7 weeks, 4 days

It's been almost 2 months now since my life became motherhood and I am ready to take a breath and begin documenting my new journey. Evelyn Claire Applegate joined our family August 4, at 11am.  She weighed 7lb 2 oz, exactly the same as her mamma and was a tall 20 inches.  She had a little bit of dark hair, very dark eyes, and yummy baby cheeks.  The delivery was a lot like the pregnancy: tough, long, and miraculous.  We were placed in a room by the NICU because the doctor didn't know what to expect. I was induced at 39 weeks for the same reason.  The induction was incredibly slow, taking 24 hours before I reached 10cm and was able to start pushing.  However, it was much less painful than I had expected (with a few exceptions). When I finally reached 10cm on the morning of the 4th, they discovered that Evie was face up and tried to turn her several times without success (the exceptionally painful part). I pushed for 3.5 very long hours and thought I was going to die from hunger and fatigue. Evie, however, was very happy inside of me and did not move down AT ALL! Little stinker! So the doctors decided it was time to take her out and we went in for a C-section.
With mom and Scott watching and holding my hands, we were finally able to bring Evie into the world.  She took about 15 seconds to start crying and I was very freaked out, but then she began wailing and we all burst into happy tears.  I remember being so relieved and so tired and wanting more than anything to see and hold my precious baby.  I hated having to wait while she was cleaned off and checked out.  After what seemed like an eternity, they decided she was perfectly healthy and placed her in my arms. It was so surreal to hold her and know she was mine.  I didn't feel like a mom yet, but I was so thrilled to have her out of me and be able to look at her and hold her close.  When I first looked at her I was struck with how much she looked like me.  It was the weirdest thing, I felt like I was looking at myself as a baby.  Since then, however, she has grown more and more to look like Scott, and now she hardly looks like me at all. Now she has brown eyes, dark hair, and gorgeous eyelashes.  Her face has thinned out a lot, but she still has squeezable cheeks. I love her button nose and tiny chin, and she always smiles when I poke them.
The first two weeks my mom was here and it was such a blessing to have her. She fed us, took care of us, and kept me company when I was too sore/tired to go anywhere. Evie slept a lot, nursed constantly, and cried occasionally.  We learned very quickly that she loves her pacifier, being swaddled, and being talked to.  She gets lonely at night, and always sleeps better when we hold her or let her sleep next to us.  She is a major cuddler, and a great eater. She now weighs about 10 pounds and has grown out of almost all of her newborn clothes (sad day!).  She is starting to get very active and will kick and squirm when placed on her back, but hates tummy time and will only stand it for a few minutes. She has been smiling more and more over the last few weeks and has Scott and I wrapped around her long, tiny fingers. Evie loves it when we stick our tongues out at her, and will stick hers out to get our attention. This week we've been working on vowel sounds, mostly Ahh and Ohh. She has started sleeping for longer stretches at night, usually 6-7 hours at a time, much to her sleepy parents' relief. She also loves getting her diaper changed and gives me a huge grin when I place her on her changing table.
So far Evie has been right on track with expected development and doesn't show any deficits. She is a happy, bright baby, and brings joy and meaning to my life. I am so grateful the Lord sent this miracle to our family and can't wait to see what He has in store for her.
***More pics to follow!

The end is near!

Evie's stats:
•20mm ventricals
•6+ lb


I'm just over 36 weeks and we finally have a scheduled induction date!  Evelyn Claire will arrive August 3rd if she doesn't decide to come earlier.  My hospital bag is packed, Scott is installing the car seat tonight, her closet gets new additions each day.  We're as ready as we're ever going to be! I hope she doesn't come early and throw off the plan because I love an organized plan, but whatever happens happens at this point.  I'm just thrilled that we made it this far and she definitely won't be late.  Because honestly, I am so sick of being pregnant.  The other day a lady at work said "This is such a fun and exciting time for you!" and I just smiled at her and shook my head.  No, this has not been fun.  Somewhat exciting, filled with anxiety, pain and roller-coaster emotions but not what I would call fun.  But now it is almost over and I am thrilled to be counting down the days.  Seventeen more prego days (and nights), 10 more shifts at work, 2 more doctor visits, 1 more ultrasound.  And then?  One brand new, perfectly adorable baby.  And the end will turn into a new, and hopefully much more joyful beginning.

