I think Chloe is already trying to test her limits...

Chloe is a very active baby. Our first ultrasound she was just moving and wiggling around the whole time, but she is also a very stubborn baby. For instance whenever my doctor checks her heartbeat she tends to roll around and turn on her back so my doctor has to work to get a good reading. She also likes to lay up high near my ribs and push on my ribs and it hurts, but after a few seconds of pressure from me she will move out of the way for a few minutes, but that uncomfortable feeling was nothing like what I felt last week during my 29th week.

I had woke up on a Saturday and thought maybe I just slept on my side wrong because my left side hurt. Zach and I had decided that that Saturday was going to be a day all about us because we had been doing a lot of running around and having family in town, going to see family and just plain busy. We were going to go see 2 movies and hunt for Noble Roman’s breadsticks. (which are the best breadsticks if you haven’t had them before) We were also going to go to the mall so I could get in some good walking since it is so hot outside. The pain I felt wasn’t too bad and it was more sore than anything. After we went to our first movie and had lunch my aches and pains seemed to get better so I thought that surely I must have just pulled a muscle or something in my side. We had a great time at the movies and even though our hunt for Noble Roman’s breadsticks was unsuccessful we still had a great time exploring the east side of town, which I’ve never ventured over to.

That Sunday the nesting set in because I was cleaning out the pantry, kitchen and various closets to make room for Chloe’s things. I felt really good and that pain in my side was very minor. I just tried to keep myself busy and not think about it, which worked most of the time. Then the work week rolled around…I woke up Monday a little stiff and sore, but nothing too bad. As the day progressed the pain in my side got worse and worse. I finally took a Tylenol towards the end of the day because I was just a little grumpy with the pain. The Tylenol helped a bit and I started to feel better, but when I got home I couldn’t shake the pain. Now I was thinking that I must have strained my muscle while cleaning out the closets. I put a warm heat sock on my back and tried to relax.

Tuesday was pretty much the same except by the time I got home from work all I wanted to do was just lay down and hope that this pain would go away. I had a dilemma because the pain was on my left side which is the side I’m suppose to lay on to make sure that Chloe gets the most oxygen and blood flow that she can, but that is the side where my pain was and it wasn’t comfortable to lay on that side. I decided I would just rotate sides every 10 minutes or so, but whenever I would move to my right side I would worry that I was hurting Chloe so I ultimately just stayed on my right side. I fell asleep early that night, but then by 1:30am I was wide awake and in a bit of pain. I tried walking around the house, I went and got some milk and then finally I decided to try and tough it out and go lay back down with my warm heat sock. I lied in bed awake until about 3:30am. I knew that Wednesday would not be a good day.

I woke up Wednesday and man was I sore. I didn’t know if it was because of my lack of sleep or what. All I knew was I was really sore. I decided that I would take my heat sock to work and help relieve some of the pain. I also decided that I would take Tylenol every 6 hours if needed because I was sick of this pain. I made it through the work day without much pain, but I did use my heat pad a few times and I tried to stand up and walk a few times. I got home and sat on the couch, but sitting on our cushy couch was not helping my pain and it seemed to make it worse. So I layed down, on my left side of course, but that didn’t seem to help at all. In fact, it seemed to make things worse. I got out the heating sock, but that didn’t help either. At this point I was at a loss and I was all by myself as Zach was still working. And then when Zach did finally get home I just couldn’t handle anything. I was just in tears because it hurt so bad to sit, stand, and lay down. I kept asking him if this is what he thought the last tri-mester was going to be like. Of course I knew he didn’t have the answer, but I just wanted him to say “no”. The rest of the evening I was in quite a bit of pain and I took Tylenol around 7pm to help, but it only dulled the pain a little. I was just trying to take deep breaths and relax and sit up straight. I knew that on Thursday we were going to go to the Chiropractor so maybe it would help or he could tell me what was up with my back. In the back of my mind of course I was playing out all my unrealistic worries. I knew that my mom was coming over the weekend and when my sister was pregnant it was around this time that my other sister and mom had visited her and then she ended up going into labor, so I was worried my mom was cursed or something. I also knew that I had been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing and “nesting”. According to what I’ve read a lot of people say that comes on about a week before you go into labor. All of these things swirling around my head with the clear fact that I tend to over-react easily, which was not a good combination.

