Changes!

Well, I had went to the doctor on Wednesday and had my first exam. I was 1-1.5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. Not too bad.... 

I can tell things are going on down there, and I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions like crazy, but nothing regular or even painful.

Keith is sick now, but I think his is allergies (darn cedar!!!!). I'm over my cold, but of course am having allergy trouble too. I've recently discovered (thanks to my mom) the "Neti Pot" which I think is one of the most wonderful things ever. Basically, it's a sinus wash. It's a thing that looks like a little genie lamp and you pour water and a saline solution in one nostril and let it drain out the other. Kinda disgusting, but WOW! It works wonders. I wish I could get Keith to try it, but he won't. :(

Well, we're all playing the waiting game right now. I'm trying to keep the house clean and stocked with food, paper towels, milk, juice, toilet paper, etc. I'm trying to keep it clean as well, without killing my back or wearing myself out too much. All of our bills are paid for February. Bradyn is so excited to meet his baby sister. He'll ask us in the mornings if "Elizabeth Reese is coming to our house today". Poor guy! I know he thinks this baby is never going to show up! I'm starting to think that too, but it's all in God's timing. Everyday that goes by is one day closer to meeting our angel. xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

of course this had to happen......

Why, oh why did I actually think I would be lucky enough to stay well this last month? Grrrrrrr!!! Bradyn got the fever bug, and mommy got some sort of cold/cough/stuffy nose/allergy bug. So, we're obviously wanting labor to wait another few days. I told Keith that when I get well we're GETTING THIS BABY OUT before anyone else gets sick, or I get sick again. I had lunch with a friend the other day and cringed when she told me she'd heard on the news that 150 kids were out of school in Taylor (the little town right next to Hutto) with the flu. :-o

I was cleaning my dresser drawers out the other day (part of this whole nesting thing I have going on right now...) and found my Care Bear shorts that I (used to) love to bop around the house in. I took a few early, EARLY pregnancy pictures in them and thought how funny it would be to get some more in late, LATE pregnancy. Excuse my face in the 38 week pics (taken today), I tried to smile to compensate for the fact that I look like death warmed over, but it didn't seem to help much. If you look closely you can see the lovely varicose veins that have overtaken my lower half, however; you will NOT see stretch marks on the belly!!! I've been a lucky gal as far as those are concerned.

7 weeks

38 weeks

38 weeks

Whoa Baby! That's a big belly. If I go one more place and hear someone say I'm "not very big" or my "belly is so small" I'm going to scream. Seriously???!! How much more baby do you think I can hold?!

Mystery bug

So my poor Bradyn has had some sort of bug the last couple of days. It started on Sunday night; he was watching cartoons and started moaning and saying his tummy hurt. I was like, "Crap! The stomach bug!" We went through that about a year ago and I am terrified one (or all) of us are going to get it right before labor or shortly after the baby is here. I'm psychotic about hand washing these days. :)  Anyways, I asked Bradyn if he thought he was going to throw up and told him to follow me in the bathroom. Then I asked him if he needed to poop and he freaked out (long story short.... he will NOT poop in the pot for some unknown reason and gets frantic at the sheer mention of it) and started crying and backing out of the bathroom. I told him to come back and if he went in there and puked on my couch or carpet I was going to be upset! I let him go lay down again and he kept saying he was freezing. I put two blankets over him and sat down by him and realized he was burning up! I took his temperature and it was 102. Then I saw that he'd just had a full cup of milk! Ewwwwwww! I suppose with his fever that his milk was turning to cottage cheese in his tummy. I felt terribly sorry for him, but was relieved to know it was probably just that and not the stomach flu. His fever lingered between 100-102.7 for 48 hours and he had to stay home from school on Tuesday. When we woke up this morning, he was fine!!! Besides the fever, NOTHING else was ever wrong with him! I'm not complaining though, we didn't need a doctor appointment or Rx medicine with the whole ordeal--PHEW!!!!!!!

Well, I am pretty much done with the nursery. I need to get a few things to hang on the walls, but I'm not entirely worried about that at this point. Packing my hospital bag is more at the top of my list than that. Below are a few pictures. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge it.

 

 

Baby Shower!!!!!!!

Well, I had my long awaited baby shower this weekend and it was wonderful! I had so much fun and feel so blessed by all the darling little girl gifts we received. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and thank you to my wonderful hostesses, my sister-in-law Hafida and family friend, Arlene. We are definitely down to the nitty gritty with the pregnancy and the time is ticking before Elizabeth Reese makes her debut! I have been  busy sorting, organizing, and washing all of the new gifts we got yesterday. Keith vacuumed the inside of the car out today and promised me he'll get the car seat bases in both vehicles soon. My mama bird nesting instinct is kicking in heavily right now and I am getting frantic about getting everything done! We are so excited and I am trying to relish every moment of these last few days and weeks, in case this really is our last pregnancy. Part of me is nervous about labor, but another part of me is so excited for it to get here so we can DO what we've been talking about for months now. It's hard to believe the next time I see my mom I will be in labor! :-)  I have been having alot of Braxton Hicks contractions lately (it was kinda freaking me out last night with the full moon, ha ha!). I have no idea if I'm dilated or effaced at all; my doctor's office doesn't start vaginal exams until 39 weeks, basically because it's non-indicative of when labor will actually begin. I'm fine so far, labor will happen when it wants to. I'd almost rather not know if I'm walking around and am 3 cm and I still haven't packed my bags, and I'd rather not know if I'm a zero and have been having tons of BH contractions.... I'd either be on pins and needles and (psychotic!) or really disappointed! Anyways, here are a few pictures from the shower. I will post a picture of Elizabeth's room when I get the curtains hung.

diaper cake that Hafida made for me!

cake made by me :)

me and belly, 37 weeks  

Hafida, Arlene, me      

baby girl update

Well, an update...... Keith and I were talking the other night and I admitted I wasn't totally in love with the name we had chosen for the baby (Alexandra Grace). Keith gave me the green light and said "It's not too late if you want to change it, we can!" So, after much deliberation, we went back to something that was on my original list of "favorites". We have chosen Elizabeth Reese (or Reece, not sure yet on the spelling....). It sounds similiar to Alexandra Grace, but we think it flows better. So, monogram away if you were considering doing that for a shower gift and hope to goodness this wiggleworm in my belly really is a girl! The nursery is getting a nice, thick coat of pink paint on it tomorrow....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Yee-haw Cowboy!!!

