Less than 24 hours to go

For weeks now I have been dreaming of the day I could not only hold my sweet baby, but regain my body back. Now here I stand just one day, less than 24 hours, until I start the process of labor. And honestly I am a bit overwhelmed. Maybe this is why God created labor to be mysterious, so that you wouldn't be in control of when it would happen. From my experience with Noah, once you are labor, you just plug through and don't have a lot of time to be anxious, which was nice. On the other hand knowing the date has helped us plan and prepare. I guess there are perks to each side. It is just so hard to wrap my mind around that fact that sometime tomorrow I will be a mother of two, responsible for double diaper changing & feeding. And, that this will be my last time pregnant. With all the challenges of being pregnant and uncomfortable, it is truly the most amazing thing I have ever gone through. And, for that I thank God everyday. Not just for my beautiful children, but for the opportunity to feel them grow and move inside my belly. And to see what a miracle having a baby is. I imagine as the day comes to a close tonight, these emotions with continue to stir. But, I am comforted that my heavenly father is in control of this great miracle and that tomorrow everything will go smooth. I am excited to share the news, so please keep us in your prayers.

Awaiting Peanut

I had my 37 week checkup last monday and I am still 2cm. I feel like baby is working on getting here as I am very uncomfortable! Dave and I decided that we would opt for the induction for June 30th. That way my mom will be here (she arrives the night before) and we can make better arrangements. I had a very rough labor with Noah and I really want to make sure that this time my doctor is the one to deliver according to my birth plan. Also, I think it would be very special to share my birthday with baby. What a great gift! So, as of now, I am scheduled to start the process at 4am on June 30th. My doctor said baby should arrive no later than dinner time. (Sounds too good to be true!!) Now that we have set a date, I am just waiting for the surprise labor like noah. He decided to come a day before we were going to induce. So I have been frantically packing and organizing everything. The past two days I have been getting strong back pain which has made it hard to do anything...maybe it's a sign!

36 Weeks, 3 Days

Went to the doctor today and had an ultrasound done. It was so awesome to see the baby!! It certainly has done some growing since the 20 week ultrasound. At one point we got a really clear picture of the face and baby was sucking it's fingers! I really started to tear up at that point. There was my baby!! The ultrasound tech said she could see the sex, which was harder for me than I thought. Good thing Dave was there to keep me honest! Anyway, baby is healthy and measuring in at 6lbs 14oz (+/- 10%). This was encouraging to hear as they are saying that maybe this baby won't be THAT big! They are saying it will be close to what Noah was, and he was 8.5 lbs. So, I think 9lbs. I was also excited to find out that I am now 2cm along...so at this point I am making progress towards labor! Yay! So, for now I will just keep on with my crazy list of nesting projects and wait. I am looking forward to holding my baby in just 3.5 weeks. Yay!

Baby Shower for Peanut

My friend Erin (above picture) threw me a shower for peanut. It was so lovely! We stuffed our faces, enjoyed yummy cupcakes, and shared labor stories. We got lots of great things, like diapers and wipes. I am so thankful for all my friends who joined me and can't wait to share baby with them.

35 Weeks and Some Days

And the bonding begins...

Well, I feel like I could burst! As you can see, my belly is no longer small. Though it is fun to sport the swallowed watermelon look, I am truly uncomfortable. This Alabama heat hasn't helped either. With being in the high 90s I am swelling up like crazy! It's terrible how many times I have to change my clothes during the day. I went to the doctor yesterday for my first weekly checkup. My regular doctor wasn't in, so I saw a new one in the practice. She measured my belly and then said "so you are 39 weeks then, right?" When I told her no she quickly looked at my chart and her jaw hit the floor. I am still measuring 4 weeks ahead. Just like I did with Noah. So, as much as I would love to believe that my due date is wrong, I know it is just a big baby brewing in there. She has scheduled me for an ultrasound next week as she would like to look at the due date again. On the other hand, I was already 1cm dilated, so maybe I will luck out and go early. (Crossing fingers!) I truly hate to complain about the discomfort as I do still remember what life will be like with a newborn...and now with a toddler in the mix. Yikes.

