Our little gerber baby...

Where does the time go! 2 weeks ago (already) Ricky turned 3 months old and I took him for his first photo shoot. I got a great deal splitting an hour session with my girlfriend who has a little boy 3 weeks older than Ricky. I am surprised the photographer even got these pictures, Ricky was LONG overdue for a nap and thankfully she was able to get some great pictures before his meltdown! Oh the joys of motherhood.

On another note we have our hands full with a not so happy baby lately, I am taking him to the doctors today at 4:40 because he has had a temp of 100.4 for 2 1/2 days. I think it may be an ear infection or else he has a little cold, poor baby. It is so hard to know he doesn't feel good and I feel so helpless. Then on top of that having to leave him to go to work is just heart breaking. Praying he gets better fast!

Here are some of the pictures, ENJOY!





And here are a couple Christmas pictures...I just love his little face!!!



Happy Holidays!!!

Silent Night.......

Yipee.....Ricky finally slept through the night. Friday night he ate at 8:00pm and went to sleep at 9:15pm and to my surprise I didn't see his smiling face until 6am. He did that again Saturday and Sunday too, so I am hoping this is a first of many restful nights in the Horch household. I was especially thankful he decided to wait until the weekend I had off to do this so we could both enjoy the much needed sleep.

Also last weekend my sister-in-law Katie took some pictures of Ricky, at the church's annual Affordable Picture Day, with his cousins for Christmas. Here are a few. You have to love the one with him screaming and the girls just wondering when he would stop LOL...Enjoy :-)





I am having his 3 month pictures done on friday so I will definetly share some of those when I get them.

12 weeks ALREADY

I can't believe Ricky is already 12 weeks old. Were did the time go? So much has happened since my last post that I don't know where to begin. Some of my favorite things are Ricky smiling and his coos. I love coming home from work everyday to a happy smiling baby. Although the first few weeks back to work I had to use a lot of vacation time because Ricky had a "I want Mommy" only issue. No joke he would scream bloody murder for everyone but me and the only way he stopped would be if I came home. Thank goodness we are finally over that stage! I just felt awful because my Dad and stepmother came to visit and they only got to hold a screaming baby :( Hopefully when they come next month things will be A LOT different.

As for some other fun stuff Ricky is growing like a weed. At his 2 month appointment he was 23 inches and 11 lb 15.5 oz. But I checked him again last week and he is already 12 lb 6 oz He is so long that I already have him in some 6 month clothes because the 3 month stuff look shorts on him. Guess Rick is happy he is taking after his height and not mine :)

Motherhood is great and I am really enjoying Ricky more each day that his personality is getting stronger. I just wish more than anything I could be a stay at home mom. I just miss him so much while I am at work.

His favorite things right now are....

1. Copying me when I stick my tongue out.
2. Anything with lights/music
3. Really loves the show Jungle Junction, I use that as my crutch when he is super fussy, he loves the songs and colors of the charcters.
4. Loves being sung too and rocked to sleep.
5. He thinks "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "skid-a-ma-rink a dink a dink" (not sure on that spelling) are the funniest songs and smiles like crazy when I sing those to him.

I am having his 3 month pictures taken next week so I can't wait to share those pictures. I promise I will update more and hopefully keep up with my posts from here on out.

He's Here!

WOW!!! Being a mommy has to be the most rewarding and tiring experience in the world. I never could have imagined how much love you can have for such a tiny person you have only known for 3 weeks.

So far things are going great. Ricky has for the most part been a great baby and is staying on a pretty regular sleeping schedule. He usually wakes every 3-4 hours to eat and stays up for about an hour. After that he is out like a light. Now that family has gone back home, which I must say is very sad :-( I am definitely going to try to start taking advantage of napping while he sleeps. Even a couple hours during the day seems to make the night time feeds a little less exhausting. Rick and I are adjusting to being new parents and I think we are doing a good job so far. Rick came down with a virus a few days after we got home from the hospital so he has been staying away from Ricky as much as possible. Last week I started having a sore throat and cough too!!! Thankfully my mother-in-law came to the rescue and slept over Sunday night. She took the night shift while I got 12 hours of much needed sleep!!! I am so thankful for my mom and mother in law who come to the rescue at the drop of a hat!

