The decision

So, I think I have made the right decision about the birth of the baby. I want Landon to be able to come on his own, so if that leads me to a c-section then that is what I am going to do. I know that enducing isn't the best decision for the baby or for me so I don't really want to do that. The lady I used to babysit for said that she had almost died from the stuff they gave her to enduce her, so I am changing my mind on that route. Besides that my mom was enduced with my brother and it was much harder on her and she felt bad for him because he just wasn't ready to come out.
Even though it's going to be hard and even more uncomfortable I have decided to let Landon come on his own. My due date is the 15th of March so if he still hasn't come by then I will talk to the doctor about having a c-section on the 17th so Daniel will get his little Mc baby on St. Patricks day. He has been wanting him to come on St. Patricks ever since we found out our due date. I figure if I have to have a c-section it won't be so bad since we arent planning on having a ton of kids and Landon is likely to be an only child. If we have a c-section on the 17th then he will be over his 40 week mark as well.
Landon still hasn't dropped and is really high...but we will see what happens. If he comes on his own that will be best. I know he will come when God wants him to, for now I will be fine with him getting stronger even if it is hard on me.

My boy

I would have to say Landon is Big little Landon. You may be saying that that is an oxymoron but in retrospect he really is little but at the same time I can tell he is getting really BIG!
I woke up this morning and it seemed like his head was pretty low....I thought to myself 'wow maybe he dropped!' but then I tried to see where the top of my belly is blown up and I was like....nope I guess not. He is just really BIG!
Seems like when he does decide to drop I am going to become even more uncomfortable than I already am. During the day I want to get things done around the house, yet if I am on my feet for more than 2-3 hours without sitting down all of my weight seems to weigh down on my heels and my feet become sore. I really dont want to lay around all day so I just have to deal with some pain and swelling. I can't imagine how many times I will have to go to the bathroom once he drops. I probably shouldn't think about it. :P.
Well, please pray for Landon's arrival...we know it will be very soon and Im hoping that my pregnancy will not end with a C-section.
Thank you for all of your love and support you have shown me through my whole pregnancy...I really appreciate it.

Looking towards week 38

Today I had my Doctor's appointment. Daniel and I had a ton of places to go today and I tried to tell him what would work best for the route since we had so many places to go to save time and gas. We went from home to Chase, Chase to Target, Target back home (to get Daniel's phone he accidentally forgot), from home to Robeks, Robeks to Desert Schools, Desert Schools to the Doctors office, to the hospital, to Chipotle, to Anna's Linens, to Sprouts, then to a different Anna's Linens then finally home!
As you can see I had a lot of places that I wanted to get to today and I survived them all. I say this because I cannot be on my feet for a long time anymore. After about 1 hour of being on my feet my legs, ankles, and feet swell up and I look like I should be on The Biggest Loser. I can't wait to get my body back to normal!
So, you are probably wondering what happened at the Doctors office and why Daniel and I went to the hospital today. Well, we went through the norm at the OB/Gyn and I was wondering how much things had changed since last week. I was 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant today but once again Landon measured at 38 weeks. So he is still measuring ahead of schedule. I was told that I am almost 3 cms dilated now and still about 80% effaced. I was asking the Doctor "so once I'm 100% effaced that's when I'm in labor?....he said "well, you can go into labor before 100%". He was like maybe we should make a plan for the birth.
As we talked a little bit he basically let me know that he doesnt really want me to go to the full 40 weeks because since Landon is so big already I may not be able to get him out and then they would need to do a C-section. I dont really want a C-section but if Landon doesnt come on his own soon...I think the only other option is to enduce. With all of this said I just kind of looked at the doctor and said... I dont know what to say. The thing was I didnt know what to say because all of that is HUGE. I didnt really know what to do because I really want him to come soon...but on his own. So I will be waiting until next weeks appointment and see what happens. If Landon still decides that he is too comfortable like his Mommy was at birth I will be talking to the Doctor about enducing.
With all that said, we walked out of the Doctor's office and I told Daniel 'that may be the last time we are in there, maybe one more time if Landon doesn't come before next week.'
We went over to the hospital because I needed to find out a price for something that AHCCCS doesnt cover and to fill out the admitting paperwork so we wont have to do that when I am actually in labor. I was happy to find that now they have the paperwork I will basically get right into the hospital, get a room, and they will bring any paperwork that I need to sign, to me.
Looks like we are on the smooth ride home now. I am very happy to see that everything seems to be going perfectly and the pain that I have had is not unbearable. If I can take flying off of my dirtbike, getting cactus in my hand, and getting my leg stuck in between the tire and exhaust of my dirtbike I think I can handle having a baby. Not to mention that this will be a lot more rewarding in the end too.

