30 Week Update

The nursery is getting closer and closer to being finished! Last weekend my parents brought over the dressers that they've been storing in their garage for a few months. Below are a few pics of the progress....we obviously still have things to do, but it's getting there. Next on the list.....DECOR (the fun part!) Some things are on order and I should be getting them this week. Hopefully I'll be able to update you next weekend with some pics!!



I'm currently in my 30th week and starting to actually "feel" pregnant. After getting over a week-long nasty cold, I'm now struggling with lower back pain (mainly right hip.) I'm sure this will only get worse from here, but I'm thankful I haven't had to deal with this the whole time (as some women do.) I haven't seen my massage therapist in a couple of weeks (since I was sick,) so I'm hoping my appointment tomorrow evening will give me some relief - she works wonders :-)

Besides the aches, pains & cold, my pregnancy is going very well. At my appointment this past week, my doctor told me my blood pressure, weight gain, and measurements couldn't be any better - so I feel good about that. My uterus grew 3 inches in 2 weeks, so I'm thinking baby had a bit of a growth spurt recently (which probably explains the sudden onset of pain.) I have another growth ultrasound next week, so we'll see how much he weighs now!

On another note..today was a busy day. To make a long story short, one of the houses in back of us (to the left of the green belt,) just sold to new owners. They cleaned up their backyard near our fence line which used to be filled with sticker bushes. Yeah, they weren't the most attractive things on earth, but they've provided us backyard privacy for the past 4 years. So after they tore all the bushes down we now look directly into their back door and have the pleasure of looking at an old rusty shed and dog kennel that is not at all pretty. We had a large maple tree in the corner, but unfortunately it only provides us privacy a few months out of the year when it has it's leaves.

I started doing research on privacy trees. I wanted something that already had height and was fast growing. I found that the Leyland Cypress was a good choice, but to buy these at least 7 or 8 feet to start with , it would have been hundreds of dollars. Fortunately I decided to look on Craigslist and I lucked out. Someone was offering 6 Leyland Cypress tress (10 feet tall already,) and 2 cedars (8 feet tall) for FREE. All we had to do was dig them up. So this morning, Garrett and my dad went and picked them and got them planted in the yard. I feel completely worthless because I can't do any of the physical work right now, but I'm one lucky girl to have such awesome men in my life willing to do things to make me happy! Although the trees do not provide complete privacy yet, it instantly shielded a lot of their yard and gave us back some privacy.

Here they are :)

Garrett borrowed his dad's truck to haul the trees. I think the portion sticking out of the truck was actually longer than the portion in the truck. It looked a bit funny and totally Clack Griswold!


Here's the attempt to transplant the maple that we removed from the area where the new trees were planted. We didn't want to get rid of the tree unless we had too, so we tried to transplant it into another area of our yard. The roots were very large, so Garrett and my dad had to chop some of them. I think my dad's exact words were "I would've never tried to move a tree that f*cking big!" Haha!! We'll see if it works out :)


The babies had quite the fun outside today as well. Especially when we were using the fish fertilizer for the transplants. They were certainly interested in the smell. Casey keeps trying to dig holes, so it will be interesting getting her to stop that habit :)

28 Weeks

Last week I had my 28 week doctor appointment which included a growth ultrasound, glucose blood test, and visit with the doctor. Everything with the baby looks great. He's measuring in the 54th percentile for weight (2 lbs, 8 ounces) and all fluids around baby look good as well. This also marks the start of my 3rd Trimester - we're getting closer!

Here's a recent picture from the ultrasound. The tech tried to get as much of his body in one shot as possible, but he's just too large at this point. Sorry for all the reflections, taking a picture of a picture never works out too well.



His nursery is coming along. I was not a big fan of the first wall color I selected, so after Garrett and my dad painted the first round, I had to break the news that it needed to be re-done. Just too bright for my liking. So another 6 paint samples later, I went with a light baby blue color that I ended up loving. Last night, we put together the crib and the room is starting to look much more like a nursery now. The matching dressers are at my parent's house and we'll be bringing them over here next weekend.

Daddy's little helpers!!

All finished!

Thumbs up!


Over the past couple weeks I completed my registry at Babies R Us. My boss Michelle went along with me which was great because she's such a practical person and I just knew she'd have great advice. It's so hard knowing what you'll need when you're a first time parent! So after a couple hours in the store with her and another trip back the following night with my mom, it's finally finished and off my plate (for now anyways!)

Other than baby, we're all doing well. Garrett's 30th birthday was earlier in the month and Casey's 6th birthday was last Monday. I unfortunately missed out on Casey's actual birthday because I was traveling to South Dakota for a business trip, but she was well taken care of in my absence by her daddy and grandma. We celebrated a few days earlier when I was home - I don't think she cared that much!! As you'll notice on the photo, I didn't have enough icing to write "Happy Birthday Casey", so I had to settle with "Casey" - you get the point :) I also attached a group photo that we always take on birthdays, but this was the best one I could get...Rusty didn't want to look at the camera. Oh well!

Baby Cornatzer 6.8.12

I know, I know....it's been FOREVER since I've last posted! At lot has happened over the last year, but the most exciting news to share is that we're expecting a baby boy this June! I'm currently in my 24th week, so to quickly sum up the last 5 months.......

Early pregnancy was a bit rough for me. I was pretty sick (worst weeks were 7-10.) The word "Morning Sickness" is a joke because it lasted ALL DAY LONG!!! I was miserable...couldn't eat, which made me feel worse. Nothing sounded good, couldn't eat meat, veggies, etc. I was pretty limited - but I did my best to eat well for the baby. Plus....I was EXHAUSTED!!!! By week 12, I was starting to feel much better and able to eat all foods once again and by 15-16 weeks, I had my energy back (well, for the most part.)

