37 Weeks and Baby Showers

On Tuesday I had my work shower. It was a lot of fun and it was time at work that I wasn't actually working! They all made fun of me because I was trying to open the presents without ripping the paper. I've been doing that for a long time (since I was a kid). I know that the paper will be thrown away, and in some cases the only way to get to the box is to rip the paper, but I still work slowly anyway.

This is just some of the food. I didn't take any other pictures of the food or decor, which is a shame because someone made an awesome banner with Georgia's name on it.



This is all of the gifts that I received, including the banner I mentioned earlier.



Then on Saturday I had a church shower. I forgot completely to take pictures of the food and decorations. I had a lot of fun and saw some people that I haven't seen in a while. It was fun to catch up and have people give me advice. I also got a card that everyone filled out with predictions about when Georgia will arrive, what color eyes and hair she will have, and how big she will be. Some of them were crazy (like I'll give birth on the 14th, which is this Tuesday) and some were, hopefully, far fetched (like October 8). There were a lot of people predicting September 29th and 30th. We'll see.

This is all of the gifts laid out from the church shower.



Then, of course, I took a profile picture for this week. I took it before the shower because I was all dressed up and had actually put in my contacts and dried my hair straight (man was I hot after doing that!). I personally think that this poofy blouse makes me look bigger than I actually am.



In addition to all of the fun things happening this week, we also had a lot of not so fun things to deal with. Shawn's oldest aunt, Daisey, died early Saturday morning. Then Saturday afternoon his sister had emergency surgery. So between spending time with family following Daisey's death and going to the hospital to see Whitney, the Labor day weekend was a long and tiring one. Daisey's funeral was Monday afternoon and due to scheduling, the graveside service wasn't until Wednesday. Shawn was a pallbearer so we took off from work to go. It was HOT! Shortly after the graveside service was over Whitney actually was released from the hospital. The verdict was that she had an ulcer. While it is sad that the family lost a loved one, Daisey had been in very poor health all summer and hadn't been able to eat or drink anything for almost two weeks. In the end most of her family was their to say goodbye to her.

After we left the graveside service I wanted to get a picture of the two of us since we were both dressed up. We've been taking lots of pictures of me during the pregnancy, but we don't have many of the two of us.



In addition to all the craziness of the week I also had a doctor's appointment. Last week the doctor just said that I was starting to efface, but there was no dilation. This week, he almost immediately said that he felt her head (that freaked me out for a moment). Then after a few moments he said that I was about 60-70% effaced, about 1 cm dilated, and her head was at -1 (usually the baby has to be at -2 before you can give birth, so she is nearly there!). So, in one week I had progressed way more than I though I would. On top of all of that, I haven't felt anything! I haven't had any Braxton-Hicks contractions at all. I just feel like she is pressing on more of my lower abdomen. All that means that I could go into labor at any moment, or it could still be 3 weeks away. The doctor did tell me that if I make it to around September 27 or so that I could schedule an induction, and we may very well do that. If she is born on October 1, that would be a Friday, and Shawn wouldn't have to miss work. So, stay tuned for any more news.

First Shower

I had my very first baby shower this weekend. It was the shower for all of my family, hosted by my Aunt Beverly, my cousin Tami, and her daughter Chelsea. There was pink everywhere! We had yummy food and there were games. I was surprised because almost everyone I had on the list to get invitations actually made it. It was good to see all of my family, some of whom I hadn't seen in a few years!

Here is the cake. It was very good.



This is the table with all the food and punch. Notice everything is pink.



This is me before we started playing games.



A very cute Noah's arc themed balloon.



A rubber duckie balloon.



After I got home I took all the gifts out and laid them out on the dining room table. It covered almost the whole table. You can even see the giant pile of tissue paper on the buffet next to a pile of folded up gift bags.



Overall, it was a great day, and Georgia has a lot of stuff to come home to. We have tons of clothes, some blankets, and even baby wash and lotion now. And, not everything is pink, which is a plus. I've got three more showers coming up, and they all are on the same week! But it will still be far enough away from my due date that I'll be able to put everything up before Georgia gets here (hopefully).

