Smile :)

Our little Avery is FINALLY smiling! On 12/22/10 we had the Berrett Christmas party at my in law's and Aunt Kami and Grandma Diane finally got some cheezers out of little missy!

It's Begining to look a lot like Christmas..

This is Avery's first McKee Christmas party and Santa Clause expirence. 12/11/10




She didn't open her eyes, but she sure had her fingers in his beard.





Avery is very excited to play with the toy's he gave her.



This may or not be her first camera captured smile from yesterday, she just barely started acting like she wanted to smile. Damn Cute if I do say so myself!

Thanksgiving

What a busy holiday! it was stressful having 3-4 dinners to go to before the baby came, and now it was impossible to see everyone this year. We ended up going to Todd's parent's and my Dad's for only 2 dinners this year. Here is miss Avery almost 5 weeks old getting ready to leave for the day's adventures!



Overall it was a nice holiday. I love being with family and remembering that they are what I am truly thankful for.

Avery Lynn Ellison

She is here! 7 lbs 4 oz 19"
Born on 10/23/10 @ 6:15 am

N.S.T Fun

Here is a picture of me at the hospital doing a NST. We figured we should document it since this is how I have spent the last leg of my pregnancy!

Induction

So after the scary NST, I had to do another one on Monday the 11th. The nurses said she was looking really great and her heart rate was where it should be. Yay! However, the nurse asked me when we were inducing me.. UH WHAT? I told her I hadn't heard anything about induction and would find out the 12th at my next appointment.
Tuesday morning Todd and I went to the dr. I told him what the nurse said and his exact response "We actually need to discuss that" So we are tentatively planned to induce little Avery Lynn's arrival on the 21st! I had him check me to see where things were progressing naturally and I am 0 dilated and 30% effaced.

I did have to see a maternal fetal specialist, and they said that everything looked great but they wouldn't recommend me going past 39 weeks. I let him know that we were planning the induction at 38 weeks and he thought that was a great idea. So with 2 doctors recommendations, it looks like she will be making her big appearance before Halloween after all!

Thursday another NST and her heart rate was great! Now we wait!

This is the picture that the M.F.S. gave me of her face. I think I can see it, but your guess is as good as mine as to what I am looking at!

Scary scary scary..

So as you know by now me and the Timpanogos labor and delivery nursing staff have become best friends. In other words, I have had to go to the women’s center 2x's a week for NST's for the last month. On Thursday the 7th, I went in for my appointment at 5:00 pm. The nurses usually strap me up to the monitors, one on Avery's heart and one for my contractions. They come in to see if I need a drink or something about half way through and let me go for about 25-30 minutes to get a good reading on her heart rate. Well Thursday was a little different

My nurse, who is one of the best ones I have worked with a few times, comes in the room, straps me up like normal, leaves like normal but then comes back about 15 minutes later. She puts her hand on Avery's monitor and stares at the computer screen. She moves the ultrasound thingy around insists that I need to drink some juice and leaves to get it. About 10 minutes after I have had some juice she comes back and puts her hand on it again and watches the screen. I am starting to wonder what the heck is going on and finally ask if the machine is having a hard time finding her, as that's what happened last week. She said no, but asks if Avery has a heart block. I say no and she says her heart rate is dipping way below what it should be and what it has been. She left the room and came back saying that I needed to go to radiology to get some tests done, and if her heart rate is still low I could possibly have to have a C-Section TONIGHT! I was trying not to think negatively and not freak out. But holy Hannah, I was by myself hearing that my baby has heart problems and might have to be delivered right now.

So I went to Radiology and they did the testing. They look for amniotic fluid levels, breathing, heart rate movement, and one other thing that I can't remember. But she only has 30 minutes to pass the test. If she doesn't do one of the things then we head to the OR.

Luckily she passed with a decent score, but her heart rate was still in the 120's and they want it to be in the 140's.