I woke up on Wednesday around midnight and I tried to get up out of bed, but I couldn’t. It hurt too bad. So its now time to get some reinforcement. I decided that since Zach didn’t have to work the next day that it was okay if I woke him up. I quietly started to say his name and tap his arm and wake him up just to see how asleep he really was. He was asleep, but he woke up within a few seconds. Then the waterworks came. I just started crying and telling him that I was in so much pain and I don’t think I can do this for the next 11 weeks. He of course just asked what I needed him to do and get and how he could help. I being the unrealistic person just said I need you to fix it. Of course this banter when on because I wasn’t being much help but just telling him things like “fix it”, “get Chloe out of me” and “I can’t do this”. He finally just took the initiative and went downstairs got me my heat sock and Tylenol and water and came back upstairs. I was able to calm down a bit and I sat up straight against the wall, which for some reason helped. I put the heat sock on and took the Tylenol. After about a half hour of me sitting there. I then asked him if he thought I should try laying down or just try falling asleep sitting upright. He just looked at me like I was crazy and said lay down. So I layed on my left side and being the good husband that he is he was rubbing my back and my side to help with the pain. I fell asleep rather quickly and when I woke up on Thursday. I was a completely different person. All of the pain was gone and I could just pop out of bed and get ready for work. The pain never returned and when we went to the Chiropractor he said that my kidneys were back there and it was more than likely something or someone..cough cough…CHLOE…cough cough…was pushing on my kidney. I’m not sure if she can reach my kidneys or lay on them, but I do think something was going on with my kidneys as it was tender to touch those few days as well.

Zach’s conclusion was that Chloe is getting back at me and doing jumping jacks in my belly because I tend to do jumping jacks while I am sleeping and in turn pushing Zach to the edge of the bed. My conclusion was that Chloe must have been feeling neglected by Zach because as soon as he started rubbing my side and my belly on Wednesday night she calmed down and didn’t hurt me anymore. The jury is still out and I’m going to ask my doctor this week to see if in fact Chloe can push on my kidneys and what she thinks of the pain I had. I still am convinced it must have been something that Zach did because clearly I’m perfect! :)

26 weeks down!

Wow! July was a great month. It has been quite warm in Arizona this past month so we have spent a lot of time in the pool at Sabrina and Adam’s house. We’ve been working a lot on getting the nursery put together as we got the crib and a few other items to finally make it look more like a nursery. Jeremy and Mandi also came out on their long drive from California to Texas. We spent a great evening with them just catching up, playing the Wii and of course having a great meal. Then Zach and I made the trip to Texas, by plane of course! It was a great few days just spending with the family and friends. We had a lot to celebrate since Jeff turned 21, Jeremy is out of the Marines and then of course Chloe. It was also great just to have the whole family together as it isn’t very often we are all together since we are all in different cities and on different schedules. Zach and I must be doing something right because the weather was perfect in Texas, which never seems to happen when we have visited the past few summers. We spent a lot of time in the pool and around the pool which made it great as well. While we were in Texas we also had a baby shower which was so fun. A good majority of the extended family was able to make it and a lot of family friends came out for the celebration as well. We are still shipping gifts back to Arizona as we received a ton of things for Chloe. I would have to say that Chloe was definitely spoiled on her first trip to Texas. Our trip was a blast and we were so excited that we were able to find a time when all the boys were home to come out to Texas. After we got home from Texas Jenna’s dad came out to Arizona for a few days. We had a nice time laying around the pool and having an easy going visit. It was also nice for us because the monsoons came to town so we had a lot of good rains over a few days. It really cooled off the hot July.

