"Great Expectations"

I had the pleasure of meeting Kristina and her fiance, Jared, today to take their photos. Kristina met me at Baby Expo a couple of weeks back where I had a booth advertising my photography, and she thought it would be a lot of fun to get her maternity pictures taken. She contacted me last week to set up an appointment...since she's due next week, we decided that the sooner, the better, to get these pictures taken.
Kristina was absolutely lovely, and had great energy and creativity with her outfits (of which she had quite a large bag full of tops, skirts, pants, and various jewelry)
We had a TON of fun- and her hubby-to-be was a real good sport!


click here to see more...

Birth Story

Wednesday, Dec 17th:
Katie Konop came over with Ruthie so we could go for a walk around Mayfair Mall- I wanted to "get things moving" you might say- I hadn't had any changes at my appointment the week before, and I was determined to have something change for my appointment I had scheduled after my walk.
Well, I actually had NO changes from the previous week- I was even the exact same weight. The doc and I thought that he would make it to the due date, at least, and that she wouldn't let me go a week past my due date. Oh, well.
Thursday, Dec 18th:
3:00 am- I suddenly woke up cuz I felt like I had to use the restroom. To spare the icky details, lets just say it was icky. I knew something was happening. I went back to bed, cuz they say to try to get as much rest as possible- who knows when I will actually go into labor.
3:30 am- I felt something wet "down there", so I ran to the bathroom. Nope, I didn't have to pee. hmmmmmmm......this is not right- all through the pregnancy I never had issues holding it in if I had to. SO I call Jonathan, who is at work, to let him know that I thought my water had broken. He didn't answer his phone.
4:30- Jon calls back- He asked if I was feeling any contractions. Nothing. I felt relatively normal. We got done talking, and a few minutes later he called back saying the nurses he works with said to GET IN RIGHT AWAY!!
4:45- I called my Doc, and she said that she would notify the hospital that I was on my way in. Oh, and she sounded utterly exhausted!
5:00- I work on finishing packing for the hospital- I thought I would have more time for this part, but no.
5:30 Jonathan gets home- helps me finish packing. Calls Nick and Diana to let Nick know that he just missed me at the hospital- he works on the skybridge to the L&D of the hospital- but his shift ends at 5.
6:00am- we arrive at the hospital- Jon insists that we go through the ER entrance, cuz a bunch of his work friends want to meet me.
6:30am- I am officially admitted to the hospital.
THEN there's a long wait- I WAS having regular contractions every 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 minutes, I just wasn't feeling them. They gave me pitocin to make them stronger. It worked. However, I couldn't get past 2-3 cm dilation, so finally at
10:30 pm, a Dr. came in to let me know what an epidural is, and said that it was available for me, then asked if I had any questions. "When can I get one?!" was my response.
11:00pm they started the epidural procedure- this takes a while. They got it done, but for some reason it wasn't working. They hit the wrong spot in my spine. They had to redo it. Ouch.
FRIDAY, Dec. 19th
Finally the effects kicked in around midnight. The rest is a bit of a blur- I have no idea what time what happened, but I went quickly from 2-3 cm to 5 cm.
3:00 am the nurse said I was at 8 cm. YAY!! she said she would be back in an hour to check on me.
(by the way, they wanted the baby out by 6, because the water broke, there was an increased risk of infection)
3:50 am- I call the nurse "how can I help you?" she asked "you need to check me NOW" I said. She came in, and sure enough, my little guy was starting to crown. So she called the doctor- and a bunch of other people. Suddenly it was a party in my delivery room!
4:10- the doctor (who is not my doctor, unfortunately she wasn't able to be there:( bummer) finally shows up.
4:20 am- Josiah is born after just 5 pushes. Apparently I was really good at pushing, even through the epidural and no mirror.
8 lbs, 1.6 oz 22 inches long. The cord was wrapped around his neck, and he breathed in some fluid, so he had to be suctioned out and given oxygen, but other than that his color was good, and he was making noise- he has the cutest little cry (for now:)

By the way, Jonathan was FANTASTIC through the whole thing- he played with my hair, did pressure point on my back, read to me, put the Simpsons in the DVD for me, watched the baby come out- and told me what was coming out and when- cut the cord, and took the most BEAUTIFUL pictures of our son's first moments. I love that guy!!