I went back to my room, got all strapped in the monitors again and the nurse said that the doctor was on his way. I finally got to call Todd and let him know what was going on. He booked it to the hospital just in time to sit with me and hear Dr Hoggard say that everything looks okay but I have to be on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy.
I finally was discharged a little after 8 pm. And sat in the parking lot bawling, as finally all the emotions of what just happened came through.

Bed rest has been impossibly hard for me! I have been on it for 4 days now and am hating every minute of it. Todd is extremely protective to the point that it makes me mad! Saturday after my mom's baby shower for me, My dad and Tammy all wanted us to go to Witches night out at Gardner Village. Todd wouldn’t let me go. He was babysitting me all day at my moms and saw that I wasn't resting the whole time. So needless to say, he took me home and no witches for me. :( The hardest thing about it is, my blood pressure has been fine. It's not me that feels bad or whatever. So it’s hard for me to rationalize what I can and can't do or when I should and shouldn't do it. Hopefully Avery will come within the next 2 weeks so I can be over this bed rest stuff, but on her own terms, not because the staff at the hospital decides I need a c-section!

Happy Anniversary!

Todd and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on Friday 10/1/10. We decided not to give gifts since we have baby supplies to purchase, but the little stinker surprised me with these gorgeous hot pink roses!


We went to the Melting Pot fondue restaurant for dinner. We had heard mixed reviews about it, all that the food is good, but just how expensive it is and that you don't get a lot of food. We decided to go anyways and spent a good 2.5 hours there eating. Perfect for the pregnant me who can't do much but eat! We had PLENTY of food and ended up not finishing our main course or dessert.

It was fun to experience something new, and we definitely are going to go there again. Happy Anniversary Todd! I love you big guy!

One month to go!

Yep, that's right, only one more month until Avery's due date! October seriously snuck up on me! I am so excited to see my beautiful babies face, not to mention dressing her in all the little itty bitty clothes. I hear of mother's doing their "nesting" and I am about half way there. Her room is still not finished, as in decorated, but her closets and drawers are organized and her laundry is done. I haven't cared much about cleaning the rest of the house, other than getting all the closets organized. go figure. I guess it's because I made my mom and Todd promise me that they would make sure the house was spotless when I got home from the hospital ;) So I haven't been too stressed. Also, I have zero energy to do anything. Cleaning the bathrooms sounds like a miserable thing to waste what little energy I have . I’d rather be shopping!

My eye!

It feels like forever since I have given any updates on what is going on with the pregnancy.
My Blood pressure was high when I went for my OB exam the 14th so my doctor lovingly decided that I needed to go to the hospital 2 times a week for Non Stress Tests or NST's. Every time I would go, my BP was normal.. until last Thursday. It was 140/73 on the first test they took and gradually declined back to the normal range. So where does that leave me? I don't know. One of the nurses asked me if I was on Bed Rest yet and thankfully I can say no. But she said I would probably be soon. Tomorrow is my next OB appointment, hopefully my BP will be low enough that I can discontinue going to the hospital every few days. But I am doubting it. I know he is looking after me and wants to make sure I don't get preeclampsia, but it is just a pain in the butt!
But though all my ups and downs Baby Avery is doing really great. She moves around (A LOT) and likes to dig her little toes, or legs or what have you into my ribs. It especially feels great when I am wearing an under wire bra. But as much as I complain about being pregnant and how uncomfortable I am, I am truly going to miss feeling her squiggle and wiggle around. And the Hiccups... oh the hiccups.. she gets them at least 2x a day. :)

