Update

i finally heard back from my doctor this morning and as of now we are scheduled for a c-section on tuesday, february 7th. they are going to continue to monitor my amniotic fluid level and if it goes below 5 cm (i'm currently at 7 cm), they will move up the date. this friday they are doing another ultrasound, an NST (no stress test) to check her heart rate and then i will also see my doctor. if anything changes, i will update again. thank you for all the thoughts, kind words and prayers!

ang

Baby Belly - 37 Weeks

a few more photos of the baby belly!

will update with any news tomorrow. good night!

Baby Girl Update

just a quick update on baby girl. i had my 36 week appointment last wednesday...all went well at the regular doctor visit, but my weight gain was still on the low end (and i had actually lost 2 pounds since my last visit as i was sick with a flu-bug on monday). my doctor decided i should have an ultrasound to check on baby girl's weight and growth since i hadn't had one since 20 weeks. to our surprise we found out that she is in a frank breech position (butt down, feet folded up by her head)! the doctor was very surprised as she really thought she was head down based on where she was hearing her heartbeat. the good news was that she appears to weigh about 6.5 pounds and is now up to the 49th percentile (she was only at the 30th at 20 weeks). they also decided to measure my amniotic fluid level and unfortunately it is low (around 8 cm...if it gets down to 7.5 cm, it's considered the bottom 5th percentile). they are checking the level again tomorrow morning at 7:00 and if it has dropped lower, i will most likely be having a c-section early this week (i'm thinking tuesday as that is my doctor's day for scheduled c-sections). if it stays stable or goes up, they will continue to monitor me. we're now at 37 weeks so all should be fine, but obviously the longer she bakes inside of me, the better! regardless of what happens, it's looking like she'll be delivered via c-section since the fluid level is so low and my weight gain is on the low end...basically there's just not much room for her to flip back around. after talking to numerous girlfriends that have had c-sections, i'm very comfortable with this and kind of like the whole 'planned' option.

needless to say, we were quite surprised to find all of this out! it's been a whirlwind ever since...we cancelled all of our weekend plans (thanks for understanding jules, maddie and ulstad family!) and had my mom come up to help finish up with preparations. i tried to tie as much up at work as i could on thursday and friday (just in case i'm not back!) and heath has been busy putting together bassinets, car seats, etc. our adventures continue!

we'll keep everyone posted. please keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers.

love, ang, heath, cruz & baby girl!

18-Month Appointment

cruz had his 18-month appointment today and he continues to grow and flourish! here are his stats:

height: 31.75" (25th-50th percentile)
weight: 22.6 lbs (3rd-10th percentile)
head: 18.25 (25th-50th percentile)...he just got a haircut last night so they said this number is a little smaller than last time, but they weren't concerned

his vocabulary is rapidly expanding and he loves to talk!

34 Weeks & Counting....

here are some long overdue pics of me & baby girl belly! i am now 34+ weeks and time is flying by. cruz's new room is almost ready - we're hoping to get his crib built today so we can start moving his things in there. the spare bedroom has officially been moved to the basement. baby girl will be here before we know it!

it's cold out there...stay warm!

Minnesota Christmas!

christmas weekend was spent as a family here in minnesota. we had so much to be thankful for and were so excited to spend our first christmas together. unfortunately, cruz got hit with the sick bug once again! poor little guy! we got a call from daycare on friday morning that he was running a low fever so heath went and picked him up...he was super daddy as i was enjoying a long-overdue morning at the spa! thank you daddy! friday afternoon and saturday morning he didn't seem too bad - we were actually thinking he was maybe getting more teeth. we went to a contemporary christmas eve service at our church at 4:00 and then came home for dinner and our own little family christmas. cruz ate and then we decided to open gifts...he was kind of into it - starting to realize he had to tear the paper off to see what was inside. he opened a couple things that night and we saved the rest for santa. after he went to bed, heath made us a delicious lobster tail dinner! we exchanged our gifts to each other that night...i must have been extra good as i got a kindle fire and an espresso maker! and baby girl even got me the new coldplay cd...aww! heath got a new wedding band from me (he never did find his after losing it at a golf tournament in august)...not sure how excited about that he was, but oh well!

christmas eve pics:

on christmas morning, cruz woke up very stuffed up and congested. he had another low grade fever and you could tell he didn't feel very good. we brought him down and showed him what santa brought, but he didn't get overly excited. we got him dressed and ready to head to grandma & grandpa johnson's, but the poor kid just wasn't himself. he was crying, i was crying...i was so excited for his first christmas and it wasn't turning out as i had hoped! mix that with being 33 weeks pregnant and i was a bit of a mess myself! we packed up and headed south to owatonna to try to make the best of it. we had a great time with my family and all of us were plenty spoiled with wonderful gifts, including baby girl. cruz was grandma's boy once again and didn't leave her side very often!

there wasn't any snow so santa had to come on his harley!

one last snuggle before bed:

after a long, fun day of gifts, food and games, we called it a night. poor cruz was up several times and woke up feeling miserable. we ended up packing everything up in the morning and heading straight to urgent care back in woodbury. he was diagnosed with another ear infection and they were concerned about his wheezing and breathing so we were sent home with a nebulizer. they also did a chest x-ray on him (no fun!) to make sure he didn't have pneumonia or rsv. the doctor felt he didn't have either, but we had to go back the next day to check his oxygen levels again. thankfully, they were much improved and he was on the mend.

by about thursday night, he was back to his normal, fun-loving self:

we hope all of you, our dear friends and family, had a wonderful christmas and wish you all the best in 2012!

love,
angie, heath, cruz & baby girl

Iowa Christmas!

this past weekend we celebrated our first iowa christmas with cruz! we were able to take friday off and hit the road about 8:00 that morning. i was a little worried about how cruz would do on a 5.5 hour road trip at the 'antsy' age of 18 months, but he was a ROCK STAR! he slept for about 2 hours in the morning and then we stopped at panera in waterloo for lunch. the last 2 hours to eldridge flew by and he did great, chatting away in the back seat. we stopped at grandma & papa reedy's first thing and he was so excited to see grandma jill again! he hung out with her while heath and i ran a few errands and got checked in at the hotel down the street. that night we headed over to heather & nate's and celebrated christmas with heath's immediate family. cruz had a blast playing with his cousins quinn (8) and gage (5.5) and loved being auntie heather's little 'lover'! we're so glad the weather cooperated so we could spend some quality time with all of them. on saturday we headed out to the wheatland community center for the big ahrens' family christmas celebration. cruz got to run around with his cousins and heath's cousins' kids and had a fun time...though he didn't let grandma jill get too far out of his site! she finally got him to lay down and nap for a bit, despite the chaos that surrounded him. it was fun to see everyone again and spend time with jill's family. we headed back to the hotel that night and let's just say i now know why people (parents of young children!) recommend getting a two-room suite in a hotel! cruz seemed to get his second wind when we got back and didn't want much to do with sleeping when we put him in his pack & play! heath and i laid on the beds in the dark for about a half hour before he finally fell asleep (and so did heath!). sunday morning we got up and hit the hotel swimming pool for a while before heading back to mike & jill's for a short visit before hitting the road again. cruz did awesome on the way home as well...yay! all in all, a great weekend!

cruz in a box!

presents!

sisters-in-law!

cousins! gage, cruz & quinn

merry christmas! love and hugs to all of our family in iowa! thanks for a fun weekend!

heath, angie & cruz