We have a date!

Well, today we had our sonogram to see how big this baby is and turns out - he is not small! We figured that - but it was going to determine a few things for us.

Our doctor told us that we had 3 options:
1. If he is over 8.5 pounds we will schedule a C-Section to prevent any potential harm to the baby - which I agree with and am totally fine with.
2. If he is 8.5 pounds - we will induce him and try to deliver naturally.
3. If he is under 8.5 pounds - we will just let him decide when he wants to arrive.

We are picking door #1. He is measuring 9 pounds, 5 oz. right now! - GULP -Keep in mind that he is gaining about an ounce each day... So, a C-Section will be scheduled for Wednesday, November 25th - and at that point, he will be closer to 10 pounds! BIG GULP

The sad thing is that we will be spending our Thanksgiving in the hospital, but the great thing is that we have so much to be thankful for and we have a definite date that we will get to meet this fat turkey!

I'm still trying to talk our doctor in to changing our date for delivery to Monday, but for some reason, she does not listen to what I say or want. So, mark your calendars - this baby will be here no later than Wednesday, November 25th. Now, if he wants to come early - I'm totally fine with that too. Maybe even today!!

No news is.... no news.

Things are progressing along through the ninth month exactly as I had read in the books that they would. Meaning - I'm more irritable, completely done with being pregnant and wanting each little stomach flurry to be a contraction. However, the extra time of no baby gives me time to finish several projects around the house and get in some last minute work with clients. So, there is definitely a positive. The big question now is whether Baby Walker will join us before Thanksgiving, after Thanksgiving or actually on Thanksgiving. It's really up to him, but we have had some interesting developments in the last few days.

On Monday (38 Weeks) I went to the doctor and found out that I was measuring 41 weeks, 2 cm dilated and still 70% effaced. In the big scheme of things, that really does not matter much. Apparently, every woman is different so I could be walking around not dilated at all and give birth faster than someone who is 4 cm dilated. It's all up in the air. However, on Wednesday we had a bit of a bleeding scare and rushed to the doctor to see if there was a problem. The baby's heartbeat was perfectly normal and she examined me and gave me some interesting news. I went from 2 cm dilated to 3 cm dilated in 2 days - so that's a good sign of progression in the right direction. She is expecting me to start full labor within 24-48 hours. Apparently, the bleeding that was occurring is not common, but does happen in some women and it's a sure fire sign that labor is soon to begin. As of 1:30 pm today - we will be at 24 hours and I'm not any closer to delivering this boy than I was - at least from what I can tell. If labor does not start by Friday, I'm going back in to have another sonogram to give them an idea of how big he is. If he is measuring over 8.5 pounds - the doc will go ahead and plan to induce on Wednesday. That puts us in the hospital on Thanksgiving day, but that's ok. The good thing is - I have an end in sight!

A great thing from our experience today - the thought of possibly going in to labor in the middle of the night put Jeff and I in to full gear "get it done" mode. We had some left over things that needed to be done to the nursery to make it completely ready for Baby Walker. Shelves to hang, a few more things to clean out, etc... It's officially done even down to the new monitor and night light. And for those who knew that Jeff originally wanted an entire Dallas Cowboys Themed nursery, notice that we have an entire shelf dedicated to the Cowboys. However, it may have to share some space with a few LSU things to keep things balanced. :-) Here are a few pics of the nursery.

Two nights ago, Jeff, who is apparently in his own nesting mode, decided that we really needed surround sound speakers mounted in our living room before the baby got here. Mind you, he bought the speaker wire to do this project over 2 years ago and had to fish it out of the garage to begin this project. I had clean floors and a clean house that became blanketed with tools, sheet rock dust and wires coming from the attic. However, he has finished the project - I'm surrounded with sound - the shop vac (Jeff's best friend) sucked up all trace of the mess and we are back to normal and he can scratch that project off his list as being done before the baby arrives. Good job J!

This is a challenging time for Jeff because he is in school and working along with dealing with his big pregnant wife. I'd love to say that I'm always sweet, caring, understanding and downright lovable, but I don't think anyone would buy that. So, he studies late in the evenings after I've gone to bed and have stopped bombarding him with "honey-do's" or "let's go here to eat" or "help, this is too heavy" statements. He is maintaining B's in his classes, so we are very pleased. However, it looks like he will have to do an extra semester of Pre-Requisites before being able to apply to Nursing School. It's unfortunate and extends his school time by another 6 months, but it is for the best and will really help his chances of getting in to a good program. But, even with all of this on his mind - he still came home with flowers for me the other night. He knows this is hard on me and is making an effort to ease some of it. I'm very grateful for that.

