Labor & Delivery...

Last night was a LONG ONE. I had a lot of errands to run and was on my feet most of the day. I should know better by now. Whenever I spend a lot of time on my feet, I pay for it. Around 5pm, I started having really bad cramps, terrible back ache and finding it hard to catch my breath. This was all while sitting on the couch with my feet up. Fast-forward to 10pm and the cramps hadn't let up. Alex is out of town on business all week, so I was trying to figure out what to do. I'm not one of those patients that calls about everything. For some reason, I feel bad for bothering the doctor (especially late at night). My sister came over and took my blood pressure. It was 154-110. I think it was up and down all day while running errands. My head would start hurting and I would get flushed, but it would eventually go away so I ignored it. Once she checked my bp, we called the doctor on call. He wanted me to go to L&D to get checked. While there, I continued to cramp and have shortness of breath. They said the cramping was "irritability" (contractions that are less than 40 seconds). The shortness of breath is from her growing and me running out of room. Just something I'm going to have to get used to - because she's not going to stop growing. :) The back pain is from the weight gain...I'm just not used to carrying this much extra weight. My bp eventually came down. My uterus is closed and I am thinning very little. We left the hospital and got home close to 2am this morning. They gave me an ambien before leaving the hospital, so that I could get a good nights sleep. AND BOY DID I! I slept until after noon. I think A slept really well too. She didn't kick all night. She actually didn't start kicking until late this afternoon. No worries though, she's making up for lost time at this very moment. :)

I went to see my doctor today. His main concern is my blood pressure. It was normal today, but continues to go up and down. Not sure what's up with that. He said our goal is to make it to 36 weeks and anything after that is just icing on the cake! He said that if my blood pressure continues to do this, I may not make it to 40 weeks. I definitely want her to stay in there for as long as she needs. He measured her and listened to her hear rate and everything looks/sounds good. He said she's probably 3 1/2-4lbs. She is head down at the moment. I'm scheduled to go back in two weeks. I've been instructed to stop catering and to do very little from here on out. I'm supposed to take at least 2 hours each day, lay on my left side, and put my feet up. He's hoping this will help with my swelling and the blood pressure issue. This will be the hardest thing for me to do. I still have plenty to do before she arrives. I just have to limit myself to how much I do each day. I drink over 2 liters of water every day. Not sure if that's a lot or not...think I should be drinking more??

7 more weeks and we get to meet our baby girl...I'm getting excited!

Love,

32 weeks and 2nd baby shower!

By now, A weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama)and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in the uterus. She'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

Yesterday was my 2nd baby shower. My S-I-L's threw me this shower and it was wonderful! It was mostly Alex's family, my sisters, and some of my girlfriends came as well. A received some cute outfits and toys! I received my first package of diapers as well...lots of fun stuff. :) Here are a few pics...

Me and my S-I-L's and some of our sweet family & friends...


How cute are these cupcakes (from one of my favorite cupcake shoppes) and cookies with her initial!? My S-I-L, Jen made the cookies! By the way, Jen is pregnant with her 3rd baby girl in February, so A will have another cousin very close in age...we're so excited! My M-I-L gave us this precious plate with ISamuel 1:27 on it. It's already sitting in her room...I love it.


Me and my sisters & nieces and some more of our sweet fam & friends...


Thank you to my S-I-L's for making this a very special day!! I love you girls!

On the pregnancy front...it's official. I'm swole-up. Seriously, my feet, hands, face, everything is swollen and hurts. I have officially gone up one shoe size...that alone is tragic. So many cute shoes in my closet and I can't wear them. I had my doctor's appointment last Wednesday. I gained 12 lbs in the last month. Yes, you read that correctly. That's a total of 31 lbs weight gain, so far. My bp was high, so I'm going back this week to have that checked again. I get to see my doctor this week....YAY!! I've been seeing all of the other docs for the past few months (my doc's office makes you do this, incase you go into labor and another doc is on call). All of the other OBs were super nice, but I'm ready to see my doctor again. I will start going every two weeks for the next month and then go to every week. This pregnancy has flown by. We're so close to meeting our baby girl! It's getting harder to sleep. I just can't get comfortable anymore. I'm like a roly-poly trying to get out of bed. I started having my first BH contractions today. It was like really bad, low cramps and my stomach got really tight...definitely had to sit down when they hit me. Only 8 more weeks to go! :)

The nursery is coming along. I have ordered the fabric for the chair and it will be shipped directly to the seamstress, so she can get started on that. I'm just praying it is finished in time. Other than the chair, I just need to buy/hang the drapes and get things on the walls. I know what I want, I just have to do it. My sis and I have a big catering job in October and then I'm going to have to stop helping with that. Being up on my feet for long periods of time is no longer possible.

