Early Pics of the New Family

Happy Birthday and Baby Update

Yesterday was Kyle's birthday! I am glad he was okay with having a pretty lame birthday. His birthday was a filled with a busy day at work for him and then my doctor's appointment in the afternoon. Our friends Beccy and Barrett stopped by and surprised him, so that was nice and we ordered a pizza and played Rock Band together for a while before we called it a night.
I am really thankful for Kyle. He is such a patient, kind, and caring man. I know that he is going to make a great father to our children and I can't think of anyone else that I would ever want to spend the rest of my life with. I am so glad that God put him in my life.
Yesterday was also my mom's birthday! Her and Kyle have to share the day now. I am so thankful for my mom! Mom's are just great. I hope that I will be a as loving and caring mother as she has been to us! She has always been so supportive of every endeavor in our lives. I love you and hope that you had a special day! I can't wait to see you May 12th!
Now for the baby news update:
Yesterday the doctor decided it would be best to end the pregnancy. He checked my blood pressure, the babies heart beat and took a look at the placenta. He concluded that it was in the babies and my best interest to induce labor to prevent HELLP Syndrome. So I had my choice to go in last night at 2000 or tonight at 2000 to start the process. He said that usually it takes about 2 days for the entire process to work and baby to be delivered. He said we must be very patient. I am excited to meet our little guy, just not really looking forward to the process of him getting here! I am thankful that Kyle will be here.
We took a letter saying that my labor is being induced into his work and it looks like he will be leaving for the field now around the 11th and my parents will get here on the 12th, so really it all works out perfectly! We had to pay 5 Euro for the letter but it is totally worth the money. ;)
So tonight I will be going to the hospital to get this party started!

SES Baby Shower

So, I finally have the camera batteries charged and was able to get the pictures downloaded.
On April 22nd the ladies that I work with at school had an awesome baby shower for me. It got so much great stuff, and am still working hard at getting it put away! Here is a slide show of the shower. Thanks again ladies you are the greatest, I have truly enjoyed working with each of you!

A side note: My blood pressure was down most of yesterday. It was only high right before I went to bed...we had been playing Rock Band so maybe that was the problem. However, this morning I took it right after waking up and it was still high and has been high all day. The only thing I did today was go and write lesson plans so I don't have to go into work next week. Other than that I took a 5 hour nap and have just been sitting here. I go back to the doctor tomorrow at 1600 so we will see what he has to say!

A busy week!

My camera is dead, so I can't put any pictures up at the moment, but it has been a busy week!
Wednesday my kindergarten teaching friends threw a baby shower for me at the school. The generosity of those I work with was overwhelming. I really do work with a great bunch of people who really care about me. I can't believe all the amazing stuff I received. I got tons of money to help buy the big items, a swing, a bassinet, plus lots of clothes and necessities for taking care of the baby! I have pictures, I just have to charge the camera later today!
Thursday was my doctor's appointment. I have been having a lot of swelling in my feet and recently my hands and face. The doctor said my feet were excessively swollen but since my blood pressure was okay he wasn't to concerned. Then he checked out the baby and saw that our baby has not grown much since he measured him four weeks ago. Baby is healthy just not growing, and is about 6.7 lbs. He concluded that my placenta is probably done doing it's job anymore. So I was sent away told to monitor my blood pressure twice a day and to come see him on Monday with my blood pressure results and they would check everything out again.
So yesterday I had the school nurse take my blood pressure in the morning and afternoon, please keep in mind it was parent/teacher conference day. Not to mention the nurse at school is not the calmest person in the world. In the morning it was 154/106 and when I left school it was 140/100. In case you are like me and don't know much about blood pressure, mine has been at about 110/70 the entire pregnancy. She was freaking out telling me to call my doctor. Well, she kinda freaks out about everything, so I didn't really get worried. I came home, Kyle and I went and got the compression socks the doctor ordered me to wear and then came home for a relaxing evening. I told Kyle about my blood pressure and the nurse freaking out and he got on the computer and started looking things up. Apparently he didn't find out anything good because he had my doctor on the phone in minutes and my doctor told me to go straight to the hospital that my blood pressure was way to high and if it didn't go down I would have to be induced.
At the hospital my blood pressure was back to normal and the babies heartbeat was good. I didn't want to stay the night but they insisted. The woke me up at 5:55am for my blood pressure and baby heartbeat check again and all was okay. My doctor got there at about 7am and told me that at this point since things had calmed down I could go home, just to keep monitoring and we would make decisions on Monday at my appointment depending on swelling and my numbers. I am so thankful that everything is okay and that I am home. Luckily I had a nice young English-speaking German girl for a roommate, and she made the stay much more pleasant.
So now I am at home being commanded by the husband to do nothing but sit. I have a lot that I feel needs to get done, so this is not going to be an easy task. Trying to stay stress-free is also not easy. Yesterday Kyle was informed he will be leaving next Saturday for a the entire month of May. They say that as soon as I go into labor I can call and they will have him home. This does not really please me, so in some ways I am thinking being induced this next week might not be so bad. He will have 10 days home with me and then my parents arrive on the 12th so that isn't to much time to be on my own. Right now, I just keep telling myself that God is in control and is going to take care of us. (However, telling myself this and fully relying and trusting in God is not as easy, but I am trying!)