I'm still so excited for Christmas that I can barely stand it. We are heading in to Louisiana this year again, but doing so earlier than normal. We will be attending the Cowboys/Saints game at the Superdome on December 19th. Mom will be watching the baby and we will head out to cheer on the Cowboys (and Saints...shhhhh). I now have 8 outfits for Christmas for our new baby boy. I know - overboard. But, I don't care. If I could hang bells on him and have Christmas carolers follow him around, I would probably do that. Jeff's family will be joining us again for Christmas in Louisiana this year - so I think it's going to be the perfect Christmas!

So, all in all - we really have no news yet. The cars are packed with our bags for the hospital and we are just waiting for him to say "go" and we are off to the races. Getting very excited to meet this little guy -- and NAME him.

More to come...

This is the month...Fingers Crossed

Well it's November. All of my previously pregnant friends have delivered except one. She and I are it. The others have all delivered healthy babies and are happily home and getting settled. My cousin delivered in her home last night at 4am - totally natural and that booger was 11.5 pounds. Dear Lord, Make me a bird....All I can say is that I would have have been a basket case and would have had the police, firemen, neighbors, clergy and anyone else in screaming distance at my doorstep. Kudos to my cousin and her new baby boy, Alex! Her experience makes me know that mine will likely be easier than that, so I have a lot to look forward to.

As we enter in to the month that our baby is due, I can start to feel the anxiety building in me. I'm really ready to have him here. I'm no longer worried with what I can and can't finish in time for his arrival. I've started reading again about what to expect and I think that causes quite a bit of the anxiety. So, I'm putting the books down and just going in to this with an open mind and a complete ignorance of what may happen. Works for me--So I say. But knowing me, I will likely be cramming like a college student right before the doctor says push.

When I hit 35 weeks, we scheduled an appointment with a 3d/4d imaging place. The facility was fantastic. We were able to video stream the sonogram live to the grandparents, uncles and friends who were interested in it, while keeping the private, personal atmosphere that we wanted to experience during the process. We have a video, pictures, a link for future viewing, etc... Our appointment was 30 minutes long and $135. It was absolutely worth it. The pictures are amazing and he looks like such a chubby kiddo. I loved it! I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to see their baby before it arrives. I've included some of his best poses.
I have doctor appointments each week now and we are at the point of checking things out to see how I have progressed. As of last week, I'm officially 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. We will not check again until next week. Today's appointment was just a heartbeat and measuring visit. I'm officially 36 weeks and 3 days but I'm measuring at 38.5 weeks. But, there are no real contractions to make note of - just random pains and aches and nausea is about all that's going on around here. And, of course, he is moving around like crazy getting bigger and bigger and running out of room. And, no matter how hard he kicks, I don't think he can get my chest to get out of his way. But, I do applaud his efforts. I think we are going to have a driven child. I like that.

It turns out that my blood pressure was extremely high today and the doctor considered admitting me to the hospital to monitor it and try to get it down. He let me sit for a little while and came back to take it again. It went down just enough to let me go home. Thank Goodness! I have had no problems with high blood pressure throughout this process so I think today was a bit of a fluke. If it stays high, they may induce or he may just decide to grace us with his presence early. So, just to be safe, we went to Babies R Us and purchased everything that we felt like we needed to be fully prepared for when he gets here. I have one major item left to purchase (The video monitor) and then we are done for the first month or so.

I also purchased several Christmas outfits for Baby Walker. Jeff is worried that I'm going overboard on the Christmas clothing, but I don't think it is possible to go overboard on Christmas stuff - poor kid.

That's about it for now. My next post may include stories of a new baby - or may not. It's all up to him now.

Something in the water...

When I first found out I was pregnant, I started to think about who else I knew that was pregnant and was shocked at how many people were obviously "gettin busy" around the same time as Jeff and I were. Must have been a cold front or something back in Feb/March time frame because I realized I had so many friends that were also expecting.

At this point, my due date is the last of all of theirs. So, I was going to get to hear all about what their delivery process was like and how they managed pain, in-laws, babies, etc... Personally, I don't mind going last in this race to motherhood.

So - a "shout out" to all my preggers friends...
1. My colleague, Tiffany, who I work with every Wednesday - due 3 days before me.
2. My friend/Neighbor Mendy - Due at the end of October.
3. My cousin McGee - Due the first week of November.
4. My friend Susan - Due the end of October.
5. My friend Kathleen - The ONLY one on this list having a Girl scheduled for the end of October - the rest of us are bringing baby boys in to the world. Watch out Kathleen!
6. My Friend Erica - she got a head start on all of us and her baby boy Rocco came a little early.

