Introducing...

Devlin James Allred!

Born June 12, 2010 12:35 am. Weighing 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 in long.

We love him so much :)

I will post a birth story soon, in the meantime, here are some pictures:

Loving Life

Here are some pictures from this last week to begin!

These pictures are all from 39 Weeks - Two different dresses because my sister wanted a picture of me in the red dress :)






Here is my 40 Week picture! Can you tell that I've been in labor for a bit ;)


So my Due Date of June 9th was yesterday, which also happened to be Jaren's 24th birthday! I was not able to give him a birthday baby, but I have been in labor since about 6 pm Tuesday night, so it was cool that I was actually in labor that close to my due date. I had my dr. appointment yesterday afternoon and I went from being closed up to 2 cm! As you can see in my picture, the baby has dropped a lot lower, and I was expecting the pressure to be painful, but surprisingly I'm kind of enjoying the pain. It's such an exciting experience!

Looking back on my pregnancy, I see so much that I have to be thankful for. My pregnancy was quite easy until the last few weeks. I never had horrible morning sickness, I was able to be active the entire time, even now, but did stop riding my bike at 30 weeks. I did have a bike accident and ended up in the hospital, with no problems though. I have been in the hospital a bit, but luckily it was never anything. When I think of all the things that could have gone wrong, I am just so blessed that nothing has.

The last few weeks I have had high blood pressure, swelling, migraines, vision problems, and of course the usual aches and pains, but I keep telling myself that it could be worse :) The same thing goes with every contraction. Whenever I start to think one is hurting horribly and that I can't do it, I remind myself that it will probably get worse and that I am strong and can do this.

I love my husband so much and I am so grateful for how much he has put up with my mood swings, cravings, and overall craziness :) I love seeing how excited he is to have this baby, it makes me smile to know that he loves me and our baby so much!!

So now here I am sitting on a mattress in our living room, watching a movie, writing this blog post, and contracting every few minutes. I haven't been timing them and I probably should again lol. They keep getting stronger and I'm excited. I have my next appointment tomorrow and if nothing happens before then, then we are going to be inducing (since my blood pressure was still high yesterday). It is so exciting to know that I will have a baby before this weekend is over!!

So this is it for now, I'm going to go back to relaxing and resting up for this exciting adventure!!

PS The next time I post, I will have a baby!!

Time to update

Here is a picture of me at 37 Weeks at my baby shower! I have a lot of pictures from my wonderful shower that I want to put into a cool post, more than just a quick one like right now!


Here is a picture of me at 38 weeks. I was down in Aurora and my Dad and I had just gotten back from the Temple! It was awesome to go!!


And now for my favorite picture (for now anyway lol) I had it taken last Friday (about 38 1/2 weeks) before my appointment that afternoon.


Ok now on to the crazy stuff.

Last Tuesday I was -1 Station, about 70% effaced, and 1 cm dilated. My blood pressure has been high for the last few weeks, so I scheduled another appointment for that Friday. Also I had to go in and get blood work done, and things were normal. My doctor informed me also that he was on call this weekend and that I should have the baby (he is our favorite out of all the doctors in the office) We just kind of laughed and didn't expect anything to happen.

Friday rolls around and I go in, blood pressure is still extremely high and I guess I've been having traces of protein in my urine. He then does a Non-Stress Test and we pass. I was having contractions and it was cool and what not. So after we get home Jaren has to go to work and I end up sleeping for 4 hours, waking up for half an hour and then sleeping for another hour. It was weird because that hasn't happened in a LONG time. So when I wake up I have to sudden urge to clean the house and get tons of things done. So I start and then the contractions start and I just try to ignore them. When Jaren gets home they are really bad and I can hardly stand up through them. So we just keep doing things, but decide to time them. We time them for about 2 hours. They started at 3 minutes apart and got worse and went to 2 minutes apart. We call the doctor and he tells us we need to go in to Labor & Delivery, so we go.

We get up to L&D and are put into a room and then the nurse, Trish, comes in and acts all sweet and nice for a little bit. She then checks me and hurts me so badly. I have NEVER hurt from an internal before, but she was DIGGING up me and even after asking if she was hurting me and I said yes, she kept going. She then proceeds to tell me that I am -4 Station, 30% effaced, and 1 1/2 cm dilated. So a bit different from earlier in the day (the -1 Station, 70% effaced, and 1 cm dilated). She tells me that the baby is up really really high and that the baby is going to turn to breech like hers did at 37 weeks. Anyway, then they put me on the monitors and my contractions are 2 minutes apart, peaking at about 75 - 80% intensity. After a while, she checks me again - same deal of hurting me very badly and things are the same. She calls the doctor, and I am sent home.

