The O'Briens: THE BIG POST...

Well... I'm back... :)

To be completely honest I had totally forgotten about our blog. Life got very busy. G and I are both in school, we are busy with tons of DIY weekend projects on our home and yard and most importantly we are expecting the newest addition to the O'Brien home ANY DAY! We were ecstatic and joyful when we learned we were expecting a baby. This blessing is something we have looked forward to our whole marriage. This happy occasion is actually what led me to write this blog post out of the blue. Its almost midnight here and I haven't been able to sleep the last few nights due to the horrendous heartburn I've been plagued with for the last few months. As I sit here in our living room (so I don't wake up G) I stumbled upon my own blog... and realized its been QUITE a while since I updated this old thing... and with baby on the way we all know that means one thing... an overwhelming amount of pictures that I can either flood onto Instagram and Facebook.... or resurrecting this blog to post thousands of baby pictures and stories on without shoving them down the throats of every small acquaintance I know. So here I am blogging again.

Ultrasound at 13 weeks. It was just a tiny little bean!

Like I mentioned, Baby O'Brien is due ANY DAY! Here is what you need to know to be up to date: G and I are what the baby world likes to call "Team Green". Meaning we opted not to find out the sex of our baby and have chosen to be surprised. WHAT WERE WE THINKING? RIGHT?!? Every other day I change my mind from "Best idea ever! I'm so glad we did this!" to "This was a dumb idea, I wish we knew what we were having!" I figure we've already made it 39.5 weeks without knowing so whats a few more days gonna hurt right? After our 20 week ultrasound the ultrasound tech gave us "gender shots" in an envelope in case we ever decided to change our mind. We decided the temptation was too great just having an envelope sit on our table, so I took the envelope to BYU campus and had the pictures sealed into a small aluminum can as part of a Valentines day fund raiser they were doing. So now instead of an envelope we have a can with our secret inside! If we ever change our mind we would need a can opener which makes the temptation a little less intense... but only a little less!

The first trimester was by far the hardest part of the journey, but I still loved every minute. We found out by the end of October that I was already 5 weeks pregnant. We had a ward Halloween party that night, and it was SO HARD not to tell everyone our good news! By 7 weeks I had started throwing up nearly every morning, noon and night. My "pregnancy super powers" were already starting to kick in. These powers included super smell, extreme exhaustion, and paranoia. That semester of school was a pretty rough one for me. My grades began to suffer as I missed more and more class due to nausea and exhaustion. My daily schedule consisted of school in the mornings then coming home to crash for a few hours until G got home from work. From there I would attempt to make dinner (which usually ended up in being sick due to smells from the kitchen), I would try to eat a few bites and keep them down and then turn in for an early night. I would jokingly tell G that we better be having triplets, because I didn't know if I could do this again. I was insanely sick from 7 weeks until about 17 weeks. During that time I lost 14 lbs and doing everyday tasks like grocery shopping, cleaning the house, and laundry became giant chores that took me all day to complete. Unfortunately my first trimester spanned over my favorite time of the year, I couldn't stomach much a Thanksgiving dinner, or eat any of the Christmas sweets friends and family brought by. Although the first trimester was hard we saw so many blessings and tender mercies.

8 weeks pregnant!

The second trimester is when the fun started! By 16 weeks my morning sickness started subsiding. I began feeling baby kick and move. My appetite came back with a vengeance! I scheduled that semesters classes later in the day so I could sleep a little more in the mornings. My sister moved in with G and I for the semester and was great at helping with the household chores. I tried to stay active by walking every day and drinking lots of water. I was carrying the baby pretty high so it took a long time before I finally "popped" out enough for people to notice I was pregnant. Second trimester was a breeze! My energy came back and the fun of feeling baby move around so much made every day an adventure. We started playing music for baby and it loved listening to primary songs on my phone. Unfortunately, since I was carrying so high my rib cage became baby's private punching bag. And starting around 20 weeks I started experiencing severe heartburn and acid re-flux. Because of the heartburn I needed to prop pillows up behind me to sleep sitting up and began eating Tums like candy, but other than that experiencing pregnancy was the best part of each day.

20 weeks pregnant! Half way done!

The third trimester came way to quickly! I took a break from school and work during the summer semester so I could prepare for baby to come. G and I were able to travel down to California to meet his sister's new baby. I started having baby showers from friends and family, and it was so overwhelming to see how much love and support this baby already has. Luckily I've only put on about 22 lbs this pregnancy so I've been able to continue to wear most of my shirts and live in my maxi skirts. My sister got married when I was 35 weeks, so other than not being able to fit into the bridesmaids outfits it was a fun and happy occasion. My nesting urge hit hard around that time. Every cupboard and closet has been cleaned and organized. We built up a wall in the spare room to make a nursery. We mud and tapped the wall, sanded, painted and installed new carpet. Nursery is now ready! I stocked the freezer to the brim with freezer meals for after baby comes. I wish I could harness the power of nesting all the time! Now, at 40 weeks G and I are all out of patience!! We can't wait to meet our little miracle! We go walking every night and climb the RB staircase on BYU campus, I've tried every trick in the book to naturally induce labor. I was officially due June 20th and each day that passes we get more and more restless. Still I love being pregnant. A little part of me will be sad when the baby isn't inside me anymore and I can't feel it constantly move. Even though I'm a few days overdue I'm still feeling great, I still have all my energy and mobility. So although our hospital bag is packed and the car seat is in place, I still feel like we might have some more waiting to do.