37 Weeks Tomorrow!

Well, baby girl, you are officially full-term in about 13 hours. Woohoo! We made it! Over the last month or so, I really had my doubts that we would make it this far, but it appears you are content right where you are for now. (Although let's be honest - that can change very quickly.)

We saw the doctor and had another sonogram this morning. Everything looks good, and you've made some progress since last week in your journey to D-Day. I have moments where I am SO ready and anxious to meet you and just want you here NOW, and I have other moments where I totally panic thinking about you being here sometime in the next 9 days. The good news is that my doctor is on-call this weekend, so even if you decide to come then, he would be the one delivering you. The only day you wouldn't be delivered by him would be tomorrow or next Thursday, so that's a relief. I really didn't want a stranger delivering me after all the time and attention he's given you and me over the last nine months. :)

In terms of how I'm feeling...it's up and down. Some days, I'm in a lot of pain, and other days I feel great and have tons of energy. Over the weekend, I had about 36 hours of false labor and contractions every 5 minutes. They never got super painful or increased in frequency, so the on-call doctor called it false labor and told me to get some rest so the contractions would stop. Two Tylenol PM's and 11 hours of sleep later, all was quiet again. It was disappointing, but you clearly weren't ready, sweet girl and decided it wasn't your day.

Hopefully this is the last weekly update and that the next post is announcing your arrival! We can't wait to meet you, little lady! :)

Kate's Nursery...on a budget!

 When I set out to design Kate's nursery, I was really worried about making it feminine and modern WITHOUT using any pink. (I just don't like that color!) I wanted to make sure the colors were not super babyish and would grow with her, so we settled on lavender and grey. I considered all purple walls but was warned by friends that I would get very tired of it. So, we went with a purple accent wall and grey other walls. Here's the view from the door - you can really see the contrast between the grey walls and the purple wall from this angle.

 Cube storage/shelf next to the crib. The "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" picture was a last minute addition thanks to one of many aimless Target runs. :)

 Bedding - this is a hodge podge of several PBK beddings, but the bumper is from the Quinn bedding line. The alternate crib sheet also has the grey and purple owls on it.

 Shelf arrangement above the glider.

 The glider was Carter's, and I looked into getting it recovered but it became a huge hassle and was going to cost more than I wanted to spend. Throw pillows to the rescue!

 This changing table/dresser combo was a floor sample at PBK that I got for 60% off - total steal! The changing table topper will unscrew when we are done with it and will become just a normal dresser at that point.

 (Forgive the power cord.) Next to the changing table on the wall, I hung a frame that will house all her monthly photos from her first year. Underneath is a precious magnet board that my mom found for pictures, artwork, etc. We just need to fill it!

My favorite part - the monogram decal. I bought this back in May when we finalized her name, and it is my absolute favorite part of the nursery. I just love the loopiness of it - it looks so feminine!

36 Weeks (Tomorrow)

The LAST belly pic...it's just getting out of hand.

Loving: The fact that we are down to a mere 16 days (or less!) until I have my baby girl in my arms, breathing and eating a little easier now that she's dropped, knowing that I am almost down with all this diabetes nonsense, and seeing my little girl's sweet, squished face each week at our sonograms. I've also really been loving how excited Carter is for his sister - he hugs and kisses my belly all the time and loves to "practice" for baby sister with a baby doll. His school is also right by our hospital, so every day on the way home, he points to it and says, "Kate come out of mommy's tummy there!" :)

Not Loving: Sleep lately has been HORRIBLE. I have this weird throat itch/cough that seems to become unbearable when laying down. When I'm up and about during the day, it doesn't act up, but at night, I'm coughing NON-STOP. I've also fallen victim to lots of bug bites lately since Carter and I spend so much time outside so between the cough, the itchy bites, and being SO HOT all the time, sleep is a distant memory at this point. The 100+ degree afternoons also...well, suck.

Favorite Foods: Popsicles (although I have to buy the no-fun no-sugar kind...dumb GD), Mexican (still), fruit of any kind, string cheese, and cereal.

Looking Forward To: Seeing if I've progressed at all at my appointment today, holding my DAUGHTER! [UPDATE: Things are happening!! The doctor was surprised by how much I had progressed over the last week and predicted a "very quick" labor for me once it really gets started. I'll spare you the exact details since that's very much TMI, but things are changing for sure. :)]

Anxious About: The logistics of her birth have been making me anxious lately. I don't have any reason to think she'll surprise us early or that it'll happen at 2am or anything like that, but you just never know with babies. What I'm really worried about how we are going to handle Carter if I need to suddenly go to the hospital at 3am or something like that, especially given that his birth was your typical "Honey, it's time..." wake-up call at 5am two weeks early. My mom has graciously said she will be the one to rush up here to take care of him no matter the hour, but she's 30-45 minutes away, and I'm beginning to have nightmares that I have this baby in the car. Prayers appreciated that we actually make it to the hospital. :)

