Due date has come and gone...

Quick update from my last appointment for those of you not on Facebook. I went in on Thursday for my 40 week appointment. I was finally 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. BUT the doctor said it didn't really seem like I was progressing much. She stripped my membrane for me, which for some brings on labor pretty quickly. She did say it only works about 50% of the time. Well 2 days later no labor, so I guess I am on the wrong side of the 50%! She also went ahead and scheduled me for an induction this coming week since he seems a little too comfy in my womb. So I have to call Labor and Delivery on Wed night and they will let me know what time to come in. They will give me a cervix softener (cervitol I think it's called) and then I stay overnight and they'll start pitocin on Thursday if nothing is happening. So there is finally an end in sight! So much for all of the speculation of going early! It was kind of a bummer when August ended and no baby. Then yesterday was my due date and I hoped and prayed all day....and nothing. I did wake up this morning with some spotting, cramps and headache. Basically not feeling well overall. But I am not sure if it's from doing too much this week (way too many trips to the house and pushing myself to much) or if it's something more. Trying not to get my hopes up!

So....Gavin will be here by Thursday! Only reason he won't will be if the hospital is full. But I am on the schedule there so hopefully all will go smoothly! We'll be sending texts and making calls as things progress! Promise!!

The final days...hopefully!

I know, I know...it has been ages since I posted on here. I think it's a sign of how much I am done being pregnant! The newness has worn off and now I am just large and miserable...hard to be witty on blog when you hate to pull yourself out of bed! But enough whining...let me update everyone on the craziness of the last few weeks and the days to come!

First, let me get the big news out of the way....we have a name!! For those who haven't heard yet, our son will be Gavin Michael Spencer Keyes. Kevin still isn't 100% on board with the 2 middle names yet, but since this will most likely be the only child, we needed to kill to birds with one stone on the middle names. Michael is for Kevin's step dad who passed away and Spencer is obviously my maiden name. I didn't want it as a first name (thanks Spencer Pratt for tarnishing the name) but it works in the middle. We both liked the name Gavin, as it's not super common, but not totally out there either. Plus with his rockstar persona he can easily be compared to Gavin Rosdale (singer and husband to Gwen Steffani)!

The picture attached is me at 38 weeks, 3 days. Many people didn't think I would make it this long, myself included! I think that is what's making the waiting game that much harder. My last ultrasound was on Aug 5th and the due date that was calculated then was 8/19. Well that has come and gone. The date is inaccurate because we are just having a giant child. He was measuring at 7lb 9oz at that point and still had a month to simmer! My doctor is doing another ultrasound Thursday to see where he is at now and then we'll talk about if we need to induce due to size. If he is gaining at the rate they said (at least 9oz a week) he should be 9lb 5oz this week. I think that's plenty big!! Luckily my doctor doesn't push c-sections unless they are necessary so unless there is a problem during labor we're going to try and do it the old fashioned way (but with some drugs of course!)

Because I thought Gavin would be making his debut a little sooner, I tried out some old wives tales to no avail. There is an Italian restaurant here in GA that is famous for it's eggplant Parmesan causing women to go into labor. I went to their website and got the recipe and we made it at home. Nothing. I have been taking Evening Primrose Oil because it's suppose to help soften the cervix. Nothing. Walking a bit even though I am supposed to be off my feet. Nothing. Doing the deed that got us to the place even though I don't want to. Nothing. So...I guess Gavin is already proving to be stubborn and working off his own agenda. :)

Besides all the baby hoopla, we closed on a house earlier this month. We are so excited to have a nice bigger place to move into once the baby is here. All of our stuff was moved in last weekend so now we just need to unpack and organize. Easier said than done at 9 months pregnant! I do a lot of supervising! We got most of the nursery put together yesterday and are going back tomorrow to do some more. The last 2 weekends Kevin and my parents did some painting, plus we had tile laid in the master bath. Everything looks good so far and as it comes together I'll get pics out.

On a less positive note, my dad has to go in to the hospital tomorrow to get a stint put in his heart. For those that don't know, he had a quintuple bypass 10 years ago and now his arteries are clogging again. We all have our fingers crossed that they will be able to just go with the stints and not have to do another bypass. We tried to lighten the mood by saying he and I could be roommates at the hospital if we could get Gavin to come tomorrow too...but don't think that's going to happen. Thank you to all who have already put Dad in your prayers!!

Ok folks....I'll post again after my Thursday appointment. I really have no excuse since I have been off work a month for not being on here more other than sheer laziness! :)

Sorry for being MIA!

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted on here. I feel like life is in overdrive and I can't find the break pedal!! I promise to post a real blog soon, but here are the cliff notes of life @ 35 weeks:

• Stopped working on July 23rd. Just too miserable and doc suggested staying off my feet due to the swelling and occasional BP spike, so I took advantage of it
• Put an offer on a house and we close on Aug 6th as long as things keep progressing the way they are
• Work threw me a baby shower on the 23rd. I felt so much love!!
• Mom's shower on the 25th...started at 2pm and ended at 8:30am the next morning!! I, of course, didn't last quite that long!
• Baby now has more clothes than mama!
• 3 friends have had their babies in the last month...I am ready to be next!!!

Ok...so there is life in a nutshell. I will try to get my creative juices going in the next few days and also add some new pics!