We had our 26 week doctor’s appointment and it was not a fun one. I think it was my least favorite appointment so far. At this appointment I had to do the Glucose test to make sure I don’t have pregnancy diabetes. So I had to stay away from sugar the whole day before and couldn't eat anything the day of my test. Luckily my appointment was in the morning and I was done by 10:30am, but the even worse part was that in order for them to test my sugar levels they had to draw blood. I was not excited about this. I didn’t even try to sit in the chair I just told the lady that I don’t do well and I need to lay down or I would pass out. I did pretty well considering I didn’t pass out, but Zach said that while she was putting the needle in my arm my eyes rolled back. He had a good laugh at my expense. I don’t have the results back yet, but I’m hoping I don’t fail the test as I will have to do a 3 hour test and they will take my blood 4 times in those three hours! Other than that my appointment was normal. I am measuring at 27 weeks so I either had way too many strawberry cupcakes in Texas or Chloe is just really growing. Maybe we will have an October baby and she will have a beautiful birthstone. I’m anxious to start seeing how Chloe is measuring as the weeks go by. Just 13 weeks and 3 days to go until my due date! I can’t believe how fast the time is going.

22 Weeks!

No protein shakes for me! I finally gained weight and my protein is up enough so I don't have to drink any kind of nasty shake. Chloe has really started moving around as well. I've started feeling little kicks and punches and twitches. By now we are suppose to hear her heartbeat through a regular stethoscope, but we haven't tried. Zach was listening to my belly and he was convinced he could feel the pitter-patter of a little heartbeat. I wasn't convinced because how can you decipher my heartbeat from the babies. Sure he was listening at my belly and not my heart, but still. I let him believe it was Chloe's because I'm not sure it wasn't.

I also tried to have peanut butter again to see if Chloe likes it yet, but she doesn't. Zach had made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and he put a little peanut butter rather than the normal amount hoping I wouldn't taste it as much. That didn't work. I still could only think about the peanut butter and after the first bite I was just trying to get the second down. I thought that maybe if I put Cheetos in between the two pieces of bread then the peanut butter would be toned down, but I was wrong. The good news is that Chloe still really likes spicy things and McDonald's cheeseburgers so I guess if peanut butter is the one sacrifice I have to make then its worth it!

Nursery

Well we had a great weekend. We worked on getting the Nursery ready and we think it turned out pretty good. With Zach being off on Thursdays and Fridays he did a lot of the work while I was at work during the day, but Saturday and Sunday we really finished it up. The room where the nursery would be was already painted a bright blue and we wanted to keep it that color regardless of if the baby would be a boy or girl. Since we found out we were having a girl we just decided to dress it up with accents of pink, purple and green. The bedding we will get is a bright green with monkeys so we thought it would all work out well together. We decided to put one of the monkeys on the wall to really tie the theme together. Zach being the wonderfully talented person he is free-handed the monkey on the wall in about 15 minutes. I was amazed. He just taped up a 8x10 picture of the monkey and drew the monkey by just looking at the picture. It was amazing. We are really happy how the room has turned out and we can't wait to complete it with the crip and all.

Drumroll please...

Today was our ultrasound where we could find out if we were having a boy or a girl. I've been anxiously awaiting this day for weeks and it was finally here. I have thought all along that we were having a girl and of course Zach thought we were having a boy.

We went back to the ultrasound room and laid down at the table the tech put that wand over my belly and bam there was our baby with legs open wide to make sure we would know if the baby was a boy or girl. Sure enough the mama was right because we are having a GIRL! Chloe Kathleen Batsche will be her name and we are ecstatic. We've been set on that name since before we were pregnant. I'm not sure where Chloe came from I think we just heard it somewhere and just really liked it. Kathleen is from my great-grandma also known as Tomy. I just didn't think it sounded right to have Chloe Tomy Batsche and since Tomy was a nickname we opted for Kathleen.

After we found out we immediately started getting the word out and pretty much the general idea was that everyone was shocked. With the amount of Batsche boys in Zach's family everyone was convinced it would be a boy. Nope, they were all wrong.

