Still no baby...Continued

Well, I had my last doctor appointment today and still no changes...still dilated to 3cm and no contractions. The doctor decided to try to strip my membranes again, which feels super to see if we can get labor started. If I don't go into labor today or tomorrow, I will be induced at 7:30am on Thursday morning. I was hopeful today that I'd go on my own when I started bleeding, but unfortunately I still haven't been having contractions. Who knows...maybe I'll start laboring tonight!?! Hopefully the next time I post it will be to share pictures of our new little one with you! We can't wait!!! Until then...

Still no baby...

Well, it's been 38 weeks and 4 days and this baby still doesn't want to come out! If this is any indication of how she's going to be as a teenager, we're going to have one stubborn cookie on our hands!

Last Wednesday, I thought for sure we were nearing the end when I starting having contractions! They didn't remain consistent, so no luck there! Then, we had an appointment on Thursday and I was finally dilated to 3cm!!! The doctor was hoping to get some labor started, so she stripped my membranes...it didn't work. All it did was make me crampy for a day...whoopie! Then, I lost my mucus plug on Friday and I'm thinking "ok, here we go"...no such luck! Now I'm bound and determined that we're going to have to go in there after her in order for her to actually come out.

My next appointment is on Tuesday where we'll check my progress and schedule the induction for Wednesday or Thursday. Cross your fingers that I either go on my own before then or that she's able to get me in on Wednesday! This baby needs to come out!!!

37 Weeks & Milestone #2 Achieved!

Can you believe it? Today I'm officially 37 weeks and this baby still hasn't been born?!? WOW!!! I thought I'd be lucky to make it to Labor Day and two days later she's still holding strong! I had really hoped that my sister Erin would have been able to see her before she left, but that just wasn't in the cards. This baby is stubborn just like her mother...KARMA!

Since the last time I posted, we met with my doctor last week for our first "progress" check. At that time, I was already dilated 1-2 cm and everything was looking good! Our next appointment is tomorrow and I can only hope that I've made more progress...I really wouldn't mind if they sent me over to the hospital :) She did tell us last week that she's not going to let me go longer than 39 weeks, so I will be induced if she still isn't here by 9/17!!! YEA!!! Adam also had a baby shower with his coworkers, which I think is super cute since he really hasn't felt included in any of the other ones, nor has he been able to open any of the presents :) Here's a few pictures since last I posted...

9 Month Progress Picture
MGA Baby Shower...The Diaper Game!

Gifts from the MGA!!!

Last but not least, I promised a long time ago that I'd post pictures of her room once it was complete and it finally is! Here are some pictures of our munchkin's room...and for those of you who don't know her name yet, keep scrolling for that surprise!!!

"Thank Heaven for Little Girls" above her closet

Her changing and feeding area Her toy and miscellaneous storage No explanation required...

Her beautiful crib...the pink continues!

Her "bugs" hanging from the ceiling...and if you look close...her name!!!
(Addison Lynn Loch)

Miss Addison's first license plate!!!

We can't wait to meet you, baby!!! Hopefully the next time I post it will be to announce that we've had you! If not, maybe we'll have good news and an update from the doctor on when we can expect you! Until next time blog followers!!!

Milestone #1 Achieved!

Again, I'm so sorry it's taken so long for me to post an update! We've been crazy busy since the last update. My friend Tiff got married, I've had three baby showers, and I met my first milestone for keeping this baby in me...35 weeks! I'm officially 35 weeks today, the same gestation my niece Maddie was when she was born. Our next milestone is Labor Day (no pun intended), but hopefully Eno (my sister Erin for those of you who don't know) will still be in town before heading back to Boston. Fingers crossed! Our next doctor appointment is next Friday where she'll check to see if there's been any progress made yet. I'll make sure to post an update and let you all know what we find out! Now on to the picture portion of this blog update :)

Tiff's Wedding (8/9/08)
I was a personal attendant in my friend Tiff's wedding. It was an outdoor wedding at Majestic Oaks Golf Course and an absolutely beautiful day! It wasn't very hot, but the sun was definitely beating down. Only one elderly woman nearly fainted at the wedding, which considering the number of people sweating bullets out there, I was surprised there was only one. Here are just a couple pictures from the day.