34 weeks, the countdown is on!

Evie's stats:
•19mm ventricals
•5.5 lb

I haven't updated for awhile, but things have been going great! Evie is a little champ, already surprising us and her doctors.  Our last check-up/ultrasound was June 12 (31.5 weeks) and we were overjoyed to learn that her ventricals have stayed stable at 19mm.  It appears that the neurosurgeon was right about Evie not having hydrocephalus at all- at least not in the sense we thought at first.  He guessed that her ventricals had more fluid because her CC was smaller, making more room for fluid to fill in.  He didn't see any drainage issues at all and assumed she wouldn't need a special shunt placed after birth to help her drain the excess fluid.  Since her ventricals have remained stable it looks like he was right on!  
My doctor was surprised and said that since Evie has been stable for 8 weeks we can anticipate a vaginal birth later than 37 weeks, maybe even as late as 39 weeks.  At first, I had mixed feeling about that because, as you know, I am not a fan of being pregnant and 2 more weeks seems like a long time!  But gradually I came to accept the fact that the longer Evie is in me the better so I'm glad she has a little more time to develop. 


We have another ultrasound on July 10, at 35.5 weeks.  At that time the doctor said we'll make more definite plans about when/how Evie will make her entrance into the world.  I'm hoping for 39 weeks and planning on a normal delivery barring any unforeseen complications.  I am so amazed at the miracle that God has worked with this little girl.  Already we have been so blessed.  I can't wait to see what He has in store for our little family! 


*Side note: we still don't know anything really about her ACC (agenesis of the corpus callosum: missing part of her brain) and won't know more until she is born and the doctor's can check her out.  So more on that after birth.


On another note, this last two weeks were so much fun!  My mom came down for 10 days to help me do Evie's nursery and she did an amazing job!  We worked really hard sewing, organizing, painting, hanging, and in all ways decorating.  Ok, mostly she worked hard and I helped a little with multiple breaks (I am so exhausted these days, yuk).  It took a lot of work, but the finished product is magical.  I wanted a soothing, old-fashioned,  very feminine nursery and I love how it turned out.  The apartment already had sky-blue walls, so to make it more girly we focused on pink and yellow as our main colors with accents of the blue. Hope she likes it as much as her mom and Nana! 

Curtains and chair cover sewed by mom

Dust ruffle and tulle balls by mom

Dresser found on KSL, repainted and new knobs. Wall design from pinterest,
frames found and painted by mom, filled by me

Her closet is already starting to look like mine :)

We fell in love with these boxes;
they were kind of our inspiration

Rocking chair from Mom A- thanks!

Carlye + Scott= Evelyn Claire

Thanks mom!  I can't wait for Evie to enjoy it as much as I do :)

28 Weeks- Hurray for the third trimester!

Peaches' stats:
•19mm
•2 lb 15 oz


Whew! We finally made it to the third trimester. It has been a rough ride, and to be honest I'm pretty excited to be nearing the end of pregnancy and the beginning of mommyhood! We went to University Hospital on Tuesday for another ultrasound (number 5), a consultation with a pediatric neurologist, and a check-up. And for the first time since seeing positive on the pee stick we got good news!
Before talking about Tuesday though, I'd better go back a bit and explain why we were even there.  At 20 weeks (March 22) Scott and I excited went for my second ultrasound. We though this was mainly to determine gender (although we were 99% sure she was a she), but they also look at how every part of the baby is forming. The tech measured her head as being slightly large at 11mm instead of 10mm.  Since it was such a tiny difference, my doctor told us not to worry yet, but to have a follow-up ultrasound a week later.

