31 Weeks

Will definitely made his daddy and I smile last night! I was laying in bed getting ready to go to sleep and Greg came in to tell me goodnight. Will started kicking, so Greg put his hands on my tummy to feel him. Of course, he stopped right when Greg wanted to feel...figures! So Greg decided to poke at him a few times...and what did Will do? He poked back! This went on seriously for about 10 minutes. It was such a neat experience...our little boy definitely knows we're out there :)

Today hasn't been quite as fun of a "pregnant" day for me though. I always have lots of braxton hicks contractions every day, but today they've been accompanied by lots of cramping. It's not fun! I'm sure it's from being on my feet so much during the day...the hazard of being a teacher, I suppose. I'm going to go to bed early tonight though, and hopefully that will help everything.

Since I didn't post a 31 week update, here's what's been happening in Will's neck of the woods this week! His lungs are still maturing, but every day brings them closer to being fully developed. Yay! His ears are fully developed and he can hear my voice and the voices around me. This means he should recognize familiar voices after he's born. My weekly email says he weighs about 3 1/2 pounds now, but in our ultrasound last week he was already weighing in at 3 pounds, 11 ounces (which can be off as much as a pound in either direction). So he could possibly be quite a bit bigger than 3 1/2 pounds!

No tummy picture this week...sorry! I'll get one tomorrow :) Hope everyone had a good Friday!

Tell me he's not spoiled...

I've just finished washing, folding, and putting away two large loads of laundry...they are solely Will's clothing! And I have two more loads to do, plus his bedding. Greg and I were at Wal-Mart and I picked up 4 10-packs of children's hangers, thinking that 40 would certainly be enough. Hah! I used 30 on the first load alone, and that's not including the things that I stuck in the dresser. I think the kid has more clothes than me and he's not even born yet :) That's a good thing though...less laundry for mommy to have to do each week!

Greg and I spent the afternoon at our friend's, Aaron and Veronica, house. Veronica is an awesome interior designer and we "swapped" talents. I took her maternity and newborn pictures in exhange for some help with the nursery! So while the boys played video games, we talked baby stuff. She is going to make a canvas to hang above the crib of elephants like the ones on our bedding. She's also going to help sew some curtains for me. I can't wait to see what it looks like! In the meantime, I've got to finish decopauging the letters for the wall. I'm about halfway done and then we'll hang them above the dresser. It's all coming together! My goal is to have it finished before my shower in February.

Not much new to update on...Will has been kicking like crazy lately. Greg got to feel him for a long time today. His movements now are SO different from when I first started feeling him. It used to feel like air bubbles in my stomach or popcorn popping. Now, I'm starting to be able to identify what body parts are poking me. We're almost down to two months until his due date...crazy how fast time flies!!

Kidney Update

We had our ultrasound today and everything looks great with Will's kidneys! The specialist that was in there to look at them didn't even have to measure them to tell that there was no dilation. Thank you so much for all your prayers! They definitely worked :)

Will slept for pretty much the entire ultrasound, but he's looking fantastic. They estimated his weight to be about 3 pounds 11 ounces (although that can be off in either direction by about 10 ounces). All of his measurements are right on target at around 30 weeks, however his femur is measuring ahead by nearly two weeks! Sounds like someone inherited his daddy's long legs!! ;)

We got to see his heart beating away (and it definitely still has four chambers!). Since he was sleeping, his heart rate was about 131 beats per minute. It was so fun to watch him on the screen again...I couldn't believe how big he had gotten, though! They could no longer get his head and his body on the screen at the same time. We could tell he's got some chubby cheeks and he's definitely still 100% boy :)

Here are some of the pictures from today...



Profile shot...still has the same sweet little nose!




A shot looking down at his face. His eyes are labeled "E" and there is an arrow pointing to him smiling!




The four chambers of his heart

It was definitely a good day! :)

30 Weeks!

Sorry for the lack of updates this week...it's been a rather crazy/hectic week! I took (and passed!) my certification exam on Tuesday and then there was some 'drama' that went on at work for the rest of the week. Luckily, all that was taken care of and hopefully this week will be much, much less stressful.