The beautiful bride getting ready

The parents-to-be after a long day
(I was the personal attendant for Tiff and
Adam was the personal attendant for me)

Loch Baby Shower (8/10/08)
The morning after Tiff's wedding, my mother-in-law Kathie and sister-in-law Marissa threw me a shower with Adam's family at Marissa's apartment. I had an absolutely wonderful time and played about the best game I think I've ever played at a shower! It was the "find the safety pins in the rice game". It was super hard and I pretty much sucked at it :) There were 90 small safety pins hidden in a bowl of rice that, while blindfolded, I had to try to find. I only found TWO! My mom ended up winning the game by finding 12 safety pins in 1 minute. Overall, it was a great time with great company and the baby got some really nice gifts. Here are a few pictures.

Auntie Marissa, Grandma Loch, Great-Grandma Heinrich, and Mommy

Mommy & Grandma Fuchs

Adam played the rice game as worse as I did (he only found 2)

Surprise Work Baby Shower (8/13/08)
Every Wednesday, my department has a weekly staff meeting teleconference. Our team is completely virtual where my director, boss, admin, and coworkers Mark & Juan are in Arizona, my coworker Lynne is in New Mexico, and my coworker Don is in Florida. At our weekly meeting last week, they decided to throw me a surprise virtual baby shower! I was totally surprised and couldn't believe they were able to keep it a secret. My local admin and friend Chuck walked over to my cubicle to give me the gifts from my team and take pictures of me while I opened the presents while I described what was going on to my coworkers on the phone. After opening the presents, they each gave me some words of advice and then we played a game! That's right, we played a game over the phone where we had to fill in the blanks on several classic nursery rhymes. It was an absolute riot and a really great time! I have some pretty special coworkers, so it's nice that despite the fact that we are spread across the country, we are still able to do some pretty nice things for each other. Here are some pictures.

Fuchs Baby Shower (8/16/08)
Last Saturday, my wonderful sisters and aunt Mary threw me a fantastic baby shower! Given the size of my family, there were 75 people invited to the shower and approximately 45 friends and family showed up. I definitely didn't want anyone put out by the number of people, so the shower was held in the social hall at my church. It was great to see so many people I love all in the same room! With so many people and a limited time for the shower, I almost felt like it was my wedding day all over again where are you aren't able to talk to people for very long if you want to try to talk to all the guests. I hope everyone understood and hopefully we'll all be able to catch up again soon! We had some amazing food, played a fun "Price is Right"-like game (that I REALLY sucked at), opened some fantastic presents, and enjoyed some great company! It was a great day and I couldn't thank my sisters enough!!! Thanks sissies! Here are some pictures.

My sisters know me so well!!! They got me a chocolate fountain!
It was a big hit!!! The church was great for the number of people who were there!

The "Price is Right" game where you guess how much the items are worth

Opening presents...she got some awesome stuff!

Me and my wonderful sissies

8 Month Update with Pictures

Hello loyal blog followers! Here's another monthly update for those of you keeping track! I'm just over 8 months and can't believe I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy! Only a handful weeks and she'll finally be done cooking (as Adam and I like to say). Since the last time I wrote, our lives have been pretty busy. We had our appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine (I'll expand more in a bit), I went to a bachelorette party for my friend Tiff who's getting married this Saturday, we had our 32-week appointment with our doctor, we took our annual Fuchs family trip to Spirit Lake, Iowa last week, and Adam had a bachelor party for Tiff's fiance Brian last night. Life is sure never boring in the Loch household!