The up side and down side of pregnancy

Today was my 30 week appointment.  I had a lot of questions this time around because I have started to have some new symptoms.  I got in and started with the usual pee in a cup, which by the way has become a MUCH easier task now that there is a baby sitting on my bladder!  Also there is a new, young nurse who is super nice, so the whole experience is more pleasant than in the beginning.  After that I was weighed and according to the chart I have gained 29 pounds so far.  Not too bad.  I wanted to stay between 25 and 30 and it looks like I will go over a little, but still not bad.  Recommended weight gain is 25-35 pounds so we're doing good, which is amazing considering my diet the last 8 months (Did someone say McDonald's?)!  The nurse then said that my hemoglobin was low, so they needed to get a little blood sample to check my iron.  It's a little on the low side, but nothing to be worried about.  I also had some sugar in my urine so they did another blood test to check my glucose, but that was also fine.  So far so good!  When it was time to see the doctor, I mentioned that I had been cramping the bast 2-3 days, with some feelings of nausea and headaches.  I had already read that these can be signs of pre-term labor, so I was a little worried.  She decided to check my cervix just to be sure all was ok and it was...still shut tight (this is good since I swear baby's head is pressing as hard as it can "right there" so good to know he can't get out yet!).  She checked for a bladder infection too, but I was clear there, so the cramps are just another joy of pregnancy to go with the aches and pains and swelling.  I mentioned I had got off easy in the beginning with no morning sickness, so she said the pregnancy was going to make up for that now.  Yea!  We listened to the heartbeat and it was good...136 bpm.  She measured my uterus and said I was measuring 2 weeks big, which seems to be the norm now.  We discussed that from now on we will be monitoring the size of the baby and if he does seem to be big we may look at a c-section, but for now we'll assume he'll come out just fine.  We'll have more info after my ultrasound on Tuesday as well.  

Now the fun side of pregnancy....I went to go get my haircut because we're getting maternity portraits done tomorrow and the lady that did my hair was great!  I went to a Fantastic Sams which is normally no thrills, but she could see how hot I was so I get extra time at the hair wash station, cool rinses, a cool towel on my face with yummy smelling peppermint on it, a cool refreshing facial cream stuff....it was great!  I felt like I was at a spa.  She was super funny too, so it was a good experience.   I also stopped at a garage sale on the way and got a bunch of cute maternity stuff (and an outfit for baby of course) for only $1 a piece!!  YEA!  

That's all for now.  Oh...the pics above are my 28 week belly.  I think I am bigger than that now!  I'll get the professional pics from tomorrow up as soon as their ready.

A glimpse inside the womb

Saturday was the big day when we got to see what our son was going to look like!  I think I was pretty anxious about this, because I had nightmares the week leading up to it, all about not getting to the appointment in time, issues when we got there, etc.  But Saturday came and all seemed ok.  Chris and Emmy came up to go with us and my parents to the 3D office.  They have it set up like a mini movie theater....stadium seats and a 120" screen to show the images on.  It was pretty cool.  While we were waiting for my appointment time, we sat in the waiting room being our usual silly selves.  Taking silly pictures of each other pretending to pick our noses, and being obnoxious.  I am sure the people working there loved us!  Finally it was my turn.  The whole experience was kind of surreal.  It's one thing to see the normal 2D ultrasound and kind of guess what your looking at, but in 3D there is no question.  She showed us he was definitely a boy first.  Then the next 25 minutes are spent just capturing various images and watching him move around in there.  The ultrasound tech at one point asked how far along I was, and when I said 28 weeks she didn't really say anything.  So Kevin asked if the baby looked big for that time and she said no, he looked small!  That was the first time we had heard that!!  They don't give medical advice at this place though so I am only going to take that with a grain of salt.  I go back to the specialist at the end of the month for one last u/s so we'll see what they say then.  

So 30 minutes later (and $170) we were done.  We got 6-4x6 photos, a DVD and a cd with all of the pictures on it.  I was kind of numb after it was over to be honest.  It's a little weird to see that there is a person inside me!  Plus the realization that he will be here sooner than we think and that he will be calling us "mommy" and "daddy" is a little scary!  It's one thing to want this as long as I can remember, but another for it to actually be happening.  I think that's where the anxiousness comes from.  I feel very unprepared for how our lives will be changing, but I know it will be good thing.          

I'm now at the point in the pregnancy (third trimester-woohoo!) where I go to the doctor every 2 weeks.  Another sign I am in the home stretch!!  We better get to picking out a name!!       

Oh my aching feet!

I have heard that swollen feet are a normal symptom of pregnancy, but I think my feet decided t0 take it to a whole new level! They look like water balloons with 5 sausages attached to each one! Now, on top of my shoes not fitting, they are starting to hurt quite a bit too. I go back to the doctor on Thursday, so I will be bringing it up then. This morning when I got out of bed I almost cried because it felt like both my feet were broken! I don't know how I am going to get through 3 more months of this! I am sure going to a concert on Thursday night didn't help things much. I did sit as much as possible, but I was on my feet much more than usual. Hopefully things will feel better after a few days of rest. I feel bad that I sat around with my feet elevated today while Kevin scrubbed bathrooms and cleaned the house!

Bonding with baby

Last night Kevin and I experienced a lot of activity from baby boy. Normally I will feel him move, quickly grab Kevin's hand to put on my belly, then....NOTHING. He was starting to think I was faking this whole thing! Well last night I was laying on my side in bed and the baby was moving so much you could see my belly move! Kevin laid his head on my belly and started talking to him, and he would kick at his head. It was very cool. Kevin likes to talk into my belly button like it's the microphone into my uterus! All it does it tickle me!! Luckily we got lots of movement so Kevin is back to believing there really is something alive in there. :)

Lots of things coming up in the next few weeks! Next week is another New Kids concert as well as going to see Jersey Boys. I expect some dancing in my belly!! The week after we go for the 3D ultrasound. We are SUPER excited about that!!