Wow. It's already been almost 7 months?!

I can hardly believe it has taken me this long to post. But honestly, it is most likely because of all the stuff that is going on in my life.

I have started going to college.
My son is almost seven months old.
I have been dating my wonderful boyfriend for over ten months.

My life has just been absolutely wonderful and part of it, I know, is due to the people that I have been surrounding myself with.

On that note, I have realized something recently…
I have been blaming others for this, but it is just as much my fault as it is theirs. Friendship is a two-way street; it takes effort on both sides of the fence to keep friendships going and I have been failing at that.  For this, I am truly sorry. I know that it is not just my lack of efforts, but also the other party's too. And this sucks. I need to change this about myself and I am going to. I am going to start making an effort for the people that I really want to talk to and if they choose to ignore me, then I will know.

On another note, I would like to post something with my son :-)

Look at that big smile!

You know why he smiles like that? Because he has the best family in the whole entire world.

He is constantly surrounded by love!

He is just growing like a weed.

I am proud to say that I have made it over six months with breastfeeding my son. Oh yeah! :-)

I am going to continue breastfeeding my son as long as possible. Breast is best <3

"Before I had my child,
I thought I knew all the boundaries of myself,
that I understood the limits of my heart.
It's extraordinary to have all those limits thrown out,
to realize your love is inexhaustible."

Love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (May 2013)

May 2013:

41 weeks-sorta. Wednesday night (May 1st), I got some really strong contractions, so I called my doctor and she said that it sounded like pre-term labor. She said that it was important that I get a good night's rest and prepare for a hospital visit the next day. (Keep in mind my induction was scheduled for Friday). I put on comfy clothes and layed down.. Well, I felt what I thought to be my water breaking, so off we went to the hospital.

When I arrived at the hospital, the OB-GYN that I had as my primary was there. She got me settled in a labor room and checked everything out on me. When she examined me, she noticed that my amniotic sac hadn't totally been broken. She is pretty sure that there was some type of a tear in it, so it leaked a little. She determined that she would have to break my water. And oh my gosh was there a gush of fluid!! I thought it was never going to stop, but after a few changes of the bed padding, all the fluid was released. According to my mother, my belly looked significantly smaller after all the fluid was released :D Though I didn't see it...

Beyond this part, you will have to ask me about it(:

But I will say this... Zeke was bigger and longer than any of us ever expected was possible to come out of my small frame :P

With love,

Kjerstin L.

ESFJ

ESFJ

Extravert(89%)  Sensing(25%)  Feeling(62%)  Judging(1%)

• You have strong preference of Extraversion over Introversion (89%)
• You have moderate preference of Sensing over Intuition (25%)
• You have distinctive preference of Feeling over Thinking (62%)
• You have marginal or no preference of Judging over Perceiving (1%)

Guardians of birthdays, holidays and celebrations, ESFJs are generous entertainers. They enjoy and joyfully observe traditions and are liberal in giving, especially where custom prescribes.

All else being equal, ESFJs enjoy being in charge. They see problems clearly and delegate easily, work hard and play with zest. ESFJs, as do most SJs, bear strong allegiance to rights of seniority. They willingly provide service (which embodies life's meaning) and expect the same from others.

ESFJs are easily wounded. And when wounded, their emotions will not be contained. They by nature "wear their hearts on their sleeves," often exuding warmth and bonhomie, but not infrequently boiling over with the vexation of their souls. Some ESFJs channel these vibrant emotions into moving dramatic performances on stage and screen.

Strong, contradictory forces consume the ESFJ. Their sense of right and wrong wrestles with an overwhelming rescuing, 'mothering' drive. This sometimes results in swift, immediate action taken upon a transgressor, followed by stern reprimand; ultimately, however, the prodigal is wrested from the gallows of their folly, just as the noose tightens and all hope is lost, by the very executioner!

An ESFJ at odds with self is a remarkable sight. When a decision must be made, especially one involving the risk of conflict (abhorrent to ESFJs), there ensues an in-house wrestling match between the aforementioned black-and-white Values and the Nemesis of Discord. The contender pits self against self, once firmly deciding with the Right, then switching to Prudence to forestall hostilities, countered by unswerving Values, ad exhaustium, winner take all.

