Our Last Quiet Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!

It's 6am, and I am wide awake, so I figured it was a good time to do a 2009 wrap-up blog. What a year 2009 has been for us.

We spent almost 2 weeks in Hawaii in February, I really cannot say how much I love that place!! Maui, especially. This was the first time we were there in the "winter" months, so we got to go whale watching, which was a great experience. It was also the tannest I had ever gotten, which was nice as well.

March was a quieter month, we had some strange snow/rain mix at the end of the month, but otherwise nothing to big in March.

In April, Matt ran in the first Annual Bunny Dash 5k and placed 3rd over-all, what a great way to start of the season. A few of the Endurance Nation members were there also, so it was a great way to reconnect after the off season.

In May, Matt ran in the first Annual Chicago Spring Half Marathon. Great race for both running (so he says) and spectating. The weather was finally warming up and starting to feel like winter was finally behind us.

June, what a month!! June, is a month that I won't forget. On Friday, June 12th, we were headed to Kansas so that Matt could compete in Ironman Kansas 70.3, but more importantly, that is also the same morning we found out that our lives where about to change, forever! And, I had to keep it quiet the entire weekend, when we talked to our families because I did not want to share the good news over the phone. So, it was our secret through the weekend, and a hard one to keep!! Anyway, we drove to Kansas, through Iowa, a tiny part of Missouri and into Kansas, about 9 hours in all in the car. Matt had a great race and got a spot to compete in the Half Ironman World Championship in Clearwater, Florida. June ended with my mom having total knee replacement in her right knee.

July, was a pretty quiet month, I had days of feeling good and not so good. Matt raced in the Spirit of Racine Aquabike, and came in 2nd, just a few seconds behind a former EN Teammate. It was a great day!! Early in July, we had our first of what will become many doctor appointments over the course of the pregnancy, this one was the first ultrasound (never knew a little "blob" could be so cute!).

August, was quiet and we enjoyed the weather and time together, and it was countdown until Ironman Wisconsin!

September, another month that was one for the books! Matt competed in Ironman Wisconsin. What a day!! The race was great, I spent the day watching the race with some friends, my brother in law, and some of the guys from EN. I could go on and on about how great the support from EN is. I am thankful that Matt found them and joined "the Nation". I enjoyed spectating before (I've been at this for 5 years now!) but having people all over the course that you know and that are out supporting your husband is just awesome. As, you know, Ironman Wisconsin, was a day that we'll never forget, not only did Matt qualify to compete in the Ironman World Championship, in Kona, Hawaii (ahhhh!!!), he also won his age group!!! He didn't think that was possible, and it was. I was a very proud wife, I still am!!!

October, was our 2nd wedding anniversary, we spent the time around then getting the spare bedroom ready for Baby Ancona - painting, putting together the crib, all of that fun stuff. The room was our "it doesn't have a home, just put it in there" room for 3 years, it needed a lot of help! I also hit the half way point in pregnancy. 20 weeks is when you can find out the gender, but we didn't.

November, we went to Clearwater and Orlando, Florida. It was our last vacation as the two of us. We stayed with Aunt Helen, just outside of Tampa, and drove to Clearwater for the different Ironman doings. It was a great day for the race. I also got to see my friend Erin, who I hadn't seen since 1992 when her family moved to Tampa. The day after the race, we drove to Orlando and spent 2 days at Sea World. It was a very relaxing, great last trip. The month ended with me having to get a RhoGam shot, because my blood type is Rh- and if the baby is Rh+ there could be negative out comes with this pregnancy and all future pregnancies, so they do it as a prevention. The bummer, that shot went to my insurance deductable, that I hadn't met yet, and of course, it does not roll over to next year, when I will be meeting it again when the baby is born.

That brings me to now. I am more then 3/4 of the way through the pregnancy, and while I cannot wait to meet this little person, I really am enjoying being pregnant, and I think I will miss it in the end. There is nothing like having a life inside of you, knowing that you are going to get to show this person the world, and hopefully mean the world to them. We have started taking labor & delivery classes. They are 2 hours long, for 4 Saturdays. The class goes over the stages of labor, pain management for labor, what to expect, the delivery, a tour of the hospital (which we did last week), and what happens after delivery, to both you and the baby. I am glad we took the class.

So, as the title says, this is our last quiet Christmas. Next year, we'll have a 10 month old (wow!), crawling, maybe walking or trying to walk, around. I cannot wait!! We kept things pretty low key this year, since next year will be filled with unexpected twists and turns.

In other Baby Ancona updates, there seems to be a little bit more of a pattern to when I feel the baby moving around, but now that I say that, I'm sure things will change!! We have about 8 weeks left to go until we get to meet this person. I still don't have a feeling as to if we'll have a daugther or son. I say "he" when I talk about the baby, but that doesn't mean I am 100% convinced that is what we're having.

