I had my second non-stress test today (btw, I learned it is called a NON-stress test, not just a stress test.) and it went really well. Baby has been really active the last few days (thank goodness) and it has helped my stress go down a lot. The only thing that didn't go great at the NST was that my blood pressure was higher than normal. Dan says how could it not be when I'm basically on death watch?? Seriously though, this monitoring movements isn't very fun. I asked the doctor at the place I do the NST's at and she said that the standard for colestasis is to deliver the babies between 37-38 weeks. I haven't talked to my doctor yet, but it sounds like I might be having this baby a few weeks earlier than expected. Which is a little overwhelming because I don't feel like I have everything ready, because well... I don't. The nursery isn't done, my hospital bags aren't packed, stuff like that. The nursery I'm not too concerned about, I went and bought the bare minimums... Diapers, wipes, pacifiers and blankets. I have been waiting on other things because I'm not sure what I'll get at my showers since I decided not to register. Could have been a mistake, but here is my reasoning: 1- I've never had a baby before, so I have no idea what I really need or what is a waste. I feel like if I'm not registered for something, but someone still gets it for me, it is because they have used it before and it is awesome. 2- For my wedding I registered for some really dumb stuff and didn't end up using it. My favorite presents were things I hadn't registered for. Seriously, how was I supposed to know I needed a rice cooker/slow cooker combo?! It is now my 3rd most used appliance. 3- If people don't know what to get me, maybe they will get me an adorable outfit and at least have fun picking it out while they are dying over all the teeny-tiny, adorable baby clothes. 4- I already have most of the big ticket items that would usually be given as group gifts. 5- Quite frankly, with the UTI and now this I didn't have a lot of energy and I was extremely overwhelmed at the thought of wandering around Buy Buy Baby for 3 hours scanning shiz.

Anyways, the point of the post... I could possibly/will probably be a mom this time 3 weeks from now. I can't believe it.

The doctor told me to drink Dr. Pepper, can you believe it? I think this is the best day of my life.

Just kidding, it's actually not.

So, I have something called Cholestasis of Pregnancy. You can read about it if you want, but basically my liver and gall bladder aren't functioning at 100% and I am an itchy-itchy-itch fest because there is bile in my blood. (Eww, right?) Well a few weeks ago I started getting super itchy at night, mostly in my hands and feet. Then it moved up to my knees, and now it is pretty much all over my entire body, including my face. I went to Arizona and got sunburned and Dan told me that it was probably because of that. Um, I didn't get sunburned on the bottom of my feet, DAN. Geez. Plus, it started before I went. Haha. Anyways, the other day I woke up in the middle of the night and honestly felt like I was on drugs. It was the weirdest thing. I went to the bathroom and washed my hands and when I was drying my hands, the towel itching my fingers felt euphoric. I could not believe how good it felt, so I started dragging my feet across the carpet and that felt equally as awesome. I was just dragging my feet across the carpet walking back and forth in front of our bed for like 5 minutes at 3 AM, until my feet were covered in some serious rug burn. I went back to sleep and woke up a little bit later and was scratching my upper legs and I honestly saw glowing green marks wherever I itched. Kind of like the trail that Turbo the snail leaves behind, but green. On my legs. Under my skin.

I felt like I was tripping out... and it totally freaked me out. I didn't want to wake Dan up so I just took a shower and went back to sleep. This hasn't happened since, I'm sure I was still half asleep and was dreaming about something with glowy green lights, but it was just seriously SO weird. When I woke up, I googled "itching while pregnant" because I believe in Dr. Goog a little too much I guess.  I saw that there really was a condition that causes this, but I didn't actually think I had it. I have been sick for over a month with a UTI that I didn't know I had (Which btw I'm pretty sure it had moved to a kidney infection because trusty Dr. Goog told me I had ALL of the symptoms. Plus it had been over a month. Who actually knows. I was too embarrassed to tell my doctor that I read that can happen because last time I was in there he told me to get off whatever website I was reading. Haha. I'm the worst.) So I just thought it was a side effect of that, but decided to ask my obgyn next time I was in, just incase.

The stress test I had today went well, and I am feeling surprisingly calm about the whole situation. I am glad the baby will be monitored and getting to see him on the screen today was really fun. The Ultrasound tech saw him practicing breathing and pointed it out to me, it was super cute. She said they don't do that a lot so seeing it on screen was pretty special. Awww, best baby ever! 

Overall, I am a little freaked out by how fast this pregnancy has gone, I can't believe there's only 6.5 weeks left. Possibly even less, depending on how the rest of my visits go. Can you believe it? SO crazy. SO nuts. I'm actually about to be a mom. I can't wait.

