Monday, August 22, 2016

Expectant Mama Advice: The Breast Pump Insurance Thing

What is a modern day Mama Essential that all women pretty much HAVE to have? It doesn't matter if you are a SAHM (like me) or if you are headed back to work after 6 or 12 weeks. You pretty much gotta have one of these bad boys.

A Breast Pump.

I was well aware that this was something I would have to have. I've heard my Mom talk about how much she used hers, and that was 26 years ago! I've heard my sister in law tell hilarious stories of pumping while driving because she forgot to earlier in the morning and the strange looks she was getting through the car window. I knew I had to have one, I knew I needed one, especially with planning and hoping to breast feed. But with this being my first baby, I had no idea how to go about getting one.

When it came time to register for our baby showers, I stood in the pumping section of Babies R Us and nearly had a melt down. $300+ for a pump. I chose to put a manual pump on my registry and hoped that I would figure out the always quoted "Insurance will pay for it," thing by the time baby arrived.


Fortunately I have a good friend that has given me all kinds of "Baby Advice" over the past 9 months. She is a Mom of 4 now and without her chiming in on this subject I would probably still be hoping to get by with that manual pump -- thank God I didn't get it.


So many women are asking "I need an affordable breast pump. How do I get a breast pump?" A friend from childhood and his wife recently had their first child and while our Mom's were comparing Grandma Notes his Mom mentioned her daughter in law had paid well over $400 out of pocket for her pump. My Mom said her jaw nearly hit the floor. She explained to her the ease with which I came by mine and the other lady said she had no idea it was that easy.... So I'd like to try to explain it to you now, so you can help someone, or yourself, in the future.

So here's the deal. Insurance will pay 100% for a breast pump. It is a medical necessity for new Mom's. Doesn't matter is you are EBF or PBF or whatever. You've got to have one. Period.

I was sitting at home one day, fussing in my head over how I was going to afford another huge chunk being ripped from our bank account to pay for this pump when I got a text message from the above mentioned Mom of 4.


HAVE YOU GOT YOUR PUMP YET? she asked me.

NO. I CAN'T AFFORD IT. I said, being totally honest.

INS WILL PAY. She said. I'd heard that schtick my whole pregnancy. My doctor had not mentioned word one about it, and at this point my appointments were so few and far between I would forget to ask every time.

THAT'S WHAT I KEEP HEARING, BUT IDK HOW TO GO ABOUT FILING TO GET ONE.

IT'S EASY. She said and she sent me a link and told me how to do it.


DISCLAIMER: This is the company that I used. I am not being sponsered, coerced or paid any amount of money or being compencated in any way to mention them. They have no idea I am even writing this review. I am simply wishing to share this with other Moms-To-Be so that no one has to PAY for a Breast Pump out of pocket every again.


  • The webstie is www.edgepark.com. They are a medical supply company. 
  • When you arrive at the main page, type "Breast Pump" in the search bar. 
  • There is a bright blue button that says "ORDER NOW." Clicky clicky.
  • A new page will open up. This is the breast pump eligibility form. It is going to ask you to fill in a little information - your state and your insurance provider. Once you click the "DETERMINE YOUR COVERAGE" button a new page will pop up.
  • And BOOM! Pick your pump. I chose the Medela pump. It was first on the list and the only pump out of all that was listed that I recognized the name of. I highly suggest you choose this one - photo below.
  • Once you've clicked on the pump you want, scroll down to the bottom of the page and fill out the two boxes, your estimated delivery date and your email.
  • Continue on with any information it asks until the process is complete. (Be sure to have your insurance card handy, just in case you need it.)
ML57081
Medela Breast Pump
I received a confirmation email immediately after the order was placed. I was never asked for a thin red penny. It say takes 7 - 10 business days to process, ship and receive the order, so be patient, it may take a little longer. For my Mom of 4 friend she got hers 2 days before I got mine, and we ordered on the same day within minutes of each other. But don't worry, in your confirmation email you get a tracking number.

If there is a hiccup along the way EdgePark will contact you. If there isn't, they won't. They do everything.

One thing you will notice about this pump is that is does not include a tote bag. The thing with that is the tote bag IS NOT covered by insurance, the pump, however, is. Personally I'm not gonna be toting my pump here, there and yonder. I have a basket with all of my breastfeeding and pumping essentials sitting right next to the chair in my daughter's nursery and that's where it stays, unless I want to move it to the living room or our bedroom, in which case it's all contained in the basket anyway. But if you are someone that will have to pump on the go, say at work, you can always buy a cute tote bag, that way you aren't carrying around an obvious black breast pump bag. The money you are saving from not having to pay for the pump will buy 100 totes. 

When your pump arrives in the mail, you will have an invoice, but it's not a bill. I was FLOORED to see that that itty bitty little pump cost $450! I immediately called my friend and thanked her for saving me basically $500! My husband was blown away and so thankful someone had "shown us the way."


If you know someone expecting a baby and flipping out over the cost of a breast pump, or searching for a used one high and low, please show them this post. Paying even $10 is unnecessary when you can get it for free! I hope this helps someone out there! 

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Babies R Us Registry Experience - Pre Shower Edition

Having a baby is so exciting, it is the most thrilling... and terrifying.... thing that has ever happened to me. I'm such a price concious person in the first place that the idea that I'll need to have ALL THE THINGS very soon gave me more than a little anxiety. Thankfully there is a sweet gesture in the world today known as "THE BABY SHOWER."

We were so so blessed with so so many gifts and much needed items from our friends and family during our wedding showers that I can't wait to see what they pull out of their hats for our long awaited baby girl! But as much as it gives me price anxiety at the thought of MYSELF spending all the money on all the things, it gives me even more to know that someone else is going to have to fork out big money on my behalf.

