The Night Before

Baby Sister will be here tomorrow! We're all so excited! Well, we're not sure how excited the boys are, but they'll get there. So while we tie up the last-minute loose ends, here are "The Stats" for The Night Before:

I weigh 144.2 pounds. Boo-ya.
My tummy measures 40 inches. Woot woot.
I have A.MAZ.ING family members who are taking over TwinDuty for four days. (Although the amazing part is nothing new.) Hooray!
And here is what I look like:

Can't wait for tomorrow!

The Final Stretch

Wow! I can't believe I only have 11 days to go! The car seat is ready. The bassinet is ready. The bedroom is ready. The bottles are washed. {Most of} the clothes are washed. And so now we just wait. Okay, in reality, now's the mad-dash to try to get my house whipped into shape and spend some hard core quality time with my three boys before our family of four becomes a family of five. We're so excited to have Baby Sister join our family, but part of me is already sad about the changes that will inevitably happen with the boys. They won't be my babies anymore, and that makes me a little sad.

Physically, the past month has been an adventure. I just don't remember being this drained with my last pregnancy. I'm tired, uncomfortable, and sore. I can't sleep because I can't find a comfortable position. But I also keep thinking that this is most likely my last opportunity to be pregnant, my last few times to feel her kicking and moving. Believe it or not, I AM going to miss it!

You may remember last month when I thought we had our daughter's name narrowed down to two. Well, as of today, we're back up to three. But the three have been pretty consistent, so we're thinking it will be one of those. We've been having AJ practice all three names, which is a lot of fun. Aaron is getting more and more lovey with Mom's belly and still doesn't understand why he can't lift my shirt up in the middle of the store to give baby sister kisses. And Adam and I are just biding our time, excited and scared and happy and nervous and every other emotion you can imagine. I have a feeling these next eleven days are going to fly by.

18 Days and Counting!

June Belly

Because of the IVF, our timing is a little screwy. Today is 7 months since the transfer, but I'm technically 8 months along. As if all the months/weeks calculations weren't confusing enough.
Anywhoooo, here I am.

My last appointment with Dr. Dewey was great. Not only did he tell me I looked nice in my purple shirt (and there's not even a tip jar in his office, so it had to be a genuine compliment!), but everything else was positive, positive. I'm weighing in at 141 pounds (woot woot!), he said my blood pressure is-quote-"perfect", my iron looks good, my weight gain is -quote-"ideal", and I'm measuring at 32 weeks. I'll start seeing him every two weeks now until
{drum roll, please}

JULY 17, 2009

which is when my C-section is scheduled for!!! That's next month! Holy cow!! I'm so excited!! Can you feel my excitement through my extensive use of exclamation points?!

Whew! As far as how I'm feeling, well...let's just say typing all of those exclamation points has already worn me out. I'm T-I-R-E-D. I wear out pretty easily, overdo it almost every day (though usually not intentionally), and I guess I've been having Braxton Hicks Contractions. A lot. I didn't even really know what a contraction felt like, so I asked Adam...who reminded me he is of the masculine gender and has never experienced contractions, so I asked my Mom. Let's see: worst cramps ever that spread to your back and shoot down your legs, leaving your stomach as hard as a rock?
Yup, those are them.

I've also been informed by an anonymous source (let's call her....."Mom") that I've been incredibly grumpy. Actually, that's toning it down quite a bit, "Mom's" choice of words were a lot more harsh and cutting. I didn't believe "Mom" until her accusation observation was confirmed by another tipster (let's call him....."Husband") and we all know that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established...

...I've thought a lot about it, and I've decided I have a good excuse. See, when I was pregnant with the boys, I could take a nap whenever I needed to (and I needed to a lot). Now, I get just as wiped out, but have two two-year-olds to keep alive, so no nap for me. And even when I'm NOT pregnant, no nap = grumpy Misty, so you can imagine how bad it is now. Take that, "Mom" and "Husband." Neener neener.

Wow, are you still reading this? Thanks for sticking with it. I'll conclude by letting you know that Adam and I *think* we have our little girl's name narrowed down to two we really like. We may not even decide between the two until we're at the hospital and have been properly introduced to her, but who knows. All I know is that before I was changing my mind about names on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis, but I've been thinking about these two names for almost three weeks now. That's gotta mean somethin'.
43 days to go!

Run For Your Life

I had another dream about running last night.

Like, running for exercise, not running from a bad guy. It was very vivid, and seemed to last alllllll night. I can still see my orange and white Nikes thud-thudding on the track. Why the track? I have no idea. You'd think in my dreams, I'd choose to run somewhere beautiful or scenic.

I do this a lot when I'm pregnant. (Dream about running, that is.) Kinda strange.

I have no point, I just thought you should know.

The end.

Still Pregnant!