When we went in for u/s 3 (March 28), the ventricles in Evie's brain were swollen to 14mm and they diagnosed ventriculomegaly (meaning she had too much fluid up there) which they explained was because her brain wasn't draining the excess spinal fluid properly. We freaked out and were very stressed and worried for the 3 weeks until going for a follow-up with a specialist at University Hospital at 23.5 weeks (April 17).  That was a very busy and emotionally tough day for the three of us. We began with an ultrasound at 10am followed by a consultation. Then Evie and I had our first MRI, which was scary, but we were brave and only pushed the 'freak-out' button once :).  Then we met Dr. Metz who is a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine and high-risk pregnancies. Scott and I liked her a lot, which is fortunate since we were informed that she is our new OBGYN. (Evie didn't comment, but she seemed content enough). Finally we met with the so-called financial 'counselors' who were completely useless and referred us to websites. We finished out the day by stopping by Ikea which raised our spirits quite a bit.

The outcome of that day was not promising.  We were told that Evie's ventricles had swollen to 19mm and she had full-fledged hydrocephalus. I was told to prepare for a C-section because her head would be too large to deliver vaginally. We were told that she had agenesis of the corpus callosum, meaning she was missing a large and important part of her brain.  The doctor said "This is a frustrating diagnosis because we really can't tell you what to expect until she's born".  Our prognosis was anywhere from completely normal to severely disabled.  We were told that the next few months would be careful monitoring and waiting.  I HATE waiting.  More accurately, I hate not knowing what to expect, and not being able to plan for it. We were scared and sad and worried.  I felt guilty, thinking this was somehow my fault as her mom, as the one whose body was creating her, even though the doctors all said there was nothing Scott or I did or didn't do that could have made any difference.  I felt angry that pregnancy is so miserable for me when I had been expecting so much joy. We were heartbroken that our baby girl was damaged, that something was already very wrong with her and she hadn't even entered the world yet. Mostly, I felt depressed and hopeless.

Through a lot of prayer and wonderful family support, we made it through those first weeks. It is still really hard, and really scary, but there have been some amazing blessings too. I have felt very powerful witnesses from my Heavenly Father that He knows and loves all three of us.  I have felt the strength and bravery of my little girl and have been awed by how trusting and valiant she is in following whatever plan her Father has for her.  Scott and I have had to depend on each other and have grown so much as a couple and a united team. He is amazing and I am so grateful that he is my partner for whatever life sends us.

The most recent miracle came this week (May 15, 27.5 weeks) when we went up for another full day at U Hospital. The night before I felt a very strong impression that I should "stand back and watch the miracle". I felt hopeful for the first time since 20 weeks. And it really was a day of miracles. We met with Dr. Lloyd, a neurologist at Primary Children's who we instantly adored. He told us that although Evie's ventricles are swollen, he thinks it is because there is extra space created by the small corpus callosum (CC *we found out after the MRI that her CC isn't missing entirely, but is very tiny and under-formed) rather than a plumbing issue.  He said it is pretty normal and in all likelihood would not require a shunt!  Up to this point, we had been told she would most likely need a shunt placed right after birth to help drain the excess fluid, so we were very excited that she may not need the surgery after all.  He said that my fears of Evie being whisked away for surgery and monitoring right after birth were unwarranted, and that barring any unforeseen issues, we would be able to hold her and be together after delivery. He told us that he would be presenting Evie's MRIs at a conference of neurosurgeons that week and would let us know what everyone thought. Evie- you are your parent's baby- already trying to be in the spotlight!