33 Weeks

It's time for another profile picture. I tend to take these on Sunday so that I'll look a little bit better. I try to make more of an effort when going to church than I do when going to work. Mainly, because I sit in an office all day long and see the same 6 or 7 people on a daily basis. So, to me, there is no reason to look my best when I am in a tiny office all day long. On the down side, my dresses and skirts are starting to get tight on me. This is one of the maternity skirts that I have, and it will probably only be wearable for another week or two. The other two skirts are either fuller or more stretchy. I will be wearing the same things over and over again to church until the baby gets here!



Last week during our labor and delivery class the nurse went through all the medications you could get while in labor. Then she went through all the possible instruments that could be used as well. Then we went through the stages of labor and deliver. Let me tell you, for some of these people, it is apparently the first time they are learning any of this stuff. I've read What to Expect When You're Expecting and several websites, so I have learned most of this stuff before. It was the first time I've seen the instruments before, but at least I knew what they did. This week, we will be touring the labor and delivery floor of the hospital, seeing the baby nursery, meeting some of the nurses and doulas, and I guess getting to ask more questions. I swear, the class would be at least 30 minutes shorter if we didn't have questions being answered.

In other news, I have almost all of my showers scheduled. I'm going to be busy almost every Saturday from the end of August until the middle of September. There is one week off, but that is Labor day weekend, and I'll be planning a meal for Shawn's dad (his birthday is the beginning of September). On top of all of that, I'm in charge of planning a bridal shower at church for a girl sometime in the next several weeks. I'm hoping to recruit someone else to do the devotional, because right now it is looking like I'll be about 2 or 3 weeks away from my due date and not really feeling like standing up and talking in front of a bunch of women.

Since time is getting closer for showers, then there will be more pictures to post. Until then, just keep looking for my profile pictures.

Birthing Classes

Last night we had our first birthing class. Shawn was kinda funny about the whole thing. After I finally finished reading the What to Expect book, he started reading the parts on labor and delivery and the chapter for dads. This is somewhat of a refresher for him because while in the military, he acted as a paramedic on base and helped several women deliver babies on the way to the hospital (apparently German women wait until the last minute to go to the hospital). As a result, he knew pretty much all of what we went over. While I had done lots of reading, I still learned a few new things (like what a baby's station is, and also that I am a terrible shallow breather - I will need to practice).

The worst thing about the class was that the decription never said how long it would be each night. I knew going in that we would meet 4 times, but we were there for two hours and fifteen minutes. Whoever thought that keeping a room ful of women that are pregnant, most into their third trimester, cooped up for that long on pretty dang uncomfortable chairs is not a smart man. I'm assuming it was a man, because any woman that had ever been pregnant knows that is not a smart move. Then, on top of that, we essentially came from work (the class was at 6:30). We left work early enough for Shawn to go home and take a shower (he works outside and it is summer, I don't blame him for wanting to take a shower before going into a room full of stangers). While at home I got a snack that I thought would tide me over for an hour or so. But no, the class went on forever. They had snacks and drinks, but I don't really want to eat a bunch of sugary snacks that will just make me gain even more weight than I already have gained (seriously, these people knew we were pregnant, right?). Thankfully, when we got home his parents had left us a message asking if we wanted to come eat. We, or course, accepted their invitation. So, we ended up not getting home for good until almost 10:00! Talk about two tired people. Shawn fell asleep while watching the one tv show that we had decided to watch before going to bed. Since I had not really had any down time to relax it took me forever to get to sleep. So, it looks like Tuesdays in August are just going to be annoying.

Back to the class though. The first thing they did was show a video clip of Bill Cosby doing one of his stand up routines talking about his wife's first delivery. Because he is old and loves stand up comics, Shawn had already seen this (this is not to say that Shawn is all old and decrepit, just older than me). But it was funny. I love Bill Cosby anyway, and he is one of the few people that have had tv shows that when you go back and watch their stand up acts he is pretty clean with his comedy. Next we learned terms (if you have made it to an age where you can have a baby, you should seriously already know where your uterus, vagiana, and cervix are located), learned what happens to your cervix during labor and learned a few breathing techniques. As I've already reported, I will have to practice the whole shallow breathing, Shawn made fun of me over that. We also watched one delivery video. The sad thing is, most people acted all shocked that we were actually seeing everything (nothing was blurred out). Seriously people, you need to know what it looks like because it will happen to you! Also, watch TLC and see it happen every single day (granted, on TLC's shows they blur out the main parts that no one really wants to see, but still, you see a brand new baby emerge all messy and stuff). The thing that surprised me the most was how purple the baby was, not that I could see all the intimate details of this woman's body. As the nurse givng the class pointed out, if this woman was willing to have her delivery filmed, she obviously had no problem with modesty. Also, this poor woman had an natural child birth and her contractions only ever got to be 7 minutes apart, which the nurse estimated as putting her labor and delivery at around the 24 hour mark. Crazy!

