Andrew-isms

Andrew will be 5 months on Saturday and I haven't done a single blog post about him yet! So, I have some catching up to do.

Here are Andrew's 5-month stats:

Height: 25 inches (actual age: 25th percentile. gestational age: 75th percentile)
Weight: 15.2 lbs (actual age: 15th percentile. gestational age: 50th percentile)

I do both the actual age and gestational age since he was born 6 weeks early. It takes about 2 years for kids to grow out of the premature label, so as long as he is on track gestationally that is all I care about. I'm really happy with his actual age percentiles! Up until last month he was in the 1%-5%, so I'm glad he's starting to catch up :)

Andrew's favorite things: This kid is so much fun! I love being his mom! He loves...
~smiling and is generally a very happy baby
~looking at himself in the mirror
~watching me do my hair and makeup (he is very fascinated. He will carefully watch me pull a piece of hair and then watch the straightener or curling iron go through my hair, and then keep eyes on them as I put them back on the counter. He also loves the blow dryer)
~he has a little play-mat-jungle thing where different toys can hang down and he loves grabbing the toys and trying to shove them in his mouth
~tummy time
~eating
~bath-time! This kid loves loves loves his bath
~getting a baby massage. I've just started doing it this past week after his bath and he loves it
~going on adventures. This kid is so easy to run errands with. He is really chill while we are out and about and loves looking around. He especially loves going on walks or runs with me.
~the TV. The first time he saw the TV he was totally captivated. We don't have it on a whole lot at our house, but when it is on he enjoys seeing all the moving colors.
~sitting up. He loves sitting in his bumbo and whenever he is laying down, if I grab his hands he will automatically clench up and try to sit up. He's getting some washboard abs!
~being sung to. We sing lots of songs during the day and I have music playing quite a bit.
~reading books. He loves looking at really colorful pictures.
~talking. He has been blabbing a lot lately and we love it! Lots of ooos, ahhhs, and "guh" sounds.
~playing with mom and dad. He loves being tickled and he loves this little trick that Grant does with him. It's gotten to the point where he will lean back on his own whenever Grant holds him like this. In the video he isn't smiling as much because he is pretty fascinated with my phone haha, but you catch a little smile at the beginning. He usually flails his arms straight out as well--pretty cute :)

We sure love our little boy! :)

Our Apartment in DC

I've had a few request for pictures of our apartment in DC. Now that we finally have everything put away and pictures up I felt ready to post pictures. Enjoy the tour!

Here is the entry way. 

Once you walk in there is the living room and then on the left you can see into our kitchen.

Here's another shot of the front room.

Dining Area

Desk and Piano right behind the family room

Kitchen

We had to get a couple storage racks because there isn't a lot of cabinet space

Down the hall and to the left is the bathroom

Across the bathroom is Andrew's room. Crib courtesy of Mom and Dad Vanderhorst--thank you both so much!

At the end of the hall is our master bedroom.

A huge thanks goes to those who helped us move in (lookin at you Rick and Marnae, as well as Steve and Janae), and a HUGE thank you to my wonderful mom who helped us get settled the first couple of days. It would have taken forever to get unpacked with you!

More posts of our adventures in DC will come soon :)

When Life Didn't Go According to Plan...

We are finally in DC, which means that life is about to go back to a normal schedule. Our family has been in constant change mode ever since Andrew was born, and we've had a lot of things thrown our way. I've been reflecting this past week on the past 4 months and all the changes we've been through (many of them were not planned), but I'm beginning to understand that what the Lord has planned for me is far greater than what I had planned for myself. 

Those of you who know me well know that I like to have things planned and organized. I like to plan out my life in great detail and most times I have an attitude of "This is how everything is going to turn out because I said so." I've been going through quite a learning process though, and have come to realize that while it is good to have a plan, if things don't go according to plan that I can still be happy and trust that the Lord is watching out for me. So, rewind a little before Andrew was born, and this was my plan.

~Andrew would be born no earlier than 38 weeks, and no later than 41 weeks, and would come home with us from the hospital.

~Once Andrew was born, I would take my 6 weeks off for maternity leave and not go back for the rest of the school-year. 

~I was going to nurse Andrew until he was a year old, and it would be an enjoyable experience.

~We weren't planning on getting pregnant until Andrew was about a year old (I'm not pregnant right now, FYI).

