35 WEEKS PREGNANT!

I am 35 weeks and 4 days pregnant today! We have had a busy week! Jody had surgery (and is doing well), we put the crib together, worked on decorating the nursery, finished refinishing an antique dresser for the nursery, finally bought Levi's Pack N Play and put it together, I am half way finished with the Levi's wreath for the hospital door, I monogrammed a blanket for him, we celebrated our anniversary, and Jody and I both had a doctor's appointment! Here are some pics of what we have been up to......

(Btw, I purposely didn't get Jody's face in these pics because he was wearing bandages from surgery. Didn't figure he would want it posted all over the Internet haha!)

Finished product!

 The wreath so far (it's not finished). It's actually blue and green (not blue and white) but the colors didn't show up right in the pic :/

When my mom was pregnant with me she bought an antique dresser for my clothes and my paw paw refinished it for her. Now 26 years later Jody refinished the same dresser for Levi. We picked a stain that would match the new furniture in his room and we also added Peter Rabbit knobs (Peter Rabbit is our nursery theme btw).

Working on the Pack N Play :)

I don't have any pics of the full nursery up yet because it's still not completely finished. Hopefully I will have those pics up in another week or two!

My symptoms for this week have been lots of pressure in my hips, thighs, pelvis, and etc. The day after Jody's surgery I kept telling him that I could barely walk and that I was afraid I was going to go into labor soon and that I just "felt different". He told me I was just being paranoid because he had just had surgery. Well I went to the doctor Monday and it turns out that it was not my imagination. The doc checked my cervix to see if I am dilating yet and when she checked me she said "Woah!!! He is really low! Wow! No wonder you can barely walk!" Haha! She said that I am not dilated yet but I am 75% effaced and that he is head down and in the birth canal. She said that he is so low already that she had to actually feel around his head just to find the spot to check my cervix. (In case anyone reads this and doesn't understand....dilation is when the cervix opens up and effacement is when the cervix shortens and thins out. Both are signs of nearing labor). Of course that doesn't mean Levi is going to be born right away but it does mean that my body is making awesome progress and doing everything it's suppose to do so far:)! Since Levi is really large the doc is hoping he comes a tiny bit early on his own. She said if he is not here by 38 weeks they are going to do an ultrasound to check his size to see if they need to go ahead and induce. Soooo we will see what happens. Here is my belly shot for this week....this was taken Saturday when we went out to eat for our anniversary. We both felt horrible and ended up coming home early lol.

I look horrible in this next pic but I think Jody looks handsome so I decided to post it. We had to park way up the road from the restaurant and walk. I got really winded and short of breath and was hurting just from being 8 months pregnant and Jody felt the same way because he still had stints in his nose from his surgery. Also, did I mention his nose kept bleeding throughout dinner :/. We were a pitiful pair that's for sure haha! Hey, "for better or worst, and in sickness and in health" right? haha!

34 WEEKS PREGNANT

I am 34 weeks and 4 days pregnant today! Whew! What a week! After all the problems that we've had with the baby store in Huntsville and our furniture being on back order it finally came in last week and there was more drama. My parents picked it up for us and hauled it to Tuscaloosa and when we unboxed it was THE WRONG COLOR! We were furious to say the least! Soooo we made the store owners drive to Tuscaloosa themselves to retrieve the wrong crib and bring me the right one! So right now the crib in my nursery but it's still in the box because Jody just had surgery and can't put it together right now :*(. My goal was to have the nursery ready by the time I was 30 weeks pregnant but it looks like it won't be ready till the last minute because of all the circumstances. Meanwhile I've just tried to occupy myself with washing the baby's clothes and etc. which brings me the next subject...NESTING!!!

I have had the worst case of nesting that I've even heard of haha! I really think I need help! I am completely irrational about it too! This past week I washed, dried, and IRONED all Levi's clothes, blankets, bibs, burp cloths, and etc. Yes, I ironed every single thing my child owns including his socks! I ironed his bibs, burp cloths, and crib sheets too! I hung all his outfits and onsies up in his closet and used closet dividers to separate them by size. It took me 2 days to do it all and I worked on it all day. I also washed my pajamas for the hospital and ironed them before packing them in my hospital bag haha! This is the cleanest my house has ever been! You could literally move my washer and dryer and eat off the floor under them if you wanted to! I even cleaned out and organized Jody bathroom drawers the other day and used drawer organizers to organize his shaving stuff! Is that not crazy???? I know it's crazy but I just have the uncontrollable urge to do it all!

I had a doctors appointment last week and that went well. The doctor is still planning on doing another ultrasound soon to keep an eye on Levi's size since he is big and my sugar has been elevated. She also said that she is going to check me at my next appointment on the 16th to see if the baby is making dilate yet so that's kinda exciting and she wants to start seeing me every week now starting on the 16th. Crazy huh?! We are getting close! As far as symptoms go my biggest symptom this week has been Levi's kicks! He kicks me hard now!! It actually hurts really bad haha! I'm glad he's getting strong though! :). Here is my belly shot for week 34. I have had some swelling this week btw....

