Ready to *POP*

My baby shower was wonderful and truly a success due to the talents of my amazing, incredible, and creative sister in law Megan!  Sweet girl put so much planning into it and I felt so
honored that she wanted to throw me a shower.
Thank you again Meg for all that you do and have done for me, I love you to pieces!!  

 My shower had a *popcorn theme* and the invites matched the ideas Meg came up with!
 Funny thing is that I craved popcorn a lot when I was preg!

 Also, thank you to my Mom and Debbie and the rest of my fam and friends who also helped out with my shower, I really appreciated all the kindness. :)

Even baby Karlie was a helper...I don't think the balloon got bigger than that though!

Here are some pics of the table decor, everything went together just perfectly!  Megan and my other sister in law Kiki made different types of popcorn for the food and also these adorable signs for the cupcakes! 

Opening more and more PINK presents...thank you again 

everyone for all the sweet gifts!!! :) 

I feel so blessed to have the friends and family that I do!  Really, you guys mean the world to me and I'm thankful that you took the time to come to 

my shower...a million thank you's!!! :)

I met Beth Aiazzi when I worked at Desert Schools, and Jenn Syler has been my 

friend since the 7th grade and what an amazing friend she is.

 What would I do without my EA friends?  These girls melt my heart instantly and all I want to do is be 20 again and laugh with them ALL day long!  Jenny, thank you again for my beautiful quilt and frames with Belle's name in them...I know you 

put a lot of time into that project and I love you for that! 

My sweet sister in law Rachel and Aunt Judy!  

Good friends from my single days....Liisa Sharp, 

Cherylee Maggard and Heather Sjoberg! 

The Malo family, you guys are so great to always come to everything!  

One of my first friends I made while working at U of P!  Thank you Manda 

for funding all of Belle's bath accessories and for all the endless 

gifts you gave to us!  We love you!! 

Oh how I love you Kawi!  On the right:  My BFF Nikki Saline...thank you for 

always just being you and for your priceless friendship.  

SISTERS: Jocelyn, Amber, me & Tara!  They are excited to be first time aunts! 

Work friends: Jessica Pendergrass, Britty Coleman and Amanda Hamilton!  

My life at U of P would have been more dreadful if it wasn't for these beauties!! 

Jeffrey came and packed up all my presents after the shower had ended.  Sorry honey if I broke your leg while sitting on you with my huge prego tummy!! 

Best Present: 

I do have to say that my most favorite present of all was having a surprise visit from my sister AMBER at the baby shower!!  Over the years we have gotten really close and I feel blessed to have her not only as a sister, but also a true friend.  She holds a special place in my heart and I've only ever wanted the best for her as that is what she deserves.  She is in the military and currently stationed in Colorado and sometimes it's hard for he to get away, but she came with her boyfriend Johnny and it was so goooooooood to see her again!  Thanks again Ambie Bear for 

coming to visit, I love you more than you know! :)   

36 Weeks Prego: 

Question for the Mama's!

This will be a quick bloggy post, but I needed some input from all you wise Mama's out there! I value the opinions of experienced Mommy's! :)   I haven't actually taken the initiative to buy a whole lot for baby Schaublet yet just because I'm still trying to sort through what people have given me and what presents my shower will bring.  I'm trying to be organized and thorough about what we need to purchase, but here are my top things that I feel like we need to get right away.  


#1. Stroller (We like the jogger ones) 
#2. Crib (We prefer something that can turn into a toddler bed afterwards)
#3. Car Seat (I'm hoping to get a neutral colored one just in case there are baby boys to come) 


My list is much longer than that but for us we decided these are probably some of the things we want to buy first. 


If you could spare a couple of minutes and let me know what brands you have liked the best, where you found some spectacular deals, or just any other type of recommendation for baby purchases it would be appreciated!  


Of course I'm aware of Craig's List, and yard sales and what not, but for the above 3 things I'm weird about wanting them to be new and something that I can take care of or make dirty with my own kids.  We are planning on shopping this weekend since I have Monday off of work. 


*26 Weeks*


And because everyone keeps asking here are some baby bump pics...I did my own photo shoot with the self timer so they are not that good! Ha ha!  Thankfully, I'm still feeling great besides the back aches.  Recently though I feel the stretching of the tummy and that baby is building it's own relaxation center! :)   She is doing some full body movements and roll overs I think, but hasn't joined the kick boxing class yet!  