The weeks are seriously flying by. LOTS TO DO before baby girl arrives!!

Love,

31 weeks & baby girl's nursery...

Here's what little miss is up to this week. She measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin.

The bed skirt for the crib is finished! My friend, Nitzia made the bed skirt for me and I love it! I chose this fabric because I love the ruffles...it's so girly! Now we just need to buy a crib mattress. Can I just say, crib mattresses are not cheap! I've been amazed at how much they cost. I'm trying to decide on which one to buy. Any suggestions??


Nitzia is making a couple of pillows for me and I'm still trying to make up my mind on material for the drapes. The chair is in, but the color wasn't what I wanted. I ordered it online and the swatch color was totally different than what it actually looks like in person. Sooooooooooooo.....I had a seamstress come to the house yesterday and she's going to make a custom slipcover for me. I have to choose fabric for that this week...we're running out of time! Less than 9 weeks away...can you believe that?? :)

Love,

Baby Showers and Birthdays!

This weekend we threw a baby shower for my S-I-L, Sara. She is due 5 days before me. Sara has such a bright and bubbly personality, so I knew that I wanted the decor to be anything but pale pink. :) Here are a few pics from the shower. We did a milk & cookies bar, cute petit fours with Millie's initials, fruit kabobs, cheeseball & spicy pretzels. Oh, and my sister gave me the recipe for the yummiest punch. I will share the recipe soon...it was SO GOOD! The color scheme (as you can see) was chocolate brown, hot pink and orange. So fun!! Sara had lots of family and friends shower her with love. She received some super cute things. I can't wait for little Millie to arrive!


And today is my beautiful Momma's birthday!!

Happy Birthday, Momma! I'm so blessed to have YOU as my mother...you're the best.

Love,

30 weeks...

This post is a few days late, but I wanted to go ahead and write about what little miss is up to this week.

A is about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage)
Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.

I also wanted to show you a little peek at some of the bedding. They called last week and told me that the bumper was ready to be picked up. I talked to Alex a couple of times on the day they called. Each time that we would talk, he would ask, "have you picked up A's bedding yet?" It was so cute...I think he was more excited about seeing it than I was! So I went to pick it up and decided to wait until Alex got home to let him open it.



How cute is this bow...Alex tied it. :)


I was beyond thrilled with how it turned out. It is exactly what I had pictured in my head when choosing the fabrics. The black dots on the bumper are really soft and I love the hot pink ruffle around the top.

Soon I'll be sharing some of the accessories and artwork for the room!

Love,

Vertigo

I've been away from the blog for a few days. I woke up on Saturday morning with a pretty bad case of vertigo. I've never experienced this before...not fun. I was holding onto furniture, walls, people, just to get from room to room. I had to be in bed most of the time. Thankfully, it's gone now and the room isn't spinning.

The past couple of days have been very emotional/trying for me - having nothing to do with the vertigo. I believe God always has something to teach me in a difficult situation and I'm trying very hard to do just that - to get what He's trying to teach me. I'm thankful that my parents were in town for the past two days. I honestly didn't want them to leave today. Their advice/wisdom is priceless. I've needed it. It's also nice to just have your Daddy & Momma hold you while you cry...no matter how old you get. Alex loves having them here too. I had to get up at 1am and tell him and my Daddy to quit talking and go to bed! :)

Speaking of my parents, we had their birthday dinner while they were in town. Today is my Daddy's actual birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!! Momma's birthday is next week, so we went ahead and celebrated both. I love you both so very much!!

Sorry for the short post. I haven't spent a lot of time on the computer over the past few days. I have updates on the nursery to post...I'll do that soon.

Love,

Lunch with a friend...