32-33 WEEKS PREGNANT!

I am 33 weeks pregnant today! I am so late posting my 32 week blog that I figured I would just combine my 32 and 33 week update! The most exciting thing that has happened this past week is my baby showers :)! My cousin Heather threw me a shower in Valley Alabama for my family down there and afterwards I got together with my mom's family and cooked out and opened some gifts at my paw paw's house! I was so excited to see everyone! I hate living so far away from my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. I feel like I miss out on everything. I am glad that I could celebrate Levi's upcoming arrival with everyone though. Never take for granted having your family close by!

Anyways...my mom and sister will both tell you that I have a history of making goofy faces in pictures where I am opening gifts!My sister Steffi loves to break out old Christmas and birthday pictures of me just to laugh at my facial expressions! Well, my sweet Aunt Jane emailed me some pics from the baby shower and "WOW" is all I can say. I am making a goofy face in almost every single one of the pictures (not to mention I look swollen) haha! I picked out some of the better pictures to post on here but I figured I would post at least one goofy pic for everyone to see....this was the funniest one! I had just opened a bathtub! Not sure what the face is about! I promise I like the tub!


 Haha! Here are a few more pics that aren't so bad...

Hopefully I will have more shower pics soon from my Valley shower and my Albertville shower once my mom sends me the ones she took (no telling what kinda faces I'll be making in those).

Back to the update on the actual pregnancy......I'm feeling great to be 8 months pregnant! Especially in this 100 degree weather! I do have occasional bad days where I don't feel very well but for the most part everything is great and I am very blessed because I am still able to get around well and be active and productive! If I had to think of any negative symptoms it would be that I'm having a little trouble sleeping at night because of the heartburn, heavy belly, and the numerous trips to the bathroom but my doc said I can take Tylonal PM if I need it! It's really not that bad though. I am fortunate enough to have a sweet husband who is letting me stay home so even when I don't sleep at least I don't have to worry about going to work the next day so I can't complain too much :)!

The baby's furniture FINALLY came in! Yay! My mom and stepdad are bringing it to us Saturday and I can't wait (I will post pics on the next blog)!

I am still nesting on and off! I've been washing light fixtures and cleaning behind and underneath appliances and sterilizing everything lol! I have noticed a change in my priorities lately too! I'm kinda over the shopping and decorating and doctor's visits and the excitment of being pregnant. I am just ready to meet Levi and I have become obsessed with organizing his stuff and my life in general. I really just want to lock myself up in the house and become a hermit and just clean and sterilize and get all his things ready and prepare for his birth haha! I guess that's just part of "nesting" but it's an interesting transition that I have noticed over the past few weeks. It's so funny how mother nature and instincts work huh? Here is my belly shot for week 32/33 (it was taken a few days ago).

31 WEEKS PREGNANT

I am 31 weeks and 4 days pregnant today. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Good news...my sugar looks better since my last appointment. I guess cutting back on sugar and carbs helped. They are still saying that Levi is huge! The doc says they will do another ultrasound when I'm closer to my due date in order to monitor his size. She said there is no point in worrying about it right now though because he isn't coming out right now. I guess there is still a possibility his size may even out some before he is born. His heart rate was 152 and the doc says he has a big round belly :)!

We are having some problems with the baby store that we ordered the furniture from. We ordered it and paid for it in full back in early March and we still don't have it. The day we ordered it we were told that it was NOT one of the cribs on back order and that we would get it in 6 weeks! Now they are claiming that it's been on back order for months which is why they haven't gotten it in yet. Each week the store tells us the crib will be here "next week" then when that week comes we are told that it will actually be "the next week". Last week we were told that the furniture would definitely be here Monday (yesterday). Well, we called them yesterday and they claimed the truck broke down and so they wont get it till Wednesday (tomorrow). We shall see. I am very disappointed because I'm ready to finish my nursery but I am trying not to think about it too much because I don't need the stress myself. My parents however are furious. My mom says she is going up there and she is going to "rake them across the coals" if the furniture isn't here this week. Which is fine with me. I am more than glad to let her handle it. Maybe she can get me some of my money back!

Today we worked on refinishing an antique dresser for the baby's room. My mom bought it for me when I was born and my paw paw refinished it for her. Now Jody is refinishing it again to match the rest of the furniture in our baby's nursery. I ordered some Peter Rabbit dresser knobs off of Ebay to go with it :)! I can't wait till it is finished! Anywho, here is my belly shot for 31 weeks (FYI, this was taken at the end of a long day after being outside so it's not the cutest pic lol).

