Fall Happenings

 Growing up, I was always a summer girl. But man alive, this year I sure welcomed the fall. Perhaps it was the beauty of the changing leaves, or the cooling temperature (which my pregnant body really loved) or maybe the fact that it meant my due date was approaching. Yeah, definitely that last one. But here's what we were up to besides waiting for the big day.

 Carter was being a rock star husband. This semester has been NUTS for him. He has 16.5 credits of 300+ level engineering classes (no easy classes in there! and yes he has all As...crazy man), serves as an ASCE officer for BYU, works as a temple ordinance worker, is first counselor in the elders quorum presidency, TAs for an engineering class, and has a family at home that likes his attention. The guy has been out of his mind busy. Over the work week, if I can snag him for some dinner and a half hour of chitchatting I'm a lucky girl. The poor guy will really appreciate this upcoming thanksgiving break. But despite how busy he is, he never complains. He always takes me out for a weekly date, texts me during the day to see how I am, and lets me talk his ear off while he falls asleep at night (which doesn't take long). I really appreciate all that he does for us. He's doing an awesome job with his schooling and has been able to have lunch with some cool engineers. He decided to go ahead and finish his masters right after he gets his BS. Originally he wanted to take some time to work before continuing on, but we decided it'd be easier to just get'r'done. So we'll be in Provo for an extra year or two.

 Before Jayden was born I was working on two online classes and frantically trying to get in 200 hours of an internship as an ultrasound tech. To graduate in my major, I need 200 hours of an internship, and although I still have two more semesters of school, I wanted to get it done before the baby came. If I could work normal work days this wouldn't have been hard, but the problem was that the bulk of the hours available to us were supposed to come from spending time in St. George at the Huntsmen Senior Games performing ultrasounds on athlete's carotid arteries. Before the games, we were just to spend an hour or two a day practicing. I stretched it 2-4 hours a day so I could get more clock time, but still only had 60 hours under my belt when the Games came along. This wasn't a problem though because I would earn 50 hours for each week of Games I attended (they went over the space of 2 weeks and if I went to both I could get 100 hours) and then the week after, my fellow interns and I had been invited to work at a fair in Spanish Fork, so that would've given me the remaining 40 hours. I had everything planned out and was going to finish...but Jayden had other ideas.

At general conference! We stayed at a cabin in Park City with some friends :) 

Picture I took on my walk over to get carter from the priesthood session. So gorgeous! 

In St George at the Huntsmen Senior Games ultra sounding athletes carotid arteries 

Third Trimester

My third trimester was awesome...ly hard. But also awesome. Here are some of the cool things, and some of the...well..funny, but not very fun things. 

I could feel my baby move a LOT! I really loved watching my belly dance as he did his own little kick box routine. I could begin to distinguish his little body parts and loved to try to wake him up when I wanted him to move some more. I felt like he always woke up when Carter would talk to him, especially when he played the guitar. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I'd like to think that Jayden knew his daddy's voice. It was nice to be on the homestretch. I was anxious to see my little boy.

I started really gaining weight, which normally would not make me happy, but since it was for the baby I was kind of excited. However, the major increase in hunger and thirst was not exciting, just inconvenient. I went 6 months into pregnancy without gaining a lot (about 7-8 pounds by 6 months) but then it was like KA--BOOM! I ended up gaining 29 pounds, which means that in three months I gained like 21-22 lbs. Crazy! I was ALWAYS hungry and thirsty. Especially thirsty. I thought I was thirsty in the second trimester, but holy moly, nope. That wasn't thirst. I could never get enough liquid in me.

Then I was really hot, all the time. If there wasn't moving air, I'd get claustophobic and feel miserable. Poor Carter had to deal with two fans and a blasting AC at night because I could not handle the heat. He was really nice about it though, especially after I bought him ear muffs to wear around the house. Think Father of the Bride Part 2. I almost cried with joy when our hotel room in Las Vegas had an AC that would get the room to a breezy 60'. You can bet I had that puppy going constantly.

