Christmas Adventure

Let me start out by saying that Christmas was wonderful. It was so much fun to get oodles of stuff for you. My favorite part is bringing it all home and finding the perfect place for every little thing. I love it!

It wasn't all fantastic though. We had a little incident. Thankfully you were not involved in this incident in any way. You remained happy, comfy, safe and warm in my belly. :)

We got to Charlotte on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Morning I realized that I had forgotten my makeup. I panicked a little. I'm not huge on heavy makeup but it makes me feel good to go through my routine and feel good about myself. Jase agreed after much mumbling and grumbling to take me to Walgreen's to get some back up powder, mascara etc. No one else was awake yet and ready so it wasn't a big deal to slip out for a few. I got ready and started following Jason down the stairs. The stairs are wood and are very dark with no lights on. I missed a step and fell on the landing where the stairs turn. Apparently it was loud and the only thing I said was, "Oh no." I heard the most awful tear going down. It sounded like flesh ripping. Terrible sound. I thought I had broken it. Everyone came out of their rooms to see what was wrong because my fall was so loud. Jason carried me down the rest of the stairs and I laid on the couch the rest of the day unable to put any weight on my foot. I devised a very intricate scooting method to get around the house and up and down the stairs. Your dad was fantastic helping me through all this. He never once left my side from the moment I fell until I could walk again on my own.

Fast forward to Sunday, the very next day. I had decided that I should go to Urgent Care in Charlotte. We had already met our deductible (thank you Ella!) so I figured it couldn't hurt. We woke up super early and got there right when they opened. It actually snowed about 2 inches in Charlotte so we were practically the only ones on the road. Crazy Indiana drivers. :) We only had to wait about 15 minutes before they wheeled me back in a wheelchair. They did some x-rays and came to the conclusion that I had torn fibers in my ligaments. No broken bones thankfully. They equipped me with a boot and crutches and I hobbled me way back out to the car. Everyone there was super nice and made sure I was taken care of.

A busted foot was NOT going to stop me from shopping the day after Christmas. Jill called the mall and figured out how we could go about getting a wheelchair. Jason pushed me around the whole mall in this wheelchair. Everyone was smiling at me out of pity and everyone got out of my way. Kind of nice. :) Your dad was fantastic. He suffered through many baby stores and never lost his patience or got sick of pushing me. I even devised a plan, anytime I wanted to go into a store I would pull the brakes on the wheel that would turn me in there so he had no choice but to go into that particular store. We had fun! (Okay well maybe Jill and I had fun!)

After a few days of not being able to put weight on it I slowly started getting better which is a fantastic sign. I was able to graduate to just once crutch for support. The last two days that we were there, Tuesday and Wednesday, I was able to hobble around without any crutches at all. I just wore the boot.

Now, here comes the real tragedy...I ran out of toilet paper and was digging through the drawers in our bathroom at Jill's to find some more when I came across...you guessed it...my makeup bag...!!!!!!!!! I've officially lost my brain to you, little Ella. I died laughing and Jason just shook his head.

On Wednesday when we left we were able to get a wheelchair at the airport because we figured it wasn't a good idea to hobble all the way through everything. That would be a lot of strain on the poor little foot. It was once again fantastic, people smiling, getting out of the way, got to go in the front of all the lines, a few cute guys asking if I needed help when Jase wasn't there and getting on the plane first! :) I had to play it up a bit and act like I really couldn't walk on the foot at all so we could ensure that I got the wheelchair the whole way and didn't have to worry.

All the fun I had in the wheelchair was a stark reminder that some people never recover and get better day by day. Some people spend their entire lives in wheelchairs and I am sure it is not fun for them at all. Fortunately, I was one that was able to get up and walk out if it a few days later and I am very thankful for that.

When we got home all was well. I am still wearing the boot for support. It hurts a little but nothing bad. I was shaving my legs in the shower and noticed a huge bruise on the bottom right of my right foot. It pretty much freaked me out so I called Jason in to see it. He seemed concerned and suggested that I call our regular doctor and try to get in just to make sure everything was okay. My doctor couldn't get me in until the 4th of January (Hello new deductible!). I tried to call a podiatrist on the off chance that they would be open. No luck. They said everyone is trying to get in before the end of the year for their deductibles. We ended up calling Immediate Care here and they had 0!! wait time!! We zoomed the blueberry over there and the doc was great. He thoroughly examined my foot and said that when the fibers tore it bled and the blood is just pooling in the bottom of my foot. He said it will change every color of the rainbow before it heals and it is nothing at all to worry about. He inspected my leg for blood clots (huge worry of mine during pregnancy) and said he saw no signs of that either. We walked away very happy!

I'm doing much better. My mom and I are going back at it at the mall today and I am going with just my boot.

Here are some pictures of my lovely foot...