38 weeks, and nursery pics

Here is what our nursery look like so far- I have a couple of pictures to put up yet that my sister, Mandy, gave to me of animals that they've seen at various zoos around the US. I kinda went for the jungle/safari/wild animal theme. I LOVE sitting in the rocking chair and just hanging out in here!





I am feeling it more and more each day how difficult pregnancy can be on a body. It's all I can do to try to get out and keep walking, but I have managed to keep it up about every other day I walk for 2 miles- lately I've been going to Mayfair mall because of all the snow here in Milwaukee :)
I also would like to thank my very good friends that live here in Milwaukee who came out to my house on Saturday to do a DEEP cleaning- my house looks BEAUTIFUL- it was a wonderful gift, so again, THANKS A TON!!
Here I am at 38 weeks, 2 days:

36 weeks

My dad, among other people, have hinted (somewhat strongly) that I have fallen a little behind in my "weekly" pictures.
Yeah, I guess it's a little bit of laziness. And forgetfulness. :)
Here I am at 36 weeks, 4 days:

Another addition !

So my friends Abby and Eric FINALLY had their baby boy, Gabe- he was about a week late (poor Abby!)
We continued the tradition of bringing Chinese food to the hospital for the new parents- and I brought my camera, too~


Congrats, guys- he's absolutely adorable!!

32 weeks, 5 days

Here's what's new:
I had my 32 week checkup this week, and everything looks great. My weight gain is staying steady, I've been feeling ok for the most part (wednesday morning was a little rough, but we made it through:), and Jon and I started our childbirth express class. We have one more meeting with our class, then we graduate. And we will get a certificate saying we are booksmart ready for having a child. Amazing that 6 hours of class time is all we need to be adequate parents :P
Anywho, I finally took an updated picture this morning, so this is 32 weeks, 5 days:


My sister also came to town with her family to help me paint the mursery this week- it looks great!! so BIG thank you to her- I will post images of that once it's all set up.
On wednesday, I met up with my friend, Diana, to have my maternity pictures taken. Despite the cold and really bright sunshine, she really got some great shots: check them out on her blog.

29 weeks, 5 days pregnant!

This week has gone SO fast- it's amazing how time flies when I stay busy (and when I am feeling almost normal!)
I spent the weekend up at my sister's house for KJ's birthday- it was a beautiful, sunny, cool day. We had been planning on taking their family photos on Saturday evening, and I had all my equipment ready, and the kids got all ready for it, and when I got my camera out, I realized that I didn't have my memory cards!!! So, what does a pregnant woman with a bad cold who's had very little sleep do? I cried. I felt SO terrible that we had this planned, and I forgot my cards. I had actually emptied the card onto my computer that morning, and just forgot to take it out of the computer. Bummer.
Anyway, on Sunday Jonathan and I went to my parent's house and spent the day making applesauce and hanging out with family. We hadn't been up to visit them since Jonnie and Kimmy came.
I finally took my picture again tonight- I am now 29 weeks, 5 days. It's amazing to think that at the beginning of this week little Mr. Pinchie weighed over 2 1/2 lbs and is already over 15 inches long- he's getting all folded up in there!

Congrats B and KT!!

My good friends, Katie and Brandon, had their baby last night/this morning sometime (a little confused on the timing) They named her Ruth :) such a cute name- I can't wait to see her and take pics of her.
I had been taking pictures of Katie once a month since she found out she was pregnant, and fortunately we were able to get a final one in this past weekend with Brandon- they turned out lovely!!

28 weeks pregnant (just about, anyway!)

Here I am- it's a beautifully cool fall day, the Brewers made it to the playoffs (hasn't happened since the year I was born!!!), tried Indian Food for the first time ever (the general consensus was that the orange stuff tasted the best), and I finally remembered to take my "weekly" picture.
The past week was SO much fun and full of craziness- I taught art on Tuesday and Thursday, had a photo shoot on Thursday night, a wedding shoot on Friday, and a maternity shoot on Saturday.
Thought I'd show off Mr. Pinchie some more to you all, since he's getting SO big~ I now weigh a whopping 142 lbs!

