A Molly Story Part 3- Meet Molly

Thursday morning Rustin woke up early to leave for work. He had to be in San Antonio early so he could move a family to Oklahoma. This would be his last out of town job for a while, but he'd be back late Thursday night. When I woke up on Thursday morning I was having contractions but my water hadn't broken so I wasn't going to worry. I went on about my day running errands until about 9:30 when I realized my contractions were getting really close together (5 min.-ish). I called my mom and had her come over just to sit with me for a little bit. By the time she got here about 15 min. later I was throwing up and my contractions were only about 4 min. apart. So she tossed me in the car and we headed for the hospital.

Rustin was about halfway through his job and drove the load on to Brownwood where his sister, Elisa, and brother and law, Clint, live. Clint hopped in Rustin's truck to finish the job and Elisa brought Rustin to the hospital. By this time I'd- had my epidural and things were going ok. Rustin got to the hospital about 2 o'clock and there wasn't much wait time after that. We spent a few min. visiting with my parents, my aunt Terri, his mom & sister and my grandparents before things really got going.

I moved along rather quickly and by 4:30 Dr. S had been paged and my wonderful nurse Brandy was getting me ready to push. According to my mom Dr. S came busting out of the elevator and flew down the hallway toward my room. 5 pushes and 9 min. later (4:58pm) Molly Ann Mahan entered this world.

Clean Up in Frozen Foods

So back here I told you all about the meals I'd made for after Molly gets here. Which is great in theory but every time I went out to the deep freezer in the garage it made me cringe. I didn't even know what all was in there or where it would be. So I looked for different ideas on how to organize a freezer.

I liked this one but it wasn't practical for a deep freezer.


These freezer totes would work but they were super expensive.


I thought about using these file trays or stacking trays but wasn't sure if I could fit as many as I needed.


So this is what my mom I came up with.


I put all 45 of the meals in 3 laundry baskets. (chicken, beef, other)Then I put 5 meals into each grocery bag (2 chicken, 2 beef, 1 other). Next I labeled each bag with what was inside. The plan is to take one bag from the freezer in the garage and put it in the inside freezer each week.



I know there are 7 days in a week and I only put 5 meals in each bag but I wanted to keep convenience meals like fajitas(3), pizza (2), turkey, ham, sausage wraps, hamburgers, and hot dogs separate from home cooked meals.

39 Weeks

How far along? 39 weeks
Size of Baby: watermelon
Total weight gain/loss: 39 lbs
Maternity clothes? of course
Stretch marks? yep
Sleep: mostly 2 hour stretches
What I miss: picking up heavy things, my crossfit workouts
Movement: now that shes head down the kicking is mostly in the ribs
Cravings: waffles
Symptoms: def. nesting.
Showing: for sure
Gender: Molly
Mood: Impatient

A Molly Story Part 2.5~ Turn Baby Turn!

So the ECV (external version) was a success!! The nurse I had was very sweet but was new and there were a few glitches* before we got started, but once she got the IV in we were good to go. Dr. S started the procedure right away and Molly wasn't having any of it. On the pain level it definitely wasn't the most pleasant experience and I don't tolerate pain very well (My mom even had a hard time watching it) but I think I did pretty good. Her heart rate stayed stable so Dr. S tried again, this time trying to move her in the opposite direction. Again baby girl wasn't budging. Her heart rate was still good so Dr. S decided to try one more time. Before the last try she tipped the bed back as far as it would go so that I was at a 45 degree angle with my head towards to the floor. They checked head placement and found that she had indeed turned and was head down ready to go. Dr. S didn't think it was necessary to schedule an induction or c-section which made me happy! They kept me hooked up to the monitors to make sure we were both OK. Then they discharged me about an hour and a half later to go home and wait for her to decide to make her appearance.

*By glitches I mean the moron sweetheart that was my nurse blew the vein in my hand and hit a nerve.

Usually needles etc. don't bother me but when my whole hand turns black and blue and makes me look like a crackhead I'm not a fan.

