Don't Forget to Vote

As you know, Randy and I are weirdos and we don't want to find out the sex of our baby until he or she is born, so we have a place for you to place your vote of the right side of the blog. Just to help swing the votes...

I am sure the baby is a girl.

Randy is sure the baby is a boy.

Vote on who you think is right.

Things I Have Learned About Pregnancy

Ok so I am now 21 and 1/2 weeks along. I know I have A LOT more learning to do, but here is some of what I have learned so far.

*You can vomit and have it come out of your nose if you vomit too hard (this hurts a lot by the way)

*Constant nausea is worse than a short burst of vomiting

*Being overheated increases nausea

*Grocery shopping is pure torture when nauseated

*Seeing meals prepared makes eating meals impossible when nauseated

*"Worshiping the throne" has multiple meanings

*Breaking blood vessels in your eyes while worshipping said throne actually happens and is not pretty

*Okay this is embarrasing to admit, but anyways, stress incontinence is not just for older people

*Husbands are angels of mercy or demons of torture, depending on the second and the hormones of the pregnant woman

*Never throw up Kix cereal, the smell is horrifying

*Motion sickness and morning sickness don't mix well

*Packing for vacation includes a vomit bucket with a securely fitting lid

*Sea bands (motion sickness bracelets) are life savers

*Rolling over with a big belly is hard work

*Patience with others during pregnancy is truly a miracle

*Maternity pants are the most comfortable article of clothing imaginable (and I work in scrubs all day, so that is saying something)

*Body length pillows are worth having, no matter the cost

* The baby's favorite thing to kick is the most uncomfortable thing for mom, the bladder

*Napping is severely under appreciated in the USA

*Squeezing through tight spaces is a thing of the past

*Second hand stores have super cute and mostly hardly used maternity clothing (no need to spend $35 a shirt or more at Motherhood)

*The baby's heart beat is the most beautiful sound in existence

*The baby is soooo cute even when it is just a blob looking thing on an ultrasound screen

*Falling in love with the baby happens long before the baby is born

*Worrying about the well being of the baby also happens long before birth

The most important thing I have learned is...

*It is completely and totally worth it (Only 18 1/2 more weeks until parenthood!)

So Ummm Suprise!

For those who don't know. I bet you weren't expecting this.



Yes, Randy and I are expecting, but we are a bit further along than just finding out. So here is the story. Many of you know that Randy and I have experienced a bit of the sorrow that comes with infertility and with miscarriage. We had actually started the process of getting a reproductive specialist. They believe that I have polycystic ovaries (PCOS) (making getting pregnant very difficult). Well about a month prior to our first appointment, I start to feel weird. I often felt weird due to crazy hormones with PCOS, so I ignored it. I kept getting my hopes up that we were finally pregnant over the past year, that I was getting a little sick of having them dashed by negative pregnancy tests over and over again. So I finally gave into to my hopes (not really believing that there was any possibility that they would be true) and took a pregancy test. To my utter suprize, the test was very positive. I believe I all but fell over in shock. Randy was at school at the time and was unaware of my hopes or that I had bought a test. So I called him and told him that I had seen something really cool and I took a picture of it for him to see. I waited all day for him to get home. I almost went crazy. When he walked in the door, I handed him the camera and he saw the above picture. He looked at me and said something to the effect of "your joking right?" When I told him I wasn't we both sat down and cried. It was just so shocking and unexpected. Due to my irregularity, we had no clue how far a long we were. We could have been anywhere from 4 weeks to 2 1/2 months along. So we called up the Birth Center (my OB/GYN) and got an appointment for an ultrasound to determine gestation and to make sure everything was okay with the pregnancy given my history of miscarriage. So this was what we saw at the ultrasound the following week.






Everything looked great. We were estimated to be about 6 weeks along. We were beyond thrilled, but we were also very worried that something would go wrong. I was much more worried than Randy because miscarriage, although difficult for would be Dad, it is horrific for would be Mom. All dreams and hopes and wishes crushed and followed by lots of pain and misery and sad hormones. The idea of telling everyone and then having something go wrong and having to tell everyone "nevermind" was too difficult to fathom. Thus, our secret began. We had to tell family because we needed their support in prayers for things to go right and in hugs if things should go wrong. Work for me had to find out rather early on too given my job as a nurse and the bad exposure I could be forced into if work didn't know any better. But other than that, we have been remarkably hush hush. So don't feel too left out. Anyways, the reason we are "letting the monkey out of the sleeve" as Randy would say is that secrets have a way of growing.



