Surrogate Anniversary

Today is August 6, 2011. There is nothing special about this date for me and Bryndon, but we decided to make today our surrogate anniversary since most likely next Friday the 12th (our real anniversary), I will be in the hospital recovering after a C-section. Here's the quick version of the story:

We realized that our baby was in the breech position (head up) a while back, and hoped that she would turn on her own in the following weeks. That didn't happen. So then we scheduled what is called a "version" at the hospital, where my doctor tried to manually turn her with his hands on my belly. That was an extremely painful experience, and was unfortunately unsuccessful. It seems that our little girl is kind of stuck down low (her bum is) in my pelvis, so that made it impossible to force her to turn. After the doctor pronounced this and I had a good bawl session, we started planning for a Cesarean section.

We even decided to try the method of acupuncture to get her to move and turn the correct way, which might possibly still work, but we've also scheduled the C-section for this coming Wednesday, August 10th. My cute sisters-in-law have both had C-sections and have gotten me pumped up with all the positive aspects of having a planned C-section as opposed to going through a long a painful labor and delivery. There are pros and cons to both, and the C-section wasn't our first choice, but we are also grateful that we live in a time and place where that is a very safe method of delivering a child. I'm open to however we can get this girl here safe and sound. It won't be the end of the world, thankfully! :) 

So that was my long explanation about why we celebrated our anniversary tonight. I wanted to share some pictures as well. First, I love the fact that for much of my pregnancy, 2 sisters-in-law on my family's side have been pregnant (Elisabeth and Kari) and 2 other sisters-in-law from Bryndon's side (Jessica and Beth) have been as well! Here's a fun prego picture of the 3 of us on Bryndon's side with our bellies... 

Now here's one of me tonight at 39 weeks
(possibly my last prego pic!):

And here's a taste of our evening... We went to The Roof restaurant at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and it was AMAZING!!! The last time I ate there was 5 years ago (almost exactly) with Bryndon when we went on our last date together before I left on my mission. I forgot how amazing the food and desserts are! Yes, it is very expensive, but definitely worth it for every 5 years (or less) and on very special occasions!

After eating all the food we could possibly handle at The Roof, we went to Red Butte Gardens at the University of Utah and saw the beautiful flowers, herbs, trees and views of the valley from there. And yes, the photo below will show that Bryndon actually asked them if they had a wheelchair he could take me around in, and we actually did that! I was so embarrassed that I was letting him push me around in that when I was perfectly capable of walking (albeit extremely slowly). But it ended up being a really good idea because we got to zoom around the entire Garden without Bryndon having to wait for me all the time. It has gotten hard to even walk very much because I start having contractions whenever I over-do it.  And the other thing was that while we were at The Roof, I started having some painful contractions while just sitting there, so we definitely didn't want me to force myself into labor, especially with this breech baby. Anyway, I swallowed my pride and after a little while actually enjoyed myself, directing my driver around the beautiful Garden.

Here is a cool one of some cacti:

Bryndon was cute and got excited about feeding the ducks at this little pond.

Everything was so vibrant with greens and other bright colors.
I guess I should show a picture of some flowers:

And last of all, we must have our crazy face pictures.
This was one of the less ugly ones, if you can believe it. :)

Happy Surrogate Anniversary, Babe!!! 

I love Bryndon SOOOO much. He is the best.
And I can't wait to see him as a daddy within a week!!! 

AAAAAAAHHHH!!!

Like a basketball game...

Yesterday my coworker asked me if waiting for this baby to come feels like waiting for Christmas. I honestly had to say no because to me it feels more like anticipating a basketball game! I remember experiencing that countless times as I grew up with Jr. Jazz and especially before a school game. It's an exciting feeling to be sure, but those butterflies make me feel more anxious and nervous than anything else. 

I can't believe it, but I'm due in 3 weeks from today! Time has flown by. Everyone who heard that I was due in mid-August told me that it would be the longest summer of my life-- that it would be awful and hot and painfully slow. I must say that it hasn't been that way at all. It has gone very quickly and really hasn't been too hard. I have air conditioning at home, in my car and at work. I feel very spoiled to live in such luxury, especially compared to what others have gone through. I know that every woman's pregnancy is different, but thankfully, mine has been fine. Yes, I'm uncomfortable and not sleeping super well at night, but it's still bearable. I also think this summer (and year) has flown by because it's our first baby, so we feel like there is so much to prepare for and we don't want to rush anything. Maybe future pregnancies will be harder to get through at the end, but for now I'm just so grateful to be pregnant and to soon be the mother of a beautiful baby girl!!!

Here is the latest picture of me at 36 weeks (about a week ago), next to our cute crib (KSL special) in our recently painted baby room!

Madsen Family Reunion

This reunion happened a while back (as you'll see from the pictures), but I just recently got these photos and wanted to share some fun ones of me, Bryndon and the in-state members of my family.

One of my favorites of us.

My cute parents.

Me and my beautiful sisters.

