Birth Plan

I am being induced a week from tomorrow (August 8). Now seems like a good time to come up with my birth plan since I tend to leave everything to the last minute. At least I am not doing it the night before. Now I understand labor and delivery is completely unpredictable so if something comes up and I can not go by my birth plan I will not freak out. I did not know how to start but I found a really helpful worksheet. Worksheet

 

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Catch up

I must say I think I have had a pretty good, uneventful pregnancy. I found out I was pregnant at about 6 weeks along. First ultrasound went really well. It was pretty amazing to see him on the screen. It definitely made it much more of a reality. Even though he was only a tiny little peanut it was still breath-taking. 

The second Ultra-sound was called the First-Look. It was to check for signs of certain chromosomal abnormalities like Down Syndrome. I was very nervous going into this appointment but was relieved to hear everything looked great and he looked healthy.

 

The third ultrasound was the one most people are excited for. It was the ultrasound when you can find out the sex of your baby. We chose to find out the sex but not at the appointment. Easter was 3 weeks after this appointment. My aunt wrote up a nice card to send to the Easter bunny and have him tell us the sex of our baby. It was a great way to find out, surrounded by family. 

And the last ultrasound at 36 weeks. We found out our little man is about 7 pounds already, he is head down, and his head is slightly larger than average but not abnormal. Thanks to Tyler for the big head, his mom told me he had the biggest head out of her kids. Yay for me.

 

Car Seat Installation

Let me start off by saying Tyler is 100% a mountain man. He may not have actually grown up or lived in the wild, but he might as well have. This may seem to have nothing to do with getting the car seat installed, but growing up he would make things out of other things. Tyler often came up with all these random contraptions of his own instead of spending money he didn’t have to spend. So when I told him about having to go to the Police Station to have them install the car seat he went off. He insisted he could do it himself. When I asked how he would go about that with no prior knowledge on the subject, his mountain man instinct came into full view. He started telling me about how he would take rock climbing rope and tie the base of the car seat into the structure of my car and somehow use all the seat belts. Thanks babe but I think I’d rather have an officer do it the correct way.

Once we got to the station, I was expecting some complex way of installing the seat. Well I was wrong; it was pretty much 2 clicks and some tightening then boom it was done. Looking back, I am pretty sure I could have done it myself. I think the ride to the station and back home was longer than the time it took to install. Now I know the officer who installed it very well and am very glad she installed it so I am 100% sure it is in there right and Ryder will be safe, but I think I wasted her time. She even said (in a joking matter) that it really is not that hard to do. She told me about an  MIT rocket scientist who came to her to fix what he did with the car seat. I was surprised to learn that he did pretty much exactly what Tyler said he wanted to do. Tyler is still not 100% convinced it is really necessary to go to a police station to have a car seat installed, but at least I know its done correctly. The car seat is ready to go for when our Little Man decides to make his big arrival into the world.

You can make a call to your local police or fire station and find out if they have a car seat service. Only those who have been certified in car seat installation know how to install your car seat the correct way.

http://www.babycenter.com/car-seat

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December 16, 2011

Hanging out with my best friend Morgan was just about an everyday occurrence. Since we met we had a very unique friendship, always doing the most random things imaginable. On this day, however we did something we had never done before. My period was late (which it never had been due to the birth control I was on). So we thought why not take a test just to settle my mind? Sitting on the stairs I could not get up to look. She walked out of the bathroom with this look of shock on her face. I yelled at her to "cut the crap" and informed her that I did not find her funny. When I got up to look myself I realized she was not joking. 2 pink lines. We immediately ran to her car and off to Walmart for more tests. I took 2 more, both positive. I made her take one cause we were 100% sure there was no way she was pregnant, so if hers came out positive we knew they were faulty. Hers was negative. Wow. I really am pregnant.

Around 2am Tyler woke me up to let me know he was home from work safely. I told him I needed to tell him something. All I could say was "I'm pregnant." I now realize I could have gone about it in a different way but I was half asleep and scared out of my mind. At first he didn't believe me but then when he saw there was no smile and no laughing, he knew it wasn’t a joke. He went outside to call his best friend. When he came back in he looked at me and told me everything would be okay and we would get through it.

The next day we went to his parents house for the weekend. We decided it would be best not to tell his family till we were 100% sure. However his mom knew something was up from the moment we walked in, but I just told her I wasn't feeling well. We did tell a couple of our close friends who were pretty supportive... until they started drinking. The pregnancy jokes started when they realized I wasn’t participating. I know they thought they were being funny but since I had just found out the jokes really hurt. Otherwise, the weekend was pretty uneventful.

On the way home I decided I should probably tell my mom. I knew it would be difficult but I had to do it. I went down to my room to put a few things away and realized my room was completely clean. She must have cleaned it while I was away. The bag the test was in was moved and my heart dropped. I went upstairs and said "I need to tell you something." She immediately burst into tears and said she already knew. Most of the conversation consisted of "what are you going to do" and "I don't know." Tyler and I discussed our options. I knew I couldn't do abortion and I also knew I would not be able to carry a baby for 9 months then give it up for adoption. Those choices are good for some but they were not for me. I felt that the only other option would be keeping the baby and becoming parents. I knew that was the right decision for me, and I was lucky enough to have his support which solidified my decision. It was a hard and an extremely serious decision to make, but it is what was (and is) best for us.




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Very First Post

I was always an average teenager. I had a wonderful boyfriend, lots of great friends and a very close family. When I found out I was pregnant I had no idea what I was going to do. I did not know how I could be a mom at 18 years old. How am I going to raise a child, go to school, work, and have any sort of a life? One thing that helped me wrap my head around the idea of being a young mother were some blogs and vlogs I found of other teenage mothers just trying to figure out how they were going to make it work. I have considered starting my own blog for a while now in order to hopefully help out others who find themselves in my position, but it was hard to get started.

Here's a little bit about myself. My name is Jenn I am 18 going on 19 in September. I graduated from high school in 2011 and I currently go to a local community college. My boyfriend Tyler is extremely supportive and I could not ask for a better man to be by my side as we experience this crazy life event. In December of 2011 with my best friend by my side I discovered 2 pink lines. 2 pink lines that would forever change my life. I am expecting my son Ryder in August, and even though I have no idea what the future holds I'm just trying to keep up with it all. Join me as I Ryde through the adventures of being a mother.

 

Me (:

 Tyler (:

 

Ryder<3

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