On January 1, I set some pretty tough resolutions for myself:
1. Pay off my Visa card.
2. Pay off a loan from grad school.
3. Lose 20 more pounds or get pregnant, whichever happens first.
I succeeded! I met every goal!
I started couponing in March after being inspired by the show "Extreme Couponing." The savings added up fast and I was able to pay off my Visa card by May even though I didn't think I would be able to do so until at least October.
Two months later, thanks to couponing and the absence of a Visa bill, I paid off my loan!!
I thought the third resolution would be the most difficult because it involved losing weight and/or perfect chemistry (haha!). At the beginning of 2010, I was the heaviest I'd ever been: 205 pounds! Woof! I spent 2010 watching what I ate and working my buns off, literally. By our wedding in August, I was down 20 pounds and at the same weight I was when Ryan and I started dating in 2002. Between our wedding and March 2011, I lost 10 more pounds and was back to the weight I was senior year of high school: 175! I was well on my my way to reaching my weight loss goal for the year when we became pregnant!!!
I totally accomplished my goals for 2011! Go me!
I have some big resolutions for 2012:
1. Pay off my MasterCard.
2. Lose my last 11 pounds of pregnancy weight and then lose 15 more pounds. End goal weight: 160! (That's freshman year of high school!)
3. Run a 5k with Logan in a jogging stroller. This will be my toughest resolution thanks to some post-pregnancy complications, but I'm not going to let anything stop me from being a healthy wife and mother. When Logan was still in my belly, I promised him I would be a healthy, active, mommy so I could keep up with him. It's up to me to have a healthy family!
You still have one more day to meet your goals for 2011! Good luck to all of you in 2012! Happy New Year!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Christmas Crafty
Well, thanks to the early delivery of our sweet baby boy, the time I intended to spend on Christmas crafts was cut a bit short. I'm happy I was able to get our apartment decorated thanks to the help of a special elf: my sister! Today, I managed to make Christmas dinner for us and my in-laws!
I am very proud of the gift tags I made. These are made from card stock that I trimmed, punched, dunked in chamomile tea, then baked until they were dry. I like the aged look. I think I'll make these again soon but with a darker tea. Ryan thought our gifts looked "fancy" this year!
I am very proud of the gift tags I made. These are made from card stock that I trimmed, punched, dunked in chamomile tea, then baked until they were dry. I like the aged look. I think I'll make these again soon but with a darker tea. Ryan thought our gifts looked "fancy" this year!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Life with Logan
Life with Logan has been awesome! As hard as it was for Logan to spend his first week in the NICU (for us and him), we were grateful for all the awesome nurses teaching us how to take care of him. As soon as we knew his health was on the upswing, we looked at the time as a learning opportunity. Neither of us had ever spent real time with a newborn (or a baby at any age, really) and we could count the number of diapers we'd changed on one hand. Thankfully, my Mom was here for Logan's first few days home and she helped us through some of the rough spots while keeping our apartment clean and making an awesome Christmas outfit for Logan.
Since Logan has been home...
Oma changed his first diaper on his new changing table.
He's had many, many bottles, which means a lot of burping. Logan thinks burping is very weird and he makes the cutest faces while it's happening.
We've snuggled a lot.
Logan had his first sponge bath.
He's helped daddy not fall behind at work.
He's slept a lot.
He took his first baby bath (after his umbilical cord stump came off on Aunt Dani). He loves the tub!
Aunt Dani visited. She cooked for us all week, put up our Christmas tree, and spoiled Logan with love.
It's really hard for us to put Logan down, but when we do, this is how he spends his free time.
Our days have been filled with smiles and laughter. We just can't get enough of our little Logan!
Since Logan has been home...
Oma changed his first diaper on his new changing table.
He's had many, many bottles, which means a lot of burping. Logan thinks burping is very weird and he makes the cutest faces while it's happening.
We've snuggled a lot.
Logan had his first sponge bath.
He's helped daddy not fall behind at work.
He's slept a lot.
He took his first baby bath (after his umbilical cord stump came off on Aunt Dani). He loves the tub!
Aunt Dani visited. She cooked for us all week, put up our Christmas tree, and spoiled Logan with love.
