Being Your Own Advocate - Rant!

Many who know me will understand that I'm not good with confrontation as majority of the time I will shy away from a situation before anything gets too sticky. When it comes to my health though I can definitely be labeled as a passive patient, at least up until Friday May 25th, 2012 that is. It all started with a couple nights filled with cramps, chest pain and lower back pain to make me realize how important it is not only in life but also in a pregnancy to being your own advocate.

Throughout the last month or so Alex and I were having concerns about the pregnancy as I was constantly having pain no matter how much I laid down and took it easy. Despite my complaints about pain and discomfort within my last couple of appointments, I was told that everything looked and sounded good and that whatever I was feeling was ultimately "normal" in a pregnancy. While I kind of just took what the doctor said and tried to move forward Alex along with family and friends felt that something was going on and it needed to be addressed.

A painful call to the doctors office to try and get an earlier appointment turned into me talking to an advice nurse and being put on bed rest for a day with a scheduled visit to see the doctor the next morning. Though Alex was told that he was allowed to go to appointments with me his SLPO informed him that he would be having 6 straight hours of training Friday morning and asked if I could go by myself. We were both a little upset about this but I told Alex that I would just drop him off in the morning and drive to office by myself and let him know how it went when he calls me during his break. I got to the office and was called back within a couple minutes and walked into a room with the nurse who asked me what brought me into the office today. I responded by informing her that I called yesterday morning to see if I could get an earlier appointment and when the receptionist said we typically don't do that, she did have me talk to a advice nurse. Once I was on the phone with her and told her what I was feeling she advised me to go on bed rest for the day with a scheduled appointment to see the doctor the next morning. She shook her head and then informed me that the doctor will probably not come in to see me since I saw her two weeks ago and that I have a scheduled appointment in another two weeks but that she would go and check.

A couple minutes later the doctor walked in with the nurse. Using her typical line in response to my complaints I out of the blue responded with "You have been saying this for the last couple of appointments now and I honestly don't understand. You told us that having a bicornuate uterus is rare and that my pregnancy is now considered a high-risk one which leads us to believe that my pregnancy is anything but normal. I have no idea if what I am feeling is normal and would like to understand how you believe it is without doing any investigation?"

With a good pause she just looked at me and said with your situation we do need to be concerned and aware of how your body is responding and then ordered the nurse to grab some gloves and informed me that she was going to check my cervix. With a somewhat shocked look on her face she ended up turning to the nurse again and asked for a swab kit. Oblivious to what was going on aside from having a woman standing below me checking my cervix, she told me that she was going to get a quick swab and be done. After she finished and sent the nurse off with the swab she turned to me and informed me to not be worried but that at 26 weeks pregnant my outer cervix was dilated and the cramps that I have been having may be actual contractions. A little surprised but ultimately thankful that I was checked out I nodded and asked what this meant? In short the swab she took can be tested for fetal fibronectin which is found in vaginal secretions and can determine if a woman is going into preterm labor. I would now be sent to the hospital along with this swab to be monitored and tested.

Keeping in mind that I am by myself and that Alex is siting in training at this point without a car or cell phone I tried to stay calm and drove to the hospital. About 10 minutes of roaming the halls with my swab, I arrived at Labor and Delivery and was immediately admitted to the hospital at 11:40 am on Friday May 25th, 2012. Luckily twenty minutes into my stay Alex called and I was able to inform him that I was just admitted to the hospital and that however difficult it may be, he should try and get over here. I really should have him tell the story of how he got to the hospital an hour and a half later because it was incredibly entertaining. Luckily though my 8 hour stay in the hospital was almost like a practice run for what we will be dealing with in the coming months. My swab came back negative for preterm labor but I was having contractions which they were able to stop and control. For now, I am on an oral medication to help stop contractions on a daily basis and have been put on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. Though we don't have family nearby to help out, the Military has been really great and understanding of our situation and will hopefully get the paperwork done on Tuesday to have Alex be put on hold so that he can come home and help take care of us.

So after reading our rant what have we learned... 1) Blimpys has amazing food and if you have one in your hospital or one nearby you should definitely eat there, 2) A three-round shot of Terbutaline may cause you to have Hulk like characteristics, 3) Always be prepared for unexpected situations, and most importantly 4) Be your own advocate; I understand that doctors go to school and know what they are talking about but sometimes they too need to be questioned.

