Where do I even begin?!

I was so excited for my three day weekend. I had a huge list of things I wanted to get taken care of and I wanted to spend Monday at the beach. Needless to say, my weekend did not go as planned... not even close!

When Randy was home last weekend I woke up in the night with terrible back pain. Initially, I thought it was a kidney stone. The next morning it didn't bother me, but I pushed fluids just to be safe. At one point, Randy put his hand on my lower back and it nearly brought me to my knees. It hurt so bad! Since my back only hurt to touch I knew it wasn't a kidney stone and so I assumed I got bit or stung by some strange Hawaiian bug.

Tuesday I noticed a small rash on my back near the "bug bite" and by Wednesday it had spread into several patches along my lower back. I went to the doctor just to make sure the little man would be okay. The doctor said your body can react very differently during pregnancy and he thought I was having an allergic reaction. He gave me something to put on it and said to call if it got any worse.

Saturday morning I called my mom to ask if I could still go to water aerobics. After describing how much my "bug bite" had changed she advised that I not go. She said it sounded like I had shingles. Truthfully I didn't even know what shingles were so I googled a picture of it (bad idea by the way!!). The instant I saw the first image I knew that was what I had on my back. It's one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen!

After 20 weeks you are supposed to call Labor & Delivery if it's after office hours and you have a question. It just so happened the doctor I saw earlier in the week was on call and at the hospital so he had me come in. He took one quick look and confirmed it was shingles. Lovely.

Sunday I ran a few errands with Heather. As the day went on I began to feel a little worse and overall just uncomfortable. My pants and shirt irritated the shingles so I went home and just hung out on the couch for the evening. I felt even worse as the night went on, but the doctor warned me it may get worse before it gets better so I didn't think too much of it. Plus, knowing that I'll be experiencing labor pains in 3 short months I was trying hard not to complain as I know that will be pain on a whole different level.

At 3:30AM I threw in the towel and called home. I knew there wasn't anything anyone could do for me, but being alone and in so much pain I just wanted to tell someone. We decided I should try to lay down one more time and get some sleep since I had been up all night and call L&D in the morning. I hung up the phone, got another glass of water and went to the bathroom before laying back down. I was completely shocked to see that I passed a kidney stone! In that very instant I felt sooooo much better! As many as I've had you'd think I would have figured out one was coming, but I didn't. All I can say is that I'm so thankful I passed it so quickly and on my own. I can't imagine trying to pass one of those suckers for days on end while you're pregnant and drug free. I'd do it if it meant the little guy would be okay, but that's something I don't even want to think about!

I'm doing much better today and actually feel better than I thought I would. I'm hoping the worst of the shingles is over, but the doctors couldn't say for sure if it was or not. They weren't too specific, but I do know it will be a few weeks before they clear up all the way.

I didn't take a belly picture this weekend so here's one from today (25 weeks, 5 days). I thought I'd leave my shirt on this week so everyone wouldn't have to see all the nastiness of the shingles. I'll have you know those are regular jeans that I'm wearing and they are buttoned! I'll also go ahead and admit those are the only regular jeans that I have left and I can only button them after wearing them all day when they are stretched out. But that still counts in my book! :)

We have a wild man our hands! :)

We have had a sneak peek at our little man on 4 separate occasions. On all 4 of those occasions he has acted like a wild little man! And yesterday was no exception...

I felt him move a few times during the ultrasound, but on the screen he was moving constantly throughout the entire appointment. We watched him for an hour and I'm pretty sure he didn't sit still for more than 5 seconds straight. The woman couldn't get the pictures that she wanted so we're actually going back once Randy is home for her to try again. It was really entertaining to watch him, but I'm a little worried about his behavior :)

Even though he was wild he was still cute! We saw him yawn a few times and it was absolutely adorable! She also got a picture of him smiling. She said he had his face up against the side of my uterus so it was hard for her to get a good/clear picture. She had me rolling on my sides, poking at him, talking to him but we couldn't get him to move. He'd lay still for a split second and then all at once he'd jerk his little body and all his limbs would go flying. He'd also arch his back and throw his head back just like he was having a little tantrum.

The slideshow is pretty fast so you can turn it off if you'd like and click on the images one at a time. On some of the 3D images you can see part of the baby's face, but the other side of his face is blurred or completely missing- that's because he's up against my side and in 3D mode is can't focus on what is right against my side. I think that's the main reason she's having us come back, because she didn't get a picture of his entire face without a portion of it being blurred. That's okay though~ I'll take another sneak peek at him!

