Meeting Santa Clause

After a couple attempts Addie was able to meet Santa Clause yesterday. She did soo good! We even had a wardrobe change in the middle of bass pro but she didn't even care! I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to see Santa (he is pretty popular you know!), so I didn't want to put her in the dress and then not see Santa again. I don't think she likes the dress. The frilly stuff is pretty scratchy. Also, in the first pic I realize that she has her pants to her boobs- I hate that everything is sized so different. She is in mostly 0-3mo clothes so I bought her some jeans in that size and they are HUGE! If I pick her up they fall down. LOL. But she is a growing girl and I know they will fit really soon! For the time being Becky gave me some little white pants that are super adorable and they fit good.

The Story Goes... Part 1

Hello all! It has been nearly 6 weeks since my beautiful daughter came into this world... and I was thinking its time I get back on the blogging wagon. :) I am home all the time and yet I still don't find the time to blog. Its a shame and I apologize.

I was thinking I would fill you in on the birth story (even though I'm sure anyone who reads my blog is already aware of the days events...) Well, I want to preface this with saying that I absolutely loved it and I am really sad that I will never again get to feel labor or attempt to push out another one of my stubborn babies. The story goes like this: So I went in on Sunday night 11/8 to get my cervidil and the plan was to take out the cervidil in the morning and start my pitocin. So I get to the hospital and my wonderful friend Shellie is there to greet me and be my nurse (how lucky am I??!!). She told me the plan for the night which was pretty much nothing.. a little cervidil, a little monitoring and then attempt to get some good rest for the long day I had in front of me. Shellie did notify me, however, that anytime she gives someone cervidil- their water usually breaks around 3am. I guess that normally your water doesn't break and you don't usually go into labor- strong cramping yes, labor no. But Shellie has her way with things and she has a habit of knocking us preggos into labor and breaking our water. :) Also.. did you know that cervidil is like a long piece of scratchy paper? All this time I thought it was some type of cream or gel- who knew! And also that the cervidil is removed after 12 hours- what the heck?! I also thought that business stayed in you and it just dissolved. Let me tell you- I learned a lot during my hospital stay! So I get my cervidil around 8ish at night and I had to lay in bed for a couple hours and be monitored. Whenever the cervidil is placed you have to lay in bed for 2 hours ( or so.. I can't remember the exact amount of time). You can't even get up to go potty. Also, they don't let you eat or drink during those 2 hours either. So after 2 hours I was able to get up and use the restroom and such, but I had to continue to be monitored via fetal monitor. It was nice to be able to hear Addies heartbeat all the time... but it was a bit loud to try and sleep to. Joey had went and got me a little something to eat and my parents and Joeys parents stayed to keep me company. It was nice. :) Shellie had went home to get some rest since she was going to be my nurse in the morning and the charge nurse took over my care. Around 11:30 Joey decided to head home to try and get some rest and I was suppose to do the same.... I just kept laying there and I could not get comfortable. Those birthing beds are brutal! They are stiff and lumpy. I also kept having to go pee, those fluids were just going right through me. I had been warned about the potential of pretty bad cramping and I definitely had started to notice it around 12:30ish. They didn't help with the sleeping and trying to get comfortable.. I had been offered Ambien or Morphine (what!! Morphine.. really.. just to help me sleep. Oh heavens!) to help me get some rest since Cervidil can cause cramping and such, but I declined. I didn't want anything making me extra tired in the morning and I knew I wasn't going to be able to get a full 8 hours of sleep since the cervidil was going to be removed around 5:30 in the morning or so. That meant Ambien was out and that left me with Morphine. I would have been willing to take morphine if I wanted to make my baby tired and pretend to be a druggy... but I decided I would just be normal and take nothing.. since I'm not a drug seeker. :) So the cramping kept getting a little bit stronger and at times I would look at the monitor to see if it was a contraction. I had NO CLUE how to read the monitor so I would always see 0 and assume I was just being dramatic and I needed to go to sleep. After going potty for the 20th time I decided I should just try to rest in the recliner. I thought that would be a little more comfortable than my bed. I also decided to put on some pants. I only had on my hospital gown and I thought maybe I wasn't able to sleep because I was going camando (Im not a fan of not wearing something on my lower half). I went pee and when I did I felt something funny- like a gas bubble had come down but couldn't come out... it was weird. I then went over to the recliner and leaned back in the chair and then pop. I felt something really funny (down there). I went to the bathroom and when I sat down to pee a big gush came out. I was pretty sure my water had just broke. The water was kinda cloudy and it definitely didn't look like urine. However, I thought it was just wishful thinking, but I thought I should call the nurse in just in case. When she asked what I needed I said "Um.. this is probably really stupid, but I think my water just broke". She came in and looked in the toilet and decided she should check me, and if water leaked out afterward then my water had definitely broken. She checked me and YAY! My water had broken!! I always wanted to know what it felt like. After that the rest of the night if I moved very much more would come out, or if I had a contraction more would come out. It felt really funny.. like I was peeing my pants or something. Needless to say, I was now in active labor- HIP HIP HOORAY! The contractions started coming about 5 minutes apart and were about a 3 on the pain scale. I called Joey around 2:30ish and let him know my water had broken at 1:45. He asked if he should come up and I hesitantly said "No, I guess I will just call you if they get stronger". Around 3:45 they were getting stronger and I felt like they were back to back. The nurse said they were about every 2-3 minutes apart. I was just starting to think I wanted to call Joey and ask if he would come up- and then he walked in the door. YAY! I knew he couldn't do much to help, but I just wanted him there to sit with me. The contractions continued and just kept getting stronger. Finally at about 5:30 I asked the nurse to come check me because I felt like there was no break between contractions and they were really strong. The nurse said "I saw you were having some pretty good contractions, but I didn't want to bother you because I thought you were sleeping". Im glad she agreed that the contractions were "pretty good". :) She checked me and said I was a good 2 cm dilated. WHAT! Only a 2?! Yikes- I had a long day ahead of me. She offered me IV pain medication but I definitely wanted to hold out for the epidural. I didn't want anything that would affect my dear Addie! Joey and I went for a walk and then when I came back to the room my nurse offered me my epidural (by now it was close to 6:30). I asked if it was ok to get it since I was only a 2 and she had previously said most wait until they were a 4 and she said "Oh ya, usually people wait until they are a 4 because their water hasn't broken yet. Since your water has broken you are in active labor and can get one anytime". She also said that since I was having consistent contractions I would be fine to get one. At about 5:45 my wonderful friend Shellie showed back up so she was there for the epidural. Next- in comes the anesthesiologist. I got the epidural at about 7am. Can you say AMAZING! WOW!! He did such a great job!! When I got the epidural I rated my pain at an 8-9 and within a minute it was back to a 3.. then a 0. I can't even describe the feeling- pure bliss. I could barely keep my eyes open I felt so good. Any ache or pain I had previously had vanished. I didn't even realize how many aches I had until they were gone. I stayed in this blissful state for almost 2 hours- after that I started to feel pressure with every contraction.