How to Organize a Closet - Master Bedroom

Where to put everything and how to keep it organized is an ongoing question throughout our house. Before I got married many knew me for my extremely organized closet as the clothes were organized by color and item. Today though, I tend to find myself pulling out my hair while pacing around in circles. Why you may ask? Beside the fact that our house has teeny tiny closets, I also had to venture back to those kindergarten years to re-learn how to play nice with Alex and ultimately how to share. Laugh all you want but when you marry your opposite in terms of their organizational likes and dislikes it's enough to make this girl break down in tears... I place 99.9% of the blame on my hormones rather than my OCD of course!

After a day of going through all the closets within the house and figuring out just how much stuff Alex we have, we realized this wouldn't be a quick fix. Organizing closets can be approached in a couple ways depending on the space you have. First we wrote down each room that we wanted to organize and from there we listed the different storage options we have available.
  

Getting Started

In terms of our master bedroom, we have two dressers in our room that should hold some clothes but right now they are holding a lot of bathroom products since the bathrooms in our house lack any storage capabilities. Because of that, most everything we own in terms of clothing has to be hung up in our closets. Though our closet is somewhat long the problem lies with the little black holes that have sprouted on the far ends. For me personally this was a huge problem because a lot of my clothes got trapped in this space and it was hard to get anything out. In our closet the left half has all of my clothes while the right half has all of Alex's Navy uniforms and between the two of use there was no room in between. We also have a long shelf above the closet rod and this space used to hold some shirts and shorts for Alex but we soon realized that the space wasn't appropriate as piles of clothing came falling down on a daily basis.
  

Organizing the Closet

The first step we took in organizing the closet was to pull everything out and donate anything that wasn't being worn. Once we did that we then made sure that all the hangers were the same size and color to help balance everything out. We were fortunate that we had the help of my mom because she found some great storage systems at Marshalls that worked perfectly for this space. She sent us a 10 shelf system typically used for shoes as well as a 6 shelf system that we are using to store all of Alex's works hats along with some uniform accessories. The last part of organizing our master closet was to make a DIY hanging pant rod for my side. Literally taking but 10 minutes to create and only $3 to make, I was able to hang all of my pants below my shirts giving our clothes some more breathing space.
  

The Result...

The first picture to the left is my side of the closet with my shirts ontop and pants on the DIY hanging rod below. I also used the 10 shelf for a couple of my everyday shoes, sandals and slipplers along with my belts in the lower three. The second picture to the right is Alex side of the closet with all of his Navy uniforms. We also used the entire 6 shelf to store his PT gear in the first two shelves, his uniform accessories in the black basket and his work hats below. We still have the entire shelf above the closet rod to use but we want to buy a couple baskets before putting anything up there again. A mess full of clothes in the face is never fun!

Tour of Our Nursery

Though Nicholas isn't due until August 29th, 2012, we have made some great progress on the Nursery thus far. From buying the Nursery Furniture and Nursery Bedding as well as making a Mobile, Wall Letters and a Hanging Closet Rod, we thought we would let you see the room and what it looks like today May 19th, 2012. We still want to add a couple pieces like a DIY rug, DIY book shelves as well as finding an end table, lamp and mirror to place in the room. For now though, here is our Nursery and all it's glory!
 

Psst - See that album sitting on the Glider?! Find out what's inside along with how we got it to match our Nursery here!

DIY Hanging Closet Rod

As mentioned in our How to Organize a Closet posts, we figured a great way to add space to our Master closet as well as Nursery closet was to make a simple and affordable hanging rod. Literally taking but 10 minutes to create and only $3 to make, I was able to hang all of my pants below my shirts giving the clothes in our Master bedroom more breathing space as well as adding more space to our smaller Nursery closet.
  

 What you need:

• One 3/4" X 48" rod (I found mine at A.C Moore and cut it in half to make two rods)
• Thick ribbon
• Paint
• Hot-glue

  

How to make it:

Note: Step 1 is optional and even though I had black paint on hand for the rod we put in our bedroom this project I figured wouldn't need it since every square inch of the rod would be covered. The hanging rod in the Nursery was a different story though; you can actually see the rod so we went ahead and painted it brown to help coordinate with the hanging shelves.
1. Paint the entire rod in a desired color.
2. While drying, measure the length of 2 pieces of ribbon that will be used to hang both sides of the rod making sure to leave some extra for tying a knot and bow.
3. Glue one end of the ribbon to the painted rod; once dry wrap the ribbon around the rod a couple times making sure to add some glue every now and then.
4. Repeat step 3 for the remaining side of the rod.
5. Hang in the closet making a double knot and finishing with a bow!

