First Shower and OB

Phew, what a weekend!!

Friday I ran a ton of errands and could have crawled into bed to relax by about 4 pm. Instead, I had to hop in the shower and get ready! We planned on having our shower outside..a casual BBQ with bags and such. Unfortunately, it rained all week, including Friday. Luckily, my MIL recently did a ton of work to the house, so she was more than happy to throw it inside. It was very small, a few family members and friends. It was the perfect way to kick off celebrating Little Lion!

Cute side note here: My brother asked Delaney why she was dressed so nice. She said, "Because I'm going to Auntie Erin's bath party!" Ahh, I love her.

Anyway, we had good food, great company and wonderful gifts. Since its easier to list, we got:

*Stroller/car seat system

*Money to buy mattress
*Bedding set(I ordered it for my Mom because she doesn't believe in Internet shopping)

*Burp cloths

*Bears outfit we really wanted
*Bath towel

*Books/CD

*Clothes/shoes

*Monitor

*Baby Einstein play mat
*Spoons/Dirty diaper baggies
*Diapers

*A special Bear lovey

This was TOO cute. Kayla gave our Lion this Bear lovey. When I opened it, she screamed, ran over and swiped it to cuddled it with her Bunny lovey!!

Tyler, wondering if he can borrow the play mat for the next

2 months...?

I cant express how lucky this little guy is to have so many loving people in his life. I look forward to the day he is old enough and I can tell him how loved he was LONG before he was born.

Tom and his twin, Jennifer

The Grandmas!

Daddy and Mama

We got home pretty late and I didn't get much sleep. Saturday, I did some shopping with my friend, Christina and her daughter, Madison. I am trying to find something nice to wear for my next shower, but didn't have any luck.
We had a 5 year olds birthday party in the afternoon. That was nice, since we hadn't seen these friends since February. To finish the evening, we had a 27th Golden birthday party. It was basically a drunk fest, but everyone loved on the pregnant girl! We didn't get home until 2 am..much too late.
Stef and Me

Some of my fave girlies..

I slept horribly again, even though I was drained. Yesterday, I baked a bunch and organized like crazy. We ran to a few stores before Tom had to work security.

It was such a hectic weekend and I predict there will be many more of these. This week is nuts, as the wedding I am standing up in is on Saturday. I hope I can stand in heels for hours..

*******
I had my 30 week OB appointment tonight. The doctor came in and asked how I was doing and how baby was doing. We told her about our sex change surprise and she said, "Lets check that out!" Me, turn down an ultrasound? NEVER!

Sure enough, he is a little boy. And...he is head down!! Apparently, I just needed to express my concern and he took care of it! She said he is measuring perfect and weighs 3 lb. 4 oz. She predicts a 7.5 lb. baby. I will take it! She was a little concerned about how often I am taking my inhaler. She gave me a prescription for a different kind. This one, I will take once daily, rather than as needed. She said it should stop me needing the rescue inhaler. I pick it up tomorrow. I go back in a little over 2 weeks.

30 Weeks

How far along? 30 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: No weight gain in 3 weeks..I hope you're growing, Lion!
Maternity clothes? I wear 'em
Sleep: Different every night
Best moment this week: Baby shower
Movement: He was a little show off, dancing for friends/family all weekend
Food cravings: Hot chocolate
Gender: Baby BOY!
Labor Signs: No, wondering what Braxton Hicks feel like
Belly Button in or out? A little bit out
What I miss: Stretching the muscles in my legs, darn cramps hurt!
What I am looking forward to: Dr. appointment tomorrow, seems like its been SO long
Weekly Wisdom: You will start to get annoyed hearing peoples opinions on birth
Milestones: 3/4 down! He should be 3 lbs. Woo hoo!

Ill add pics and talk about the shower/weekend tomorrow. I am struggling to keep my eyes open..

In My Head

I got an email today, announcing one of my fave country artists is coming to Joe's Bar. Guess the date? November 7th! All of a sudden, I am constantly being reminded how soon November 7th is. An expiration date on string cheese, Halloween stores opening, invitations for birthday parties.

I have a gut feeling this baby boy will come in late October. I may just be wishful thinking, because who wants to go past their due date?! My side of the family's baby shower is set for October 18th. I will be 37w1d pregnant. A little late, huh? I have six Aunts that get together to throw it and it was the only date that worked for everyone. I likely wont feel pretty anymore and may have a child in my arms, but the show will go on! I am not going to complain. I am fortunate to be having a baby shower, let alone three of them.

I started to really look into maternity photographers. I am thinking of having them done the first weekend in October. I would be 35 weeks pregnant. I want to do them outside, somewhere with beautiful fall leaves. I have really high expectations and am hoping I can find someone to meet them.

Our bedding arrived today. I wanted to make sure it was as cute in person and I am very satisfied!

Also in the mail, Toms degree. Way to go, Daddy! Speaking of him..here is the update on the job-He went for the interview two weeks ago. We were under the impression it was a full oral interview. Instead, all he did was give a urine sample, fingerprints and get handed a packet to fill out. He had 2 weeks to complete the very nosey packet and hands it in tomorrow. I called my Dad mad about him taking a day off work for such a small step but he has assured me that Tom has the job. I will believe it when I see it. I don't want to get my hopes up and be let down. Infertility scars, anyone?