Here's the latest picture of my expanding belly! This was taken the night of the bachelorette party after I got home when I was just shy of eight months. The baby and I had a great time at the party, but were sure happy to get home and put mommy's feet up :)
Two days before the picture above was taken, we had our infamous appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine. At this appointment, we had a high-resolution ultrasound done to evaluate the echogenic focus (light spot) on our baby's heart. What the doctor found was that the spot has not yet gone away, but is not affecting her heart function. She also found that the baby is measuring 2 weeks ahead (not possible based on my math), I have excess amniotic fluid, and her head is measuring large.

What does this mean? Well, they were concerned that I have gestational diabetes, so at my 32-week appointment I was ordered to take a 3-hour glucose tolerance test. As far as her head size goes, the doctor came in and measured mine and Adam's heads to see who was the culprit. Come to find out, Adam's head size is in the 75th percentile while mine is in the 130th...looks like she gets her big noggin from her mama :) Guess I can't blame Adam for the size of her head if I go naturally :)

Last Tuesday, I had my 32-week appointment to see how things are progressing and to follow-up on my Maternal Fetal Medicine appointment. Rather than a typical 15-20 minute appointment, I had a funfilled morning taking my 3-hour glucose test. As I've been telling everyone, I blew that test out of the water!!! I definitely do NOT have gestational diabetes, I just have a big baby. The rest of the appointment went great! My blood pressure and weight look good and everything seems to be progressing as expected. I'll have another apointment this Friday to see if there have been any changes.

As I mentioned earlier, this past week was also our annual family trip to Iowa. Adam and I had an awesome time! We got down there on Tuesday at dinner time, Meredith and Corbett left with the girls on Wednesday after lunch, Erin and Nat left Friday morning, and Adam and I left on Saturday at noon. We had an absolutely beautiful week and were able to spend quite a bit of time out on the boat. Adam got to do a little skiing and wakeboarding and was also able to get in a round of golf in Windom with my dad and Gary (our dentist). All in all, despite the fact that I'm huge and unable to drink, we had a fantastic week...probably our best family trip yet! Here's a few pictures from our trip.

The Fuchs girls and our guys...aren't we all cute?!?

It's not a family picture unless you're posing!

The Fuchs Family (minus Baby Loch)
(Left to Right: Grandpa, Grandma, Morgan, Erin, Isabelle,
Nat, Meredith, Corbett, Madeline, Libby, Adam)

Eva just loves the new perch I have with this big baby in my belly!As always, Bailey just can't get enough of her daddy!

And finally, after a long night of drinking at Brian's bachelor party, Adam was able to finish painting the baby's room tonight. We had gotten a start on it before we left for Iowa and were finally able to get the last stripe up today. I know there isn't any furniture in it yet, but here's a preview of what our pumpkin's room is going to look like. The theme for her room (if you can call it that) is white furniture with beige, pink and brown bedding and walls. Pink and brown are kind of the "in" thing this year for little girls, and I just can't get enough of it! I absolutely love it and think Adam did a fantastic job! Thanks honey!

Until next time blog readers!

31 weeks and people suck!

Sorry it's been so long again since I've updated my blog. Life is getting crazier every day, as I'm sure you can understand. I'm officially 31 weeks today and not much has changed...except maybe the size of my belly. If you can believe it, I've actually gotten bigger :) This little munchkin inside me sure doesn't seem so little anymore. I'm now to the point where I sleep laying propped up on my back since the weight from my front has now started affecting my back when I lay on my side. On the bright side, I'm sleeping for more consecutive hours without having to go pee. On the down side, now I snore and wake Adam up...YUCK!

For those who've been hoping for new pictures, I promise I will post something after this weekend. Adam and I have an appointment tomorrow with Internal Fetal Development to look at her heart again and then I have a party to go to on Saturday. I should definitely have something after both of those. If not, next week I'll be posting my 8 month picture, so that should be a good one.

In case you're wondering why I've titled my post this way, I have officially lost all faith in humanity! Here's my story:

Last Saturday, Adam and I went to the 3M Championship with my parents and a couple of our friends. We had a great time watching some of golf's greats play and it was shaping out to be a beautiful day! Not too hot, not too cold, just right! We were supposed to have scattered showers all day, but it appeared as though all the storms had missed us.