The Result...

Pretty simple project which honestly not only saved us some money considering most hanging closet rods cost about $20 but also gave the closets some character. Below is the picture of the Nursery closet as it shows the hanging closet rod the best.

DIY Wall Letters

Along with finding a common theme of having a mobile within a Nursery room we also found wall letters to be a popular addition to the room. We found that while many stores and websites create custom wall letters they honestly post a hefty price tag that go along with them. For us personally spelling out Nicholas would definitely cause a dent in our wallet. The solution you may ask... DIY wall letters of course!

We looked around at different ways to creating our own wall art and in the process we came across this example:

8 letters in this style = $145

Realizing that an 8 letter name like Nicholas would be a costly addition to the room we decided that we would make on our own wall letters. When we saw the above example we knew that this is the look we wanted. We figured this would be a great way to add texture as well as emphasize the colors in the Nursery. So with my coupons in hand I ventured off to our local Michael's and A.C Moore in search of the supplies.

What you'll need:

• 8 X 10 canvas (I found a 10 pack at A.C Moore for $20 but used a 50% off coupon)
• 5" pre-cut wooden letters (I found all my letters at Michael's for $2 a piece)
• Fabric (Our bedding set has a pack of 4 matching flannel blankets for $10)
• Paint (2 fl.oz bottle in brown for about $2 at A.C Moore)
• Ribbon (10 yard in brown for about $2 at Michael's)
• Hot-glue

This project took me a whole day to make and I blame that on having to paint my letters. When I went to Michael's to get the letters I of course fell in love with the letters that were already painted white. No-joke each letter took about 7 coats of paint. In the end though it was oh-so worth it!
 

How to make it:

This tutorial will vary depending on how many letters you have as well as how many different patterns of fabric you are using. I'm going to go ahead and lead you step by step on how I created my 8 wall letters using 4 different patterns of fabric.

1. Iron out the 4 pieces of fabric.
2. Cut 2 squares measuring 12 X 14 from each fabric.
3. Take 1 piece of fabric and glue to each of the 4 sides of the canvas making sure that the 12 X 14 piece of fabric sits on the 8 X 10 canvas in these dimensions.
Note: To get a wrinkle free look make sure to glue one side after the other while stretching the fabric as you go.
4. Secure the fabric to the back of the canvas by gluing again.
5. Cut away any unwanted fabric.
6. Take the ribbon and glue around the side of the canvas in one long strip.
7. Paint your wooden letters.
8. After your letters are dry, glue each letter in the center of your 8 X 10 fabric covered canvas.
Note: Step 9 is optional and while I did not do this, I am debating on whether or not to add ribbon to the top of my wall letters. We thought it might look too girlie but will have to do a test with one of them to see if we like it with or without it.
9. Add a piece of ribbon to the top left and right of the canvas.
10. Hang you wall letters!

The Result:

Being the perfectionist that I am I have to go out and buy a leveling tool because I have an odd feeling that the last three letters L-A-S slant downwards. Too funny I know but I stood there for a good 5 minutes with Alex saying "You're kidding right?!" We have yet to have built a tool-box with all the essential tools but hopefully one day we will tackle that.

DIY Nursery Mobile

Once Alex and I found our bedding it was on to the fun part of creating our Nursery; accessories and decorations baby! Possibilities are endless when it comes to adding colorful and stimulating decorations to a Nursery that we honestly had to make a top-five list since we didn't want to crowd the room with too much stuff. While this particular project wasn't at the top of our list I couldn't help but make it first!
   
While researching and finding inspiration of Nurseries that other parents had made we came across a similar accessory in almost all. A crib mobile. We later learned that our bedding set actually had a matching mobile that was not available the day we went to the store but actually ventured back the next week to check it out. At $24.99 the mobile itself was pretty cute just not something we had to have I guess. It has 1 alligator, 1 bee, 1 giraffe and 1 turtle and spins around while playing music making this a great addition to the room. The biggest issue we had with the mobile though was the fact that it was made to attach to the crib and the frame was plastic.
   