Tomorrow I'll be 30 weeks pregnant! For some reason that seems like a really big milestone...I guess probably because 3/4 of my pregnancy is over. Time is flying by - it seems like yesterday that we were having our 20 week ultrasound to find out if Will is a girl or a boy! This week, he weighs about 3 pounds and about 16 inches long. His eyesight is improving, but it's still pretty bad. When he's born, he'll have 20/400 vision...meaning he can see at 20 feet what most people can see at 400! That's worse than both mommy and daddy's vision combined! Luckily, though, that won't last and it'll improve as he gets older and his eyes get stronger.

He definitely likes music! We had staff development at school on Friday and they played some loud music while everyone was gathering together. Will thought it was time to party and promptly started drumming on my insides! He did the same thing at church on Sunday morning...who knows, we may have a little musician on our hands. :) He also has quite the little attitude. He definitely does not like any type of pressure at all. When I'm getting ready in the morning, I lean over the counter to get close to the mirror to put on eyeliner and mascara. The edge of the counter presses against my belly. Will goes absolutely crazy punching or kicking at the counter until I stand back up. He definitely likes having his space.

This afternoon I have a doctor's appointment with another one of the OB/GYNs at the clinic. I'm on a rotation for the next several weeks to meet all of them, in case my doctor isn't available when I go into labor. Tomorrow is our ultrasound to see how Will's kidney is doing. I've actually been doing really well with not worrying about it. God has given me lots of things to keep my mind occupied ;) Please continue to pray for him before tomorrow, though!

Here's what I'm looking like at 30 weeks pregnant:


And here's what Will is looking like! I found this awesome picture online of a 30 week old baby boy in the womb...looks like it's a little crammed in there!


I'll update tomorrow after the ultrasound :) Have a great Martin Luther King day!

What a stinker!

Greg was a mischievous child and apparently our baby is already taking after him ;) Just kidding...kind of! Friday was a long day at school. I felt Will moving around a bit in the morning while I was in the shower, but I really didn't feel much after that. I didn't think anything of it since I was on my feet teaching all day and not really paying particular attention to whether or not he was moving.

When I got home from school, I realized that I hadn't felt him in awhile, which seemed odd. So, I decided to keep an eye on it for the rest of the evening. Greg and I ate dinner then I watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy on my computer and surfed the internet for awhile, all while paying attention to see if he moved. Well, he didn't - not even a flutter or a kick! I drank some orange juice and laid on my side for 15 minutes (which is what my doctor told me to do if he wasn't moving). He still was stubbornly refusing to move at all and I was getting more and more worried. I called the Labor & Delivery nurse's line and they told me I needed to come on in and get everything checked out. The nurse mentioned that he could just be sleepy or he could have his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck...definitely something that scared me!

Greg and I immediately got in the car and drove to Scott and White. I checked in and got wheeled up to Labor and Delivery. The nurse that was with us was awesome - she was SO nice and friendly with us. I changed into a gown and then they put the monitors on my tummy. Right away we heard his little heart beating away and I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. I asked her if it was normal for them to not move for a long period of time and she said that it wasn't normal exactly, but that it was common. She left me hooked up to the monitors for awhile and sure enough, he started kicking away - right where the monitors were. Apparently he didn't care for them crowding his space! His heartrate fluctuated throughout the 140s, but stayed pretty close to the mid-140s the entire time I was hooked up.

When the nurse brought my discharge papers in, she said, "Well, we'll see you back here in about 10 weeks!" 10 weeks? Really? Is it really that close? My actual due date is a little over 11 weeks away, but my doctor won't stop labor if it happens after 37 weeks. So Will could hypothetically be here in as little as 8 weeks. That is absolutely crazy!!

Yesterday and today, Will has been making up for lost time kicking. He was kicking so hard in the same spot yesterday that I had to get up and walk around - it hurt! But I'm not complaining; I'd much rather him make his presence known.

Doctors Appointment Today

I had my monthly doctors appointment today, along with the Gestational Diabetes test. The test honestly wasn't that bad...the drink was a little gross (tasted like flat orange pop) and I had to down it in 5 minutes, but other than that it wasn't bad! I'll find out in a few days if I didn't pass, otherwise "no news is good news." I think that I passed - I hope that I passed anyways! I really don't want to go in for the three hour test.