I already have a tender spot in my heart for her and honestly can't wait to meet her and become best friends.  I only hope and pray that I can have a meaningful relationship with her, and that no matter the mistakes or choices she makes in the future she will feel my unconditional love as a Mother. 

P.S. I haven't had any absurd food cravings or the desire to mix up foods that would only sound appealing to me, BUT I will admit that my prego taste buds are constantly wanting waffles, crepes, pancakes, or french toast!!  No joke...syrup has become my best friend.  So, if any of you are randomly wanting I-hop at anytime please don't hesitate to include me on that invite! :)

Details of my Baby Journey

News: For those of you who didn't hear...baby schaublet will be...

We are so very excited and being the girly girl that I am of course I wanted a girl I could doll up! :)  A little Jeffrey Jr. would have been fun to have around, maybe next time though!!  Jeff wanted to have a daddy's girl, and knew how badly I wanted a princess too, so it worked out. :)


I'm not one to put myself out there on the blog, or share personal feelings but I felt that I needed to share my baby story in hopes that someone could benefit or relate to it.  Plus, it was good for me to take the time to document everything as a journal entry so I could look back on it later.  I know that while I was struggling to get pregnant if would help boost my spirit hearing stories from other friends who could relate or had gone through a similar situation. 


The Beginning...


This is the story of how our little miracle came about, yes...it was a miracle for Jeff and I to find out on Dec 23, 2010 that I had conceived and was capable of doing this naturally! :)  I often considered my infertility as a trial and something I felt that I could not find the strength nor the faith to endure, and at times had given up quite honestly.  Now being able to see the blessing from Heavenly Father's timeline I am so thankful that I had that extra time with Jeff; had I been able to get pregnant sooner I wouldn't have appreciated this precious miracle as much as I do right now. I think I would have taken it more for granted, but I had to really work for this and so with any trial that you have to work hard to overcome the end result will always be more fulfilling.  I do believe that Heavenly Father knows us better than we know ourselves, He puts that faith in us that we can carry the burden placed upon our backs. 


Prior to me getting married I did the quick thing and went on birth control, and actually had my first gyno appt at Planned Parenthood out of all places...it was a bit nerve wracking but I had no health insurance at the time.  I got off bc in March of 2009 and was making an attempt to cleanse my body of this drug! Let's just say that my body didn't react well to taking bc because once I made the decision to stop taking it I didn't have a regular cycle...which resulted in stress and confusion of what to do next!! 


 I knew that I should go to a Dr. to get things checked out and so I made an appt with the Contemporary Care for Women office that a friend had referred me to and met with a Dr. who gave me a lot of vague and generic info on what was "wrong" with my body when deep down I knew my body the best and knew that all these issues had stemmed from be being on birth control, in fact I knew that was the problem.  I wanted a 2nd opinion before I started my long trek of endless tests and Dr's appointments for infertility, so I got referred to Maricopa OBGYN from my friend Liisa Sharp who really liked her Dr, and he was LDS which brought me more comfort.


I was being immature and didn't want to go and see a guy Dr but got over that quick cause I thought they would be more sympathetic to my non-period body.  I went to go and see Dr. Brock Jackson Nov 2009 and after much testing he too said that I had something called PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome) meaning that my periods would be irregular and that I had tiny cysts on my ovaries, not something I wanted to hear.  The only time I did have a period was when I took progesterone which made my body have one, even then sadly enough I was not ovulating. :(  This was devastating news to Jeff and I that I could not be "normal" and just ovulate on my own and conceive when I wanted.


One important thing I want to remember is that instinctively my body always told me to hold off on the fertility drugs, cause the first thing Dr. Jackson was going to put me on was clomid, it's a very popular infertility drug that a lot of girls have to take, but of course it comes with it's risks. I felt that it was unfair that I would have to go through this and didn't feel safe going on it. Dr. Jackson was very thorough and made me go through a list of about 8 tests I had to get done before he would prescribe it to me.  I completed all of them, but took my time while doing it, which once again was a blessing in disguise. All my tests and blood work had always come back normal so it was hard to pin point what exactly was wrong. 

At this time I was getting impatient and had decided to go the route of infertility, but I couldn't stop thinking that this would only "mess" up my body more.  I needed to learn the value of patience, but wanted oh so badly to be in the Parents Club and have a baby of my own. I felt guilty for not being able to give Jeff a sweet baby, he so badly wanted to be a father...and what a great father he would make.


