36 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Coconut (This was the biggest coconut we could find. Obviously the baby is bigger than that, so imagine I am holding a giant Hawaiian coconut).

Baby’s Milestones: Baby is about 20 inches tall and 6 pounds this week. By now, many of baby's systems are pretty mature and just about ready for life on the outside. 

My Weight: 168.4 (little man must be putting on some weight because I am up a pound and a half from last week. This is the steadiest I have gained weight the entire pregnancy)

Symptoms:  My rib pain is continuing to get worse, especially the burning just above my ribs. It has been especially painful the last few days. Sometimes it feels like an extremely bad sunburn, sometimes it feels like knives are stabbing me and sometimes it feels like my ribs are bruised. I also started having some back pain last night (a constant ache as well as a few shooting pains, which I'm positive were caused by Hudson's movements hitting nerves, so I guess I have officially hit the uncomfortable final stage of pregnancy. I had a Dr. appointment at 36w1d. My fundal height was 35 weeks. This is the first time I haven't measured exactly on the week. My doctor also commented that Hudson is pretty high up. The last two weeks, I have been saying that I think he is higher up and that my stomach shape has changed, plus I have had tons of rib pain and heartburn, so I wasn't too surprised to hear that from her. He is still head down, but she said it is obviously more comforting if the baby has dropped at this point. Plus my mom told me that I slowly got higher and higher and then flipped on my due date so I hope that doesn't happen with me! I also told my doctor that it seems like my contractions and cramping have slowed down quite a bit in the last couple of weeks and we joked that after all the pre-term labor scares, watch him go past his due date! She gave me the ok to stop taking the medicine and stop bed rest this Sunday night (I could have stopped today, but since my shower is Sunday and she isn't on call this weekend she said it can't hurt to take it until Sunday night) and from that point forward, I can do anything I want and even start trying some inducing techniques so that is exciting!!

Cravings: I have been wanting sweets. Cookies and brownies sound delicious at the moment. 

TP: 10½

Measurements: Waist:  39    Below Belly Button: 40  

Emotions: I was much calmer overall this week. We have gotten a lot of our to do list done, we are having maternity photos and the last shower this weekend, and Nic cleaned the house. Also, as each week passes I feel better about Hudson's health once he arrives, so that has eased my worries as well. I did have a bit of a meltdown yesterday though. I was really uncomfortable and tired all day and am starting to worry about our changing table that hasn't arrived yet. It was supposed to ship out on July 22 and not only has it not shipped out, but no one at the store can give me answers about the status of my order and I have this weird feeling that the order didn't come in and they are going to tell me it is no longer available. Which means, after months of waiting I might have to scramble just before the birth of my baby to find something else. I just want Hudson's room to be done and ready for his arrival. I hate that all the delayed furniture is out of my control and our little man will be here before we have  a glider and possible a changing table, etc. :( I wanted to be one of those first time moms who has everything ready a month before her baby arrives and spends her days daydreaming about her baby and relaxing! Oh well, I guess we just have to do the best we can at this point. 

Feeling the Baby:  I have been feeling Hudson move a lot more lately. I was told I have a lot of amniotic fluid, which could be why I didn't feel him as much before, but now that he is getting bigger and running out of room, I feel him a ton. He constantly sticks his butt out on my left side. His feet feel like they get caught in my ribs all the time, which is extremely uncomfortable. His hands feel like they are punching my bladder and just last night his movements were causing sharp pains in my back! It is crazy to me when I feel movements really low down, really high up and out to the side all at the same time. He is obviously pretty long and running out of room in there.

Miri's Bridal Shower

On Sunday, July 22, my mom picked me up so I could join her and Tomi for a little bit of Shop Hop. I missed it last year because I was in Australia and I missed most of it this year because of my bed rest. I was able to squeeze in 2 stores though with them without overdoing it (it also probably saved me a ton of money, so maybe the bed rest was a blessing in disguise). The first store we went to had tons of really cute stuff!! The second store was just average and they took forever ringing us up, which made me late to Miri's Bridal Shower.

Miri's shower was at Zimzala restaurant in Huntington Beach. We talked and ate some food, then played a couple of games. The first game was to see how well the bride~to~be knows her fiance. For every question Miri got wrong, she had to put a marshmallow in her mouth. I've seen this game at a few showers and it is always entertaining. The second game was to see how well we know Miri. I tied for second place so that was exciting! Then we watched Miri open presents and took pictures. It was fun to see some of my closest sorority sisters and celebrate the beautiful bride~to~be!! Four of us there where pregnant, so it was fun to talk babies and pregnancy for a bit too. It is pretty crazy that we are in that marriage and babies phase of our lives now. Miri's wedding date is only 3 days after my due date so I unfortunately won't be able to make it to her wedding. As I was leaving I realized that the next time we see each other, she will be a Mrs. and I will be a Mom!! So crazy!! I'm so glad I was able to be there to celebrate this special time in Miri's life, especially since I couldn't go to the Bachelorette party and won't be at the wedding.