Bryndon's favorite.

Family!

Jump! I'm amazed at how high my mom got in the air and at how much Emily looks like a rag doll that was tossed by an unseen hand... and amazed at how much my fake jump really looked fake!

Our little get-away

Last week was very atypical for Bryndon and me. 

First of all, let it be known that Bryndon finished the infamous 3rd year of Med School (the most difficult of the 4 years)!!! So he only has 1 more year until graduation with his MD! Then we'll start the just-as-long-if-not-longer road of Residency and possibly Fellowship in a mystery location or two or three. What that means is that it's possible that his first year of Residency (the Intern year, as it's called) could be in a different location than the next 3 years of specialty, and then if he does a Fellowship (not a sure thing) to specialize even more, that could take us to yet another location. OR, there's the possibility that we might not even leave Utah for any of it. OR door number 3 might lead us somewhere in between those two options. Anyway, not all of that was necessary, but I thought some people might like to know. I'm very proud of Bryndon for his hard work and dedication. It is NOT easy to get up every day before 5am (on some rotations) and work long days, nor is it easy to work 30-hour shifts through the day and night. He's my superman!

With that said, Bryndon is on a coveted 2-week break and it has been wonderful to see more of him and spend some quality time together. That brings me to last week's activities...

We left Tuesday morning for St. George, which was very hot, but the trip was perfect! We had decided to take advantage of his little break to go on one last get-away before becoming parents. We definitely plan on doing more trips after our little girl comes, but we know that it'll never be quite the same. 

We stayed in a very beautiful and luxurious home with a refreshing community pool near by and a 72-inch TV, among other fun amenities!  
I wanted to post some pictures to show what we did...

We had a big, fully equipped kitchen to cook our own meals. 
(Mmmm... steak and corn on the cob!)

We went on a hike in the red rocks with all the cool little caves and shapes carved all over.

To hold true to tradition, we took quite a few funny-face pictures. And by the way, the above picture is very normal compared to the rest... :) After taking the ugliest-face-you-can-possibly-make picture I basically had an emotional breakdown from laughing and crying so hard. But unfortunately for any readers of this blog, that picture will not be included.

We conquered the rock... and when I say "we", I speak of myself and the babe.

We got to visit the beautiful St. George temple.

Here we are in front of the pool in all our white (or glow-in-the-dark) glory. Luckily, by the end of the week we had some color on our skin finally, and not a burn!

Here's a nice pregnant shot for you (33 weeks). We went to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and saw A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was very good and entertaining! I was so excited to see it because first of all, I have never seen a Shakespeare play before, and second, I took a Shakespeare class in my last semester at the U of U and really enjoyed it. 

We few a kite!!! (See the tiny little thing at the top of the picture?) I felt like a 5-year-old with all the excitement it brought me, because neither of us had flown a kite for many, many years. It was fun! The first time we tried was one morning in St. George and there was absolutely ZERO wind. So it didn't work. But the picture above is when we were in Cedar City and the wind was plentiful! We did it a second time when we were no longer in a parking lot surrounded by large trees that our line got stuck on. But both times were great!

Last Friday we left St. George and drove again to Cedar City, where we met up with some friends from my MTC District for a little reunion!! I still can't believe it finally happened. Most of our District has kept in touch since we were together almost 5 years ago! We always said that we should have a reunion, but I didn't actually think it would happen, seeing as nobody lives near each other and we're spread across the U.S. But only a few couldn't attend (one of the Elders is in Europe doing a study abroad), and it was SO fun for me to see them all! It was Kyle Robinson, who we lovingly call "Hobbs", who proposed and organized the reunion. Props to him! He hosted it at his family cabin up Cedar Canyon. As you can see from the above picture (although it doesn't fully do it justice), the canyon was breathtakingly beautiful. Everything was so green, and there were ponds and lakes and fields and forests and red rocks and amazing views overlooking the canyons and even as far as Zions National Park! 

Here we are at one of the overlooks above a lake that used to be 2 lakes with a big bridge separating them. The water rose so much this year that it covers the bridge and now is one big lake!

Here I am with 3 of the Elders from our District. Saturday morning we went on an adventure across a muddy field and stream to find a patch of snow so that Elder Thompson (Cale), standing next to me, could have his 3rd ever experience with snow! We had a snowball fight (of sorts) and made a miniature snowman so that he could say that he has made one. :) It was fun for all of us.

This is the last picture, and we're in a cave. The cool thing is that these underground caverns are air pockets that came from volcanic vents thousands of years ago. ... Probably more cool if you were there. Soon after we explored these caves we had to leave to drive home that night. But even with the short time we were with those friends, we had a great time and Bryndon was also a good sport to tolerate all our reminiscing about the MTC and our missions.

All in all, the entire week was super fun and relaxing. We are grateful for his break and for my flexible boss who allowed me to take most of the week off. I loved being able to spend the entire day with my cute husband all week!! And it was nice to have a comfortable, air conditioned place to stay where we could take naps and relax to escape the hottest parts of the day. 
I love spending time with Bryndon!