Now, contrast this to what actually happened.

~Andrew was born at 34 weeks, and stayed in the hospital for 20 long days.

~I came back from my maternity leave 2 days after my due date and had to work for an extra 7 weeks.

~I nursed Andrew while he was in the NICU, but he wasn't gaining weight fast enough, so he had to have fortified feedings twice a day, which obviously had to come from the bottle. Well, Andrew learned pretty quickly that bottle feeding is much easier than nursing (we didn't know at the time that he was tongue-tied, so I can't blame him) and so he wouldn't nurse anymore. I still wanted him to get breast-milk, so I pumped out milk, and then he would drink it from a bottle. I pumped for 4 months, but then...

~Like I said, we weren't planning on getting pregnant for about a year after Andrew was born. Just as a warning for all those nursing moms who are also on birth control, it is still possible for you to get pregnant...twice. Since Andrew has been born, I've had 2 miscarriages back-to-back. While we weren't planning on getting pregnant, both times we were very excited at the idea of our children being so close in age, and were excited to meet our 2nd child. It has made me so grateful for the child I do have, and I have so much respect for women who are going through miscarriages that don't have any children yet. Going back to pumping for 4 months, 2 miscarriages will completely destroy your milk supply. I was able to come back up from my first miscarriage, but after my 2nd miscarriage, I haven't been able to bring it back up despite putting in the effort. I know if I keep at it that it could come back up, but with Andrew being able to eat formula and digest it well, I've decided I want to spend my time doing other things and have stopped pumping completely. 

Now for the point of this post. I have never ever been good with change. I do not adjust well when things don't go according to plan, so when Andrew was born 6 weeks early, I made a conscious decision to turn to the Lord and ask Him to help me overcome my weakness of not being able to trust and be comfortable with change. When trials come upon us, we can either turn to the Lord or turn away from the Lord. I don't think our trials turn out any differently if we do or don't turn to the Lord, but rather our ability to handle trials and changes, as well as our attitude in handling those trials, is strengthened when we turn to the Lord. If we can get through a trial with a happy attitude and trust that the Lord will lift us, it's not from anything that we've done, but it's everything that the Lord does for us. He truly is our best friend. Because I tried to rely on the Lord, He has helped me adjust to constant change. Now, don't misunderstand me. I am still mourning over 2 miscarriages and frustrated with not being able to nurse, but I can still be at peace that everything is ok, and that just because things didn't go the way I thought that somehow life is terrible. Life is great! I have a healthy, happy son, I'm married to my best-friend forever, and we are off on our own little adventure. Elder Holland this past general conference counseled members with this "I am not asking you to pretend to faith you do not have. I am asking you to be true to the faith you do have. Sometimes we act as if an honest declaration of doubt is a higher manifestation of moral courage than is an honest declaration of faith. It is not! So let us all remember the clear message of this scriptural account: Be as candid about your questions as you need to be; life is full of them on one subject or another. But if you and your family want to be healed, don’t let those questions stand in the way of faith working its miracle." Let me bear my testimony to this point. I do not have perfect faith, but by exercising the faith I DO have, I am happier, more calm, and more at peace when life goes off my planned path. At the end of his talk, Elder Holland invites those who are struggling with their testimony to lean on his testimony. I'd like to make that same invitation. If you're going through a difficult trial, or life is taking you on a path that you didn't plan, know that you can rely on your Savior. Your trial won't be taken away, and it won't change, but your ability to handle that trial will increase, and you will be happier. You will be at peace as you lean on the Savior. I know this is true because I've done it. This principle in my life has been tried and proven to work. Lean on the Lord, fan the flame of your faith, and miracles will happen.

What We've Been Up To...

Wow, I haven't written on this thing in a while. This is the blog post where I catch you up on everything that has happened! Since Andrew has been born it's been change after change, and it's not going to stop until we get settled in Washington DC. I should start back when Andrew was in the hospital.

Andrew had to be in the NICU for 20 long days. To be honest he did a lot better than many of the nurses and our pediatrician expected. He never had to be put on a CPAP or ventilator because he was pretty solid with breathing (although there were a few times when he had to be put on a trace of oxygen), but the only thing keeping him in the hospital was being able to nurse and gain weight at the same time. Being a premature baby is pretty rough, but Andrew is a fighter. Instead of being able to grow in the womb, where you don't have to breathe or eat on your own, premature babies have to learn how to breath, eat, and grow all on their own. Once Andrew had the suck, swallow, breath motion down, he was home within a few days. It was a lot of up and down days, and quite an emotional roller-coaster, but I grew a lot through that experience, and it has definitely made me appreciate Andrew being home (even with the occasional blowouts and fussy days and long nights). Even during those "hard days" it is still so much better than having him in the NICU.