34 Weeks...4 Weeks to Go?

I cannot believe that just 4 weeks from yesterday (at the latest!), we will have a baby girl in our arms. That is CRAZY! Baby girl measured 4 pounds, 13 ounces at our sonogram on Monday which put her in the 50th percentile for weight. They confirmed (again) that she is DEFINITELY a she, and everything else in my scan looked good. I was starting to worry a little bit about the fact that I haven't gained weight since they diagnosed me with Gestational Diabetes, but none of the doctors seemed concerned, so I guess I should just count my blessings! :)

As far as everything else goes, sleep is getting difficult because baby girl moves CONSTANTLY. She also gets the hiccups about 10 times a day...fun at first, kind of annoying at this point. I am about 99% certain that she dropped yesterday, because I got lots of comments from friends and family that I looked smaller yesterday, and I started having all kinds of other new symptoms that I won't mention here. (You're welcome.) I hear that with your second baby, dropping is a sign that labor is close, but I won't find out for sure whether or not we're progressing until my doctor's appointment next week. We shall see.

I'm really trying to savor each day I have with Carter just the two of us...but considering he's in a "No!" and "Mine!" phase right now, that's easier said than done. Not to mention the fact that I am HUGE, hormonal, and hot all the time...oh, and it's over 100 every afternoon which really limits our activity choices. Days with him are long, but the weeks and months fly by, and I know that very shortly, I'll miss how "easy" it was before she arrived.

Carter is still going to school on Monday/Wednesday/Friday because of all my appointments and because, in the words of my husband, "You deserve a break." (God bless him!) He loves it and is moving up on Monday into the official "Preschool 1" class - can't believe it! He will get to do Splash Day starting this week in his new room where the kids go out to the water park/splash pad on Wednesday mornings, so he'll love that. It's also good for him to be socializing with other kids on a regular basis that he knows, and it gives him some consistency in a kind of crazy time around here. He'll move to a Mother's Day Out/Preschool that's just two days a week after Labor Day, but for now his school days are healthy for ALL of us.

Next appointment/sonogram is on Wednesday, so until then...prayers that she stays PUT are appreciated!

Fourth of July

Another milestone - our last trip as a family of three! We had a blast, Carter was an angel in the car (both times!), and it was great to spend time with my parents away from the craziness of Dallas. And now, the pics!

 ONE MORE MONTH!

 He could've poured water back and forth between these cups ALL. DAY.

 "Horsey bites"

Lake Trip and Carter's Newest Cousin

Well, I thought I would take a break for a moment from the pregnancy updates and instead give a brief rundown of our trip last weekend to Hot Springs. We started out by hopping on a tiny little plane flown by Seaport Airlines with a whopping three other people on it in order to fly there. (5-hour drive plus a 2-year old? NO THANKS.) It was...interesting.

Upon arrival, we had to immediately go eat at the local favorite, McClard's BBQ. He may not look much like me, but my son is a WADE. He shoveled it in!

We spent the rest of the time swimming at the pool...

 Sorry for the maternity swimsuit here...YIKES!

riding on the boat...

playing putt-putt...

hanging out at the house...

and just having fun as a family. It was such a sweet time because it was just the three of us all weekend, and I know those days are numbered. (In a good way, of course!)

We also found out while we were there that Carter has a new cousin! My brother, Stewart, and his wife, Gillean, welcomed their second boy, Owen Paul Wade, into the world on June 20th after 22 hours of tough labor. The big boy was nearly 9 pounds and 21 inches long! He is so precious, and we can't wait to meet him! Welcome to the family, Owen!

29/30 Weeks: Surprise 3D Sonogram!

29 (almost 30) Weeks!

Well, I saw my doctor yesterday, and we got lots of new information. I failed the 3-hour glucose tolerance test which means I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes and will be meeting with a diabetic counselor tomorrow to discuss my new diet/exercise plan and to learn how to test my blood sugar. I already eat lots of small meals that aren't super high-carb and I exercise at least 20-30 minutes a day, so I can't imagine it'll be all that different, but we'll see. This is a huge bummer obviously, but on the bright side, I will have sonograms a LOT between now and the time she gets here since her size is the biggest concern with this condition. We got a surprise sonogram yesterday at my appointment since we hadn't had a growth scan done since 20 weeks, and the tech even flipped to 3D a few times! I didn't even know my doctor's office did that! :) 

Baby girl scored an 8 out of a possible 8 on what they call her biophysical profile which is the type of sonogram I'll be having from now on. She was moving around great, fluid levels were good, and she weighed in at 3lb. 4 oz. which put her just shy of the 60th percentile for size. (The doctors get concerned about delivery if she gets up into the 80th/90th percentiles.) We'll do another one in 4 weeks and then we'll get one weekly until her arrival. We also learned that due to this condition, we will go ahead and induce at 38 weeks if we get that far! Which means at the latest, we should be meeting baby girl around August 8th. This THRILLS me!(And yet is oddly terrifying, given that it's already the middle of June!)

As far as everything else goes, I am officially DONE with work and am now a true stay-at-home momma! This was very bittersweet for me, but I know it's what is best for our family right now. I will most certainly miss the adult interaction I'm accustomed to, but I also know that this time with babies is precious and goes by so fast that I am going to do my best to cherish it...even when I want to pull my hair out. I am counting on the Lord and my friends to be my sanity these next few years. :) Prayers appreciated as we make this transition!