I know this has been a long read- so I am going to stop here and pick back up a little bit later. :)

Just a Growin Away!

I can't believe my baby is already 3 weeks old. I feel like I just had her last week! And you know what.. everyday I love her more. Each day I think "I couldn't love her more than I do right now" and then the next day.. BAM- more love has grown! In my first week of having her I would just look at her and tear up because I loved her soo much (do you think that was a wee bit of the hormones..). It doesn't help that she is like the cutest thing I have ever seen. I guess I might be partial, but WOW she is so dang cute! Even her poop face is adorable. I will attempt to get a photo of it next time she poops (which P.S. is like ALWAYS!).

I must say that motherhood is everything I thought it would be. It is amazing, tiring, full of worry and even more full of love. My first week was a big adjustment. My life is so different and it took me a couple days to fully take it all in. I am soo happy for the journey that Joey and I have started, but I had a hard time of letting go of the journey that had ended by having a baby. I knew from the beginning that it would be hard, but add in all those dang pregnancy hormones that my body was getting rid of and I was (as Janet says) "one hot mess". Luckily my family was great and I got thru it. Becky (my sis) was able to come up to the hospital everyday and keep me company. Becky was absolutely GREAT after Addie was born. Joey had to work so much that he wasn't able to be up there as much as he wanted to be, so Beck was able to help me do tasks that I needed much assistance with. She even helped me shower (now thats a good sister!). She had to hold my JP drain while I showered the first day after I had her. Needless to say- I have some big favors to return when she gives birth my beautiful neice Mahayla in March!

For those of you who knew how much I was fretting about how breastfeeding would go- It is a success! I had to use stupid nipple sheilds at first, but Adrianna weaned off of them great and now its going great. I am still a worry wart. I always worry that she isn't getting enough milk (even though she is) and I worry that she snacks too much. Through the night she does great- eats about every 3-4 hours and sleeps great in between. But during the day I worry that I am giving her my boob as a pacifier. I only offer her it when she is acting hungry, but sometimes she will eat for 30 minutes and then 30 minutes later she is ready to eat again... I don't know what to do. I don't want her to use me as a pacifier, but I try everything else first and when she doesn't calm down I feed her (even if she just ate. Anyone who has breastfed before- feel free to comment. When I go back to work I don't want to leave Joey with a baby that requires my boob to be soothed.. but sometimes I think that is all she wants. Is it ok for her to eat so frequently sometimes. And at what age do they get into a routine? So many questions... But the good news is that I am breastfeeding and I can't tell you how bad I have wanted to have this experience! I have dreamed of these sore boobs for you don't know how long! ;) Lately I have started to leak a little on the opposite boob whenever I am feeding her. LOL. I don't mind, I just like to see my milk be in good supply!

Alright- I am sorry for all the rambling. I obviously need to write more often! I have started to write about her birth- thats a long one folks. So I am hoping to get that one up before too long.

Simply Amazing

I will post the whole rocky road birth story soon, but for now I just want to say... Wow! She is so perfect and I can't believe she is mine. Born at 10:37pm, 7.05lbs and 21 inches long. She has become quite the eater so I am pumped for engorgement so I will have something more to give her! :) Here are a couple pics that my sister took. She is a good mix of Joey and I both. Also I just want to say that I had the best nurse EVER (she is also a best friend!). Her name is Shellie and she stuck with me from 5:45am until 11pm- she was there through every bump in the road and got Adrianna and I to the end safe and sound. I couldn't love her more!!

Update!

Dr.Adams nurse called me and I am being induced on MONDAY! Holy cow! They originally wanted me to go in tomorrow night and have the cervidil and then start pitocin early Friday morning. However, because Joey has 2 big jobs that are being done right now, we decided Monday would be better. So I will go into the hospital on Sunday night to get the cervidil and then start the pitocin on Monday morning. I am soo excited and sooo nervous about being a mom!! I am really excited because a good friend from nursing school, Shellie, is going to be my nurse on Monday! She is even coming in on Sunday night to get me started- isn't she amazing! Hopefully all goes well and a c-section can be avoided, but I know the chance is there and I am fine with that. Wish me luck and I will let you know how everything goes! :)

And I Keep On...

One week until my due date! And although that sounds sooo close... I don't think its gonna happen. I have been having my weekly appointments and at first my progress was great. I went from 25% effaced at week 36 to 60-70% effaced at week 37. Then.. week 38 threw me a curve ball and decided that no more progress would be required and my daughter still thought it would be tons of fun to not engage in my pelvis. Oh boy is she proving to be a little turkey! I didn't get to see Dr.Adams last week, instead I saw Dr.Dowd. He was really nice, but also not very optimistic about my small pelvis. After he checked me last week he said "Well... I have seen smaller" and gave a small chuckle. Yikes! He also reiterated the point that an induction while she hasn't dropped and I haven't progressed much would not be beneficial at all and would mostly end in c-section. This darn pelvis! So this week (today) I had my appt with Dr.Dowd again because I couldn't get into Dr.Adams, when he checked he said I was dilated to a 1, but everything else was the same. Ugh! What is Addy/Miras deal?! I have given her pep talks, I have used a downward motion when putting on my lotion and I have been sitting on my exercise ball in a manner that should encourage her to drop... yet I still sit here with my daughter all balled up in my hip. What is so darn cool about my hip?! There is one blogger who said she has always imagined that if your baby doesn't want to come out then your uterus must be similar to a fancy hotel. I have been trying to think of what hotel my uterus resembles. Maybe The Fairmont... or Ritz Carlton? Because the way this child acts it certainly isn't like Motel 6 or The Super 8... oh no, it is much nicer than those! Maybe she enjoys the pillow like cushioning in there, who knows!
I feel like it is muy importante to say that I don't mind having a child that likes to stay in my womb, maybe I should take it as a compliment. The only thing that worries me is that I can't deliver too large of a baby. I can't deliver anything in the 8s or up. And Dr.Dowd seemed a little pessimistic about a late 7s baby. I had a photoshoot last week to see how big she was and thankfully she was 6lb 10oz. Which is really good! However, the longer she cooks the bigger she gets. What that means my dear readers is that the clock is ticking. After my appt today I called and left a message with Dr.Adams to call me so I can figure out the plan of care. I just need to know how far they will let me go.... I will update you once I get word from Dr.Adams. I do get to see him next week (Whoo hoo!). Here are a couple pics from the last few weeks.