Right after Andrew was born

All dressed up for General Conference. This is a typical Andrew move--putting his hand on his binkie and moving it around like a steering wheel. Pretty cute :)

Andrew had to be at home for about a month before we could take him out in public, so this was our first outing as a family since we brought him home from the hospital.

Andrew's baby blessing day :)

I was pretty sad that I only had 6 weeks off, and half of that I couldn't even have Andrew home with me. I felt a little jipped out of my maternity leave, but at least I got 3 weeks home with him before I had to go back to work.

The week I went back to work was the same week of finals/graduation for Grant. My wonderful mother came into town that whole week and watched Andrew while I went off to work and Grant finished up school.

I'm so proud of Grant! He graduated with a wonderful GPA and a job! I'm so grateful for all of his hard work in school--it definitely paid off.

So proud of my wonderful husband!

With Grant done with school he was able to be Mr. Mom while I finished up the school year. It was the hardest thing for me to be a working mom. I hated leaving Andrew every morning and couldn't wait to go home and be with him. I'm grateful for this experience though because it made me realize how much I really do want to be a stay-at-home mom. The Lord definitely works in mysterious ways. I'm grateful for the degree I have because it allows me to tutor and work from home if I need, but I can still be with my children. 

Now that I'm finished it's just packing up and moving to DC! Time is certainly flying! I'm grateful to move and finally get some sort of stability. The past couple years we've been in constant change with me graduating, us moving to Lehi, me working, Grant finishing school, becoming parents, etc. Those years are fun (and I know I'm going to miss being around so many of our friends and family), but I'll be happy to feel like we're in a place that we can call home (as least for a few years) and feel a bit more established and grounded. More updates will come when we move!

A Birth Story

I'm sitting here in the hospital trying to gather all my thoughts of the past 24 hours. Right now Andrew is having 3 hours feedings in the level II nursery (half-way between the regular nursery and the NICU) so I decided to come back to our quiet room and write down the birth story before I forget everything.

Before I say everything that happened let me preface this. A couple weeks ago when I was 32 weeks along I hadn't felt him move around very much so I went in for a non-stress test. Thankfully Andrew was doing fine, but the nurses were concerned that I was having contractions every 2 minutes apart. With all that said, I went home and was put on semi-bed-rest, meaning that I could still teach at school, but other than that I had to take it easy. I was careful to drink a lot of water and careful to take it easy at work, and the contractions definitely slowed down.

I had a few tender mercies happen before I went in to labor on Sunday. Last week I really felt the urge to get my copies and lesson plans done for the rest of the year. I figured if I did I could just relax for the rest of the year and take it easy at work that the rest of my pregnancy would be a lot easier. Little did I know what would be coming a few days later. Another tender mercy happened on Sunday during sacrament meeting at church. I just felt the most overwhelming sense of peace--one that I've never felt before and I didn't know why at the time. Looking back I can now see that Heavenly Father was giving me peace because of what would be coming in a couple hours.

I had been drinking a lot of water on Sunday morning because drinking lots of water is supposed to help keep contractions under control. I probably had 50 oz of water that morning. After church on Sunday when we went home I went to the restroom and after I was done there was still trickling coming out. It wasn't a huge gush, but I figured I would get it checked out anyways. I didn't bring anything to the hospital--not even my cell phone. I was just expecting to go make sure it wasn't amniotic fluid and get some peace of mind and go home to take a nap. Grant was in the middle of cooking some pizza, so he just left all the ingredients out thinking that he would be back to finish it in about 45 minutes. So we went to the hospital and sure enough--it was amniotic fluid (it was about 1 pm). They checked me and I was 100% effaced and was dilated to 2 cm. I was also at a +1 position, and +3 is when you start pushing (it's how far down the canal your baby is). At this point I had a flood of emotions come over me. My sister-in-law, April, gave birth to a 34 week old baby girl a few years ago and so from her experience I knew that 34 weeks was the cutoff to delay delivery, and I also knew that we wouldn't be taking Andrew home with us and was expecting him to struggle with breathing and nursing, so that made me very sad and nervous. On the other hand I was so excited to meet our son! I am so grateful Grant was there. I started crying because I was scared and concerned about Andrew's health, and also nervous about going through the labor process.

