3 weeks to go...

Jinx and I had a fabulous weekend in Gatlinburg celebrating our 4th anniversary! We went to the Peddler, the Aquarium, and did lots of walking on the strip. It was very relaxing and nice to get away together one last time.

Our visit to the doctor yesterday was not nearly as exciting as last week. Adalynn is still doing great, but I did not make any progress from last Monday. :( I was really hoping to be another cm dilated. Oh well, she's the one picking her birthday so I'll just be patient and wait. I also found out that while I passed the gestational diabetes test, I tested positive for Group B Strep. This means I will have to be on IV antibiotics once I arrive at the hospital in labor, and we will be required to stay a full 48 hours after her birth. She will not require any antibiotics or special treatment, they will just want to keep an eye on her to make sure that she doesn't show any signs of having contracted the bacteria in birth. This bacteria is present in 10-40% of adult women, and has nothing to do with strep throat as many people assume. It does not cause any problems or symptoms for the carrier, but can be problematic for a baby if untreated. For more information on GBS, this website is full of information: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/groupbstrepinfection.html
Our next appointment is Monday at 8:20.

We finished our chilbirth class last night and will be taking a breastfeeding class tonight, then all of our schooling is done. :) I'm still feeling pretty good, just starting to tire out and having more trouble sleeping at night with my ginormous belly. Contractions are becoming even more common and stronger by the day as we are gearing up for labor. With only 3 weeks left, my emotions are a mix of nervous, anxious, excited, scared, happy, and everything in between. Can't wait for her BIRTH DAY though!

Finally, here are some nursery pictures:

Exciting Day at the Doctor's!

Well, we had our 36 week appointment today and it went great! We got to see our little Adalynn again, it's been 16 weeks since we saw her last. She has grown quite a bit since then, too! They estimated that she weighs about 6lbs(44 percentile) and should weigh around 7.5-8lbs by her due date. What a relief!! We got to see her opening her mouth and her chest moving up and down as she practices breathing. The ultrasound tech said she has lots of hair too! YAY!! Bring on the bows! :) Our ultrasound picture didn't turn out too great because her face is a little squished in there. Even when we tried to get a good look at her in 3D it was very distorted. The top pick shows her hair waving around, and the bottom pick is a sideways shot of her face.

I had another glucose test today and was swabbed for the Group B Strep test. We will get these results next Monday at our appointment. My blood pressure is still low and her heartbeat is still high which is great! I also got checked by the doctor today and was 1cm dilated and 25% effaced!! Which was very exciting to know! I was expecting to be at least a little dilated since I've been having lots of pressure and tons of braxton hicks. Adalynn has already settled nicely into delivery position. Her head station was -2 (locked and loaded)! Only a few more weeks to go! We are super anxious to meet her, hold her, and shower her with love! Can't wait for all of you to meet her, too!


Nursery pics are coming...I promise! Everything is pretty well ready for her arrival. Her bag is packed and ready and I've begun throwing things together for my hospital bag. We are as ready as we're gonna be, and are excited about becoming a family of 3! Jinx and I will be celebrating our 4 year anniversary on Thursday and are heading to the mountains for a weekend away(still within driving distance to the hospital-just in case). It will be a nice, restful weekend for us to spend some time together right before we meet our baby girl! I'll update again on Monday, our appointment is at 4:15pm.

6 weeks to go, we're almost ready

It is hard to believe that our precious daughter is only 6 weeks away from being in our arms! :) We are more anxious and excited than ever! Jinx is really ready and is already in "go" mode at this point. Everytime I call him the first thing he says is "Everything ok?". We are both just dying to meet our little girl! I keep trying to imagine what she will look like and how it will feel to hold her in my arms for the first time. My heart feels so full just thinking of her! It won't be long now!



We had our church baby shower on the 18th, and it was absolutely unreal!! I still can't believe how many wonderful things we received! I opened gifts for an hour and a half straight! :) We were so touched by the outpouring of love and support from our church family! And it was such a joy to know that so many people are excited about Adalynn's upcoming arrival! We really appreciate all the hostesses(pictured above) who put everything together for us! Jinx was also included in the shower. Here he is getting all ready for Daddy Diaper Duty with his new tool belt. It was equipped with diapers, wipes, pacifiers, shampoo, lotion, baby powder, princess band-aids, the works! :) He loved it!

