White Coat Hypertension

Yet another visit to the doctor today...and my blood pressure sky rocketed right on cue. They really are quite puzzled with me. Everything but my blood pressure is normal. Normally when high blood pressure is an issue the baby measures small.  Not our little boy, he is in the 68th percentile. I finally got the doctor to admit there is an actual condition called white coat hypertension or white coat syndrome, where being at the doctor's office causes elevated blood pressure and the rest of the time it's normal.
If he had lived in a hospital setting for the first 6 months of his life being poked and prodded maybe he would understand. To prove my theory I'll be taking my own bp measurements at home for the next two weeks. Meanwhile, I have been ordered to come in for weekly ultrasounds for the rest of this pregnancy. We should be pretty familiar with this little guy's face by the time he enters the world...if he ever decides to stop hiding it behind his hands.

Just Our Luck

While in the midst of the 24 hour urine collection process (See “Baby Boy Update” if you are lost...and keep reading the next 3 posts after that because I've been doing A LOT of catching up the last couple days), Ammon and I agreed to watch my brother’s three girls while they went on a date night with another couple in their ward. My sister-in-law had had the same test during her last pregnancy, so the older girls knew not to drink the “orange juice” in the fridge. My brother and sister-in-law ended up getting home around midnight and we stayed and talked with them for a good hour and a half after that.

As we left Smithfield to head home to our apartment in Logan at 1:30 in the morning, I informed Ammon that we’d have to book it home because I had to use the restroom and I refused to mess up this test and have to take it again. My fatal word of warning was “just don’t get pulled over and I’ll be fine.”

Well of course a cop car pulled up next to us as we were leaving Smithfield. We were both tired and trying to be extra cautious. The last thing we’d want would be to speed past him and risk getting a ticket. Turns out we were going too slow for his liking which aroused suspicion. He saw our Idaho license plates and called in to check up on us.

He pulled us over a half a block from our apartment! Turns out the registration on our car was expired, and according to his computer it also wasn’t insured (it was). We got this lovely long lecture about how he was “giving us a huge break because he should impound our car” and wrote out a ticket. The whole process took FOREVER and the whole time I was just staring eagerly in the direction of our apartment wondering if I could ask the officer’s permission to run home with my little collection jug to the restroom. I wonder if anyone has ever pulled that pregnancy card to get out of a ticket?

Coincidentally, the icing on the cake to this unfortunate event was the next morning when Ammon checked his email and had a message from our car insurance company about how it was time to renew our policy. Really? The day after we get a ticket? Why not the day before?

The happy ending to this story is that the ticket only ended up being $30, my bladder of steel made it home and through the remaining 24 hour sample, and the protein levels in my urine are normal. This means I probably don’t have preeclampsia as the doctor feared. 


At least Ammon has a healthy wife and baby, despite his now not so healthy driving record.

Baby Boy Update

 July 28: Another doctor's appointment. I drank a nasty sugar drink . This was so that the doctor could see if I had gestational diabetes or not. I had some friends and family tell me how awful the drink was, trying to prep me. The first few sips weren’t so bad, but by the bottom of that little bottle I saw what everyone was talking about.

At the previous doctor’s appointment in June, he spent the whole time telling me I had gained a lot of weight and asking if I knew why. That really makes you feel good. Since then I have been really trying to eat a lot healthier and get more exercise in. The result: only a one pound gain in July! Yeah! I was glad I didn’t have to be told I was fat again. That still doesn't stop the comments of "Whoa, that is going to be a big baby" from every third person I come in contact with. 

August 1:

Our doctor is worried because I have had three readings of high blood pressure throughout the pregnancy now. I keep trying to tell him that simply sitting in the doctor’s office does that to me. (I think there is some remembered anxiety from all the time I spent in hospitals after I was born premature.) When I’ve measured it on a machine at home, the readings have been normal.

As a result, of his concern I will be having more frequent dr visits and ultrasounds (that part we aren’t so upset about) and take a 24 hour urine test to make sure the baby is growing how he should and that my body is functioning properly. Here are some new pictures from the August 1 ultrasound:

He still likes to always have his hands in front of his face.

After the technician pestered him for a little bit he moved on hand away.
He didn't seem too happy about that though.

In the end this was the best shot we could get.
Who do you think he looks like? I sure can't figure it out.

Baby Boy’s measurements were perfect! He is weighing in at a whopping 3 pounds 9 oz. The ultrasound technician predicts at least an 8 pound baby by the time he is ready to arrive which may be sooner than the original Oct. 14th due date.

Here's What You've Missed (Part 3)

July 23: My mom took me shopping for material to make some baby blankets (pictures to come)! My poor dad and Ammon were also brought along and had to endure hours of my indecisiveness. Boys are hard! I could have picked out thousands of combinations of girl stuff by the time I found a few yards of boy material that I liked.

July 25: Our personal celebration of Pioneer Day. Ammon and I went up Green Canyon (where we first really noticed each other at a bonfire and where he later proposed...awww). We drove past the campground where the proposal took place (there was a camper parked there so our reminisces were short) and on to one of the Logan Temple quarry sites. 