The matching crib mobile:
   

While we really wanted to add a mobile to our Nursery, we ended up opting out of getting this crib mobile and decided to make a DIY mobile that we hung in the corner of the room. Here is our step by step process of how to make your own mobile...

   

What you'll need:

• 9 pieces of 12"x12" cardstock
• 2" circle punch
• small hole punch
• 8mm jump rings
• needle-nose pliers
• hot-glue gun
• 2 embroidery hoops (8" and 6")
• fishing line
• 1 screw hook

   
It took me a good solid week to make this but I found out that it would have been made a lot faster if I had bought a 2" circle punch. Not being pressed on time though I decided to hand draw my 2" circles and cut them out by hand.
   

How to make it:

1. Cut 189 circles (I know it's a lot!) with either a 2" circle punch or by drawing and cutting by hand.
2. Punch holes about 1/8" from the top and bottom of 7 circles.
Note: For the top and bottom circle, only punch one hole.
3. String together the 9 circles using jump rings and repeat until you have made 12 strands.
4. Hot-glue the top circle of each strand to the 8" embroidery hoop; space them about ¼" apart.
5. Make 9 more strands and repeat with 6" hoop.
6. Glue fishing line to three equidistant spots on the inside of each hoop.
7. Hang from hook, with 6" hoop about 5" lower than 8" hoop.
   

The Result:

Our mobile that matches the colors within the Nursery. We choose to do three different shades of both blue, brown and green and hang them from darkest to lightest. All in all we absolutely love our mobile!
  

Our Guide for Buying Nursery Bedding

Crib bedding for many is an essential part of a Nursery. Today there are endless amounts of colors, patterns, textures and designs to help give you the perfect Nursery. While Alex wasn't as thrilled about choosing the bedding as I was, we did end up doing quite of bit of research as we were shopping for our bedding. Luckily for us the overall process was a lot easier than picking out our Nursery furniture and within a couple weeks we had found the perfect bedding.
  

The Crib Bedding

How Long Will You Use the Crib Bedding?

For us personally, a huge factor that went into our decision making process on what to buy ultimately came down to the length that we wanted to use the bedding for. Many toddler beds today use the standard crib-size bedding, making it possible to use a set for up to three years. With buying our Nursery furniture we also had this in mind and decided that since the crib can convert to a toddler bed we would go ahead and save some money and convert the crib bedding to toddler bedding. When looking at some of the bedding that is available today, we also wanted to make sure that because we would be carrying this bedding into our sons toddler years that the set itself wasn't too whimsical or gave off a baby feel.
    

What To Look For?

Another reasoning behind our bedding choice was the fact that the bedding itself is soft and washable. Knit cotton sheets are really popular among baby bedding as are flannel crib sheets and higher thread-count cotton fabrics giving a soft feel. With the high possibility of a couple messes to deal with, it is also recommended that you get bedding that can be machine washed as hand-cleaning and spot-treating may be time-consuming for some. Also, because it is likely that there will be a couple accidents it is also a great idea to invest in a couple more crib sheets for those early months. Buying a inexpensive crib mattress cover to put under the sheet is also a great idea that can help keep the mattress dry as well as making a quick bed change. The last thing that we looked for when it came to the bedding was that it fit our crib. They say to make sure your bedding is neither to big or to small but rather that it snug when placed over the mattress. For some extra security, they also make elastic straps that clip to the crib sheet holding it in place.
  
Bottom Line: From our findings you can find yourself spending between $100-$300 or more depending on the type of bedding you get. You can expect to pay more when it comes to custom bedding as well as higher thread-counts fabrics.
 

The Result...

With all the information above in mind and after a couple visits to some local stores we ended up finding a great bedding set at Target for an affordable price. The set itself includes a Crib Sheet, Comforter, Bed Skirt and Bumper for about $100. Though we are aware that crib bumpers are not recommended we couldn't help but use them and will be keeping an eye out for any signs of having to remove them down the road.