25 weeks (and then some:)

Good afternoon!
I have to thank Diana for keeping on me about updating my blog- we went shopping today at Kohl's (she got a lot of fun shirts, and I got some AWESOME super-dee-duper soft underwear.) I think I scared Jonathan a little bit cuz I was so happy about it when I woke him up this afternoon. Seriously, I had such a burst of energy, I was hopping around and folding laundry and putting away blankets and making the bed and talking about my day and so on and so on..... Well, I might have been on a little sugar high from the mint chocolate chip ice cream cone I got from Kopps. MMMM.
So, you may notice that I am a little more dressed up this week for the picture- I remembered to take the picture on Tuesday early afternoon (so technically the pic is from 25 weeks, 1 day). The reason for the "dress up clothes" is cuz I am now an art teacher at St. John's in Wauwatosa! I met the kids for the first time on Tuesday- all I did was go around to the different classrooms and talked to them for about 5 or 6 minutes about me and what we can expect for the year. So, I have a teacher wardrobe (thanks, KT, for some of your work clothes!!) Fortunately, I am still little enough that I fit into a couple of my pre-preggo pants- as long as I wear them with a belly band!
Mr. Pinchie (as Jonathan so lovingly refers to our son, since we haven't landed on a name yet) has been rolling and kicking and thumping and elbow-ing and knee-ing and generally going all over the place- mostly at night after Jonathan leaves for work. I will have to borrow his video phone one of these nights so I can show him what it looks like when Mr. Pinchie is sticking a leg/arm an inch past where my tummy line actually is and rolls across the stomach. It's just fascinating!!
Overall, I am feeling great, though nighttime is still iffy, and if I need water, I get a bad gag reflex, but the weather is cooling down for fall, our sugar maple is dropping it's already golden and fire-colored leaves, and the air just seems fresh. What a wonderful time of year!

24 week overview

Hello, all!
Sorry I missed last week's blog- I totally lost track of time, and realized that it was the end of the week already, and I never did an update!
So, here's what happened:
not a whole lot. I got bigger. I am now over my pre pregnancy weight. yay.
Today I went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire with my sister, Adri, sister in law, Jen, and friend Amber.

best quote of the day made by a total stranger : "When you're eating a watermelon, you're supposed to spit out the seeds, not swallow them."

I guess that means that people are noticing that I am expecting :)

These pics are of me today after eating a lot of good food, so I feel bigger than what I think I am (if that makes any sense!)
Enough rambling- I'm pooped!
have a blessed week

~em

22 weeks!

Hello, again!
So, I have been having a great time this past week hanging out with friends and spending time with my hubby. A really good friend sent a care package in the mail and gave us a gift card to Applebee's, so on Saturday night, Jon and I went on a date! We did dinner and a movie (we finally went to see the Dark Knight) and spent only a little over $8 (we had a movie gift card too- thank's to a special promotion at our local grocery store:)
Well, I guess we spent a little more than that- I got EXTREMELY cold while sitting at Applebee's, and decided that it would probably be just as cold in the movie theater, so I went to Gap Maternity that was right across the mall from the theater, and picked up a $20 sweater. it is actually really nice, so I don't feel too bad about spending that much on a gap item.
Anyway, the majority of the weekend was spent with my younger brother, Josh, and with friends on Sunday- we had a special going away service at Point of Grace for John and April, who are going over to China to teach English. God's Blessings on them- we will try to remember them as often as we can in our prayers!
The pic of me is from just a couple minutes ago- 22 weeks already!
this afternoon I will be having the ultrasound to make sure all is ok with baby- since the last one showed a couple choroid plexus cysts, we need to make sure the rest of him is developing normally :)
thanks for the prayers!!!