As caretakers, ESFJs sense danger all around--germs within, the elements without, unscrupulous malefactors, insidious character flaws. The world is a dangerous place, not to be trusted. Not that the ESFJ is paranoid; 'hyper-vigilant' would be more precise. And thus they serve excellently as protectors, outstanding in fields such as medical care and elementary education.

Love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (April 2013)

April 2013:

40 weeks. Dang. I was really hoping that I wouldn't actually get to 40 weeks... At my 40-week appointment, my doctor and I came to the decision that we would try to strip my membranes, which sounds a lot more painful than it actually is. It was more uncomfortable than anything. My doctor let me know that 50% of women will go into labor within the first three days afterward. The rest of the day after having that happen, I had stronger contractions than I had ever had before, but they weren't getting progressively stronger or anything, so it wasn't time for his arrival.

Because his arrival didn't happen that week, I had to schedule an ultrasound to check him out (a BPP). The purpose of this ultrasound was to make sure that everything with my little one was going well. They checked out his heart, lungs, umbilical cord, placenta, etc. Everything looked good! Phew. No reason for an emergency induction or C-section.

Once again, we tried stripping my membranes. I really wanted to try to have my baby as naturally as possible. As had happened before, I got stronger contractions afterward, but nothing progressive. It sucked. We were so ready for his arrival, but baby had a mind of his own. He was making it clearer and clearer that no matter how prepared you were, you can never plan the arrival of a baby... Sorta.

Because of everything that had happened so far, my doctor and I decided that it would be a good idea to schedule an induction. Even if it turned out that I didn't need it, we wanted it on the books just in case. We scheduled it for when I would be exactly 41 weeks.

Then came the waiting game.. Would he be here before my induction?

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (March 2013)

March 2013:

32 & 36 weeks. My measurements for how big my belly is and my weight are all good! My doc even made a comment about how she is happy with my weight gain, but that she would have been okay if I had even gained double :D

This month has been filled with lots of random stuff going on... I did maternity pictures, and the lady that did them is absolutely fantastic so I know that the pictures are going to be amazing!

My LO has been moving like crazy. You can literally watch my abdomen and see him flipping and turning. Sometimes he'll even push out with his elbow or knee (not really sure what body party it is) and you can see it! Its so crazy yet cool to watch. He gets hiccups too.. When he gets them, my whole abdomen jumps each time he hiccups :D

I have been having contractions A LOT. Mid-March was when they started happening quite a bit more than the sporadic ones here and there. They were happening pretty consistently every ten minutes one night so I called the OBGYN to see what he had to say (the on-call OBGYN always happens to be the male doctor at my hospital lol). He said that as long as they weren't getting more intense to just relax and try to get some sleep. He also added that when I am more active during the day, that can lead to more contractions when I finally do start to relax.

My mom and I's convo...

Mom: "Lets hope the contractions are actually doing something."

Me: "What do you mean?"

Mom: "Lets hope that when you go see your doctor that you're actually dialated or something..."

Me: "Mom, I really don't want to get my hopes up."

Lol. Turns out that at my 36 week check-up, I was dialated to almost 2 cm! So the contractions were actually doing something lol Also, at my check-up, my doc said that he is head-down, which is always good! Lets just hope that he stays that way.



Just for those of you that don't know much about dialating and such, a mama-to-be can sit at 2 cm for WEEKS. It doesn't necessarily mean that I am going to go into labor anytime soon, it just means that my body is preparing for when the time comes.