The Fun Continues

Dear Readers,
Thank you for reading this little blog of mine. I know that I am not as good at updating it as I once may have promised.. and for that I must apologize. Also- I know that on multiple occasions I have provided TMI. Well folks.. this blog will continue that tradition. If you have a weak stomach or don't enjoy TMI- you need to go up to your address line and type in another site to go to. I will write this blog and attempt to not be too graphic.. but no promises. :)

Well my unilateral pitting edema continues. I thought that if I drank enough water then I can stop the swelling.. but no such luck. I am pretty sure it is because I continue to wear my crocs. I need to just wear my tennies, they provide much more support for my waddling legs. I realized that it is mainly the right side (the left swells, but on a much smaller level than the right). Last week when I got off work the swelling was a definite 2+ pitting edema. It was quite the site. It took a couple days to completely come down. I have began another 3 in a row and the swelling has already began. I have attempted to take a picture of it, but I must admit it does not do it justice. LOL

I went to the doctors for my 36 week appt. That appointment started the beginning of my weekly appointments. Whoo hoo! I am siked about getting to hear my babies heartbeat weekly (and also get checked for dilation weekly!!). Wow, I gotta tell ya- there is nothing better than having someone reach up and push at your cervix. This 36 week appt also included my strep b swab (there is nothing like a vaginal-rectal swab!) and checking for dilation. Dr.Adams ended up having to be at surgery that day so I had to see the nurse midwife. I was nervous that she wasn't going to check me for dilation- you have no idea how much I was looking forward to this part of my appt. So I made sure to make a point and ask if she was going to check me. Much to my happiness- I was checked!! I was 25% effaced with no dilation. The midwife said that my dear daughter is head down (which she has been for a while) however she is not completely wedged down into my pelvis. She felt Antebellums head, but then the baby quickly moved her head up. She said once Antebellum wedges down into the pelvis further I will much more quickly dilate. So with that being said... I think I may have dilated a little bit. I was using the restroom and felt something a bit funny "down there" and when I went to wipe I got this big blob of clear mucus. That my friends.. was my mucus plug... and I lost it! Whoo hoo! It was not bloody at all- which makes me think I am not very dilated at all. I read that if it is bloody that means that you have opened up quite a bit and some small blood vessels that have dilated with the cervix have started bleeding a little. I guess time will tell... but I have told my dear daughter to hold until Nov 1st. But if she chooses to go ahead and come in October- I won't be mad. :) I have posted a pic of dilation and effacement below.. enjoy!

The Clock Keeps Tickin

35 Weeks and 2 days. Holy molly I am not even 2 weeks away from being full term. Crazy!! The whole pregnancy thing has been wonderful! I know I need to enjoy it now because soon enough I am going to be going on no sleep and have sore boobs ( I can't wait!!). :) My baby girl has settled down and isn't awake all the time now. I'm hoping she is going into more of a better sleep/wake pattern. She is also very good to me! Anytime I start to get concerned that she hasn't moved in a while, I will place my hand on my stomach and she will kick it. Its as if she knows exactly what I'm thinking and she puts my mind to rest. Baby girl has also started getting the hiccups. They are so adorable!! Joey felt them on Wednesday- they felt as if they were in my hip bone. She must be pretty low by now. Because if I walk more than 5 steps I feel like I am going to tinkle in my pants. I guess a pantie liner should be called a necessity by this point... And then whenever I do go tinkle, it is max 200ml. I feel like my bladder is going to explode and then when I sit to pee I barely pee anything. It can be a bit frustrating. When I was running the vending route with Joey on Wednesday, I peed like 8 times (we only have 8 locations we go to). Joey is a trooper though and doesn't say much when I have to pee twice at the same location. :) He only has a couple more weeks of the constant peeing.

I also have recently started to swell a bit. It is definitely not symmetrical. I swell more to the right ankle than the left.
Dr.Adams said it is probably the way she is laying and putting pressure more on my right hip than my left. However.. I did discover somewhat of a solution to the swelling. See, I was told the more water you drink the less swelling you should have. And I was doing magnificent on my drinking- always drinking at least 64oz/day. However, once she dropped so low I thought she was going to push out my bladder.. I slowed down (alot). I would notice I was only drinking like 30oz/day max. It was at that point that I started swelling. So, in the last 3 days I have started back on my heavy drinking and there hasn't been hardly any swelling- even after I ran the vending route! Whoo hoo! Maybe at my next doctors appt I won't have such an increase in my weight since the swelling has went down. Only time will tell.

My next doctors appt is next Friday. At that point they will swab me for Strep B and check me for dilation. Whoo hoo! I can't wait.. is that weird?! Probably, but I don't care! And then at 38 weeks I am going to have a sonogram to see how big the baby of mine is. That way we know if I can push her out. I have started to not eat anything in hopes of her not gaining any more weight... YA RIGHT. I don't care if she has to be a c-section baby. I just want a healthy baby! But honestly, my hopes are to have her naturally. I guess Jesus is the only one who knows what will happen. :)

P.S. I have finally updated my belly pics. However.. I skipped my 32 week photo shoot. Not intentionally, just because I was so outrageously tired and couldn't get motivated to take the pic. So I have a 30 wk, then a 34 and 35 wk photo up. Sorry for such delay!!
I also have pics from the baby showers.. they were awesome! I will try and post those soon!

Finally The Pics!

First I want to show off my beautiful daughter. She was absolutely perfect when I saw her during my 3D sonogram. She even smiled. The tech lady did however have to have me lay updside down and on my left side to get this darling baby to cooperate.. but I don't mind. Anything for a good photoshoot!!








Next is a pic of my belly button. I have been told by a couple people that it looks like a butt hole. Thank you Pam, Christa and Brenda.. No, it doesn't bother me. So you can be the judge. If this bare belly business creeps or grosses you out- I apologize and you don't have to look. Also important to note- I had just taken a shower and lubed up with my vitamin E oil and cocoa butter, so I look a bit greasy. The same goes for my 30 week pic at the top of the blog.



I felt that a side view of the belly button was better because I have verbalized my strong feelings about how front pics of a belly are dumb. What is the point of them? You can't see how big the person is...