34 Weeks

Well, I am at the home stretch...6 weeks to go. (Or less!) At this point in the game, I am still measuring 3-4 weeks ahead indicating a big baby-no surprise there! My doctor seems to think I should be fine to go on my own since I did with Noah, but there is still some talk about being induced a little early. So, we shall see. Baby is very active, which is getting tough for me with there being not so much room in my tummy any more! And, with all the heat that we are getting I am starting to swell up, which is not so comfortable! I am still making it to the gym, but slowing down. I think I feel more like the turtle than the hare. We have finally started preparing by pulling out our neutral clothing and all the baby gear. It is getting exciting! I am starting to to get anxious to see our baby and find out if peanut is a "he" or "she".

31 Weeks

Yesterday I went in for my 31 week checkup. It's hard to believe that the longest part of my pregnancy is now behind me and I am down to 9 weeks! Everything is looking good with baby so far. The heartbeat is steady around 140-142. And, to wreak my fairytale dream of having a small baby, I am measuring 4 weeks ahead. LOL. This baby feels solid...so much bigger at this point then I remember Noah feeling. They have decided that at 36 weeks they will do an ultrasound to see if they can get a better guess at size. With Noah, I predicted his weight perfectly at 8.5 lbs and with this one I will go ahead and venture to say 9.5 to maybe 10lbs. Yep, kinda starting to freak me out! Guess I better just pull out the three month clothing, as there will not be any newborn stuff here!

Noah and Peanut

Noah seems to be getting more excited about being a big brother. He now comes up to me and hugs my belly and gives it a kiss (hence the pictures) and says either "hi baby" or "baby wanna come play with me?" It is heart warming to see the love growing already. He is going to be such a wonderful big brother!

7 Month Belly Pictures

Well, here it is...28 weeks and growing!

12 weeks to go...

I cannot believe that I have only 12 weeks left until peanut gets here. Ironically, I have not even started to prepare! I promised Dave I would be more laid back with this baby (as in not having all details planned out the first trimester!) I think Noah has helped me in this too. I guess it makes it easier since we a) don't know the sex and b) the kids are sharing a room. Pretty much other than stocking up on the basics and picking names, I suppose there isn't much to do but wait. Oh, but even a simple task of picking names is difficult. I believe, though this is so out of my character, that we will be arriving at the hospital with just a list of names and not more than that. I have been praising God lately for such a wonderful pregnancy, as my first was not so great. It has been easy to enjoy and fun to watch Noah experience the growth of his little brother or sister. He has become much more protective of me and his "baby sister" as he calls it. For some reason he seems to think it is a girl. He is so funny! Lately he has been very concerned with my belly and how the baby is doing. At night before bed, he hugs my belly, gives it a kiss and says "goodnight baby" It almost brings tears to my eyes. I cannot wait for them to start bonding! But then there are the moments of pure panic where I start to realize how busy I am about to be. It was easy to catch a nap while Noah was sleeping, but now I have a two year old who doesn't nap. Yikes. I guess that is where my prayers lay now. I am going to need a lot of grace! Thankfully so many women do it, I know I will be okay. For now, I am going to just enjoy my time with my boys as we countdown to becoming a family of four.

6 Months

I think that recently I have had a growth spurt! Peanut is getting so big!! Here baby belly is at 23 weeks. It is going by so fast!

Peanut's first trip to L&D

The other day while outside playing with Noah he ran down a hill in our front yard to a ditch. As I followed, my feet quickly lost grip and moved out from under me. Before I knew it, I was on my bum at the bottom of the ditch. In shock I look up to see Noah laughing and asking for me to "do it again!" Since it was almost 5pm I called my OBGYN just to make sure that I knew what to look for. They suggested that I go to L&D and have the baby monitored and check the heart rate. So, assuming it would be a quick trip, I loaded the boys up and headed to the hospital. Oh, how wrong was I! After an hour wait I was placed in a room and hooked up to check for contractions and fetal movement. Everything came out fine for the baby. It looked as if I was just going to walk away with a bruised tail bone! However, in order to be released the on call doctor had to see me. The problem was that she kept getting called into deliveries! So after 4 hours and some convincing that I didn't need to stay overnight, I was released. The ironic thing to me is that part of the reason we went in was that I was not feeling our baby move, but once they got me all settled in, the baby kicked like crazy! Noah and Daddy had fun walking the hospital and Noah loved playing with all the buttons on my bed...including the call button!