We made it !!!

My mom is so good at making things look cute and elegant!

Landon giving my friend Trista's baby a kiss!
Landon's drawer full of goodies from the baby shower and from Daddy!
Some of the onesies made for Landon at the shower yesterday.
Daniel has already hung the NY Yankees mobile for Landon and I put his sleep positioner in the basket he will be sleeping in.

Well, we made it...we made it to 37 weeks with Landon, so if he were to be born anytime after this point he would be considered full term and most likely be able to come home with us after he makes his debut.
We also made it through yesterday, which was the day of my babyshower. I say this because Friday night I was not feeling too good and did'nt know if Landon would try to show up on the day of my shower while Daniel was up in Prescott golfing with a friend. That would have been a little bit of a disaster, but he was a good boy and was very good for me while my mom put on a wonderful babyshower for me.
I feel very blessed to have such a great family and wonderful friends too. Everyone was so nice and very generous to baby Landon, and let me tell you....it was like Christmas for Landon yesterday.
We were blessed with a stroller, bouncer, thermometers, aspirators, crib sheets, lullaby soother, NY Yankees mobile, pacifers and rattles, a bumbo seat, a changing pad cover, tons of clothes etc. It was absolutely incredible how thoughtful and generous everyone was to our sweet baby boy! I can't tell you how thankful I am for their generousity.
My mom bought blank Nike onesies for everyone to be able to decorate at the shower. Landon has some cute personalized onesies made especially for him and even my little nephew Drew, who is now almost 5, made him a special onesie. Drew is very excited for Landon and says he can't wait for him to come out and play with him and smile at him.

Daniel's surprise baby shower

Yesterday, Daniel told me that he had to go over to his Dad's house to help his dad with taking stuff to the auction to get rid of some of his parents belongings. So I planned on him being out for a while and kept my phone by me while he was out.
Well, he took longer than expected and we were on the phone with each other as he drove home. I had been keeping myself occupied and time really flew by. When he got home he said to me "my dad gave me more stuff to put onto Ebay" but when he walked in he wanted to wish me a happy baby shower and had a ton of stuff for Landon.
That really topped my day because one good thing was happening right after the other. 1. My Doctor's office discounted me for the two appointments I had without insurance. 2. AHCCCS sent me a letter that I wasn't expecting saying that they were approving me for coverage. 3. Daniel surprised me with a bunch of stuff Landon needed before he comes.
So a lot of you may be wondering what happens now that I have AHCCCS. Well, since I figured I was going to be denied we went ahead and got CINERGY insurance as our last resort. So now what will happen is that our bills will be billed to CINERGY and then the difference should be picked up by AHCCCS. I felt very blessed with what happened yesterday. It just goes to prove how God provides even when we aren't expecting it.

