Weeks 29-30: Visiting Mr. P

This week, I was so excited to get to go meet my sweet nephew, Pearson out in LA! He was such a cutie and such an easy little baby. We celebrated his 1 month birthday while there, and I got to practice a little baby care while I was there on Saturday morning. Although I missed my little family in Frisco tremendously, it was great to see all of my family out in LA. We went for a beautiful walk, did a little shopping, ate good food, and watched a terrible A&M basketball game...but let's focus on the first three. A few photos below...

In Carter news, I had another great check-up at the beginning of month 7 and found out that I do NOT have gestational diabetes! Woohoo! Bring on the cookies! (Kidding...kinda...or not at all.) I had gained another 2 pounds to make my total gain so far a whopping 12 pounds since August. It may not sound like much, but man do I feel it! The doctor says Carter's heart rate and growth all look perfect, so I now begin my every two week appointments where I will meet her partners in case she can't deliver me for whatever reason. (Scary...one's a guy! Yikes!) Those will last about six weeks until the start of April and then I'll start going weekly and hearing updates on when the little man will make his entrance into the dry world! And, it would not be a true weekly update without the obligatory profile shot of my growing belly.

This week, I am praying for health all the way to the end for both me and the little guy. I learned today of a family friend's stillborn birth at 38 weeks, and I have to say, it convicted me. I am 100% confident that God is in control of this whole pregnancy and birth process, and I will continue to keep my faith that he knows what's best and will give us exactly what our little family needs...but the thought that nothing is guaranteed and that I could be losing this little guy after 7 months of preparation and care for no apparent reason shook me to the core today. As much as I have complained about the rib-kicking, weight gain, my inability to take Advil, and being advised not to drink nauseating amounts of caffeine like I did before, I will GLADLY drink my half-caff coffee, watch the scale rise to whatever frightening numbers they need to, and lovingly accept the internal rib damage to see this little man come to life. He may only weigh 3 pounds and not be able to communicate with me in any way other than punching at this point, but he has changed both Blake's and my life forever already. I hold onto Jeremiah 29:11 as I also hold my round belly a little tighter tonight...."'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

28 Weeks - Growth Spurt!

So, this week, I have noticed a MAJOR growth spurt going on in my belly! I know it's probably somewhat in my head, but I almost feel as if I wake up every morning just a little bit bigger than the day before. Case in point:

Monday Pic:

Tuesday Pic:

That is a serious bump I've sprouted! In other news, this kid has become obsessed with my rib cage. I can't decide if it's his head or little butt or what, but something loves to just camp out on my right rib cage. Occasionally, he'll headbutt or kick my sternum, and it literally hurts for hours. I actually had to stop a conversation with a co-worker and recover yesterday because it hurt so bad! I'm getting a little concerned that he might break something eventually. He's got (hopefully) at least 10 more weeks in there...I know my body is capable of carrying him to term, but I do worry that he's going to run out of room soon! If only I had a longer torso...ah well.

This past weekend, we babysat our sweet *almost* 8-month-old nephew, Liam. It was so much fun to have him test out some of Carter's gear. I know he may have been a little large for it, but it was fun to see a real baby in the infant seat! 

We also got to test out the crib, activity gym, and changing table and learned a lot! Example - we need to move the changing table away from the mini-blinds. He nearly ripped them off the window as I was changing him! Definitely hadn't thought of that before!

Tomorrow starts week 29...I am just in awe of this whole process and seriously so in love with this little guy already. It's incredible to think that in less than 12 weeks, I will be holding my son. Words cannot describe our excitement and anticipation of his arrival. It may sometimes be painful and scary to watch my belly grow and to be kicked in the rib cage to the point of tears, but we know that it will all be worth it when we see his sweet little face this spring. God is so good!

Week 28: Hello Third Trimester...and Aching!