Having a baby in the house takes some getting use too but I wouldn't trade it for the world. We (including the dogs) love having Ricky in our lives.

38 weeks....I can't believe the big day is almost here!!!

Holy Cow 38 weeks flew by!!! I can't believe in 5 days I will be a mom!! I have been thinking a lot about how calm our lives are and have been trying to imagine what our house will be like with a new baby in it and I can't! It all seems so surreal. I have so many emotions running through me lately and over all I am just very anxious and excited to meet Ricky. I wonder what he will look like, me or Rick or a combination of us both?? Mostly though I am just praying he is a healthy baby and likes to sleep a lot. Is that too much to ask for?? Besides that I am not really planning on anything. I am taking this new parenting thing as a more "its gonna be what its gonna be" approach. I know every baby is different so we will just go with the flow depending on his personality and let him lead the way at first.

I know this week will fly by especially with one of my best friends Maya and her son coming over Tuesday ( I haven't seen them in 2 years) along with all my other girlfriends, for Mom's birthday and to visit. Later Tuesday night my Dad, Kim and Amy will be arriving. Wednesday is our 3 year Anniversary (wow that flew by). I am thinking Thursday will be here before I know it!! I can't think of a better week filled with things to come and look forward too!!! In the mean time I will continue to sit on the couch, get some reading done and get as much sleep as possible. I think the bed rest has definitely helped out with how I have been feeling. Even though I still have terrible back aches, my hands are killing me and the headaches come and go, but hopefully this time next week the only thing I will be complaining about is Ricky keeping us up all night LOL

I look forward to sharing pictures of him with everyone and I truly can't wait to meet our precious son, wow that sounds weird!!! But I can get used to it!!

You name it and I have it!

So like everything else, if its out there I will get it! I am now known as a medical nightmare in my house!! I got the call Friday afternoon that I am preeclamptic!! I am happy that they caught it early and that bed rest should be enough to keep it under control. The doctor said any protein in your urine over 300 is considered preeclamptic and my numbers were at 370. The blood work normal is 2.5-7 and I was at 5, so normal but creeping on the higher side. Needless to say my weekend and all the things I was planning on doing didn't happen. So to say I was pretty sad all weekend is an understatement. But in the big scheme of things I am now seeing that it is the beginning of sacrificing things for your child.

I have come to the conclusion that having gestational diabetes, gestational carpal tunnel, being GBS positive and now having preeclampsia that me and pregnancy don't mix. Good thing is that none of these are guaranteed to happen in future pregnancies and will most likely go away shortly after this lil man arrives. All in all I wouldn't trade it for the world and hope that Rick can forget all these things when I am ready for baby number 2 :-)

2 weeks to go and stuck at home!

Well after the last few days of feeling AWFUL my doctor has taken me out of work and put me on "bed rest". I am not restricted to bed but just ordered to get lots of rest and relax. At first I thought it was the heat that was getting to me but Tuesday I had off of work and literally laid on the couch all day and still felt like crap. Yesterday I went into work and thought I was going to pass out an hour after arriving. I had a doctors appointment and NST scheduled already for Wednesday so I went to that. At the NST my blood pressure was measuring 142/80 and then 135/85 which is high compared to my normal 105/60. On top of my blood pressure being elevated I have been having trouble catching my breathe, headaches, dizziness and feeling faint. The doctor thinks it is just normal 3rd trimester pregnancy stuff but has me doing a 24hr urine collection along with blood work just to make sure I am not in the beginning stages of preeclampsia. Friday afternoon once all the tests come back I should know for sure. I have to go back to the doctors Monday to re-check my blood pressure (even though I am sure I will have my mom do it over the weekend too) The great perks of having a nurse for a mom :-) Today is day one of being stuck in the house...and believe me with the heat and humidity outside I don't mind at all. Rick is making sure I follow doctors orders...he is like a prison guard around here! On a good note, Ricky seemed to be doing fine and doesn't seem to be phased by me not feeling good.