So I purposed in my mind, as soon as I found out I was pregnant, and that this one was gonna stick, that I wanted to be a "simple mama." I didn't want to overwhelm my daughter, myself, or my husband with a whole lot of unneeded things. I want to bring this little girl into the world with what she NEEDS. I didn't have everything as a child, and I look back at my childhood as probably the absolute best any kid could ever have had. We lived in an old remodeled farm house, my Mom stayed home. We raised a garden because in truth we could barely afford food. My Mom made all my clothes, and what she didn't make she bought second hand. Things were TIGHT for my family but I had no idea I wasn't the richest girl in the world. It was an ideallic childhood, and I want the same for my child. So I deciced I wanted the basic things and if anything else came along, ok. I also didn't want to register for any particular brand of item that wasn't readily available in my area. I didn't want to fall in love with a certain brand of wipes that I couldn't buy at the Dollar General down the road from my house. I don't want to drive 40 minutes into town to buy wipes every other whipstitch. I want to approach this as smart as I possibly can and not make things hard on myself just to say I'm using the baby dolphin spit wipes.

After being engulfed by the baby things on Amazon, I decided I wanted to give their registry system a shot. I'd had an old girl friend from my elementary school days say that she loved using them and that it was so easy for people that didn't know what to buy or couldn't take time to buy off of the registry to just get her an Amazon gift card. Setting up the registry was easy. Adding items to it was easy. The one thing that was tough was that I wasn't actually touching and feeling the items I was registering for, but I figured in the long run it really wouldn't matter. If something was ranked fairly high, I would trust other consumers opinions and just go for it. (So far, several items have been purchased and one has been sent directly to my home, and it's been as easy as pie!)

I also decided that for my non-online shopping friends that I would register with Babies R Us. I had originally planned to register at Target as well, but in my small southern town there is still a lot of up in the air about the Target bathroom situation. Personally I don't care. I don't use a public bathroom unless I have to and can't hold it. And the absolute truth be told, after registering at Amazon, I knew I wouldn't need Target.

So off I go with my Mom on a Monday morning to Babies R Us to get registered.

We walk in and grab a cart and walk back to the registry desk. The girl that got us started was phenominal. She had so much information and got us all squared away with what we needed to get started. She advised us to put A LOT of things on our registry. She said that so many people came in and only put 30 or 40 things on their registry, but registries were meant to have lots of variety. So we took that advice.

We spent a little over 5 hours meticulously wandering the isles of the store, taking things out, touching them, testing them, comparing them. I pushed a stroller up and down the isle for about 10 minutes before deciding it was the one I wanted. I combed through every item on every shelf and determied whether I actually NEEDED it or whether it was just a flighty thing. I did register for some flighty things, but most of what went on the registry was something that I would NEED at some point or another as my daughter grows. Certain items would pop up on the scanner as being "low in quantity" so we had to scan them again, as it prompted us. Otherwise the scanning part was a dream. We were told to scan actual item barcodes and not the barcodes on the wall because often times things are moved around and put in the wrong place. It made sense and so I did as I was told.


After we finally finished, me 7 months pregnant, my Mom a diabetic, we were both thirsty, hungry and exhausted. So we waddled our way back to the registry desk to finalize everything. No one was there, but we were more than happy to sit down and wait. It was about 5minutes before anyone walked past us.

His name was Zim. I remember it because that can't be a real name and he didn't have a clue what he was doing. He asked us if we needed any help and we said that we were just waiting to finish up a registry. He comes and plops down at the computer in front of us and we hand him the scanner. He presses a button and says "Oh wow. Looks like 212 items have already been purchased!" ............... *cricket, cricket*....... I'm stumped, and look at my Mom. She says "Nooooo." Dragging that oh sound out. "We just registered for all those things." "Says that 212 items on the list have been purchased." I shake my head and lean forward. "No that can't be. I just scanned all those things today. I want to finalize the registry so that people can start buying off of it." He says it AGAIN! I AGAIN tell him that that's impossible. That this is MY baby registry, for MY baby. I just scanned half the store and there is NO WAY that anyone could have purchased ONE item for me, let alone 212. He FINALLY seems to comprehend. He plugs the scanner into the computer, all the info uploads and he asks us if we wants a print out. We say yes, He clicks the print button, then proclaims "crap, it's locked up." Finally, after hitting the button 9 more times, the printer starts to print.

At last, someone that knows their butt from a hole in the ground walks up and asks him what he's doing. This is totally NOT something he is qualified to do. He had been pushing a large flat of boxes back to the back room when he'd seen us. My guess is he is muscle, and no more at that store. Maybe in the toy department, but certainly not in the baby department. She takes over. She didn't seem to be very pleased at all, whether it was with him, or us, or the fact that she was at work, IDK. But nevertheless, she stepped in and Zim was gone. It was she that noticed that he'd printed the registry 9 times. And at that point it was 28 pages. (At that point? you ask. Just wait.) That's 252 pages, btw. She gets the printer to stop printing, cancels the job, and returns her attention to our registry.

At one point she asks us, "did you scan a whole bunch of teethers?" I responded with yes because I figure you can't have too many, and once they're out of the teething stage those things can be used as regular toys. She says "ok, cause there's a couple on the registry but a whole bunch out here that show up but aren't on. Do you want me to put them on?" I nodded and said yes, because I scanned like 14 teethers. To me, that's a lot. She didn't give me specific numbers, just said "a whole bunch."  She asked the same about recieveing blankets. We'd registered for all different weights of blankets. My daughter will be born in September and it will still be HOT in KY. But then the temperature will change soon after in October and November and get even colder in December and January before it finally starts to act like it wants to warm up in February and March. The weather around here is so unpredictable that I didn't want to be caught with just thin blankets when it gets to be 0 degrees outside. So I said, yes. We had. She clicked a button. After she finished she asked if we had any questions. We asked about the Endless Earnings program again to clarify how that works, sounds too good to be true so it probably is, and then asked for a print out. 40 pages later I am mortified at the amount of stuff on the registry. I ask if that's common, and the girl says that that is the way they WANT to see registries. The more the better, just like the girl told us that morning. Ok then. She said that our registry looked pretty "ideal." I'm pretty sure she was blowing smoke up my butt.

