6 Weeks Old

My baby girl is now 6 weeks old! It seems like just yesterday I was in labor with her. She loves moving her hands about and loves snuggling with Mommy even more. She is now at 9 lbs 12 oz and 19 1/8 in. Jordyn is starting to smile more and more every day and very observant. She also sleeps anywhere between 6 and 8 hours at night. Can't get any better than that!
Also got in the mail yesterday the paternity results. Not that I didn't know who her father was. Dean denied being the father from the announcement of my pregnancy....said he couldn't have any kids. Well, apparently he's able to have kids. The test came back that he is 99.99% the father to my baby girl! Now he has the proof...not that Jordyn isn't proof enough. She looks a lot like her father!

Smiley Face Belly Painting

I was at my friend Leslie's house one night. Actually I had been staying there quite a bit towards the end of my pregnancy because of every day contractions. I was belly maxed so much that my uterus would start contracting but my cervix wouldn't cooperate and do its part. Anyways, at my friend's house one night and decided to let her two youngest kids, Odin and Danica, paint a big ol' smiley face on my belly. The kids painted my belly yellow and Les painted the face. It was hilarious. When I laughed, the smiley face would smile even bigger!

33 weeks and humongous!!!

I know that this one should have been posted before announcing Jordyn's birth, but it doesn't matter. I'm actually going to do some updating and letting you know what's been going on since I went MIA (missing in action).

Throughout my pregnancy, my doctor and my specialist were watching me closely not only because of my high blood pressure which during my pregnancy stayed very good, but also because I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I also had lots of amniotic fluid and a huge baby that I was carrying. They were expecting her to be a 10-11 pound baby if I would have carried her to my due date. Good thing I delivered at 37 weeks...3 weeks early.

The summer was hot and humid thus making this prego mommy a very uncomfortable lady. This picture was taken when I was 33 weeks....only 4 weeks before I had her. I was huge!!

My Baby Girl

It's been a long time since I've last added to my blog. I had actually forgot that I had it until I went to look at someone else's blog...and I thought to myself....hey I have a blog and I should probably update it some.

Well, I'm no longer pregnant! I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Friday the 13th...that's right...Friday the 13th! It's hard to believe that she's almost a month old already. The Tuesday before she was born, I had an amniocentesis done to check for lung maturity and the test determined that her lungs weren't mature enough to deliver quite yet. It was 16.7 and 55 is good to go...so she wasn't quite ready to go. My sister Cindy had told me later that day that I would have the baby on Friday the 13th. I told her that it wasn't going to happen. That Jordyn was just going to be stubborn and not be born until I was scheduled to be induced on August 23rd. I guess I was wrong!

About 8:30 Friday morning, I was going to head outside to roll up the windows in my dad's van. As I was trying to put on a pair of shorts, my water broke all over the kitchen floor. Zach went to wake Chelsea and Derick up to let them that I was going to have this baby. I called my support person, Leslie Peters, to let her know and she was only a minute or two behind us on the way to the hospital.

After some Nubain (medication to help alleviate the pain...more like a muscle relaxer), some Pitocin, some very strong contractions and 5 1/4 hours of labor, Little Miss Jordyn was born! The cord was wrapped around her neck once and she was breathing on her own but just having a hard time doing so. They put a CPAP on her (a device to help deliver air flow) and gave her a little bit of oxygen, cleaned and wrapped her up and put her into my arms for a short while before whisking her away to the NICU floor.

The CPAP was removed later that night and I was able to hold my little angel. Once we got the breathing thing under better control, then she decided that she wasn't going to feed like she should have been so she started losing an incredible amount of weight. After frustration on both our ends, I decided that it would be best to feed her breast milk with a bottle. Once doing that, she started eating real well and was discharged to go home. She was in NICU for 6 days before coming home.