37 weeks, Friends, and the Field

Well, I am about 37 weeks today! I can't believe that Gunnar could make his arrival really any day now! I am still working and hoping this is my last week, but I may end up working until May 1st. According to German law my last day should have been March 28th and my doctor is not really pleased that I am still working. It has been okay and I have felt fine up until recently. This week was pretty hard on me. First, it was the week after Spring Break, the sun has been shining and there was a full moon! So the kids kinda forgot how to behave, they are really trying my patience, they are very brave! I try to stay off my feet, but by the end of the day, the kankles are in full force and I usually nap for a good two hours before Kyle comes home! My next appointment is Thursday and I am looking forward to hearing what the doctor has to say (I don't think I will mention that I am still working)!

Suesse and Oma are finally friends! They like to play with each other and their favorite is tug-of-war with the rope. Suesse is part Shepard and doesn't understand the concept of playing quietly, so we get to listen to her "talk" to Oma the entire time. We are working on the potty training with Oma, last night I was so happy, we went to bed at 10:30, Kyle got up and took Oma at about 2:30, and then she let us sleep in until 9:00am! She is getting better about not going in the house, usually it is our fault for not taking her soon enough when she has accidents. Hopefully by the time Gunnar is here she can make it through the night! I don't need two babies.


Kyle is scheduled to go to the field for the entire month of May. We are really hoping and praying that either baby arrives before then, or he doesn't end up having to go. It is a good 3 hour drive away and I am pretty nervous about him being gone, so we will see what happens. My parents will arrive May 12th, so if he has to go, I at least hope he can wait until my parents get here. This week we also found out his next deployment will be coming up this fall, so we trusting God for everything to go smoothly with his Warrant Officer packet once he is able to turn it in.
There is our life in a nutshell at the moment.

Locked-Out!

I thought that I should share a story. It wasn't really funny at the time, but now that 4 days have passed, I am beginning to see some humor in it.
On Tuesday, Kyle came home from PT and was getting ready for work when I took the dogs out to do their morning business. I didn't plan on being out there long and it was fairly early, so I was in my PJs (luckily I was dressed somewhat modestly).
Kyle came down and met me outside, kissed me goodbye and told me he would see me later that evening that he had a long day out at the range. So after the dogs finished up I came up the stairs, went to open the door, and discovered it was locked! I am usually at work, so Kyle is in the habit of locking the door when he leaves. I stood there for a couple of minutes in shock as I had nothing but my pjs and 3 dogs. I finally decided that I would walk over to my friends and see if the husband had left for work and see if he would call or somehow track Kyle down for me. (I wish I had Kyle's cell phone # memorized, this would have saved a lot of problems, but German phone numbers are strange and long and I am lucky I remember my house number). I went the few blocks to their house and saw Nick pulling away, luckily he saw me and knew that Beth walking 3 dogs in her pjs early in the morning is not normal and stopped to ask what was up. I explained, he told me his wife was up and that I should head over there while he tracked Kyle down for me.
I went over to Nick and Lacey's, knocked on the door and got no answer. I knocked again a little louder, identified myself, waited, and waited some more, then gave up. I decided Nick would find Kyle and he would be right home with the keys and I would just wait at our apartment. So I walk back home, sat outside in the grass for a good hour, then realized he wasn't coming. I then see a neighbor who let's me borrow their phone to call Lacey. Lacey was home, just didn't think anyone would be at her door that early, and told me to come right over and I could hang out as long as needed, even with my 3 dirty dogs!
Well, I ended up being there all day, from about 8am to 5pm. Kyle was already out at the range by the time Nick was able to get the message to him and he had no way of getting back. I was frustrated only because I had big plans of cleaning and organizing and felt silly hanging out in my PJs all day. Lacey is a good friend, and had an extra toothbrush, hair-ties, and let me use some face wash! I was also able to watch Scarlett for her while she ran some errands, so I didn't feel to useless! Overall it worked out because Lacey and Nick are moving at the end of this month and I am really going to miss them. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have Lacey this last deployment. She made being away from my family with Kyle gone so much easier! She also was my life-saver on Tuesday. I was pretty desperate for the bathroom, by the time I got to her house!
Here is Lacey and I last year. While our hubbies were deployed we signed up to take a free trip to Neuschwanstien. What should have been a 3 hour drive took us 6 hours on a bus leaving at about 5am. It rained all day and we wern't the happiest two girls by the end of the day!