Fetal Development at 36 weeks



Also, they say that if you have contractions and dialation (like what I have), there is a chance of a shorter labor because your body will be ready to go the day that you do go into labor. One lady even said that her labor was only 2 hours long! How awesome would that be? ... BUT like I said before, I don't want to get my hopes up. I would much rather arrive at the hospital thinking that I am going to have a terrible labor that lasts 24+ hours! If you go in prepared for the worst, it typically makes everything seem not as bad lol

Once again, my contractions became consistent. They started around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, but we didn't start counting until 3:30. From that point until we stopped counting two hours later, I was getting a contraction every 4-5 minutes and the contraction itself was going on from anywhere to 30 seconds to a minute. All of us started getting nervous the longer these contrations went on, so we got everything together and ready to go just in case I needed to go to the hospital... AND, once again, I found myself calling the OB, and like he said last time, if they weren't getting more intense then it probably wasn't active labor. That night I had a couple of more intense ones, but nothing that I couldn't sleep through. My doc told me that if you could sleep through them then you aren't in active labor yet.

And you know what? I'm okay with that! This little guy is still considered premature until I hit 37 weeks (which will be the beginning of April), so I would much rather keep this 'bun in the oven' for a while longer than have him come to early :)

Appointments from 36 weeks on are every week! So if I thought I was going to get to know my OBGYN and nurse better because of having appointments every 2 weeks, now I am definitely going to get to know them!

More to come....

With love,

Kjerstin L.

Bloggers

I never realized how much closer I feel to people after I read their blog...
Seriously. I found one friend of mine (AO) who has been blogging since last year's blog and one (AC) who just started theirs... The one who has been blogging since last year, I went all the way to the beginning of her posts so that I could them all.
Now I can't help but feel this connection to her. Is this odd? I don't think so. When you read someone's blog you tend to read some of their deepest thoughts and really get to know how they feel about certain situations.
That's why I started reading SL's way back in the day, because I knew that if I didn't read his blog, I would have no idea what was really going on in his head.
I can hardly believe that it took me this long to figure out that AO was a blogger lol She even follows me for goodness sake! Now that I have, I have even more blogs to keep up with. Oh well, this should be fun ;)

"My blog is a collection of answers people don’t want to hear to questions they didn’t ask."

Love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (February 2013)

February 2013:

28 weeks. Officially in my third trimester! I just keep gaining weight lol(: It seems like it is never going to stop, but you know what? That means this little guy is gaining weight too. This means that he is getting the nutrition that he needs to grow.

Glucose testing! Gosh was I worried. My aunt had gestational diabetes when she was pregnant with all her kids, so that meant that there was a higher chance of me having it. Essentially, glucose testing is a test for diabetes, but some women only get diabetic when they are pregnant. Weird, huh? That's what "gestational diabetes" is, it just means that while you are pregnant, you have diabetes lol

I'm sure most of you have no idea what glucose testing is, so let me fill you in on the process:

I show up at the hospital with an empty stomach.

My doctor draws my blood before the test.

I drink the "glucose drink":

After an hour, my doctor draws my blood again.

After all of these steps, my doctor will test my blood sugar to see if my body is able to convert the sugar correctly.  And.... I passed! No gestational diabetes for this girl!

My appointments from this point on are every 2 weeks, whereas before they were every month. Definitely getting to know my doctor and nurse a bit better! They are awesome! They both have been extremely helpful and understanding through everything.

Also, I set up maternity pictures!! I'm so excited! The lady who is doing them takes really awesome pictures, so I'm excited to do them :)

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

Thank You!

This post goes out to all the people out there that have helped me throughout my pregnancy and to those that will in the future:

Thank you for....

• Any gifts or items that you have or will give me to help with my pregnancy
• "      "      "   "        "     "     "       "   "     "   for my little one
• Being supportive through this
• Having my back when people try to talk crap
       some people are such haters ;)
• Loving me, even when I am on my emotional rollercoaster
• Spending time with me
• Just being there

I know that this post is definitely not enough of a Thank You to all of you, but I am sure that this is not the only thanks that you will get!  I guarantee you this: if there is anyway that I can successfully thank you enough, I will be sure to try and do that.

"The greatest gift that you can give to others
is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance."

