Surprise!

I am at quilt retreat down in Barry, Illinois (yes, the town is as exciting as it sounds!) and don't feel like working on the projects that I brought so I thought I would do a quick update!

On Tuesday I had a checkup at the regular doctors office. Since it was my hour blood sugar test Devin decided he didn't want to go, so he asked his mom to accompany me. I think Stacy enjoyed hearing the heartbeat. That was the most exciting thing that happened at the appointment. Sorry that it was so boring Stacy! The heartbeat was 160 beats per minute and I am still measuring a week ahead. Stacy waited the hour with me and then left when they drew my blood because we figured that they would just draw the blood and then I'd go. Well, they called me back, took my blood, and there was no one in the office so the doctors were talking about me. Dr. Brinkman is who I saw this appointment and Dr. Reinerston is my main doctor. She was telling him that I was measuring a week ahead and he said that I didn't look like it so he wanted to do it again and use me as an example for his student that was with him. So he measured and said yep over a week ahead and said that if I get more than 10 days ahead they will change my due date. So, we shall see after my next sono on April 6th.

When my mom and I were on our way down to quilting retreat the doctors office called and told me I failed my blood sugar test. The nurse said I barely failed so she thinks I will pass the next one. So on Wednesday, March 31st at 8:30 am I go in for the three hour blood sugar test. I have to sit in the waiting room for three hours, thank goodness I have my nook and some magazines to read! If I don't pass that one, I will be referred to a specialist which is the person that I am already seeing so it should be easy enough! I am optimistic that I will pass.

Now that I have bored you with medical details, on to the fun stuff! Tonight after dinner, my mom and the other two shop owners threw me a surprise baby shower! I was completely shocked! We all know that I hate surprises and being the center of attention and this definitely put me out of my comfort zone, but I LOVED it! We all went over to the house for dinner and then came back over to the retreat center and after everyone got back in the room the three owners went back into a bedroom and emerged with a cake, while everyone else yelled surprise. I know my face was bright red and people looking at me didn't help the redness go away! After it calmed down everyone went and got presents. When I saw the cake I definitely was not expecting anything besides that! I was truly shocked and can't believe everyone was able to keep a secret! They went to a great deal of effort for me and I really appreciate it! I received alot of nice presents and appreciate them all! The baby got its first Longaberger basket and its first Easter basket! I also got a lot of necessities which we will really need such as onsies, towels, burp cloths, little toys and rattles, bibs, diaper, and wipes among other things. I hope to post pictures of some of it when I get home! I am really touched at all the gifts! We have 23 people here total and some of them I just met this weekend, but they still participated! Who can resist a good baby shower!

My mom and Linda, my second mom, had turning their little wheels in their head for a while to make this happen. A few weeks ago they came up with the idea and mailed out invitations to all of the people attending retreat. Then, they called down to Andy, the owner of the retreat center, and told him the plan and asked if they could get a cake for the shower. Well, he decided that he didn't want his mom who normally makes all the food to make it, nor did he want it coming from a grocery store, so he got an awesome cake from a bakery in Quincy. They also got a stuffed rubber ducky for everyone to write a message on and told everyone that if they wanted to make a quilt square my mom would compile them all into a quilt. I will take pictures of those too! We also passed around a piece of paper asking them to guess the gender, date, time, and weight of the baby. The winner will receive a bundle of fat quarters, which is what quilters like! I just peaked a look at the list and so far there are 7 girl votes and 6 boy votes. The earliest date someone guessed is June 17 and the latest is July 6. It will be interesting to see who is closest! The smallest baby weight guess was 5 lbs and 11 oz which was guessed by the person that wrote down the earliest date and the biggest baby weight guess was 9 lbs 2 oz. The majority of people wrote down early morning times for the baby to be born, hopefully that is not the case! One can only wish!

Okay I have procrastinated enough so I should get back to work now! I have alot to accomplish!

Thank you to everyone involved in throwing and participating in this baby shower!

Thanks for checking in!