Now on to Saturday...

Jaren and I decided to go down to Denver to get my mind off of being in early labor. We went and had fun with my sisters, brother, brother-in-law, and Dad's new friend Jill!! Later on Jaren has to come back to Fort Collins for work, and I was planning on staying until Sunday and then go home. After we all eat and Jaren and Jonathan leave, Sabrina and Ken go on a date :) so Me, Jill, and Amber go back to Dad's house. They were so sweet and gave me foot rubs, back massages, and hand rubs. Then we decided to go on a walk just to get me moving, since I was hurting from the contractions (which were still 2 minutes apart). After we got back, everyone else got there and we decided to go out to Texas Roadhouse! At dinner is when the contractions started to get more intense. After dinner we all then went for a walk on the track and my contractions got down to 1 - 2 minutes apart and so much more intense. Jaren calls the doctor, who says this could be it and to come in, so we all pile in cars and drive up to Fort Collins. We get up to Labor and Delivery and the mean nurse is there again. She seems very perturbed that I have so many people with me, but of course they do not have any restrictions on how many people are there with you. She then checks me and is even more rough with me than the night before and hurts me SO much worse. She then says I'm -3 Station, 60% effaced, and 1 1/2 cm dilated. I'm put on the monitors and baby was not cooperating very well, but it finally started picking things up. My contractions were peaking at around 85 - 90% and several times near the end they went past 100%.

My blood pressure was up again, and when I asked her what it was, she would not tell me - all she said was "high" and walked away. After a while things weren't going so well and I was getting frustrated. Jill then asks me if she could ask some questions and I said yes, because I never think of good things to ask! The nurse comes over and Jill begins asking some things and the nurse just looks at her and asks why we want to know and would not give us straight answers on anything, like blood pressure, station, dilation - SIMPLE THINGS. It was very frustrating. So then when it's time to check me again she says she's going to have someone else check me also and do an ultrasound (again - forgot to mention she did one Friday night too) just to make sure the baby's head is down. So she goes and gets the ultrasound and sure enough, baby is still head down. Then we ask about someone else checking me and she all the sudden doesn't seem to want to, so I insisted and she seemed upset. The Charge nurse is then brought in and checks me - I DIDN'T FEEL A THING! She did not hurt me, she was gentle and kind. So that was one good thing. She then says that I am the same. It was frustrating, but hey I got a second opinion, which is what I was wanting. So then, I am told once again that the contractions are regular enough 1 - 2 minutes apart, but they need to be more intense. And then I am sent home again.

Sunday - Tuesday morning:
Contractions every 1 - 3 minutes apart all day and night.

Tuesday Doctor Appointment:
Jaren and I decided that since it was such a nice morning that we would walk to my appointment. Our OB is only a few minutes away anyway. Plus, wanting to see if it would have a good effect on the blood pressure. We get there and my blood pressure is still high, in the same range as the last few weeks. So they do another Non-Stress Test and nothing. Can't get the baby's heartbeat or movement or any contractions. (turns out my contractions have pretty much stopped since this morning). So we sit there and things aren't looking too good, and I also did tell them that I have not felt the baby much since contractions started on Friday and movement has been decreasing every day, which I was told was part of labor. So the doctor comes in and is not liking how the test is going because the baby is not responding, so he shocks my tummy and scares the crap out of both of us and the baby starts moving and they get readings. So then he does the internal (didn't hurt by the way lol) He said Baby was "Really high up", 50% effaced, and I was not dilated at all. WHAT THE HECK. HOW????!?!?!? I honestly did not think that dilation could change. I knew effacement could, but not dilation. So then he tells me that we need to do blood work again and a 24 hour urine test, since I've had traces of protein in my urine. AHHHH!!

My next appointment is on Friday and I guess we will see what we do from there. Any thoughts and prayers are very much appreciated.

So today I've been very emotional and confused and depressed and feeling like a failure. I am missing my mom terribly and wish she were here for me to talk to. So that was our weekend and now we're just waiting to see what happens.

37 Week Update

Today I am full term! *Victory Dance* Here is the picture I took from last week. I really need to get out of this habit of putting up last weeks pictures lol.

Week 36 Picture:


I wish I had taken a picture today so I could put it up, but today was a lazy day and I didn't look good AT ALL :)

So I have no energy right now to really write much, but I will put down the update from my appointment today.

Definitely at a -1 Station now
He didn't tell me how effaced I was, and I forgot to ask. He did say that my cervix was extremely thin, whatever that means lol.
And he said I was a fingertip dilated. So I asked what he meant by a fingertip and he said 1 cm.

Last week I also was tested to see if I was positive for Group B Strep and it turns out I am. So that means that I will have to get antibiotics during labor, so as not to pass it on to the baby.