em

21 weeks, 1 day

Hello, All!
I just spent a wonderful week with my family out in Michigan and Ohio- I left last Wednesday, and Jonathan flew in on Friday on a friend's plane to a little airport just outside Garden City, MI. We had an awesome dinner at Red Robin (neither of us had ever been to one- since we don't have them here in WI) with Jonnie, Kimmy, and the kids, then drove down to Heather and Richard's place in Ohio that night. We stayed with them until Monday morning, and had an awesome time all around!
These pics are from this afternoon- 21 weeks and 1 day. Baby now measures over 10 inches long and weighs about 3/4 of a pound. He's growing fast!
A lot of people have been asking what we're going to name him, and I don't know that we'll know until his birthday. We have a lot of names that we like, but I can't see us actually settling on one until we see him in person. We'll see- that may change :)
I was supposed to have my ultrasound this morning, but Jonathan had a mandatory work meeting at the same time, so we had to reschedule it for next week. I did, however, have a terrible nightmare that I had to go to it alone, and that they found some major birth defects and was told that the baby wouldn't survive outside of the womb, and that I had to decide what to do, without Jonathan being there! All this news was told to me in front of a panel of Doctors, so I didn't have time to really think about what was going on and absorb what the Dr. was telling me, and all I could do was cry and mourn, knowing my baby wasn't going to survive. How depressing! Needless to say, I was thrilled to know that I was dreaming once I woke up, but it still took me a while to realize that it wasn't real- it was just a dream. It still left a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I guess deep down I still am really worried about our baby- even though everything else on the ultrasound last time appeared completely normal and healthy. I guess it will help to have that confirmed when we have the appointment next Monday.
Please Keep us in your prayers- thanks!! :)

Halfway there!

So Jonathan and I have officially reached the halfway point with the pregnancy- 20 weeks! It's just amazing to think that this is already halfway finished (well, hardly, if you take into account the number of years that this little boy will be with us:)I have still been getting "morning" sickness at random times, about 1-2 times per week. I will take that over having it every day!

Anyway, I just recently accepted a position at St. John's in Wauwatosa to be their art teacher. A very daunting and exciting thing at the same time. I will be teaching grades 1-8, and am pretty much in charge of everything art. I was supposed to go to the faculty meeting yesterday morning, but that was one of the random times that morning sickness struck. How unfortunate to miss my "first" day of working there! I was really frustrated with myself and that in turn threw off my whole day.

Jonathan had his last softball game with Paulie's pub team last night, and unfortunately they lost. I haven't really told Jon this, but I have been living vicariously through him while he's playing softball- I miss it SO much! I have to be careful of what I say to him, cuz I try to give him tips for batting, and I don't want to do it too often or the wrong way, because that will just frustrate him. So I let him be sometimes, and still, he gets frustrated. Oh, well.

Sunday we had an awesome picnic with our friends B and Katie. Katie graduated with her Master's from Marquette, and is also expecting her first baby- a girl! I have a couple pictures from that besides the preggo pics. Nick and Diana were there, too, so I got a couple good pics of Sam, too- He is SUCH a great kid!!!

The pics are from this morning, so really they are my 20 week, 1 day pics.
Have a great week, everyone!

it's a........... :)

BOY!





so, my maternal instincts were COMPLETELY wrong- it was just a little too obvious from the view that we got. :) Poor kid, no privacy!
So, baby boy was being kinda difficult yesterday- my appointment started at 2:15 (well, they took me a few minutes late) but I didn't get out of ultrasound until almost 3:45, and I still had to meet with Dr. Gumina.
Well, the reason the ultrasound lasted so long was because the tech wanted to get a better look at the baby's head, and he just wasn't budging from his face-down, transverse position. he was moving, just not changing the position of his head. Well, there were a couple of things with the kids brain matter that they wanted to get a better look at, "cysts" they called them, but they're really not cysts. So, long story short, I get to have a high-def ultrasound where they will be able to see things lot more clearly. Doc said not to worry about it (yeah, right), but I do take comfort in the fact that EVERYTHING else about the baby is completely normal- kidneys, heart, bladder, stomach, liver, spine, bone growth, etc. Doc said if there really was something wrong, usually there would be other anomalies with the major organs.
Well, I didn't get out of there until 4:30. SO we rushed to KFC to get me some food, since I had to be Menomonee Falls by 5. BIG mistake. We changed our order 2 times because they "didn't have that", and what we did end up getting was old, tough, and not very tasty. Oh, well. I still ate it, but we made sure to give them a piece of our mind on an online KFC survey.