I was looking forward to our 20 week ultrasound for months and of course it got cancelled because of the January snow/ice storm! They got me in on Saturday to make it up, so I only had to wait a few extra days (seemed like a lifetime though.) I had a gut instinct from day 1 that we were having a boy. So strong in fact, that I didn't even feel the need to think about girls names. I was RIGHT!!! It's a BOY!!! More importantly though, he's healthy and all major parts/organs look good!

There was a couple of things however that were discovered on the 20 week ultrasound. First, I have a "Medial Cord Insertion" - meaning the umbilical cord is inserted near the edge of the placenta (rather than in the middle where it's thickest.) What this means?? Probably nothing to worry about, but it can cause growth problems with the baby. Because of this, I have to continue with every 4 week ultrasounds (and weekly after 32 weeks.) At any point after that, if they notice problems with his growth, they will take the baby early (worst case scenario.) Most medial cord insertions end up to be full term, no problem babies.

Second irregular ultrasound finding is an "Echogenic Intracardiac Focus." This is a small, bright spot on the babies heart muscle that is found in 3-5% of normal pregnancies. This has no impact on the health or heart function of the baby. There is no heart defect, nor will this cause any problems after delivery. Often, they are gone by the third trimester. The whole worry is that EIF can contribute to a chance of chromosome problems (Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18. etc.) therefore, it's considered a "soft marker." What this means?? Because I turned down the early chromosomal testing, I had to go in for later testing at week 21 (ultrasound and blood work,) to determine my risk. My age related risk of having a Down Syndrome baby is 1 in 1,000 (which is ultimately why I decided not to do the early testing - didn't really want to stress about it.) I had to wait a whole 9 days till I got results from my blood work back (longest wait EVER,) and it was extremely good news. It gave me the risk of 1 in 20,000 (which is the lowest risk they give.) Because of the EIF they found, it is automatically dropped to 1 in 10,000 - but still, awesome results. My ultrasound at the hospital (better equipment) went well and they couldn't find any other "soft markers" for Downs. I'm one relieved momma!!

Here's a cute little side profile photo of our little guy at 21 weeks :)



Week 22 & 23 - This is when I really started to feel the kicks (internal flutters really.) At this point I still couldn't feel them if I hand on my stomach, just his kicks from inside.

(Current) Week 24 - Dr. Appointment went well- I'm measuring exactly to 24 weeks and his heart rate is normal in the 140's. Today was actually the first day I could feel him kicking while touching my stomach (super cool!) So obviously he's growing in there!

Ok....that should bring everyone up to speed. It's been a great experience so far and I'm so excited to meet our little guy! I've also been able to experience my pregnancy adventure along with my bestie Michelle (2 weeks ahead of me,) my boss Michelle (1 week ahead of me,) and my cousin Nikki (due in a couple weeks.) Plus....all 4 of our are having BOYS!!!

My dad is coming over tomorrow morning to help Garrett paint the nursery! It took weeks to decide what colors I wanted to go with, but I finally made the decision. I'll post pics soon :)

Meet JACKS!

(From Left: Lola, Casey, Jacks, Rusty)

Jacks is our new foster puppy that came to us on Wednesday night. To make a long story short, we are fostering him for a few months while his owner finishes college. He's a ball of energy, but so far he's been a good boy. As you can see, he is already getting used to my picture taking :-) Today was actually his 1st birthday and of course I had to have a party for him!




(He's not shy)









(Well...it was fun while it lasted...a whopping 2 minutes)!



(EXHAUSTED!!)

Lola...Our Little Special Child

After a couple months of testing we heard the sad news on Lola yesterday that she has Canine Discoid Lupus. Discoid Lupus is an uncommon autoimmune disease of the skin. Not only is this a rare disease, it is even more rare for a Labrador. Commonly affected breeds are German Shepherds, Collies, Husky's, and Spaniels. Our vet said he has never seen this happen to a Labrador.

One night at the beginning of October we discovered that her ears were puffy and swollen. We took her to the vet the next morning and they said she was probably just having an allergic reaction to something. They treated her with a strong dose of anithistamines and the symptoms went away. The next day they were back, so I treated with Benedryl at home and they once again went back to normal.

Within a week after her swollen ears, her nose started to scale and the pigment became discolored. Her nose was not longer black. We gave it a few days, but after no improvement, we took her back into the vet. This time, they thought it was a reaction to the antihistamines because they can dry out the skin.

We waited another few weeks and with still no improvement, we decided it was time to proceed with testing. First, they did an auto-immune blood test to see if she had any sort of auto-immune disease of the blood, organs, etc. Thankfully this came back negative. The next option was to put her under and biopsy her nose to so they could specifically diagnose the disease.

This Wednesday was procedure day. They took 3 different samples from her nose, stitched her up, and a few hours later I picked up my very drowsy baby!! The vet called yesterday to give me the news that she has the Discoid Lupus.

What does this mean?? Well.....we have to start treating her with steroids as well as high doses of Vitamin E and DHEA. Our vet is hoping the steroid treatment won't be any longer than a couple of months and then we can transition her into a non-steroidal drug. Lola will more than likely be on some sort of medication for this for the rest of her life, but the good news is......as long as we get the disease under control, this should have no effect on her lifespan.

We start treatment on Monday and the Vet said we should see substantial changes within a couple of weeks. I will keep you posted. We call her our "Special Child" because things always happen to her....she doesn't have very good luck!! Say a prayer for a healthy recovery for my baby, WE LOVE HER!!

I don't know if you can see this very well, but this is a picture of her diseased nose.....so sad :(