Dad's Birthday

Last Sunday we celebrated not only my dad's 54th birthday (7/13) but my Papa's 79th birthday (7/17) as well. We enjoyed a lasagna lunch with pecan pie for dessert. It was simple and a great time to sit and visit with family. About halfway through lunch it hit me (again) that this would be the last time we celebrate these birthdays without Molly. I was hoping that she'd be here on 7/15 and we'd be able to celebrate all 3 of them together but God has a different plan for our little one.

Week 38

How far along? 38 weeks
Size of Baby: leek
Total weight gain/loss: 38 lbs
Maternity clothes? of course
Stretch marks? yep
Sleep: getting better. more bathroom trips than in the past
What I miss: sleeping on my stomach
Movement: lots more now that shes head down
Cravings: crackers
Symptoms: def. nesting. My feet are beyond sore all the time and my emotions are a little more "all over the place" this week
Showing: for sure
Gender: Molly
Mood: Thankful. I'm thankful that I have a loving husband to experience all this with. Also, I'm thankful that I have a mom that is willing to sacrafice her days off to help me with errands and help clean my house (I mean really CLEAN...is nesting contagious???) Plus she keeps her opinions/advice to herself until I ask for it. Mostly not to overwhelm me I'm sure. :)


I thought my cart this week at Wal-Mart really summed up week 38

A Molly Story Part Two~ An episode of Grey's???

While at my first doctor's appointment, about week 8, my doctor suggested I go ahead and do my yearly exam. When the results came back that next week they were positive for pre-cancerous cells. This isn't the first time that this has happened but because of the changes caused by the pregnancy the doctor wanted to be very cautious. I needed a biopsy but we had to wait until the pregnancy was far enough along that it wouldn't harm the baby. At week 18 Rustin and I went for our gender sonogram followed by my biopsy. My results came back and Dr. S said we were in the clear for now and we'd do another biopsy at week 28. Once we got the all clear from the doctor we finally felt like we could be excited about our baby girl. We started thinking about names, and other baby related things we had been blocking out until we knew for sure we would both make it through this pregnancy. It was such an awesome feeling to know we were both healthy and share the news with the rest of our friends and family.



We continued on our pregnancy journey thinking we were in the clear until I got a call from my doctors office about week 30. My bloodwork was coming back with some odd abnormalities (I know that sounds redundant). Dr. S was sending me to meet with an oncologist. The first thing that went through my mind was "Oh great! How many cancer scares does one pregnancy need." After running the gamut on 9 vials of blood I was diagnosed with cold agglutinin disease. Which basically means that my red blood cells attack other red blood cells for no reason, and clots really funny when I get cold. Dr. B said that as long as I'm not symptomatic Molly and I should both be fine. The only thing to be concerned about is delivery. So I called both my brothers & my mom since we have the same blood type and lined up donors for a transfusion. (Hopefully we won't need it~especially since Joe is CRAZY afraid of needles but we have it just in case)

We made it to week 37 with no more crazy health issues. That's when Molly decided to invoke her right not to turn. After an unexpected sonogram we found that she's folded like a "c" with her butt where her head should be.
(I'm amazed that before she fit in the frame with room to spare and now only her face fits)

Dr. S and I worked out a plan. We gave her 8 days to turn on her own, and scheduled a ECV to try and turn her in case she decided to be stubborn and didn't. Dr. S said there's a 50/50 chance the ECV would work, and if it didn't we'd schedule a c-section for the following week. I really, really, really, didn't want to have a c section so during those 8 days I tried everything I'd read about trying to turn a breech baby. I held a bag of frozen Okra underneath my boobs trying to get her to move away from the cold. I tried music and a heating pad trying to get her to move toward them. I even tried laying with my pelvis 12 inches off the ground and pinching my pinky toes with clothespins. At my next doctor's appointment we had another sonogram and low and behold she hadn't moved. So the ECV would go on as scheduled. The Dr. was pretty confident that the ECV would work.

The whole pregnancy wasn't all scary and grim. There were a LOT of wonderful moments! Like working with Rustin on the nursery, celebrating Rustin's first Father's Day, and all the fun baby showers. All in all we're thankful that we've been blessed with "best case senerios".

Happy New Year ???