LP update

Most of you probably have no idea what I am talking about.... what in the world is LP...well, that's Daniel's nickname for Landon. Stands for Landy poo. Haha. Kind of cute and funny. Today we went in for Landon's check up and we found out a few things.
Landon is still for sure a boy! And to that comment there is no doubt about it...the lady that gave me my ultrasound in October was right and my Doctor today proved it to us. I am now 2 centimeters dilated and have already started thinning out. Landon's ultrasound went well and the Doctor said he is over the 90% tile for his weight. Even though I know I am in my 36th week and not further than that Landon's measurements were coming out 37-about 40 weeks along. I think one of the measurements taken even said 40 weeks 5 days! I was like dang...he could come any day then. The Doctor was like well, we don't want him coming now because he wouldn't be matured to the estimated amount of weeks that it is showing. Since he is 36 1/2 weeks he will come out matured 36 1/2 weeks. I want him to stay in longer, yet I think he is going to have daddy's head from what the ultrasound looked like and he is already weighing 7 lb.s 14 oz! I can do this though....and he needs to hold out at least to week 37.
My babyshower is on Saturday and I'm pretty sure he will make it passed the shower date. I had a breakdown today because I almost feel like it's not worth all of my mom's effort because hardly anyone is showing up. I know how hard she works to make things nice and look nice and then found out that there will probably be less than 10 people coming. I told my mom and she said she still wants to throw me one.
After I got off the phone with my mom I came home and started getting things charged up. My battery was just about dead to my digital camera I got for Christmas and the battery was completely dead on my video camera. I put a new mini dv in the video camera, so hopefully everything will work and be ready when he decides to arrive.
Daniel says he feels like Landon has been on vacation these passed 8 months and he can't wait for him to get back so we can meet him. It's just a matter of time now...our baby boy is almost here.

A dream----A scare

The other night I had a dream about Daniel and my baby. I say this in that manner because the baby we had was a baby GIRL! I think I had the dream because Daniel had just been talking to me that day about how excited he was to have a little boy and how blessed he felt being granted a son to carry on the family name. That night I fell asleep and the baby I was holding was a little girl. She had his round shaped face and was a sweet little thing, but I just kept wondering...how could this be? I saw the ultrasound at 18 weeks and I dont understand how there appeared to be something there to prove to us a boy...and now the baby comes out and is a girl?! How does that happen?
Tonight I was online and I came across fetal images and comparisons of what the fetal sex is. There was pretty much no difference between the boy and girl at about 9 weeks, but as the fetus progressed the distinctions became more noticeable....still it kind of freaked me out. We did get the ultrasound at 18 weeks which has a pretty good distinction and I just shouldn't worry because the ultrasound office that we went do was an office for obstetrics. So they pretty much, strictly, just do ultrasounds on pregnant women. The lady we had told us that the baby was definitely a boy because Daniel was very persistent...are you sure, are you sure?! So that was her answer. She even pointed out to him why she was telling us it was a boy so we could see for ourselves.
Now that we finally have the insurance thing panned out and I am now covered I think this is one of the Devil's schemes to try to make me worry about something else. To make me worry that we aren't ready...having all boy stuff and having the name Landon up in his room and in his scrapbook that I've already started for him.
Wednesday, we have one of our last Doctor appointments. The Doctor is planning on giving us an ultrasound to check up on the baby and the size he has grown to, to get a good idea of things. This will be really great to see our little boy again and make sure he is ready to go for when he decides he wants to meet Daniel and I.

Valentine's day for our baby boy!

A little glimpse of what Landon would probably look like if he were born today.

Tomorrow marks my 36th week! It also marks that day that my insurance coverage kicks in...so if Landon can hold out for about 8 more hours we will be home free!!!!!! This has been such a long awaited process and I am so glad that we made it.
I really would love it if Landon makes it to at least his 37th week because they say that a baby is considered full term at the 37th week and because my babyshower is in exactly one week, but if he were to be born after today I wouldn't worry too much.
Today Daniel and I went to Ikea. I know Valentine's day is supposed to be about love, but I know that my husband loves me and he knows that I love him so instead of buying each other chocolates, candy, and flowers, etc. I told him we didn't need to do anything. I told him that "I love him everyday." So anyways, the story behind Ikea is that Daniel took me out there and he bought stuff for Landon and Landon's room. Landon didn't have a dresser because he has a little rolling drawer that I keep his clothes in but we found one at Ikea for a good deal that will be muli-purpose. We also found a baby bath tub for really cheap and got a clock that matches his room.
Tonight Daniel and I are having his dad over for a Pot Roast dinner that I have been cooking all day and then later I will make Pazookie with vanilla ice cream on it.
Hope you all have a good Valentine's Day as well!