It's really hard for us to put Logan down, but when we do, this is how he spends his free time.
Our days have been filled with smiles and laughter. We just can't get enough of our little Logan!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Logan's Birth Story
If you read our last post and have followed our blog throughout our pregnancy, you know there has never been a dull moment with this pregnancy. That remains true for the story of Logan's birth.
On Friday, December 2, I awoke to mild contractions. They weren't strong enough to time so I wasn't concerned. I planned on spending the day in bed just like my doctor instructed the day before while I was in labor and delivery with high blood pressure. Throughout the day, the contractions did not increase in strength or duration but the pain in my abdomen increased and remained constant. By the time Ryan got home from work, which was actually pretty late because he knew he had a lot of work to do to prepare for our induction Monday, I really wasn't feeling well. In addition to the pain in my abdomen, I couldn't eat anything and I had the chills. Even after a hot shower and Ryan being sweet enough to blow dry my hair, I was still freezing. Ryan thought to take my temperature and it was 101.4! Time to call my obstetrician!
We were instructed to come in to labor and delivery right away. We had a feeling this was it, so we took our overnight bags and baby supplies with us this time. As expected, my blood pressure was still high. What was unexpected was how high Logan's heart rate was: 200-218! That is so dangerous for such a little guy! After seeing Logan's heart rate and applying pressure to my abdomen, our OB determined I had an infection and our sweet boy would be delivered that night. Since his heart rate was already so high and there was no telling what type of infection I had or what the extent of it was, an induction was out of the question.
At 2:58am, on Saturday, December 3, Logan Patrick Joyce was born via c-section, weighing in at 9 pounds 1 ounce, and 21 1/2 inches long.
He was just perfect at birth! His APGAR scores were fantastic and the surgical staff was surprised at his size for being only 37 weeks, 5 days. They said there was no way he was going to fit through the birth canal (it was clear by the shape of his head that he had been trying) and we probably would have ended up with a c-section regardless.
I will never forget the look on Ryan's face when he saw our beautiful boy for the first time. At first, there was the look of shock and I could tell he had accidentally looked down at me, but then, his eyes became an entirely different shade of blue and I could see his smile glowing through his surgical mask. I knew he was in love. When the nurse brought him around the curtain, I started to cry. He was so beautiful. They pulled Ryan away from me briefly and had to remind him to take pictures of the things I couldn't see. The nurse took the camera to take our first family picture. As Ryan held our son, I just stared at him and said, "we can name him Logan, he looks like a Logan."
Since it was clear I had some sort of infection, Logan was taken to the NICU for a thorough examination. As the surgical team was finishing the procedure, a doctor returned from the NICU to tell us that Logan had taken a turn for the worse and his beautiful color had turned gray. They needed to do a spinal tap and begin antibiotic treatments immediately. We told them to do whatever they needed to do to make him healthy.
We were both terrified. Our brand new baby boy was in danger and we were helpless. I was still open on a surgical table! Even though Ryan knew he was just as terrified and feeling just as helpless, he said all the best things he could possibly say to keep me calm. Ryan was amazing. As they wheeled me away to recovery, Ryan joined me briefly. When Logan was about three hours old, Ryan was finally taken to see him. He was in an isolet with an IV in his heel and little stickers on his chest monitoring him. Aside from the tubes and wires, he looked good. When Ryan reached in to touch his hand, Logan squeezed and held on tight. We knew he was a fighter.
A few days later, we received the results of Logan's blood cultures and the culture from the placenta. It turned out I had a group B strep infection in the placenta. It affected Logan but didn't infect him, thank goodness. The infection wasn't present in any of my prior labs. My doctor thought the bacteria probably colonized somewhere inside me when I had a urinary tract infection in October and made their way into the placenta when I started dilating. The antibiotics I took for the UTI probably gave Logan enough resistance to fight the infection. Just like I said, we knew he was a fighter!
After 7 days in the NICU, Logan was released with a perfect bill of health!! We were so happy to bring our sweet, strong, little boy home. He is the best Christmas gift we could ever ask for!
