Just call me Mommy!!!

As of January 25, 2012 at 5:53 pm, I became a mommy to a beautiful baby girl weighing 8 lb 13oz and 21.5" long named Briley Elizabeth!! I am more in love with my daughter than words can say :D <3 She is also the reason that I've been MIA from the blogging world. So now the adventures of being a mommy actually begin, and I'm sure it's going to be a wild ride. So bare with me folks as I figure out how to balance my new love in my life and keep blogging.

Baby mama drama

Well l went to my doctor appointment yesterday and I thought it was going to be just a boring, run of the mill appointment. Boy was I wrong. I got my vitals taken and to my surprise my blood pressure was high. So I told the nurse and asked her to take it again, she obliged and when it was taken the second time it was only a a little lower, not enough to be significant. When I actually saw my doctor she was a little concerned and said she would check it once more at the end of my appointment. I looked nervously to my husband who took my hand and gave me looks of comfort and support.
We listened to the baby's heartbeat, which was nice and strong at 143, and then I was checked for dilation. I prepared myself for that "invasion" and expected to hear that I'm not dilated. However to both mine and my husband's surprise, my doctor said I was 2 cm dilated. She moved on to check my blood pressure and was not happy with the results. My blood pressure was high so she ordered "the works" at the lab for me (pee in a cup, and a few vials of blood, plus a 24 hour urine collection *sigh*). The doctor told me that because of my symptoms she needed to know if it was preeclampsia or gestational hypertension that was causing this, either way she wasn't panicked, but she wasn't thrilled either. She told me that either way she should want me to have the baby sometime next week!!! (Ahhh!!)
After I completed my appointment I was sent to the lab for them to steal my fluids. After the labs I was sent up to Labor & Delivery to have my blood pressure monitored.

I was hooked up to a machine that monitored my BP, baby's heart rate, and contractions. I was monitored up in L&D for over an hour and had my blood pressure go down to a level that everyone was comfortable with, and the labs were normal, so I was sent home. Currently I am doing the 24 hour preeclampsia test, and will turn it in tomorrow to await my results on Monday. My next appointment is Tuesday and we will more than likely have more information and possibly have an induction date to meet our first baby. :D
So much for a regular day at the hospital, 5 hours was enough for me for one week. Hopefully I can update y'all with good news early next week! :)

Little Miracles

Today, I when I woke up this morning all I could think about was the pain in my hips, discomfort in my belly, and the lack of sleep I had just endured. Most of the day I find myself focusing on the aches and pains and the "ugh, I'm ready to be done with being pregnant". However this morning, I also took the time to look at my ever-so-large belly and realize what a miracle it really is to be pregnant. I think most women in the beginning are more focused on the excitement of "Oh my God, I'm actually pregnant" and realize the miracle of it happening. But after the 9 months of doctor appointments, weight gain, and impatience of waiting to meet our little one that we lose focus on the miracle. 

Today at 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant, I realized how much of a miracle the process of growing another human being inside of me really is. And the small chance that it is that you end up pregnant in the first place. It's so amazing to see how the human female body changes to house a little one for 9 months and keep it safe and protected from the outside world. I feel that pregnancy is such a beautiful thing, that maybe we pregnant gals don't feel so much of the beautiful, as we do the changing. The bottom line is that as much as I "bitch" about being huge and pregnant and my hormones being out of whack, I wouldn't change any part of it for the world. I am so excited to be able to carry a baby, to be happy and healthy for an entire 9 months, and to know that I can grow a healthy baby.

I can't wait to see what parts of me and what parts of Brian the baby has. To kiss those little chunky cheeks and tickle those tiny toes! I think that for me the true miracle will set in when I hold my son/daughter in my arms after carrying him/her for 9 long months. I know that once I look into those little eyes, it'll hit me, that my husband and I made this little life and it is ours, and we are theirs, forever.