Oh, and Dad, I'm proud to be carrying your grandson. I'm still super excited, even though it's not a girl :)

will this never end!?!?

I have to get this frustration out!
(sorry everyone, but I figure this entry will quickly be overshadowed by the upcoming ultrasound stuff this afternoon.)
I STILL have morning sickness. It hit me hard last night- I felt like I did when I was 10 weeks along- stomach turning over, feeling really weak, and threw up when I would stand up.
And then I threw up again this morning. What the heck?
I have been drinking TONS of water today, and even that has been making me feel ill, even though it's really good for me.
So, well, I have been trying to keep myself distracted, but that only works for so long. So, I've been reading blogs, and I came on one that has 5 quirky things about the author of the blog, and that got me thinking, well, that would be fun! I haven't really posted anything all that personal about myself, save for the pictures (that's as much skin as you'll EVER see of me online. I promise!
5 weird things about me:

1. The toilet paper has to roll OUT from the top- if I go anywhere where it is backwards (I mean ANYWHERE) I will switch it around. It has to be right. I know there's somebody out there who is opposite of me, cuz last week I went to a friend's house, saw their toilet paper was the "wrong" way, switched it, and a couple of hours later when I went back in there, it was "wrong" again! They switched it back!
2. I love my zebra rug. Jonathan hates it. I like it that it adds a special flavor and texture to the room. Never mind that we rescued it out of the trash. ("we" means "me")
3. I don't really like nick knacks. However, we somehow have quite the collection of random little trinkets that cover our window sills and the top of our piano and fill up our curio cabinet. Here's Why:
4. I can't throw stuff away. I have too many special memories associated with stuff. The set of glass angel candle holders we got as a wedding gift from neighbors when I lived up in Sheboygan, the set of 4 kitty cups that I got from a dear friend for Christmas, and unfinished pieces of pottery from college classmates, among MANY other things. None of this stuff matches or really is all that spectacular or noteworthy, but I think of these people when I see the nick knacks!
5.I love having other people live with us. Many people question how we can stand not having complete privacy, but for some reason it works, and I like the fact that we are comfortable enough with ourselves and our friends to be able to share our space.

There, I feel better already!

19 weeks pregnant

Well, 19 weeks already!
It's kind of funny to think back at the first 12-14 weeks of pregnancy, and how SLOWLY it all went by- the morning sickness was NEVER ending, and I just couldn't do anything without feeling like i was going to lose whatever was in my stomach.
Well, now it seems to be taking a turn around a very fast bend in the road. The baby is most definitely kicking, full-out kicks! Even Jon was able to feel it on Friday. I feel very fortunate because I know that there are a lot of women who haven't been able to feel that for a few weeks past where I'm at.
I've also started realizing that, yes, we really are having a child. WOW. the halfway point is upon us, the baby is kicking, and we're having the anatomy ultra sound this week. Crazy stuff!
Soon our housemate will be moving out (this week, I think) and the room she is currently living in will be the baby's room, so we're going to have to talk about what we want done in there. I have my ideas, but haven't really truly pitched it to Jon yet. It scares me to think about what he might have to say about it. We don't always agree when it comes to decorating and arranging furniture.
These pics are from this morning- 19 weeks. I don't seem to look as big as I feel, and I think I was looking bigger yesterday (Jon and I were walking around the zoo with my friends Diana and Nick and their son, Sam, and we had all kinds of free food for Tau fest, so I think the combination of the heat, water retention, Ice cream, hotdog, chicken sandwich, and grilled corn on the cob, my stomach REALLY looked pregnant :)
I'll be posting again hopefully Wednesday with the Ultrasound update~
~Em

18 weeks Pregnant, and other stuff, too :)