Wobbling Happy

As my stomach continues to expand beyond an imaginable size, the wobbling continues to worsen. I began to have the pregnancy waddle at about 22 weeks or so, and boy has it gotten more impressive! I don't mean to walk that way, it just happens. I personally think it is because my legs have continued to expand as well. There is no denying the fact that my butt and legs have grown a bit too. I just blame it on making my body more prepared to carry this extra weight in front. However.. it is probably because I am just a lard butt. Oh well- I have every intention to work my butt off (literally) during the 12 weeks I'm off work (of coarse I will only work out intensely the last 6). I have continued my leg exercises as well as my tricep dips- but Jesus continues to provide me with cushion to support this baby (YIKES!). My weight gain has been appropriate thus far- but I still have 8 weeks left.
I also am one of those preggos that find it appropriate to hold her stomach while walking. I do this for a couple reasons. 1. Anytime I walk my bladder suddenly has absolutely no room at all.. none. So if I hold my stomach up a bit it takes a little pressure off. 2. I like to hold my baby. I like her to know that I am always thinking of her.. always. And I think that if I let her know that I love her so much- maybe she won't poke at my bladder. I mean, she can if she wants. I don't really mind.. but if she wants to be kind to my bladder- super! P.S.- ONLY 8 WEEKS! Holy cow! That is 5 weeks till full term. I couldn't be more psyched. I am off for 3 days and I am hoping to get a small amount of work done on the baby room and hopefully the baby's bathroom. We will see..



Speaking of the babies room- I just re bought the babies bedding and the valance that matches because they were on sale and I saved $20. Whoo hoo! I originally spent $140 for just the bedding and then Target had a baby sale, so I took back the bedding and got back all my money and then re bought the bedding AND the valance and only spent $120. Now that is what I call a deal! I also bought the breast pump on sale- $30 off. I am very excited about that- AND I got a $20 target gift card for buying a medela pump. I bought the Pump In Style Advanced. I have heard good things, I hope they prove to be true. I am going to be devastated if breastfeeding doesn't work out. I so badly want to use boobie juice as my baby girls primary source of nutrition. :) Plus- I am counting on that as another way to help me lose weight.

Running Randall

Joey and I recently had the pleasure of loaning out garage space to a fuzzy fella. We have decided to name "Running Randall" (actually Joey came up with the name). We kept finding weird things happening in our garage. We do vending and so we have a box of pastries (has donuts, cupcakes, zingers..ect), well when we went to get some of the pastries out we noticed that we had a couple packages of donuts that were open. The first package was crumb donuts (yummy!), and they only had a few nibbles out of them. The second package was powdered and they had like 3 donuts missing. Joey asked if I knew what the deal was and of course I had no idea. Joey then said that he kept finding stuff knocked off the shelves in our garage. And it was stuff that was on shelves really high up on the wall. Obviously we were baffled.. but we had no other reason to suspect a mammal friend visiting us and shacking in the garage. THEN.. on Saturday night we were hosting a Reid Shindig and Joey went to the garage to grab something and he saw an animal run across the garage. First and foremost we had to make sure it wasn't our first fuzzy child- The Son Bun. Thank goodness it wasn't, I would feel awful if he was stuck out in our garage. So.. we looked all over our garage and couldn't find this little critter. Important to note though- our garage is organized and recently cleaned, but still very very jammed full of stuff due to Joeys business. We kept hitting things on the walls hoping that this intruder would show his/her face- but no luck. Later on at like 2am Joey went to the garage and saw a possum run across the floor and vanish. We again looked very hard for him/her- but still no luck. This little turkey was probably "playing possum". What a little jokester this little animal is! Sunday my mom and step dad David come over- David used to be an animal control officer and this certainly wasn't his first rodeo when it came to getting a possum. However- Joey and David had the same issue that we had already had, this possum was playing dead somewhere and was no where to be found. We decided setting a trap would be the best way to hopefully catch this furry friend (even though Randall had it pretty good in the garage- plenty of food, space and privacy). Joey set the trap late in the evening and I had to go to work. Later, when I talked to Joey he informed me that we only had "one fuzzy guy living at our house now". Apparently Joey had went to grab something from the garage and Randall was caught red handed hiding behind the box Joey needed to get into. Randall got a little spooked and tried to run but was partially paralyzed from the fear of Joeys big muscles and the fact that he was holding cat tongs (which are similar to the old people grabbers). Joey grabbed Randall under the armpits with the tongs and carried him to the street as quickly as possible. Joey said Randall looked pretty scared and hissed a couple times. As soon as he let Randall go he ran rather quickly down the street. Poor Randall, but we just have too much stuff in the garage to let him permanently shack up out there. Here are a couple pics of cute little possums- the first is my favorite. I love how the babies are just holding on to their mother for dear life! I also love how Joey has just as soft of a heart for animals as I do- I think I picked a pretty great husband!!

Sooo Close

Once again I have managed to go over 1 month since my last blog. Wow.. I really suck at this blogging business. I just get tired or busy and my blog suffers horribly. Well, only 62 days till the due date of my daughter(I can't beleive I get to say that)! That is very very close in case you weren't aware. Because 62 days is only about 2 months and... wow! The pregnancy has gone by so fast! I have started to get serious about getting ready for the baby.. finally. I recently bought the high chair, bed set and the furniture. Of course, I waited until most of these were on sale to buy. However, I do have to return my bedset and rebuy it because it is now on sale with free shipping. Whoo hoo! I am all about saving $30! I have registered at Babies R'Us and Target- that was quite an adventure! My baby shower is going to be September 26th and I am pumped. My work shower is going to be the 24th and I am also really excited about that one as well. It will just be nice to be all ready for this precious baby. I am hoping to get the room painted pretty soon and then we can set up the crib. I also had my 3D (it was actually 4D) ultrasound last week. I will tell you more about that later, but Baby Antebellum proved how turkeyish she can be!

Here is a pic of the highchair that I bought. It is pretty nifty. It is a highchair that can also turn into a booster seat and then a "toddler seat". I have included a pic of all 3 ways the chair can be used. It is pretty nice.





I also will post my 28 and 30 week photos within the next couple days. I promise to do another blog by next week. :)

