Here's a picture of Daniel and my best friend's baby, Rebekah...Daniel is 7 weeks old and Rebekah is only a week old in this picture. She's absolutely beautful, just like her mommy! I'm jealous of all her hair too! She's almost back up to her birth weight already of 8#-5.4oz, her mommy and daddy are doing awesome with her! Daniel is 11#-3oz now and I'm pretty sure he's going through a growth spurt right now by how often he wants to eat all of a sudden. :-)

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(4-30-08) Daniel's hospital stay at one month old...he was admitted for low oxgen levels. The chest x-ray showed that he has pneumonia. We should be able to go home tomorrow morning as long as he does well without having the oxygen on all night tonight. So he had to stay in three nights...poor little guy! And he has an ear infection on top of all the junk in his lungs. He was a month old yesterday...not quite what we thought he'd be up to at this young of an age. :-(

(-: IT'S A BOY!!! :-)

3D Ultrasound pictures from 26.5 weeks. They verified that it's still a boy. :-) I've heard too many stories of them guessing wrong, so I asked alot...just to make sure. :-)

Ultrasound pictures from 20 weeks. Baby was appoximately 12 oz. They changed our due date to March 29th at the ultrasound. We're so EXCITED that it's a boy!!!

Me & my best friend...I'm 21 1/2 weeks in these pics, and she's 15 1/2 weeks along with her little boy or girl!

Amanda and me. I'm 24 weeks in these photos, she's 18 weeks. Hannah was saying hi to her baby brother!

Amanda at 26 weeks, and me at 32 weeks...Charlie's Angels!

Hi there! We just had our second baby!!! Our first baby, Hannah, was 17.5 months when he was born. We wanted a big family so we figured, why wait? Right? :-)

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******Dan with Hannah*****Me with Hannah******

We had our first baby appointment Oct. 3 at Salem Women's Clinic. We got to hear the baby's heart beat for the first time, got all our labs out of the way, and got our ultrasound order so we can schedule it for 20 weeks. Our next appt. is going to be at Salem Nurse Midwives...we figured we'd go there instead of the Women's Clinic cuz of all the legal stuff going on with them. No reason to stay at a clinic that won't be able to deliver our baby. So we'll have to go to Silverton Hospital now for the delivery...hope that goes well. Supposed to be one of the best or maybe even the best birth center in the state. :-)

I started to feel the baby's first little flutters on 10-8-07. I was so excited, didn't quite believe it since it was pretty early, but then I felt it again the next morning and it made a believer out of me. I wasn't just making it up...yay! We got to hear the heartbeat again 10-9-07 over at a friend's house. She has a doppler for her pregnancy. It was slow...125. So as the ol' wives tale goes...that means it's a boy. We'll find out on Nov. 13th what we're having and I can hardly wait!

(10-15-07) It's our daughter's FIRST BIRTHDAY today! We went and got pictures taken of her at Sears and they're SOOO cute!!! Also...My best friend just got a doppler to hear her baby and she invited me over to listen to ours too. The heart beat was faster today, 148...so who knows what we're having? :-) It's all just fun and games to try and guess anyways. :-) It was fun to hear the little squirt tonight, and with us pushing the doppler, I felt a flutter kick back at it. :-)

(10-24-07) We had our first appointment at the new clinic...we met with one of the midwives and got the exam out of the way and got the ultrasound scheduled too. :-) It'll be on Nov. 13th, and I can hardly wait to find out what this little baby is! We let Hannah be a surprise and so we wanted to find out with this one and see which one we like better...Knowing or not knowing. :-) I don't really have any clue what it could be right now. I did have one dream about us finding out at the ultrasound that it was a girl...so we'll see. With my first baby I kept having dream after dream about having a baby girl and so I just KNEW she was a girl...with this pregnancy I've only had the one dream so far...

(10-31-07) HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! We took our 12 month old daughter out trick or treating tonight and then came home and had dinner and watched a movie with my best friend and her husband. She brought her doppler over so we got to hear her baby and then finally found our baby. She's a pro with her doppler, found it right away with her baby and it took me FOREVER. :-) She's letting me borrow it for a couple days to practice up on how to find it. :-) It'll be fun!!! Tonight the baby's heart beat was ranging around 150.

(11-3-07) Heard the baby's heart beat twice yesterday cuz my best friend lent me her doppler for a couple days, then we both got to hear our babies tonight. :-) YAY!!!

(11-5-07) We got to hear the baby's heart beat again tonight with my best friend's doppler! It was about 147-150. It kicked pretty hard at the doppler and scared me...it was kinda funny. :-) This little one is getting alot stronger!