Grant started notifying his family while I called Emily and Stephen and asked them to stop by our apartment. I had no idea what on earth to pack for our bag, so I just told Emily where everything was and basically just said "Can you just bring whatever you think we need? K thanks!" Her and Stephen were seriously a life-saver. I also called a fellow math teacher at Lone Peak and told her what happened and basically said "Uhh, I called in a sub but have no idea if they know math. Can you just take care of my classes for the next week? K thanks!" I have such wonderful family and friends and am so grateful for all the support they give me.

I then called my mom who didn't answer her phone, so I called my dad and told him what happened. He told me mom was in a meeting but he went over to the church and told her she had to get to Utah because her grandson was on the way. She was on the road 45 minutes later. I'm so grateful to both of my parents who have seriously dropped everything for me and Grant. Now that everyone knew, we were ready to get going.

Even though we had only been to one birth class (I was expecting 4 more!) I had read a lot about labor and talked to so many people about their experiences that I also was filled with courage. All along this labor I wanted to go un-medicated, so I figured that even though I only had one birth class we would still give it a try. The nurses then moved me to labor and delivery and prepared me to get started on pitocin. After asking for a few minutes alone with Grant so he could give me a blessing, they started me at a level 4 on pitocin around 2 pm. My contractions were about 3 minutes apart at this point and then at 2:30 pm they upped me to a level 8. By this point my contractions were coming on pretty quickly and lasting for a while. They were a minute apart and lasting for a good 45 seconds to a minute. They checked me at about 4 pm and I was at 5 cm, so I knew that I was progressing fairly quickly. They left the pitocin at an 8 (thank goodness!) and we decided to keep going. Grant was a freaking champ! He seriously was my professional doula. He knew exactly what I needed and how to give counter pressure, and he knew exactly how to encourage me. He was seriously the best support I could ever ask for. By about 5 pm I was at a 6 +, and at 5:30 I was at a 7. By this point the contractions were still a minute apart but lasting about a minute and a half and were pretty intense. I knew that I could go the rest of the way un-medicated if I had made it this far, but I also realized that this was really the last time that Grant and I would have as just us 2. I wanted to be able to relax and spend time with him--especially since we weren't expecting 6 weeks to be taken from us, so I decided to get the epidural. We notified the nurses and the anesthesiologist was on his way. As soon as I found out he was on his way I started to lose focus. I wanted nothing more than to just get the epidural so I could spend time with Grant. It took him about 20 minutes to get to the hospital because he was at home and let me say I was not too happy about that. I remember saying to the nurse "Is there only one freaking anesthesiologist for the whole hospital?!" Looking back now I can crack up about it, but I was a little frustrated. I am proud that that was the only rude comment I made to the nurses while in labor :) I then got the epidural and was on cloud 9. It was wonderful to spend time with Grant and just relax with him. All kidding aside, this is probably my most fond memory of labor. Grant sat on my bed while we talked about the past 3 years since we met each other, and we talked about how awesome our new baby boy would be. I was very concerned about him, but Grant was constantly reassuring me, and gave me courage to get through the pushing stage.

Finally at 7:15 pm I was complete and ready to start pushing. At first pushing was a little difficult because I couldn't feel anything and wasn't sure if I was making progress, but after about 15 minutes I started getting the hang of it...the reason why? My epidural was starting to wear off. The nurse offered to give an extra dose, but when I saw how much more effective my pushing was without the full on effects of the epidural I turned it down. It was so much easier for me to feel contractions and feel myself making progress with pushing. I really enjoyed this part because there were many times where it was just Grant and I. The nurse left a few times to go check on other patients or go make phone calls to my doctor, and just said "K, you two just keep pushing." At first I thought "Is this lady crazy? We have no idea what we're doing!" but it was such a bonding experience for it to just be Grant and I pushing together. Grant was so great about counting while I pushed and also coaching me through it. He was good to remind me to relax my shoulders, breath deep, and bear down. He knew more about pushing than I did! He really was a natural at being my support man. We brought in a mirror so I could see the progress, and then we later took it away. It was so much more encouraging when I would see Grant get excited when I was pushing. He would look and see Andrew's full head of hair and get a big smile and look at me while he was counting and just nod to encourage me. He was letting me know that Andrew was close, and that's all the encouragement I needed. After about an hour and 15 minutes it became a party in the labor and delivery room. Andrew's pediatrician came, the doctor came, the head nurse from the NICU came, we had a respiratory specialist there, and a couple labor and delivery nurses. The knew Andrew was coming out soon and wanted to be ready to assess where he was. After an episiotomy and 15 minutes of more pushing Andrew was born at 8:52 pm. I burst into tears as Grant smiled and kept saying "He's out! You did it! We have a son!"