After the shower, Kim gave me a ride to meet my mom and Tomi in Laguna Beach (they had been visiting my Papa Fred while I was at the shower). We stopped by my grandma's quickly to see how she is doing. We took a few photos and I was hoping she would be able to feel Hudson move, but as soon as she put her hands on my belly he stopped....sometimes he can be a little punk. ;) It was nice to see Grandma Annabelle. Her mental health seems to be dwindling quickly so it was good that we checked on her and I think she enjoyed seeing my pregnant belly. After our visit with grandma, we grabbed some food and drove home.

I came home to a clean house (as clean as a house can be when the contents of a kitchen are in boxes in every room and construction is going on), a hubby with a haircut, and even some new furniture had been put together in the playroom. I have the best husband in the world!! I feel so much calmer being in a clean house and I feel as though I could feel comfortable now bringing Hudson home even if the construction isn't complete.

35 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Melon 

Baby’s Milestones: Baby is about 20 inches tall and 5½  pounds this week. Most of baby's growth from this point forward will be weight gain, not height. Fat continues to accumulate at a rapid pace these days. Also continuing to grow is baby's brain power.


My Weight: 167.8 (up almost 18 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight)


Symptoms:  My rib pain is continuing to get worse, especially the burning just above my ribs. I get sharp pains and what I can only best describe as an indian burn feeling, but the skin isn't red at all. I read on-line that it could be a pinched nerve or something like that from everything expanding. Whatever it is, it can be extremely uncomfortable. Especially when I am sitting or laying down, which is 95% of the time. I've also been having some trouble sleeping. I have had night sweats/ hot flashes a couple of times, wandering thoughts that keep me up for hours, and I'm still getting up about once every night to pee and one other time to take my medicine. It's usually after one of my bathroom trips that I find myself wide awake and struggle for hours to fall back asleep. 

Cravings: I am still loving cantaloupe, brownies, and chocolate milk. Chipotle also sounds good to me quite often.

TP: 10½

Measurements: Waist:  39    Below Belly Button: 40  

Emotions: I have spent a few nights awake with anxiety. It has finally hit me that I will be having a baby in the next couple of weeks and I'm super excited, but also quite nervous. I spent one night thinking about everything that could go wrong during delivery. I also had a dream one night where they gave me a c-section against my will for no medical reason at 35 weeks and then brought me two babies (one was very obviously not mine) and after taking the wrong baby away, they left me and my baby in the entrance of the hospital. I have spent a lot of my sleepless nights praying that both baby and I are healthy and that nothing goes horribly wrong during delivery. In general, I'm not super nervous about how hard or painful labor will be, I'm more worried that something bad might happen and the middle of the night seems to be when these thoughts consume me. I also had one night where I wrote a list of things I wanted to say to our contractor over and over again until I finally forced myself to type it into my phone so I could go back to sleep (I was really close to e-mailing him at 3am, but thankfully didn't because I was pretty worked up and I'm sure it would have been a mean e-mail). 


Feeling the Baby:  Hudson is still moving quite a bit. When he was head up, he mostly hung out on the right side. Now that he is head down, he definitely prefers the left. His little bum sticks way out to the side quite often and he kicks me in the ribs quite a bit too. He is obviously quite a bit bigger because I will feel movements all the way on both sides of my belly, almost to my back at the same time or I will feel something really low (I'm assuming a hand) and a foot in my rib at the same time too. Every once in a while the movements are uncomfortable, but for the most part I love it! It still amazes me that there is a little person inside of me!! One night this week, I gave Nic a hug and Hudson kicked Nic in the stomach him while we were hugging. It was really cute, as if Hudson was trying to say I'm part of this too.  I consider it our first of many family hugs. 

Beena, Brunch and the Banner

Sabrina and her friend Alana stayed the night Saturday. On Sunday, July 15th, we went out for brunch then the girls helped Nic hang Hudson's banner in is room. It looks so cute! It was really fun having Sabrina in town even though it was a short trip.

Chuck's Birthday Party

On July 14th, Nic and I went to Chuck's birthday party. I know I am on bed rest, but I sat in a chair the entire time and as soon as I started to feel crampy and uncomforable we left. I figure sitting in a chair is the same as sitting on the couch and it sure felt good to get some fresh air and escape our disaster/construction house. We got to see a bunch of Acton friends that we haven't seen in ages (although I only got to catch up with people who walked over to me since I couldn't just get up and walk around). It was a lot of fun! :)

*I didn't take any photos so I'll have to post some once I get them from my mom or Lindsay.