The joys of being a grown up

I know there is no greater joy than having your own place to live, however when this place is given to you by the government, eh, the place isn't the greatest. Being military my husband gets the option and the benefit to have a house on post (what the Army calls the military installation). Now don't get me wrong, we are thankful to have a place to live and call our own, but lately the company that does our housing has just pissed me off. Piscern is the name of the privatized housing company and at first they were great. But it seems that the longer we live here the more frustrated I become.

There are pros and cons to living on post, however today my list of cons seems to outweigh the pros just because I am in a pissy mood. We live in a 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom duplex with a garage, its nice and all and has about 1500 square feet; it's nothing huge but it works for the two (soon to be three of us). However, our home is NOT worth the $1100 that the Army gives us for BAH (basic allowance for housing). Because we live on post in the military housing they keep all of our BAH and we don't see a cent of it. Now if our house was worth all of our BAH I wouldn't have a problem with them keeping in all but when the place you live clearly doesn't add up to that amount it's frustrating to have the Army keep it.

Now, a pro to living on post, we don't pay for our utilities. I guess you could say that some of our BAH goes towards that as well, but it's still frustrating to not have the "extra" money to pocket. Another pro is when something is wrong or broken in the house you call maintenance to come fix it for you. When you have your own house you fix it yourself. Yet another con to the pro, the maintenance guys are always a pain to get a hold of and to have them fix the problem the first time, let alone actually getting them out to your home within a few days of the issue happening. For example, today Brian and my carbon monoxide detectors randomly started to beep, not go off, but just beep. We tried resetting them, unplugging them, and then putting them back in and nothing has worked. Well because it is Sunday, maintenance is off today and because tomorrow is MLK day, they will be off again. *sigh* So we are hoping that we can get a hold of someone on Tuesday morning and get someone out here by Wednesday to fix this rather annoying issue.

Sorry that this post is more like a whiny vent rather than anything important or entertaining. Just some Army wife insight on a "perk" of the military.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

So today was my maternity photo shoot and needless to say I was nervous. I'm not one that likes to have my picture taken normally but add a belly, growing boobs, and a level of uncomfort that I've never been on before and you can say that I was down right dreading it. Luckily I had my best friend Sierra taking my pictures, and because she knows me so well she already knew how I was going to be. (By the way go like her page on Facebook: Sierra Ritchie Photography.)

At first I wasn't sure where or what I wanted for my pictures, but after a few simple poses my hubby and I got into it a little more and the ideas and such started flowing. Sierra starting giving more direction and the shoot started to form itself. :) You could say that we all got a little more into it and we had a great time walking downtown and finding interesting spots to take pictures. I loved the simplicity of the poses and the shots that we took and I'm really hoping that they turn out half as good as I think they will. :)

After a great afternoon of taking pictures, I am definitely excited to get them back after Sierra finishes editing and going through them. I just hope that I get a little sneak preview before she puts them up on Facebook. ;)

Now that we have officially taken the maternity pictures this little baby can decide to grace us with it's presence whenever it's little heart desires. (And for this mommy's sake, I hope that it's sooner than later!!)

By dawn's early light...

Well hello there world of the wide web. This is Stephanie (a new blogger) who is going to be learning how to do this, or learn to get better, with each post along the way. This is my first official post on my blog and I’m not even sure where to start…

I’m a 23 year old Army wife who is still learning who I am with each passing day. My husband Brian, 24, is a sergeant with 7 years in the U.S. Army. We are stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina awaiting our next orders. In not too many more passing days my title of woman and wife changes to “mommy”,and that is an entirely new ballgame all together. We are impatiently awaiting the arrival of our first child, which could technically be any day now. I am currently 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant with our first child and we both couldn’t be happier or more nervous.

I started this blog mainly to have a place to write and get out what I’m feeling; and to share my adventures of being a wife and becoming a new mommy. Stick with me folks, I’m sure it’ll get really interesting here soon!