33 Weeks

I actually got a picture at 33 weeks!  YAY!

You've got to learn to celebrate the little successes in life :-)

I thought I would post this photo with the most recent to compare... same shirt at 20 weeks.  It is working much harder now.  Happily, I will most likely have to put it to the real test at almost 40 weeks when the Gators are in a bowl game.  So happy we smashed FSU today!  Go Gators!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

  To save myself and my sister from lots of cooking and stress, I suggested going out for Thanksgiving dinner... 

We went to the Grand Ole' Lodge in Forest Grove for their buffet dinner and had a pretty good time with Emily, Steve, and the girls.  The food was very good but alas...no leftovers :-/  They also ran out of the really good rolls at the end (Emily and I were trying to get another one)  The best part though was no clean-up! 

Here are a few photos from dinner... it was Rebecca's first Thanksgiving!

 

This week was really great for me...I started getting over my cold, had tons of time to relax, and even got some shopping done!  My cousin Amy should be having Leo's second cousin (Luke) any day now.  In some ways, Luke's arrival is a marker for me of how close Leo's arrival will be.  Our due dates were only a little under 7 weeks apart. :-) 

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned."

Revelation 11:17 NKJV

32 Weeks

I failed to take my picture this weekend due to immediately changing into comfy clothes every time I walked into the apartment.  So tonight I gave in, here it is... a picture IN my comfy clothes.  This past week has been very difficult.  It should have started out with a couple of days over the long weekend to relax but did not end up that way.  Plans with family and friends interrupted my relaxing time (I loved spending that time with them though!) I could feel a cold creeping up on me but kept on trying to push through it.  There are also still lots of things to do in preparation of Leo's arrival so I have been trying to cram that stuff in during my "free" time as well.  Starting on Monday I took an extra shift at Sylvan because one of the other teachers was absent. On Tuesday, I met Emily, my mom, and the girls for brunch before taking my mom to the airport and then heading to an appointment with my dietician. She set me up with a glucose meter for testing 4 times a day because the midwives are not sure if I have gestational diabetes or not. After all that, I went to work at Sylvan.  Wednesday through Friday I had sub jobs lined up and right when I thought I had a day to relax, Evan reminded me we had plans with some friends on Saturday night.  (Again, I love hanging out with them!) Sunday was finally a day to rest...except no, I forgot that I had to take one of my teacher certification tests in the afternoon.  Monday I had another sub job and today (Tuesday) I had to work at Sylvan.  Needless to say... my cold caught up with me.  By Saturday night I wasn't feeling very good and to top things off I was getting crazy readings on my blood sugar.  After doing a little research it sounds like getting sick can cause it to do that but I just hope it won't ruin my averages in the midwives' eyes.  Between my Monday evening and this morning, I was able to get enough rest to be feeling somewhat normal again.  My blood sugars also seem to be leveling again.  The best part is that I do not have ANY responsibilities outside of the house tomorrow!  YAY!  

I am hoping that I can get a lot of things off my checklist over the 5 day break! 

Leo is very active these days, I often get a foot in my ribs and a lopsided belly because he really likes to hang out on my right side.  It can downright hurt at times since it feels like he is trying to stretch out parts of my stomach purely by movement! Last week while working at Sylvan, I am pretty sure he was bracing his hands and feet against the back of my uterus and pressing his back against the front of me.  It lasted for 2 hours and after that he took a rest on my right side making me feel like I had a bad stitch in my side as I tried to eat.  :-/  We had some words...

It is hard to believe that Leo will be here in absolutely no more than 9 and a half weeks (that would put me at 42 weeks which is when they would induce if I wasn't in labor yet). I'm looking forward to seeing him for the first time, holding him, and counting those cute little fingers and toes.  Probably one of the top moments I am looking forward to is seeing Evan hold him for the first time.  He is going to be an amazing dad and I can't wait till those first moments of seeing him hold his son.

Just this past week, he had a dream about the birth...nothing specific about the baby, it was more about trying to fight for me to have the labor and delivery I wanted.  I love that I have his full support in trying to have a natural birth and that he is obviously gearing up for the experience.  In this week of thanks giving I can say I am thankful that he is the one I have beside me throughout this pregnancy and will have beside me while raising our son.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

 

 

31 weeks

I still can't believe I am in the 30's!  9 weeks left!

This past week it has started to really feel like winter...particularly the weekend.  I went for my Dr's appt. on Friday with my mom...so she could hear the heartbeat and see the hospital.  So besides the fact that nobody there knows why I failed one GD test and passed the other one is frustrating but they spent 3 weeks NOT calling me despite repeated attempts to contact them and now they are asking me to track my blood sugar levels every morning and an hour after every meal to see what is going on.  They want to review the results of this investigation at my Nov. 30th appt.  If the results point towards me having GD then they would put my on a GD diet...  I am going to do all this but wouldn't it have made more sense to have me doing this for the past 3 weeks and getting on the GD diet now (if needed).  When there is only a month left is it really going to make that big of a difference in Leo's size??  I can't imagine it would...

As far as my appt. went, I am measuring on schedule for 31 weeks and Leo's heartbeat sounded good!  I know his movement has been great.  I often wonder what he is doing in there and have gotten a foot or fist stuck underneath my ribs several times now.  I still love the feeling but some of his movements or positions have gotten to the point where they are VERY uncomfortable.  He particularly likes my right side and will shift his entire weight over there which makes for some lopsided stretching.  I usually try to move him over when he tries to settle there for longer than a few minutes (which happens at least once a day).  

On the baby front, my cousin Amy is expecting her second baby but first boy (Luke) in just a couple of weeks so really it could be any day now!  I am excited that he will be here soon!

Also, my best friend from high school, Sarah just announced her pregnancy during Halloween.  I am so excited that she is pregnant and that her LO will be pretty close in age to Leo.  She is due in May which also happens to be around the time Evan and I are planning on bringing Leo for his first trip to FL so I will hopefully get to meet Sarah and Ben's LO when we visit!  

Well I'm off to wash more baby clothes!

Love to all!     

30 weeks

 For week 30, I forgot to take a photo so I'll use my awesome Halloween costume picture (which was taken at 29 weeks, 4 days).  :-)   This week was busy as I worked all week at both of my jobs.  Kudos to all the women who work full-time jobs throughout their entire pregnancy.  I've been working quite a bit the past two months but as a substitute I have the option to occasionally take a day off if I need to.  Of course, I try to coordinate those days with Dr's appointments and such but most women do not have that luxury.  I had fun with Halloween even though I didn't go anywhere but my sister's house.  I just wanted to take advantage of the pregnant belly.  I got the idea from a website but there wasn't a picture so I am happy the total effect came out so well.  At my mom's suggestion we placed my "crystal ball" on the table which worked even better!

With my mom in town we were able to get our room set up a little better for Leo's arrival.  We have his bed up and in place as well as our furniture rearranged so that everything fits better.  The next step is to wash the remainder of the clothes that we have and hang some decorations on the wall.  I feel more and more prepared with each task that gets done but I still feel like there is a ton to do before Leo arrives.  I just have to keep checking things off the list!