Birthdays, ER visits, and a Little Bean

Here's to what I'm guessing is going to be a very long post!!

Andrew and I have both celebrated our birthday's since my last post.  Andrew turned 25 on June 2.  Since he was finishing up what was essentially his capstone course for Geology, he spent his actual birthday on campus working on a few last assignments.  I took him to lunch at Slab Pizza just south of campus and treated him to a Tropical Getaway that night for dinner.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from dinner but we started off with Pina Coladas, had Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Jamaican Rice and Beans, Pineapple-Habanero Shrimp, and Haupia (coconut pudding).  We celebrated the following Friday in Salt Lake.  We went to lunch with Andrew's friend Mike at Pat's BBQ and then went to the Tracy Aviary.  Here are some pictures from our fun aviary adventure.

Feeding the Andean Condor.

This bird was crazy huge!! And it was born in 1959!! Crazy!!

Andrew making the bird flap its wings.

I turned 23 on Monday.  We celebrated my birthday in Sandy on Saturday by going to the Living Planet Aquarium.  It was our first time there (which is probably why I have so many pictures from Saturday...) and they have some really neat things!!  Here are some of my favorites:

This guy jumped on the glass right as we walked up to his tank. :)

I love how this guy is just chillin' and checking out the world!

This one made me laugh...

A Black Crappie.

A puffer fish!! We were SO hoping it would blow up. But it didn't. :(

This octopus was awesome!! We got to watch them feed her and it was really cool getting to see her up and moving around. She was huge! Her head is probably a foot long with maybe a 10 foot tentacle span. So awesome!

We found out this lobster was over 100 years old!!!

Sea horses! They had at least 4 different tanks with different sized ones.

These were my favorite! These ones were probably about an inch long!

A Lionfish!!

We found Nemo!

And said hi to Dory and Marlin.

Petting the rays.

 

This display gave you a shock that gives you an idea of what you'd feel if you touched an electric eel.

The electric eel.

A piranha!! They live in the Amazon. Another we would have like to see in action, but alas....

 As the title of this post implies, I had an ER visit towards the end of June.  We went to bed at about 11 one night and I woke up a half an hour later (unfortunately, it was about an hour after my niece Courtnee was born in Tucson... I hated ruining my sister's good news with "Hey I'm on the way to the ER..." Welcome Courtnee!) with really bad stomach pain.  Andrew and I ran to the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo and we got checked in at about midnight.  This was the first time I have ever been to the ER for myself that I can remember... which also meant my first IV. blech. We finally got a room at 12:45a and over the next 7 hours had blood-work, two doses of morphine (yay!), two ultrasounds, and an MRI trying to determine the cause of my pain.  There was concern that it was my appendix. They determined after the MRI that I had a patch of fluid around one of my ovaries... I had ruptured an ovarian cyst.  The pain was essentially gone by the time we left the hospital a little before 8am.  Needless to say, Andrew and I went home and slept the whole day...

There were two bright spots during our trip to the ER:

#1 I got a pediatrics Finding Nemo room!!!

and #2- During my first ultrasound that night, Andrew and I were able to see and hear our little baby for the first time!! That's right! Our baby! We knew going into the ER that night that I was pregnant, but the first thing they did was make sure the baby was healthy and that my pain wasn't because of my pregnancy.  Measurements and heart rate were perfect. 

On July 5, I had another ultrasound to check on a small hemorrhage (the placenta wasn't completely attached to my uterus) that they had found in my ER ultrasound.  They couldn't find it so I was given the All Clear once again!  This is our little Bean at about 10 and a half weeks.  Andrew says it looks like a gummy bear. :)

I am 12 and a half weeks along and due January 26.  I had my first appointment with my Dr. today (Dr. Cloward in American Fork) and she says everything looks great! We listened to the heartbeat today.  We find out at about 20 weeks whether it's a boy or a girl.  It'll probably be the first week or two of September.

We are doing so well! I haven't thrown up at all this pregnancy and I'm starting to feel better.  I still get tired easily and am having some acid reflex problems, especially at bedtime.  I'm excited to use birthday money to go buy maternity clothes!! And I eat potatoes. In any form.  It's the only thing that ALWAYS sounds good.

We are looking forward to family coming in August for Andrew's graduation and then a week in CA to celebrate our one year and spend some time with my parents.  We are feeling so blessed about our new little one that will be joining us soon and can't wait to meet him or her!