Love,

Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (January 2013)

January 2013:

24 weeks.  Holy crap is time flying by!  6 months.  That's how far along I was.  I wasn't sure when I was going to officially be showing, but my belly did finally pop!  I actually looked like I was carrying a LO:

No stretch marks! lol  But I do have that line down the middle of my belly (linea nigra).  It looks awfully funny, but I know that it will fade or that its supposed to fade after my pregnancy.  I think its pretty cool; all these changes that are occuring with my body.  Did you know that my abdomnial muscles are actually separated right now?  Like this:

If I am laying in bed and I try to sit up, my abdomen makes a really funny looking shape.  If it weren't for my doctor explaining that that was normal, I probably would have freaked out about it a bit, but now I know that it is perfectly normal.

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (December 2012)

December 2012:

20 weeks. That point when you can find out your baby's gender if you want to know...  I was so excited! I had been debating on names for quite some time, but I knew that after finding out the gender I would be able to really start narrowing down that list.

As I was laying down for the ultrasound tech to start probing my abdomen for pictures of my LO, I wasn't sure what I wanted.

Did I want a boy?  Did I want a girl?  What if something isn't developing right?

These questions raced through my mind as the tech was looking for different features on my baby.  She said that she couldn't tell me anything (since she wasn't licensed to be able to) so I just had to be really observant, and boy, was I being observant!  I didn't want to miss a thing!  Then I saw it.  I had the perfect view, and there was no doubt in my mind: I was having a boy!!  His perfect little features were shown on the screen to me... My oh my did he look like a little cutie!

As for my health, my doctor told me that I was right on track.  That the little baby bump I was developing was right where it should be and that I was right on track for weight gain.  I was so glad to hear that!  I had, after all, completely changed my diet to correspond with the needs for my child and my pregnant self, so to hear that I had my doctor's blessing for what I was doing was very reassuring!

December was the month that I really started branching out and telling more and more people about my pregnancy.  We had some family gatherings where there were people there that had not heard that I was pregnant yet, and those were the coolest moments ever.  I now realize how supportive all of my extended family is.  There are so many of them that I will have to write Thank-You's for because of the items they were willing to give to me for my LO.

More to come....

With love,

Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (November 2012)

November 2012:

16 weeks.  My third OBGYN appointment went great.  I had to have my blood drawn to finish up the rest of my first trimester screening.  I have no issues with getting my blood drawn, so it was no biggy.

I was safe. There were no more worries of me losing my baby. Although they say that the safe point is 12 weeks, I still didn't want to get too excited or tell too many people until I was sure that my LO wasn't going anywhere. I started slightly showing at this point, but honestly it could have looked like I had just gained weight and I could have totally covered it up by wearing baggy clothes lol

The biggest significant change for me was no more morning sickness!!  I had it really bad for a while.  I was literally vomiting every single day, and not just in the morning..  It was terrible!  Not only was I getting sick for no apparent reason, but I would also get sick if some smell hit me wrong.  Since I was working at Arby's, I tended to get sick at work (due to the smells).  Arby's has good food, but some scent would just hit me the wrong way and I would end up needing to take a bathroom break.  For instance, bacon and rootbeer!  I could not stand either of those...

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (October 2012)

October 2012:

12 weeks.  My second OBGYN appt (this time with a different doctor), went just as well as my first one, but it was decision time!  I had to decide what kind of first trimester screening (if any) that I wanted.  I decided that I wanted to do the more thorough one.  The one that would make me drive out to Minneapolis to get it done.  I was excited, but also nervous about that appointment.

What if my baby has special needs (specifically Down Syndrome)??  What if my child needed surgery right after birth?

All of these "What if...?" situations kept running through my mind, but I didn't know that much about genetics and how it all worked so I put my faith in the Genetic Counselor who was interviewing me and the Sonographer who took the pictures of my baby.

In the process of the Sonographer taking pictures of my baby, he kept pushing around my abdomen and asked me to move around to try to get baby to sit right.  But of coure, my little one wouldn't sit still for long or sit in the same position for long.  In order to get the pictures that he needed, the Sonographer had to take quick snaps.  He also made a comment that my baby had "beautiful anatomy".  How reassuring!

My baby was so tiny at this point, but you could count all of his little fingers and toes!  My LO even decided to give mommy a wave:

After a week of waiting on a call, I finally received one that informed me that the chances of my LO having any genetic defects or Down Syndrome was extremely unlikely!  Like, the lowest possible risk!  I was very happy to hear this news.  I also knew that he could still be born with something, but now I knew that science was on our side!