Third 4D Ultrasound

On July 11th, we went to our make-up ultrasound appointment. I guess since Hudson had his hand covering his face during the last ultrasound they didn't consider the images to be very good, so they scheduled a make-up session for us free of charge. We thought the photos were still pretty good last time and still enjoyed it immensely, but we weren't going to turn down another chance to see our little guy, especially a free one. 

Nic, my mom, Tyler and Justin all came. I ate a bowl of ice cream before this appointment in the hopes that Hudson would be more active. He was definitely moving a bunch during the ultrasound, but he still had the umbilical cord in front of his face, or he turned the wrong way, or when he would face the correct way the hand would go back up in front of his face. haha. It was actually pretty funny. We got to see him yawn and moving around and we did get a few good looks at his face. He has these huge cheeks now! It looked like he had a gumball in each cheek! His nose looked really big, but the tech assured us that all babies noses look big straight on in the ultrasound and a profile shot is more indicative of what his nose will actually look like. We didn't really get to see his lips because the umbilical cord was blocking them. He sure is cute though!! Or at least we think so!! At the end of the ultrasound I asked if she could show us what position he was in. She showed us that his butt is up by my ribs and he has his legs almost crossed indian style underneath is butt. We got to see his adorable foot, which was really cool! She also showed us his testicles. He was kind of blocking them with his tucked under legs, but we got one good shot of them and they looked huge. Tyler, Justin and Nic all got a huge kick out of that and were all proud and cheering....typical boys!! 

The 4D ultrasounds have been such an amazing experience and I am so glad that we did it! It was worth every penny and each time it has made us more and more excited to see our little man in person!

Bed Rest and Pregnancy Class

We started our pregnancy classes on June 19th at our local hospital (not the one we will be delivering at). My doctor gave me permission to go as long as I sat with my feet up and left immediately if I started having contractions. I got a few dirty looks the first class because I got to sit in the comfy chair, but once we went around the room to introduce ourselves and I explained that I was on bed rest, everyone got a whole lot friendlier. The class was pretty interesting. We talked about labor, when to go to the hospital and learned a few stretches/exercises that can help with early labor pains.


In the second class on June 26th, we watched a few vaginal birth videos and talked about early labor and relaxation techniques. We practiced a few of them and then did a really interesting exercise. The women had to sit with ice cubes in each hand for 1 minute. It seemed really easy and silly in theory, but was actually a bit uncomfortable and the minute felt a little long. Then we had to hold the ice cubes for 5 minutes, but this time we were allowed to use the relaxation techniques we had learned. I already knew my favorite way of dealing with pain is distractions, but this just confirmed it. Nic and I talked, joked and laughed the entire time and the 5 minutes flew by. I'm sure the other couples practicing visualization and massage were not impressed with our giggling, but it sure was fun for us. 


In the third class on July 3rd, we talked about active labor, transition, pushing, and epidurals. We watched a really easy picture perfect birth video. The whole thing was textbook and the lady delivered this adorable 6 pound baby that was amazing at breast feeding right off the bat. It was actually kind of annoying how perfect everything went. 


In the 4th class on July 10th, we talked about all the things that could go wrong with births and c-sections. We watched a c-section video, which was pretty interesting. There was the strangest couple in class that night! The husband asked a question almost every 5 minutes and most of them had nothing to do with what we were talking about. First he asked what we were all doing to get our daily nutritional intake. He asked if we all shop at Whole Foods and if we drink naked juice. Most of us just stared at him blankly and said we take our pre-natal vitamins and try to eat a balanced diet. Then he asked if he and his wife could still fly (she is 36 weeks pregnant) because apparently everyone in his family is born in Florida. He also blurted out that we should all put a pack of water in our car just in case something happens (we are assuming he was referring to the discussion earlier in the class about quick births that happen at home or in the car), then proceeded to tell us that they live 5 minutes from the hospital. He also said he wants his wife to have a c-section because it seems way easier right after the teacher spent 20 minutes explaining that c-sections are obviously necessary in certain situations, but it is still a major surgery and usually entails a longer recovery. The guy literally had something to say about everything. It was as if he thought he and the teacher were having a one on one discussion. I thought Nic was going to kill the guy by the time the class ended, but we have been laughing about it ever since so we obviously found it somewhat entertaining. At the end of the class, the husband's learned how to change diapers and swaddle. We held baby dolls the entire class as practice and then used the dolls to practice on. Nic was an amazing swaddler, so I think that will be one of his jobs once our little man arrives!!