Even before I was a teacher the new year really didn't start in January...it started in August when my parents would take us school supply shopping. I was in Target this week and they had all the back to school stuff out and I realized for the first time that I wouldn't really be starting the "new year" like I usually do. My plan (on paper) is to go back to work for 4 days of inservice and do the first week with kiddos so they get used to me and the way the classroom runs before I disapear on them until November. I'm sure ALOT of things will be different this year but it's def. alot of change at once. I have finally made time to take a trip to the teacher store (previous years I spend half my summer there) and these are the projects that I've gotten together so far.



While writing this post this commercial came on TV and it made me smile.

A Molly Story Part One~ How we found out

Today I'm linking up with Kelly's Show us your Life Series-This week is all about sharing your pregnancy news. Here's Molly's Story:

December 9th I was sent home from work with chest pains. I went to my family doctor where they ran lots of tests. Including a pregnancy test just in case they needed to put me on medication. I thought nothing of it and was feeling fine.

The following Monday about 1:30 the phone rang. After recognizing the number as my doctors office I stepped into the hallway to take the call. The nurse told me that my EKG and bloodwork came back normal and that I was indeed pregnant. I was so shocked I nearly dropped the phone, and I'm pretty sure I hung up on her. (I had taken tests a few weeks before that came out negative) About that time Vicci came out into the hallway and scooted me into the bathroom. I filled her in on what was going on. She let me talk and work through what was swooshing around in my head.

On the way home from work I called Rustin and told him we needed to talk when he got home. Then I stopped at Wal-Greens for a test and a bag of chips. I went straight home to take the test (for some reason I was thinking it might say something different. I had just taken a test the week before).

When Rustin got home I was waiting on the couch (the bag of chips was consumed quickly--what can I say I'm an emotional eater). When I told him that we were going to have a baby he scooped me into a hug and told me that he loved me and that we'd be starting a new chapter in our lives. A little while later we changed clothes and went to Chili's for dinner then came home and played a game of dominoes. (I think he let me win, since I've never beat him before nor since) I stopped by Jenny's to get any advice she had on telling our families. When I got home I called my parents to let them know that all my bloodwork/tests came back clean, and that we were going to have a baby. They were a little surprised by the news but relieved that I was healthy. Rustin called his parents and sister to tell them the news. We decided to wait until after the first trimester to tell anyone else just to be on the safe side. It was a good thing we did.

This Week In Review..what Happens when you don't login to Pinterest

It's been a busy week. I feel super productive and my swollen feet are proof of what can happen when you don't check pinterest for a week :) This week I interviewed and selected my long term sub. I didn't think this would be so hard but it was. I ended up choosing someone that has experience in 4th grade which makes me feel better. Plus I have an awesome team so I know they'll make things as easy as possible for her. I can't help thinking about how strange it will be not to be with these kiddos all year long but I'm so looking forward to spending time with Molly. Anyway, I was trying to prepare for my interviews and realized there wasn't a whole lot out there (at least that I came across)about what types of questions to ask a potential long term sub so I came up with an interview sheet.




I also spent an afternoon getting address labels ready for Molly's Announcements. (per my bump checklist) Here's a sneak peek at the TinyPrints announcements that are in the running.







This week I also got a chance to have lunch with Sandie and her cute little Corbin. It was great just chatting and catching up. The food at Texican was great too! She mentioned that she and her husband read this book




and sugguested I read it. I went straight from lunch to Half Price Books on the way to my appointment with Dr. B. I didn't think it'd be super entertaining but helpful none the less. Oh my gosh it's GREAT! I'm even going to make Rustin read it. If you haven't read it you should. He also wrote one about toddlers that I'm sure I'll pick up later. Thanks Sandie!!!

Week 37

How far along? 37 weeks
Size of Baby: Swiss Chard
Total weight gain/loss: 36 lbs
Maternity clothes? of course
Stretch marks? one by my where my belly button ring used to be..they should post a picture of this in tattoo/piercing places with a caption that says "Listen to your mom. This is what it'll look like in 10 years"
Sleep: I really just want to sleep on my stomach again
What I miss: Happy Hour
Movement: the last week or so the movement hasn't been alot of kicking she just slides from one side of my stomach to the other
Cravings: donuts & chocolate milk
Symptoms: I can't wear my watch or rings or certain shoes from the swelling
Showing: for sure
Gender: Molly
Mood: Anxious again this week but for different reasons. We've set up an appt. to pick a pediatrician and tour the hospital on Friday (I know we're way behind on these things)This week I'm anxious to see her again. This Friday we'll be checking one last time to see if she's turned herself. She's currently hangin' out with her bottom down and her head and feet up in my ribs (kinda like a taco). If she turns on her own we're good to play the waiting game. If she doesn't we'll try to turn her on Tuesday. Again if it works we'll just wait on her to get here. If she doesn't turn we'll schedule a c-section for later that week. I really have no desire for that to happen so pray that our stubborn little girl will cooperate.