I am going back to school beginning in January. We said from day one that Toms education was the first priority. Now that he has what he needs, its my turn and I couldn't be more excited. I debated starting this semester, but didn't want to overdo it with stress in my life.

I have figured out I really dislike movies after I have read the book. Examples-Times Travelers Wife, Nights in Rodanthe, My Sisters Keeper. Loved the books, hated the movies. Supporting this, I loved Marley and Me and The Notebook. I saw the film first and read the book afterward. Apparently I need to stop reading before I see the film.

I am a little concerned about our little mans position. I really do not want a C-section. Again, I have a gut feeling I will have no choice. I am going to talk to the doctor on Monday and find out when it really starts to matter that he is laying across rather than head down.

Trust me, I know I am mean for withholding his name. My fear is that Ill tell one person and not be able to stop. Its been very difficult to keep in and its only been 5 days! I may give in and share it here. After all, no one in real life knows my blog info..We did tell Tyler though. So, the Tiger knows the Lions name. Hes the only one!

Sending a HUGE congrats to the recent positives and births in the IF community. You make my heart happy. :0)

Picture Overload

We are DAYS away from September and I realized I never talked much about the fun stuff we did in August. I always feel like I "know" a blogger better when I see pictures of their life. Heres to catchin' up, photo style!

These are from the Brad Paisley concert on the 7th. It rained all day, but cleared up before the big show. We paid an extra $10 to upgrade to seats and had a clear shot of Mr. Paisley all night long. It was an amazing concert!

Here are a few of Michelles bridal shower on the 9th. That was the day it was 95 degrees outside. It was nearly unbearable. Luckily, I kept finding excuses to go in the house to cool off.

The following weekend was spent at the cottage for my Dads birthday. Friday, we took Toms sister, Stefi and her friend Jess up to go tubing and stay the night. We went to Lake Geneva that evening and couldnt have had a better spot to take pictures. We went to the largest Irish festival in the U.S. on Saturday. My maiden name is Ryan and we are proud of it! HINT-Babys name is not super Irish..like Seamus, Connor, or Jameson. :)

These last ones are from Michelles bachelorette party this past weekend. We had a little get together at my sisters house and then went to a bar in downtown Naperville. I felt very..akward at the bar and wished I had a sign on my stomach that explained why I was there. It was a fun and hilarious night, though!

August was fun yet exhausting and I am preparing myself to not be as comfortable come September and October. We have plans every single weekend from now until the Lion is due. How is that even possible?

29 Weeks

How far along? 29 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: No weight gain again..hmm?
Maternity clothes? Yep
Sleep: Varies. Surprisingly, I still don't get up to pee
Best moment this week: Seeing our little one in 3D
Movement: Hes still in the same position, laying across, head on right
Food cravings: Slurpee
Gender: BOY!
Labor Signs: None..labor class begins in a few weeks
Belly Button in or out? No change
What I miss: Dancing
What I am looking forward to: Shower on Friday
Weekly Wisdom: If you stand in heels for hours at a bachelorette party, you will really have the pregnant waddle the next day.
Milestones: Finding out the REAL sex!

We have switched everything on our registries and are in full baby boy mode. We decided on his name, too. I LOVE it, just like I love Hadley Elizabeth. The real Hadley will have a big brother named..

..I guess you'll have to wait until November. Were keeping it a secret! Or at least were going to try to..:)

ILCW

I am coming up on one year of blogging and decided I should make the time to join the ILCW fun!

A little bit about our journey-I'm Erin, hubby's name is Tom. I am 22, hes 23. We have been married a bit over 3 years. We live in a suburb of Chicago and are in the process of selling our home in Indiana. I work as a nanny and adore my job. Tom is about halfway through the hiring process to be a Cook County Police Officer, his dream job. We have two dogs, Cooper and Guinness. We have the greatest families and particularly adore our 3 nephews and niece.

In January of 2007, we were ready to add to our family. We started TTC and had no idea how difficult it would be. We actively tried on our own for a year. I always had regular periods, we were both healthy and young, we never would have imagined being diagnosed with unexplained infertility. That is what happened in early 2008. We started going to a fertility clinic, had every test done and all came back perfectly normal. We tried a few months of Clomid, moved onto IUIs with injectibles, and finally gave IVF a shot in January of 2009.

February 25, 2009, we finally got our BFP! I am currently 29 weeks pregnant with a little boy.

It has been a bumpy road and most days I cant believe we are here today. We are stronger as individuals, as well as a couple, because of it. We never lose sight of what a miralce our child is.

This blog has been such an amazing source of information, support and love the past 11 months. I am thankful for it every day. I love reading other womens stories and I feel like I have made some amazing friends. I hope my blog gives hope to others still TTC. If you want specifics of our treatment, you can find that on the left of my blog.

For now, I am a pregnant infertile woman. In a few short months, I will re-join the infertile crowd and start thinking about baby #2..

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Saturday!

Introducing..

"Little Lion Robertson"

Isn't he cute?!