So, that's 7 of us that were all pregnant, hormonal and hungry. And what's funny is that now that I'm heading in to the home stretch, I have 3 more friends that just found out they will be welcoming babies in the Spring. I think I've reached the age where weddings are fewer and farther between but now we all have babies in our bellies. Personally, I don't like this phase because I have to come up with a calendar of when I can drink with each of these friends again. It's stressful to lose girlfriends left and right to the pregnancy bug - no sushi, no wine drinking, no pedicures and not nearly enough tennis. All that leaves us to do is gripe and complain about our husbands and how they "just don't get it". Lucky for us - we still have fun doing that.

I wanted to do a little breakdown of the pregnancy to date...

1st Trimester
I found out I was pregnant on March 29th. I went in to a complete melt down thinking back to my partying at the St. Paddy's Day parade that began at 11am and finally came to a crashing finish at 2am. I was certain our baby was probably floating in booze with all the drinking I had done. We were not the couple that had "pregnancy scares" - we were the couple that wasted a ton of money on negative pregnancy tests. It was never even a consideration that I would have been pregnant - so I was a little shocked at all 4 of those little positive pregnancy tests. Since then, I've been reassured by several friends that they too were in the same hangover predicament that I was in and that their babies all turned out great. Good thing!

I had a little bit of morning sickness that lasted almost a month at the end of the 1st Trimester. Non-stop nausea but no actual getting sick - so that is a positive. I got very ill at the smell and thought of chicken, veggies and almost all other healthy items. Welcome to my ice cream and Fritos world. I even brought back bean dip from my college days because nothing could compare to a can of cold mushy beans on Scoops Fritos.

The one part of the first trimester that I will likely never forget is the tenderness/soreness in the "girls" - Not only was I popping out and sporting the "double boob", but the pain was unreal. And, I have a husband who likes to walk around and "honk" each boob at his leisure. The only rule we have is that you can't do that in public - yes, we had to actually make that rule. During the first trimester, he became scared of my chest. The cry of pain that he would get from me when he would forget and give the girls a good squeeze would make him run out of the room. I don't think he has "Tune in Tokyo-ed" my chest since. That's one way to break a habit. ;-)

2nd Trimester
The second trimester was AWESOME! I was no longer having to take a nap every day. I was starting to show, but could still play tennis and was totally up for being the Designated Driver as I went along with friends as if there was no real difference. I would drink root beers, virgin Pina Coladas, virgin Bloody Mary's, etc... People who got drunk around me made me laugh and I had tons of patience in dealing with those situations. I had little patience for much else though, but as long as I was made to laugh, I could handle quite a bit of the shannanigans.

There were some hard moments - a very good friend got married in New Orleans. Being from Baton Rouge and having spent almost no time in New Orleans sober (it was where we went to "party"), I had a feeling this was going to be a challenge for me. It was actually great. The wedding was beautiful and the reception had great Louisiana food and lots of wonderful people. I had a hard time at the reception but I think it was just jealousy that I could not party with the group in The Big Easy. Other than that, we took trips to Austin, Fredericksburg, the lake, weekends with friends - and none of it bothered me. I was determined to be the pregnant girl who did not change much....boy, just wait till that 3rd Trimester.

The second trimester also brought some of the most exciting parts of the pregnancy. I started to feel the baby move. We found out it was a healthy baby boy. I started to show and people finally stopped saying "you don't even look pregnant". I had gained over 20 pounds -- how in the world did I look just the same? And, why have I stressed all these years over a 10 pound weight gain? It became very real to me in the second trimester that we were welcoming a baby in to our home. It was neat and I was excited. Completely overwhelmed and freaking out, but excited.

3rd Trimester
"Cool Mary" left the building in the third trimester. I am fat, swollen, sick and tired of watching people drink and carry on around me and ready to be done with this whole thing. However, I still have tons of energy - which is great. I am getting more accomplished in a day then I expected - so that is great. The downsides are that my feet ache, my back feels like it is about to snap, my hips have become a wishbone that is apparently trying to be torn in half and my husband is so completely freaked out about his "new wife" that we can't go a day without a blow up.

I've often compared being pregnant to playing the game Catch Phrase. The "ticking/beeping" gets faster and faster and faster as you get closer to the buzzer and you don't want to be left holding the game piece when the buzzer finally goes off. I'm a list maker and a deadline keeper. I like to document processes and have a true grasp of how things will fall in to place. It keeps my anxiety at bay when I feel like I can control things. I realize this is a character flaw as well as a good thing. In pregnancy - a flaw. The "beeping" was constantly in my head and getting faster - what we had to get done by what date and I did not like to deviate from that plan. And, I did not "take it easy" when my plans were challenged. My plans were not that crazy - and not too hard to keep...

