toy for them to wake up to this christmas and Andrew told his parents at sacrament meeting that morning.

My due date: July 30th 2012

First heard heartbeat: At 12 weeks we were lucky enough to hear the heartbeat...and it was fast!

When mom began to "show" : I remember waking up one morning at about 17 weeks and I felt like I was showing...mom says that most people wouldn't have taken a second look....so the Lady Antebellum concert on March 12th would have been more accurate of when I actually started to show.

When Mom first felt me move: I remember this one Sunday that I was laying in bed....completely still....and I could feel the tiniest little movements...it was a really spiritual moment and I knew it was the baby. It was around 16 weeks...so it was early for a first timer.

When baby became really active: Scarlette became really active at about 20 weeks....she was like a crazy flip flopper, the kicking and fun stuff probably happened near 25 weeks and now it is really hard to feel a moment when she isn't moving, elbowing me, or hiccuping. (she has them right now!) It is especially neat when you start feeling specific body parts...that happened at around 29 weeks for me...right before I left for the Yukon.

Summary of 1st trimester- Didn't find out till I was about 8 weeks...thought I had no morning sickness but once I entered the 2nd trimester I realized that I did have a bit of nausea and had been lacking in energy. I threw up twice....once while intensely cleaning on an empty stomach and once from drinking way to much acidic orange juice in the morning. Very fast.

Summary of 2nd trimester-Started feeling the baby move, had tons of energy, felt great, found out the gender, finished University, was super busy....overall went by pretty fast....it felt like forever between 13 weeks and 20 weeks when we were waiting for our ultrasound.

Summary of 3rd trimester- Most of the third trimester has flown by, my back has had a pinched nerve for a lot of it so that has been super painful. It is hard to go to the movies or to friends houses because I have a hard time enjoying myself when I am in pain. These past couple weeks have been extremely hot and uncomfortable..I had one day with swollen ankles but that was it. Excited for it to be over in a couple days (knock on wood).

Total Weight Gain-- As of today....39 weeks....22lbs.....I am extremely happy with this. Most people say I am huge but I haven't gained all that much lol!!

Stretch marks----I have a couple on my inner and outer thighs...and JUST discovered a couple light ones on my lower belly....probably due to her dropping. They are VERY light but I almost made it to the end without ANY on my belly. I will admit..I have some on my bum...but none on my boobs.

Anyways, husband is getting mad because my computer is still on and it is late!!! If I missed anything please don't hesitate to ask..I'm pretty honest.

17 days.....

So I looked up at my cute little pregnancy tracker and it almost shocked me to read "17 days to go"! I am honestly so ready to have this baby!!! I believe that a healthy amount of fear resides in me but not like the fear I have been feeling in the past 8 months....I am now PRAYING to go into labour! I am over the fact that labour is going to hurt and I feel completely ready for the challenge. I guess it has been a couple weeks since I last posted so I will just go through a couple things that we have been up to in July. On Canada Day we spent time with Andrew's family and then met up with Brandon and Sydney to head to the fireworks. We got pretty good spots and were able to see all the fireworks and hear all the crazy drunk people threatening to beat each other up haha! On the holiday Monday, Andrew went out with the boys to dirtbike and my family and I went out to the lake to Sea doo. We had lots of fun and it was really nice to see Andrew finally having a REAL summer. I started back up to work the following day and only worked till Thursday because I planned a day trip to the Stampede with my mom and Brock. We honestly had such a blast at the Stampede! I am starting to regret not getting any pictures of any of these events but sometimes you just have so much fun that you forget to take pictures! We met up with my Grandma and Grandpa Lyons before going into the park and Brock was extremely excited to go in because he had never been before. Mom, Brock and I had to stop at the mall before we got to the Stampede grounds so we had already eaten lunch but we went into the BMO centre with my Grandma and Grandpa to find some lunch for them. We walked around and looked at all the different things they were selling. I got a delicious Hershey's chocolate milkshake and we stopped to watch the talent show for an hour while everyone ate lunch and snacked on treats. We then decided to face the crowds and go outside.......except everyone was pouring into the BMO centre because it was raining cats and dogs outside. I was scared that it was going to be like that all day and that we would have to go back to Chinook and spend our day inside. Good old Southern Alberta came through for us and within 20 minutes it was back to sunshine and heat! The rest of our day consisted of riding the west jet ride over the park, watching the superdogs show, seeing the illusionist and trampoline act, and don't forget about all the stops we made for TREATS. I couldn't ride rides this year....obviously....so I treated myself to a snow cone, mini doughnuts and a caramel apple :) mmm.