30 WEEKS PREGNANT!

I am 30 weeks and 4 days pregnant today! I can't believe it! 30 seems like such a big number! I am just a little over 9 weeks away from my due date and less than 6 weeks from being considered "full term". The most exciting thing that has happened this week is that we bought our stroller and car seat. I know it sounds silly but I feel like it's a pretty big step. Jody and I went to the Summit in Birmingham tonight because they have the largest Babies R Us in the state :D. We got the stroller and car seat and a few other things and then we went to dinner and a movie :). For those who don't know Jody is off on Tuesdays so Tuesdays are treated like Saturdays at our house (which is why I am always up so late on Tuesdays). Here are some pics from tonight:

The new dad with the new stroller and car seat :)

Jody's giant burrito from The Cheesecake Factory

This week's symptoms include lots of heartburn, back aches, and general normal uncomfortableness of a giant stretching belly! Oh, wee still do not have our furniture for the baby's room :(. We ordered our crib and stuff from a store in Huntsville called "All About Baby" at the beginning of March and I will never ever do business with them again. Each week they assure me that my crib is on it's way and each week passes and I never hear from them so I call and I am always told that it will be here "the next week" and that it's been on back order even though I was told that it was NOT on back order the day we bought it. My mom called them for me this week and I think she got a little ugly with them so hopefully we will get our stuff soon or else I will be asking for my money back.

After having our 4D ultrasound and our shower I am more anxious than ever for Levi to be here. I am kinda over being pregnant, shopping, decorating, and planning at this point. I am just ready to hold my son! He looked so sweet on the ultrasound and we have a house full of cute new things just waiting for him :). I love him already. Anyways...here are some fun belly shots for this week. I decided to go ahead and show my bare belly before it starts looking to gross haha! It kinda looks like it's about to pop huh? Well that's exactly how it feels too haha!

29 WEEKS PREGNANT!

I am 29 weeks and 5 days pregnant today! Yes, I am very late posting this blog as I am almost 30 weeks pregnant. It's been a very busy week for me though. Two very exciting things happened this week...I had my first baby shower Saturday and we had our 4D ultrasound on Monday! The shower turned out great. My friend Blair did a wonderful job. The shower was held in the Albertville First Baptist Tea Room (my old church) and it was a Peter Rabbit themed shower (like the nursery).

 The 4D ultrasound went great! My doctor's visit DID NOT! We got some good shots of Levi. He slept most of the time but we had a clear view of his face at least. He kept opening and closing his mouth and we joke that it's because I ate banana pudding before the ultrasound haha. He also smiled once for us which was really sweet. He looked very peaceful and happy in there too which made me feel good. Just like when we had our 20 week ultrasound the nurse says Levi is huge. Not only is he a big baby, he is bigger than most "big babies". He is in the 97-98the percentile for his size. He should weigh about 2.5 pounds right now and he weight over 4 pounds. He had chubby little cheeks and a big round belly. When the doc came in he was a little concerned. If you read some of my other blogs you know that I barely passed the diabetes test...well this time they found sugar in my urine and my weight has shot up and Levi is twice the size he should be. These are all signs of gestational diabetes. The doc says he thinks I have a glucose tolerance problem (even though I passed the test). He told me to lay off sugar and carbohydrates and to even stay away from fruit and they are going to be monitoring Levi's size. He said they aren't going to make any decisions before I am 36 weeks though. I have no idea if they will want to induce early or what. Guess we will find out. The doctor told me that I've gained too much weight since my last visit which really upset me. Usually I get a lot heck about being too small and now I'm being told I gained too much weight?!!! Not easy for any woman to hear! I hope to go in to labor on my own. I don't want to be induced and I don't want a c-section so it's time for some prayers.

Here is a picture from 29 weeks...I'm going to cheat and use the pic from my shower. I am bad sick with the sinus crud right so I don't want to take a pic of me in my PJs with no makeup and a red stuffy nose haha! P.S. my face looks much fatter in my shower pics than in person. Just wanted to be clear on that lol.

28 WEEKS PREGNANT

I am 28 weeks and 4 days pregnant today. Officially in my 3rd (and last) trimester! I am getting bigger and bigger. Whenever I look at my stomach in the mirror it's hard to imagine how it could possibly grow anymore. The skin on my tummy already burns and itches because it it stretched to the max. My first shower is this Saturday and I am very excited. We are also having our 4D ultrasound on Monday and we are looking forward to that as well. I've been a little stressed trying to get everything ready for the baby. The crib and stuff has been on back order and I will feel much better when it's finally here. We had our carpets professionally cleaned today so they would be nice and clean and sterile for the baby (yeah, I'm a little OCD). I'm hoping to start sewing the curtains for the baby's room tomorrow (with my mother in law's help). Here is my belly shot for 28 weeks: