Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Belly Shot Progression


almost 12 weeks

14.5 weeks

17.5 weeks

20.5 weeks

Drew at 20.5 weeks... LOL

25.5 weeks

35.5 weeks

37 weeks, 6 days

The funniest thing is to see my face in these pics. You can see how tired/sick I was at the beginning, and definitely not really liking the idea of getting a picture of my belly shot. Then as they progress I get happier about it, and then today's shot I look SO tired and READY for this baby to be here!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Brayden's verse

I had actually picked this verse out for if we ever had a son and found it in one of my journals not long after I found out I was pregnant with Brayden. I was planning on printing this out and putting it somewhere in the nursery, but I am not sure that will happen since we are so tight on space and pretty much all places to put something up is taken. I love this verse and hope that our son's life will be a reflection of Isaiah's words.


Friday, March 27, 2009

Update

I had my weekly update today with my doctor... a full 2cm dilated now and 50% effaced. I had noticed a change in the position of Brayden's hiccups and was worried he was moving back to a transverse position; when I mentioned this to my doctor, she just shuttled me over to an ultrasound room and quickly peeked to see what Brayden's positioning was like-- sure enough, his head is DOWN DOWN DOWN! That was again another praise! She is really pleased with the progress I am making, although I could tell she was surprised (as was I) that I wasn't any more dilated (last week she said I was ALMOST a 2, so there's really no change there) since I told her I've been having sporadic semi-painful (is there such a thing?!) contractions. Oh well... he will come when he is ready I guess :)

I celebrated the good news today by spending a bit of my birthday money on myself and went and got some body spray from Bath and Body Works. The girls there was super nice, but on me like hawks about how many weeks I was pregnant, is it a boy or a girl, what are the colors of my nursery, etc. Apparently it was a slow day and I was the newest news in town. Sometimes I miss shopping in anonymity. I kind of just wanted to smell the roses (so to speak) and go on with my life, not reminiscing about my nursery and how far along I am. I guess I just wasn't in that kind of mood cause it kind of irked my nerves. Thankfully no foreign hands layed on my belly-- I might have slapped someone silly!

I also went shopping yesterday at TJ Maxx and got Brayden some RocaWear sneaker socks. I had been looking for something like these b/c I LOVE the little girls ones that look like ballerina slippers. And for $6 for 3 pairs, who can resist??? Drew rolled his eyes at me when he got home and I told him I bought Brayden a present, but when I pulled these out, he quickly agreed that they were too cute to pass up. Oh, and by the way, I later found out that the RocaWear line is inspired by Jay-Z. My little man's going to be Big Pimpin' FO SHO!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Please Pray

To the right on my blog is a link that says "Praying for Stellan." I can't even begin to paraphrase all that is happening right now to that sweet little baby, but please pray for the baby, his family and most importantly that the will of God will be carried out and that God will be glorified. You can click on the link to follow the story completely.

Most of you have asked how I am feeling. Besides an unusual sense of sleepiness, I feel great. However mentally the past couple of days have honestly been hard. I am a pessimistic person by nature, and tend to think and worry about the worst thing that could happen, trying to plan my life in preparation for the worst. Perhaps it is because I hate being in a state of vulnerability and weakness, and so preparing for the worst is my way of trying to cope with the emotions that COULD come. I don't worry about sleep deprivation, changing dirty diapers 10 million times a day or doing six loads of laundry an hour. I worry about my sons health; will I have a still born child, will I lose him in infancy or early childhood. Will he be God honoring or will he lead a life of rebellion, will he honor Drew and I or will he spite us, will he have some type of horrible mental illness or physical ailment that will cause us to have to be his guardian for his entire life. I know it sounds crazy horrible that I think about this stuff, but I am just being honest. Drew's been praying for me to have freedom from this mental battle, and honestly it works sometimes, but then I feel like I slip right back into it again. It's a constant struggle. I am not in control-- even though I am (by nature and sometimes bad habit) a controlling person. God knew the days of my child's life long before he was even knit in my womb. While I can guide Brayden to make good decisions and teach him of Jesus and Salvation, it's ultimately his choice, not mine. So, yes, physically I am fine, but I think that I have a ways to go releasing the things to God that I cannot control and truly being OK with that regardless of what HIS outcome is. Pray that I will learn and release.....

Friday, March 20, 2009

Making Progress

I had my weekly visit today with my OB. Thankfully all of the contractions I had this week were not in vain; I am almost 2cm dilated and am now 25% effaced. While I know I am still a few weeks away from the arrival of our little man, it's exciting nonetheless to get some sort of news (especially since you have to endure the internal exams!). My doctor is happy with the progress I am making, and said that she thinks everything looks like it's right on tract. I did ask her about how long she would let me go past my due date. She said she doesn't like going 1 week past, which I would rather not go 1 day past, so she said that starting at 39 weeks we'd look at how favorable my cervix is and if it looks good she said she would be OK with inducing after that point. I am not really sure I want to induce unless he doesn't come by D-day, but we'll see how I feel in 2 weeks :) Keep praying for our health-- Drew came down with the stomach bug again this week, and the last thing I want to deal with at the end of pregnancy is the stomach virus.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Nursing Cover, Diaper Clutch & Target returns

I just have to let all of you know: Target has this thing called a registry gift purchase log. Save all returns that you need done until you have enough for ONE BIG RETURN. Print out your gift purchase log, go to the counter and return it all. Last night was a huge break-through. We went to the older Target, not the newer one where I had the run in with the retards. The girl was like, "oh yeah, just do that and bring it back up here..." She took back EVERYTHING.... Even stuff that was not being sold because it was seasonal. She was like, "how does 5.99 sound for this onesie?" Better than zero in my book! It was great and a huge relief. Now I am not stuck with $100 of Target merchandise that I either don't need, or have duplicates. Ahhhhh.... RELIEF.

On a fun note, I ordered a nursing cover (a knock off of a hooter hider) and a diaper clutch. I got those in yesterday afternoon and they are ADORABLE. Seriously, this girl does such a great job... if you need anything here's her site: www.babycoverz.com
The nursing cover I got is HERE
And the diaper clutch I got is HERE
I was SO excited to get both of them so fast. I actually ordered them on ebay since some of her prices on ebay are a bit cheaper. I would HIGHLY recommend her though, and she's so much cheaper than the name brand stuff that is comparable to what she makes.

We completed what little stuff I needed to get for ME. So much is wrapped up in what you need for the baby that you can completely forget that you will need stuff too. Like a nursing bra, nursing pads, lanolin ointment & some pants to go home in! I found some super cute sweat pants at New York and Company for my "going home" pants (I was advised to not wear my maternity jeans since I wouldn't want a seam "down there" after birthing a baby... or worse, a seam rubbing a c-section incision). They are normal sized pants so I will be able to hang out in those for a while when we're still at home. I also bought some sleep/sport nursing bras at Motherhood and picked out my "normal" nursing bra but didn't buy it. I plan on my mom running up there for me to get it once my milk comes in, to ensure I won't need the next size up. We got some nursing pads (Johnson and Johnson was the most recommended kind by all of my mom friends, so I bought a box of those) and I was already stocked with Lansinoh lanolin ointment. The only thing I need to do now is PACK all of my stuff and I will be ready to rush to the hospital at a moments notice.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Houston, we are heads down!


I had my 35 week prenatal appointment today and I am glad to report all is well on the home front! My weight was good, Brayden's heartbeat was nice and strong, I got swabbed for Group B Strep, and best of all HIS HEAD IS DOWN! Of course, we are 5 weeks away from D-Day, so my doc said that he could turn back again, so we're praying he stays nice and snug where he's at! I also was checked for the first time-- wowzers! I am now thoroughly convinced that doctors take a 1 hour credit class on things they can classify as "pressure." And of course, anything a doctor refers to as "pressure" should read to the layman as "moderate to intense pain, or at the very least, a hell of a lot uncomfortable." Thankfully the "pressure" applied had good news-- I am 1cm dilated. Now, I know that I shouldn't start loading the car for the hospital, but at least I got some good news from the "pressure." I am now commenced on 1 week appointments until Baby B decides to show his handsome face. The doc also told me that the weird symptoms I have been experiencing are contractions. Let's hope we have good updates from here on out.