I love when I get the opportunity to actually meet one of my blog friends! Today I had lunch with my friend, Heather. I seriously felt like we had already met. I've read her blog for so long and we've emailed for quite some time. She is a sweetheart and just the cutest thing. Having lunch with Heather meant I also had the pleasure of meeting Avery Kate. :)

Isn't she adorable!??


She would just smile and talk to her Mommy...it was the sweetest thing!


Okay, I look like a giant in this picture! (LOL) And I must say that you can't even tell that Heather had a baby less than 4 months ago!


Heather, you're a doll. I had the best time today! We MUST do it again when little miss A arrives! :)

Love ya, girl!

They grow up way too fast...

These are the kiddos that have brought us so much joy over the years. There are 20 of them (not counting the two on the way!). I was 16 when I first became an Aunt and that little nephew that I would carry around on my hip and spoil rotten is now 16! I told Alex that I wish they would stop growing. I wish they were still tiny babies. I'm sure their parents don't feel that way, but as their Aunt, I would love that. It's hard for me to believe that some are out of diapers, eating solid foods, starting school, starting to DRIVE, have girlfriends/boyfriends, are thinking about which college they want to attend...seriously!? How did they get so big? I'm going to make sure of it, that A doesn't grow this fast. ;)

These kiddos are so loved by their families. Today I want them to know - they are especially loved by their Uncle Alex & Aunt Jill. They each hold a special place in our hearts and we think they are the coolest kids on the planet. We can't wait to see little miss A with her cool cousins...she's already one lucky girl!



BIG ((HUGS)) to each one of you, today!

Love,

29 weeks and a peek at the nursery!!

Here's what little miss is up to this week!

A is growing rapidly now. This week she weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is getting bigger to accommodate her growing brain — which is busy developing billions of neurons.

She is so active...kicking me (or rather punching me) all of the time. I love feeling her move around. As soon as I bring Alex over to feel her kick, she stops. (LOL) I think it's a game she's playing with us. She is very active in the mornings, so this morning I had Alex come put his hand on my stomach and she kicked really hard. His eyes just lit up and he got this huge smile on his face. He said, "I felt that!" :)

Let me just tell you, my man is a man of his word. Remember, he promised he would start working on A's room after his work project was complete? Well, I woke up this weekend to the smell of paint! He has worked so hard. He stored the bed and mirror, painted the entire room, and then put her crib together. Such a good Daddy! Here are some pics of the progress he made on her nursery. You can click the picture to enlarge.



So what do you think!?? We ended up taking a Tiffany's box into Home Depot and they matched the color perfectly. It looks a little different in pics, but in person the color is spot on. I LOVE IT!! It's so fun and cheerful in that room...we just sat in there and talked for the longest time. Every time I walk by the room, I get a huge smile on my face. I can't help but thank God over and over for the baby girl that we'll be bringing home in November!

We have no clue where the furniture is going to go. Bless Alex's heart...he moved everything to every wall and we still haven't made up our minds. The chair is ordered. Once it arrives, it will help us make up our minds. I'm looking forward to adding her bedding and the accessories that I've picked out. This room just might come out to look exactly like the picture in my head. :) I'll continue to share pics as we add new things!

Love,

28 weeks...

Baby girl is getting big! :) Here's what she is up to this week.

She weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through my womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

My next doctor's appointment is in 4 weeks and then I will start going every 2 weeks. We hope to get a lot finished in her room next week. Alex has been out of town on business. Before he left he told me that when he returns, he promises to spend as much time on A's room as he has spent on this project for work. We've been talking on the phone every evening and last night, he told me that he can't wait to get her room finished and for her to be here. He's getting excited about meeting his baby girl. Awwwwww..... :)

The paint is bought, and ready for Daddy to get started. The fabric is bought and the seamstress has started on her bedding...it should be completed in 2-4 weeks. I'm still trying to find a chair. I thought I had found one, but I wasn't sure on the fabric and to be honest, I just can't bring myself to pay $600-$800 on a chair for her nursery. So I'm still shopping for something more affordable, but that won't compromise the design of the room. (LOL) I have this picture in my head of what I want it to look like. We'll have to wait and see if I can make it happen. :)

Fall is fast approaching. September is here!! I've been praying that summer would leave and the past few days have been so nice for this pregnant mama! So thankful for that.

Love you guys!!