Obviously, with the heat comes the swelling. I finally gave up on wearing my normal wedding ring because I preferred to have blood circulating in my finger. I wore my back up big ring, but missed the real thing. When we went to Vegas for the weekend we'd walk around in 95-110' heat and Carter says he could feel a very noticeable difference in my hand size. I literally had sausage fingers. I wish I took a picture because it was kind of cool looking, but oh well. Next pregnancy. All of my shoes felt too small and I'm sure I had awesome cankles. Again, I wish I had taken a picture.

I think the biggest thing that I struggled with was the fatique and discomfort that comes with having an awkward sized body. I always felt SO tired and achy. Baths and hot tubs became my best friends. I couldn't really sleep at night because I was so uncomfortable and would then feel even more tired. The Harry Potter books saved my bacon because holy cow, its hard to not go insane when its 3am and your exhausted but cannot sleep. I would pretty much read all night until I finally crashed. But hey, having to read Harry Potter is never a bad thing! I love those books

34 weeks into my pregnancy I started having contractions. There was a lot of pressure in my lower tummy and I felt really off. We went to Labor and Delivery and turns out I had a kidney infection. I really hate crying wolf so it was a real struggle to admit that I needed to go to the doctor, but I'm so happy I did because had we waited, the kidney infection would've gotten real labor going and I would've ended up having my baby. The nurse in the hospital said that it was really smart to go when I did. I'm glad we caught it in time. They gave me a few IVs of antibiotics and sent me on my way. Man I'm grateful for modern medicine. That could've been bad!

But anyways...the third trimester was definitely better than the first, but I was still more than ready to be done with being pregnant. I couldn't wait to meet my boy!

At 33 weeks

While in Vegas

Right before a run (walk)...I think 30 weeks? Not sure

37 weeks, right before I had him.

Pics of Summer Fun

So...I'm dumb. I've tried to get this post perfect approximately 291 times. But I keep deleting the pictures I put up. And I can't format them the way I want. So I gave up for a few months and now I'm super behind in posting about life at the Livingston house. So sorry posterity, but I'll try to do a good recap.

Here are some of the summer pictures that I didn't delete:

At the Fourth of July Parade by our apartment. I had just woken up...obvioulsy

7 Peaks! We got cheap Pass of all Passes and have enjoyed playing at the waterpark

At the Goo Goo Doll and Matchbox Twenty Concert in Vegas...so fun!

We went on a couples camp out and these are the wives! Super fun!

Over summer we: 

*Camped with friends from the ward

*Hiked to the natural hot springs (I nearly died)

*Hiked Bridal Veil Falls (didn't know there was a trail leading up to it, so perhaps "climbed" Bridal Veil Falls is more appropriate)

*Watched the extended versions of Lord of the Rings and looked what we didn't understand...thus upping our nerdiness from a 7.7 to a solid 9 

*Watched my belly jump around as Jayden kicked me

*Hot tubbed and/or swam about every other day

*Almost died in the heat, oh wait that was me

*Slept on the floor of our front room because our bedroom didn't get air from the AC

*Had the AC and two fans going constantly, and still felt too hot (me again)

*Worked at the temple as ordinance workers

*Carter was called as first counselor in the EQP

*I was called as the secretary for the Relief Society...its been rough, I'm horrible at technology and keep messing things up, but my president is incredibly patient so they haven't fired me yet

*Went to LA to visit Gracie, Kevin, and Kyrie

*Went to Auburn to visit family

*Wakeboarded while in Auburn...a lot (not enough according to Carter)

*Got sun burnt at Seven Peaks

*Did silly Prenatal youtube work outs (that was Carter...) (kidding)

*Read Harry Potter again for the 1,238th time

*Worked as a soils technician intern (Carter)

*Worked in the Library for half the summer (me)

*Started an online certification program to become a group fitness instructor (me)

*watched my belly grow

*cooked thanksgiving dinner because I was craving it

It was a great summer! But we were happy to move on and begin fall semester. Especially since it meant Jayden's due date was fast approaching!