About a minute after the placenta came out and my doctor starting stitching me up. I think he was startled when I yelled "OW!" when he started stitching me. All he said was "Yep, your epidural definitely wore off" and he gave me a local to numb the pain while he stitched me up. During this time my body was shaking all over and I was watching Andrew and asking every 5 seconds if he was ok. I was nervous because I hadn't heard him cry and his body was pretty limp, but no one seemed all that concerned. Soon he started to cry and flex his little fists and feet, so he was doing better. Grant was wonderful to reassure me and held me tight as they assessed where Andrew was at. He started to breath on his own and they took him down to the nursery level II to do more tests. I told Grant I'd be fine and to go with Andrew--I didn't want the poor kid to be alone.

It was like a tornado disappeared. When Andrew was gone so was everyone else and it was me and one nurse left in the room. I called my mom who was pulling into town (Yes dad, she beat the 7 hour record) and she came straight to the hospital. I was SO HAPPY to see her! With Grant being gone I felt alone and scared about where things were with Andrew, so seeing my mom was a huge comfort. Grant kept texting me updates telling me that Andrew's breathing was great and he was doing so well, so that helped me relax a little bit. About an hour later I was able to go to the nursery and see him get bathed for the first time and then get him situated into his little spot in the nursery. I will say it was hard for me as a mom to see a little IV in him and wires attached everywhere, but the kid is a fighter! He has a strong grip and is breathing like a champ. I couldn't be more proud of him.

We will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow and Andrew can't come home with us. He still needs to learn to latch and nurse, so we'll just play it on a day-by-day basis. Hopefully he can come home within a couple weeks, but it may be more. Right now he's on a feeding tube, so once he can stabilize his weight without that we should be good to go.

I know Andrew is big for a premee and doing so well with breathing on his own, but it is still emotionally challenging to think that I won't be just a few steps away from my son. He's right across the hall right now and so going home without him will be so hard. It will make all those sleepless nights seem like blessings instead of trials though. I love Andrew and am so excited to be a mom!

Answers to Prayers and Fasting

Today was fast Sunday and I couldn't help but get up and bear my testimony today during church. Heavenly Father has blessed me so much the past couple of days and I wanted to share my experiences. 

A couple days ago on Thursday I was at school and my prep hour had just started. I had a ton of grading to get done so I settled in for a long hour of grading and I felt prompted to go to the doctor's office to make sure that everything was ok with Andrew. I blew it off at first thinking I'd just go after school, but I felt prompted again to go and knew I had to go right then. Without thinking about it I found someone to cover my last hour class just in case I wouldn't be back in time (which I thought I would be), and I headed off to the hospital to get a non-stress test done. Thankfully everything was ok with Andrew. His heart rate looked great and he was moving around just fine, but what concerned the nurse and doctor was me having contractions every 2 minutes for about 45 minutes straight. With me being only 33 weeks along the thought of Andrew being born right now was pretty scary and I knew he would have to be in the NICU for at least 3 weeks. (One of my sister-in-laws had a premature baby around 34 weeks pregnant and watching them go through their daughter be in the NICU was so hard for our whole family, so I knew what I was in for). The doctors sent me home for the rest of the day to rest and relax and told me some things I could do to slow the contractions down. 

At this point I was really scared and very concerned for Andrew's health. I sent an email out to my family asking for them to pray and fast for us that everything would be ok and that Andrew would stay cooking for at least 3 more weeks until he was considered full-term. Even days make a difference--I knew each day Andrew spent inside was a day he wouldn't have to be in the NICU.