Night time

My nights can get kind of interesting and painful sometimes. Last night was not the best and unfortunetly my poor husband had to listen to me and lose sleep over what I was going through. Thankfully my husband is very loving over what I am going through and knows that it won't be too much longer until this is over.
Most nights I fall asleep before Daniel, this is kind of an unfortunate circumstance for him because some nights I snore...an unbareable snore. I figure this is happening because since my stomach has become so big I can no longer sleep on my stomach. I have been sleeping on my stomach my whole life, so I figure that because I am having to sleep in a different position it is causing my snore. Not only do I snore but sometimes I wake up sleep talking to him. Though I am awake enough to know that I am talking I do not make sense. It's like I try to make sense yet the words that come out of my mouth don't. One night I woke up and held out my hand and told him to take "Sparky" (Sparky is the ASU SunDevil mascot). There was nothing in my hand!
Today I found out that last night I not only woke up and started my sleep talk but I was snoring so bad Daniel almost had to sleep on the couch. Then I woke up later and I think I kind of scared him because I was having some pretty bad pain and was holding my stomach. I had to tell Landon that he has to stay in longer (my coverage doesn't start until Sunday). Then I would keep waking up having been sweating throughout the night, or needing to go to the bathroom.
All of these things seem to be telling me that Landon is getting ready for his arrival...and very soon. When you have to call you husband from another room to pull you off the floor just from the sitting position because you are too heavy that seems to be a sign to me. Please pray that Landon continues to become stronger and healthy before he decides to see the world. :)

5 year anniversary!!!

It has been exactly 5 years to the day when I learned of my wonderful husband. It was Monday, February 9, 2004 and I was a senior in high school. Life hadn't been the greatest for me and I had been going through a lot of depression and emotional hardship. My dad had just been released from being in the hospital about 1 week before and at the same time I had been very depressed from something else that had been on going in my life.
The school counselor pulled me out of class with a simple note and had me come into the office. She could tell that I had been going through quite a bit and talked to me for probably about an hour or so while everyone else was in class. She pin pointed everything that was bothering me and made me aware of something I needed to do. After I got out of the counseling it was just about lunch time and I spent some of my lunch break walking around, crying, and thinking. The day was kind of emotional and wasn't the greatest for me but I went to my next class and then was off to work.
As I was working away in the medical records room I got a page over the intercom. This was a little bit strange because I never got directly paged over the intercom. I answered the phone and who was it but none other than a girl named Ashley. Ashley was a girl that I had only met about 2 times and was the daughter of an ultrasound technologist that I would shadow sometimes.
Well, Ashley proceeded to say that she had been blow drying her hair and it just hit her to set me up with Daniel. She told me that Daniel was a mutual friend of her and her boyfriend Bryan and how nice of a guy he is. She knew I was single and felt that I would be a great girl for Daniel. She was like: Daniel is really cute, dresses really nice, and has brown hair with bleached blonde tips.
She told me she wanted to give him my phone number but only if I wanted to meet him. What a turn around for me! I let her know that her phone call was just at the right timing and that I had been having a bad day. Her phone call was just what I needed.
That night Daniel called me and we spent hours talking on the phone for the next few days. I would go to school running off of only a couple or a few hours of sleep, but I was wide awake and the happiest I had been in months! Daniel and I decided we should meet before Valentines Day (a Saturday), which was supposed to be our first date at the Coyotes game, but we didnt want to meet on Friday the 13th! So we met for the first time on Thursday February 12th and everything was so perfect....we might has well have been living a movie. The only bad thing was that I was having such a great date that I decided to break my curfew and stay out extra late...which my mom was not happy about when I got home.
Daniel and I quickly fell in love over next few months and captured my heart. I am very happy with the life I have been given today and the precious memories we have together. Soon our little boy will be here and we will have even more special memories to cherish and hang on to.
Today I am especially thankful and blessed for the phone call I got exactly 5 years ago.