As for this weekend I am happy and sad about it. I am extremely sad because I will be missing my cousin Ashley's wedding in NJ. I love my step moms family and try my hardest to never miss an opportunity when we all get together and I am sooooooooooo sad that everyone will be having a blast at her wedding EXCEPT for me! I know that this kiddo is worth it and that is the only reason I am OK with it, and I get to see most of them in a few weeks which helps.

On a happier note, being home allows me to see my cousin Karen, Brian, their girls, Aunt Jo, Uncle Mike along with all my Batavia Family at my cousin Ricky's Spinal Cord dinner Saturday night. Then we get to spend Sunday with Rick's family celebrating Courtney and Pappy (my father-in law) birthdays at the cottage. All these I am hoping to do but we will see if the weather is cool enough for me to wonder out of the house and that I am feeling up to it.

I will let everyone know what the test results show. Praying its not preeclampsia and a little R and R will fix me!

36 weeks....

I feel like this week was pretty boring for the most part, which I guess is a good thing!! The baby did fine at the non stress test and has continued to find it entertaining to kick the crap out of my rib cage!! It is starting to get pretty uncomfortable but I don't mind most of the time, him moving a lot kinda puts me at ease that he is doing OK. My only complaint has been the overwhelming discomfort from the gestational carpal tunnel. It is getting pretty bad to the point were it is waking me up at night and in the mornings I can barely use my hands. I just keep praying that it goes away very soon after the baby comes.

The bigger news this week was that one of my best friends had her baby boy yesterday. Baby AJ Tur arrived at 10:57am and was 5lbs 13oz. Laura has been my prego partner for the last 9 1/2 months. Our due dates were only 3 weeks apart. Since we work together I feel like I shared all my ups and downs being pregnant with her more than anyone else! I must say being pregnant at the same time was awesome, especially since so many things we experienced were so similar it was scary!! It was awesome finally meeting her son and it definitely made things seem a lot more real for me! I am very happy for her and I can't wait til her son and baby Ricky are BFF's, which I know they will be :-)

Other than that my "to do" list is pretty close to being complete. I set up the pack and play, got the car seat base in the car and ready to go and did some more organizing. Now hopefully I can spend the next few weeks just relaxing!!!!!!

35 weeks...

This is the only clear picture we got today, his foot! Probably the one he likes to kick me with in the ribs on a regular basis!!! We thought his foot looked fairly big so Rick is keeping his fingers crossed he doesn't take after my height LOL

Today is definitely a great day in the Horch Household. We just got back from the ultrasound and Baby Ricky's kidneys ARE NOT dilated!!! Thank God for that!! The doctor said the right Kidney is perfect, 6mm and the left is slightly larger, 8 mm but they are both OK. They just had to be less than 10mm so we are in the clear!!!!!!! I also had them check to make sure he was still a boy and had all his goods LOL. Everyone keeps freaking me out saying they think I am having a girl. No worries we saw his "package" today. Guess its safe to unpack the rest of the boy things we have! The tech tried getting us some updated 3D pictures of him but OF COURSE he had his face covered and wouldn't move an inch! AJ says its just his Leo personality shining through already. I think he is already taking after his Mommy, sleeping with his hands over his head! Either way we only have 4 more weeks to wait until I can see his little face all I want! They said he is about 5lbs 7 oz right now, average for 35 weeks. All the fluids etc. looked great too.

Following the ultrasound I had my weekly non stress test, which he did great for. He was moving all over the place, go figure when I wanted him moving for the ultrasound 5 minutes earlier he wouldn't budge!!! Then I had my weekly doctor checkup. Everything was great. Today they did a test for Group Strep B and I will get the results next week. Hopefully I don't! Another plus is I didn't gain any weight in the last week, keeping me at 22 lbs total for my pregnancy, not to shabby if you ask me!! I am not dilated at all but still having Braxton Hicks contractions several times a day. Overall, lots of great news today and we definetly like that!