You are doing great Ella! I can feel you a lot now. At first I just felt you at night but now I feel you during the day too. I can feel you moving around a lot after I eat. Your kicks went from middle bottom of my stomach to on the left hand side of my stomach now. It's awesome to feel you to know that you are okay. We go in for our next appointment on January 12th. It's nothing big. The next big one is at 28 weeks.

We are almost 99% sure that the baby shower is going to be March 6th. Nothing is 100% sure until the invites go out though. :)

Here is a belly picture at 23 weeks. Getting bigger! I can't really sleep on my back anymore, it's not very comfy. The belly is only slightly getting in the way of doing something. Particularly bending over and reaching for something. It should get more and more interesting as time goes on. :)



I should mention that your future boyfriend Connor Bernhardt is almost ready to be born! Christie is 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. She has been my pregnant buddy so it's super exciting!! Keep her in your prayers!

Chandaliere

Daddy hung your chandaliere last night. :)

Ella Ruby Pantello

Little Ella!

Ella Ruby Pantello

Oh how excited I am!

I was 99.9% convinced you were going to be a boy. I had actually already thrown (literally thrown) every girl thing out of your room the night before. I was that convinced. Imagine my surprise when I found out you were a little girl. I nearly fainted! Your dad said, "Oh boy..." I think he knows he is in trouble now. :)

We left our house at 7am and got to the appointment right at 7:45am. We ran into traffic and had to go a different way than usual. We sat in the waiting room for what seemed like eternity. I had to drink 20 oz., 30 minutes before the appointment. Needless to say, I had to go to the restroom really badly and I was so excited I was nervous and felt sick! They finally called us back and we got all ready to take a peek at you!

I got a few pictures in the ultrasound room of me. Cameras and videocameras are not allowed so I had to sneak them while the tech was out of the room. (By the way, the tech was FANTASTIC and I am definitely going to request her next time.) The first one is of me before and the second one is of me after the ultrasound. I look a bit happy, yes?





You were beautiful! (Well, as beautiful as a 2D ultrasound can be) :) She took tons and tons of measurements. We were prodding around from probably 30 minutes. At first I believe you were sleeping. Your head was right on top of my bladder and you would't move. The ultrasound tech actually poked you and moved you around a lot and you finally starting squirming all over. Your dad was shocked at the amount of sudden and quick movements that you did. He was not expecting that at all.

We got tons of great pictures!












We are going to go back at 28 weeks for another ultrasound where we will get 3D or 4D pictures as well! Exciting! They want to check a few things in the heart and make sure that my placenta moves up up up where they want it to be.

I started feeling you two weeks ago. I never felt the butterflies. It seems to be more like big hunks of food moving through my system. The first two times I have felt you out in public with noise is at church when we were singing with loud music and at Scotts show with really loud music. Other than that, I feel you mostly at night when I lay down and you are most active. I felt the strongest kick yet while I was reading in bed. It made me put the book down, put my hand on my belly and smile.

Your dad was been FANTASTIC so far with the pregnancy. He is still carrying the laundry basket up and downstairs for me. It's great! He was telling me yesterday that I shouldn't be hunched over and that I should be in perfect posture all the time so I don't scrunch you. How cute!

I went on a little bit of a shopping spree for you today. I spent under 100 but I had to buy some cute pink clothes for you. So far, I have gotten a few items from The Childrens Place and Old Navy. Both are very cute and resonably priced.

I can't recall if I have posted this or not but I did have one downfall in the pregnancy so far. I was making Jase french toast...which I hate to begin with (something about soggy bread). I had just finished drinking a glass of grape juice and was starting on my Kashi cereal with blueberries. I brought the french toast up to Jase in bed and all of the sudden didn't feel so well. I told him that I thought I was going to throw up and I walked rather swiftly to the bathroom. Purple grape juice went all over the toilet. Nice, right? The joys of being pregnant. Although, if that is the only problem that I have (and only once) bring it on!

I still haven't been craving anything crazy that I know of. Fruit and veggies always sounds good. No emotional swings up or down. You can verify that one with your dad. I'm totally not worried or nervous about birth. I'm really just excited!

It's time to start making the nursery girl oriented! Bring on the pink!

We had a sex party tonight to announce that you were a girl. You can see a picture of the playing cards below. We had weiners, meatballs, deviled eggs and tacos. Everyone counted how many were of each and then we added them up and whichever gender specific food there was more of was the gender of the baby. :) Then Jason announced the name and every one cried. Okay not everyone but my mom did for sure. :) Thank you to Olivia for hosting the party and coming up with all the wonderful ideas!




I'm sure there is a lot more that I want to tell you but I can't think of it all right now. My mind is kind of a blur from all of the happenings today! I will be updating more in the future. I felt that I needed to really wait until the 20 week appointment for this one big post!

Maybe I will leave you with a belly picture. This is me at 20 weeks. Getting bigger!




See you in 19 weeks Ella!

<3