The ultrasound was even more surprising. Evie's ventricles were measuring at 19mm- exactly the same as four weeks before. Her swelling had completely stopped!  After growing 8mm in 3.5 weeks to not change at all in 4 weeks is truly a miracle to me.  She is still measuring about 13 days ahead of her due date and her femur is measuring at 30 weeks!  I don't know where she got height from, but so far she is very tall.  Her weight was also ahead of schedule at 2lb 15oz instead of the predicted 2 lb at 28 weeks.  She is a big baby so far and everything besides her brain looks completely normal- spine, face, limbs, organs.  We are so grateful that the rest of her is developing normally because it points to a better outcome overall. Because of the positive results of the u/s, Dr. Metz gave me some great news. She said Evie has a very good chance of delivering vaginally at 37 weeks as long as her head stays small enough. I might not have a C-sec after all!  We will monitor her very closely between weeks 34 and 37 and if she is small enough go for it. If her head gets too big we'll still wait until 39 weeks and deliver her via C-sec. But, I am very hopeful. July 20th seems like years ahead of August 10th, and it seems very close. Honestly though, I am more than ready to be done with this whole pregnancy ordeal and have Evie where I can see her and hold her. I know there will be many challenges with having a new infant (especially one with special needs) and that terrifies me, but pregnancy has been a trip. And not in a good way.

So, as a treat for those of you who've borne with me through all of this explanation, here are some really cool MRI photos. We were able to get a CD of all of the images (and there are hundreds) but these are my faves.

24 weeks

Peaches' stats: 
•12 inches
•1 lb 10 oz


As the kids at work like to say, I've finally 'popped'!  It is so strange to me to look in the mirror and suddenly see this very round protruding belly that seems to have just appeared in the last few weeks.  It's really fun to finally start looking pregnant and not just chunky.  I can still wear my loosest pre-prego jeans, but I've started wearing maternity jeans too because they are just so darn comfy.  I'm still feeling good physically, although I had my first ever charlie-horse and thought I was dying! Those really hurt! Emotionally- well, I just have to take it one day at a time. 


We had another ultrasound at 23.5 weeks and Evie was measuring huge! Most of her length measurements put her at around 25 weeks and her weight was 1 lb 10 oz- again about 25 weeks.  I'm hoping this means she will come around 39 weeks instead of 40 or later.  The doctor said we'll wait and see (I'm starting to figure out this is a doctor's favorite phrase, much to my chagrin) so no due date change right now. But my fingers are crossed! 


Other than that we're just getting ready to move sometime towards the end of May and working a ton to save for baby.  Can't wait to finally start her nursery and get things organized! But for now, I'm waiting. Always waiting. 

Easter

Easter was kind of weird this year since I was sick and had to work. I really missed the big Thompson/Argyle/Lund celebrations I loved growing up, complete with egg coloring and smashing, hidden baskets of deliciousness, and a huge delightful meal. I kept a few traditions going, but on a smaller scale. I made a basket of Scott and my favorite Easter candies and hid it for him (he found it way too quickly!) and we colored a bunch of eggs.

Being sick and having to work, I didn't make it to church and I missed that most of all. I enjoyed reading about the Savior and His sacrifice for us at home though, and reflecting on how glad I am to know that He truly is risen! That joyous thought made the day great even though it wasn't what I'm used to. Hoping next year we will get to celebrate with family and spiritually uplifting worship without work or sickness.

Here are some pics from our egg coloring!

Scottie being artsy

All of our eggs

My best eggs

Scott's best eggs

Scott's zombie eggs scaring my Humpty Dumpty

Sugar and Spice...

Peaches' Stats:

*10 inches
*3/4 lb

We had our 20 week ultrasound on March 22. What a cool experience! Scott's face was the best part; utterly joyful and awe-struck. Towards the end the tech told us that Peaches is a girl, but neither of us were very surprised! Now I can say 'she' and be sure. I told mom by sending this recipe:

We told the Applegates by putting pink confetti in black balloons and letting everyone pop one. It was great because all of them predicted boy, so it was fun to have a surprise.

At 20 weeks I am feeling nausea-free (the best feeling EVER!) and have a little more energy than before. My belly is expanding rapidly and I'm getting excited to buy maternity clothes. Peaches has started moving enough that I can feel her; it feels like she's turning circles and occasionally jabbing a little fist. We are happy and healthy and ready to get big!