Almost there!

35 week old fetus picture. So amazing!

I am almost to week 35 of my pregnancy! That is absolutely crazy. It has been about 30 weeks already since I found out about my precious little one.
Landon seems to be a very big growing boy. My new Doctor has told me that I am pretty lean, but I think he's thinking the baby is getting pretty large because every time he takes the tape measure to my belly he gets his measurement and then starts talking about giving me an ultrasound to see how big he really is. In fact, on Wednesday when I went in for my appointment he measured me and then said "I'm wondering how big this baby is" then he looked at Daniel and said "and I'm sure you are too!"
According to what I am finding, Landon should be nearing 5 1/2 pounds, about 18 or 19 inches and storing more fat on his limbs to help keep him warm when he decides to come out. He is going through the finishing touches of developing and he is loosing out on his space. Lately I think he is getting into a bad sleeping habit. It seems like he sleeps through most of the day and then at night wakes up and wants to be energetic! Last night I was laying in bed and could not fall asleep right away. He was bringing his feet way up near my breast. I dont think he quite got to that point but he was pretty close and that was not very enjoyable. Im not exactly sure how he was creaping up that high! I was trying to pinch the area off so he would stop trying to get that high. I will be going in for my next appointment at about 36 1/2 weeks and getting his ultrasound. I have to wait an extra week because my coverage doesn't take into effect until Feb. 15th.
Thank you to everyone that has been praying for me throughout my pregnancy...I have needed it and now we are almost there!

AT LAST......my coverage has come along...

This is my baby girl. She hated having this on her head so I had to get the picture fairly quick. This picture has nothing to do with this blog but I just had to post it. It was too cute and funny.


Please bare with me through my story...I think I can almost guarantee that I won't be yacking about my insurance situation any longer on here.
It has been almost 2 months now that our situation has been lingering. 2 months of not knowing what is going on with health insurance and of waiting after plenty of phone calls. Well, today has been a day well waited for. We pretty much found out that we weren't going to qualify for AHCCCS. They wanted pretty much anything and everything (of our information) that had to do with money proven to them. After they see everything then they determine if you get their coverage or not. Well, I have to say that Daniel and I have been very blessed in our lives with things that have been given to us and we knew that once they were to review our history they would most likely deny us even though we both don't have jobs right now. Daniel talked to a lady from AHCCCS this morning and he got off the phone very upset. He came out of his office and told me that the lady had started yelling at him. He was like we'll have to do something else because we aren't getting AHCCCS. Luckily we had already looked into a health coverage plan called CINERGY. I'm guessing it's fairly new and they are one of the only company's that will help with women that are already pregnant and need some kind of coverage. It's a really good plan and it isn't too costly. So, with all that said Daniel did a lot of reading up on it, talked to someone from the company and asked the rest of the questions that we had, and with our first payment I am now covered!!! The new doctor I am seeing is in their network and I will still be able to have the baby at the same hospital as planned. My coverage starts on the 15th of this month...so I have to wait 10 days before I can use it...but 10 days is nothing compared to the last 2 months. This coverage is good for my pre-natal, delivery, and post-partum visits. We are so happy...our long wait is finally over! Thank you for all of your prayers through all of this.

5 weeks to go...