Good Morning, everyone!
I have just finished my breakfast of bananas in cheerios (a healthy start, I must say!:) I had a rough night last night- just couldn't get comfortable. I was hot, and then cold, and them my back was hurting, and then I would have a dream and wake up from it, I had to pee not just once, not twice, but three times last night. Baby is definitely growing and putting extra pressure down there!
Without going into too much detail, I would just ask that everyone pray for Jonathan to figure out what he needs to do for his future employment. Third shift is really wearing on him, and he's beginning to poke around at some other prospects. We would really appreciate the prayers! thanks :)
This weekend was pretty busy- we had a family wedding on Friday night that I was actually able to make it to, I had a concert on Saturday that I was able to not be sick for (I woke up Saturday very dizzy and couldn't keep my food down) And Sunday I went to Church with B and KT and then swimming with their family, and in the afternoon we went to Chuck's birthday party at the Organ Piper on Hwy 100. COOl place! And the pizza was pretty good, too.
So, anyway, This is my 18 week belly- definitely getting bigger!
Other things are expanding, too... let's just say that Jonathan really is a fan of cleavage. :P
Have a great week, everyone, and God's blessings on your endeavors!

~Em

17 weeks and counting.... :)

Wow. 17 weeks pregnant already. I am starting to feel that "thick" feeling that I've been told about. " It feels like I just ate a whole bag of oreos without the pleasure of enjoying the oreos." (quote by Kimmy Lemke- when she was pregnant with Bekah)
Anyway, I had a FANTASTIC weekend with my family, and actually got a picture of everyone!! It was an amazingly beautiful weekend, no rain, cooler temps, low humidity, plenty of time to play outside, and we even had a bonfire and a moonlit polish golf game (which I lost) that was fun, despite feeding the mosquitoes.
Anywho, here I am with my growing belly. I think it's starting to pop out- I feel like the next few weeks there's going to be a big change!
This morning was a little off, though- I sneezed, blew my nose, got a nosebleed that consequently made me gag and lost my breakfast. First time in 2 weeks! Oh, well. At least I still feel alright for the most part.
Not a whole lot else to report- The pics are from this morning, and I'm throwing in my family picture- in no particular order, here are all the people there:
Mom, Dad, Chris(oldest brother), his wife Jenny(who is 6 months pregnant), their daughter Lily, Jonnie(next oldest brother) his wife, Kimmy, Their children Bekah, Alyssa, and Benny, my older sister Mandy, her hubby Dave, their three kids Dustin, Ethan, and Kathryn, me (4 months pregnant), my hubby Jonathan, my little sister Adrianne, and my little brother Joshua. I think that's Everybody!
Have a great day, everyone!
~Em

just a quick Dr.s appointment update

Just had my 16 week appointment yesterday with Dr. Gumina.
She was referred to me by Diana and is really a great, down to earth doctor. We got there a little early- my appointment was at 4:45, and we got there about 4:35. I peed in my cup, stepped out of the bathroom, and they were ready to take me already, but Jonathan was out and about looking for some water for me. He showed up just as I walked back out into the waiting room to look for him, and then we went to the exam room. I was supposed to have my bloodwork done, but the phlabotanist had already picked up the bloodwork from this office, so it will have to wait until next time. We did, however, get to hear the heartbeat. Last time we tried, the doc couldn't find it, so we had an ultrasound. Anyway, the baby's heartbeat is in the mid 150's, compared to last time was up in the 170s.
I was weighed, and again I am still at 129.8 lbs.
Here is what my weight fluctuation has been:
Beginning of April: 135 lbs
May 5th (first Dr. appointment) 129.7 lbs
June 4th(2nd Dr. appointment) 129.6 lbs
June 20th: 125 lbs
July 9th(3rd Dr. appointment): 129.8 lbs

June was my sickest month, and also my busiest with shooting weddings. Dr. Gumina said that no matter what, I will be gaining weight in the next weeks. I am OK with that!
So, my next appointment is in 3 weeks. Blood work, and then ultrasound! Jonathan really wants to know what we're having, and I am willing to comply- despite my traditionalist streak:)
here is a pic from the first ultrasound 6/4/08- week 11, 2 days
baby measured 11 weeks, 2 days. Perfect!!