Latest belly shot

At the request of my sister-in-law Kari, I am posting a more recent photo of my growing belly. If I'm remembering right, I was about 28 weeks in this picture. I'm now 30 weeks--crazy!! I apologize that most of the photos I've posted are low quality and low light. This photo was actually taken by myself (thus the cropped head) while Bryndon was studying one day. I just used the timer and propped it up on my bed, then ran around and stood in front of our closet door. :)

Thankfully I'm still feeling really good. I'm not sleeping super well, and recently have been waking up a lot earlier than desired, but overall I have nothing to complain of. I feel very blessed for many reasons!

The "Me" Monster

Once upon a time, there was a pregnant woman
who only posted things on her "family" blog about herself. 

The end.

Here's to me getting bigger by the week (23):

I need to petition for input from my cute husband, who works so hard and is taking good care of me. And to tell the truth, it is a little harder while pregnant to not think of yourself all the time. I have to keep reminding myself that the world doesn't revolve around ME! It was worse when I was feeling nauseous, because it was hard to think of anything else.
I'm SO grateful to be feeling SO good now! Second trimester is glorious! My body is a little awkward, but not too bad yet. And I'm only emotional occasionally, which I already was before the pregnancy, so I don't feel too bad. :) 

I'm LOVING spending as much time with Bryndon as possible while he's doing his Psychiatry rotation, which is pretty easy-going. After this he'll have his craziest/busiest rotation in Surgery, when I don't plan on seeing him much. Save up your sleep Bryndon! 

The thing I can hardly believe is that after Surgery he'll start his 4th year of Med School! It has gone by quickly and has been just fine so far. I'm planning on his Residency (especially the first year) being the hard time. And lucky us, we'll have a little cutie by then to keep me company! :)

Sweet News

A couple of days ago I hit my 20 week mark, which also meant that last week we were able to have an ultrasound and find out if we are going to have a boy or girl! I was SO anxious to find out. I felt like that would be a big turning point for me in feeling like it was all real, and starting to visualize a real baby. Before we found out, I was getting very tired of saying "he or she" or "it" because that felt so wrong. 

So without further delay... we found out that we have a little 

GIRL inside of me!!!

Out of my family (my husband, parents, siblings and their spouses), only 3 of them guessed right (including Bryndon)! At work, the majority of my coworkers also guessed that it would be a boy. I had them write down their guesses. I wondered why... was it trendy to say "boy"? Am I giving off masculine vibes? Am I just not girly enough for them to imagine me with a precious little girl? Who knows... The funny thing is that I also guessed that it would be a boy--not because of any strong feeling or spiritual prompting, but just because I thought it would be. Even when the ultrasound tech was about to tell us, I thought, "It's going to be a boy." I did have several dreams about babies before then, most of which had baby boys in them, but I did have a number of dreams with baby girls too, so I didn't have anything significant to base my guess from.

Anyway, we are SO thrilled and happy, and anxious to meet her!! I LOVE being able to say "she" as we talk about her, pray for her, and tell people about her. She is moving around quite a bit, and Bryndon felt her kick even as early as a couple of weeks ago! I think it's pretty rare that someone else can feel a kick externally on your belly that early on. We have two hypotheses: either she has Bryndon's huge feet (poor girl) or she is just full of energy and is a strong baby! I hope it's the latter. :) It makes me happy to feel her moving around because it reminds me all the time of what a huge blessing she is to us, and that she must be strong and healthy.

Last night I felt what we assume was my first Braxton Hicks contraction. I woke up in the middle of the night (as usual) to go to the bathroom, slipped gently off the bed, and when I put my weight on the floor, I felt a pretty sharp pain all through my belly that lasted until after I got back into bed and laid their for a while. It was interesting and a little scary because I didn't know what it was at first. I figured if it didn't go away then I'd wake up Bryndon, and luckily it was gone after about 5 minutes or so of lying there. I looked up BH on the web tonight to see what I found and there are plenty of people writing about how they felt them at 20 weeks or sooner. Apparently for some people they don't feel them at all even though they happen all the time after the first trimester, and for others they just feel their belly tightening, and still others feel stronger "discomfort" with the contractions. I can't use the word pain, apparently, because "these don't even compare to the real thing," according to Bryndon. I'm going to pray that my real labor contractions won't be much worse, especially if they're continuous over many hours. :( 

I think I must be a wimp!

We bought a crib and a little baby backpack thing so far, and we'll probably be doing more shopping in the next 6 weeks as Bryndon is in a relatively calm rotation. After that I'll hardly see him for the next 6 weeks of his Surgery rotation, which is supposed to be the hardest. I have a feeling time is going to continue to move slowly through the rest of my pregnancy, because I'm barely past half way! It's hard to believe. (Except for the fact that I've been gaining quite a lot of weight and my clothes don't fit anymore...)

We are so happy about our little girl!!!