On another note.. So literally this year, I have been seen by 4 Dr's for the most random things that have nothing to do with this pregnancy. And on the 17th was just another fun little visit I decided to add to that list.
On the 16th, my day off, I decided to get my nails done. I already had a set on and they were looking pretty shabby from painting Avery's room. So I decided to clip them off so I would be ready to go for my appointment. While I was clipping away, a chunk of one of my nails flew into my eye. Now I didn't think anything of it as it's happened before, but usually I can close my eye fast enough to deflect anything from harming me. No such luck this time. My eye watered pretty bad and hurt awesomely, but I am a trooper thinking that it was nothing and went to my nail appointment and to the salon afterwards to do a perm. Luckily I was perming my friend's cute mom's hair, who is like a second mom to me, so even though embarrassed that I couldn't control the crying out my left eye and the nose running that accompanied it, it wasn't horrible. I drove home and it was really dark outside because our street lamp burnt out. Todd opened the front door for me because I was struggling to see the key hole in our dark alley with one eye, and he turned on the house light when I walked in. I about went down like a ton of bricks. I have never felt such pain! I ended up going to bed at 9 pm because I couldn't keep my eye open. I woke up bawling at 2:30 am because my eye hurt so bad. Todd offered to take me to the ER but I didn't want to get up. So I waited until the morning and called my Mommy to take me to the ER. (she had the day off. And before you start thinking, "What about Todd?" I told him to save his time off for the delivery room instead of the emergency room.)
We went in and the Dr had to make my scratch bigger to make sure the chunk of acrylic wasn't in there still. Thankfully it wasn't. But he said I had made a 50 point shot right in the middle of my pupil. The doctor was really nice, but told me that when the numbing drops wear off, that I was going to be in worse pain than I was in the previous day and prescribed me some antibiotic drops and some lortab.
I went in to the eye doctors office at Contacts on Tuesday the 21st to have a check up and the dr still could see the scratch and said it was still irritated. He gave me some drops and some weird Vaseline stuff to wear in my eye at night. And I have a follow up tomorrow to make sure things are A-Okay!
From now on, I am wearing safety goggles to do my nails!

Good Golly Miss Molly

Yeah It's September 8th and I am freaking out! It didn't really hit me that Avery will be here so soon, until my Aunts decided to throw me a baby shower this weekend. It's all so surreal!
Yesterday I had to go to the hospital to do some testing for high blood pressure. Basically everyone on my dad's side has it and I had a few appointments were it was high, when mine is usually normal.
I had to do an AFI, an Amniotic Fluid something.. where I went to radiology and they did an ultrasound to check to make sure my amniotic fluid levels were good. And they were. Todd came with me and we got to see Avery again. She is so BIG! she is like 2 times bigger than she was 10 weeks ago! She is head down, which is great news, and she is so smashed in there she looked like she was getting nosed. ( when you make your nose look like a pig nose) But what was really exciting is that the tech said that she could see hair on her head! It will probably be white, like Todd and I had at birth, but I am excited to see how much hair she really has!
Next we headed over to labor and delivery. Yet another surreal moment. I had to get the fetal heart monitor strapped to me as well as a contraction monitor. They had a blood pressure bag around my arm that would go off every 10 minutes or so. My blood pressure was good. Avery's heartbeat was good. She drew a ton of blood, but of course I wasn't looking, Todd told me. Thankfully she got it on the first try. And then she said wait about 30 minutes for your labs and you will be done. Well 30 minutes turned into an hour and 30 minutes. Labs came back normal, they were just waiting for my doctor to call back to discharge me. While Todd and I were waiting we were watching a broken TV. It had no sound. so we just listened to Avery's heartbeat and tried to imagine what the TV shows were talking about. I finally got to A okay to leave and they had one more test to send me home with. The 24 hour urine test.
Basically I have a little potty that I have to urinate in, and then pour it in these gallon jugs. I have to do this for 24 hours. Last night was not fun, and I hardly got any sleep because I have to get up to pee so much, but now have this whole pour and ice routine. Thank goodness it was only for one night! I have to take my jugs of urine to the lab today. I guess they are measuring the levels of protein in my urine to make sure my liver/ kidneys are working normally. All this trouble for a healthy baby/ pregnancy! Only 8 weeks to go!

Seriously..