The picture below is the advertisement of the Circo neutral bedding set found at Target:

Our Guide for Buying Nursery Furniture

I think the hardest part for any new expecting couple/parent is picking the furniture for a Nursery. Alex and I had started planning and researching since the early stages of our pregnancy and right off the bat we were overwhelmed with all the choices, packages and prices. We had so many decisions that had to be made in order to narrow down the selection that it ultimately took us a good two or three months to figure out what we wanted. Though we are newbies to the parent scene, we understand that our little guy will spend most of his time in the Nursery making it crucial that the space be safe, and because we will be spending a lot of time there as well we personally want to make the room attractive, comfortable and organized.
    

The Crib

From our understanding, our little guy will sleep in a crib until he is ready to move into a real bed (typically between the ages of 2 and 3) so we wanted to choose a sturdy crib that we will be happy with for at least two years. With some research on safety standards we found out that many new cribs have up-to-date safety standards which lead us to our decision of buying new rather than used. For example, starting in mid-2011 drop-side cribs were banned for sale as children can get wedged between the side and the mattress. While several organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics also warn parents that crib bumpers raise the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) we went ahead and got a bedding set that included these. We hope that nothing will happen but have decided to keep an eye on Nicholas and if he happens to tug and pull at the bumper than we will definitely remove them.
  

Bottom line: From our findings you can find yourself spending between $100-$500 for a safe, well made crib. Spending more usually buys you higher-quality and more modern or intricate designs.
 

The Crib Mattress

While I prefer my squishy pillows and soft bed, babies however sleep soundly and safely with firm support. Choosing the mattress was based around cost, comfort and sturdiness as our little one will sleep in his crib for up to three years. We knew that it was important to buy a mattress specially made for babies as many child and adult mattresses tend to be on the soft side. We also had to make sure that the mattress will fit our crib, leaving no spaces around the edge. It's said that if you can fit two fingers between the mattress and the crib than that's enough space for a baby to get stuck and you ultimately want to avoid this. There are three types of mattress available: a foam mattress, innerspring mattress and an organic mattress. We personally liked the foam mattress because they are available in a variety of thicknesses (keeping in mind that the most important factor is the density rather than thickness) as well as lightweight when compared to innerspring mattresses, making it easier to change a soiled sheet at 3 a.m. A foam mattress is also less expensive and that was another factor into our decision of what mattress to buy.
 

Bottom line: From our findings you can find yourself spending between $40-$100 dollars for a foam mattress, up to $250 for a innerspring mattress and anywhere between $150 and $500 for an organic mattress. It's all based on personal preference really.
  

The Changing Table & Pad

By the time our guy turns one, we will have changed more than 2,400 diapers! So picking a comfortable place for this is important. Some parents simply lay out a waterproof pad or towel and change their babies on the floor or on a bed while others use a play yard since many models now come with a bassinet and changing table. While we will more than likely use either of these methods down the road we decided that we wanted to have a designated spot for changing diapers in the Nursery. We knew that a changing table would be used for a couple years but we didn't like the idea of having to get rid of it down the road. I thought about the possibility of putting it to use in some other fashion but we ended up deciding on buying a 3-drawer dresser that can fit a changing pad on top. Though many baby-experts preach that a guardrail of at least 2-inches tall on all four sides of the changing area is essential for safety reasons we personally felt that we can do without them and opted for a more study piece of furniture that can be used as a dresser down the road. We also bought a changing pad that has safety straps which is recommended since it only take one second for a baby to flip off the table.
  
Bottom line: From our findings you can find yourself spending between $75-$150 dollars for a changing table of some sort.
  

The Glider

For a long time, rocking chairs have been a staple feature within a nursery as many parents and babies find the back-and-forth motion soothing and sleep inducing. Today's more common version of rocking chair is a glider which offers more comfort as well as less of an effort to rock if you will. Gliders are also safer than rockers because they have been designed to sit flat on the floor ensuring that your litter ones fingers and toes will not get pinched. While there are many gliders that come with a matching ottoman, we decided to just get the glider and if we want an ottoman down the road to get a less matchy-matchy one to add more detail to the room.
   

Bottom line: From our findings you can find yourself spending between $175-$500 or more on a glider and possible matching ottoman. You can expect to pay more for the better quality woods and finishes as well as fabrics.

  

The Result...