The good news from today is that the baby is still healthy and growing like crazy. The bad news is that we STILL don't know the sex! I know, I know I was the one that said I didn't want to know, but now that I can't know I want too! I guess it is true that you always want what you can't have.

So, we were in and out in less than an hour which was good. Our sono tech was older and didn't really have too much of a sense of humor. (Sidenote: I just told Devin what I wrote about the tech and asked if it was fair. He replied I would said shes a doucher.) She did the sono and the baby was facing us, but with its legs together. She tried looking a handful of times and couldn't see anything. Then, the doctor (the same awesome one as last time) came in and had a look. She couldn't tell and was moving my stomach around trying to get a peek and couldn't. She said the spine and everything on the baby looked great, but that she was a little concerned about my cervix. On the sono it measured at a 2, which apparently isn't good, so they did an internal sono and everything was great after that. I guess my cervix curves or something or the baby was laying on it. All I know is that she was really concerned and then after she got the better picture from the internal she said everything was great and acted like it too. Better safe than sorry!

Here are the pictures from the sono still not the best, but this is all they gave us!

This is the face, at least thats what the picture says...

Face, yes again.

Profile (I think).
Profile again. This is my favorite one so far you can see the little nose sticking up!

The heartbeat was 140 beats per minute and the baby weighs 1 pound 7 ounces. Last time it weighed 9 ounces so it has gained 14 ounces in a month! Seems crazy, and yes I know it will only get bigger! They also said I was measuring one week ahead which isn't unusual.

At the end of the appointment she said she wanted to see me again in 6 weeks and I said that won't give me enough time to prepare the nursery so I asked to go in 4 and she agreed. So, another sono on April 6th which seems so far away, but will be here before we know it!

Now we are trying to decide what to do. The way I see it we have 4 options...
1 - Decide to not find out and decorate gender neutral with Dr. Suess
2 - Get a private sono and pray the baby cooperates
3 - Wait til April 6th and pray the baby cooperates and then decorate
4 - Decorate gend neurtal with Dr. Suess and still find out if we can on April 6th

We both like the Dr. Suess bedding and theme although I think Devin just likes it because they show an awesome chair in the pictures!

We are goin to hopefully decide soon! Thanks for checking in and I will keep everyone updated!

Tomorrow is the day....hopefully

Tomorrow morning we have another sono and we are hoping that they will be able to tell us if we are having a boy or a girl. Yes, we have decided to find out. I didn't want to know in the beginning, but now I do. When we had our first two sonos I just wanted to make sure the baby was okay, now that they are pretty sure that it is, I want to know! They haven't been able to tell before and they looked hard both times. The baby was just in the wrong position. Hoping the baby cooperates tomorrow. It has been moving all over the place now so I think that eventually they should be able to get the right view at one point or another. The doctor was determined to find out last time and I think she was a little dissapointed that she couldn't so we are hoping she pulls through for us this time!

As many of you know I am a HUGE planner. We have had boys bedding picked out since the beginning of January and have not been able to find any girls bedding that we agree on. Devin is so sick of looking at bedding online! I finally have it narrowed down to three different firl sets and can't decide. I need to decide so we can get it ordered ASAP so we can paint and decorate before softball season starts in about five weeks. So here are the ones that I have it narrowed down to. When you are looking at them don't pay attention to the paint color or how much crap they have shoved into the picture. It took me a while to figure out thats why I wasn't liking things. All of these bedding sets are for girls.

Above is Paisley Splash from JCPenneys. I am not sure what color we would paint with this one, so if you vote for it include what you would paint!

This is Sophia from BabiesRus. We would probably paint the green.

This is Lime & Brown Paisley Splash from BabiesRus. Again, not sure what we would paint. I loooooooove the rug!

So please let us know which one you like the best! We are wanting something that is not baby-ish and doesn't have butterflies, dragonflies, ladybugs, etc. You can either leave a comment or facebook or text us! Thank you!