Afterwords, I saw my doctor for my appointment. Will's heart sounded great (still in the 150s) and I'm measuring right on target at 28cm...You should have about a centimeter of growth for every week you're pregnant. She said that the fact that Will's feet are sticking into my ribs is a good thing - it means he's probably head down and facing the right way! We did get a little bit of concerning news...on the anatomy ultrasound I had on 11/7, one of Will's kidneys was enlarged. It is called pyelectasis. She didn't seem too concerned about it at all and said it was a very mild case. I, on the other hand, am not so relaxed about it! I've spent the better part of the afternoon on Google researching it. I will have to go back in for another ultrasound on the 21st to reevaluate.

From what I've found out through my Googling, it's very common in boys and usually resolves itself by the third trimester. If it doesn't, it doesn't mean that there will be a problem after birth, but it could. If it hasn't resolved itself, they will continue to monitor it and after he's born he will have to have some tests run. If it's causing problems then, it would mean a minor surgery procedure. It can be a soft marker for Downs Syndrome...which freaks me out a lot! I just want our baby boy to be perfectly healthy in every way. However, the chances of him having Downs are still not high because we've seen him opening and closing his hands on the ultrasound and he doesn't have any other soft markers for it.

I was a little upset at first that I wasn't told right after the ultrasound on 11/7 that there was a problem, however, thinking about it now, it's a blessing from God. If we would have found out about it right after the ultrasound, we would not have been able to have a follow up ultrasound until the third trimester...so even if we would have found out then, I'd still be waiting to find out anything about it. And knowing me, I would have been worrying about it the entire time and not enjoying life! So now we get to wait until the 21st...and I think it's going to be a long two weeks. I'm really trying not to worry. God blessed us with this baby for a reason and he knows what He is doing. I am trying to rest in His peace and trust him entirely. This is something incredibly hard for me to do; but He is all-knowing, all-powerful, loving, merciful, and my God. He will take care of me and Will, no matter what the outcome of the ultrasound is. Keep Will and his kidney in your prayers!

28 Weeks

Today I am 28 weeks pregnant! Will is the size of an eggplant now and weighs about 2.2 pounds. For some reason his weight gain and my weight gain don't exactly match up ;) That's alright - I'm still well within my weight gain limits! He also has the ability to open his eyes and look around. He's beginning to blink, although right now it's pretty jerky and involuntary. He'll keep practicing and perfect this over the next few weeks. He also now has eyelashes...I wonder what they look like and how long/what color they are!

His movements have really started to feel different. They're much more frequent and much stronger! I used to not feel movements during the day when I was busy and moving around a lot. It was only when I laid down at night that I'd really start to feel him wiggling around. But lately his kicks have been a little distracting while I'm teaching! One of my students asked me today if my "belly was jumping" yet. She said she got to see her mom's "belly jump" all the time last year when she was pregnant. Her terminology made me laugh!

I really wasn't looking forward to giving up my relaxing time at home to go back to school, but the past two days have been great. I really love my students and I'm actually really enjoying teaching math! There have been a few hiccups with me actually getting hired as a "teacher" at Robertson (right now they have me down as a long-term sub). I have to go take another certification test (my generalist exam) on the 13th and then I'll be able to go in and sign my contract and paperwork. It's frustrating, but I know it's for the best. After I take that, I'll be certified to teach ANY subject in grades 4 - 8, which will be beneficial in the future!

Here's my tummy picture for 28 weeks (taken a few days ago) as well as a picture of Greg and I from New Year's Eve...we had so much trouble getting a decent picture! It was actually pretty funny :)

73 and Sunny...

I can't believe it's the 2nd of January. It's currently 73 degrees outside, bright, sunny, and fabulous! I was complaining a few weeks ago about it not feeling like Christmas, but I'm totally loving the weather today. The girls and I went outside to enjoy it for awhile

Sammy went right to the fence and started running with the dog next door...


...while Riley decided to chill with me by the patio for awhile.


I decided to go down to the fence and see what all the commotion was about.


Sammy was putting that big 'ol dog in his place.


And her ears were flying!


She had to make sure she fussed at him enough...


...And then she was back at the races.


Pretty soon, Riley decided to join us down by the fence.


So Sammy had to show off just a little bit.


She waited patiently for the other dog to reciprocate...


...before she took off again.


Riley showed off her cuteness for awhile...


...


But pretty soon she realized that she should get some exercise too.


But all that exercising...


...sure does make a girl tired!


After a short rest, she was off again!


All three of us enjoy 73-degree January days. :)