So it looked like we were finished. We took our goody bag (wasn't a lot of goodies IMO, a weird MAM brand bottle and pacifier and a few pamphlets and very few coupons) and high tailed it to O'Charley's to eat. While we were there I texted my best friend and asked her to get online and look over the BRU registry as a third set of eyes and see if we'd forgotten anything. (They did give us a checklist of what we "needed" and we went by that list and tweaked it to fit our specific needs.) She said she would and would get back to me.

Hours later, I get home and look online. OMG the mess.... The best way I can describe it is like this.... if I registered for a sippy cup in pink, it appeared on my registry in pink, purple, blue, yellow, green and orange. If I registered for the strawberry shaped teether, it appeared on the registry also in the blueberry shape, the grape shape, the pineapple shape, the orange shape and the banana shape. It was as if I had registered for the entire inventory of certain items. I had already been given a blue bottle brush, so I registered for a pink one as a back up. On the registry was the pink brush, two blue ones, the orange one, the purple one and the green one. I immediately texted my best friend and she said she noticed that and it had tipped her off that someone was wrong. She said it didn't seem like me at all to want or need 7 bottle brushes! If I had registered for any item that was "girl" specific, it appeared on the registry in the girl form, as well as for boys and the neutrals. Blankets of varying weights appeared in all possible color combinations. I've never seen such a mess in my LIFE!

All I could determine was that when the girl got "clicky" at the end, she added ALL THE THINGS to the registry. A few items showed up as N/A on the registry and some of them were larger items like an activity mat. So I had to take the item number, plug it into their search engine, find it online and re-register for it. I also had to go through the list item by item and delete all the duplicates. I started at 9 in the morning and didn't finish until 9 at night. I was so exhausted and exasperated by the end of it all.


With our showers just a few days away, my BRU registry still isn't showing that any items have been purchased. Maybe they haven't. So I can't say for sure at this time whether or not this is another BRU problem or not. Amazon is wonderful about not only alerting me when something has been purchased but telling me who has purchased it so I can get started on my thank you cards. We've even already had a gift delivered to our house! I am VERY pleased with Amazon thus far, and NOT SO PLEASED with Babies R Us. The scanning experiance was fun, and I enjoyed getting to do it. I liked touching all the things that my baby will be using and getting a feel for them as a first time Mom to be. But everything after that has been not so nice.


Here's to hoping that everything works out alright and that they are actually taking the items off of my registry when people buy them, otherwise their Endless Earnings program has been shot in the foot. I will update once the showers have wrapped up (July 24th and August 8th are our shower days!) and let you know how it all ended up. I'm excited about it, I'm so happy to finally be at the stage where it's shower appropriate. I'm happy to know that my baby girl is as loved by our friends and family as she is by us.


But for now, if you have the option to register at Buy Buy Baby, I say go for it. There isn't a physical store close enough to us for us to do that, but I imagine they don't put the entire stores inventory on someones registry and leave it for them to clean up on their own.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Second Trimester Sick Season Advice...

Don't get sick. That's the best advice I can give you. Just don't do it.

Easter came and went beautifully. The Monday after came and went beautifully. I had so much energy and I felt so good. I felt good enough that I cleaned the whole house and cooked a huge meal for supper - fried breaded pork cutlets, hand mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese - and all was well.

Until Tuesday morning when I woke up with a sore throat. I figured it was just a tickle from sleeping with my mouth open from the congestion that has plagued me every minute of this pregnancy. So I jumped up, finished what housework was left over from yesterday and even got into a couple of around the house projects, but as the day wore on I felt worse and worse, so I went back to bed. Everyone is still watching me like I'm going to break and they all always tell me that when I get a little tired to lay down, not to push it..... cause pushing myself is kind of my thing. I'm a champion at it.

Come Wednesday morning I was miserable. No fever, but sore throat, horrible congestion and all that went along with it. I determined it had to be a sinus infection, judging from what was coming out of my nose. It never moved down into my chest, but I was "sick" a few times during the night Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. And I didn't get a single wink of sleep. I was up sick the first time around 2am, and again at 4. And that time I felt like I was in serious trouble. I couldn't catch my breath and I kept gagging, like dry heaves... we have a tile floor in our bathroom and I finally got both of my palms flat against that cold floor and it sort of shocked my system into taking a breath.

I'm still dealing with it today, a week exactly from when it all started. I've got so much pressure built up in my head that my teeth are killing me. So, definitely sinuses. I'm glad it was just that. The flu is going around my neighborhood.


I couldn't suffer without some relief. In spite of wanting to and trying to. So I sent my longsuffering husband out for medicine. There is a safe medicines list out there for pregnant Mamas and if your doctor is worth punkin they will give it to you at your confirmation appointment at 8 weeks. On the list was Robitussin and Benadryl. Robitussin is my favorite cold/flu medicine EVER. To me it works so much better than anything else I've ever taken. So Aaron went out and grabbed me a couple of bottles and some popsicles. I'm sure I lost some more weight during that time, and I'm probably going to get in trouble at my next drs visit, but I simply couldn't eat a bite that first full day. I'm trying to rectify that situation now that I can taste again.

By Saturday I was better, not completely back up to my old self, but better enough that when Aaron mentioned Cracker Barrel for supper, I jumped at that opportunity.

My advice for you if you are pregnant during this allergy/flu season..... stay in the house, lock the doors, pull the covers over your head. Don't get sick.

Monday, March 28, 2016

| Hello 2nd Trimester | Happy Easter!

It's just a miracle. I can't even tell you how blessed we feel to be here now. I'm now officially in my second trimester. I'm 151/2 weeks and I feel like I'm walking on a cloud.


Let's be honest, the second trimester has surprised me in a few ways. My energy level is totally on the upswing. I haven't had a day where I've been sluggish, unless I was under the influence of Benadryl - thank you allergy season. But because everyone is still watching me like I'm gonna break at any moment (which I am thankful for, but I always repeat "I'm fine. She's fine." constantly.) I spend a lot of my time taking it easy and resting. For example, this past week was busy, and so whenever I was at home and not on the run, I could be found sitting on my tush. I managed to top to bottom house clean on Good Friday to get us ready for the weekend. I spent all day Saturday on the couch.