I am now well into my 34th week and only have about 5 weeks to go. I'm hoping Landon will get comfortable, like his mommy did, and take his time to enter the world. Time is definitely what Daniel and I need at this point.
Today was my OB appointment and I was very happy to see that the Doctor spent plenty of time with me once again! The Doctor I used to see did not take much time with me and was in and out of the appointment room within about 2 minutes. I had to hurry up and think of what I needed to ask her and then she was out of there as quick as possible. So, needless to say I am very happy with my new Doctor giving me time to think and ask the questions that I need answered.
After my appointment I had to tell Landon what a good boy he is being. He is still up fairly high, his head is still down but the good news is that my cervix is completely closed (which I thought with what I have been feeling that it had opened)! What a relief!... Looks like we still have time!
As Daniel and I ate dinner I could tell there was something wrong or something that was bothering him. When I asked him he said "it's this whole insurance thing,...I have spent about 2 hours reading up on things tonight." I knew the insurance thing had really got to him today because we got some paperwork from AHCCCS. After the paperwork we already submitting they want us to fill out more and jump through even more hoops before they determine if they will give it to us. Daniel had called me up when I was out buying household items and was like "there are like 10 more things they want us to do now and we have to do it by Feb. 12th!" That gives us about 1 week otherwise we will be denied. Luckily I saw a commercial on tv one day...it's kind of weird because I think I have only seen the commercial one time too, but I guess God wanted me to see it. The commercial was for a healthcare plan called Cinergy. It is the only healthcare insurance plan that will cover you after you are pregnant. It wouldn't be as good as AHCCCS but at least I know there is another option in case we can't get it.
So things are still up and down and I can't wait til things level out. I am a planner and not knowing of what is going to happen is not a thrilling part of my life, but I just have to trust God that He is going to take care of this situation. I will keep posting and keep you posted on our insurance situation...in the mean time....please continue to pray for this to work out the best as possible.

That's how I feel...

Recently I have become fairly upset. It seems like over my pregnancy, from early on, one thing keeps happening after another. It has become a snowball effect and the way I seem to be justifying why this stuff if happening is as a punishment for conceiving my son out of wedlock. Some of the things that have happened are probably because too much information has been shared with certain people and it's like I take a punch in the end.
I shared, probably way too early, with my work that I was pregnant and that my plan was to stay at home with my little boy. They knew not to pretty much not expect me back once Landon arrived. Then my body started having episodes and one day I passed out at work, this led to the paramedics and eventually a lovely $500-600 consequence. I continued to work but would have flashes some mornings and had to be careful not to pass out again. With the economy continuing on the decline I was the most logical for the company to get rid of. I had been trying to do things to still be working for them and I will never forget the day that they let me go. I had only been at work for about 30 minutes and had plenty of things to do (which I was fine with because that meant I was making money and contributing) and I was taken completely out of the office and let go. They did it in a way to try to let me believe that they may be calling back to work (an on-call status) but what they were really doing was laying me off because they NEVER called for me to work again.
Of course I moved on with my life and tried looking for different jobs but that didnt work out too well. A lot of the people that I contacted regarding working for them didnt even respond! Daniel was so sweet and let me know that it was fine that I wasnt working and that he would rather have me at home anyway. He took it upon himself and was the only one working (well, I did work around the house) an actual job. His insurance was really good so we had that for my pregnancy. Well, December rolled around, my birthday came, and I woke up sick. That was pretty miserable because as most of you know, pregnant women can take little to nothing for sickness when they are pregnant. The day after my birthday I got another not so lovely birthday present. Daniel called me up and told me that his work laid him off! We were now losing our insurance... YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! What next?!
The whole insurance thing has been up in the air for a while now, but it is starting to become more clear now and it is kind of up to whether or not we are approved or denied for AHCCCS. If we get denied it will just be another thing to pile up on the snowball that has been building over my pregnancy. I will have to figure something out last minute.
I tried to get a small job at my church working in the nursery. I thought that this would be good because I would get some "mommy practice" while making a little bit of money to help with groceries or whatever. After only my second time of working in the nursery my body decided to go through one of its episodes and I could have passed out again, but luckily it was caught just in time. After that day I decided that it would be best if I didn't work in the nursery until after Landon is born....to try to prevent a pass out.
The latest thing that has happened (which I would rather not disclose on my blog) has pretty much just sent me over the edge and I dont know how much more I can take. I am so upset and probably could break down and cry at any minute. It's almost like I've been robbed and in this case there is absolutely nothing I can do about this particular situation. One of the worst things is the person that did it. It's like I just can't stop thinking about it and I wish you could know how I felt right now.
My hope is that soon...or at least once Landon is born I will get some relief, that the snowball will shatter, and that God will see that I've been through enough.