So I have now been on bed rest for a month. The first few days of bed rest I was feeling extremely stressed out and guilty that I wasn't at work. Once I realized I didn't have a choice in the matter I enjoyed it a lot more. I caught up on tv shows and read baby books that I hadn't had time to read before because of our busy schedule. It actually felt good to relax a little. I have to admit though, the construction sort of put a damper in the relaxing aspect of bed rest. I was stuck in bed all day listening to pounding right outside my window while the whole house shook. I also started to stress about the fact that we were completely unprepared for our little man's arrival. While Susan was here, she, my mom and Nic helped get a few of the essentials ready. Once we had the bare necessities taken care of I felt a lot better. I also started working from home and spending hours on-line researching all the things we needed for our house. We had to order a new microwave, a new sink, a hood, backsplash tiles, granite, lighting, flooring, etc. So hours of my days (as well as hours of Nic's days) have been spent researching. In fact, in the last couple of weeks, I have barely found time to watch a show or two let alone read a book because Nic and I have been so busy making decisions for our remodel project. I always laugh when people feel bad for me and think I must be bored out of my mind on bed rest. Actually, I have been far from bored. In fact, I think I could use a little boredom. Waking up and not having anything to do for just one day actually sounds really enjoyable, but I highly doubt it will happen before the baby arrives and it definitely won't happen once he is here, so I guess I will have to wait and experience boredom someday when I'm old and retired. Until then, it's back to work. 

34 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Honeydew Melon (This week was supposed to be a Durian Fruit, but those are apparently very difficult to find so we went with the slightly larger honeydew melon).

Baby’s Milestones: Baby could be as tall as 20 inches and about 5 pounds this week. This week our little boy's testicles are making their way down from his abdomen to his scrotum. His fingernails now reach the end of his fingertips and may even curl over the tip.


My Weight: 167 (up 17 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight)


Symptoms:  My rib pain is still bugging me and my skin is still itchy just above my ribs. I get up about once every night to pee and one other time to take my medicine. If my trip to the bathroom happens around 5am, then I usually can't fall back asleep because that is one of Hudson's favorite times to play. :) I kind of like it though, it is a special time just between the two of us. I had a doctor appointment on the 9th. Hudson's heartbeat sounded great, he is still head down and my fundal height was 34 weeks, so I am measuring right on schedule.

Cravings: I am loving cantaloupe this week! I could eat a bowl of it every day. I've also been craving chocolate, mainly brownies and chocolate milk. Yum! If we had a kitchen, I definitely think I would be baking up a storm.

TP: 10¼

Measurements: Waist:  38½    Below Belly Button: 39  

Emotions: I have definitely been more emotional this trimester. It feels just like the first trimester all over again with the constant tear-ups. I cry watching an Olympics commercial about moms every time I see it. I cried watching a little boy shout "I love you mom" while his mom auditioned for SYTYCD. Anytime Nic tells me I am doing a good job, I cry. I cried during the ESPY's over the story of the coach who had tons of miscarriages, finally had a son, and is now fighting Alzheimer's. Pretty much anything remotely emotional will cause me to cry these days. :)  


Feeling the Baby:  Hudson hasn't been the most active baby the entire pregnancy, but when he moves he is really starting to pack a punch. We can see huge bulges come out of my belly. He tends to move a lot one day, then not as much the next, then is really active again the next day. My doctor said that is completely normal and me feeling his movements could depend on which way he is facing/moving. Of course, just to make me look bad, he put on an impressive show for her while we listened to his heartbeat at my appointment on the 9th. :)

4th of July

On July 4th, we knew we couldn't do much to celebrate because of my bed rest so when Lindsay invited us over we figured that would be perfect. She was only having a few people over and we live really close so we knew if I started having contractions we could always get back home quickly.


It was a lot of fun! Of course, Lindsay put together a fabulous spread. We had corn on the cob, salad, fruit salad, pasta salad, bbq chicken burgers, hot dogs, flank steak, and fries. It was delicious! For dessert we had brownies, cookies, and strawberry shortcake skewers. It was a gorgeous afternoon so we all ate outside, then we watched the Valencia fireworks from their balcony while listening to the coordinating music on our local radio station. 

I also got to catch up with Melissa, who is pregnant with twin boys. It was fun to talk to someone going through all the same things and we also had fun comparing bellies. In the photo, I am 33 weeks pregnant and I believe Melissa is 24 weeks pregnant. We decided we are carrying very similarly and we think our bellies are almost the exact same size (I think mine might be a tiny bit bigger). 

Nic and I had a great time and we are glad we still got to celebrate the 4th. Thanks Mirkovich Family for having us over!!

33 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Pineapple

Baby’s Milestones: This week baby can be anywhere between 17 and 19 inches and weigh more than 41/2 pounds. Baby is acting more and more like a baby with his eyes closing during sleep and opening while awake. More light is also penetrating the womb now so baby can differentiate between day and night. He has also reached an important milestone this week: His immune system has developed which will help provide protection from mild infections.   