So here we are 6 months after the transfer. Technically, I'm 28 weeks along, and I'm loving it. {For the most part.} Baby Rindy is an A-C-T-I-V-E little girl, she's moving around constantly and makes sure to let me know she's in there. I saw Dr. Dewey on the 29th, and he said he's pleasantly surprised with how well everything's looking. He even said I was cute as a button. Right on. I don't think AJ and Aaron are grasping the whole idea, but they love to pat my belly, play with my gigantic belly button, and give Baby Sister kisses.

I'm definitely a lot more tired these days, and I can wear myself out pretty easily if I do too much. The other day, I laid down for a nap feeling pretty normal, and woke up feeling VERY pregnant. The doctor says that's because I AM very pregnant. I can tell I have a lot less energy and take a lot more trips to the bathroom, but I'm LOVING being pregnant, and I could sit and feel this baby move all day long if the boys would let me.

We still have no clue as far as names go. There are a few we're kicking around, but my taste changes almost daily, so one minute I'll be okay with a name to consider, and the next minute, I don't like it at all. I never imagined it would be this hard!

We'll find one, though, I'm sure of it.

Fatty at Five Months

Well, here we are, 5 months after the transfer. Everyone keeps saying how small I look, but I'm feeling HUGE. Ugh. Can't move...can't breathe...can't fit into cute clothes...but I love it! Every time I see my belly, it puts a smile on my face! Our Little Girl is moving around ALL THE TIME now. And it's not just little kicks or hiccups here and there...it's more like those huge, freakish, looks-like-there's-an-alien-in-your-tummy-trying-to-get-out kind of movements. And I love it! I had an appointment with Dr. Dewey on Wednesday, and he said he's really pleased with how things are looking. I need to keep exercising (chasing 2 little boys totally counts), keep eating healthy (chocolate is a food-group, right?), and we'll look to deliver in the late teens in July. Yay! Oh yeah, we still haven't found ANY girl names that we like. Where are all of those suggestions I asked for? C'mon, people, we can't do this on our own! :) And please disregard the fact that I haven't done my hair, make-up, or really gotten dressed in today's picture. It's a snowy April Saturday. It's Conference Weekend. And good looks are totally overrated.

Spreading The News

A few of our extra-special friends got phone calls when we found out we were having a girl. They weren't necessarily going to, but it all went down kind of crazy. We decided we wanted to be a little sneaky with the announcement, and Adam had a great idea to use our BBFF Scott and Angie's "Win, Lose, or Draw" interactive game to tell everyone. It's the kind of game where you plug it into the TV and everyone can see what you're drawing on the TV screen, so it would work perfectly. In order to borrow the game, we figured we had to tell Scott & Angie, so they were the first ones to know. Adam being cheesy while telling Scott and Angie.

Adam made me promise that we wouldn't tell anyone else until the family knew. However, Adam's basketball team lost their tournament game the day of our appointment, and since he figured he wouldn't be seeing any of the guys again until next season, he decided to break the news that night. Since our BFF Rob is on the team, and my BFF Taisha is his wife, Adam called me and told me I'd better tell Taish since Rob would be telling her when he got home. Over the next few days, we had to tell just a few more people....our BFF's Lee and Monika were heading for St. George, so we called to tell them our excitement. Then, I figured if I waited to tell my BFF Denise until my blog post, she would kill me. {Seriously, dead.} So I called her to let her in on the secret. Mandy and Neil had an announcement of their own, so they did all the work for us of getting everyone together without us looking suspicious. (Including Tildie, Ben, and Isaac - Yay!) It was great! When I found out that my BBF DJ had school, but Amy was coming over for games and dinner, I decided I'd better call him and let him know before his fiance knew. (As a side note, the day of our appointment, DJ got on the phone with me and asked me if I was lying about not finding out. He said if we really found out the gender and told him we didn't, I owed him dessert, so dessert he got.) Then, finally, it was time to tell the family. We went to Paul and Lona's Friday night with our Win Lose or Draw game. After what seemed like forever (I wanted to spill the beans!), we finally started playing, and a few rounds into it, Adam drew a lady with a big pregnant belly and then a baby with a bow on her head and an arrow pointing to the mom's tummy. Paul caught on pretty quickly, but it took Lona a bit longer to make the connection. They were excited for us!

Master Baby-Drawer

Paul catching on, Lona...not so much {yet}

Lona gets it! {And Aaron the pizza thief.}

Saturday seemed to drag, too...especially with everyone coming over to help make dinner for the "party" that night. Mandy and Neil told us their exciting news and the games hadn't started yet, so I had to bite my tongue quite a few times when I wanted to say something about my little girl having a cousin close to her age! Finally we started playing. I think everyone thought we were a little strange because we didn't ask them if they wanted to play, we just started. And Adam was hogging the game, drawing all the pictures and not letting anyone else have a turn! But oh, it was for a good cause! Finally, everyone was paying attention and he started drawing the familiar shapes. No one was really catching on, so I guessed the secret and everyone still took minute to figure out if we were serious or why a puzzle like that would be on Win, Lose or Draw. It was so much fun!