Monday's doctor appointment was pretty uneventful. All the standard things were checked and both Adalynn and I are healthy as could be. Gained a little more than I would have liked at this visit thanks to Mom and the awesome peach cobbler made from her peach trees! I thought I could count it as a fruit? :) Guess not! Even so, I will still be within the recommended weight gain when this is all said and done. A little cobbler never killed anyone. Our next appointment is August 9! I am very excited for this appointment because we'll get an ultrasound to check on Adalynn! They will check the amniotic fluid level and take a guess at her size. I will also have to take another Glucose Tolerance Test. :( It's just to make sure that my system is still tolerating sugars properly. This will be a very exciting visit for us and we'll be going every week from then on! The end is near!

I am still feeling pretty good. There are the standard aches and pains as I'm nearing the end, but nothing unbearable and thank goodness I still haven't swollen(knock on wood)! The braxton hicks contractions have really picked up this week so I do my best to stay hydrated, stay seated, and stay out of the heat!! Is it just me or is this one of the hottest summers EVER???!!!

Here is a picture from this week, I've gotten ALOT bigger in the last few weeks:

















It is funny how much people love a pregnant lady! There is no denying that I am indeed 'with child' at this point. Everyone - at the grocery store, the mall, anywhere - I make eye contact with gives me a big hearty smile and nod. :)

















Just for kicks, here is a picture of my precious nephew, Wrigley! My sister and her family came to town for our shower. Isn't he a doll? He took his first steps last week. He'll be a year on September 1st. The time has gone by way too quickly! Can't wait to see Wrigley and Adalynn together!

32 weeks!

We have entered the 8th month of pregnancy and are 32 weeks today, YAY!! Only 8 more weeks to go! Monday's check-up went great! Adalynn's heartbeat was good and strong and she is still growing by leaps and bounds! She should weigh between 3.75 and 4 pounds this week!! And she'll continue gaining about a 1/2 pound a week until the end. So, if you do the math that would put her somewhere around 8 lbs by the end of this journey. And if she is late...even bigger! Lucky me! LOL!! :) My blood pressure, weight, and belly measurement were all great! Our doctor was able to determine her position by feeling my stomach(see below), and she is definitely head down - thank goodness!! Hopefully she'll stay that way! It is really neat to know her positioning. I can feel her kick on the left side and a little bump that is her bottom on the right side. Whenever she is really active I'll rub her little back and it seems to calm her down. :) We'll see if it works once she is outside the womb.


Some of the discomforts of the 3rd trimester are beginning to creep up on me at this point, and include: heartburn, middle of the night leg cramps, braxton hicks, back ache, tiredness, etc. Luckily I have a private masseuse, who graciously rubs my back every night before laying down for bed. He's the best! :) Things aren't too miserable yet, just a little more challenging to make it thru a long day at work. Work has been very hectic these last few weeks, but I'm still hanging in there and trying to stay on top of things. Can't wait for my 10 weeks of maternity leave!!

Our hospital birth class was cancelled on Saturday because the teacher was sick. Go figure...we've not had alot of luck with birth classes so far. We've signed up to take the same class in August and hopefully this one will work out, otherwise we'll just have to wing it! Since we didn't have class we spent all day Saturday working in the nursery. The bed is made, drawers are full, and the mobile is hanging above her bed. We really enjoyed spending the day together working on Adalynn's room! :) There are still a few more things to buy for the nursery walls and such, but pictures will be coming very soon!

Our church baby shower is this Sunday, and I can't wait! I know it will be a great time and I am anxious to share in the excitement with these women who have taught me in bible class since I was a baby and watched me grow and helped mold me into the woman and soon-to-be Mom that I am today! It will be a very special day! :)

Two Months till D-Day!!

<- Shower Pictures






















































My how time is flying! :) I can't believe we are only 2 short months away from meeting our precious little angel!!!!! According to the poll so far, most of you think she will be early which means less than 9 weeks from now! We are getting SO EXCITED!! Life has been busy as usual, which definitely helps to pass the time. We had another great shower on the 26th, which was thrown by my Aunts(Donna & Candy), Cousin(Heather), Sister(Stephanie), and Sister-in-Law (Andi). It was "Princess" themed and oh so cute! We got tons of great gifts, thanks everybody!!