After walking around (very slowly since my feet hurt) for several hours and after my parents left, I told Adam and our friends to go on without me while I sat on the 18th hole. The plan was that since there weren't any storms in the area, they would leave all of the stuff with me and go walking around the course for an hour or so before coming back for me. The "stuff" included 3 golf umbrellas, 2 camping chairs, a camp stool, a small cooler, and my purse.

After about 40 minutes of watching the players, the sky started getting a bit dark and it started to sprinkle. Before I knew it, the tornado sirens were blaring, the "clear the course" siren went off, and then it started to downpour.....hard! I quickly gathered up the things, but was unable to get the camp chairs back in their bags for easy carrying. It was getting so frightening out there, all I could do was throw everything under my arms and walk (not run, since I can't) towards the clubhouse about 500 yards away. As everyone was running or driving carts past me, I ended up dropping all the stuff twice along the way and yet no one passing me even offered to help. I am so obviously pregnant and moving slowly, I just couldn't believe that I was carrying all this stuff without anyone being willing to give me a hand.

I got within 100 yards of the clubhouse and was soaking wet from head to toe (since I couldn't have a huge umbrella up and carry all the stuff at the same time) when Adam called me on my phone. He was concerned when he finally got to the other side of the 18th fairway and couldn't see me that he wanted to know where I was. I told him that I was near the clubhouse and he said he was on his way to find me. After hanging up, all I could do was cry. I was so frustrated and even still amidst my tears, no one stopped to help or ask if I was ok. Adam finally got to me, gave me a big hug, and all I could do was bawl in his arms. He asked me if anyone stopped to help, and I told him no. That just made me cry more! He couldn't believe that no one could find it in their hearts to help someone who obviously needed it. In my soaking wet state, all I wanted to do was go home, get warm, and forget how awful people can be! So we did...

A word of advice to everyone reading this: If you see someone in need and have the ability to help, please do. Even if they don't want your help, the least you can do is ask.

Since I'm already on my soapbox, I also have advice for you on how you should treat pregnant women in general:

1. Don't ask her if she's having twins AT ANY POINT DURING HER PREGNANCY, even if you do think she's big. It's not funny or supportive in any way.
2. Dont' tell her she's "starting to waddle"...chances are she already knows it.
3. Don't remind her about how big she's getting...she looks in the mirror every day and already knows that her body is no longer slender. She doesn't need anyone else to point it out.
4. Don't laugh at her or her size if you haven't seen her in a while. It makes her feel bad and is really just as bad as #3.
5. If you see she needs help, please offer! She may have too much pride to accept it, but all she wants is for someone to at least ask.

There, I'm off my soapbox now. Until next time!

28 weeks and it's still a girl!

Well, I am 28 weeks and completely ginormous! Adam and I are both amazed at how much bigger pictures make me look than if I look in a mirror. I'm not sure if I have a distorted sense of self or what, but man am I getting big! Oh, and for those of you doubters out there, we had our follow-up ultrasound today and yes...our baby is STILL a girl! YEA!!!!!!!

We had quite the doctor appointment today. I started off the morning by drinking the grossest orange syrup ever (for my glucose tolerance test), then we had our follow-up ultrasound, and then we met with our doctor. During the appointment, we had a couple minor scares. When the nurse first took my blood pressure after my ultrasound, it was 150 / 90. Whoa!!! I was forced to go into the exam room and lay on my left side while meeting with my doctor. Following our discussion with Dr. Leitgen, the nurse took my blood pressure again and it had already dropped to 130 / 80. This baby just likes to scare me :) Then, during the ultrasound, we had hoped that the tissue visible on her heart during the 20-week appointment would've gone away by now. Unfortunately, it hasn't and is showing up as a white spot in her left atrium. The doctor didn't want to make a determination as to what's really going on, so we will be referred to a specialist to investigate further. On a brighter note, here are some of the pictures from our latest ultrasound.