I can't beleive its August 19th already. So many things have happened this month and sad to say I am completely booked with things to do until after Labor Day.
on August 8th Todd and I went with his family to Lake Powell. It was our last trip without baby. Though it was hot, and we had some interesting confrontations with people who don't understand privacy and personal space, it was a good trip. I got my tan on and hiked to Rainbow Bridge. We kyaked to a little cove we called lizard island. The huge rocks were COVERED with 1" baby lizards. They were so cute! I did come home with another case of bronchitis.. though I have a feeling that the antiboitics from last month's bout didn't completely get rid of it.

While we were in L.P. My cute Grandma McKee had surgery on her tounge. She had a tumor growing basically the whole lenth of her tounge and it was as round as a plum. They had to do a skin graft from her arm, including muscle to replace what was taken off of her tounge, and then they did another skin graft from her leg to put on her arm. She is such a trooper. I was finally well enough to go visit with her last night. She is in great spirits, trying to talk, and laughing. I am so happy the surgery went well. It's all I could think about while out of town, with bad cell phone service.

I had another doctors check up on the 17th. Baby Avery is doing well. Her heartbeat was 144 and She is just cooking along. I am 29 weeks today and am finally in my 3rd trimester.. where did the other 2 go? Seriously.. these 6 months have flown by.. it seems like yesterday I was texting my sister a picture of my pregnancy test asking if the faint blue line meant it was a line. We have a ton to get done in the next 3 months before she comes. I keep getting harassed about where I am registered, her room isn't her room yet and Rusty is still upstairs instead of in the "man cave" aka basement.

On Sunday, I will be attending my little cousin Hayden's mission farewell. I say little cousin because I used to babysit him and still imagine him as 6 years old. He is going on an LDS mission to Birmingham AL. Also on Sunday it's Sydnee's 5th birthday. Seriously I can't beleive she is 5! We are going to the zoo after the farewell party. She is pretty excited.

I will post pictures when I get them compliled!

good news:

My doctors nurse called me this morning. I don't have the gestational diabetes like I was worried about, however I have a mild case of anemia. So I have to get some iron supplements as well as a stool softener. This should be pretty incredible.
Ha Ha Ha oh the joys of having a baby!

baby update:

So I will be 26 weeks tomorrow. I feel like I get bigger every day. I have a feeling she is going to be a healthy baby! We decided her name is going to be Avery Lynn Ellison. Yesterday I had to take the Glucose blood test. Holy Hannah that orange drink made baby so hyper and then made me crash so hard! Hopefully results will be good. I am a little worried about the gestational diabetes. Not only does diabetes run in my families but I am overweight and I love sugar. Fingers crossed all is well. We are slowly in the process of getting Avery's room set up. We got her crib 2 weeks ago and her bedding is to be delivered today. We still have to clear out the room, paint the room, the dresser and then deep clean the room. I am pretty excited though. I think her arrival will be more real as everything starts coming together. Here is a picture of the bedding we are using. Sadly it is discontinued so the hamper, and all the other accessories are unavailable. But hopefully I can be creative with my decorating and make it a super cute room!

Baby Girl Toddney!!

Yesterday we found out that we are expecting a Girl! We have a few names that we like, but for now we will call her Toddney! Hopefully she is as happy in real life as she looks in her ultrasound picture. She is so far healthy and right on track at 13 oz and amost 21 weeks along. I can finally go shopping!!

finally!

So as of yesterday 6/14/10 I felt the baby move, and I knew it was the baby! It is so hard to describe how it feels so here is what I told Todd:
feels like being poked in the uterus- lol
feels like a random heartbeat or gas bubble
feels like hunger pains
and..
feels like a muscle twitch that you can't get rid of

at 4:45 am baby was moving like crazy.. it was exciting and annoying at the same time. This is something that is going to be getting harder and harder to get used to but I LOVE IT!

PS
we find out what the sex is on the 22nd! super excited!!

Oh baby..

So I am 16 weeks today! It feels like it has taken forever to get to this point. My doctors appointment Tuesday went well. Heartbeat sounded good and strong at 146 b.p.m. I am so excited that I only have 5 more weeks to find out the sex of the baby! It should only be 4 but my doctor is going to be out of the office when I am 20 weeks. I was reading on this website that you can tell what you are going to be having by looking at your first ultrasound, as early as 7 weeks.