 My Weight: 165.2


Symptoms:  My rib pain is continuing to get worse. I usually have pain at night before bed and when I wake up in the morning. My groin muscles are also a bit sore at times. I'm at a point now though that I'm not sure what soreness is from sitting and laying all day and what is from the baby getting bigger. I've also had itchy skin just under my ribs and I've been feeling a bit tired. I get up once in the middle of the night to take my medicine and sometimes it takes me a really long time to fall back asleep. (I guess it is good practice for when our little guy arrives). Considering how miserable I hear many women are at this point in pregnancy, I am feeling pretty darn good.

Cravings: No cravings this week.

TP: 10¼

Measurements: Waist: 38   Below Belly Button: 38¾  

Emotions: This week I had a bit of a meltdown. We have had a ton of issues with nursery furniture being on back order or being discontinued, which has added a lot of stress to an already stressful situation.  I had this vision in my head that our construction would be done, our house would be all clean, organized and put together, and everything would be ready for the baby weeks in advance. Now, I'm struggling just to have the bare minimum ready for when he arrives. I can't do much to help the situation and feel completely out of control. This of course isn't how I imagined these last few months of pregnancy going and I just burst into tears on the way home from a completely unsuccesful trip to Babies R Us on Sunday. Maybe this is just God's way of preparing me for mommy-hood~forcing me to learn that things don't always go as planned and sometimes I just have to go with the flow, but I am defintitely struggling with it all at the moment.  


Feeling the Baby:  Still seeing and feeling tons of movement. :)

Construction Part 5

Here are a few photos from July 3rd to show the construction progress. The wall has been removed!! 

Second 4D Ultrasound

On June 29th, Nic, Susan, my mom,Tyler and Justin went to our second 4D ultrasound at Insight Ultrasounds. It is always so amazing to see our little boy on that huge screen. He sure has changed a lot and is filling out quite a bit. He wasn't overly cooperative though. He was cuddled up in my hip bone in his favorite position with his hand covering his face. We of course kept making jokes about him not cooperating. I even tried moving around and the boys played him his "favorite" song N***as in Paris (which Susan did not approve of by the way, lol). Even though we couldn't fully see him, it was still amazing and I'm so glad Susan got to be there....she Loved it and thought it was absolutely AMAZING! 

After the ultrasound, we grabbed lunch at Kisho. I haven't gone to many sushi restaurants during my pregnancy because I find it torturous, but Kisho has teppan, so I have options. Also, before people freak out, the sushi I did eat only had cooked shrimp in it, and it sure was fun to feel like I was eating sushi even if it wasn't my favorite spicy tuna roll. After lunch, we went to see the movie Ted, while Susan did some shopping at the mall. It was a beautiful day and it felt good to get out of the house and pretend I wasn't on bed rest for a few hours.

Construction Part 4

On June 27th, the workers starter to tear apart our kitchen. Susan and I watched as they ripped our island out of the ground with their hands and removed all of our appliances. I guess there is not turning back now. We are getting a new kitchen!!

They built a wall that day to separate us from the construction.So when Nic got home, we all went out back to check out the work. 

The mini flood!! I swear, this house and water just do not mix! On June 28th, Susan and I were sitting on the couch eating breakfast. She went to wash out her mug and asked me if the water was shut off, moments later I stepped in a puddle of water! We both immediately knew something was wrong. She went out to investigate while I grabbed towels and called Nic. Apparently, one of the workers broke the sink pipe while removing it. He said he then went to turn the water off, but he turned it off at the street so it took quite a while for the water to stop running. The water had come through the kitchen wall and was seeping up through our wood floor in the next room. About half the room had water seeping up fro under the wood! Susan and I immediately started grabbing all the stuff we had just moved from the kitchen into that room and moved it to other rooms. Nic came home as well and helped. The real disappointment was how long it took the construction workers to respond. They acted like it was no big deal, which was frustrating because we know from experience that the quicker you respond to water leaks, especially when wood flooring is involved, the better. About 2 hours after we discovered the water, our contractor and the project lead showed up with a huge fan and vacuum to dry the wood. Talk about stressful!!! Thank goodness Susan was there to help me because it was definitely a lot for me to deal with (and definitely did not fall into my bed rest instructions).

That afternoon, we did our usual check of the progress. 

32 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Jicama (This week was actually some sort of squash that is only available in the winter so we had to settle on this)

Baby’s Milestones: Baby now weighs almost four pounds and could be up to 19 inches long. Baby's digestive system is all set and ready to go. Baby is also accumulating more fat and his skin is becoming opaque. In preparation of the big day he is sleeping a lot -- with sleep cycles of 20 to 40 minutes long.  


 My Weight: 165.2


Symptoms:  My contractions have been much better ever since I started taking my medicine every 6 hours. I still feel them whenever I stand up or walk around too much. My rib pain seems to be getting worse and I have a bit of upper back pain as well. I had a Dr. apt. on June 27th. Baby's heartbeat sounded great, he is still head down and my fundal height was 32 weeks. She also said she wants me to continue taking my medicine every 6 hours and to stay on bed rest until 37 weeks. 