The first thing that surprised the heck out of me was TMI TMI TMI leaky nipples. Again, let me just stop here and remind you how it's always my intention to be 100% honest with how I'm feeling, what I'm thinking and what's happening. So.... I have leaky nipples. Yeah, it shocked me too. Typically leaky nipples don't happen until much later in the second trimester, if in the second trimester at all, but definitely in the third. Typically in the third trimester - and much closer to your due date - you will leak colostrum, which is sort of a precursor to your breastmilk, think of it as super milk. But it isn't entirely unheard of to start to leak as early as me. It IS NOT colostrum, if it was I would be super concerned about my little girl and her waterbed situation. It is just a clear liquid. I noticed the front of my pajama shirt was wet at 13 1/2 weeks. Immediately I hopped on Google and discovered that it wasn't anything to be alarmed about. From what I've read it's generally a good sign that you will have a good milk production, which is great because it is my full intention to breastfeed.

Ok, now that that is out of the way let's move onto something else! My hips are still pretty much in agony from sleeping on my sides. My doctor suggested that it may be time to invest in a pregnancy pillow, so I will definitely look into it if I can't come up with a combo of pillow placement on my own with what I have at home. And I'm still dealing with congestion. It's the norm these days lol. When the time comes that I can sleep and breathe through both nostrils I may throw a party. This past week was bad for my allergies. Sunday night I spent sleeping for 2 minutes at a time and then waking up gasping for air. On Monday I lost count at how many times I sneezed after 200 times. I took a Benadryl and was a slug for the next two days. But I slept that night, so that was good. Towards the end of the week if I laid on my left side I could breathe totally out of one nostril and then partially out of the other. Aaron said he noticed that I wasn't up as much, or sniffing and snuffing as much and that it seemed like I was actually sleeping. I was so thankful for that. And am so thankful for being able to sleep and breathe at the same time. I'm a hardcore multitasker like that.

I have nothing else to report as far as symptoms. Seriously, if I didn't know for sure I was pregnant, I would wonder. If I hadn't seen her on the ultrasound at 7 weeks, and if I didn't keep hearing her heartbeat at every doctors appointment I would just assume that everything was normal.

My belly is starting to pooch, we call Candis the "lil pooch" sometimes. I noticed it at 13 weeks, that it was definitely bigger, more round than it was before. But now, it is for sure a tiny baby bump. I'd kind of hoped to be a little bigger at Easter, just for photos sake, but I'm not going to complain. I'll either get HUGE in a hurry or I will be lucky and not be the size of a house. So, fingers crossed that I don't end up big as a Buick. And just like every pregnant woman, I'm bigger at night. In the morning I look like I ate too many onion rings the night before, but once I'm up and moving I think Candis settles back down into whatever squishy spot she's found and then I'm looking pregnant again.



We've been working on getting Candis' room cleaned out. It's been our storage room for the past few years and we've just cram packed it full of garbage, basically. We've tossed about 15 bags (the industrial size) of garbage and made three trips to the goodwill, we've got more trips to go! I would buy something decor wise to use in our house, and once I got tired of it, instead of taking it to the Goodwill or reselling it I would save it because "one day we will have a bigger house that I'll need to decorate and this way I won't have to buy anything." Yeah, no. Do as I say not as I do. Once something has serviced it purpose, if you are no longer using it, get rid of it. I'm so thankful for my Mom and her tough love on this subject. "Missy, you will never use that again. It does not match your house. Why are you keeping those casette tapes? You don't own a casette tape player. Seriously? You're gonna keep that box of purses that you never use? Put them in the Goodwill bag." She was no nonsence when it came to the purge and I needed it. Once the room is completely empty then we will clean it with some super intense cleaners - it's been sitting full of junk and collecting all kinds of nastiness for years - and then we will paint it and start decorating. During the painting time, we are going to paint our bedroom too, just so that everything is nice and uniform in the house, everything will be the same color and everything will be hunky dory!


Easter 2016 has come and gone. It was such a sweet weekend. Aaron had to work on Good Friday, so like I said above, I spent the day cleaning the house and getting it ready for us to spend a lazy couple of days together. Saturday we literally did nothing. Nothing at all. We laid on the couch and watched movie after movie after movie. DareDevil, Daredevil the Netflix show, Johnny English, Johnny English Reloaded, Good Burger, The Addams Family, just whatever struck us as good to watch, we watched it. We snacked all day and went to bed completely satisfied with our lazy day and with our church clothes laid out for Easter Sunday,

Our Family, Easter 2016

This is us with Aaron's family outside of our church. Aaron has the only shot of me and my Mom on his phone that I'll have to steal later on. I spent most of Thursday afternoon dragging Aaron around Kohls trying to find an outfit. I wanted a maxi dress, simple, easy for me to wear now and later, something that would fit. I didn't NEED to be maternity it just needed to fit. Waiting until the last minute wasn't a good idea because I couldn't find a single thing. Aaron actually found the dress I'm wearing in the maternity section (yeah, those two tiny racks between bathing suits and kids clothes) I was totally on the fence about it and kept calling myself a "bouquet of flowers," but everyone loved it. I paired it with that super soft coral cardigan, and Aaron even was a sport and matched me with his coral tie. You can't even really see my Candis bump in the dress right now, but I will definitely grow into that dress and may use it for baby showers. IDK. It all felt a little fussy for me at this stage in my life. But it was nice to get to dress up. I know that sounds horribly petty, but I do good to get out of my pajamas these days.... I felt like I was going to a ball getting that dressed up. That, plus my hairdo didn't do. I should have just dried it and straightened out the front like I normally do. Instead I tried to get fancy and curl the front with my flat iron. Ugh. Oh well. Who was looking at my hair anyway?

We had a wonderful service at church, and then instead of going to my sister in law's house as we usually do, this year we decided to just eat out. So we all went to a nice restaurant, where I ate the nastiest chicken wrap I've had in a while, and then parted ways. On the way home Aaron and I decided to spend the rest of our day at my Mom's house. We love going there and just being able to spread out and relax. It is just the three of us and a dog there. We watched some old videos and then watched a movie. My Mom made her amazing Nachos that I can never seem to make right and we finally left her house at 1am. 0.0 Whoops. Time flies.