"Dramatic differences were detected in chorionic villi / placental location according to gender. 97.2% of the male fetuses had a chorionic villi/placenta location on the right side of the uterus. On the other hand 97.5% of female fetuses had a chorionic villi/placenta location to the left of the uterus."



This is my 7 week ultrasound. It was taken trans vaginally. so it is not a mirror image. So If this chorionic villi is the same as the yolk sac, it looks like I am having a boy! Or maybe a girl.. so confusing. I guess I will just have to wait 5 more weeks to start shopping! Tell me what you guys think. Is this on the left of the uterus or the right??

Awwwwwww...

We heard the babies heartbeat today! It was pretty much the most surreal moment we have had this whole 11 weeks. I was so happy Todd was able to come with me. It was a special moment to share together. Now.. 9 more weeks till we find out what it is going to be! I can heardly wait!

hmmmph!

So this hormone roller coaster has really got me in a funk. I am always tired and always ornery. And I feel like I am always mad at Todd for some reason or another. Not only that, I can't sleep, I can't eat with out wanting to vomit afterwords, and most of all I just feel like a lazy sack of potatoes!
I am going to be 10 weeks this week, and I hear that the first trimester is the worst as far as symptoms goes. But Todd and I have to try to tolerate each other for the next 3 weeks until Trimester 2.
So if any of you moms out there have any good advise to help me out of this funk, it would be greatly appreciated!

Man.. I can't stand secrets!

Todd and I have a very HUGE secret! Well it's not really a secret as more people know than don't. But I just hate saying it out lout in case, God forbid, something horrible happens. But if you can guess my hints with out saying it.. then you know the big secret! Its about 8 weeks old, size of a kidney bean and we will be seeing it around 11/4/10!!! ;)

My baby is all grown up...

My little brother Brandon is getting married Saturday! Yes Married! ( I just thought of the scene of Long duck Dong and Jake from 16 Candles)
I am so happy for him and his darling Bride to be Melissa. They are so fun to hang out with and I am so so happy to welcome her into our family. I love them both so so much and I know I am going to cry some happy tears at their ceremony.

MOZELTOFF Mr and Mrs Brandon McKee!!

Goodbye Old Friend

Well, after 20 years it's time to say goodbye to my old friend.
Lumpy, you have been with me through all that I can remember. You kept me comforted and comfortable on those long winters nights. Helped me build the 'fortress' around me as I slept and helped me keep just a tiny peice of childhood with me as I have grown up. I am so sad to see you go.
I remember the day I brought you home. I was about 7 or 8 and mom took us shopping to IGA. We saw you in a bin and BreAnn and I picked out the mauve pillows to match or bedroom decor. I haven't turned my back on you until today.
After multiple surgeries, pins and even double casing you, you have managed to fall apart. The pillowcase holding in those shreads is beyond repair. It took all my courage and energy to throw him away but I just don't know how sanitary it is to use 20 year old shreads of batting as a pillow anymore. So sad.

Goodbye old friend, I will miss you!

R.I.P. Lumpy the oldest most comfortable pillow in the world.

After...

Before..

bound and determined:

So last week I decided that I am done being fat and unhappy with the way I look.
I have always 'cared' about the way I looked and felt, always worked out in one way or another and watched what I ate. But the past year for me and my body has been hell. Newlywed stress, a new job position with longer hours, buying a house, and the damned Hypothyroidism has put me right over my edge.

I went ahead and did some research about hypothyroidism since the thyroid supplement my doctor has given me saying " this will make the extra pounds drop" hasn't dropped. Most of the web sites are very contradictory in saying that if you have hypothyroidism, you are basically metabolically screwed. Some suggest not eating any carbs or sugars and some really don't offer any suggestions for a "thyroid diet."
At my last doctors appointment, stepping on the dreaded scale, I realized that I only weigh 10 Lbs less than my husband. If you have seen Todd, he isn't a small dude.. so yeah.. that was hard to swallow.