This has also started me thinking about my birth plan. When I first heard that term I was all, really, you have to come up with things to write down, not for me. Then I learned some of the things that I defintely don't want happening to me(forceps and vacum extration!) or the baby (eye drops that are only needed if the mother has possibly got and STD, no thanks, not needed). I know I will probably want an epidural, but not right away because you can't walk around once you get one. So, once I realized how much you can cover with a birth plan I was all on board for one. I also found a fill in the blank birth plan on thebump.com, so I will probably use that. I also has a space for who you want in the room during labor and who you want in the room during the actual delivery. Since I am the most modest person I know, that will be a limited number of people, possibly only Shawn. I told my mom she could come in, but she thinks we should have that time to bond and be a special moment with just the two of us. So, who knows. Now that we are getting so close to the actual event, these are the things I'm thinking about now, which is funny because I never thought about them before. Now a birth plan doesn't seem rediculous to me. I'm even kinda excited because I found out that Lexington keeps doulas on staff at all times. I had read about them and was interested, but not sure how that would work. I'm pretty sure my insurance won't cover it, but it would seem it would just be added to the hospital bill. This is something I will look into further.

So, for a post with no pictures, this ended up being really long. Stay tuned for more profile pictures, and soon, baby shower pictures.

Pregnancy Updates

So, even though I'm actually 31 weeks now, I am posting a profile from two weeks ago (I've been slack about updating).



As you can see, I've grown, mostly because Georgia has grown. And she is definitely making her presence known. She was been moving around a lot before, but now she is noticeably stronger. Just yesterday it seems as though she discovered my ribs. Her pushing against my ribs is not the most comfortable thing in the world so I'm trying to get her to move by pushing down on the top of my belly. So far, not so successful.

Other things I have noticed/experienced:

• I still have no stretch marks (cross your fingers people).
• I have an innie still, although you can kinda tell that some of the skin that had been on the inside of my belly button has kinda rolled outward. I'm very hopeful that I will keep my innie because my mom never had her belly button pop out either.
• I haven't had heartburn yet. It almost makes sense because I haven't really had heartburn before I got pregnant either.
• I don't have any real cravings. In general I have had the urge to go to certain places to eat (Taco Bell is a frequent urge, and of course Fazoli's, which are places I love to go anyway).
• I get hot really fast! At night if I wake up, I tend to throw off the sheet because it feels like my feet and legs are on fire. The only time my legs even tend to swell at all is if I am outside for any length of time (more than 10 minutes).
• My face isn't breaking out as much as it was in my first trimester and the beginning of my second trimester. Which is a great thing. Also, I haven't had any swelling in my face yet.
• My bra size is way larger than I ever thought I would have. I didn't read in the What to Expect book that your band size increases because your ribcage expands to make room for you displaced organs until after I felt like my bra was trying to kill me. Then I went and bought some bigger bras. Then, I ended up having to get even more in yet a larger size still. I know it will only go up more when my milk comes in, but hopefully only in cup size.

So, as things change I will write more. Also, the time is getting closer for showers! Two are scheduled and two are TBA.

One last thought. We've signed up for birthing classes, but we aren't sure that we can actually afford to go to them. All of you out there that have gone through pregnancy before, did you go to birthing classes? If so, did they help you at all? Let me know in the comments.