On Friday, December 2, I awoke to mild contractions. They weren't strong enough to time so I wasn't concerned. I planned on spending the day in bed just like my doctor instructed the day before while I was in labor and delivery with high blood pressure. Throughout the day, the contractions did not increase in strength or duration but the pain in my abdomen increased and remained constant. By the time Ryan got home from work, which was actually pretty late because he knew he had a lot of work to do to prepare for our induction Monday, I really wasn't feeling well. In addition to the pain in my abdomen, I couldn't eat anything and I had the chills. Even after a hot shower and Ryan being sweet enough to blow dry my hair, I was still freezing. Ryan thought to take my temperature and it was 101.4! Time to call my obstetrician!
We were instructed to come in to labor and delivery right away. We had a feeling this was it, so we took our overnight bags and baby supplies with us this time. As expected, my blood pressure was still high. What was unexpected was how high Logan's heart rate was: 200-218! That is so dangerous for such a little guy! After seeing Logan's heart rate and applying pressure to my abdomen, our OB determined I had an infection and our sweet boy would be delivered that night. Since his heart rate was already so high and there was no telling what type of infection I had or what the extent of it was, an induction was out of the question.
At 2:58am, on Saturday, December 3, Logan Patrick Joyce was born via c-section, weighing in at 9 pounds 1 ounce, and 21 1/2 inches long.
He was just perfect at birth! His APGAR scores were fantastic and the surgical staff was surprised at his size for being only 37 weeks, 5 days. They said there was no way he was going to fit through the birth canal (it was clear by the shape of his head that he had been trying) and we probably would have ended up with a c-section regardless.I will never forget the look on Ryan's face when he saw our beautiful boy for the first time. At first, there was the look of shock and I could tell he had accidentally looked down at me, but then, his eyes became an entirely different shade of blue and I could see his smile glowing through his surgical mask. I knew he was in love. When the nurse brought him around the curtain, I started to cry. He was so beautiful. They pulled Ryan away from me briefly and had to remind him to take pictures of the things I couldn't see. The nurse took the camera to take our first family picture. As Ryan held our son, I just stared at him and said, "we can name him Logan, he looks like a Logan."
Since it was clear I had some sort of infection, Logan was taken to the NICU for a thorough examination. As the surgical team was finishing the procedure, a doctor returned from the NICU to tell us that Logan had taken a turn for the worse and his beautiful color had turned gray. They needed to do a spinal tap and begin antibiotic treatments immediately. We told them to do whatever they needed to do to make him healthy.We were both terrified. Our brand new baby boy was in danger and we were helpless. I was still open on a surgical table! Even though Ryan knew he was just as terrified and feeling just as helpless, he said all the best things he could possibly say to keep me calm. Ryan was amazing. As they wheeled me away to recovery, Ryan joined me briefly. When Logan was about three hours old, Ryan was finally taken to see him. He was in an isolet with an IV in his heel and little stickers on his chest monitoring him. Aside from the tubes and wires, he looked good. When Ryan reached in to touch his hand, Logan squeezed and held on tight. We knew he was a fighter.
A few days later, we received the results of Logan's blood cultures and the culture from the placenta. It turned out I had a group B strep infection in the placenta. It affected Logan but didn't infect him, thank goodness. The infection wasn't present in any of my prior labs. My doctor thought the bacteria probably colonized somewhere inside me when I had a urinary tract infection in October and made their way into the placenta when I started dilating. The antibiotics I took for the UTI probably gave Logan enough resistance to fight the infection. Just like I said, we knew he was a fighter!
After 7 days in the NICU, Logan was released with a perfect bill of health!! We were so happy to bring our sweet, strong, little boy home. He is the best Christmas gift we could ever ask for!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Never a Dull Moment
There has never been a dull moment with Baby J! A nurse totally called it when we were in the hospital at 26 weeks. She said babies with low placentas are special because they almost didn't exist, but at the last minute, they decided to hang on and be a baby instead of a period. She also said, from the way he was kicking and squirming already, he was going to be quite the handful and would demand our attention all of the time. I think this is absolutely true. He has been perfectly healthy, but I feel like I bled just enough to be forced to relax and focus on him from 26 weeks to 34 weeks, then as soon as I was able to be on my feet, doing things around the house and running supervised errands with Ryan, my blood pressure began to rise just enough for me to have to relax again and focus on him again. For the last few weeks, we've been able to see him on sonograms and hear his little heart beat at least twice a week during non-stress tests.
