2 weeks to go

I have two weeks and 1 day until my due date and I could not be more excited! I can't wait to meet my son. The baby has definitely dropped and I have had an easier time breathing but more pressure and a strong urge to pee all the time!! I've had a few contractions but nothing consistent yet. My next appointment isn't till Oct. 5th but I will keep you all updated if anything happens before then.

Monday Night Football

Kelly has been waiting months to watch the Chargers play in Monday night football against the Raiders. It's been an interesting game in this house since we have a few Raiders fans and a few Chargers fans. He is yelling at the TV as I type this. I love that he gets so involved in the games...its cute. I can't wait till he can watch football with his son.

New Camera

I have been wanting to purchase an SLR for a while and finally decided to bite the bullet and get this one. Its a Canon Rebel T1I. I'm still learning to use it but thus far I LOVE IT! I'm glad I got it and I can't wait to take pictures of my little one with it.

This was the first photo I took with my new camera. Kiki (my nephew Nicholas, he calls himself Kiki) was a good sport about me chasing him around and taking pictures of him.

36 Weeks

I am officially 9 months pregnant and am definitely starting to get uncomfortable. I am having a lot of lower back/leg pain and I cannot sleep. I am SO ready for this baby to come out.

I am feeling really good about the fact that the baby is almost fully developed and would most likely be completely fine if he were born at this point. I am feeling very unprepared as far as "stuff" for the baby. A few wonderful ladies in my ward here are throwing me a baby shower tomorrow night. I'm so excited. Once we have the shower, my mom and I plan to do some shopping to make sure I have everything I need for my son's homecoming.

I'm getting really excited that he is coming soon and I think it is finally starting to sink in that I am going to be a mom.

34 Weeks

I am officially 6 weeks away from my due date and I can now say that my baby is due next month! I felt fabulous the entire second trimester and the first half of the third trimester but recently I have gotten pretty uncomfortable. I just feel really big and have had a lot of pain in my right leg, not to mention the fact that I am no longer sleeping very well. Maybe pregnant ladies can't sleep in order to prepare themselves for the lack of sleep after the baby comes (which I'm sure is much worse).

Last night I had a dream that he came out and ended up being a girl and I kept telling the doctor that it wasn't my baby. I kept trying to give the baby back and would not accept that the baby girl was mine. I'm pretty sure it was one of those dreams that has nothing to do with reality because I saw, very clearly, on the ultrasound his little package and there was absolutely no denying the anatomy!

Since babies are considered full term at 37 weeks, I would love it if he decided to make his debut a few weeks early. I know this is totally wishful thinking so I'm just telling myself that he will most likely come late. This way I won't go crazy if he decides to take his sweet time!

We're Here!

Kelly and I have been in California for three weeks now! Wow the time has flown by. We stayed at my Grandma's house for the first two weeks (she and her husband Brent are on a Mission in Hong Kong) and now we are at my parents house. We have been room hopping. My parents were in Las Vegas on business last week so we stayed in their room and took care of the dogs while they were gone. Now that they are back we are taking over my brother Chad's room. Then in two weeks, when my brother Jared and his family leave, we will move upstairs where we will stay until the end of December. These past two months of been full of moving and living out of suitcases so needless to say we are really excited to have a space to call our own!

The Bay Area has been treating us well. We have already been to In-In-Out a few times and have taken numerous trips to Yogurt Shack. Kelly has been keeping busy with his internship and I have been doing odd jobs here and there and getting ready for the baby. We took a Childbirth Preparation class that was very informative but too long. We didn't have time for the 7 week long classes so we had to sign up for the express class which was 3 hours on Friday and 8 hours on Saturday. I think the class really helped Kelly and I to feel more prepared for labor. Since I can't have an epidural, I'm glad we were able to work on some other techniques for managing pain.

Two days after I got here my sister-in-law, Paige, had her second baby boy, Ryker Jared. I was able to be there for his delivery, which was so cool! Paige had a placental abruption and baby Ryker ended up swallowing a lot of blood and had to spend a day in the NICU. He and mommy are both doing well now. A big thanks to Paige for letting me practice my newborn care skills on Baby Ryker!