We're still trying to figure out who she looks like. If I had to guess, I think she has Adam's brow line, a combination of both mine and Adam's nose, and my lips.

The baby has what Adam and I like to call a "Morgie Lip" after our niece Morgan. She has the same upper lip as me and Meredith that comes from my mom's side.

Here's a picture of our baby's tootie (or foot for those of you who don't speak Libby). I'm thinking she has her daddy's feet with that long second toe :)

These will likely be the last pictures of our little pumpkin until she's born :( We can't wait to meet her, but want her to stay in there as long as humanly possible! We love you already!!! Oh, I almost forgot...I had another milestone today...my first kidney kick! Ow!!! Until next time!

The Best Man...

Last Friday night, Adam and I helped my best friend Andy by setting up for him to propose to his girlfriend (now fiance) Mary Jo. It was tons of fun and great to be in on the surprise! Over a month ago, Andy asked if we were busy on 6/27 and whether we'd be willing to setup his house while they were at dinner. Then, we had the honor of storing the engagement and wedding rings in our safe to help perpetuate the surprise. At 8pm on Friday night, we met MJ's sister and MJ's son at Andy and MJ's house. I was responsible for bringing the rings and the flowers Andy had ordered, while Linda was to bring candles and dessert. Based on the pictures below, I think we did a darn good job setting up.

After Andy and MJ got home, Andy called me to tell me that obviously, she said YES! He thought the kitchen looked great, though it was a little warm from all the candles :) (Unfortunately we had to turn off the ceiling fan in kitchen so the candles wouldn't get blown out) After all was said and done, Andy asked me if I'd be the best man in his wedding!!! My answer was "yes, of course...with one caveat...as long as I can wear a black and white dress" :) Looks like I'll have to start working "my plan" as soon as the baby's born so I can get back in shape to fit into a dress! I'm so excited for Andy and MJ! CONGRATULATIONS!!! I can't wait!!!

Sorry loyal blog readers that it's been so long since I've made an update. Not a whole lot is new since the last time I wrote. The baby is getting bigger every day and I can barely believe how fast time is flying by. I find myself sitting and watching my belly move with every kick and repositioning she has. I can hardly wait to finally meet her! In the meantime, Adam and I are living vicariously through Meredith and Corbett whenever we see little Izzy B (Isabelle). She loves her uncle Adam, which is a refreshing change from when Morgan was a baby and she cried every time Adam went near her. He looks great with a little girl, don't you think?!? :)
Last weekend we got to take one of our last trips out of town to our friend Jon's cabin. We spent nearly the entire weekend out on our fishing boat with Andy (my best friend and ex-coworker) and Marissa (Adam's sister). After an amazing fishing year last year where nearly every time I dropped my line in the water I'd catch a fish, I have yet to catch a single fish this year. It's getting pretty depressing... I can't say the same for everyone else who had no problem at all catching a fish. Andy caught what seems like a dozen fish, Marissa caught a few, and Adam caught one. Check out just a few of the pictures below.

Silly Andy trying to french one of his northern :)

Marissa with a northern so huge it broke the net

Adam with his one catch of the weekend

As a consolation to my getting skunked fishing, I got to enjoy a relaxing weekend in the great outdoors and to see some beautiful sights. Now I'm looking forward to next week where we'll have our 28-week appointment to see our baby in a 4D ultrasound again and my family will be celebrating the annual 4th of July outing. I can hardly wait!

I have a protruberance!

Last night was a pretty exciting night for me and Adam! Our baby was extra kicky all evening; so much so that Adam finally got to feel lots of kicks with his hand and I could actually see her kicking from the outside. It's pretty incredible! After all that excitement, we were headed to bed when all the sudden, my stomach near my belly button had a strange "protruberance". We still haven't figured out what she was pushing out...her head, her butt, her foot, something...it was both strange and exciting all at the same time! :)