In other news, Drew has decided to attempt the UA baseball game tonight since he was given tickets. I have reluctantly obliged to go, but am wary considering it's going to be COLD tonight. But I should be thankful because he has offered to be my warrior at Target and defend me agains the evil customer service reps tonight. Here's to someone who knows what they are freaking doing and that we get the returns we need returned finished. Otherwise, watch out if you're having a boy. You might be the object of regifting :)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

35.5 weeks

We decided we've kind of slacked on belly pics. Here's one from today:

Friday, March 6, 2009

Brayden's nursery






I finally finished Brayden's nursery! Everything is in it's place, all of the clothes are washed (well, the ones he'll wear first) and the bed is made. I also decided on a diaper bag today. I had actually gotten the one I had registered for at my last shower. I liked the bag, but there were 2 things wrong with it: it was too small (didn't realize that till I started putting things in there) and if it was even remotely "full", it wouldn't close because it only closed by magnets on the side. SO... we brought it back and decided we'd get a zip top diaper bag. They don't make many of those that are cute, and since I had some credit at Bella's I decided to splurge a little and get a really nice bag. I ended up getting a Kalencom Silver Spoon bag-- it's amazing! I thought it might be a little too boyish (we are trying to go as neutral as possible with big items since we know we want more kids), but my good friend Katie Allen told me that she thinks it's fine to use for a girl if I just pinned a cute flower or bow on the end. Yay! Now all I need are nursing necessities, a boppy slip cover & baby monitor and we're ready for little man to be here!

An Overdue Update

I realized that never updated any of my readers about my growth ultrasound... it went really well. I was really anxious going into it because I deal with worry, and ofcourse, if they tell you they are checking to see if your baby is growing right (because he's measuring small) ANYONE would worry! Come to find out, the reason he is measuring small with the tape measure is because he is happily resting transverse in utero. This is why I have had the absence of kicks to the rib. The midwife (the practice I go to actually has a midwife on staff that sees people too) who was doing the ultrasound said Brayden is actually measuring a week ahead size wise, but because of the way he's laying, it messes up the tape measure calculations. She actually giggled and said he's SO healthy there's nothing to worry about! What a relief! Ofcourse, the news that he's transverse does come with it's own sets of new worries. The biggest being if he doesn't rotate, or if he rotates to a breech position. They told me that I have until 36 weeks for him to move on his own-- I am 34 weeks to the day and still no movement. At that point they will try to move him manually which I have heard hurts ALOT, and it can also induce labor, which I am not really wanting. SO... we're waiting. Next week at my prenatal is my first cervical check, and I plan on asking the doctor then if we can wait until week 37. I would just feel more comfortable waiting until I knew that if he did come due to the moving, that atleast his lungs will be fully developed. If you think about it, please pray that he moves on his own so we can bypass all of that stuff altogether!

In other news, I had my shower with all of my friends from NWA. My mom and Laura were able to come up last minute for it, so that was so much fun.

My hostesses did such a good job-- the shower was decorated SO cute and I got a lot of stuff I really needed.

I am in the process now of returning all of the duplicates and extras I received from all of my showers... what a nightmare. Well, actually, Walmart is delightful, however Target is less than that. My personal version of pregnancy hell would be the other day as I went through 3 customer service reps trying to return Target stuff-- I was there for 2 freaking hours! The 3rd rep actually knew what she was doing and said I could return the stuff without receipts if I had my gift registry. Well, as luck would have it, the gift registry kiosk were down, so I have to go back. I am praying that the same girl is there next time, otherwise I am in for another waste of my time :(
 

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