So it's on to another week today. I've got a ton of laundry ahead of me on this particular day. Ugh. It never ends. And you know how I hate laundry! Did I mention I hate laundry?


Happy Easter from my family to yours! God bless!

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

It's A........ | Gender Reveal

I've not been updating weekly. Truth be told, nothing is changing week to week. I've not had a whole ton of symptoms with this pregnancy, they're not going and coming or getting worse or easing off, so there's very little, if anything to report on a week to week basis.

But at our 11 week appointment on 2/25 we decided to have some optional testing done. Here in KY it's called the Harmony Test, I'm not sure if they call it that other places, and the only reason I say here in KY is because I've heard youtubers talk about it and they don't call it by any name. Anyway this test tests for all sorts of chromosomal abnormalities including Down's Syndrome and for diseases like Cystic Fibrosis. Because it's checking baby's chromosomes it can tell as early as 10 weeks the gender of your baby. And so with that on the table in front of us, how could we resist?

They took my blood and said "we'll call you in 7-10 business days." So we came home to wait.

The call finally came on Friday March 4th. I told Aaron as soon as he got home from work a half hour later and so we set about pulling together the cheapest most on-short-notice Gender Reveal party you've ever seen.


Like an idiot I neglected to take any photos of how we decorated inside, but everything came from the Dollar Tree. We accomplished the whole shebang for $40, including food.

We decided to have it at my Mom's house. She's got a gorgeous back yard, plenty of parking space and is always good at a moment's notice. We covered her kitchen table with two table clothes, one side blue, one side pink. We did the same to the snack bar area in her kitchen, one side blue, one side pink. On the table we added little pop up centerpieces that said "Baby Boy" and "Baby Girl" and sprinkled some plastic safety pins out. We used the snack bar for the food. We bought 3 boxes of pizza from Little Ceasars and my Mother in Law brought sandwich things and drinks. We laid the sandwich stuffings out on two plastic trays from Dollar Tree to make it all pretty lol. We hung two banners, one boy, one girl, across my Mom's back door and called it a day. It was simple, but very cute, and very inexpensive.

We even got the balloons from the Dollar Tree. For a buck a piece I was super pleased with them!


Here are some photos from the big moment. It's hard to be in the photos and make sure they're up to your photographer standards. But I like them for what they are. When I start showing a bit more I will be sure to have to good maternity shots taken. I'd love to remember this time forever.


Part of our frugal party was this box. My Mom moved 4 years ago and still has a ton of boxes left over that we are trying to use up. She wrapped up a big UHAUL box in craft paper that she already had and at the last minute she printed off, hand cut, and glued the little hearts to the front and sides. The sky was gorgeous that day!

Because Aaron and I already knew what our little baby was, this was totally for our families. We were way too excited to hear their reaction for us to stand still and pose and look surprised. We had our moment the day before in our kitchen. It was private and special.

As soon as the box opened I was swarmed by my Mom, sisters in law and my niece - who is the only granddaughter on Aaron's side... for now ;) 

My Father in Law knew it was a girl from day one too. He wasn't surprised at all. 

IT'S A GIRL!

So happy! 

It's hard to believe that in 6 months (thereabouts) that we will be parents. To a little girl. Holy Cow. The sunset was so beautiful there at my Mom's that we just couldn't pass up an opportunity to have a few shots done there. Huge thanks to my brother in law for pressing the shudder button! 


So our secret is out! Our baby is a baby girl! We are still in this "can't believe it's real" stage. Even today, as my Mom and I started tackling the storage room that's going to become baby girl's room, I still couldn't wrap my mind around "in September there will be a baby living in this room." It's insane to think about it being real.


So what are we going to name this little darling? Well.... if you know Aaron and me at all, you will know that this name thing has been something we have been stuck on for months. We started thinking about names in October, before the miscarriage, and only arguments happened. This time around, same deal. We settled down on a name we both could agree on, but neither of us loved it. But we were willing to settle because there wasn't any arguing about it.... until one afternoon about two weeks before we found out she was a girl the name came to me while I was talking to my Mom. I texted Aaron, he loved it, and that was the end of it. 


We chose to name this little miracle Candis Anne. Candis is my Mom's middle name. She was named after her grandmother Candis. And Anne is Aaron's Mom's middle name and Anne of Green Gables is one of my most favorite things in the world. It just felt right from the minute it rolled off my tongue. Aaron said "I LOVE THAT" via text message, and so it was decided. It was way too easy, but it felt so right that we haven't revisited the subject since. Now that we've told everyone, it's totally official. When we told our Mom's they flipped. We also agreed on a name for a boy, should it be the boy that we've been assuming we would have first for years. But it's a secret until we have a boy. Should we have a boy. Ever.


I can't even begin to explain how over the moon we are. We are still also very cautious. My family isn't letting me do much besides simple housework, like dishes and laundry. My father in law texts me almost daily to make sure I'm resting. Aaron has been a champ helping me when I ask him to, and even when he makes me let him help me. My Mom is a phone call away for anything I need. I'm so grateful.


On the roster for the next few weeks is finish cleaning out her room, we made some serious headway today, but it's no where near done. We plan on finishing up cleaning her room out this week, and move everything into storage this weekend, cause its supposed to be nice weather. Then the room gets a goooood cleaning and then it's time to paint. We will also be painting our bedroom. We had paint left over from when we painted the living room and kitchen, so painting this time around is totally free! Yay! Plus everything will be the same color, nice and clean. I like that. Then I can start really planning out Candis' nursery. How I want it to look, how I want the furniture set up. She will be here before we know it and I hope to have her room ready by the time my baby shower's come along so that I can just bring stuff in and put it where it needs to go.


Thanks for sharing this fun, special time with me!