With all of the information above and after months of searching for the perfect pieces to add to our Nursery we ended up finding a pretty great deal at Walmart. Not having the "dream" budget but rather a comfy one, we found a Graco Nursery Set that had everything we wanted. The added bonus was the set itself was on rollback helping us to save even more money on our overall furniture purchase. The set itself has a nice cherry finish and includes a 4-1 Convertible Crib with a Trundle Dresser for underneath storage, a 3-Drawer Dresser and a Glider for $299. At the same time we also bought a crib and changing mattress giving us a grand total of about $350.

The picture below is the advertisement of the Graco Nursery set in a Cherry finish:

Our Nursery

As many know, I have always had a serious case of OCD and yet for the love of me I have not been able to tame it even at 24 weeks pregnant. When Noah tears up his toys and leaves threads and stuffing throughout the house there should be no doubt that it will be up and out of sight within the hour. Holding my back while huffing and puffing like a champion; the house always ends up being "Britney-proof." That's another story though... what I really want to share is the progress we have been making on our Nursery.

Back on December 24th, 2011 when we first found out we were pregnant, I of course, started freaking out about having the amazing task of creating a fun and welcoming Nursery for our little guy. Though he is not due until August 29th 2012, we really wanted to start planing and buying goodies for the room throughout a period of time rather than in one big spree. The room to-date houses our Graco Nursery Set; which includes a 4-1 Convertible Crib with underneath storage, a 3-drawer Dresser/Changing area and a Glider, along with a couple DIY projects like our mobile, wall letters and closet organization.

My hopes for the next couple of days is to take you through the evolution of our room and show you all the glory within. We are somewhat of a minimalistic pair in that we don't like to have too much stuff in a room and are honestly content with keeping the Nursery as is until our son is born, but I'm sure we will add one or two more things to the room.

What you can look forward to...

Monday - Our Guide to Buying Nursery Furniture
Tuesday- Our Guide to Buying Nursery Bedding
Wednesday - DIY Nursery Mobile
Thursday - DIY Wall Letters
Friday - DIY Hanging Closet Rod
Saturday - Tour of Our Nursery

You Grew in My Heart... No, Seriously!

Those who have been following our pregnancy will understand just how stressful and complicated it has been for us. To start off, with Alex being in the Navy and gone nearly 12 hours a day it has left us with little time to spend with each other and has been a challenge in itself. With that, I'm also on my own for going to appointments and usually find myself playing a weird game of "he said, she said" as I try to let him know of what is going on and what to expect. The biggest struggle for us though is ultimately the pregnancy alone. It wasn't until my second ultrasound which was around week 12 on February 20th, that we found out I have a bicornuate uterus. Simply put, in the condition of a bicornuate uterus, there is a formation of two separate uterine cavities giving the uterus a heart-like structure. Due to having two separate uterine cavities though, the baby will grow in only one side leaving them with half the space to grow. Unfortunately there can be serious complications with this pregnancy in that a breech position and premature labor are often results making this a high-risk pregnancy. Fun right?! So of course when I found all this out I immediately freaked out and started to prepare for the worst possible outcome.

Here we are though, week 24 and still going strong! We learned the sex of our baby on April 11th and that we are having a little boy which we plan on naming Nicholas Alexander. I have also learned how to come to terms with our unique pregnancy and accepted the fact that while my type-A personality would love nothing more than to control nearly everything, there are some things that I ultimately cannot. In light of the situation though I'm happy to admit that I not only have a big heart, but that I have two. How many people can say that and mean it?!

Psst - We created a baby page full of ultrasound pictures, my growing belly pictures and even our baby registries. You can find all that here!

How It All Began...

Ever since I was young I was always building, creating and decorating my surroundings and found great pleasure in making an area my own. Granted I was a teen and still living at my parents house, but I always managed to find ways to release my creative urges. It wasn't until late last year when I married my best friend that we set out on our own, ready to create a life together.

On September 24th, 2011 we packed our belongings and headed out for a week long journey to our first stationed home in South Carolina. Our trip was filled with 2,800 miles of driving and stopping through eight states, seven questionable motels, and countless amounts of rest-stops and restaurants. In the end though, we finally made it to base on September 30th, 2011 and moved into our house the following day.

Overall though this is our journey as we map out the life of not only a newly married couple, military family, homeowners and soon-to-be-parents, but also as two DIY dorks learning as we go and sharing our details as we turn our house into a home.