More Belly

Well, things are starting to really pop. Here is a couple more recent shots--just because.

20 Week Ultrasound

Baby drinking fluid-Mouth is open and black stuff is fluid

The foot shot

Arm and thumbs up!

Well, we finally had our 20 week ultrasound. This is always my favorite part, short of actually holding the baby! This baby is proving to be so different than Noah. Not just in the whole pregnancy, but just in watching the baby. During my ultrasound with Noah, he was doing flips and preforming nicely. This baby however, is very mellow. (I am hoping that means it will be out of the womb too!) It just slept through the ultrasound no matter what we did! We did see baby try to put its hands in its mouth a few times and a couple good kicks. But, I guess this explains why I haven't felt the baby move much. The ultrasound showed us a very healthy baby though. 10.5 ounces so far...normal size. :) It was a good thing that we didn't want to know the sex as the baby kept its legs shut the whole time! One other fun thing we saw was the baby drinking fluid. You could see its mouth open and take in fluid. We got a video and picture of it and it was amazing to see. Here are some of our favorite shots.

5 Months

Well, here is my 5 month belly shot. (19 weeks) I cannot believe how I've grown in the past month. I hope this isn't a sign of another big baby. :)

Peanut Parker-What will you be?

Next Tuesday at 9am we will be heading in to have my 20 week ultrasound. I am so excited to see our little one! This baby has been much more mellow, as Noah was kicking my insides out by 17 weeks and I still have not felt this one move. This ultrasound would be the gender revealing one, however since we are not finding out the sex, it will a unique experience. I have started a page in the baby's scrapbook for our friends and family to poll on what the sex will be. And, for fun, I listed all the Old Wives Tales too. Though Dave and I don't have a preference of the sex of the baby, we had to start the polls. I think it is a boy for sure and Dave says girl. All of the Old Wives Tales say girl except one....but mom knows best, right? So, if you are interested in joining the fun, let us know what you think. (I will also put one on face book too!) I am going to add my 5 month belly shot this weekend for those of you who can tell by the way I am carrying the baby. :)
Let the fun begin!!!

4 Month Belly Shot (15 weeks)

So here it is, the very first belly shot for our little mysterious baby. I am really surprised at both how fast I am showing this time (I know, it's cause it's my second) and how easy this pregnancy is coming along. Just as with Noah, at 14 weeks the sickness started to go away. I am also starting to regain my energy back, though the 5am workouts don't always help! I am really excited that I am finally in my second trimester and can start enjoying it more!

Announcing Baby #2

We are so excited to announce that Noah is going to be a big brother! The due date for baby #2 is July 8, 2011. Since we have decided that this will be our last baby, we thought we would have some fun with it. So, we have decided not to find out the sex. Yes, it will be very hard for me as I am a compulsive planner. But, I think the reward of hearing what we were blessed with after labor will be so worth it.

I found out early on that I was pregnant and decided to surprise Dave. I went to the store and got a shirt that said "big brother" on it. Just as Dave was coming home from work I put it on Noah. It took Dave a few seconds to notice the shirt. Then, he asked where I got it, thinking it may have been a shirt that was handed down. As you can guess he was pleasantly surprised when I told him that it was purchased that afternoon. He is going to be a daddy...again!

We also had fun telling our families about the baby. Since I found out at about 3 weeks we had to keep it hush hush until week 12. We took the ultrasound pictures and had it framed and mailed off to our parents as Christmas gifts. Christmas morning we skyped with our families as we all opened gifts and were finally able to share the news. It was so much fun to see the surprise on their faces!