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (September 2012)

September 2012:

8 weeks.  I didn't really feel like I was pregnant..  I kept touching my abdomen in hopes that there would be some sign that would show me that I was pregnant, but at this point, there were none.  Other than the fact that I wasn't getting my period. I was still so scared..

Was I really having a baby??  Was there really a tiny person inside of me?

My thoughts were always racing, but I was relieved when I went to my first OBGYN appointment.  The doctor I decided to see for my first appointment was absolutely awesome.  She walked me through everything. I had no idea what was happening or what I was supposed to do, but she was very calm and reassuring.  While at this appointment, I got this book full of information.  It literally had everything in it (I still am using it).  This book walks you through every trimester of pregnancy!  It was and is my life saver.  Along with this book, I also got a folder full of pertinent information: medications that were safe to take, prenatal classes, etc..

After my appointment, I felt so much better!  I had all of this information to help me get everything together.  I felt so empowered by this one book!

Out of no where I got really sick though.  The kind of sickness where my throat hurt so bad that I didn't even want to swallow my own saliva.  I was really scared, so I went to Urgent Care.  Turns out that I had Pharyngitis.  The doctor at UC said to me that I needed to take antibiotics.

So began my regimen of taking antibiotics and prenatal vitamins every day. 

More to come...

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (August 2012)

Oh gosh how the day is getting ever so near!
As I was debating on how to let the world know about this very special day, I decided that I should post on Facebook as well as tell you all the story (in sections hehe)...

August 2012:

I was freaking out, I hadn't gotten my period in three days and I wasn't sure what that could possibly mean.  I had been on birth control, so I thought maybe since it was a new method (for me) that it would take time to get out of my system.

On the fifth day of not getting my period, I went to my mother with tears in my eyes to explain to her what was going on.  My dad proceeded to get me two pregnancy tests.  The day after getting these tests (Friday), right away in the morning, I took one of them...  It took time for the test to develop ... I swear they do that on purpose!! ... And it showed a pretty little positive on it.  I immediately burst into tears.  I was finally out of a relationship and THEN I found out I was pregnant.  But I did a little research and it was possible for there to be a false positive on a test.

I waited 'til Sunday morning to take the second one. Positive. Again.  With both tests coming back that way, I scheduled an appointment with my doctor to make sure that I really was pregnant.

Walking into my doctor's office Monday morning, I wasn't sure what to think, say, or do.  But I knew one thing for sure: I was going to get a pregnancy test done.  Once the test came back saying positive, as I should have expected, my doctor had me go get an ultrasound done; she wanted to make sure that everything was as it should be.  And so I got the first glimpse of the beautiful person that would be growing inside me for the next 3/4 of a year <3

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

My Job(s)

I started my job at Jackson Hewitt. Man was there a lot of training to do! I had to go through tax school, StaRT training, and 3 days of on-sight training. But it was totally worth it! Now I can prepare people's taxes for them! I love it! Seriously. This job is perfect for me, I get to talk to people all day and use my brain at the same time. So cool! :)

In addition to working at JH, I also have been working at Arby's (since August). In other words, I am a pretty busy gal!! But I would not have it any other way. I need to put some money away for a very special reason.

"I think that my biggest attribute to any success
that I have had is hard work.
There really is no substitute for working hard."


Love,

Kjerstin L.

A New Year

Happy New Year!!

Oh my goodness!!  Its already 2013!  How crazy!  I'm ready for this year to be amazing.  We all are given a chance to start this year out with a bang.  I know that this year is going to be a year of A LOT of changes; beautiful, glorious changes.  I mean, we did survive the ending of the world, after all ;)

I'm looking forward to the things that are heading our way this year, even if some of these changes are going to be extremely drastic.  That's alright for me!  The best I can do is embrace it.

"Everyone messes up in relationships,
and has peaks and valleys in their personal lives.
When I realized it wasn't the end of the world,
and I would keep on standing,
I knew it was going to be OK."

Love,
Kjerstin L.