We also discussed his eye from our previous u/s. She said what we're seeing is the socket and what looks like his eye is actually the light reflecting off his iris. She said it's not something you see with every u/s, but it does happen. I saw it a few times again yesterday as well. She said it was too early for him to be opening his eyes and when they do they typically only open their eyes a tiny bit. Almost like a little squint.

Here's the link to view the images:

1. Go to www.HawaiiUltrasound.com

2. Click on "Ultrasound"

3. Click on the “Clients” tab along the top

4. Enter our password: boughton

5. Wait a few seconds for the pictures to load.

#15- Randy's lips? (I'm hoping!)
#23- he finally opened his little fingers for us!
#29/30- smiling

It was so nice to have Randy home even if it was only for 4 days. We did some shopping for our little man on Friday night and we're pretty sure we found the nursery furniture as well. Now we just need Daddy to come back so we can get started on everything!

Here's a belly pic from this morning (24 weeks, 3 days). Everyone asks if I have grown since Iowa and the answer to that would be yes. Yes, I have!

It's a sweet baby boy!

Randy is finally home and we're having a baby boy!!! :) We had an amazing day and it was so much fun to find out together. I can't imagine not waiting for him to find out the gender. Living with the envelope wasn't as bad and what everyone imagined, but I'll be honest and say the last week was just plain annoying. People due 2 months after us were announcing what they were having and I was just ready for it to be our turn!

As soon as we found out we called Petal Pushers. They delivered flowers to our parents that said, "It's a boy!" I went to see Val while I was home for Labor Day and they were incredibly excited to be in on the surprise with us. We spent the rest of the afternoon making phone calls and sending texts so that we could share the news with everyone else.

Yesterday I had my 24 week appointment and everything looked good. I saw Dr. Coleman again and I was really glad Randy was able to meet her this time. She tried to find the little man's heartbeat, but all she was hearing was kicks at first. I hope this isn't any indication of his energy level or behavior once he arrives :) It came up that Randy wasn't at the 20 week u/s so she was incredibly sweet and brought the u/s machine in for us. It wasn't as high quality as the previous one, but any chance to get a glimpse of him we'll take. He was moving all around and once again hiding his little face from us.

Tonight we're heading to Babies R Us when I get off work. The store just opened last week so I'm really excited to see what they have. I have not bought one single baby item so I'm ready to do some shopping! Saturday we're having a 3D ultrasound done out in town and then Randy leaves again on Sunday for the Big Island for a month. I was assuming we'd have all day Sunday together, but they booked the flights in alphabetical order so Randy is on the 2:30AM flight. Lovely, huh?!

I'll have Randy take some pictures of my belly before he leaves again and I'll post them on Sunday afternoon. It's definitely grown since Iowa! I'll also post some images from the u/s since they give us a cd with all the images they get :)

Let the countdown begin!

My hubby will finally be home and I couldn't be more thankful! Of course we're anxious to find out the gender, but I'm also just excited to see him and spend time with him. Even though we use Skype I haven't let him see my belly for the past couple weeks. I figure if he's going to be shocked he might as well be really shocked :)

I'm absolutely in love with this belly and I can't wait to share it with him. Our little one is pretty active and the kicks are definitely getting stronger. Just this week I started to see my belly move. It's just amazing to me! I can't wait to see his face the first time he sees & feels our little one!

Some people have been asking me about leaving comments. Anyone should be able to leave one even if you don't have a google account. So please~ if you're reading leave a comment! :)

Under the post I write click on "comment". Type your message in the box and then click on "comment as" and select "name/URL". Enter your name and then hit "continue". Then hit "post comment" and you're done! It may or may not have you verify some random letters. If so, just type what you see and then it will post your comment. It's really pretty easy~ I promise!

We'll keep everyone posted just as soon as we know our little one's gender! I don't know if we'll send out a mass text, update the blog or call but we'll share the news just as soon as we can. Somedays I feel like it's a boy and then other days I think it's a girl so I'll guess we'll just have to wait a little bit longer to officially find out!

Check back soon~ the next update will be very exciting!! :)

Happy Birthday, love!