Allred Family Reunion

A few weeks ago we met up with Kelly's entire family for our first annual family reunion. It was an absolute blast. We went to Kory and Lisa's house near Hell's Canyon. Kory and Lisa live a few hours from the nearest grocery store so we stopped in Boise and stocked up on food before we got there. We all took turns cooking and planning activities and it could not have been more fun. We are already looking forward to next year at Aaron and Gina's house in St. George, Utah.

The Best 2 Years

Kelly and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary yesterday. We are in Star Valley so we took a hike to the Intermittent Spring; I even made it all the way to the top! The hike was absolutely gorgeous and I was so glad I got to see the beautiful scenery. After our hike we stopped at Maverick and got a huge Diet Pepsi and then we went to Red Barin and got a butterfinger shake to share.
The last 2 years have gone by so fast and I can't believe that in 2 more months we are adding a new member to our family. I definitely married the greatest man in the world and I couldn't be happier!

Graduation

I finished my last final this afternoon and this evening was my graduation ceremony. Graduation was nice except for the fact that it was super hot in the auditorium and everyone was fanning themselves with their programs throughout the entire ceremony. It feels great to be done. =)

Kelly's parents came down for the occasion and it was really fun to see them. They even took us to Craigo's after the festivities...Yum!

I Actually Did It

There were a few times during my college education years that I felt like giving up. It took me about 4 1/2 years to get my degree but tomorrow it will be official! I overcame quite a few setbacks including:

• Back Surgery my Freshman Year
  
• Getting Married Sophomore Year
  
• Brain Surgery Junior Year
  
• Pregnancy Sickness Senior Year
  

WOW! Thinking about what I have been through these last four years really makes me feel like I have accomplished a lot. Kelly and I have had our fair share of struggles in our short time of marriage but I really feel like things are looking up for us. Everyone is in good health, I'm graduating, he only has his internship and one more semester, and best of all we are having a baby. I have so much to be grateful for and I can't wait to get my diploma and make it official tomorrow!

*Clarification: Getting married was not a setback, just something that took a lot of my time!!!

Extra Sweet Orange Soda

I had a doctors appointment on Monday and I had to do the gestational diabetes test. For those who have never done it...it's really not a big deal at all. You drink this stuff that tastes like really sweet orange soda, wait an hour, they draw your blood and 10 minutes later you have the results. Piece of cake. I'm proud to report I'm diabetes free. The baby is looking healthy and everything is going great. I'm still measuring about a week early so we'll see if he actually comes early...I would be happy if he was a week early.

Funny story: when the doctor put the device thingy on my belly to listen for the baby's heartbeat she pushed down kind of hard and the baby immediately kicked right in the spot where she pushed. I could actually see the doctors hand move from his kick. She said, "oh I don't think he liked that very much." When I came home and told Kelly about it he was quick to inform me that our son is just like his dad: he doesn't like doctors poking and prodding him! Kelly never ceases to make me laugh.

Salt Lake Getaway

Kelly and I decided to make a quick trip to Salt Lake last weekend since we had a few days off school. We went to the temple and took a tour of the conference center. We also enjoyed lots of good food we can't get in Rexburg like CPK, Chipotle, and Panda Express. The next day we went to the mall and walked through a few model homes (0ne of my favorite things to do). It was a really quick trip but we had an awesome time just being able to spend time with each other!

Itty, Where Go?

On our trip to California in May Kelly and I tried to teach our nephew, Nicholas to say our names. My name came out like "Itty" and Kelly's came out "CaCa!" It was absolutely hilarious when we said, "Nicholas, say Kelly" and his reply was "CaaaCa." Too cute.

I just got home from my last weekend in California on Monday evening and I got a call from Nicholas on Tuesday morning and when I answered the phone he said, "Itty, where go? where go?" His mom told him that Aunt Brittany had to go home to see Uncle Kelly and Nicholas promptly yelled, "CaaCa!" It was precious and totally made my day.