Missy

Friday, February 19, 2016

| 9 Week Pregnancy Update |

It is a crazy windy day here in KY, the temperature has warmed up a little bit, but I know it's not for long. Makes me long for spring worse than before! I am ready for flip flops and sun dresses and open windows and sitting outside on my Mom's deck! Bring it on, me and this baby are ready!


My 9th week of pregnancy was pretty uneventful, actually the whole of this pregnancy has been uneventful. I've had a few days when I've felt like doo-doo, but otherwise, it's been good!

I flipped to my 9th week on 2/11, and the most part of that weekend I was so sick at my stomach that I laid in bed all day. On Valentine's Day, we got a huge snow storm, but that didn't stop us from getting out and going to church with my father-in-law. We sort of regretted it when we got out of church and saw that in just a matter of an hour and a half it had snowed 5 inches! After we got back home, I settled in for a nap! It was a good day for it! 

Ok, I found a standard questionaire and I thought it would make it easier for you all to read than have me rambling the whole time. So here goes!


How far along are you? I'm actually 10 weeks, 1 day today, but I'm updating for the 9th week!

Total weight gain/loss? Ok, this is a funny one. I'm actually down 30 pounds from when I got pregnant the first time, in October. I don't think I've gained any weight since getting pregnant this time. 

Are you wearing Maternity Clothes yet? Definitely pants. I wear mostly sweat pants and yoga pants when I'm at home [which is 99% of the time] but when I go out, I dig out the hand-me-down maternity jeans a friend gave me. She gave me a ton of cute tops, so I'm dying to get into them, just cause they are so cute. 

Do you have any stretch marks yet? Just leftovers from my rapid weight gain a few years ago. I know I'm prone to stretch marks, obviously, so I'm lathering up with lotions and butters and oils every day to hopefully keep more of them away! I've never been one to show my tummy, so it really doesn't matter too much if I do get some, but I'd still prefer to not have them. You know?

How are you sleeping? Ugh. Well....better than before. I've been very congested this whole pregnancy, but it seems to be subsiding.... or I'm just getting accustomed to it. Sleeping on my side is a pain, because I am a natural stomach sleeper, and if I sleep on my left side for too long my hip and leg starts hurting so bad I could cry, and I have problems with that leg anyway, so I flip flop every couple of hours. I find that I can breathe better on my right side too. 

Best Moment of the week? My three hour nap on Sunday! It's been a very uneventful week.

Movement? Oh no, way too early.

What are some food cravings that you are having? Fruit and raw vegetables! I have to eat and apple every night before bed, and when I reach for a snack, it's carrots or celery or cauliflower...  candy. Whenever I'm super sick at my stomach I reach for sweet tarts and it soothes my stomach. Not good for someone who is almost a diabetic.

Anything making you queasy or sick? The smell of meat cooking. Ugh. Sweet tea makes me very sick at my stomach. Too much sugar maybe?? Odd because of the candy thing... ya kno?

Have you started to show yet? It's kind of hard to tell. I definitely get the end of the night bloat. 

Gender prediction? From the very beginning of this pregnancy Aaron and I have both felt like it was a little girl. My Mom insists its a boy. We will find out very soon!

Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On and still very loose. Again, down 30 pounds... everything is loose.
Happy or Moody most of the time?: Mostly happy. I have some weepy moments, some freak out
moments, but overall, I'm pretty happy. 
Weekly Wisdom: Sit down when you are tired. Don't push yourself. 
Milestones: Just getting as far as we have is a milestone.

So there it is! It's amazing to us how we've gotten this far with no fireworks! Seems like last time everything was going wrong right from the beginning and this time it's been smooth sailing all the way. Let's all hope and pray that it keeps going that way!


Missy
xoxo

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Surprise! | We're Pregnant! | 0-8 week Updates!

Yeah, shocked us too!

This is how we announced it on our social media accounts. 




Ok, so, if you've been following our story for very long at all, you would know that we had a really heartbreaking miscarriage back in October. We had been trying for 2 1/2 years [at that point] without any luck and so we had turned to a commonly used fertility drug named Clomid to help us out. First try, I'm pregnant. But just a few weeks later, while we were on vacation, we miscarried.

After my hCG levels got back down to normal, my doctor said wait one or two cycles and try again.

And that left us between what we felt was a rock and a hard place. It's always my intention to be as honest as I can possibly be in everything I do, which includes this blog. My motto is "open your mouth and speak the absolute truth, or keep it shut. Dancing around the truth helps no one." Don't ask my opinion unless you want it straight down the line. After we got the go ahead to try again, we weren't even sure that we really wanted to. We seriously talked about the idea of not trying again. Of not having children. Wouldn't be so bad, just the two of us, we decided. If it happened, it happened, and that was that.


Fast forward to the first full week of January. I was tired, but I assumed it was just from the rush of the holidays and the stress of getting Christmas taken down and put away. Besides, Aaron's birthday was the 11th, I had a family party to plan. On the 11th, we went out to eat at Longhorn and I surprised myself by only eating 3 bites of a tiny 6 oz. steak. I was starving when I got there and then the second I started eating, I was done. Not unusual considering my appitite on Metformin is drastically different from the way it was before. I wondered off and on all day if maybe I might could be pregnant. My period was 11 days late at that point. But that was nothing unusual either. I'd go for months at a time without a period. Everything was unusual and usual.

My Big Fat Positive!
When I woke up the next morning, I just couldn't stand it anymore. So.... I peed on a stick. Real delicate and lady like, ain't I? heehee. In no time, like less than half a second, I could tell it was positive. And I was floored. It was the funniest wave of emotions I've ever felt in my life. I was stunned. I was excited. I was terrified.

So the first thing I do is call my husband. Poor Aaron. Never saw it coming lol. I texted him. "When are you going to be home for lunch." He responded that his boss bought the whole office pizza and so he wasn't. So I said "Call me ASAP." We text several times throughout the day, but a phone call is never made unless its important. In half a second my phone was ringing. He asked what was going on. I was quiet for a minute, trying to figure out what to say, so I finally just said it. "I'm pregnant." It was like the line went dead. Finally I heard "What?" in his low, drawn out I-can't-believe-it voice. And that's when I started crying.