Yesterday morning, we settled in to have my blood pressure, baby's heart rate, and my contractions monitored for 30 minutes. Baby's heart was great and we had a few sporadic contractions, but my blood pressure readings were troubling. My normal BP is 120/80, but between 7:45am and 8:15am, I had the following readings: 138/84, 128/94, and 134/94. Not good. Fortunately, I'm not showing any other symptoms of preeclampsia, but the specialist thought it's probably hypertension and wanted to see what my OB thought at our appointment with her later that morning. Our ultrasound showed a great level of amniotic fluid, a big active baby, and an aging placenta which looks like it belongs to a mature 39-week-old baby. With my blood pressure, baby's size, and state of the placenta, the specialist thought it wouldn't be likely that we would be pregnant beyond the 38th week.
We left that appointment, got some breakfast at the hospital cafeteria, and went to our second appointment of the day with the orthopedic specialist to check on my floating thumb. Everything looked good there so we headed up to our OB appointment. After spending a good amount of time relaxing in the waiting room and drinking plenty of water, my BP was 140/100! The appointment pretty much ended right there and we were sent up to labor and delivery (for what is now our third visit!) to have my BP monitored for a few hours and do some other labs.
We were freaking out that we might end up delivering that day; not at all what we expected when we woke up in the morning! During my pelvic exam, we learned that I was already 50% effaced and 3 cm dilated! I'd been having sporadic contractions but they hadn't been painful, so that was surprising as well. Our nurse commented that, in case we needed it, the hardest part of having an induction was already over since I was already at 3.
My lab results were all good; no signs of preeclampsia. My blood pressure improved, but wasn't great, when I laid on my side and my contractions remained sporadic. Giving consideration to my unstable blood pressure, aging placenta, baby's size, good lab results, and progress already made toward delivery, my OB and specialist decided it would be best to come back on Monday to be induced if labor didn't intensify on it's own over the weekend. Yesterday was definitely eventful, but Monday will bring us the most eventful day of all! We are so excited (and nervous) to meet our baby boy! We can't believe we'll be parents next week!
Yesterday morning, we settled in to have my blood pressure, baby's heart rate, and my contractions monitored for 30 minutes. Baby's heart was great and we had a few sporadic contractions, but my blood pressure readings were troubling. My normal BP is 120/80, but between 7:45am and 8:15am, I had the following readings: 138/84, 128/94, and 134/94. Not good. Fortunately, I'm not showing any other symptoms of preeclampsia, but the specialist thought it's probably hypertension and wanted to see what my OB thought at our appointment with her later that morning. Our ultrasound showed a great level of amniotic fluid, a big active baby, and an aging placenta which looks like it belongs to a mature 39-week-old baby. With my blood pressure, baby's size, and state of the placenta, the specialist thought it wouldn't be likely that we would be pregnant beyond the 38th week.
We left that appointment, got some breakfast at the hospital cafeteria, and went to our second appointment of the day with the orthopedic specialist to check on my floating thumb. Everything looked good there so we headed up to our OB appointment. After spending a good amount of time relaxing in the waiting room and drinking plenty of water, my BP was 140/100! The appointment pretty much ended right there and we were sent up to labor and delivery (for what is now our third visit!) to have my BP monitored for a few hours and do some other labs.
We were freaking out that we might end up delivering that day; not at all what we expected when we woke up in the morning! During my pelvic exam, we learned that I was already 50% effaced and 3 cm dilated! I'd been having sporadic contractions but they hadn't been painful, so that was surprising as well. Our nurse commented that, in case we needed it, the hardest part of having an induction was already over since I was already at 3.
My lab results were all good; no signs of preeclampsia. My blood pressure improved, but wasn't great, when I laid on my side and my contractions remained sporadic. Giving consideration to my unstable blood pressure, aging placenta, baby's size, good lab results, and progress already made toward delivery, my OB and specialist decided it would be best to come back on Monday to be induced if labor didn't intensify on it's own over the weekend. Yesterday was definitely eventful, but Monday will bring us the most eventful day of all! We are so excited (and nervous) to meet our baby boy! We can't believe we'll be parents next week!
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