Also this week, my blood pressure was a lot higher than last week. Last week it was about 114/62 and this week it was 143/80 something. So a bit of a jump, so I have another appointment Friday to check my blood pressure again. I did have a ton of salt yesterday and I'm thinking that played a big part in it, and I didn't have a chance to really hydrate this morning before my appointment. But we shall see and I will update more then!

Forgot to mention...

What went on at my appointment today.

Last Sunday (May 2) I was in Labor and Delivery to be monitored, because we thought I was in labor. I keep having false labor episodes. Lovely. Anyway, I was checked out and my cervix was still high and no effacement or dilation.

Well today my doctor checked me and:

My cervix is low
Baby is between a -2 and -1 station
I am 70% effaced
And 0% dilated.

I am planning on keeping track of these stats, just to see how the progress goes. It doesn't really mean much right now, from what I've heard, but still it's cool.

36 Weeks

So since I forgot to update in quite some time, here are the pictures from weeks 34 and 35 that I took, but just didn't get around to posting about. I also think I have pictures from 32 and 33 weeks, from when we went to California. I just haven't uploaded those yet!!

Here is my Week 34 Picture:


Here is my Week 35 Picture:


I need to take a picture for today, 36 Weeks!

Anyway, I am so excited right now! I am done with school for this semester and I made it through everything that I needed to. Now if the baby comes, it's ok. But of course, I really want the baby to bake in here for as long as needed (until 41 1/2 weeks he he)

Today is a snowy day in Colorado, and a really wet snow at that. I don't mind the snow, but I could do without how wet it is. I say that mostly because our yard is just mud and it gets gross. At least we got our fence up, so we no longer have to bring a muddy puppy into the house! By the way, I should put up some pictures of our fence. Jaren, his dad, 2 of his brothers, and 2 members from the ward put up our fence and I love it so much :) I love being able to lay out in our hammock and not be paranoid that people are looking at me. Plus, our neighbor's dogs don't bark at us anymore, since they can't see us!!!

I feel bad for our neighbor too. I had not really liked them since they never told their dogs to be quiet and the guy wasn't very nice. Well, he is now in jail and his girlfriend, wife, or whatever they are is by herself. She has 4 slipped discs in her back and can't do much. We only learned about this the other day. We were mowing our yard and I got the feeling that we should mow her yard too. So Jaren went over and told her that we wanted to do that and she told him about her back and the fact that all they have is an old unpowered grass cutter. Glad we were able to help her out, especially since she has enough going on right now.

I don't think I ever posted about Jaren's job situation. He was put on probation on Monday April 19th. The reason was that he was the closing manager on a night where another employee did not do his job fully. Since Jaren was the one in charge and didn't catch it, he got in trouble for it too. He was then told to come in on that Thursday to find out if he was being fired or just demoted. His manager said "Either way, I hope you learn something from all of this." When I heard that, I knew he was going to be fired. And he was. We weren't too concerned with him having to find another job, mostly we were concerned about our insurance. So a few days later, Jaren called the District Manager to ask about insurance and to see what we needed to do. Well the DM said he wasn't technically fired yet because the DM was surprised that Jaren was "fired". So he got Jaren's part of the story (and we also found out that the other employee who didn't do his job fully didn't get in trouble, but was an awesome friend and asked to get in trouble for it. Thought that was really cool). Then, Jaren gets a call back from DM telling him that they are offering him his job back and to come in on Friday April 30th to talk details. Come to find out that the manager who "fired" him is no longer working at that store, but at one in Denver. And Jaren now has his job back.

It was frustrating, but honestly I think it was a test to see how we would handle things. I was pleased that we did handle things so well, and immediately got WIC for groceries to save some money and how we cut back on our spending. We still have a long way to go on figuring out our budget, but we are doing a ton better!

Well, I know a lot more has happened than just these things, but I will have to post those stories later, with my Week 36 picture!!

Busy, busy, busy...

So it's been quite busy the last few weeks and I haven't updated, but I did take pictures!! This is going to be short, since I have a couple of tests to study for (ugh).

Here is my 30 Week Picture:



Here is my 31 Week Picture:



I will have to wait until tonight to get a 32 week picture. I am 32 weeks today and finally am feeling exhausted. Today hasn't been so bad, but yesterday was horrible. I seriously slept more than I was awake yesterday! Then Jaren came home and was so sweet to make me some ramen noodles for dinner, and less than 5 minutes after I finished eating, I threw everything up that I had eaten yesterday. Then I forced myself to go to school today, since I missed Monday after getting back from California after midnight on Sunday night. I'll have to write about our trip to CA and post some pictures. It was a lot of fun!!