96 Days!

Lately time has been going by really fast. Joey and I have been really busy lately and when we aren't working or doing vending we just want to sit, relax and not do a darn thing. Well.. while I was being busy, time has just flown by! I only have 96 days left with this wonderful growing baby girl. I can't even believe it!! She has been so super active lately, I love it. I like that she lets me know that she is ok and that she is continuing to grow and get stronger. My belly has really taken off lately as well. In the last 2 weeks strangers have started to ask me about my pregnancy "When are you due", "How far along are you", ect. It has been such a delight. :) I worked hard on growing this belly and I am more than happy to discuss it.
Here is the only problem with getting closer and closer to the grand entrance... I am not ready AT ALL! I haven't started to prepare her room, I haven't started buying things and I still have no idea what we are going to name her. Do I feel a little anxious about this: YES! At work everyone keeps having there babies and each time it happens I think "Crap MB, what are you doing? You need to get off your lazy butt and get that room ready, clean the house and register". But instead.. nothing.. I do nothing. I know that we still have 14 weeks till due date, but if 26 weeks have flown by this fast- I can only imagine how fast 14 weeks will. I did pick out a dresser and book shelf that I think will go with Joeys old crib (if we use it). We just need to order it. It is on clearance- thank goodness! The amount of money they charge for furniture is enough to make me throw up!! Once we have that, I think it will all come together nicely. I am planning on have the baby shower on Sept 26th (thats a whole nother story.. sigh). But I am really excited for that! It is going to be a couples shower- should be fun.
On Tuesday I did my glucose tolerance test- it wasn't too bad. I drank the orange glucola. You are suppose to drink it within 5 minutes and I drank it within 3 (Do I get extra points for that?). I had worked the night before so I had to stop eating at 4 am- at least I think I did. I was pretty sure that Dr.Adams said you had to fast for 4 hrs prior to the test. I actually cheated a bit. I ate some yogurt at 4:10, and it took me a bit to eat it. Side note: A&E yogurt was on sale for 39 cents. Yummo! That is my favorite! I bought like 24 of them- those suckers are usually like 72 cents!! Ok, back to the GTT. So I drank the stuff and then went to the lab to have my blood drawn. Holy cow, I am pretty sure they used an 18 guage to draw my blood- it certainly wasn't a 22! Good thing I had a honkin vein for them. The lady asked how far along I was and I said 26 with the anticipation that she was going to say " You don't look like you are that far along"- everyone says that (or they used to). But nope, she said "You look further along than 26 weeks". She even asked if it was twins. LOL. I don't think I am that big- but I still enjoyed the comments. Like I said before- showing off this belly is a pleasure. :) After the test I did feel a bit nauseous because I had drank so much sugar on an empty stomach, but other than that I was fine. I do feel like it is a bit crazy to put a preggo npo for any certain period of time! Couldn't they just let me eat meat and cheese until I drank my sugar water? Oh well.. I survived. I will hopefully find out today if I passed- wish me luck! :) I have my 26 week doctors appt today and then I go every 2 weeks. Hip hip hoorey!!! I posted my 26 week photo and I also posted a photo with my shirt down- you will probably like that one better. Hopefully you aren't getting tired of the bare belly pics. ;)

Slightly Emotional

I must say my pregnancy emotions have been at an all time high. Heavens... Joey probably doesn't even know what to do with me. I cry so easily! Not only do I cry crazy easy- but I am quick to get mad about something. I do attempt to have a handle on these OOC emotions- but when tears start to well up there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop them. And I will continue crying as long as someone asks me about it. And all I can say is "I don't know.. I guess its these dang pregnancy emotions". LOL A couple weeks ago I had a crying outburst prior to leaving for work and Joey just tried to cheer me up- but there was nothing he could do. The next day after I got up from sleeping (at 5:00 because Joey had crawled in bed with me so I slept an extra 1.5 hours), I went downstairs to find flowers on the kitchen table! Joey had bought me these gorgeous flowers. And on top of that he had also went and had my prevacid prescription filled. I had ran out of the free samples and hadn't gotten my script filled yet. I had told Joey that my heartburn was nearing an all time high and that if I didn't work extra that night I was definitely going to get my prevacid (because P.S. Prevacid is AMAZING!). So he went ahead and got my script filled- it was sitting behind the flowers. He is such a great husband. I am very lucky to have him. Hopefully he will continue to want to keep me. I must get these emotions under control. Although, I must say.. it has been a bit better these last couple weeks. So maybe it was just a horrible 4 week stretch of a surge in hormones. Who knows. Here is a couple pics of the pretty flowers. :)

Domination Continues

Wiffle ball has been going strong again this year. Man I love me some wiffle ball. Joey has been out of control with his pitching- he should be a shoe in for the Cy Young Award. Im so proud of him! He continues to be undefeated while pitching. This year he made the all star team. North vs South. The first team for the North (Joeys division) was made up of The Hicktown Bombers (Joeys team). haha. They are pretty much amazing! The second team was made up of two players from The Woodcocks (Chris B- pitcher and Jim K) and Cody from Soco. The first got a strong lead in the beginning and then the second team finished the south off. Really, its no surprise. The North is undoubtedly the stronger division. Here is a couple pics of the winners!

Ages

I am very very sorry for the outrageous delay in updating my blog. I can only blame it on laziness and tiredness. I am so tired and so busy.. horrible combo. Not that the tiredness is anything outlandish or horrible.. just continuous. When my alarm goes off at 3:30 to wake up, I am having the hardest time getting up and keeping my eyes open. Maybe it is because I am growing a baby or it could be because I only get backaches when I sleep which decreases the quality of sleep. I don't know.. but its silly. However, I don't mind, just another reminder of my sweet baby growing in my womb.
Speaking of my womb, I absolutely love to feel the borders of my uty (uterus). I frequently ask Joey to feel it. I wonder how he feels about that. I mean, I don't ask him to feel it inappropriately.. just to feel the borders and when it is tight. I love the growth every week. Lately it has been tightening up and you can feel it really well. It tightened up while I was at the OBs office and he said he thought it was just the way she was laying because it wasn't completely firm in all quadrants. (Can you tell I enjoy talking about the uterus?) :) It is so weird to know how big it is compared to my pre-pregnancy uty. It is now about 2 inches above my belly button. Which, by the way, is really starting to flatten out. I used to have somewhat of a deep belly button, I don't know why.. just what Jesus gave me. But now it is slowly coming closer and closer to the surface of the rest of my belly. I wonder if it will pop out at any point or just get flat. Only time will tell. :)

So I had my 22 week appointment on Friday. All went amazingly well. Babies heart rate was 140 (super!) and she was moving lots. The nurse kept having to chase her around my belly to get a good consistent reading. Already as ornery as her father and I. Joey has been able to go to all of my appointments except for one. It has been wonderful to have Joey at my appointments. I think it is so cute that he wants to go to them all. He is going to be such a great father!! Dr.Adams started measuring my belly at this appointment. I was so excited when he said he was going to measure my belly. I don't know why I was so excited.. probably because it is related to pregnancy and I love it! I measured slightly big at 23 weeks, but he said it really depends on your pelvic shape. And he said the measurement is just the starting point and the ones after this are the most important because they note my growth. I only have one more appointment that is 4 weeks apart then I go to q2 week appointments. Whoo hoo!! And only 2 more weeks till viability! Not that being born at 24 weeks would be good.. but at least it would be viable.

My tummy growth has really taken off lately. I still need to post my 22 week photo, but you can see the outrageous growth from 18-20 weeks. I love it! My original plan was going to be to take a photo every week after 20 weeks. But I think I am going to stick to the q2 week photos until about 36 weeks. After that I will take them weekly due to the possibility of having the baby. Hard to imagine I have less than 18 weeks till my due date. I know that sounds like a lot of weeks, but it is only about 4 months away. CRAZY!! Another amazing development- Joey and I felt her kick on Thursday. I had felt her kick inside- inconsistently but still... I could feel it. Then on Thursday I was laying on the floor and she started to kick and I could feel it on my hand. So I had Joey feel her and it was so neat!! I love that we were able to feel her at the same time. I didn't want it to be one of those things where I could feel it for weeks before he did- I wanted to share this moment with him. Funny, as I was typing about her kicking- she started to kick. What a silly goose. I guess she knows what I am thinking about. :) Its weird, its almost like I know when she is getting ready to kick. I have this weird feeling in my gut, almost like my stomach is dropping, and then she starts to move and kick. Have I mentioned how adorable she is?!
Alright.. that's enough for now. Sorry for the long post. Much to update you on. I will attempt to 1.Post my 22 week photo soon and 2. Update more often. :) Wish me luck.