Check back in tomorrow for sono results and pictures!

Uneventful...Just The Way We Like It

I had a checkup at my regular doctors office today and it was very uneventul which is good! The baby's heartbeat was 152. It was great not having any extra tests or bloodwork done! I know it won't last long, but it was nice this time! I was scheduled to see one doctor, but for some reason I got given the other doctor that I like more so that was awesome!

When the nurse was trying to get the heartbeat the baby was being so active it was hillarous. It probably took her about five or so minutes to get the baby to be still enough so she could get a reading. So our baby just doesn't want to cooperate with anyone!

My next appointment is March 8th at the high-risk place for another sono and I go back to the regular doctor on March 23rd.

I hope to post some bedding sets when I get some time in the next week or so for everyone to give their opinions. We have a boy set picked out, but can't seem to decide on a girl set! So check back for that!

Thanks for checking in and sorry its such a boring post, but no news is good news!

BIG News

As promised yesterday, I have some big exciting news to share with everyone, I am going to be an AUNT! My brother, Eric and his wife, Rachel are expecting their first child. She is due August 28th so its going to be a busy, awesome year for my family! I've known for a few weeks and have had to keep quiet. It was way harder to keep their secret than it was my own! I can't wait to go through this with them! Rachel and I have already been talking alot more, which I love!

Thats the exciting news I had! Thanks for checking in!

Starting Baby Burks's Room

I know, I know I haven't posted in a long time, but we have been pretty busy and have been able to relax knowing that everything is safe with the baby!

Three weekends ago, we decided to clean out the storage room in the basement. We realized that we needed somewhere for everything from the baby's room to go since it had been set up as a guest room complete with queen size bed, dresser, and nightstand. Devin and I got motivated (he was way more motivated than me on this particular Saturday to clean, which is pretty unusual!). Once we decided to clean the basement we got to work and we knocked the whole thing out in about an hour which is impressive. I still can't believe that we did as well as we did! We decided to get rid of alot of things. If anyone knows anyone looking for young adult books or English education books we have two tubs full that we are looking to donate somewhere. Let us know if you want them you are more than welcome to have them! I hate getting rid of books, but I am not a person to read something twice! I wish that we would have taken before and after pictures of the basement because I still don't believe that we accomplished everything we did!

Two weekends ago, we got to clean out the baby's room which I had been wanting to do so bad! That Friday I spent the entire day in their cleaning out all of the small stuff that I can. The dresser and closet were loaded with things I could deal with, such as extra blankets/pillows, board games, and stuff from college. I managed to get the room empty of little stuff and set it all by the stairs with labels as to where it was going in the basement. Then that Saturday, Mike, Grandma Burks, LeeAnn, Brittany and Jason, and our friends Brett and Jessica came over to help move everything downstairs. They were even more efficient that Devin and I the weekend before. Everyone came over at 11 and I would say by 11:30-11:45 everything was downstairs, including all the furniture! I was astounded at how fast they were! While I was finishing up making lunch Devin decided to take advantage of the help while we had it and moved around the basement. Mike and Stacy got Devin a weight bench for Christmas and it was kinda just sitting in the middle of the basement. So, we now clearly have a "workout area". It is pretty awesome if I say so myself. I did remember to take before pictures of the conversion from guest bedroom to baby room so here they are!


After everyone left Devin really wanted to put together the baby furniture. I wasn't sure if this was the best idea because we still have to paint, but Devin and Mike convinced me it was okay and since they are going to be the ones painting I said okay. I was also anxious to see the furniture. They built the crib and changing table, we still have to build the dresser, but I have to move my sewing stuff out of the room first!


These pictures don't really do it justice! The furniture is a dark dark brown wood and I love it! We now have to get a mattress, but are clueless on how to pick one out. Does anyone have suggestions?