Cravings: No cravings this week.

TP: 10 

Measurements: Waist: 38   Below Belly Button: 38½  

Emotions: This week was really good because we were given some key items like our bassinet, carseat and stroller so I'm at least feeling like we have a few things ready for baby. I also had a lot of help this week and a lot of distractions, so it was a really good week. We also met with two pediatricians this week so hopefully we can decide on one and get that checked off our to do list.


Feeling the Baby:  His movements  have gotten even stronger. He seems to be preferring my  left side now and his kicks really pack a punch. It has been fun having so many people around feeling and watching him move!

Hudson Glenn Campbell

We finally named our little boy. Here is the history behind the name.

Hudson- While we were living in Bendigo I had tons of free time, so I would rent baby name books from the library and look through them. Nic and I made a list of names, which was quite a challenge because we not only had to worry about the usual things: do we both like the name or does the name remind one of us of someone we don't particularly want to think of each time we say our kid's name, but we also had to think about how the name might be pronounced differently in Australia and how it would be received in both countries. Once we had come up with our list, we would review it every so often and see if we still liked the names. A few of the names fell further down the list over time, but for the most part the list stayed the same, so we figured that was a good sign. From the moment we discovered we were expecting, we have had two top boy names. My 1st choice name Aiden and Nic's first choice name Hudson. We spent months and months in a gridlock and asked our family and closest friends who all seemed to be split down the middle. I guess it was a good sign as it meant everyone liked both names, but we knew at some point we needed to pick one. We spent some time referring to him by each name and still couldn't decide. We both really loved both names, but we both also loved our name more. What it finally came down to were these 2 things: 1. I have had a girl name picked out for as long as I can remember so I felt like it was only fair to let Nic name our son and 2. Aiden has become so popular, so we knew Hudson would be a bit more unique of a name. 

Glenn- I have always been big on using family names, especially for middle names, so I also spent some time in Bendigo finding out all of our families full names. It turns out that Nic's grandpa's name was Glenn. It was also his grandpa's mother's maiden name. My Papa Fred's middle name is also Glenn. It seemed too perfect. We decided right then, that we would for sure give our first son the middle name Glenn to honor both sides of our family.


So that is how our little man got the name Hudson Glenn. We hope he loves it as much as we do!

Baby Shower #1

On Sunday, June 24th, I had my 1st baby shower. We had a bit of a crazy start to the day. I thought the shower started at 11:30 instead of 11 (pregnancy brain strikes again!) so I wasn't ready to leave in time to get there a half hour early like I wanted to. Then as we were about to walk out the door Nic realized that he had a huge screw in his tire so he had to race off to get it fixed while Tomi rushed over to pick Susan and I up. We arrived at the shower only a few minutes late and I got a bit emotional walking in. It was so beautiful!! Rachelle, Sabrina and Lauren did an amazing job!! We also announced baby Campbell's name at the shower. Our little boy's name is HUDSON GLENN CAMPBELL. The Hudson sign turned out perfect, the tables and table decorations looked amazing, Rachelle's gorgeous backyard was the perfect setting and the pinwheels were absolutely adorable. They had a mimosa bar, parfait bar, quiches, mini pop tarts, mini cupcakes and tons more adorable and delicious food. We played a celebrity baby name game, everyone signed a scrapbook page with wishes for Hudson, I opened presents and everyone wrote messages on diapers. It was such a fun day and went by WAY too fast. The only bummer of the day for me was that because I was on bed rest I had an even tougher time than people normally do at these kinds of events making sure I got to catch up with everyone. I feel so terrible about it and I hope everyone who came understands. 

Thanks so much again to my mom for flying Susan out to be at my shower. Thanks to Susan for coming all the way from Tasmania to be at my shower. Thanks to the amazing hosts:Rachelle, Sabrina and Lauren who did the most incredible job ever! Thanks to all my family and friends who came to celebrate Baby Hudson and I and showered us with so much love and so many wonderful gifts. I had the absolute best time!!!


Here is the collage Rachelle made highlighting all the amazing details:

Here are a few more pictures of all the wonderful people who came to help me celebrate:

Susan's visit

On Friday, after we all got over the initial shock and catch up session, everyone got to work packing up the kitchen. I even helped by sitting on the floor, packaging up wine glasses. That night Tomi came over and we all had thai food for dinner. 

On Saturday, Tomi, my mom, Susan and Nic went baby shopping. Apparently my mom had a bit of a struggle figuring out how to close the stroller we registered for. Tomi video taped her trying for quite some time, then video taped Susan struggling. Then she got it on her first try, which really frustrated my mom. ;) I obviously didn't go, but they all thought it was hilarious and it sounds like the stroller provided quite a bit of entertainment.


