Park City with the Peters' Clan 2012

Once again we got to enjoy the Westgate Lodge and Spa in Park City with Steve's family. We also went last year, but it was in October, you can read about that time here. But the time we went before that was when I was pregnant with Em! 

We are so lucky that Steve's parents have invested in this place for all of us! This year it consisted of a presidential suite with a kitchen, large common room, 2 bedrooms and bathrooms in the main suite, and then 2 smaller rooms that each had a bedroom bathroom and small kitchen. PLUS they had two more separate suites, one large and one small. All in all, plenty of room, plus more to spare!! We had a few visitors both family and friends throughout the week. Steve's youngest brothers Mike and Cory were with us for the first weekend, but then they went on a hiking/camping trip with an old scout leader, so we invited the scout leader's wife and four kids to come up, so you will see their kids in the slideshow below. 

One of the best things about the presidential suite was the hot tub on the deck again! A little different this time around when it was actually still pretty warm outside! So we mostly used it at night... and with the heat turned town! Which worked out for the little girls and me being pregnant..... although I couldn't enjoy it until about 5 days after we got there due to my gallbladder surgery. Yeah, we went up just the night after my surgery! But I could either lay around and try and recover at home with no help for Em when Steve was at work (and I wasn't supposed to be lifting her), or recover in luxury with help all around! Easy choice in my book! 

I could go on more, but I'll just let the videos and pictures speak for themselves! Oh and keep in mind that the pictures that I look like the walking dead were when I was still recovering. Couldn't take a shower for the first couple days and was having a hard time even getting up, though I DID! Friday and Saturday, I just tried not to be in pictures at all, but Sunday was when I finally started to feel back to myself, was able to shower and I got ready and went out! 

First I will share a couple pictures that uncle Mike got, since we forgot to include them in the slideshow, but Mike is quite the photographer as well! 

 I had called to ask the Dr if it was ok for me to ice my incision on my belly-button (since that was the only one giving me any pain.... probably because of the pressure of my uterus and baby boy!), and she said it was ok for 20 minute incraments, she then suggested that my hubby give me a back rub, to which he complied, and then cute as could be, Em wanted to help too! FYI, this was Saturday, so yes still not back to the land of the living ;) 

Big smiles from my cute girl! Uncle Mike catches them better than us! 

And here's the rest of the pictures and videos in the slideshow!

Remember 720p and full screen for optimum viewing!

Thanks again mom and dad (Stan and Debbie) for this wonderful vacation! 

Who Needs a Gallbladder Anyway?! *Squeamish BEWARE!

As most of you know, I recently had my gallbladder removed, 3 days ago to be exact. I have had ongoing problems with my gallbladder for 3+ years. The doctor I dealt with before though did not think it necessary to remove since I didn't have the presence of stones..... however the doctor that took it out said it showed years of disease and should have been taken out a long time ago. I also did have stones this time, thanks to baby boy probably. 

My first attack during the pregnancy was probably around 13 or 14 weeks, though I wasn't sure that's what it was then, I am now. I went to the ER for one that lasted a good 2 days when I was 16 weeks, and there is where they referred me again to a surgeon. The surgeon was pretty sure it would need to come out one way or another.... either now in my second trimester, or right after the baby is born.... like we're talking a week after *doesn't give me much time to recover from birth, would it?!* I was fine to wait since I really didn't want to do anything to jeopardize this rare pregnancy of mine. However, after talking to my OB, she was pretty sure she wanted me to get it out now. She thought it would only get worse, and that the attacks would come more frequently and be worse than they already were (and they were already pretty bad), they cannot remove it in the third trimester. She made me promise that I would reconsider getting it taken out if I had another attack. That didn't take long... the very next Friday I had an attack that lasted well through the weekend. Even though I had been very careful with what I was eating (low fat diet). When I called the surgeons office, they were fine to take it out right away.... the very next day actually. 

Originally they gave me a check-in time of 12:30, which I thought would be hard with fasting from midnight. But that morning they called a little before 7 am and said they'd had some cancellations and asked if I could be there at 8.... and we took it! 

They did some bloodwork and such first, and it was probably about 10 before they wheeled me back to the OR. I was grateful that Steve was able to be off work and be with me. The time it said on the clock when I finally opened my eyes was about 11:45. 

Before the surgery, it had been decided that when I was out of recovery they wanted me to be monitored in Labor & Delivery for a few hours afterward. So at about 12:30, we met Steve in the hallway and headed up the elevator to L&D. I wasn't really aware of any pain at first, probably because I was still groggy and numb from the anesthesia, so I declined anything for pain, especially through an IV at that point. They wanted to make sure that I could eat something and keep it down... liquids only though, so the nurse brought in a menu. I decided on some chicken broth and an orange italian ice, which was really good. She had brought in some crackers and Sprite before then, which were hard to eat with how dried out my mouth was. So I guzzled two sprites and then two waters. And by then my food was there. Halfway through eating I vomited, so I waited a little while before trying again. They also wanted me to be able to go to the bathroom on my own, otherwise they'd have to place a catheter and I would have to stay the night. First 3 attempts were unsuccessful, but I still had time before they wanted me to go home anyway (they wanted me there for at least 4 hours). It was at this point that I finally accepted Steve's offer to see "the pictures".

Now here's the squeamish part.... sorry! 

First off, here's what a healthy gallbladder should look like

And this was mine....

Anyone still want to debate whether I should have had this organ out?!..... No?? Didn't think so! 