(11-13-07) We had our 20 week ultrasound today! Everything with the baby checked out just fine. It's amazing what all they can look at...all the chambers of the heart, the brain, the kidneys, stomach, bladder, bones, etc. She found everything she was looking for, so I guess that's a good start. :-) She found an "extra" part too...IT'S A BOY!!! We're so excited!!! I was really hoping that it'd be a boy so we'd have one of each and Hannah will still be daddy's one and only little princess. :-)

(11-2007) Had a prenatal appt and everything was just fine. Heard the heart beat and scheduled our next appt...not a very long appt at all. Ultrasound results came back to them and everything was normal...but we already knew that. :-)

(12-18-07) We had a prenatal appt and everything checked out just fine. I only gained two pounds last month, so yay! She said I had a jump last appt, so it was just fine that it was only two this time. We measured at 25 weeks, heard his heart beat, and finally remembered to tell the midwife that I am still riding horses. Wasn't ever a problem with my first pregnancy, but I figured they should know just in case they ever feel that I should stop riding during this pregnancy. Our next appt. will be the one hour glucose test, so that'll be a nice and long and boring appt. :-) At least I've always passed with flying colors so I never have had to do the three hour test! Our 3-D ultrasound is on Dec 31st, I can't wait!

(1-8-08) We had our last appt at Salem Nurse Midwives. Did the normal check the heart beat and measured fundal height, then we did the one hour glucose test. Passed that part just fine, didn't pass the iron test. They said that my iron is really low and that I should take a supplement, but I already have been taking the max amount of iron...

(1-29-08) We found out that the midwives that we used to see were able to deliver again at the Salem Hospital, so we switched back to them and will be able to deliver in town instead of Silverton. :-) Had our first appointment with them, weight was fine, blood pressure was fine, measured at 31 weeks, heartbeat was 143, and then she saw the results from my iron levels from the other clinic and got pretty concerned. She said that as low as it is right now, if I lose much blood during delivery, I'll be a candidate for a blood transfusion...so she said to eat lots of red meats and I'll be on a liquid iron supplement now instead of tabs. It's supposed to get into your system better I guess...we'll re-test my levels in a month.

(2-12-08) We had our second appointment with Willamette Valley Midwives tonight. Got more questions answered, measured just right, heard his heart beat, got our lab order form to re-test iron levels, and got pre-registered with the birth center.

(2-15-08) Went in to get labs drawn, as long as they're good, we will find just out the results at the next appointment, otherwise they'll call us if there's a problem.

(2-16-08) Had a little bit of a scare this morning...nothing too bad, but I was having pretty bad contractions every 4-5 minutes for about 45 minutes. I couldn't even move during them cuz it hurt too much, and my back was getting really sore too...my back hasn't really bothered me at all this pregnancy except for this morning. I did what you're supposed to do though, I stayed laying down until they stopped, which ultimately they did...so it was just a bad case of Braxton Hicks I guess, nothing like I've ever experienced with either of my pregnancies before, so I was really hoping that I wasn't starting labor. We're 34 weeks, so he probably would be just fine if he was born, but my husband had just caught a flight to California, so if something were to happen, he was still in the air on his way down south...but we're all good now, it didn't happen again this morning, so phew! I have to say, it motivated me to get everything ready for when we go to the hospital though. :-)

(3-3-08) Had our baby appt today. Got the strep B test done, so we'll find out results next week since we go in weekly now til he's born. I brought my iron up a whole point in just two weeks, which is twice as fast as they thought it'd go up, so the liquid iron supplement is helping. He's not coming out any time soon from the sounds of it. He's still really high in there and his back is along the wrong side, so other than being head down, he's not in position at all...at least he's got the head down part taken care of. Breech delivery wouldn't be fun. They're going to start stripping membranes starting next week (37 weeks) to try to speed things up a bit so I don't go past my due date again. But...they tried stripping membranes last time too and it didn't do a darn thing, so who knows...we'll probably just end up being induced again.

(3-8-08) BABY SHOWER!!! My friends threw a baby shower for me on Saturday at a pizza place in town. It was really fun to visit with everyone and watch the kids play, and it was fun to have the guys there too. We had pizza and cake and played a couple games and just had a great time! We got a bunch of cute little boy clothes for baby Daniel, we got a crib/changer combo from our closest friends, and my parents got our daughter a camelot princess bedding set since her brother will be using her old room when he's born. It's closer to our room and is already decorated neutral since we didn't know what Hannah was til she was born, so we made her new room all pink and girly and she loves it over there. We set up the new crib in her room so we wouldn't have to take the other crib apart and move rooms with it, I did give the new mattress to the baby so he'd get something new out of the deal. :-) We were going to have her just take naps in her new room for a couple days before having her spend the night in there, but she took her nap so well that we went ahead and had her spend the night back there right away and she loves it. She even knows that's where she gets changed now too...today she ran back there and said "UP" and I didn't even know she was dirty, but she was, she knew it too and she knew where to go now to get that fixed. :-) We're excited, everything is pretty much ready for this little guy once he decides to get here, we just have a few more items that we need to pick up since we'll have two babies now...wipes warmer, diaper pail, humidifier, and a hamper for Hannah's room since he's taking over her's. :-)

