We are officially crazy!!!

Jinx (our border collie) has been up at my mom and dad's this past week, they had agreed to whelp her out for us if we got her bred. So the weekend after Memorial day we sent her over to a friends house to get bred. She had 8 pups this morning (July 29th). She was bred to a blue merle Australian Shepherd and boy did we get some color! 6 of the pups are merles - some red, some blue - there is one border collie marked male only he is red w/ white color and blaze and one black standard marked border collie female. We have decided to dock all of the tails. At last report mom and puppies are doing great and there is not a runt in the litter.

In this picture 7 out of the 8 pups have been born. Mom and Dad will be bringing Jinx and the pups back after we have our baby, when they come down to visit. By that time they will be very mobile and soft and fluffy! I can't wait!!!

Changes.....

At my 28 week check up I found out that my nurse midwife is leaving Perry Memorial Hospital in Princeton and transferring to Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru. I had the option to stay at PMH and deliver there with one doctor on staff and no midwives or follow Angie to Peru and deliver in a hospital with 3 midwives and 2 doctors. After talking it over with Jay, I decided that I would follow Angie to Peru for my peace of mind. I am somewhat disappointed though as the reason I chose PMH was for the waterbirth option, now I do not have that option. Although at IVCH, there are jacuzzi tubs in each room so I can use the tub while in labor but when it comes time to push I have to get out. This is really aggravating! Oh and did I mention that IVCH is a 40 minute drive...so now instead of 25-30 minutes I have 40-45 min (which is what I was avoiding in the first place by going to PMH!)

This also messes with childbirth classes. I was just getting ready to set up private classes at PMH and now have to see if IVCH will offer those, as the class doesn't start until September 2nd. There are a couple of classes I could sign up for between now and then, so I'm waiting to hear back from IVCH about the classes and what the RN who does the classes wants me to do.

Also, for those family who live an hour or more away, you don't need to come visit in the hospital (a. kids aren't allowed other than siblings of new baby, and b. too far of a drive). Please come visit us at home instead.

Our little acrobat...

I am amazed at how active my baby is!!! Kicking and flipping and punching....such an acrobat! I always see my stomach moving out of the corner of my eye but when I try to watch for a movement there is nothing. It's almost like the little one knows when mommy is watching! I am so amazed by this little being growing inside me, in about 3 months Baby Kocher will be here and our lives will be forever changed! I am so excited to meet our little one! I am not looking forward to the hot summer months and the swelling feet - but the end result will be so worth it! 3 months and counting!

28 Weeks = Third Trimester!!

So tomorrow begins the start of my 3rd Trimester!!! Wow, I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going! On June 8th I went in for my 1 hr glucose test and 26 week check up. I failed my glucose test by 2 points, and also found out that I am anemic...so I get to take iron supplements and eat all the iron rich foods that I can! I go back on June 24th for my 28 wk check up and also my 3 hour glucose test. My midwife had wanted me to get in this week but I told her I wasn't taking anymore time off of work than necessary so since I was still going to be 28 wks at my next appointment she said that was fine if I scheduled it for the same day as my appointment. The swelling has gone down in my feet for now since I'm starting to eat better, even after a long day on my feet they aren't as swollen as before.

Thanks to my wonderful sister in law, the floors have been sanded in the baby's room. It took her almost 8 hours to get it completely sanded! I still have to do a little hand sanding around the edges before I enlist some help to get the polyurethane on the floor. Then the next step is painting the baby's room....I can't wait to do that! I'm still going back and forth slightly on wall design but for the most part I have the colors I want to use. I can't wait until it's all put together. I'm hoping to have the floors and walls done before my first shower and the room mostly put together so that I have places to store things.....we will see how well that goes! It seems like when I get home at night all I want to do is sit in the recliner and relax (most of the time I doze off for an hour or two). And weekends have been so busy that I'm not even home to work on things.

Starting the 29th of June life is going to get CRAZY for a couple of weeks with Shorthorn Jr. National's in Springfield and then getting home from that and turning around and going to the fair, I think I will need to take a week off of work just to sleep!!! It doesn't take much to wear me out anymore!

The farm is finally done with planting!!!!! Hallelujah, I thought that day would never come with all the rain we've been having!! The car hauler is finally cleaned off so that they were able to get the mower over to our place....it hasn't been mowed in 3 weeks and was looking pretty tall! I think we could have just fenced it in and turned the cows out on it lol! I came home Tuesday night to the mower sitting in the garage, I was so excited! I can't mow at all now according to my doctor, she told me not past 20 wks....which was in April. So I'm dependent on Jay or the boys.....it's driving me nuts though to look at my lawn and see it so tall and know that I can't do anything about it!!!! So frustrating! Oh well - next summer I'll be back out there! I love to mow! He did get the yard that surrounds the house and the yard in front of the quansit (or as Max used to call it the 'swan shit hut') mowed, only the first round though - it will probably take at least twice to get it all mowed down to the right height. If it would quit raining he would be able to get the rest of it mowed......everyone please keep your fingers crossed!!

Well, that's all for now - I promise to get pictures posted soon so ya'll can see how 'huge' I'm getting (I've had three people ask when I'm due and were shocked when I told them September because apparently I'm so big). I'll let you all be the judge of that!

Swelling and Mexican Jumping Beans

Today I am 24 weeks! And for the past week now my feet have taken on that swollen look. Where my ankle bone used to be, there is now just a big puff.... I didn't think that was supposed to start that soon, I thought I might have another month before that happened. My fingers have also started to swell up and I'm down to wearing just my wedding band and that's only in the office, if I'm at home or outside I leave them off.

I also feel like I'm carrying around a little mexican jumping bean! The little one has been kicking and punching and probably doing flips as well. If I press on my belly he or she kicks/punches at my hand. I've also seen my shirt move twice now cuz of the force of the punches! It is such an amazing thing to see! The first time it happened I caught it out of my peripheral vision and couldn't believe that was what I actually saw, the second time was this morning as I was watching tv before work. I was sitting in the recliner with my hand resting on my belly and all of the sudden my hand moved! I kept my hand on there and the baby kept punching away as hard as could be, it was so neat! So far I haven't been woke up by movement at night but our little one sure is active during the day....ALL DAY!!!

I'm still feeling wonderful - other than mild heartburn and a sore back if I bend over too much. I have learned to take lots of breaks when picking up around the house and what not. My parents are coming down this weekend and will be helping me gut out the baby's room and patching the many nail holes that are in the room so that we can paint it. I can't believe it - 4 more months and we will have a little one in our arms!! How time has flown!