So I emailed my long time friend Jared. He worked at 1800 Contacts not only in my department but as a personal trainer in our gym. He is now a dietitian/nutritionist. He has given me a few things to start doing to evaluate myself.

1. Keep a food journal
2. drink up to 69 oz of water a day
3. get a resistance band.

Today is the first day I have been journaling. Let me just say.. no duh I can't loose weight. Chocolate cake and mini candy bars aren't exactly diet food.
But this gives me hope.. I do a lot better when I have to turn in my food journal. When I was in weight watchers a few years ago, I thought we had to turn in our tracking sheets.. the first week I did SO good. But when I found out that we didn't turn them in, we only got weighed in. No duh my weight loss had plateaued. I was cheating and inevitably cheating myself.

Anyway, I wanted to post this because I am determined to do better. I am sick of having health issues and being obese isn't helping nor will it help the older I get.

Wish me luck!! I will keep posting.. another reason to keep me on track.
And as for the cake and candy.. it is disappearing tonight! (not in my belly, but it's garbage day tomorrow!)

happy new year

It has sincerely been a painful, exciting, horrific, happy, and maddening last few weeks. When they say one persons attitude can change a whole room/ group of people they are right. One comment made by my Father on Christmas Eve set off pretty much the worst Christmas me and my siblings have had to deal with in quite a few years. Can we just say stressful?
On new year’s Sydnee came over and played with us so BreAnn and Curtis could go to a movie. She was our very first sleep over guest! And Rusty was ready for her to go before she even settled in to sleep. She packed him around like he was a doll, which until he finally bit her cheek to make her let go of him, she thought he was. It was fun though she is seriously a little Brittney. :)Here is Syd at my house with Rusty.


On January 2 Jaxon was baptized a member of the LDS church. He was so happy, and Syd was happy for him too. BreAnn said when they were getting ready to leave the house Sydnee brought down her swimming suit to wear, and said 'I want to swim with Jaxon too' So cute. During the program I had a bit of an emotional breakdown. 1. they were playing the worst song that the church has ever come up with, nothing to make you feel like a child of a broken home more than anything, ' families can be together forever' 2.Sitting in the chapel with my mom, dad brothers and sisters and listening to this song I just started crying and couldn't stop. I never realized I had so much pent up emotions about the divorce and was so embarrassed that it happened to 'pop out' when it did. Nevertheless Jaxon had a wonderful day. Favorite Sydnee quote, other than the swimming suit, as soon as Jax came out from the water after being baptized she said " that's funny" :)it was funny.. always count on a kid to lighten the mood. Here is Jaxon in his 'whites' before his baptism.


On the 3rd Rusty had his last set of vaccinations for the year. While we were there I bought him a few things. 1. Pet Head by tigi cat shampoo. Regardless of the cost, as a stylist a salon product will always win over a no namer. haha I purchased the regular shampoo that smells better than my own shampoo and also a no water spray bath. You just spray on and wipe off with a towel.



He has been wiped out from his 3 shots the last couple days so I haven't tortured him yet with the bath. But I did find another gem at the PetSmart. Gel caps for his nails. As a kitten he likes to jump and play and unknowingly scratch everything and everyone in his way. These little buggers just glue on his claws like you would when getting your own nails done. I put them on yesterday morning and so far he has managed to take off 3 of them. LOL. Guess I shoulda used more glue. Here is Rusty and his new manicure, doing what he does best, sit on my lap while I work. Love him.



As for Me this year, yesterday I went to the doctor to see about chickenpox and ringworm. Turns out I have a new breed of either eczema or psoriasis. awesome. the red itchy bumps all over me don't stop itching even when I sleep. I have scratched my arm so hard in my sleep that i have broken blood vessels in the shape of claw marks.. Thanks acrylic nails for that. They put me on prednisone to help it go away and stop the itching. Fingers Crossed I won't get the Diabetes like Brandon did when he was on it.

That's all I have now. Like I said it's been a wild few weeks.
-Britt