Week By Week

Just thought this was crazy to look at. Enjoy!

Customize your own free picture collage

Week 20-36 (minus week 21)

Adventures in Couponing

So I went on my first couponing trip. Here's what I got:



4 (3 bar) packages of Dove Soap
2 (6 pk) LUVS white baby socks
2 32 oz Clorox bathroom cleaner
1 32 oz Clorox toilet bowl cleaner
1 64 oz Palmolive dish soap
2 (12 pk) Orange Soda
1 bag of Mrs. Baird's hotdog buns
1 can of Underwoods Chicken Spread

Retail Value: $52 before tax
Grand Total after coupons: $25 before tax

I'm sure the extreme couponers would've spent 18 cents but I feel like I did pretty good for my first go 'round.

Girlfriend's got some Stuff

Between the two baby showers I spent part of the week putting Molly's things together and finding ways to keep organized. Here's the proof:

Diaper bag filled

Diapers stacked and changing pad covered

Diaper champ bagged and ready

High chair assembled and inspected by her "big sister"

Car seat and shade installed

Bow holder made and hung

Toy bucket made and filled

To organize all her stuff I finally labeled the bins in the closet


Swing put together and functioning

Week 36

How far along? 36 weeks
Size of Baby: crenshaw mellon (I have no idea what this fruit is)
Total weight gain/loss: 33 lbs
Maternity clothes? for sure on pants and shorts but with tops I can go either way.
Stretch marks? one by my where my belly button ring used to be
Sleep: getting better
What I miss: maragritas
Movement: tons
Cravings: cheerios
Symptoms: my lower back hurts all the time
Showing: for sure
Gender: Molly
Mood: Anxious...We haven't picked a pediatrician or even toured the hospital yet. I just feel like there's TONS left to do before she gets here...where'd the time go??

Ironing...

Oh how I loathe thee!

If you know anything about me you know that I'm overall a pretty tidy person. With that being said I HATE IRONING!! I mean I really Hate it. Usually if I want to wear something and it's wrinkled I'll toss it on the board and run the iron over it as quickly as I can. This is one of the few areas in which my hubby and I differ. He believes clothes shouldn't be hung up until they're ironed so that you don't have to iron as you go and can get dressed more quickly. Which I guess makes sense as it's one less thing to do before you walk out the door. (DON'T EVER tell him I said that) So I came up with a system.

I had these little wooden door hangers laying around so I painted one white. Then cut out the words and pictures using my Silhouette.


Now when I hang clothes to dry I hang them behind the sign if they will need to be ironed before hanging them in the closet.


Not saying I've found the answer to all the world's problems but I have found the solution to my ironing dilemma.

Medina Lake

Could it be possible? Did my super hardworking hubby just get 3 days off?? In a row??? With one of those days being a Saturday????

YES he did!!!

So we took advantage of these 3 days to go on a "babymoon".


A two years ago we went on vacation to San Antonio.

Us at the River Walk

Dinner at the Tower of the Americas

Usually when we go to San Antonio we spend time with family. This time we started the weekend off with Molly's Second baby shower. Then we spent time out at Lake Medina with the whole family.

Rustin with Auston and Aaron





Rustin, Courtney and I attempted to "soak" a watermellon for our day on the dock.


If you'd like to make one yourself we discovered that sticking the bottle upside down into the watermellon worked better than trying to inject the vodka into the watermellon.


According to everyone else it was AMAZING! I'll have to trust them on this one.

All in all we had a great time. This trip is probably the last time Rustin and I will travel as a "twosome" and I look forward to our next trip (probably not until middle October-ish) when we can bring Molly along.