Well, the third trimester has officially begun...and so has the discomfort of this growing little man. This past weekend, we had a little bit of a scary day on Sunday as I experienced my first Braxton-Hicks contraction (60 seconds of sheer torture) and my first real back pains. [Side note: That one little "practice" contraction threw all ideas of a natural childbirth right out the window! OUCH!] I did call the doctor due to a few other issues that day, and she suggested (for the second time since I've been preggers) I go purchase a maternity support belt (i.e. a girdle) to help with some of the achiness. I threw aside my pride and finally purchased this...

I can't say I'm in love with it, but it definitely helps! I feel like a geriatric with my lovely brace on, but so far, it's relieved some pressure. Dr. Denning - 1, Allison - 0.

Carter has also recently discovered the joys of my rib cage. He spends some days grabbing onto and/or kicking the sides of them, causing soreness and a side pain for days, and other times, he chooses to rest his sweet little head on them. As you can imagine, neither of these options feel great for his mom. Today he decided my sternum would be a good pillow, so he has been parked there for a few hours. I can't hunch over or it pinches, so I've had the best posture of my life today. (Silver lining?)

I am also working on a trip out to meet my new nephew, Pearson! I had originally hoped to go out next month at spring break, but after the pains of the last few days, I've decided I need to go before Carter grows anymore or it won't happen at all. I'm so excited to meet him in two weeks!!!

Well, that's all for this week! Obligatory belly shots below. Stay warm!

Trimester #3 begins.

Growing boy!

Goodbye, Second Trimester!

In three days, I will begin my third trimester! I cannot believe it! This trimester has absolutely flown by, and I am hopeful that the third will fly by as well. Every day that passes, I get more and more anxious to see our sweet little guy's face as well as know who he looks like and what his personality will be.

Some highlights from this trimester...we took a "babymoon" to California the week before Thanksgiving. We spent a few days in San Francisco, followed by a very nauseating but pretty drive down the PCH to Los Angeles. We took a detour and spent a night in Monterrey/Carmel which was beautiful. It was a great trip, but holy cold!

We also celebrated our first Christmas at 11701 Charlotte Lane! We loved decorating the house and having a real Christmas tree for the first time.

18 Weeks Pregnant! 

On December 29, we found out that you are 100% a little BOY! We are so thrilled that you will get to have boy cousins your same age on both sides and love that whoever comes along second will have an older brother!

My migraines went away completely around week 20 (praise God!) and I definitely began to grow a little baby belly. Carter also began kicking like mad around week 18, and I cannot get over what a little miracle it is every time he kicks! Blake was able to feel it (finally!) around week 23, and it was so amazing to watch his reaction. Carter now kicks our hands regularly and I've begun to feel his hands grab onto things (like my ribs...ouch!) and brush the sides of my belly. It tickles, but is amazing to feel at the same time. 

20 Weeks

 The last week of the second trimester, I attended my friend Erica's baby shower. She is due about 7 weeks before me with Carter's future wife, Madelyn, and it was so much fun to see how much we each had grown since Christmas!

 Carter at 26 weeks and Madelyn at 33 weeks. The first of many pictures together, I'm sure! :)

We are so thrilled to see what the third trimester holds, and cannot believe we have only 13 weeks left until we meet our little man!

Pearson Douglas Wade - Carter's Newest Cousin!

Pearson Douglas Wade, son of Allison's brother Stewart and his sweet wife Gillean, was born on January 25, 2011! Big boy weighed 8 pounds, 11 oz, and was 22 inches long! Baby Carter, you now have a new cousin. With you and Liam on the Ezell side and you and Pearson on the Wade side, family holidays this year are going to be a blast! We can't wait for all the boys to meet this summer!

Evolution of the Crib

Thanks to the power of the Partner's Discount Card and my sweet mom, we received a beautiful crib back in October. We spent a cold Saturday over the winter assembling it, and we couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

Blake got some help from the very skeptical "big sister" Emma...

Hey, dad, can I get a ball toss here?