34 weeks.... 5 weeks to go!

Not a whole lot happened this week. My non stress test went great yesterday. I must say that Baby Ricky was much more well behaved than last week. He was moving all over the place and the test went fairly quick for once. Dr. Grace, the head OB at Unity, came in again and talked to me about the ultrasound next week. Next Friday we have an ultrasound scheduled to check on the baby's kidneys. At 21 weeks they were slightly enlarged so this is just a follow up to see if they are still enlarged or normal. The doctor seemed very confident that they would be fine next week and we shouldn't worry. I also talked to him about what we would have to do if they were in fact enlarged. He said that they wouldn't do anything until he was a few months old and they would monitor him for the most part. So I was happy with all that news. One of my biggest fears is Ricky having to go to the Strong NICU for some reason and me being stuck at Unity. I pray that doesn't happen and Dr. Grace said that shouldn't be a concern because of the kidneys. I will make sure to fill you in next week. Also next week hopefully we can get some 3D pictures without his hands covering his face for once!!! So far he has kept his hands over his face/head for both ultrasounds, once again being a pill already LOL.

Besides that everything with me is good. My blood pressure was 109/68. My only complaint lately is the very annoying gestational carpal tunnel I have developed over the last few weeks. I can barely feel my finger tips or bend them for that matter!!! Both my hands and fingers are pretty swollen. It definitely makes me feel bad for those with arthritis!!! At least mine should go away after pregnancy.

I am starting to get that "nesting" syndrome and want to get EVERYTHING done and ready now. Rick, on the other hand, I think is getting pretty annoyed with all my lists and requests to get things done right this second LOL Poor guy! I must say he has been awesome with cleaning the house, doing laundry and doing most of the house chores for me. Coming home from work to a clean house everyday is so nice and relaxing!!! I love him for that!

Lastly, over the last week Baby Ricky has been having a blast kicking the crap out of my ribs and stomach. It is so fun to see my stomach moving so much!! Eventhough I can't breathe at times because it feels like he is sitting on my lungs, I am loving every minute! Rick says I need to put him in his place now so he doesn't learn to walk all over me already LOL. If it was only that easy!

Ricky's Nursery is ready for his arrival

Here are some pictures of Baby Ricky's nursery. Everything is pretty much ready and waiting for him to arrive. Only 5 weeks to go....so exciting...but I am starting to freak out a little too :-)

Baby Shower #4- Horch Family

Here are some of my favorite picture from the shower!!

33 weeks and melting!

Holy Heat wave!!! I can't believe how many days in a row it has been in the 90's! Hot and humid don't mix very well with being pregnant! It almost feels like winter and there is a snow storm outside and we can't leave the house. The good thing with the heat is that Rick hasn't been able to work during the day because its so hot so we are getting to spend a lot of time together and its been awesome!


I am happy to say that my blood pressure has been OK the last few days, probably because I haven't been outside for more than 5 minutes. The headaches on the other hand are another story. I am not sure if its hormones or the heat but either way they are no fun. Rick is doing a great job taking care of me, making sure I do nothing at all, and I mean nothing. No complaints here! I kinda like being this spoiled. What I want he goes and gets me, so life is great! I am getting slight anxiety knowing that my "to do" list isn't getting any smaller and the baby will be here in 6 weeks! But I know that if I don't behave than he could come sooner so I will just sit on the couch with my BFF (the DVR) and not complain.