Time to Introduce To You..

This is my growing baby girl. Isn't she adorable!! I can't even believe that this adorable little person is inside of me.. just baking away until its time to pop open the oven and introduce her to the world. By the size of her the adjusted due date was 11/6, however they are going to keep my due date 11/11. I am kind of happy about that because I like that date. It just seems exciting and fun to say.
I went to the doctors on Wednesday (sorry for the delay in writing.. I have been a little exhausted to say the least). I first had my sonogram and it was delightful! The ultrasound technician was super nice and funny. I have to admit I was terrified coming into this photo shoot. I was so worried that Baby Antebellum was not going to be healthy.. or her heart wouldn't be beating. The good news.. the worrying was for no reason. She was as healthy as a .. I don't know. Something very healthy. We got a really good picture of her heart, which was so adorable and little. Her tummy was the size of a pea. It is so little. No wonder she only requires 10 or so calories a day. At the beginning of the ultrasound I told the tech that I had told the baby to cooperate so we would know if it was a boy or a girl. Right after I said that Baby Antebellum shook her head no. I just knew we would have a stubborn baby. Thats what Joey and I get for always being stubborn and hard headed as kids. :) I was a little concerned about the babies position.. it didn't look too comfortable. She was laying/floating on her back and her legs were up over her stomach, like her body was in a V position. The lady said it was completely fine and that she would move positions a lot... and the positions normally don't look too comfy. Baby Antebellum was so calm during this photo shoot. She had her hands up by her face and would just move her little face sometimes along with opening and shutting her mouth. Yumm... amniotic fluid. I was very relieved to know that I do have plenty of amniotic fluid. This was a worry of mine only because I read too many blogs. But she had good healthy kidneys and my mind was set to rest. YAY!

Next was my appointment with Dr.Adams. It was very uneventful. He just said that Baby Antebellum and I were very healthy and everything looked great. He also said that I only have 2 more appointments that will be spread 4 weeks apart. Holy cow! 2 more months and I will be seeing him every 2 weeks. Yay!! That milestone seems so far, yet so close. I also asked about my weight gain since it has been minimal and he said everything was fine. As long as my baby was growing perfectly.. then there was nothing to worry about. Whew! He said that in the next 10 weeks I could gain 12-20lbs in water weight and swelling alone. YIKES! I am totally for gaining weight to keep baby healthy.. but come on.. swelling! I don't want to gain 20lbs in swelling. Oh well, it all comes with the territory and I will take was Jesus blesses me with. Just as long as Baby Antebellum stays healthy.

Next issue: Naming this little princess. We originally thought that we would name her Adrianna Marie. But then I decided I liked the name Maribella Lynn. Needless to say.. we have no clue what we are going to go with. If we name her Adrianna we will call her Addie for short and if we name her Maribella we will call her Mari (sounded like Mara) for short. Only time will tell what this beautiful girl will be called. Please feel free to comment on your favorite name. :)

The Count Down Begins

Four more days till I find out if Baby Antebellum is an Anthony or an Adrianna/Maribella !! Yeah!! The suspense is killing me. The current poll says that I am having a boy. The chinese gender chart says girl..except if I put in my birthday and the date of conception- then it says boy. My maternal instinct says.. nothing. It says NOTHING! How can I not have a single clue about what this baby could be?! Oh well, Im not too mad at myself. This is only my first pregnancy.. cut me some slack.

Next on the agenda: My baby has decided it would be fun to start kicking me. I thought I felt it at week 15 (I know its early) and I became positive about the feeling last Thursday. And I must say.. It is soo fun!! I wish I could feel it consistently, but I can't yet. I wouldn't describe this wonderful feeling as a butterfly flutter or as "gas bubbles", but more like a true jab or kick. Not a hard kick by any means.. but a small tiny adorable jab. I am positive that this baby is going to have the strength of Joey. Joey has pretty big muscles and I imagine baby Reid does as well. When I go for the ultrasound on Wednesday, I think that if they measured the babys thigh muscles and biceps.. they would be HUGE! I bet he/she will have big baseball pitcher legs and calves... just like daddy. :) I am already a proud glowing mommy about how strong Baby Antebellum is!



I have also developed a bit of a leak problem..not bad though. I had no clue that colostrum could even start coming in this early. Thank goodness I have my pregnancy consultant (Ashley Wrecke) to talk to about all my symptoms. She does a tremendous job of reassuring me that this is all normal. So.. I have started to pump so that I can save every bit of this precious nutrient filled fluid. Haha. I'm just kidding- that would be crazy!! On a side note- I am so glad to have Ashley right now and I know that I will be even more happy after this baby is born. I am going to use her as my lactation consultant.. and I think that she will be amazingly supportive and reassuring. I have already started to prepare myself for a difficult first month or so with breastfeeding- but I am still crazy excited about this wonderful mommy opportunity!!


I was consoling a baby last night and I started to think that in nearly 5 months I will be consoling my own child. I feel so amazingly blessed that I can't even describe the emotion! I have wanted to be a mommy since I was a little girl. Now it is coming true and it is unbelievable. Jesus has blessed me with a super great pregnancy (knock on wood) and I don't even know what to say. I love this growing belly of mine! I am doing my darnedest to keep only my belly growing and not my butt, thighs, face and arms.. but whatever Jesus blesses me with I will be happy. I know that no matter what- there will be some much needed workouts to be completed following this babys arrival. I am trying my hardest right now to work out.. but it is so hard with Joeys business and working full time. That is still no excuse.. so I will get my butt in gear. Maybe starting on Tuesday, when my 4 in a row will finally be complete. I want to start strength training.. at a moderate pace. Joey has started to eat good recently and since he is the amazing cook in our house.. we have had some amazingly good (tasting and good for us) meals. Plus I am having a bit of a fruit addiction lately.. ooh and a milk addiction. YUMMY! So thankfully this baby hasn't made me crave any food that is very bad- isn't Baby Antebellum amazing!!

Well wish me luck at my ultrasound and I will update you asap after my ultrasound. After we tell our parents of course.. Ooh! And I will also have to post my 18 week photo (Can you believe I will be 18 weeks!!!).