I want to end this by wishing everybody a Very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!! I hope 2009 has been good to everybody and that 2010 is even better. I know that I can't wait for early 2010!!!!

I will still post some pictures, at some point, in the very near future.

Until then, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Only a few weeks left in 2009

Well, since my last update, we have taken our last vacation before we are officially parents. We went to Florida, and had a great time. As you know, Matt competed in the half Ironman World Championship in Clearwater. We stayed with Aunt Helen who lives just outside of Tampa, so we had about a 20 minute drive to Clearwater, which was a piece of cake.

This race isn't as spectator friendly as other races, but there is one spot that you can hang out and see the athletes bike out and back and then a few times on the run, with out moving, so its not as bad as it could be. I spent the morning visiting with my friend Erin, who moved to Florida in 1992, and that was the last time we had seen each other, thanks to Facebook we were able to reconnect.

After our time in the Tampa area we drove about an hour and a half to Orlando, and spent 2 days at Sea World. This was my first experience at Sea World Orlando, I was let down a little bit, but it was relaxing and that is what is important. Matt said that the only difference between Sea World now and Sea World when he was last there (in junior high, he thinks) is that they have added a few roller coasters. We bought our tickets online ahead of time, so we paid kids price & we got the second day free, so we can't complain to much.

We also wandered around the two outlet malls, Downtown Disney and Universal City Walk. My only complain the entire time was how hot I was. I'm glad that I won't be at the end of this pregnancy in the middle of summer. I am warm all the time now, luckily when we were there it wasn't much over 80!!

At this point, I am 30 weeks and 4 days pregnant! Less then 10 weeks until we get to meet this little person. Each day that goes by, I get a little bit more excited. Luckily, I am enjoying being pregnant and I am not miserable. I feel really good my only complaint has been my left rib cage has been hurting for about 3 weeks and the on and off sciatic problem - which are all common. This past Tuesday was the 30 week ultrasound/growth scan. I learned that the rib pain is compliments of the baby bum and tailbone that is wedged right under there shoving all my organs into my ribs - awesome!! Lets see, we were also told that the baby's head is measuring a full week ahead (nothing like being told your baby has a large head! However the tech did also laugh and say that the head isn't what keeps them in), organs are all working like they should be. We were able to see the nose and the upper lip. Baby was practicing breathing and we were able to see the tiny little mouth move, and the chubby cheeks - which makes me happy, I love chubby cheeks!! We were able to see the organs and they are all doing what they should be doing and where they should be. Head is down, so baby is smart enough to know which way is out, which makes me one happy Momma. The best part was seeing where the different body parts were in relation to the movement I've been feeling, so when I have lump sticking out, I have a pretty good idea of what is what. Head down, back/side is curved up along my left side, bum is under my rib cage (or near it, I guess), feet are on my right size, this baby is folded in half, and running out of room, we'll see how the next 9 weeks go and what kind of changes happen to my bump.

I cannot believe I am going to admit this, but I have gained about 27 pounds at this point. However, as of Tuesday 3lbs 5oz of that was pure baby love - and this baby love has a lot of baggage also - placenta, amniotic fluid, etc. They say that about 30-35lbs of weight gain is normal and healthy. My goal was to be right around 35lbs, we'll see what happens, if its a little over, that's ok to. Just more motivation to get back into shape and be ready to hit the Hawaii beaches just 7 short months after the baby is here.

And, for those of you wondering, the gender of baby.....still a surprise! We did not find out, I never even attempted to look or try to find out. Usually surprises drive me nuts, but for some reason this is totally different and I cannot wait to be surprised in the delivery room. It doesn't matter if I have a son or daugther, this little person already means the world to me and I Love this baby more then words can describe already.

Last Saturday, was our first of 4 labor and delivery classes. They are 2 hours each, and at the hospital I will be delivering at. There are 10 couples (I think, including us), 2 of them are having girls, we are the only ones that don't know and the rest are having boys. Last week was pretty much an intro and a what to expect from the class, and a little relaxation breathing. Yesterday, was our second class, we went over the stages of labor, what to do during each stage - at home, when to head to the hospital, etc, and pain management options. At the end we did some relaxation breathing again, this time holding ice as a distraction to see if we could forget about our and how cold it was while we were concentrating on our breathing. Next week is the tour of the hospital, the following we have off thanks to the holiday and the last class is the 1st week in January, I don't know what will be doing in that class, but I do know there are some videos involved.

That is about all, I will update again very soon with some pictures. Hope everybody is doing well & enjoying the start of the holiday season!