This is me at 18 weeks. We are now 20 weeks. I will have more "preggo" pictures of me later. Today was our ultrasound and no, we did not find out if it is a girl or a boy. We are willing to take guesses if you want to guess. I think it is a girl, Randy thinks it's a boy. We have the names picked out for each so we are prepared. We plan on doing everything neutral so it won't matter which sex our child is. Anyways, the ultrasound went great! Everything is developing normal and the baby is healthy and perfect. A lot of the pictures look the same, but they are all a tiny bit different, so we posted them all.









So this little bundle of joy is expected to arrive around June 8th, 2009. You can't take our names okay... So the names we have picked are... JD Lyle (after my grandfather and Randy's late father) or Jolee Sarah (after our moms JoAnn and LeAnn and after my grandmother). So anyways, we will be posting a whole lot more on the pregnancy front now that the monkey is out. Stay tuned.

Answer for Aubrey

In order to speed up your blood donation you first need to prepare. The day before and the day of you need to drink plenty of water. (Well hydrated, fast flow). Then when you are in the bleeding stage of donation, ask for a squishy ball and squeeze regularly and strongly to keep up the flow. My longest time is 6.5 minutes and shortest is 4 minutes 55 seconds (that was difficult to pull off though). I encourage all to donate blood. Believe me, it is needed and used. My patients' require blood all to frequently at work. Hurray for the Red Cross.

For Carolina

Our email address is swannsnest@gmail.com. If anyone ever wants to contact us, Randy is an obsessive email checker and you may be able to get a hold of us faster via email than via phone. Hehehe.

Goofy Swanns

Just goes to show, we can only be serious for so long

Hair no more

Oh, by the way, I chopped all my hair off. Well, not on purpose. The lady cut it about 2-3 inches more than I was asking for, so I am experimenting with new ways to do it.

Another Utah Trip

Our trip to Utah had several stops on the way. The most important stop was in Goodyear. We stayed for a couple days with Jeremy and Stephanie Swann (Randy's brother) and our adorable nephews, Tyler, Tristan and Turner. This stop was very much so planned and important. All of the boys got names and blessings. It was such an uplifting and wonderful experience. I am so grateful to be a part of the Swann family and to be able to share in such a great memory.


Jeremy, Stephanie, Turner, Tristan and Tyler (from back to front, left to right)

Turner giving one of his super cute grins

Me and Turner (I love being an Aunt!)

Sandy and Randy (the redheaded children of the Swann flock)


Randy and I then continued our drive up to Utah for the first week of January. On the way we slept in a very ugly motel in St. George (oh well, it was cheap). It started to snow a few hours after we arrived at my parents and didn't stop for 3 days. I totally got my fill of snow and I think I will be good for another 3-5 years. The next super important part of our trip was due to my brother, Russell, getting his mission call to serve in Russia. We were able to be there with him when he got his endowments in the Provo Temple. The next day, we drove to SLC and went to the Salt Lake Temple. It was a very spiritual vacation for Randy and I. I love my family so much and it was even worth the cold and long drive to see them.
Max playing in the snow
I am working on building a snow man (I was super cold so I am in my Dad's parka, if you look hard enough, I am somewhere in the blue bunch of material)
Max and I working more on the snow man
Red berries in the snow, so pretty
Randy with snow in his hair (oh and he is wearing the scarf I made for him for Christmas)
Russell the furture Russian Missionary
Chonkiri loved the snow

Dad, Mom and Russell in front of the SLC temple
Me and Russell outside of the SLC temple
Us love birds
Max at the planetarium in SLC
Russell moon walking
Future Elder Ellsworth (the third, if you count my immediate family, Dad was the first, Clint is the second)
My last look at my parents house as we drive away, I could have cried I wanted to stay so bad
We saw this sign in Vegas and had to take a picture for Russell.

The Sad Story of the Snowman

Here is my brother Max telling about what happened to our snowman we built on our last trip to Utah. Warning, it is not pretty, don't let your little ones see it.

Randy's secret addiction

Randy loves to play solitaire. A while ago he got this score and was quite impressed with himself so I copied it so he could remember it and to share it with you. If you can't see, he scored 7800 points in 98 seconds.

Donors

This is so Randy and I. I have an average of 5 minutes, occasionally Randy can can it down to 4 minutes and 45 seconds, but usually we tie. I laughed so much at this comic, because this is what we do when we donate together. I have donated about 2 gallons and Randy is somewhere close to that.

What is in a Wordle??

My instructor spent a few days last week in a technology conference learning new stuff and become more familiar with old stuff. One of the things that was presented was a wordle. You past a document into the appropriate spot and tell it to create. The program then chooses words, scrambles them and creates an image. Below is a wordle that I created using the text from a talk that was given at a funeral that Sarah and I recently attended. See what you think.


You can create your own wordles. Just Google wordle and have fun!!