Ah, well, another Christmas is behind us. This was, by far, my most favorite Christmas with Bradyn. He has been a riot this year with everything, from shopping to wrapping presents to making cookies to singing Christmas songs. Since he just had a birthday and got to open presents, he assumed it was everyone else's birthday since everyone had presents under the tree. He would sing (VERY loudly!), "Happy Birthday to you Momma! Happy Birthday to you Daddy!....and Nana, Papa, Nona, and everyone else he could think of. It was hilarious! Of course we laughed, but then we explained to him the reason we celebrate Christmas is actually because it's Jesus' birthday. So he changed his song to "Happy Birthday to you Jesus!" Bradyn's "Jesus" sometimes comes out as "Geez-us". I love my little boy so much. He's a stinker, but gosh..... who could NOT be happy with him around?!? :-)

Traditionally, we spent Christmas Eve with the Beckers, but it was quite different this year with Grandpa Becker being gone and Grandma not at the house anymore. We relocated the get-together to my mother and father-in-law's house. It was so wonderful to spend time with the family and everyone had a great time. It was different though (and that's coming from me, someone who's only been in the family for 4 Christmases, I can only imagine everyone else).... If there's one thing I've learned though, it's that things change. You have to pick up and keep going..... 

We came home and left Santa milk and SEVERAL cookies (of which this Santa couldn't eat because I was stuffed from the Becker Christmas dinner!). We got Bradyn to bed so Santa Claus could visit. We were thinking about getting Bradyn a Power Wheels jeep, but we changed our minds and got him a Radio Flyer Spring Horse with sound. It's awesome! When Bradyn goes to his Nana and Papa's house, he rides this little wooden rocking horse with a cowboy hat on and says, "Yee-haw cowboy!" and tips his hat! It's hilarious of course, so I thought he'd really enjoy this toy. Keith had to put the thing together and it made me very glad I had a husband, LOL! I try not to be a bimbo, and I make every attempt to be a self-sufficient woman (for the most part), in the event I were ever on my own, but some things, like putting together the darn spring horse, GEEZ!!!!!!!!! It took Keith an hour and a 1/2 to put it together; it would have taken me all night! He's my hero! We finished stuffing Bradyn's stocking and then stuffed each other's and got to bed... after "eating" the cookies and "drinking" the milk.

Bradyn woke up the next morning and came and crawled in bed with us. He laid there a few minutes and it was obvious he didn't remember what was going on. Keith and I asked him who came last night and then it dawned on him! We got the video camera out and caught the whole Santa thing on video. It's priceless! He ran down the hall at first and when he rounded the corner and saw the giant horse sitting in the living room, he just stopped! He slowly walked over and, ignoring the horse, started sifting through his stocking. He picked up a plastic candy cane filled with M&M's and goes, "Oh my gosh! Candy!" We were like, "Yeah! Look at the horse!!!!!" It took him a second to warm up to it, but he soon climbed on and went to town on it. He named his horse Woody.

Leaving Santa milk and cookies

Bradyn checking out the goods......

My little cowboy!

   

Bradyn's big gift from momma and daddy.

And last, but not least, a belly shot... taken on Christmas day.

Almost 35 weeks. Of course Bradyn had to pose with me!

The day after Christmas my mother, Granddad, Jenna, Zach, and Zach's girlfriend Katie came to our house for a few days.  It was neat.... Christmas was technically over, but it wasn't! We all had a wonderful time.  We weren't supposed to open gifts with David and Hafida until Sunday or Monday, but they had a change of plans so we did it Saturday afternoon. Mom and Granddad went home but Jenna, Zach, and Katie were still visiting.  The kids went to the mall while we opened our presents because Zach wanted to look for a pair of jeans. You could not have paid me to go to the mall the Saturday after Christmas!!! Since plans changed and we were going to be free Sunday afternoon, Keith and I decided it would be a good day to go take a tour of the hospital I will be delivering at. Nana watched Bradyn for us and we went. North Austin just opened a new delivery ward and it was very nice! The rooms are HUGE and still sparkling! I was pretty impressed. The postpartum room was much smaller (they have plans for a new postpartum wing, but it's not done yet). It was older, much smaller, and it had a tiny, puny little loveseat in it, I guess for Keith. I am fine with old and small, but was quite disappointed in the accommodations made (or rather, NOT made) for my coach. Oh well, we'll get through it somehow. I suppose if one is tired enough, it is possible to sleep anywhere.  :-0

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!! 

Singing in Labor

Just had to share this and you'll see why....... I don't expect that I'll be this calm during active labor and I sure as heck won't be singing (grunting and moaning maybe.....), but WOW! It's a beautiful song (Psalm 23 by Michael Olson) and the woman singing is amazing.

Our Bradley childbirth classes are officially over! At the end of our last class the other night, I kind of felt like a little baby bird leaving the nest. Our instructor taught us pretty much everything she could, now it's up to Keith and me to go out and have this baby! I'm so glad the holidays are here to keep me busy. I've found myself getting very anxious and ready for January to get here! I'm so ready to meet my baby girl.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!