Being in Japan you get two birthdays this year~ today & tomorrow :) Lucky guy! I hope you had a wonderful day and that they let you out of class early this afternoon! Have fun at your Mess Night tonight and I'll talk to you soon!

We love & miss you very much!!

Ultrasound update!

As you all know, I had my ultrasound this morning. It was amazing! Heather went with me and we were oohing and ahhing and I'm sure I had the biggest grin on my face the whole time. The tech had her own monitor and then there was a 2nd monitor hanging from the ceiling that Heather and I were able to watch.

She said the baby looked perfectly healthy and from what she could see we don't have anything to worry about. The baby is right on track for my due date and she guessed the weight to be about 14 ounces. The heart rate was 156 which is right in the middle of the typical 150-160 range it has always been in. The head was resting on my bladder and the feet were at my belly button. I knew the baby was growing, but I guess I was shocked s/he was stretched out so far!

I was amazed at what we were able to see. Some things I could see clearly and others we had to ask her to point out again. The tech was really sweet and told us everything she was looking for and what she was measuring each time she took a measurement.

Our little one loved having his/her hands tucked right beside his/her face. The right hand was in a fist directly in front of the face almost the entire time. The tech had to work pretty hard to get the baby to move it's hand. We could see all the tiny knuckles, but she just wanted to make sure the baby could open and close it's fingers. She'd push a little harder on my tummy and the baby would just push right back at her~ just like a little boxer :) It was really cute! We only got a glimpse of the face from the front a few times, but she was able to get a pretty good view of the profile.

She wasn't sure she was going to be able to tell the gender for a good portion of the ultrasound. Our little one had it's legs held tightly together. She turned off our monitor whenever she was measuring the thigh or lower abdomen area just so we couldn't peek. She tried several times to see the gender and finally our little one cooperated!

Don't worry, I promise I won't peek in the envelope! I printed out a little "It's a boy!" and a little "It's a girl!" when I got home on Sunday night to take to the appointment. I gave both to our tech at the end of our appointment. The correct one was folded into the middle of several sheets of paper and tightly sealed. As if that wasn't enough, our tech layered on some tape for good measure :)

I'm still at work right now, but I'll add some pictures tonight when I get home. The quality isn't as clear as what we saw on the screen so I'll do the best I can. Trust me though, our little one is super cute already! :)

The tech wrote a little note for daddy! :)



The baby's profile. The dark spot in the chest is the baby's heart.



A cute little leg!



We might have a thumb sucker on our hands :)



The baby's eyes aren't supposed to be open yet so I'm not sure what to think of this one, lol. You can see the baby's right hand beside it's cheek and the left hand is blocking 1/2 of the face.



We have a few more pictures, but the are sealed tight in the envelope. We'll definitely be sharing those just as soon as we can!

We're 1/2 done!

As of today I'm officially 20 weeks pregnant! I have no idea where the time has gone, but I can only imagine the next 20 will go by even more quickly. I started feeling the baby move this week and I absolutely love it! Our little one is about 10.5 ounces, 10 inches long and the size of a banana. Every week they compare the baby's size to a piece of fruit and I love that it was a banana this week. I refer to the baby as a lil' monkey all the time so I couldn't help but laugh this morning when I read that!

I'm packing my bags and headed for Iowa tomorrow! I couldn't be more excited! I can't wait to see our families and to be able to spend time together. Laurie, Ben & Sandy will be in town and so will the girls so I'm pretty pumped to be able to see everyone all in one trip!!

Here's my list of to do's so far:
*Charlee's 1st birthday party
*family dinner with everyone from Kansas (which includes S'mores at the cabin)
*lunch with the girls
*lunch at the studio
*meet our sweet little nephew for the very first time!
*compare bellies with Johna :)
*church
*Dixon family reunion
*eat at Carlos O'Kellys (This is just a given.)
*eat at Happy Joe's (This I just can't stop thinking about and I have no clue why. I haven't eaten there in years, lol!)

I feel like I haven't been home in forever, but I think that's just because Randy is gone again. I really wish he was going home too, but unfornately he can't. It's hard to imagine the next time we fly home that we'll have a little one with us! I cringe just imagining us making our way through the airport with all our stuff. I will definitely be paying even more attention to other parents this flight. I pray we'll be the relaxed type who doesn't bring 1/2 their house with them, but we'll see. I'm sure it will take a flight or two before we're able to figure all that out :)

I will see everyone very, very soon~ I can't wait!