Next up was my Mom and my best friend. Both of whom already knew. How my Mom already knew I will never know. She said she had a feeling that around the first of the year it would happen. She was right. My best friend knows everything about everything when it comes to my life. We always joke that we are so much more like sisters because we are so alike and so in tune with each other. And she knew too. She's always so supportive whenever I text her and whine about whatever. She's a great ear too. I vented all my worries to her and she assured me that it would all be fine.

After all the announcements were made, I called my doctor and made my first appointment. I was surprised when they made it for two weeks away. We found out so early last time, and this time I was already 5 weeks [I thought 6 at the time] before I took a test. So then, I was left home alone with this huge secret that I had no idea how to handle.

When Aaron got home that night, we decided to wait to tell the masses until after we had everything checked out by the doctor. At that point my Mom and my best friend already knew. A few days later we told Aaron's Dad, who is the sweetest man on earth and such a great support to us. We weren't even going to tell him, but we wanted his opinion on our idea on how to tell the family, so we told him. Here's the funniest part of all. My Mom cooks a huge dinner every 3rd Sunday. And usually it's just the three of us, plus our pup, Tabby. But this particular Sunday, Aaron's Mom came over to feast with us. When Aaron walked her out to the car later on that evening, she asked him if he'd noticed she kept looking at me all afternoon and asked "She's pregnant, isn't she?" So, in the end, all of our parents knew.

The part that thrilled us, was that we did this completely on our own. No clomid. We got pregnant all on our own, without even really trying. That danged old cliche of "when you're not trying, it'll happen," is true for us. Dang it.

Our tiny baby!
Our first appointment was on January the 28th. We went into the doctors office pretty terrified. The fear of a "missed" miscarriage [some people call it a "silent miscarriage," it's where the baby dies but isn't expelled.] was heavy on my mind. It's like a 1% thing, but I figured if it could happen, it would happen to me. I was so thankful that Aaron was with me. I held his hand so tightly in the waiting room, waiting to be called back to Ultrasound. Finally, my name was called. I stripped from the waist down in a very fancy bathroom [vaginal ultrasounds are so much fun....NOT!] and went back into the room where the tech and Aaron were waiting. I laid back on the table, took a deep breath and said to myself "Lord, help me in whatever is to come." It was less than 5 seconds after the tech got to work that she said "I see baby and I see a strong heartbeat." Aaron, who was sitting in a chair just above my head, said "Are you serious!?" And he grabbed my hand. After what felt like forever, the tech finally turned the screen around and there it was!

Our little miracle that took us 3 years was there, and it was alive! We kept squeezing each other's hands, and I might have even teared up just a little. After the ultrasound, we talked with the doctor who said that everything was looking perfect so far. She estimated my due date to be September 15th, and not the 9th as I had originally calculated. We also determined that I was a week behind what we had thought in the beginning as well. So instead of being 7 weeks 6 days, I was 7 weeks exactly, judging from little one's size. Besides, I don't ovulate on the 14th day of my cycle. It's more like the 18th. And that makes all my dates work out. My dr asked if I was still taking my Metformin, and I said yes, but that I'd dropped it down to one dose a day instead of three, because it was making me extra sick from the south end since I'd been pregnant. I asked if I needed to up it, and she said one dose a day was totally fine. I had blood drawn and did a urine test before we left. And then we went for lunch at Steak n Shake to celebrate! Baby wanted onion rings. Don't judge.


We told Aaron's family, his sisters and their families and his brother and his girlfriend, the next night. We were all together for Aaron's brother's birthday. It's hard to get such a large family together all at once unless its for something like a birthday. So we knew this was our chance. We held it in all night. We kept it to ourselves at the restaurant, although we kind of thought Aaron's Dad might give it away. He seems so excited! Finally, as is tradition in this family, we all made it back to the house for cake and ice cream. We decided we were going to put it in his birthday card and have him open it last. Aaron's brother loves being an uncle, so we knew he wouldn't mind us stealing a little of his birthday thunder. We got one of those cards that has the page inserts, so it's like a piece of paper glued into a card. Aaron signed the card, "Love, Aaron and Missy and....." and drew a big arrow telling him to turn the page where we had taped the ultrasound picture. When his brother read the card and flipped the page everyone started screaming! His sisters jumped up and tackled me! It was a great way to tell. Finally Aaron's Dad could get excited in public! A brand new Baby!


So as far as symptoms go this time around, I've felt pretty great. I had a touch of morning sickness last time, but I've had so little this time it's hard to even note it. And I haven't "gotten sick," at all. I've just been a little sick to my stomach a couple of days. I think I've figured that out. I did a little experiment with myself this week. I skipped a day of Metformin, and spent the entire next day on the couch sick at my stomach. I took a dose before bed last night and woke up this morning feeling good enough to clean the house and do laundry. I don't know if it's proven or not, but I feel like the Metofrmin is helping me to not have any morning sickness! I've had the most sore of sore boobies that you can have. It's not been nice. In fact that was my very first indicatior that I might be pregnant again. I was out shopping with my Mom the Friday before Aaron's birthday and I put my purse strap across my chest and thought I would die when it brushed across my nipple. I'm exhausted, even when I feel good, I'm so tired. My appitite is still funky, but again, I think that's a Metformin thing. I'm not hungry hardly ever. I could live on a bowl of cereal, a lunchable and a PB&J a day. But I'm growing a human, so I can't live on that. And when I am hungry it's like I haven't eaten in 20 years. Wake me up in the middle of the night starving. I've also dealt with some crazy nasal congestion. I don't know for sure if this is pregnancy related or if it's just the fact that I live in South Central Kentucky and the current weather situation runs like this. "Snow, Sunny and 75, Rain, Snow, Blizzard, Sunny and 75 again." Either way, it's horrible. I wake up once a night not being able to breathe and needing to pee so bad I can barely get to the bathroom. I'm chugging so much water. I have water jugs in every room. No matter where I am, I've got ice water ready to go. I take a Tervis Tumbler full on any car ride. My nails are amazing. My hair is all falling out. So I cut it all off. I have a grown out pixie now. I'm the talk of my town. New hair do and pregnant all in the same week! Whaaaaaaa? I've dealt with a minor amount of bloating and gas this go around, where as last time it was pretty constant, from the moment of concepetion. I had some constipation early on, which is the direct opposite of life on Metformin. To be honest, I'd rather have things in the express lane out than to have to deal with being constipated. Ugh. Misery. I'm trying to train myself to not sleep on my stomach - the only way I've slept since childhood - and that's been hard on my hips. I've found a happy medium finally, I think and my hips aren't as angry anymore.