Baby bump decided to pop today. Finally.  23 weeks and 4 days.

You know what I decided?? I think I'd rather be asked if I was pregnant when I wasn't, than to be told I don't look pregnant when I am. Lately so many people have told me that I "don't even look pregnant." People who know me, and people who don't. To the people that know me, do you even remember what I looked like before!!?!! I have gained what feels like 354 lbs, about half of that was in my face. I look like I am playing a game of fluffy bunny and have 12 jumbo marshmallows hiding in my cheeks. Not just that, but I haven't been able to squeeze into my regular pants since December. FOR THE LOVE people, I feel HUGE. Please just pretend you can see my baby bump?? And tell me how cute it is?? Oh and if you didn't know me before, it's even more rude. Basically what you're saying is that I pull off the whole chubby thing really well. Good to know, I guess.

HOLY CRAP, MOVE, GET OUT OF MY WAY Pregnancy Craving #2....

Homemade Vanilla Bean Milkshake. 

Okay, let's talk about pregnancy cravings. They are unreal. I am 20 weeks and have had two of them. Yeah I get the, wow I could really go for some onion rings right about now "cravings" but honestly, those do not deserve to be called cravings. Pregnancy cravings are cravings on a whole different level. Have you heard that quote about love that goes "I'm looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love." ?? Well I can't think of anything that more acurately describes how I felt about that milkshake today. I needed a milkshake. A vanilla milkshake. It was ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming and I couldn't-live-without-that-milkshake.

We can forget about our Cradle List.

If you are my friend on facebook, or have seen me in real life, you definitely already know about this... because I can't stop talking about it. After trying for 2 years (TO THE DAY! How crazy is that?!) we decided to put the whole kids thing on the back burner, revisit in a couple years, and we bought a puppy. More on him later. He deserves his own post, because he is the sweetest thing ever. 

Of course right after that happened, I got pregger-ooski. I am 16 weeks along (ultrasound above is from 12 weeks) and let me tell you, morning sickness is NO joke. It has finally subsided, so I finally have enough energy to clean my toilet, walk my dog, and BLOG. Mhmmmm. Gotta document this exciting time!

Quick little note about morning sickness... I am so very grateful for it. That may sound weird, but after trying for so long, I was pretty nervous that my body still might not be ready for a baby. So I took comfort in my morning sickness. It made me feel like everything was going okay. The Saturday before my 12 week appointment I felt fabulous. I probably could have ran 1 whole block or something. I didn't think much of it, because it was a busy day... but before bed that night, I started getting nervous. I told Dan about it, and we said a little prayer for comfort. The next morning (Sunday) I woke up feeling SO sick that I couldn't even get my booty to church. Hallelujah. Dan says his prayers WORK! Ha.

As far as our cradle list goes, here's where we are. 

• Hike Timp - I did this for the first time the summer before I met Dan. I want to do it again. 

          Sadly, it didn't happen. 

• Go to Vegas 

          Why do we love Vegas so much, when we don't 

          drink or gamble? I don't know. But we do.

• Lose 20 lbs (for me) 50 lbs (for Dan) - If I can't be preggers, I might as well get skinny, right? 

          Nope, still chubs. But now der's a baby in der 

          so I don't even care. 

• Paint the House - we want to paint the trim, the back wall in the living room and the bathroom.

• Go snowboarding. If funds don't allow, we will go sledding. We will take what we can get. ha! 

• Read the entire Book of Mormon 

          Ashamed to admit, this didn't happen. It's now my 

          2014 resolution. 

• Go to Moab 

          I've still never been! 

• Go to all the temples from Ogden to Provo - I think there's 8? That's what I'm counting from memory... 

          We went to the ones close to us... halfway done? 

• Go to 7 Peaks at least once. We love water slides!! 

• Golf 18 holes together. We can do 9 holes, two different times if we need to. 

          We golfed 9, Dan did a lot more than that. We also 

          frequented the driving range last summer. Close enough! 

• Go to the shooting range (Dan's idea... I'm afraid of guns, but I'll try it... I guess haha) 

          Dan is still talking about this... help me! 

• Take an Archery Lesson (we got a groupon and haven't used it yet! I wanna be like Katniss!) 

          Welp, wasted that $30. 

• Get a massage 

          I NEED ONE. 

• Beat Dan in Ruzzle. HE IS SO GOOD!!!! 

• Run RAGNAR. Mi-Ro is leg 8 and D-ro is leg 12. 

          WORST IDEA EVER. WORST. But we freaking did it.