July 4th and Baby Room

So, for the weekend of July 4th I had a lot of family get together's to go to. The first one was the Chavis family. This was actually a birthday party for my father-in-law Joe's aunt. She was 88 (I think). The funny thing about the Chavis family is that I actually knew a couple of them before I ever met Shawn and his family. Joe's cousin Lewis was one of my dad's best friends from before I was old enough to remember. He actually bought the first dog we had as a pet, a tiny little beagle that was so much fun. I'd known him really well from going hunting with my dad. I had met his brother Tracy before from when they all got together to build dog boxes for their trucks one weekend. So, even though there are a lot of people in the family that I don't know I still had people to talk to because I had known them for so long.

I've mentioned before that Shawn's family are Native Americans, Beaver Creek to be specific. And these pictures will show you just how strong theirs genes are. Also, I'm not sure why the camera was taking such fuzzy pictures, but it was. Sorry for the blur!

This is Lewis's sister Phillis. She keeps her hair long so she looks like she could actually live on a reservation.



This is our great-aunt Eula (the birthday girl) holding her great-granddaughter. The baby's dad is sitting next to his grandmother. He is Tracy's son Joseph. The baby's mom is blond, so that made Shawn less hopeful about our little girl having lighter colored hair.



And this is me and Lewis. I was red from laughing. Before I got pregnant it took laughing a lot to turn this red, but now it happens almost as soon as I start laughing. I think it is mainly because I'm not getting as much oxygen while I'm laughing.



So, that night, the other side of Shawn's family, the Busbee's, had a get together. Each place had bbq and lots of other food. I didn't actually take pictures because, one I was lazy, and two I already had lots of pictures of that side of the family. We see them more often anyway. Then the next day (on July 4th) we ate lunch with my parents after church. There was more bbq to be had.

Then, we put the finishing touches on the baby's room. We had letters that I painted for her initials. Those we put up over the end of her crib.



Then we had a fan that we painted the blades on so that it would bring pink into the room and also use the green to tie the colors of the room into the fan.



Now we just need to take the non-baby stuff out of the room and we'll be set. We also have the bouncy seat, bumbo seat, and the swing in there until we need them, so it is crowded in there for now. Once more of the stuff is moved out, then I'll take pictures of the final set up of the other furniture and post.

25 Weeks and stuff

We got our pack and play a while back. I knew that Burlington won't take anything back after however many days, so I wanted to make sure it had all it's pieces. So I took it out the box and just went ahead and put it together. Shawn was out cutting grass so I did it all myself. I was pretty proud of myself.



Then, I finished the blanket I was making for Georgia. The pattern ended up coming out smaller than I had wanted, but it looks nice in any case. It's big enough to cover her for a long time and use to cover her while she's in her car seat. This is a detail view.



This is and almost full length view.



Since it came out smaller than I had wanted, I've started making another one. This one is going to be a granny square blanket with pink and purple squares for the whole thing and yellow squares for a big G in the middle. The squares are fast and easy to make, but it gets tiring working on it too often. I can crank out about four of five on a good night, and on the weekend I can make even more. I already had enough yellow that those squares are done and I'm working on pink. I may have to get a little more pink yarn, but I know I will have to get more purple yarn.

Finally, the profile picture from last weekend. At 25 weeks, I look so much bigger than my last profile! I feel bigger too. And I know that Georgia is bigger because she makes much stronger movements inside me. The dress I'm wearing in the picture is one I made. My mom found a smocked material at JoAnn fabrics and we bought two different kinds. One is a long one (as seen in the picture) and one was a short one. I made a dress and a top out of them. All I had to do was put a seam in it, add ribbons for straps, and then hem it. Pretty easy and they both are pretty comfortable.



And now for an update, I got my results back for my glucose test and it was fine. So that makes me feel a little better. I know it isn't that big of a deal to have gestational diabetes, but it makes for bigger babies and more weight gain. As nice as it is to see a plump baby, actually giving birth to one is not easy from what I hear. Then the whole gaining more weight thing is a big turn off for me. The more you gain the more you have to lose. And I already needed to lose weight before I got pregnant! I probably have gained more than I should at this point (although the doctor says I'm fine) but working such long hours makes me just want to collapse when I get home. I figure, I can work out when I'm home with the baby. That's probably me being all idealistic, but hopefully during a nap here and there I can hop on the elliptical and burn some calories. And I can always take her for walks.