Here is the sign.We hiked up to try and find the quarry itself.
It was only a short hike (maybe a mile), but really hot.

And for some strange reason I forgot to take into account that the trail
to the quarry would be full of broken rock pieces when I planned the trip. 

But we made it..well at least we think so...we aren't sure if this was the actual
 quarry site or just rock blasted away to make a path...but something happened here.

Just in case, Ammon kept hiking up another huge hill to see if there was any
other evidence of a quarry farther up, I was content to stay in the shade...

and see what I missed through Ammon's awesome photography skills .

On the way back down we found a nice shady resting spot and sang I Love to See the Temple and Come, Come Ye Saints to honor those pioneers that worked so hard and sacrificed so much to make Logan such a beautiful place. The rest of the day was spent going to the last Harry Potter movie, Walmart, and doing a little more unpacking--not very pioneer-ish, but it was fun anyway. Happy Pioneer Day!!!

July 26: Sewing, sewing, and more sewing. Ok.. so I did maybe half a baby blanket and my mom did like five, but still...This baby boy is sure loved. Also got to see some high school friends at a bridal shower for Lauren Cundick (soon to be Lauren Hansen) which was wonderful.

Here's What You've Missed (Part 2)

July 8-21: Hedin Family vacation! We traveled with all of Ammon's family, his Uncle's family, and his grandma. We spent the first week in Bandon, Oregon in a beautiful house right on the beach. This meant daily walks along the beach, shopping in old town Bandon, looking for washed up treasures, and seeing a few nearby lighthouses.

Our view from the beach house

Coquille River Lighthouse in Bandon and a very pregnant belly

 The second week was spent driving on to Vancouver, Canada to attend the new temple. On the way there we stopped at some amazing viewpoints in Olympic National Park and of course paid a visit to Forks, Washington since Ammon's sister Taylie is a huge Twilight fan. 

Destruction Point, Olympic National Park

I spent my time in Forks wandering around the forest on a nature trail.
No sightings of werewolves or sparkly vampires. I think I'm ok with that.

Who needs Edward when I've got Ammon? He always picks me
 flowers where ever we go. 

We crossed Puget Sound on this ferry. 

Vancouver, British Columbia Temple

Night of July 21: At about 9:30 the night we got back from the vacation, our landlord decided to visit and inform us that he never received the check we sent for July's rent. Of course every attempt to prove that we had indeed sent it via phone and computer malfunctioned, which meant the landlord spent about a half hour in our chaotic apartment. Boxes were still everywhere, swimming suits strewn across furniture, and my favorite--- beer bottles that had washed up from Japan (collected from the beach in Oregon to put sand/shells in) were scattered all over our kitchen table. Ammon and I had to laugh after he left. We think he may be second guessing his agreement to let us rent month to month. We probably seem pretty sketchy.

Here's What You've Missed (Part 1)

Silly me, under the illusion that once we were done with college life would be much simpler. There has been LOTS going on lately (and not so lately since I've procrastinated posting for so long) and my documentation is severely lacking. So be prepared for a blog overload!! 

June 28-30: Moving! Aggie Village has been our home since we were married three years ago. I loved all the people we got to know living in the USU 5th Ward. I loved being able to walk to classes in the morning/afternoon/night over the years. Oddly enough one of the things I will miss most is walking through the Logan cemetery. After a stressful day at school, that sacred place really had a way of putting life into perspective and calming me down. A lot of my emotions were affected as we left our first home together behind, but in the end I was so sick of packing and cleaning that I was grateful to close the door and move on. If we ever get completely moved into our new apartment before it's time to pack up and move again then maybe you'll get a glimpse of the new place.

Our camera was lost  during the camp out so here is a recycled picture from last year. Cute Grandpa with cute grandkids :)

June 30-July 2: Annual Womack Family Camp Out! This was the perfect camping experience for my pregnant self. The Cub River Ranger's station was completely booked this year and the accompanying river much too high for kids to play in so we just camped out at my parent's house. This meant I got to sleep on a pillow-top mattress in my old room rather than out in a tent, which I was perfectly happy with. The festivities included: basketball tournaments, horseshoe throwing contests, sliding down a wet slide into a little swimming pool, four wheeler rides, camp fires, ghost stories, yummy food, and secret girl-only hideouts controlled by my nieces...although somehow Ammon got invited to enter and was fed continuous updates on the secret password changes. How does he do it?

July 4: Independence Day was spent in West Jordan with Ammon's family. We finished up the basement bathroom renovation...well almost, visited with Ammon's older sister Terra and her kids, and had a little fireworks show in the driveway put on by Ammon's brother Austin. That neighborhood loves their fireworks! We figure next year we should just sit on the roof and watch everyone else's pyrotechnics and we'll have it made.

July 5, 6: Desperate attempt to unpack enough of our boxes so that we could then pack for a vacation.