Jordyn Leilani Dawn Rickert
Friday, August 13, 2010
1:43 p.m.
7 lbs. 4 1/2 oz.
19 in.
Proud Mommy - June (that's me)
Proud Siblings - Derick, Chelsea and Zach

First Ultrasound for Baby #4

Yes, I'm pregnant! My fourth baby!!! Aahhh!!! But don't get me wrong, I'm very excited about this new blessing that has come into my life. It was definitely an unplanned pregnancy, but then none of my pregnancies were planned. Back on January 6th, I asked my kids, "what would you do if you're mom ended up pregnant?" At the time, I still hadn't known that I was pregnant. I distinctly remember Chelsea telling me that she would push me down the stairs. No, she would push Zach into me! Of course, she was kidding!

The following day Natalie and I were walking around in Walgreens waiting for Derick's insulin and we came across the pregnancy tests. It took me several looks and walking aways before I said 'forget it' and picked one up to buy it. I got home and took it and the + sign showed up faster than I could get off the toilet and flush it. How could this be? After 11 years, I would be starting over again! I told my kids later that day with the boys laughing and Chelsea crying and upset! The father (Dean) isn't too happy about it...his loss! Friends and family seem to be very excited for me!

In the following days, I had made an appointment with Brenda to confirm the pregnancy. With me having high blood pressure and high cholesterol and being 35 when I deliver, I was referred to Dr. Kerns, OB/GYN in Wausau. Met with his nurse first and was told that my blood pressure meds weren't good for the baby. Then met with the doctor two weeks later (2 weeks ago). Doctor's going to monitor my blood pressure and also talked about inducing my labor a week early due to my quick labors and long drive. Also set up an ultrasound appointment because my uterus was slightly larger than it should be for my due date which was Aug 30th according to my last period.

I went for my first ultrasound yesterday. Only one baby present....YAYNESS!!! Baby was moving around quite a bit. Heartbeat was 172 bpm. It kind of reminded me of a hummingbird's wings moving. Baby is looking good. New estimated due date is Sept. 4th which would go back to when I thought I conceived (Dec 11/12th). Chelsea says picture 2 looks like a squirrel...upside down with head being the fluffy tail. Zach says picture 1 looks like a bird. The nurse doing the ultrasound called it a gummy bear.

The Final Counts for 2009

I took the time to find out how many shields and keychains I had made last year. A dear friend of mine (Robert) had said to me once, 'did you ever think about how many you've made? You should celebrate some how when you reach 1,000."

Well, here's the count:

Leather Shields (all sizes): 903

Inserts/Passports Only: 88

Gold Leaf Shields: 28

Keychains: 431

KeyFobs: 26

Making it a grand total of 1,476 items completed in the shield room for the year 2009. Let's see if I can break this total for 2010!

The Dogs In Our Family

It's been awhile since I've last posted anything to my blog. And while going through it, I've noticed that I didn't do anything about our dogs. It's not that they're not appreciated and loved in our home, just that I haven't gotten around to putting them on here. Well, now here's their time to shine in the spotlight!

First we have Niro! We've had Niro since he was about 6 weeks old. He was born in May 2009. He's a very smart dog and still learning new tricks all the time. He's learned how to sit, lay down, and kennel. For some odd reason when he's bored and alone, he loves to tear things up....from Zach's drumming music sheets to Chelsea's borrowed library book. He's also learned that he can tear down the one side to his kennel to free himself. Although he can be a little terror, I believe he's in this family to stay!



And last, but certainly not least, we have Lil Bit. Lil Bit was given to us to take very special care of because his owner unexpectedly passed away. His owner was Sheila Babcock which was a dear friend to the family and Derick's godmother. When Chris (Sheila's partner) had no place to put Lil Bit, Derick said that he would take him. I just couldn't tell him no. Lil Bit has been in our home since late October 2009. You can tell that he misses Sheila at times, but I'm certain that he loves his new home. Plus, he has a playmate, Niro! Lil Bit and Niro love to harass the cats!