Me. Outfit made by Mama.
Seriously, I cannot complain. So far, this pregnancy has been a breeze aside from being so stinking tired. Emotionally I've been kind of in turmoil. Completely freaking out about actually being pregnant and everything actually being alright. But then I look at some people and I'm like "if they can have a kid, I can have a kid." That sounds awful, but it's true. You can't tell me that you've never looked at someone and thought "how are you someone's Mother?" I've been upset about the potential and almost definite changes in my relationship with Aaron. I've been worried that I'm not up for the job. I'm worried about being judged by other Moms. I don't judge. I'm not a judgey person. If I want an opinion I'll ask for it. If you want my opinion, ask. I keep to myself because if I was to open my mouth and say what I was thinking, people wouldn't like it usually.  I've been reading a lot about how to be a simple parent. I don't want to over stimulate my child with so many things, because I didn't have a ton of toys as a kid and I turned out fine. I want my child, or children if the Lord is willing down the road, to have as wonderful a childhood as I had. And I don't want the other Mom's that I'm around to judge me on the type of mother that I am. "How could you not have this for your baby?" "Why don't you do this?" There is so much STUFF out there for Mom's and baby's and I'm thinking I want the bare essentials. Crib, rocker, diapers, food, a basket full of toys later etc. I had a laundry basket of toys in my closet. And that was it. When I got older I got a little table to go in my room where I could draw and color and finally my big dollhouse, but that was it. When new toys were purchased or given to me as gifts they were put in storage and every few months my Mom would rotate them out. I always had "new" toys that way. I don't judge other people on how they raise their kids, even if I can't help but wonder how they have them in the first place, and I don't want people to judge me. I lived in homemade dresses and goodwill clothes until I was in school. I was an adorable kid to be honest, not to toot my own horn. I don't want to have to feel like if I don't shop at Carters or wherever that my kid is missing out. I'm sorry I'm not paying full retail for something they're gonna grow out of in a week. I just have my own ideas on how to raise my child. You can raise yours differently, but please don't tell me that I can do it my way but it's wrong. I'm a make my own mistake kind of person. If my ways are a mistake, I'll fix them. My child will be well taken care of.

Whoa, whadda rant! Sorry!! Hormones!

As of this writing I am 7 weeks, 6 days. I turn 8 weeks [or "flip" as some people call it] on Thursdays. I told my best friend today that this pregnancy has already felt like it's lasted a million years. Probably because I've had to live the 7th week twice.

Things that are different this time? Everything. Everything, no joke. From the way we feel, to the way our parents are reacting, to how I'm feeling. It's all different this time. My Mom said it best to my brother in law's girlfriend when we were all together on Sunday. The moment we found out last time, there was this heavy dread that came with it. This time it's all joy. To say that the miscarriage was a surprise would be a lie. We almost expected it from the moment we found out. Nothing went right during our first pregnancy. And so far this go around, everything is different.  That calms our nerves.


So now the real fun begins. Our baby's room is currently our storage room. You can barely open the door. I've got to purge half of what's in that room and get it transfered to an outbuilding that Aaron's Dad is going to let us use. The room needs to be painted. Actually both bedrooms are getting a color change. I want to add ceiling fans to both bedrooms too. Then there is nursery planning and old furniture painting.... it's going to be fun to see how chic I can make my little's room on a tiny budget. I am also planning on consignment and goodwill shopping like crazy for baby things. I'm not a brand loyal person. I'm a whatever is the cheapest but is still very effective person. I don't need brand new. I need "works." There are some great consignment shops around that I can't wait to go into and start collecting clothes and things for my baby!

Do we have any inclination as to what this baby is? Well... my Mom had long had the belief that our first child is a boy. And during the first pregnancy, I felt like it was a boy. But from the instant I saw a positive sign on that test I've felt like it was a girl. I dreamed last night we had a girl and when I told Aaron about it this morning he said he felt like it might be a girl too. Wouldn't that be something? The idea of Aaron being Daddy to a little girl almost melts me straight onto the floor. That would be too precious. But a little boy to dress up like Aaron on Sunday mornings... oh how cute would that be?! We are planning on having the "Harmony" test done at our next appointment - which is the 25th of February. This test checks for lots of different abnormalities and also tells you your baby's gender at 11 weeks. It's all in the chromosomes, kids. So that's exciting. Name picking has been a booger. We can't agree on anything. We have it narrowed down to a few names, but we haven't picked anything yet. It would be horrible to go through life with the wrong name, so we want to get this right.

How is Tabby reacting? Well, I think she knows something's up. But there's no physical changes to me, as of yet, not really anyway, and so she doesn't see anything different. Aaron's concerned about her once baby is born, but I think she will do just fine. It may take her a little bit to get used to all my attention most of the time being on the tiny human, but I have faith in my baby dog that she will settle into the role of big sister as easily as she settled into the role of master of this house.


So that's our big news! We are pregnant! We couldn't be happier! At this point, I'm resting a ton, keeping my feet up, chugging lots of water, and binge watching hours and hours of Netflix in between keeping my house running and our clothes clean. Thank you for all your love, your hope, your prayers... please, continue to pray for us. We are still in the fragile state and having already lost one baby, the fear is still there that it could happen again. While I don't believe it will, I know that nothing is in my control. Thanks for taking the time to read this long, chatty post. There's so much to talk about when you're talking about pregnancy, especially when it's your first post and you're updated for a couple of months worth of happenings! I'm excited for what's in my future, and certainly can't wait to meet my little dumpling in person!