Amy & Neil -- I love Neil's expression!

Mandy, Tildie, & Ben....dazed and confused.

Grandpa & The Boys

Grandma and Holly

Ty and Sammy, Kelee, & Savannah and Dan all came over a little later, so they were told in shifts (sorry, no pics), but it was fun to tell everyone and fun to finally have our little secret out in the open! {I know, 3 days isn't a long time to keep a secret...what can I say - I was excited!}

Big, Fat, Liars!

"How can you tell that someone's a compulsive liar? I mean, assuming that their pants aren't on fire."

~Shawn Spencer

I have a confession. My husband and I have an honesty problem. Not with each other - oh no - it's actually an honesty problem with you, Dear Reader, and our closest family and friends. Remember our appointment on March 4? Yeah, we kind of found out Baby Rindy's gender. Although, I must say I wasn't completely dishonest with you, because Dr. Dewey said he was only 90% positive. So there's a 10% chance that I could've been telling the truth all along.

We wanted to think of a fun way to tell our families, so we lied and said we didn't find out in order to buy some time. However, now that most of them know, you can feel confident that you're getting the truth from here on out.

So, without further ado, the Rindlisbacher Family is pleased to announce:

Feel free to send any hate mail, insults, and judgements our way. We'll also accept ribbons, tu-tus, those gigantic flowers that cover up baby's head, and any and all other girly accessories. Ooo, and name suggestions would be great. Not that we'll use any of them, but they're still fun to read.

Forgive us!

March Forth

I always love March 4, it's the only date on the calendar that's also a command: "March Forth." So it was easy to remember the date for our check-up. We met with Dr. Dewey today and took a look at our little baby to find out that Baby Rindy is healthy as can be. "Perfect" was the word Dr. Dewey used, actually. (Right before he told me "good job"...though I'm not sure I deserve such a compliment. Really, I just eat and sleep and my body does all of the work.) At any rate, we did not find out our little baby's gender, much to my mother's dismay, so this pregnancy should keep us on our toes. Here's the belly progress:

Ha ha, just kidding.

Here it is for reals:

My next appointment is on April Fool's Day. Another easy date to remember. Yay!

For Funsies

I just wanted to post really quick to document here in cyber world that Baby Rindy is kicking around quite a bit now. I can feel him/her on a pretty regular basis, and IT ROCKS. The end.

February Belly

Here's my "baby bump" as Lindsey so eloquently put it. It sure looks a lot bigger when I'm looking down at it than it does when someone else is taking a picture. What's up with that? And hooray, no purple shirt! This month I had to go with pink...it IS February, after all.



I think I may have felt the little Rindy moving around a few times...it's still pretty hard to tell, but I'm sure getting excited! Three months since the transfer, hooray!

In other news: I met with Dr. Dewey on Jan. 28 and got to listen to the heartbeat again...probably one of my most favorite sounds in the world. Everything seems to be going good, and I have an ultrasound scheduled for March 4. Adam doesn't want to find out the baby's gender and keeps trying to talk me into jumping on his crazy train.

What do you think?

I'll Spare You The Detials...

I wanted to give a little update, but it could get pretty personal, so I'll try to do it as vaguely as possible. We'll start at the top and work our way down:

• Hair = horrible. (Pregnancy and my hair do not agree.)
• Teary Eyes. Seriously. When I get all weepy over a McDonald's commercial, I realize I am no longer in control.
• Pimples like a crazy hormonal teenager? Check.
• I don't have to wear my padded bra now, but boy are they tender. (And two little boys seem to have a knack for leaning right into 'em. Ouch.)
• Belly is two-fold: Outside = bigger (yay!) Inside = sicker (boo!)
• Thighs and Hind-Quarters are growing at an alarming rate.
  (No more skinny jeans for me.)
• Toenails painted beautifully thanks to this girl who brought me a pamper-present.
  

So there you have it. Misty from head to toe. But I'm really not complaining. I'm so happy to be sick, tender, emotional, and fat. Here's to you, First Trimester. Bring on #2.

Belly Shot Part 2

Exactly two months after the transfer, here's our proof that it's working. Never mind that I'm wearing the same shirt as last month, or my really, really bad hair day, or the KFC behind me (which has nothing to do with my weight gain...right?), just ooh and aah over my tummy.

P.S. I feel a whole lot fatter than I look. Be it made known.

Bebe' Apointment-o Numero Uno

Yesterday Adam and I went to see Dr. Dewey (the coolest OB around) for our first check up. Things are looking really great, and we are so excited! We got to hear the little heartbeat, which is always such a relief and is so darn cool. As I was listening, I was thinking "Holy cow, Adam and I made that." I still have a hard time believing that it's real. I'm measuring about 10 weeks, so right on track, and he said I have a less than 1% chance of miscarriage, so we're pretty much good to go. Our next appointment is January 28, and until then: keep exercising, eating right, and getting fat. Yay!