Bridal Bliss

Becky had her bachelorette party a couple weeks ago. I went out to dinner with all her crazy friends and it was a blast. I didn't go out after dinner because I had been fighting a pretty severe headache. But I think Becky had a lot of fun that night.. I thought I would post a couple pics from the night. You can tell the who the preggo one is.. the one who is all conservative in the attire.

Just A Growin

24 weeks to go!! Yay! Everything has been going smoothly. I was unable to post a pic in photobucket tonight due to the computer I am on.. so here is the most recent pic. I know that it is harder to see my growth when it isn't next to the previous pic.. but this is all you get for now. I definitely think I am growing. My mom said "Wow. You look pregnant today". I loved it needless to say!



Symptoms wise.. heartburn continues. That was a no brainer. I knew I would have it, no biggy. At the least I think I can handle a little burning esophagus and stomach. I have some prevacid that I got for free that I will soon start taking. I got it from my PCP a while ago to try, I just figured that I would wait till I was preggo because I could only imagine that that's when I would need it most. I am still holding off until it is close to unbearable. Its funny, my stomach isn't that big, yet when I sit up it puts alot of pressure on my stomach and esophagus and up comes the acid.
Next.. my boobs are finally growing! Yay! I have now reached C status. I have never had the luxury to be in the C status before and I gotta say.. I am loving it. I wonder how huge they will get when they are engorged with milk.. maybe D status?! On the subject of boobs... well this picture says it best.



You can thank Katie Mo for that wonderful illustration. :) That illustration had a couple more fun pictures with it.. hopefully I will be able to find a reason to post those soon.

Also, headaches have become more of an issue. Holy cow. Sometimes I think my head is going to fall off. Last weekend I even called the doctor because I had a headache for 3 days strait.. with no relief. I would go to bed with a headache and then wake up with one. 1000mg of tylenol could knock the pounding to a dull knock... but still.. crap! The doctor said that the only symptom in pregnancy that causes headaches was preeclampsia.. and that was highly unlikely at my stage in pregnancy (which I completely knew and didn't think that was the issue). I had just been told that if you have a headache for several days you should notify your doctor. So I did.. and it was dumb. He told me to go to the ER since I had a headache for so many days without relief. I said "Ok, thanks". Then.. I went on with my day. Really?! I am not going to go to the ER for a stupid headache. That seems a bit excessive doesn't it. I might as well be going to the hospital because I have vaginal discharge. C'mon.. lets be real. So I started to drink 1 cup of tea a day. I figured that excedrine migraine has caffeine in it.. so it must help a little. It is amazing. Technically you can have 200mg of caffeine a day and I am only drinking about 30mg. So... alls well. And I must say that the headaches have improved slightly. I quit drinking tea for 4 days and the headaches have slowly started back up. I had a mega one last night. Possibly important to note- the weather has NO IDEA what it wants to do. 60s-80s.. never know what it wants to do. Ridiculous! Oh well, I can manage.

I get to find out the sex of this baby in 2 weeks. WOW! 2 weeks is so close.. yet ages away. Please post what you think this baby is going to be, I must write it down in my pregnancy book that Katie B gave me. :)

Checkup Time

I had my 14 week checkup on Wednesday and everything was great. Doodles Baby had a heart rate of 153.. very excellent. And I hadn't gained too much weight, thank goodness. Don't get me wrong, I want to gain enough to have a healthy baby and a healthy pregnancy.. but we don't need to be going all willy nilly with the weight gain. Only 4 more weeks till I (hopefully) get to find out if Baby Antebellum is a boy or girl. I am soo excited to get to call this little munchkin by a name. It is so crazy to think that this little tiny being is growing inside of me. I think I quite enjoy being an incubator. :) I have posted my 14 week photo. It looks like I am growing quite a bit. Yesterday morning I woke up and BAM.. my belly was even bigger, just from the night before. I am hopeful that I can keep those pesky stretch marks away.. but also realistic and know how high the potential is that they will creep up on me. I talked to Dr.Adams about the voiding issue and he said that it can be quite normal due to how big my uterus is and how it is taking up a lot of my pelvic space.. including my bladders area. He also said it should subside within a couple more weeks or so. Soon the uterus will come out of my pelvic space and impede on other organs.. I can't wait! (Seriously.. I think it will be fun times all around. This could be amazing!)

Other news.. Joey and I had our 2nd Wedding anniversary on Tuesday the 12Th. We went to Fogo De Chaos on the plaza. It was soo much fun. It is a Brazilian steak house and they serve tons of different kinds of meat. They have a salad bar that you can go to as many times as you desire (that is quite delish). And then when you are ready for "the meat" you turn over this card on your table to green. Green means the Gauchos (the guys with the meat) will come out and offer you tons of different types of meat.. like steak, chicken wrapped in bacon, lamb, ribs.. ect. Then when your plate is full or you think you have enough, you turn your card back to red. Red means you don't want any more meat (till later.. ;) They give you cheesy bread, garlic potatoes, polenta and caramelized bananas as sides- these are endless. You also don't just have waiter or waitress, there are several and they all help all the tables. Whenever you go to get up they will help pull your chair out and when you are ready to sit down, they will push your chair in. I felt like pretty woman. I didn't know the appropriate etiquette for such a fancy restaurant. When I got ribs I said to Joey "How am I suppose to eat this". I didn't know if it would be appropriate to pick up with my fingers. haha. Joey just said to pick it up. The bartender was very nice also. He made me a fresh limeade (made with fresh limes and condensed milk). I was worried it was going to be like $12, and he kept just bringing me out new ones without even asking. I thought "holy crap, this is gonna be expensive". So when the waitress offered to get me a fresh limeade I told her I didn't want anymore because they were so sweet. Turns out that it was only $4.25 and it was free refills. haha. I wasn't sure. Lastly I asked the waitress to take Joey and I's photo because it was our anniversary and she said "Oh.. its your anniversary" and then told someone to do something. Then she brings out this amazing chocolate turtle cheesecake mousse dessert. AMAZING! We were soo stuffed. She offered to put most of it in a to go box (thank goodness!). The restaurant was tons of fun! Then we went home and watched a movie. It was a very great anniversary!