On top of everything some of Jeff's tests were showing minor problems, it was enough to send him to  a Urologist where he too had to get tested.  This was ongoing and very time consuming as we always had to wait for his results to come back and for someone to analyze them and say that something could be wrong.  So, during Nov-Dec 2010 we were in the waiting stages as I had the prescription to clomid in my day planner and was waiting for the green light from the Urologist to go ahead and get on it.


Jeff's last test was on 12/23/10 and that is the same day I saw those 2 blue lines on the pregnancy test which meant that I was pregnant!!!  Me...Elisa Schaub was going to have a BABY...FINALLY it was my turn and I could not believe it.  Well here are more details that led up to me even taking a pregnancy test...


For a while I had been told and convinced myself that since I didn't have a period I could not ovulate, and come to find out that was not true because I was able to conceive.  My last period was at the beginning of Oct 2010 and the only reason I had one then was because I went on progesterone.  I had been reading fertility books and they always said it was important to notice what your body was going through...I had noticed some changes, but not enough to think that I had been ovulating...and I wasn't even taking ovulation tests at this point either to confirm it.
  
When I did have my period in Oct 2010 the ovulation test came back negative...:( I had been feeling dizzy a lot and had a horrible cold so I was sick pretty much all of December.  Well Jeff and I had gone out to eat on Dec 22 at Red Robin and of course I ate a lot of their endless fries and plus their food is pretty greasy.  I woke up the next morning terribly sick...like I said I had a cold, but right when I got out of bed I felt like I was going to throw up!  I went to the bathroom and sat by the toilet for a couple of hours and would not let myself throw up for some reason.  Another thing that I felt was very off was that my breasts hurt so badly...they were sore...and it was not from working out!!!  With that I also woke up about 4x to go to the bathroom that same night...very odd! 


I had packed away all my pregnancy tests a long time ago figuring that I would not need them anytime soon, but I dug through all my bathroom stuff and found a cheap one that I had bought at the Dollar Store a while back.  Jeff was on his way back from his Dr's appt and I had called him letting him know I would just take one cause maybe, just maybe I too could be pregnant...


I peed on that stick and it showed those 2 blue lines that every girl wants to see...especially one that had been trying to get preg for over 2 years.  I didn't know what to do...I sat back on the floor and every emotion ran through me, of course I wanted to call Jeff and tell him.  I did...I called him and let him know that the results were positive...he said, "Elle, how could that be? You weren't even ovulating... well...it's a miracle and you can take another test tomorrow just to make sure!"  Of course we were both overjoyed to have received such a blessing, but I think shock overcame us as well so it was just a jumble of different emotions.


We didn't want to tell anyone our news cause we just were so unsure, I thought maybe the antibiotics I had been on might have triggered the positive results on the pregnancy test?  That night Jeff and I went out and bought a more advanced digital pregnancy test and I took that one the next morning on Dec 23, 2010 and it too came back positive. I was off work during this time and this all happened right before Christmas which ended up being the best present we could have ever received!!!  Things had been hard on us financially, so we weren't going to do much for presents that year, but knowing that I was pregnant was brought enough Christmas joy for us both. 


That following Monday after Christmas I called my Dr's office and made my first pregnancy appt for Jan 3, 2011.  I actually left work early that day for it so that Jeff could come with me, the Dr had also wanted to do some other tests. I met with a nurse and not Dr. Jackson who did an ultra sound and before that I took another pregnancy test and they too said that it came back positive. It was hard for them to pin point when I conceived because I didn't have a period, but from the ultra sound and after measuring our baby she figured out that I had been 6 weeks along already and this tiny pea looking thing in my tummy even had a little heart beat!!  


In the first ultra sound it looked like a baby butterfly trying to spread it's wings!!  I'm so glad that Jeff got to share that moment with me cause we both were so thankful and humbled for the opportunity to be parents.  He was so cute and kept asking the nurse all these questions!  I never wanted her to turn the monitor off, at that point I wanted to watch my baby grow right there and make sure that it was safe. I asked Jeff to purchase an ultra sound machine and he said I was crazy! Ha ha! 


The start to a new adventure...


Well that leads me to being 24 weeks pregnant and I'm feeling great! :) In sharing the details of my story I hope that I was able to touch someone's life or even just offer hope to a situation that can be so sensitive and overpowering.  I share my story knowing that there are many girls out there who have been trying to conceive for a longer period of time, but each situation is different for every couple.  I would say trust your body and give it the time it needs to run it's natural cycle, but most important do what you feel is comfortable for you, and hopefully at the end you will see that Heavenly Father does have His hand in all things and wants to bless us.