Special Olympics

While I was in California I got the chance to see my brother Chad swim in the Northern California Special Olympics. The festivities were held at the UC Davis campus on the HOTTEST day of the year. It was over 100 degrees outside and I felt like I was going to melt but it was totally worth it to see my brother win first place in his class! He swam so well and I was a very proud little sister.Chad started to lose steam on his last lap and was sort of just bobbing up and down in the water...it was pretty funny.He was SO proud of his Gold Medal.
Left to Right: Me, Chad's best friend Eric, Chad, My Mom Sabrina

shop till you drop

I came to California for the weekend and my mom, sister-in-law and I went to San Francisco to do a big shopping trip for the baby. My sister-in-law Paige is also pregnant and having a boy so we went to every baby store imaginable! It was tons of fun and we got some really cute stuff.

The pregnant ladies got tired in the shoe store so we sat down for a short break! We were shopping for like 8 hours that day...it was fun but also exhausting.

Anxiously Waiting

At my 23 week appointment last week I measured a little big...24 weeks! I'm hoping this means he will come early but maybe it just means he is going to be a BIG baby. The appointment went well and baby boy Allred looks very healthy. I have my glucose tolerance test in 3 weeks. This is only a one hour test and I've had to do a 4 hour test so I'm hoping it will seem easy.I'm getting very anxious for our little guy to make his appearance. Hopefully time will go by quickly.

Happy Father's Day

We had a nice relaxing Father's Day yesterday. We woke up late, made a delicious breakfast of eggs, sausage, and waffles with homemade syrup and Kelly got to open the present I got him. As many of you know, Kelly LOVES the San Diego Chargers so I went online and ordered a newborn size Chargers onesie complete with a beanie and booties. It will be just the right size for this football season. Kelly was so excited!

Happy 25th!

It was Kelly's 25th Birthday on Wednesday and we had a wonderful day. When Kelly got home from school he opened a few gifts and then we went to Horkley's (our local gas station). Horkley's sells 44 oz. soda refills for 50 cents. One of Kelly's birthday wishes was to have a Diet Pepsi in his hands at. all. times. I don't know if he accomplished that, but it was pretty close!

Kelly had to go back to school in the afternoon but he was able to come home around 2:30. He played PlayStation for a while and then we headed to Idaho Falls. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Garcia's and it was yummy. Then we went to the mall to do some birthday shopping. It was a great day. Happy Birthday Babe!

Date Night

Last night was a great night. Kelly and I have been trying to find someone to rent our apartment when we leave so we won't be liable to pay out the rest of our contract. This proved to be a lot harder than we thought because the landlord decided to raise the rent $100! We got a call last night that an engaged couple wanted to come look at it. They came over and saw it and were ready to put down a deposit right then...what a relief! I just hope our landlord stays on top of things and gets them to sign a contract quickly so they don't change their mind. We're trying to save money for our big move so we have not been spending much money on dates. We decided to rent New in Town from Redbox. We made popcorn for Kelly and ice cream for me and cuddled up on the couch and watched the movie. Definitely a chick flick but Kelly was a good sport. I like the movie a lot and would recommend it. There's something about a date-night-in that is so fun and relaxing. It was a good night.

Moving

It's official, we are moving to California at the beginning of August. We finish this semester at the end of July (when I will finally graduate!) and then we will be moving in with my parents for the next 4 months or so. Kelly will do an internship while we are there (we're still not quite sure where yet). It took us a long time to make this decision but we feel really good about it now. It should be a fun adventure and it will be nice to have the help once the baby comes...even if it will only be for 6 weeks or so. I am more than ready for this semester to be over and I know Kelly is too. Hopefully the time will go by fast and before we know it our baby boy will be here!

tho good, the bad, and the ugly

My most recent pregnancy symptoms have been interesting to say the least.

The Ugly: Since being pregnant I have been more prone to breakouts and can't seem to keep my skin clear. Also, I have gotten a cold sore every single month since being pregnant when I used to get one like once a year!

The Bad: Itchiness- my calves, the back of my knees, my armpits, and my back are super itchy. I go to the bathroom about 20 times a day, 4 or 5 of those times are in the middle of the night...literally.