Finally, a post wouldn't be complete without mentioning Mocha! When I was cleaning the room out I kept tripping over her. There wasn't much room in the guest room to begin with and then when I started pulling stuff out, I was running into her constantly and I knew one of us would get hurt, so I allowed her to get on the bed. She had fun modeling some items I found! Oh, and hte cat and a ball playing in the dresser! The baby's room may be her favorite room now. We gave her a bone on Superbowl Sunday and she ran around looking to bury it for a bit and then went and laid in the baby's room and ate it. Now she goes in there all the time just to hang out!


Thanks for checking in and sorry I had not updated in a while! I hope to make up for it by posting tomorrow too and I promise it will be an exciting one, well exciting for me anyways!

The baby is just chillin...

Today we had our appointment with the specialist at OSF and got another sono! The results are good! The doctor said that the spine, brain, and heart all look good, so now I can hopefully rest a little more! It is really such a relief.

I went to the OSF Maternal/Fetal Diagnostic Center and it was really cool. They probably had 5 to 6 rooms all with sono machines and people doing sonos. Everyone there was really nice too, so that was a huge plus. Our appointment was at 9:30 and of course I had a whole stack of paperwork to fill out! On the top of one of the sheets it said reason for referral and they had it filled in with 'complicated pregnancy'. I was a little thrown and freaked out at seeing this on a piece of paper! They had us go in a little room to answer family history questions, which were all the same as what my doctor had asked and sent to them so she had all the answers, but apparently wanted to verify them. When she was done asking questions and going over information she asked if I had to use the bathroom. I thought she was just being rude, of course I had to pee, my doctor had told me I would need to drink at least 32 oz. of water before the sono! Well, as it turns out I needed an empty bladder, so I got to go to the bathroom much earlier than expected which was nice.

Then, we were moved into a sono room and handed off to the sono tech. She was also really nice and was awesome about explaining what we were looking at. I seemed to be able to see things better than last week, but maybe thats just because I knew what to expect or it could be that the tech was pointing everything out. For example she pointed out the hand, all the way down to the thumb. The baby was not cooperating at all as far as the gender goes. It was facing the inside of my stomach so all we could see was its back and butt which isn't too bad because we were there mainly to look at the spine, so that was easy to see. This sono was waaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler than last weeks. The baby was much more active. It was always sitting Indian style or was busy kicking its legs like crazy. It was neat to see! At one point the baby stretched completely out and I felt it which confirms that what I have been feeling the past few weeks is movement. We got to hear and see the baby's heartbeat which was 152 beats per minute.

After the tech got all of her measurements done she went and got the doctor. The doctor (Yolanda Renfro) then came in and introduced herself and started to do the sono and look at the baby herself. She said "Man, your baby is just chilling in there using the placenta as a pillow!" which made Devin and I both crack up. She thought she may get the baby to roll over so she sent me to the bathroom again since the baby was pushing right on my bladder. She then looked again at the spine and all of the important things and told us what we wanted to hear everything looked great! She thought with the more room it might give us a glimpse as to if the baby is a he or she, but it definitely didn't so the baby is still an it! The nurse and the sono tech were still in the room and they were laughing that the baby was being so shy. This was such a minor detail to me at this point because I just wanted to know that the baby was healthy. The doctor said that our dates were right on and that the baby was measuring right where it should. It weighs 9 ounces and I don't think she told us how long the baby was and if she did I forgot!

Here are the two pictures that we got from the sono. They are both of the face which is what we got alot of last week too. I guess you take what you can get! The tech took 58 pictures to send to my regular doctor so I had my hopes up that we would get more than two! Also, while we were still waiting we saw a couple come out from a sono and they had a whole string of pictures.


This is of the face...the baby was kind of starting to roll over, but never made it all the way over. You can see an eye socket and the nose.

This is pretty much the same picture!

They wanted to see us again, just to make sure when the baby is bigger that everything is okay so we got back there on March 8th. If the baby is stubborn then I am hoping to convince Devin that we shouldn't find out, which I don't think I can convince him of, he really wants to know!

Thanks for checking in! Also thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers for us this past week and a half! It's been rough, but everything is looking up now!