35.5 Weeks

Today I am at 35 1/2 weeks. Time is flying by, I still have to much to do and only one day left of Spring Break (plus the weekend).
Today my doctor told me I was having the "perfect pregnancy" and that he is hoping it continues. I feel bad for people who have imperfect pregnancies because this has really not been that much fun. I guess having a cold basically the entire time and constant heartburn don't amount to much. I really have been fortunate and thank God for everything going so smoothly.
Baby Gunnar is head down ready for the big day. All I know is that now, the bathroom always needs to be close by. Anytime I shift positions I am off to the bathroom to pee! Baby Pettit rock and rolled during the fetal monitor which is normal for him, I swear he thinks it is a punching bag, but he was fast asleep by the time the ultrasound came.
Kyle kept the ladies in the waiting room entertained by falling fast asleep sitting up, then he started snoring. His girlfriend (aka my nurse or technician) gave him the doctors nice office chair and permission to use my pillow while I was hooked up to the fetal monitor so he got even better rest there. Sometimes I think the only reason he comes is hoping to see my technician. He has been disappointed she hasn't been there the last two times, but boy was he excited when she came and got us from the waiting room today.
I like to give Kyle a hard time about her, but really she is my favorite too! She is always so friendly and tells me what a nice belly I have, plus, she always prints us off a picture (which hasn't happened the last two times, so my mom has not been pleased)! As for Kyle's sleeping, he is on staff duty today which means he was up at 5 this morning and won't be home until 9am tomorrow, with no sleep.
Here is the latest picture of Gunnar (once again a little scary, but he is still a cutie):

A Weekend Trip

This weekend Kyle, Junior, and I went to Garmsich. We left around 6am Saturday morning hoping to catch a few sights (I guess is what happens when you go places with guys in the military, there is no such thing as sleeping in). I don't really know what happened, I was sleeping in the back seat, and apparently the boys don't know how to follow the directions from the GPS lady and they missed some turns, it took us 5 hours instead of the normal 2.5 hours. I warned Junior that he had to be the back up GPS because Kyle gets side-tracked and tunes her out, apparently he didn't listen to me. However, I do think it was a good thing I was sleeping because shortly after waking up I got very car sick and I am sure the people behind us enjoyed their shower I so kindly shared with them out the window. Once we arrived, ate some lunch, figured out where the guys were going to go snowboarding on Sunday we decided to go to the show Junior the Gorge and Olympic Ski Stadium. We took the 1.5 km walk to the Gorge only to find out that it was closed due to ice.

After checking into our hotel and finding the guys the gear they forgot for snowboarding we went to the Linderhof Palace. Kyle and I have both been there a couple of times, but Junior had never been to a castle in his 8 years of living in Europe. A lot of the statues were covered due to the snow, but we got to see some of it.





On Sunday, we got to sleep in a little which was wonderful and after breakfast I took the guys to the bottom of the mountain so they could go snowboarding for a few hours (they said they only wanted to go for 2 hours, but it ended up being about 4).

I went and ate some lunch, and hit up the Garmisch PX, I saw so many people I knew I might as well have been back here in Schweinfurt. After shopping and lunch I filled the car up then went and took a nice nap. The dogs and I went for a short walk, I had some time to relax looking at magazines, then the guys were ready to be picked up. After picking them up we decided to stop by Neuschwanstien castle on the way home so Junior could see it. We ended up going into Austria for a little while which was beautiful and then went and drove by the castle. The castle as always was beautiful. We then headed home and got back around 22:00.



It was a nice quick trip and we all had a good time. The dogs even enjoyed themselves...I think. My ankles didn't have such a great time and today I will be keeping them up hoping the swelling goes down, I have some major KANKLES going on!
Junior has to send me the video of Kyle in action snowboarding. This was his second time ever going. Apparently he did good considering, but I did see one pretty funny video of him that I will have to share.
For now...it is time to enjoy Spring Break! I have a lot to get done, but today I think I will be taking it pretty easy recovering from the trip.

The Countdown

So I keep looking at the little countdown and I realize that our baby is going to be here sooner than later! I can't believe it. I wish I could say that I am clam and collected about it all, but the closer it gets the more scared I am becoming. I was really pretty confident about this whole child-birth thing until it was suggested that we watch a birthing class. We had watched one where the process was just described with props. Well apparently that wasn't good enough and this last weekend we watched one with a live birth on it...eww, that is all I can really say. It didn't help that the video was from the 70s. Let's just say we saw way more of the 70s than we ever needed to!
Today when we were going over the April calendar in class, I showed the kids when my last day would be so that I could go and have my baby. I can't believe I only have about 10 more school days with them. The kiddos are really excited about the whole baby thing, and I they all think he wants to come and play with them...hmm, probably not! Anyways, today as I was tying of the the my little charmer's shoes he looked up at me and said "Mrs. Pettit, in like 30 days your belly is going to REALLY hurt, huh? I mean that baby has to get out there somehow, and that can't feel good!" He then gave me a nice pat on the tummy and ran off to play outside!
I love these kids and they crack me up, but I really am looking forward to Spring Break when I can get some much needed rest before my last two weeks of work and get the house ready for the big arrival of Baby Pettit!