St. Patrick's Day

For some reason I have always loved St. Patrick's day. I'm Scottish, not Irish, so I shouldn't get so excited but I can't help it. For some reason it's just so fun to plan my green outfit and I get a kick out of pinching unsuspecting people, but the best part is the food. Ever since I can remember, my mom made our family a traditional boiled Irish dinner including corned beef, cabbage, baby potatoes, and carrots. We also usually had green jello and a green drink of some sort. Luckily, when I introduced Scott to this tradition he loved it too. In fact, this year he began reminding me about our Irish dinner in February! Sure do love my leprechaun. This time I made the dinner on the stove instead of in the crock pot, and we agreed that it was much more flavorful. Yum! Thanks St. Patrick!

Hunger Games

In honor of the Hunger Games movie coming out this month (18 days!!) I thought I’d write a bit about food.

Before I was host to Peaches, my eating habits were probably less than ideal, but I wasn’t too concerned. I ate a lot of sugar, an occasional 32-ounce Mt. Dew, and would sometimes go hours between big meals rather than ‘grazing’. I was able to eat what I wanted, when I wanted. It was great. Since becoming pregnant however, that freedom has changed drastically. I can’t sugar binge, I have to eat something every two hours, and soda is completely out. I wish I could say this is due to my motherly instinct to get healthy for baby, or even a selfish new year’s resolution. But alas, this is not so. My fetus, while still unable to open up her eyes or shake a tiny fist, has asserted complete control over my body. If I do (eat) anything she doesn’t like, I am sick. I feel it almost immediately and with a strength that would be quite impressive if it weren’t so misery-inducing. And I have completely bended to her will. I resist anything she doesn’t want because it just isn’t worth it.

So what does the dictator desire? So far I haven’t had any intense cravings, but I have noticed that she really likes salty foods. Pre-Peaches, I never bought chips for myself; now we keep tortilla chips on hand at all times. I was impartial to cheese; now it feels like we’re keeping Tillamook in business. Saltines and tuna have always been a favorite and luckily she allows this on occasion (tuna is only ok once a week per doctor). Soda is never ok unless I want to spend hours laying down but she allows me to continue loving OJ. And the most comforting thing we can agree on is chamomile tea- a staple for calming a sick tummy, helping us stay hydrated, and also good for digestion!

Fortunately, since first-trimester nausea has declined I am slowly broadening my food horizons. But I taste tentatively because Peaches and I both know she has my stomach wrapped around her tiny, barely-formed finger. Let the Games begin!

16 Weeks!

Peaches' stats:
•4.5 inches
•3 oz


My first trimester was definitely rough. I was expecting a fun and easy pregnancy because my mom loved being prego and everyone says you'll be like your mom. Well that may be true for some, but not for me! I lost 7 lbs between weeks 6 and 12 due to nausea and vomiting. Luckily, the vomiting has gone down to once/twice a week and I'm starting to feel less nauseous and more able to eat. Peaches didn't seem to notice how sick we were, because even though I'm still down 4 lbs from starting weight I now have a little bump! It's only noticeable when I eat a lot or wear a tight shirt, but I can feel it and see it. Peaches is starting to make herself known!

*Side note: I feel like Peaches is a girl, so for ease of writing I will call him/her a her until we find out for sure. I could be wrong, but that's what I'm going with for now.

*Other side note: Mom started calling baby "Peaches" when she visited because baby was about the size of a small peach at the time. I think that is the cutest nickname ever, so it stuck! Now Scott and I always refer to her as Peaches :)

So, here are my first pics! Not much yet, but starting to poke a little. Also- note the super cute belly stickers mom sent me to mark the weeks. Love em!

Hello!

I'm pretty slow when it comes to new technology. Partly because I'm resistant to change, partly because I'm lazy. I don't have a smart phone, I don't want an Ipad, and I didn't understand why Scott wanted a Bluray player. I have wanted a blog for a long time, but I was just too lazy to figure it out. However, being pregnant has given me a new motivation- to chronicle the adventure so to speak- and here I am. So hello blog world, I'm happy to join you!