(3-10-08) Well we just got back from a baby appt. today. I was all excited about going to it cuz we were told last week that this week we would be filling out a birth plan, getting our strep B results, and they were going to check dilation and strip membranes since we'd be 37 weeks...well none of that happened, we had a different midwife today and she said that the results weren't in yet for the strep, the birth plan form wasn't finished, and that she doesn't check dilation or strip til 38 weeks...so yeah...next week we'll probably end up with yet a different one and who knows, maybe they'll say we have to wait til 39 weeks! Nah, it's not too big of a deal to wait an extra week, I was just so excited and then so dissappointed that nothing happened that I thought was going to today. She offered to do it anyways, but I got the feeling she didn't want to and I'm not one to jump up on the table and be excited about spreading my legs to people I barely know and she'd already asked me why I was in such a hurry so I felt kinda dumb. My stretch marks are getting worse by the day. He was at least on the left side today, so more in position for delivery, but she said that he can still move back and forth all he wants for quite a while. Also, last week we were told that she wasn't going to let us go so far over due this time, but today (different midwife) we were told that they can induce at 41 weeks as long as I'm already starting to dilate and thin out, but if not, they just wait til I am ready...I really hope I'm ready sooner than later...

(3-14-08) I've had a couple times in the last two days that I've some really light spotting. :-) Not that it's anything exciting, but something in the right direction. I was up on my feet alot both days, so that's probably all it was, but I haven't spotted at all this pregnancy til now that I can remember...so who knows. We have our appt. on Monday and if they actually check for dilation this time maybe we'll know more, if not, we'll figure it out when labor begins I guess. :-)

(3-17-08) Had our prenatal appt today. They checked us and we were 1 cm dilated, 20% effaced, and baby was at a -2 station. So, we still have a while to go, but nice to know that SOMETHING is starting to happen. :-) She stripped membranes today too, and WOW that hurt. They did it with my first pregnancy, but not near as good as this midwife did. They did it really fast, she grinded around for "30 seconds of pain" she said. So hopefully it'll help...

(3-20-08) Yesterday I started losing my "plug" and still losing big parts of it today. So I guess her "stirring up the pot" the other day DID help. I called to get the Strep B results since we forgot to ask at our appt. and it was negative this time, so YAY! I'm not a fungus this pregnancy! It's nice to know that we can stay home as long as we want to once labor starts now rather than having to go hurry into the hospital to get Penicillin. Our first pregnancy we had it, so it was kind of an added stress knowing that we'd have to rush in for that. But we're all clear this time around, it can change every 4 weeks, that's why they test at the end of each pregnancy.

(3-24-08) Had another prenatal appt today. Hopefully our last one if we're lucky. :-) We saw the same midwife that we saw last week, so that was really nice. We really like her. We are a little farther dilated now, she said she'd give us between a one or a two now. We're a little more thinned out, he's still not engaged, but she said that's not a big deal since he's a second baby. She said that your first baby "blazes the path" for the next ones. She stripped membranes again and OUCH it hurt, but there's more to come and she does it really well, so we're hoping it helps. :-) She got blood this time, hopefully that's a good sign. So we're hoping to go into labor soon...due date is now only 4 days away since it's techincally the 25th now, I just haven't gone to bed. :-) She said that if it were up to her, she'd induce around the 7th of April if we go over our due date...not all the midwives there will agree to that though. One of them prefers to wait for a full two weeks, so we'll see who we get for our appt. next Monday if we're still pregnant...

(3-27-08) We have two more days and who knows if this little guy is actually going to come out on time or not. The night before last I actually thought I was going into labor. I was having contractions every 4-7 minutes for an hour and a half before I finally convinced myself that it was just early labor and I should go to sleep. I figured once the contractions got stronger that it'd wake me up...well I woke up a few hours later just having to pee was all. Dissappointing, but oh well. When I got out of bed in the morning I was SOOOOO sore, felt like I had fallen off of one of my horses, I think it was just cuz I was having contractions throughout the night. I took a shower and that made me feel better and loosened up the sore muscles, then I went back to bed and got lucky enough that my daughter slept in until almost noon! She usually wakes up around 10:15, so it was a really nice surprise to get to sleep that much longer. Last night I had some contractions, but nothing as regular as the night before so I didn't time them. Had some "yuck" start coming out the night of the 25th, all day the 26th, and then I still have it coming out so far today...so who knows...I don't know if it means anything or if it's just cuz she stripped membranes again on Monday. Hopefully we'll get to meet him tonight! :-)

(3-28-08) I'm not sure yet, but I'm thinking maybe I'm in the early stages of labor right now cuz I really just don't feel all that great today! Cramping, contractions that woke me up throughout the night last night and I had to breath through them, and brighter bleeding today...mostly just the contractions and cramping that comes along with them is what's so uncomfortable. We'll see. They're not regular by any means, but they are starting to stop me in my tracks until the contraction is over. I hope this is it, but I also thought that Tuesday night was it since I was having so many contractions. Different kind of contractions then, these ones make me have to stop what I'm doing. I really hope that this is it, I've heard of people having hard contractions like this for a week or two and then finally having their baby...I hope that's not going to happen to me! We'll see...

(3-29-08) HE'S HERE!!!

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IT WORKED, WE HAD A HANDSOME BABY BOY!!! :-)_____________________________________________________________________________________________