That afternoon, Nic, Justin and Susan went to Nic's company carnival. They came home with tons of prizes and it sounded like they had a really good time. 


On Sunday, we had the baby shower. I am so glad Susan was here for that.


On Wednesday, Susan and my mom took me to my doctor appointment. After the appointment we went to Star Cafe, my after appointment tradition and I got my favorite pasta. On the way home, we stopped by Oma and Opa's really quick to say hi.

We spent most of the week talking and catching up. Susan also went on walks every day and told us she was loving our nice weather (it is freezing in Tasmania at the moment). She also went to the mall a few times, did some relaxing, did some reading, went to see Annie with my mom, helped me do some baby washing and helped me get the nursery a bit more organized.


It was so great having her here and such a huge help. Her and my mom were both tremendously helpful all week. Bed rest has been really hard, especially since about a week ago I had absolutely nothing ready, but they have done a ton to help get things ready for our little guy's arrival. I still can't believe my mom flew Susan all the way out here! I honestly have no idea how I will ever be able to thank her enough. It was such a great week and I was so sad when we had to say our goodbyes. 

SURPRISE!!

On Friday, June 22nd, my mom had planned to come over with the boys to help pack up our kitchen since I can no longer do it. She brought lunch over and Nic came home and met us for lunch. Tyler mentioned that he wanted to show us something on his ipad so he ran out to the car to get it. He came in and said look what I found in the car and held up his ipad. I was somewhat confused because he had already told me he was going out there to get it. A few seconds later though, Nic's mom walked around the corner into the room. I was in complete shock and kept looking at her as if she was a hologram. I kept saying Oh my gosh! and I can't believe your here and started bawling. It was a good thing I was sitting down because it was very overwhelming! I hugged Susan so tight and just couldn't get over the shock that she was really here. Moments later Nic walked in the room with a stunned look on his face. He was extremely surprised as well. He looked so happy and hugged his mom as tight as he possibly could. 


Apparently, they had been planning this for months. My parents had paid to fly Susan out so that she could come to my shower, see my bump and spend some time with Nic and I. The original plan was to surprise us at the shower, but because of the bed rest and the her short visit they decided to do the surprise Friday. I'm so glad they did because it probably would have been too much for me to handle at the shower and most importantly it meant we had a few extra days with Susan. 


Nic and I honestly couldn't get over it. It was the best surprise we have ever gotten!! 

31 Week Ultrasound

On June 20th we went in to my doctor's office for an ultrasound. I hadn't had one since my 20 week scan and she wanted to see how our little guy was growing and make sure everything looked ok. He was so much bigger than the last ultrasound we had. She could only get in small bits of him at once, but he looked perfect!!! At my apt. the week before, my doctor told me he was head up so I've been telling him all week that sometime soon he needs to flip and he listened! He was head down. He is such a good little boy already. ;) She said his heart looked great and all his measurements were perfect. She said he is the perfect size based on my due date-not too big and not too small, in fact using all his measurements, my due date was estimated at Aug. 20th (only one day off from my actual due date). Now I just have to do my best to keep him in there until then. He currently weighs 3lbs. 7 oz. and she guessed that he is about 13 inches long, but said it is only a guess because he is curled up in the fetal position. She said he looks really long with big hands and feet so she thinks he will be above average in length when he is born. My amniotic fluid looked great and she said she could tell that I drink a ton of water. She showed us his fingers, toes, spine, everything and he looks just perfect!! She kept saying how cute he is and we couldn't agree more! He is starting to look chubbier and it made us really excited for our next 4D ultrasound. She also reconfirmed that he is in fact a boy so we are 3/3 so that is good. :) Hearing so much good news from the ultrasound was great, especially after the tough week we had. Knowing he is doing well inside makes me even more motivated to keep him cooking as long as possible.

31 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Lettuce

Baby’s Milestones: Baby is now 18 inches long and weighs more than 3 pounds. Baby's brain is working overtime and developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing and baby can now perceive information from all five senses. Baby spends his days making faces, hiccuping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands and feet along mom's uterine wall, and sucking his thumb. 


 My Weight: 165.2 (up 15 pounds from my starting weight) 


Symptoms:  Obviously I have been having contractions. Even after taking the medicine and being on bed rest, I am still having them. I have also had some slight back pain, so my doctor has upped my medicine to every 6 hours. On Monday morning, while I was getting breakfast my legs turned all red, tingly and itchy. As soon as I elevated them it went away and is apparently a side effect of the medicine I'm taking. I am still having rib pain overnight and am still getting up every night to pee.

Cravings: No cravings this week.