I went back Friday for another test and the contractions were still consistent, but had slowed down to 7-8 minutes apart. They put me on semi-bed-rest, which means that I can still go to school and teach, but as soon as I get home I need to lay down and take it easy. Yesterday we went in again for another test and the contractions were irregular and everything looked good. 

I'm still on semi-bed-rest and this next week will be the real test if I can continue teaching full-time while taking it easy when I get home. Hopefully this week goes well.

I'm still amazed that within 2 days the main concerns of having contractions so close together have subsided. I know that it is really an answer to all the prayers that have been offered on my behalf. I'm so grateful for my family and for their faith and testimony in prayer. I know Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives and often answers our prayers through others. I'm so grateful for my family and for their willingness to pray for me. I've been comforted that no matter what happens everything will be ok with Andrew and everything will work out. I'm grateful for the peace and serenity that the gospel brings into my life.

32 Weeks :)

How Far Along: 32 weeks. 

Size of Baby: 3.75 pounds and 16.7 inches tall :)

Maternity Clothes: Yep! Still going with the belly band! I'm too cheap to buy any maternity jeans, so hopefully the band sticks with me till the end. By the time I get home from teaching though I'm in leggings--way more comfortable! I also wear a lot of dresses. My wonderful sister-in-law, Emily, gave me a ton of maternity clothes to borrow during the pregnancy which I am VERY grateful for, and they have come in handy so many times. Thank you Emily! :)

Gender: It's a boy! Also, we have officially decided on a name. Andrew Benjamin Vanderhorst :) We really liked the name Andrew, and then realized that it was the name of one of Grant's life-long friends, so we decided to have his middle name be the name of Grant's other life-long friend (Grant, Andy, and Bear (Benjamin) were all really close).

Movement: Of course! It hasn't been a lot of kicking though as much as it has been him doing somersaults and shifting. I think he's getting too big to really kick or punch me, and he has thankfully stayed out of my rib cage. He did kick me in the ribs once and so I used my hands to push him down. I apparently have a very obedient and considerate son because he's stayed out ever since then haha. 

Sleep: Tons and tons of sleep! I think third trimester has been the most tiring--even more so than 1st trimester. I'm able to sleep pretty well through the night, but I do have to shift from side and side because if I sleep on one side for too long my hip falls asleep. I feel like I shake the whole bed when I move positions, but thankfully Grant stays asleep through it (I hope!) I have to express gratitude for Grant. I cannot tell you how many times he has carried me to bed because I fell asleep on the couch, or how many times he's come home to a napping wife with the apartment still dirty and dinner still not made, and he just goes along with it. He really has taken on so much at home with cleaning and cooking all for the sake of me getting the rest that I need and I so appreciate that. He really has been my rock during this whole pregnancy.

What I miss: Not being able to lay flat on my back or stomach. A few weeks ago I got a prenatal massage and the massage table had a little cut out for my belly, so I could lie flat on my stomach. I swear I would've paid just to be able to do that for an hour. I really need to invest in one of those tables!

Cravings: I've been wanting fruit a lot more. I have a fruit smoothie once a day, which is perfect because right now I can't fit a whole lot in my stomach at once, so having a smoothie as a meal replacement has been perfect!

Aversions: I'm pretty much fine with everything except any meat that has been cooked in BBQ sauce. It's the weirdest thing--the other day I made this BBQ chicken in the crockpot which I usually have LOVED, and I took about 3 bites and was done. I tried it again a few days later and the same thing happened. Even the thought of it makes me cringe. It's so weird! I usually love BBQ anything, so that's been a little odd.

Symptoms: Just back aches and tiredness. Oh ya and Braxton Hicks contractions! The back aches are getting better (thank goodness for my prenatal yoga!) and the contractions aren't painful, so it's nothing too bad :)

Best Moment: I've had quite a few best moments. My mom came into town last week and I got to spend some time with her shopping for some baby stuff, and she also came to school with me to hang out while I taught. She is such a saint! She helped me clean my apartment, bought all the ingredients for me to make some frozen meals, and she made Grant and I breakfast! She really sacrifices so much for her kids and she is always so generous. I love spending time with my mama :) I also found a sub for my maternity leave which is a huge relief, and to be honest I have really enjoyed the Braxton Hicks contractions haha. I know they are a little uncomfortable sometimes, but it makes me really excited for Andrew to be here and excited for labor and delivery :) We start our birthing classes this week as well. Good things are coming our way :)