My non stress test this Wednesday went well. I only gave Baby Ricky a C+ because he was not cooperating at all. For the test the nurse is looking for him to move around and get his heart rate elevated at least 15 times, usually in 20-30 minutes. Last week he did great. This week, not so much!!! He did a lot of rolling around but we were lucky to get his heart rate elevated 5 times in 45 minutes! Little stinker! The head OB at Unity, Dr. Daniel Grace, came in and looked over everything and said he was fine, he was just being lazy. On a good note the nurse, and both OB's said my blood glucose numbers over the last week have be OUTSTANDING! (other than the night I shoveled down a whopper in 5 minutes before going to seeing Eclipse for the 2nd time). I blame my sister-in-law Courtney for that one :-) Also I was happy to hear that I have not gained any weight since last week, one of the perks to being on the Gestational Diabetes Diet!


Looking forward to my last shower, #4, Saturday for Rick's family. It will hopefully cool down into the 80's but I am at least thankful that we will be at Courtney's house so either way we can cool off in the a/c if needed. I will post some pictures after the shower.

32 weeks and counting.....

So I finally did it and joined the blogging world!!!! Thanks to Blakely for getting my pictures on here and getting me started and Kirsten for her advice!!! I am so excited to finally feel like I have something interesting to blog about. I know with the upcoming arrival of Baby Ricky that I will have lots to share and hopefully one day be very thankful to be able to look back on everything. I am not sure that I am the "blogging" type but I will give it my best shot!!

So today marks the beginning of week 32 of my pregnancy. Gee how time has flown by. Its pretty scary to think that in just 2 month I will be a mom!!! Over the last couple of weeks a lot has started to change. Up until now I have felt great this entire pregnancy, with the exception of some back pain and headaches. 4 weeks ago I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes, NO FUN!!! I am only on diet restriction which is great. At least I don't have to get meds or insulin injections!!! It hasn't been that bad for the most part, just really time consuming measuring food, taking my blood glucose 4 times a day and not being able to have all the fruit and sweets I would sooooo love to have! But all in all, I am happy it is something that will go away after delivery. I know it could be much, much worse! Also lately with the heat I have not been feeling too great. Last week I went to see the doctor because my blood pressure was pretty high 149/79, and my normal blood pressures have been 101/60. As a precaution my doctor sent me down for blood work to make sure I was OK and not developing preclampsia. Thankfully everything came back fine. Dr. Tripp (my awesome OB GYN) has me now going once a week for Non Stress Tests for the remainder of the pregnancy. I went on Monday and it wasn't so bad. I just had to sit in a chair and a nurse monitors the baby and my uterus to see if he is active enough and if I am having any contractions. So far so good!! The baby was actually being a pill and elbowing the monitor every time the nurse got his heart beat and she would have to start over, I have a feeling he is going to be a handful!!!

The latest news, that I still haven't shared with a lot of people because I just found out yesterday, is the arrival date for Baby Ricky. After a lot of talking to Rick and Dr. Tripp we have decided to schedule a c-section for August 19th at 8am. We came to this decision for several reasons. First because I have been through so much physically in the last few years with the stomach surgery and the brain surgery I am a little scared of the "what ifs". I know that there are always "what ifs" no matter what with delivering a baby and no one is in total control other than GOD. But I would rather not worry about "will my head hurt from pushing, is the baby going to be too big to deliver because of the diabetes, do I have too much scar tissue from the stomach surgery" All those things are concerns for me and the doctors. So with that said...c-section it is. I know that some people are all about having the natural delivery experience but for me my health and the babies health out weigh anything else at this point. I have always said I would rather have a c-section, especially after watching Shannon deliver her kids, so I am kinda happy LOL!! Another good thing is having his birthday date the 19th means he doesn't have to share it with anyone in the family!! I thought for sure he would come on someones birthday since there are so many August birthday's in my family and Rick's!!! Also a huge plus is that my Dad, Kim, Amy and AJ will be able to be in town. Now all the baby has to do is behave and stay put until that day.

I will try and post some belly pictures and also some pictures of Ricky's nursery (once I figure out how too get pictures on her). Hopefully I will stay on top of things a post every week!!

Here is a 32 week belly picture....before we went to see Eclipse at midnight.