The Good: I can eat pretty much anything...I have even started to like pickles which I used to HATE. My little man has finally started to kick enough that Kelly can feel him. Yesterday he did a flip for the first time...totally weird but really cool too! I'm just so excited that he is healthy and doing well and I could not be more happy about this pregnancy.

Kick Kick Kick

My baby boy has been kicking me a lot lately. I felt him for the first time over a month ago but he has been much more active recently. Kelly has even been able to feel him...after many nights spent with his hand on my belly. I am in such a fun stage of pregnancy. I'm finally starting to look pregnant, not just fat, but I'm not big enough to be uncomfortable yet.

I am really anxious for him to come out and play, but I'm trying to just enjoy the feeling of being pregnant. It is finally sinking in that I have a real human growing inside me and I already love him so much. I can't imagine how I'll feel when he is born.

I broke down and ordered a few items of baby clothes online today. I've been trying to wait to buy him things, but I just couldn't wait any longer. I think I have satisfied my shopping urge enough now that I won't feel the need to buy anything for a while.
This is my favorite purchase of the day! It was on sale and I just couldn't pass it up...our son will look so cute in it.

Our Weekends

For Memorial Day weekend we went to Star Valley. We drove to Crow Creek and made a bonfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. It was raining off and on the whole day but we managed to get our lunch in before it started pouring on us.We also took a drive to Swift Creek and saw a new project that McKell's company had been working on. Glenae set the timer on her camera and when she was running back to get in the picture she kept turning around and it was making us all laugh.

Aaron and Gina made a trip to Star Valley the next weekend because Gina's sister got married. We decided to drive back so we could see them. I didn't get any pictures of Avery but this is Conner and Kelly. Conner is the spitting image of Kelly at his age. I hope our son is as cute as him. We had a lot of fun playing with the kids. Avery kept asking us to go downstairs and play cars or pony's. We love them!

And just for fun here is a picture of my belly about a week ago. I think I was 20 weeks at this point. I'm growing slowly but surely.

Our Son!

Thats right, there's no mistaking it...we are definetely going to have a baby boy. The ultrasound was amazing! We saw him moving around and he was even sucking his thumb at one point. Our son is cute.

Growing Stomach

I finally feel like I am getting a little bit bigger! It's fun to be able to see that I am actually pregnant. I still think I look more on the fat side than the pregnant side, but I'm sure in a few weeks I'll be poking out even more. We get to find out the sex (hopefully) in one week so make sure to cast your vote.

I go back and forth as far as my prediction for the gender. When I was first pregnant I had a couple dreams about my delivery and the baby always came out a boy. Since then I have thought it might be a boy. However, lately I have really been thinking more along the lines of girl and then I go back to thinking boy. What it really comes down to is that I. don't. know. Kelly is guessing boy but he says he really doesn't have any strong feelings one way or another.

In other news, I had a consultation with an anesthesiologist to discuss my options for pain relief during delivery. I had a spinal fusion when I was 17 so I was not sure if an epidural was an option for me. The doctor told me that she would be willing to try to do an epidural but she cannot guarantee that it will work. She said that most of the time patients who have had previous spinal surgery will have no relief at all or one leg will go numb but they will still feel all the contractions and pushing.

There is also an increased risk of putting the needle in too far because it is harder to feel the epidural space of a fused spine. If the needle goes in too far the side affect is an excruciating headache that can last up to two weeks. I was told this headache is completely debilitating and most women cannot even hold their own babies because the pain is so bad. If I end up needing to have a C-section I will most likely have to use general anesthesia because a spinal block has the same risks, side affects, and effectiveness among spinal surgery patients.

After talking to the doctor and thinking about my options and the possible side affects I think I will be having my baby with no pain medications. I know they can give you narcotics through an IV but I worry about those medications getting to the baby so I am going to avoid them if I can. I've made it through two major back surgeries and a brain surgery so I know what pain feels like. I've just never tried to do any of it without drugs! I am really nervous but I feel like this will be the best choice for me and the baby.

If anyone has suggestions about making it through labor and delivery, I would LOVE to hear what worked for you. And now for the fun part...Belly Pictures. Enjoy.

5 Weeks 10 Weeks

15 Weeks17 Weeks
This was today after church.