Office (now the baby's room) Cleared out - deadline end of July - Check
New office completely set up - deadline end of August - Check
Baby room set up - deadline end of September - Check
Name for Baby - deadline end of October - we will make this.
Bag packed for hospital - November 5th - we will make this.
All purchases used upon his arrival completed - November 5th - we will make this.
Baby here - deadline end of November - really hoping to beat this deadline - don't think I can control this one though.

My thoughts today:
All in all, it's been a good pregnancy. One trip to the emergency clinic and only one fight with a friend is not too bad. I think the trick to making the pregnancy great is to laugh at the newest symptoms and be glad to know they are going to go away. For instance, what some call "peach fuzz," I call "holy crap I have a hairy belly." So, laugh at it. Try to enjoy it and know that 9 months is a long time to be pregnant, but elephants have to go 22 months. It could be worse.

Now, I still have another month before this is over - so I may take this positive attitude and throw it out the window. But, at least it's not hot. The weather is great and the colder it gets, the less I have to show of my skin (which has little white dots on it now - sigh).

Best of luck to all my friends who are about to pop at any minute and to my friends who are just starting this process. And high five to the friends that are drinking a glass of wine and calling all of us big old suckers. Right there with ya!

Till next time...

Pregnancy To Date

We found out I was pregnant on March 29th of this year. As much as we had been open to it and even "not preventing", we had grown very accustomed to the idea that having a baby was not in the cards for us at this time in our lives. So, needless to say, we were shocked and in awe for about 2 days.

Jeff had left his job in real estate and the insurance that went with it. I have been self-employed since 2005 and have been on his insurance since we got married in 2006. So, we were both left with no insurance and 4 sticks informing us that I was pregnant. In addition, Jeff had gone back to school in an effort to complete his degree and go in to nursing. He was taking 16 hours of school, studying 15 hours a day and we were officially a one income family.

So, getting past the shock of our current situation in only 2 days was really not that bad! After battling with multiple insurance companies about what constitutes "pre-existing" conditions and the requirements to cover pregnancies, we ended up signing up for Cobra through his old job and were lucky that the government was offering a program to subsidize up to 65% of that cost.

In the beginning, I was determined to keep a log of everything that was occurring and keep it to look back on in the future. That lasted about a month or so and then I gave up or got busy with other things. Who knows. Either way, I'm now 7.5 months and am just starting this blog after some slight pressuring from friends and family.

All in all, it's been an easy pregnancy up to this point. I've had a few ups and downs but nothing that has been too difficult to get through. I do remember a friend of mine telling me after she had her first child that she was built for bearing children. I can be sure of this - I do not feel the same at all. I was built for drinking wine, playing tennis, pedicures, sushi, going out with friends and not getting really big in the belly area. So, I'm not embracing this process as much as others may. Although, I'm really glad it's a 9 month process because I was even less prepared to take home a baby 7 months ago. I'm much more open to it now - because I've had time to prepare and adjust to the idea.

I tried to stay active with my 3 tennis teams, my volleyball team and morning power walks with Jeff in an effort to not gain too much weight. However, I also went full speed ahead with Fritos, Oreos and a 2x per week trip to Whataburger for a morning Taquito. So, needless to say, I've contacted my trainer and have an appointment already set to start getting rid of the fun I've had with food over the last several months.

Talking about my lovely mood swings is a bit less fun. I was an extremely emotional person in my first 2 trimesters - but not emotional in the way of tears. No, I was raging pissed at the world. Road rage, friend rage, hubby rage, tennis rage, client rage, etc... You name it, it annoyed me. I was so worried about it in the beginning but it has really become much easier now. The only one that still feels my wrath is my poor husband. We have had some rough times through this pregnancy and some very wonderful times. He has really embraced my new moodiness and has been so wonderful to me. Even buying me a new wedding ring after my fingers got too swollen for my original. We will be glad when the pregnancy is over, but I do think it will bring us closer as a couple. It's a very vulnerable state for me and seeing him take care of me and watch over me has just been great.

To close the first blog of hopefully many more to come, I can say that I'd like to use this as a way to document our lives as we enter this new phase. We really are thrilled to be having a baby boy and can't wait till November when he joins us. We will also be using the next few weeks to finish up about 1 million projects, transform our bad dogs in to miracle pups, finally come up with a name for our new addition and get mentally prepared for the change our lives are about to experience. I am excited!

So, here we go...