So after I was finally able to relieve my bladder and keep some liquids down, they said I was good to go home, exactly at 4 pm. Steve and I stopped at Article Circle on the way home to get me a chocolate malt, and right before we pulled in, I had to use the sick back I had in my lap.... but I still wanted the shake ;) At home, went to sleep for awhile and Steve went to get Emarie from his parent's house and get my prescriptions filled. I admit I broke down and have taken a few of the Loritab that they prescribed, but they told me I could take 2 every four hours, and I've only been doing about 1 every six... and that's only if the pain is really bad. I'd say I've only had one in the last 48 hours, and it was yesterday morning. 

So I have a total of 4 incisions. The only one that really bothers me is the one on my belly button... the one where my uterus and baby boy are. At least I've been able to ice it for 20 minutes at a time. And found out today that I will finally be able to soak in these amazing jacuzzis  that are all around on Tuesday at the resort we've been staying at since Friday night (yes I came up the very day after my surgery, recover at home, or recover in luxury.... what would you choose?). And yeah, the reason I didn't know when I'd be able to get my incisions wet is because I never got any discharge instructions from the surgery, only L&D.... odd I know! So I have called the hospital a few times, but today I actually needed to go in to the Park City instacare since I was pretty sure I had a UTI.... lovely! And I was right. So I started on antibiotic and took advantage of being able to ask the dr there about certain things. Common sense told me that I shouldn't be getting them wet... just didn't know for how long. And I'd already been told I can't be lifting anything over 20 lbs for about a month.... yup, sorry Em! So far we've had enough help that I have been fine... only thing I worry about is when we get home from San Antonio and Steve goes back to work... but I'm sure we'll manage. 

So there you have it. Finally the swelling has begun to go down. Seriously looked like I was more like 8 months pregnant on Friday (which was the day after)

Yikes!! 

And here's the picture I took today. I am currently 21 weeks (hit that on Saturday), and now 3 days post-op and feeling pretty good other than the infection! 

Even walked all around downtown Park City today... but did have to ice my belly when we got back. And both of these pictures were taken in our amazing suite at the Westgate Lodge, courtesy of Steve's parents! We are here with most of Steve's family, minus his sister Amber and her husband Kevin in West Virginia... she feels too pregnant to travel! Anyway, more on the trip in another post... hopefully :/ I'm still really behind thanks to my obsessive photographer of a husband ;) 

The Results Are In....

With a measly total of 34 votes, girls beat out boys by 2 votes (18 to 16).... wish we'd had more people care to vote, but that's just the way it goes. Also I would say I don't count about 3 of those votes since Steve cheated the system ;) 

We were coy about telling people when we were actually finding out since we wouldn't be sharing it until the next day. But at 7 pm we walked into the Dr's office to see what this sweet baby would be. 

The face was actually the first thing we saw :) Made me cry. Em waved to us the first time we saw her on screen, and this time we got "looked" at

Little legs crossed.... had me worried for just a sec that we wouldn't get a peek at the "goods" ;) But low and behold... 

No mistaking! 

Y'all were wrong.... just saying!

Outside the dr.'s office after the ultrasound..... I even wore my blue shirt!


So as I mentioned before, we waited until the next day to let everyone know what we found out. My cousin Alexis (2 months older than me) is also expecting and is just a week or two behind me. She also found out what she was having the next day.... which is why we waited, so that we could do a fun reveal together. Alexis came up with the idea to fill a black garbage bag with either pink or blue balloons and release them at the same time with the family gathered around. Only problem was that Lexi's appointment was kind of late and we didn't want the reveal to be really late, so I said that I would buy the balloons after my appointment. I knew the color I needed and then just got 5 of each for Alexis. I put all of the balloons in the garbage sacks before we headed over to my grandparents, so that everything would be all ready. I put the 2 for Lexi in the storage room of the basement and told her that I had marked the one with blue balloons with a small marker mark on the knot of the tie so that she wouldn't have to try and open them to know which was which. And the rest is history...

Steve posted this picture on my Facebook wall shortly after with the caption that said, "Emarie was right!" Because just the day before when I was getting her up in the morning I had asked her if she thought she was going to have a baby brother... or, but before I could finish, she very boldly and clearly said, "I do!" So she knew it was a brother all along! 

Someone had also asked in a comment on Facebook on the above picture why we were releasing balloons, and one of my dear friends (an affected young adult of ch18 actually) stated that she thought we were doing it for my sister..... how sweet is that? And I didn't even think of that! Even more special because my cousin too has lost a sibling to a car wreck, her brother Brooks. 

Blue balloons all around! We will have 2 baby boys only a couple weeks apart! So fun, especially since we live so close to each other, and grew up together ourselves! And NO the pregnancies were not planned.... do people really realize what they are actually asking when they ask this??! And neither of us knew what were in the other's bags! So it was really fun!

And here's the video of the whole thing. And I must feel the need to defend myself here because I got so frustrated that mine didn't come out at the same time.... plus the hormones (I suggest turning the sound way down)! Haha!

I have already bought some clothes of course! Actually the first thing I bought was from some generous Kohl's cash that one of my fellow ch18 mom's sent to me (she lives in Canada and just went shopping there when they were visiting the states recently, and knew that she wouldn't use it before it expired without having one near her).... but seriously, how lucky am I?! Unfortunately they expired before we would find out, so I bought myself some maternity jeans and a maternity cami for layering (since all my regular ones are not working out too well anymore!) and then a generic layette set. But the day after we found out, I took the layette back and got one that screamed a little more boy than yellow ducks ;) 

I have since bought this little number online to save on some shipping for a dress I got for me :) It isn't here yet, but here's what it looks like... and boy am I excited for this one!

Now who says shopping for boys is no fun??!

And here's the most recent belly shot of me. Taken between 16 and 17 weeks on Father's Day

And can't go without adding a picture of the the whole reason we stopped to take pictures in the first place! 

Em and her wonderful daddy!