Last Saturday, Andrew and I went to PRENATAL CLASSES....yes! I made Andrew go to prenatal classes with me :) and they were actually so fun! I found our teacher very informative and very open to answering all of the strange questions that people were asking. Andrew even piped up and asked if babies smell when they are first born...hahah....apparently a lot of other fathers were wondering that as well. I would honestly recommend them to anyone who wants to feel very prepared for labour. I realize that the baby has got to come out somehow so it might seem strange that there is classes directed at labour and delivery but I found them awesome. I have read A LOT of books and internet sites during this pregnancy but it was nice to go up to the labour rooms, see all the different contraptions and get an overall better feeling of what we are going to face. Our class ended at 3:30 so we headed out to Waterton to have some fun together before baby gets here. We got dinner at Wieners of Waterton and walked around the park. We sat at Cameron falls and let the mist cool us off before we headed to get some of that famous Big Scoop ice-cream (AKA Nestle ice-cream). We went and visited my friend Megan at the lodge and then ran into my family on the picnic benches outside of Wieners of Waterton....they didn't even invite us!!! I swore we saw all of Lethbridge in Waterton....lol isn't that always how it goes!

This week I finished work yesterday and have been basking in my freedom! I really don't know what I am going to do for the next 2 weeks so I hope this baby girl comes early!! The only things I want to do before having her is finish our prenatal classes (this Saturday) and get my hair done sometime next week. So I'm thinking that next weekend would be perfect for her to come!!

OH YEAH! I forgot about my birthday!!! I turned 22 on Monday and had the most wonderful birthday! I slept in and then my brother Brock and I spent the whole day together! We went grocery shopping, bought Captain America and ate McDonald's in my bed while watching Captain America! I love that kid so much! He and I have such a blast together! We then went over to my parents house for pulled pork (my moms speciality) and enjoyed a delicious chocolate birthday cake :) my family is awesome! My parents gave me a large sum of money and I had already saved up my play money for the month and Andrew gave me money from his limo run a couple weekends ago....so I had enough to buy a Nikon 90D!! I am getting it on Monday and we got a screaming deal on it so I can pay for it with no stress! Happy Birthday to me! I am so dang spoiled!!!! I hope to learn how to use it before the baby comes so I can get lots of great shots of her!

Anyways.... onto the pregnancy!!! I am now 37 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I have officially gained 22 lbs in the past 8 and a half months and my fundal measurement is 37 cm, which is perfect for how far along I am. Scarlette's heart rate is down from 160 (which was the first time we heard her heartbeat) to 144 bpm! This is great news seeing as baby's heart rate needs to come down near the end of pregnancy. She has now been in head down position for the past 2 months and isn't going anywhere! I got checked this past week, for all those who don't know...it actually is more painful then what I thought and also a whole lot different then what I thought. I honestly thought when they measure how dilated you were it was an external measurement.....nope! definitely way on up there! Anyways...I am not dilated at all but apparently my cervix is very soft....I better get drinking that raspberry leaf tea! Other then that I have been feeling pretty good. The heat is really getting to me this week because it is hard for me to get comfortable and I already have an internal heater!

Anyways!! I'm off to cool down and enjoy the rest of my week!