Beauty

So 13 weeks preggo and I feel like a big fat lard butt. And I don't mean because my belly is growing so much. Because believe me.. I have waited a long time to grow this adorable baby bump. I love it, I love it, I love it!! However, my legs feel gargantuous (that means huge), my butt feels like it is growing by the minute and my face is all chunky. Also, my hair is all frizzy. I got my hair cut today, its a lil short. I didn't have time to style it (we'll get to that later), so it is back in a lil ponytail. But my ponytail is pretty small. I already feel tons better about my appearance just due to my hair. I also got my eyebrows waxed. They look tons better!! I feel like this would be an important place to tell you that I haven't gained too much weight. I think I have only gained a couple pounds thus far in the pregnancy.. so I probably don't look as awful as I am describing. However.. I feel nasty. (Side note: I don't like the word nasty. I have no idea why I decided to use that word. It sounds so.. sexual. You know what I'm saying? Oh ya.. you know. Ok that's enough.) My clothes still fit fine, I am wearing maternity clothes though. I can still wear some of my shirts, but can't wear any of my capris. My baby bump just won't allow it. I know it isn't huge.. but its big enough to make a difference in the clothes I wear. I bought some cute capris at Kohls (they were having a super good sale). I currently love them.. but I think I must buy another pair soon. I think another sale will be here before I know it. Because we all know that I won't buy a non-sale maternity item. Lets be real here!

Other news.. Im in my second trimester!! Yay. I love that Baby Antebellum and I have made this wondrous milestone. Have you seen how big Doodles Baby is? So big!! About 3.5 inches now, holy cow! Jen said that that's about the size of a poly pocket. haha



Hopefully Doodles Baby doesn't look like this, yikes! Lately I have been having a bit of flight of ideas. When I was using the restroom yesterday I was thinking "What would happen if I accidentally pushed my baby out". ( I think I was pushing too hard)How awful would that be? I know I shouldn't think about this stuff. But honestly I don't think it would really happen, I'm truly not worried about it at all. I just have these random scenarios pop into my head. Its crazy huh! But I never told anyone that I was normal.. you just assumed.

So second trimester is here (barely) and I am exhausted. Most people say that your second trimester is the easiest and all your symptoms subside for a bit, but mine are coming now. Its crazy! Like if I do anything at all (go to the bathroom, eat dinner, go to the grocery store.. ect) I need to lay down for a bit. Not always take a nap, but at least rest for a while. And a nap daily would be most amazing! What would make it even more amazing.. if Joey took it with me! I LOVE THAT! Today when I got my haircut I had complete intentions to style my hair prior to work. However, I was really exhausted and decided to take a nap instead. It was dreamy and definately worth it! I am also having issues with going potty. I literally go potty all the time. And sometimes I will go potty, stand up and have to sit back down because I still have to go. I have even done some exercises while on the toilet to help make sure all the urine is out of my bladder. Those are obviously useless. Sometimes I will go potty literally like 3 times in 10 minutes. OOC! Another issue.. I will have to go soo bad, I mean like I feel like my bladder literally can't hold any more urine. I go to the bathroom and a tiny little stream starts to trickle out. I feel as if the stream may even stop at any minute because it is going soo slow. Or sometimes it will stop in between, like this: pssss....pss...pssssss...psss and so on. It will take me 2 minutes just to get out all the urine. I feel as if I am straining muscles just trying to get this urine to empty out of my bladder. These episodes only happen at night though. Last night I had this happen and when I came back to bed Joey asked "Is everything ok?". I told him I just had to potty and he said "Well, I wasn't sure because you were in there for a long time". haha. I was in there forever because my body wouldn't allow the potty to come out at a reasonable rate.




But in all seriousness I absolutely love all the symptoms Jesus is blessing me with. I have waited long enough and I don't ever want to sound like I am complaining. I thank Jesus frequently for what he has blessed me with!

Almost There

Wow!! I am already 12 weeks and 4 days. Almost to 2nd Trimester (I think). I have had trouble figuring out when the 2nd trimester starts. Many websites have a difference in opinion. So I am just going to stick with 13 weeks. But not matter what, it is amazing. I absolutely can't wait to feel this little life inside of me kick and have hiccups. I have heard it frequently be described as "freaking you out" when it first happens.. however I am skeptical that those will be my feelings. I am so looking forward to that. I look forward to everything in my pregnancy. I need to work hard not to get a big booty though.. I kinda don't want that. But again, whatever Jesus gives me with this pregnancy I am greatful for.
My food aversions are slowly going away. I have mixed emotions about that. On one hand, now I can eat meat and don't have to worry about if Im getting enough protein. On the other hand, now I can eat almost everything. Now is when self control comes into play. I have pep talks with myself. "MaryBeth, I know that you are hungry ALL THE TIME.. but make wise choices. You can do it. Good job MaryBeth, an apple is a good choice". In reality, I don't really have too hard of a time making good choices because healthy food sounds really good. I continue to love and crave fruit and yogurt. Ooh, and on that note.. yogurt was on sale for 25 cents a container. Wow! What a mega good deal. You better believe that my frugal butt stocked up. Woohoo!! We also might be able to throw cottage cheese into the line up of yummy foods that sound delish. Man, I think I am making myself hungry. That doesn't take much.

In other news.. Beckys bridal shower was yesterday. I must say it was a success. Her cake was really cute. It said "Sweetest wishes for the soon to be Mrs". I think she really liked it. And she got a lot of amazing stuff. She gets married May 28th in the Bahamas. I must say I am a bit jelous. The Bahamas sound pretty amazing right about now.

Well, I must go eat now. I have made a photobucket slideshow of my belly growing. I know it is minimal growth at this point ( I feel as if it is mega growth.. but I see myself naked so...) I will continue to add photos every 2 weeks. Enjoy and don't make fun. :)

Let the Photos Begin

5 Weeks


7 Weeks (Joey held the camera crooked)


8 Weeks (I thought I was getting bigger so I took it a week early)


10 Weeks

Another 10 Week a little closer up.

Those are the belly pics thus far. I definitely have gotten bigger lately. But I don't mind, I love that my baby is wanting to be seen. :) I went to the doctor today for a checkup. Everything looked great. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat via doppler. It was a little difficult for the nurse to find, Baby Antebellum was moving around quite a bit. He/she just grew muscles and I guess was trying to get a good workout in. The heartbeat was 167 beats per minute. Dr.Adams said that is picture perfect healthy heart rate. Yay!! I am exactly 10 weeks today. What a relief! Dr.Adams also said weeks 8-10 are the worst for symptoms and soon should subside. So I feel super blessed because I have symptoms.. but are minimal and very easy to deal with. So.. I would like to take this time to thank Jesus for helping me and baby feel good. But also I want to send Jesus a reminder that it is fine to give me more symptoms.. just keep Baby Antebellum healthy.
We scheduled me next two appointments today. I think at the next one they will start to measure me. I am very excited for that (is that weird?). And then June 10th I am scheduled for a sonogram to find out what this little jelly bean inside of me is. Please feel free to leave a comment on what you think it might be. I have NO CLUE! I have had a lot of dreams that I have a boy. I even had a dream at the end of December that I delivered a baby boy and they handed him to me in a santa suit. The baby was soo cute, with blond hair and was so little. So in January I actually bought a baby santa suit because I felt like Jesus was sending me a message. But.. who know. I am so anxious to find out though!!