I spent the next week wrapped up in Vacation Bible School at church. It was a huge success! We had around 250 participants! Then we packed up and headed to the lake for the long holiday weekend with the Dresser's. The annual Dresser Lake Trip is usually over Labor Day weekend, but since we'll be a little tied up around Labor Day we bumped the trip up to July 4th this year. We had a really good time and made it home right before the heat index made it's way back to the 100's. While at the lake we went to 'Fire on the Water', it's a big fireworks show over the lake. Jinx and I got so tickled feeling Adalynn jump around during the fireworks! :) She was going crazy!

As far as the pregnancy goes, so far so good! We go back to the doctor on Monday for a 2 week check-up. I can tell Adalynn has really grown alot lately. Her movements have changed from kicks and jabs to mostly twisting and turning. She also gets the hiccups at least once a day! :) I always email daddy during the day to let him know when she has the hiccups. Sometimes it's 3x a day! I am still feeling pretty good for the most part. Getting comfortable to sleep is a challenge and my stomach feels like it can't possibly stretch any farther, but I'm still enjoying every second. It is such a special thing and I want to savor every moment. Here are some pictures for comparison. On the left is a picture from 27 weeks and the one on the right was taken last night at 31 weeks. Crazy how much I've grown in 1 month!



















Jinx and I will be taking a birthing class at the hospital this Saturday. I am really looking forward to it! I'll update again on Monday after the doctor's appointment. For now, I'll leave you with a sneak peek of the nursery:

Busy Weekend ~ 29 weeks

Well, we had our first baby shower on Saturday and it was a blast! We got so many great gifts, now the trouble is trying to find somewhere to put them all! :) Jinx and I were blown away by all the friends and family that have showered us with love and presents for the baby. We are so thankful for everyone's generosity and are warmed by the thought that so many people are anxious and excited to meet our sweet little Adalynn! I want to give a big thank you to Linda, Megan, Alyesse, Mindy, Erin, and Hope for putting on the shower for us!! We also got our crib and changing table/dresser this weekend at the shower. Troy, Jinx's dad, has been working very hard on building our nursery furniture and it looks amazing! I can't wait to post nursery pictures so you can see how awesome it is. The furniture was actually made from a tree out of their backyard - how cool is that! It looks great in the nursery and now that we are getting everything set up for baby's arrival, we are more excited than ever!

We will be working hard this week to get all the gifts put away because we have another shower this Saturday!! :) I can't wait! My sister will be coming in for the weekend, so I'll get to see my sweet nephew, too!

Jinx had a good soon-to-be Father's Day on Sunday! I gave him a card and Krispy Kreme doughnuts(which are a rare treat in our house) and he spent the afternoon at the batting cage. We had lunch with my dad and family and had dinner with his dad and mom. It was a great day! There is something so special about Dads, and we are both very thankful to have Dads that loved us unconditionally, worked hard to provide for us, and sacrificed for our well-being. Thank you, and we hope you both had a Great Father's Day!!

Adalynn is moving around like crazy lately! We can actually see her moving through my stomach, it's crazy! Today we are 29 weeks along and she should weigh about 2 1/2 pounds and be 15 inches long. From this point on I've been asked to keep 'kick counts' to make sure that she is doing alright in there. At least twice a day I count the number of movements or kicks I feel in an hour's time. She should move about 10 times an hour. This helps us monitor how she is doing in there since space is getting increasingly tighter and she is growing by the day. It's crazy to think we only have 11 weeks left! :O She will be here before we know it!

I Passed the Test!

Just got a call from the doctor and I passed the Glucose Tolerance Test! YAY!! This means I won't have any trouble enjoying the punch and sweets at my upcoming baby showers!! :) They did say that my folic acid level was a little low, so I'll be picking up a supplement from the pharmacy this afternoon and will try adding some more high folate foods to my diet. I was suprised because I take my prenatal vitamin with 1,000 mcg of folic acid everyday!! Oh well, if she needs more, then we'll take more. Thats all for now.