The Olsen Family: Pregnancy Happenings

We're Pregnant!

My pregnancy has been so amazing, filled with lots of wonderful and emotional moments. We never thought that we would end up getting pregnant through In Vitro Fertilization, but we feel so blessed to have met such amazing doctors that were able to guide us along this exciting and sometimes scary process. On February 7th, our little embryo was implanted in me and 2 weeks and 1 blood test later, while we were in the lobby of the law school, we called the nurse to find out the blood results and...WE'RE PREGNANT! So the pregnancy journey begins! After questing whether I was really pregnant for the next several weeks, I began to feel some morning sickness (which would creep up during the day sometimes too); just nausea and nothing that good ol carbs couldn't cure! Let the cravings begin! We decided not to find out the sex of our little sweetie, so during the pregnancy, the name "Bubba" stuck (I think both of us were kind of thinking we were having a boy), so our little one was affectionately referred to as "Bubba" throughout the pregnancy. Here are some of the happenings that occurred during my pregnancy:

Moving out of our House!

We have loved living in East Lansing and have loved our blue home! It was such a great house for us, and we were able to do so many fun things there: people over for dinner, hosting family home evening, family Thanksgiving with my family and Mitch's, decorating huge Christmas trees (and then Mitch cutting them down in the house because they were too big to fit through the door!), Mitch planting a beautiful garden, listening to the frogs, having grills outs (or as Mitch calls it BBQs), having an engagement party and then later our first surprise baby shower (thanks to my family and good friend Rosie and her family!). After five months of having our house on the market we were (thankfully and albeit, for me, sadly) able to sell it. So we packed our house up in the PackRat, loaded the Trialblazer and Focus up, pulled the Focus on a trailer behind the Trailblazer, and by 7:00am on July 29th we were on the road to Utah!

Family Pictures

For Kim's birthday this year, all of us kids went into together on her gift and gave her a family photo shoot. Kim is the best at taking pictures, and is known for having her camera with her and always taking amazing photos. So what better gift to give someone that loves pictures than a picture of all her kids! Even though three of us were pregnant (Brooke, Sharee, and me) we were excited to have a family picture. We went to The Old Meeting House in Sugar House, which was a beautiful old church building that was surrounded by beautiful trees, flowers, and a cute little pond. I can't wait for Bubba to be in the next family photo!

Lake Blanche

Living in Utah for the Summer has been so great. We have loved living by the beautiful mountains and have tried to take advantage of going hiking as much as we could. It got a little bit harder to do later in my pregnancy, but before I was 30 weeks, we went on a long hike up to Silver Lake. It was almost a 6 mile round trip hike to Silver Lake. The hike was filled with lots of rocks, trees, and me walking with my hands on my hips. But we made it, and it was beautiful!

Trip to Vegas

This summer has been really busy for Mitch because he has been studying for the Bar Exam. So after he took the Bar, we decided to take a late "Babymoon" and go to Las Vegas. I had never been there before so I was excited to go, but it was at the end of July so it was incredibly hot there! We stayed at Treasure Island, went to Cirque du Soleil show, had sweets at Serendipity, ate at Cheesecake Factory (pregnancy cravings!), walked up and down the strip going into all the stores and amazing hotels, relaxed by the pool, and watched the beautiful water fountain shows. On the way home, I had my first experience with In and Out and of course got a milkshake too - I will definitely experience that one again. We packed a lot in our quick one night visit to Vegas and had a great time.

Mom's Visit

It's been hard being away from family, especially being pregnant. That's why I was so excited when my mom decided to come out and visit before little Bubba was born! She came out in August and we had a great time. Even though it was blistering hot, we went to Park City and walked around all of the cute shops and had a great meal outside. Mitch gave us a tour of BYU - he tried to show us his old dorm room but then remembered when we stepped onto the floor and saw a boy in a towel that girls aren't allowed! We also went for a hike around Snowbird and had lots of great meals - and of course lots of frozen yogurt! My mom is so loving and such a great grandmother too, I can't wait for Bubba to meet her and love her as much as I do.

Dad and Betsy's Visit

I was so lucky to have not only my mom visit, but shortly thereafter my dad and Betsy, came to visit too! We did lots of fun things with them - hiking, taking the Tram to the top of Snowbird, going to Gardner Village, shopping and eating at Park City, and visiting with Mitch's family. It meant so much to me that my parents wanted to come out and see where Mitch and I were living, and get to know Mitch's family better. Mitch and I are truly so blessed to have such wonderful and caring families.

Baby Showers

I can't believe how amazing and welcoming people have been to us, and we've only been here a few months! Kim put on a baby shower for me, which happened to be when my dad and Betsy were here to visit (which was great!), and I was overwhelmed by the generosity of Mitch's family. It was such a great shower - so much yummy food, lots of fun visiting with family and friends, and of course, wonderful baby gifts. Kathi also had a shower for us at her house that was from our Relief Society. I had hardly been in our Ward very long and didn't really know that many people, and was so touched by all of the sisters that came to the shower and their love. Even though I miss my family, I truly feel so blessed to live near Mitch's wonderful family and be part of such a loving Ward. Having the baby showers and looking at all of the adorable tiny baby clothes, is really getting me excited to meet our little Bubba!

My Growing Belly

Off to Meet our Baby!

My pregnancy had been going great, but at about 36 weeks, I started getting regular ultrasounds and stress tests because our little Bubba wasn't growing a lot. Our baby was having a "asymmetrical growth pattern" - basically meaning that the head, abdomen, hips, and legs were not all growing at the same rate. So our doctor had some concern about the placenta, but all tests turned out great. When we went in for our morning ultrasound and stress test on October 25th, the doctor taking the ultrasound suggested that we get induced (at 39 weeks) because the percentages in our baby's growth had dropped drastically. Of course, I was extremely concerned, but our doctor assured us that everything was still fine. So we went home and then went back to the hospital after lunch (even though I wasn't allowed to eat!), and we waited to meet our new little baby - so excited to see if our little Bubba is a boy or a girl - but most importantly we just want a healthy baby.