TP: 10 (I'm not sure how this got smaller, but my belly looks bigger)

Measurements: Waist: 38   Below Belly Button: 38½  

Emotions: This week has obviously been quite emotional. I went from having normal fears about labor and getting everything ready in time to worrying about my little guy being born too early. I still have a long ways until my due date and my little guy still has a lot of growing to do so I am just trying to keep calm and do everything I can to keep him in me as long as possible.


Feeling the Baby:  His movements have gotten a lot stronger. When I lay on one side I can feel him poking as if he is trying to escape. Then when I roll over to the other side I feel the exact same thing. I had Nic feel and he agreed that it felt pretty crazy. Our little guy must be growing, which is a very good thing. Even though some of those pokes are a bit uncomfortable, especially when I'm trying to go to sleep at night, I absolutely love feeling him move. It is so comforting and makes me so happy.

Father's Day (Father~to~Be Day)

A while back, I went a little crazy buying my little guy lots of Kings hockey and Lakers basketball gear and Nic was upset with me that I didn't get any Clippers gear. Apparently, he jumped on the "Lob City" Bandwagon this year and now wants our son to be a fan as well. Considering I was a Laker Girl and grew up going to Laker games, I was somewhat insulted by this. He has been giving me a hard time about not buying anything for our little boy to wear that represents his teams ever since. So, about a month ago, I went on-line and ordered Essendon Bombers gear from the official Bombers website in Australia. If there is any team that is 100% Nic's team, it is the Bombers. They are the AFL (Australian Football League) team he has been following since he was a little kid. I was so excited to give him his gifts to celebrate Father's Day or as we referred to it this year Father~to~Be Day. I got our little guy a pacifier, rattle, footy, blanket and a onesie so he can be all decked out when the two of them watch games together. I know Nic loved the gift and I think it was way better than buying some Clippers gear. ;)

Baby Campbell's Nursery Part 2

After the Labor and Delivery scare, we were even more eager to make some progress on the nursery. Nic finished painting and built the crib. I helped mostly by sitting on the floor, reading the instructions and handing him the parts he needed, but I did actually help occasionally. It felt good to start to see the room coming together. I think it is going to be really cute once it is all done. (Hopefully that day arrives before Baby Campbell does).

Labor and Delivery

By Wednesday night, June 13th,  I felt like I was having about 1 contraction an hour (after my apt. though, I knew for every 1 I was feeling I was probably having a few that I wasn't), but I was also starting to have cramps too and just didn't feel right. I called my doctor Thursday morning to let them now and to see if my UTI test results were in. I was actually sort of hoping it would come back positive because it would explain most of my symptoms. The nurse told me to stay in bed and drink lots of water until she called back. That was already my plan (I had already been in bed since Tuesday). She called back in the afternoon and told me that the UTI test had come back negative and that Dr. Nelson wanted me to go to Labor and Delivery just to be safe. 

I called Nic and he came home from work to get me. We drove down to Huntington Memorial Hospital even though it isn't our normal hospital because they have a NICU and checked in. I really was hoping I was going to be embarrassed from over-reacting, be told I'm fine and sent home. They hooked me up to a monitor that recorded all my contractions. At first I was having small ones that they explained were the cramps I was feeling. They said that kind of recording is usually indicative of a UTI, but we already knew I didn't have that so they kept monitoring me. A short while later they came in and said that the machine was now picking up much more significant contractions and at a pretty high frequency so they wanted to keep monitoring me. While we were there I drank an enormous cup of water (that was after the 10 or so cups I had already had that day) so they also couldn't blame the contractions on dehydration. They informed me I was having contractions about 2-3 minutes apart! It was pretty scary to hear that because I only felt a couple of them the entire time they were monitoring me. They ended up giving me a shot of Trebuterol to stop the contractions. It made me really shaky and a bit anxious. Apparently it stopped the contractions, but they still wanted to monitor me. They also did the FFN test on me to see what the likelihood was that I would go into labor in the next two weeks. They came back about 30 minutes later and said that once the shot wore off the contractions picked right up again. Then we had to hang out and wait for the FFN results. The results were thankfully negative, which meant that it was very unlikely that I would go into labor in the next 2 weeks, which was great news, but considering I was only 30 weeks, the fact that I was having contractions so consistently at all was very scary!! They also checked my cervix and told me that I wasn't dilated so that was more good news. After speaking with my doctor, they sent me home with a prescription for Procardia (to be taken every 8 hours to minimize the contractions) and instructions to be on strict bed rest with bathroom privileges only. They even forced me to be wheeled out in a wheelchair! I was obviously happy to be going home, but pretty freaked out that all this was happening at 30 weeks! I went from feeling completely overwhelmed about how on earth I was going to get everything ready in 10 weeks to worrying about how I was going to keep my little guy in as long as possible while getting the essentials ready ASAP because he could now be arriving way sooner than we'd hoped!