Carter, we sure hope you like sports! If not, you are going to really hate your room...your sports fanatic parents sure do love it, though!

First Trimester Remembered

Hello there! Allison here - Carter's mom. I will be the primary one contributing to this blog. Seeing as we have only 3 months left to go in this pregnancy, I decided to get some practice with this blogging thing before the little guy arrives and people actually care about pictures and his updates on this blog. I must admit, I am pretty skeptical that I will be good about posting, but for the sake of our sweet families and a few loyal friends that might read this once every six months, I thought this would be the easiest way to update everyone with pictures, growth, and his development over the next few years.

So, how about we start with a recap of the first trimester? Well, we officially found out that we were pregnant on Labor Day (September 3) 2010 after arriving home from a trip to the lake with our sweet friends, Matt and Sarah Beddoe. (And yes, for those of you doing the math, we had only been marrried for about 10 weeks at this point...God obviously has a sense of humor!) All weekend, I had been complaining about some abdominal cramping, tiredness, and just feeling "off." Sarah was 12 weeks pregnant at the time and just convinced that I was pregnant, too, but I was convinced that all that was just her wishful thinking because it would be so much fun to be pregnant together. Well, as you can guess by now, she was RIGHT! When we arrived home that day, I immediately took a digital test (without Blake's knowledge) that came up with not a plus sign or a smiley face or anything somewhat unscary...no, it simply came up with the word PREGNANT. Just like that - in all caps. Panic ensued.

I had always been one of those people who thought I'd have the patience to not immediately scream and cry, and I'd always hoped I'd find some really sweet way to tell my husband that I was pregnant. Maybe bring him a bib that said "I Love Daddy" or make him a special dinner or something. For those of you thinking that will be you, you are WRONG! Unless you've been pregnant before, the only reaction you will have to that first positive pregnancy test is sheer shock, inescapable fear, and excessive panic. True, there was some joy in there as well, but for the most part, the joy and excitement comes later. So, anyway, I digress. Back to the story...

As I am sitting in the bathroom staring at the most frightening word I've ever seen in my life thus far, Blake, meanwhile, is unloading our luggage and turning on the air conditioning with no idea what I am doing in there. As he is fiddling with the thermostat, I burst into the living room screaming, "Look! Look! Does that say what I think it says?!?!" Blake takes one glance at the pee stick, and says, "Hold on, let me fix the thermostat first." EXCUSE ME?!? I am PREGNANT 10 weeks into our marriage, and you are worried about the A/C!?!?!? (I came to realize later that he was in just as much shock as I was...he just showed it differently.) After successfully reprogramming the thermostat, we have the cliched hug and cry and all those things you imagine. We then went up to Walgreen's and bought four more pregnancy tests...all different brands...and came up four for four on the pregnant, plus sign, two lines results.

Joy slowly set in and fear began to subside over the next few weeks as we visited the obstetrician and got our official due date - May 12, learned that the baby was healthy, and I began to experience some lovely first trimester pregnancy symptoms. Here is our very first sonogram picture of our little blob from our 8-week appointment back in October, as well as "belly shot" of me at 7 weeks.

First trimester symptoms I experienced: major carsickness, some food aversions (particularly crunchy vegetables and ice cream), tiredness, and some migraines. All in all, I certainly can't complain compared to some of the horror stories I hear. My symptoms really lessened at the end of this trimester. We went for a special sonogram called an NT scan at 13 weeks which is where the doctor checks for fluid in the baby's neck. (If fluid is present, it can indicate higher risk of genetic disorders such as Down's Syndrome, Spina Bifida, etc.) All of those tests came back with the best possible results - 1 in 10,000 chance of anything being wrong - and we got this precious profile shot of the baby at the appointment. Isn't it amazing what a difference 4 weeks makes?!?!

Well, that brings us to the end of the first trimester recap! We are so in love with this little guy and can't wait to share more stories and pictures as he grows!