During the ultrasound "Chloe" was not wanting to cooperate at first...well after she let us find out she was a she. The tech started looking for her organs and taking measurements and everything and Chloe was moving around so much it was hard for the tech to get what she needed. After about minutes of constant movement Chloe's legs kicked around like she was throwing a little temper tantrum and finally gave in. We saw her kidneys, heart, arteries, bladder, brain, spine, toes, eyes...we saw everything. She even started posing a bit with her hand under her chin and we all laughed a bit at it. The ultrasound tech kept saying that she isn't shying away from the camera now.

It was amazing how much you could really see, but it was also a little creepy because she doesn't have much meat on her bones so she looked a little like an alien. There is one picture that is really creepy and the ultrasound tech even made a comment that she won't put that in our set of pictures, but of course my husband decided that he wanted the creepy alien picture. He says he's going to use it to embarrass Chloe when she is older.

Now it is time to plan the nursery!

Pic 1 & 2 are 3D images where you can see Chloe posing with her hands under her chin and pic 3 is just a regular image showing a side profile of Chloe waving.

17 Weeks Down and 23 Weeks To Go!

Well, today was my monthly check-up with my doctor. We were able to hear the heartbeat, but it took the baby a little bit of time to cooperate. The baby kept moving from side to side and flipping around so my doctor couldn't get a good reading on the heartbeat. At one point my doctor said that she thinks the baby just turned his/her back on the doctor because the heartbeat was really quiet. Finally, and by finally I mean like after just 5 or 10 minutes we were able to get a good reading. The babies heartbeat was at 140 which I guess is normal for a baby. So I guess the old wives tale of the heartbeat predicting the gender is out since the heartbeat is suppose to be below 140 to be a boy and above 140 to be a girl.

The good news is on June 10th we are suppose to find out if the baby is a boy or girl. Zach is convinced it will be another Batsche boy, but I'm not too sure. I just hope that our baby cooperates during the ultrasound so we can actually see if it is a boy or girl. If the baby doesn't cooperate then I know it is God teaching me patience..oh I really hope that's not the case!

I did find out a bit of bad news though...from my last appointment to this appointment (5 weeks) I have lost one pound. You may be thinking "Why is this a bad thing?", and I'll tell you why. If I don't start to gain wait at the right pace then they are going to recommend, and of course by recommend I mean force, me to drink at least one supplement shake a day. Think something like Ensure. YUCK! I tried to explain to the doctor that I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that all I want is fruit and before I was pregnant I could care less about fruit. So take the added fruit and add in the 2 liters of water I have to drink a day and then subtract the soda I use to have, it's no wonder why my body is re-distributing my weight. Even after telling her this she still said if I'm not where I need to be by the next appointment then I'll have to drink a shake.

Okay, so I guess the news could have been worse. Check back in a few weeks and we will hopefully be able to let everyone know what gender the baby will be and I can stop calling the baby "it".

Glorious Milk!

So my first trimester is over and I was a little saddend that a switch didn't magically go off and all the things that made me nauseaous would taste wonderful to me now that I am out of the 1st trimester. In my 1st trimester milk and dairy made my stomach churn and that was a real bummer since every morning I would have a big cold glass of milk with my breakfast. Then my paranoid side came out and thought "oh great, my baby is probably allergic to milk." I had to trade my glass of milk in the morning for a glass of orange juice. Most people would think no big deal, but all I could remember is what the lady that worked at the dentist office with my mom would tell me. She use to tell me that when my mom was pregnant with me all she wanted was orange juice and that is why I had red hair for awhile. It made sense to me because no one in my family had red hair and where did this red hair come from. I told my mom this a few weeks ago and she tried to reassure me that drinking orange juice will not make my baby's hair red. I still kinda think it might.

So you can imagine that this morning when I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and without thinking poured a tall glass of milk I was a little shocked. After I poured it I thought "Oh well I guess we will see if the baby likes milk yet." And ya know what...the baby does! I drank that whole glass without my stomach churning or being nauseaous. I love milk. I'm so glad that now I can drink it again and hopefully my paranoia will be calmed about the orange juice making my baby's hair red and the lack of milk meaning my baby is allergic to milk.

On a side note...peanut butter is still not on the baby's list of likes. I just get nauseous thinking about it. Oh well, maybe some day I will be able to have my favorite PB&J sandwiches again...