Week 30

photo by: a.nation

Here we are at 30 weeks, only 10 more (or less) to go!!! WOW!!! Talk about a crazy feeling, to think that she will be here soon! Be praying for us as we quickly approach the end.

Week 29

Here I am again at my weekly post with another photo. Man how I am growing!!! This week, Baby Nation can be as tall as 17 inches and can weigh nearly 3 pounds. Though already coming pretty close of her ultimate birth length, she still has lots to gain. Over the next 11 weeks, Baby Nation comes close to tripling in her weight. Much of her weight will come from the fat accumulating under her skin, and as she plumps up, the room in my womb will start to fell a little cramped. Making it less likely that I'll feel hard kicks, and more likely that I'll be feeling jabs and pokes from elbows ad knees. By the end of this month, my baby's home can be felt around 4.5 inches above my belly button!
Due to my husband being a police officer and his crazy schedule, we are unable to attend any 6 week long classes. But, tomorrow at the hospital where I'm going to deliver, Erlanger Women's East, they offer an all day crash course in Lamaze. So, we have signed up for this class and I am excited to get there and learn all about this birthing stuff. Wish us luck as we tackle "going back to school."

7 months today!

Today marks the 7 month "milestone." With only 2 more months to go, I am finally starting to get a little excitement in my heart. "Thank you Lord!" I guess I am realizing that this is a situation that can not be changed, so I need to just make the best of it and enjoy it before the moment is gone.
This week Baby Nation graduates to a new growth chart, measuring head to toe in length. She is about 15 inches long (over a foot!!!) and is weighing a little over 2 pounds. She has been overly active the last few days and I am starting to think how I will miss her little tumbles in my belly once she gets here. What a crazy feeling being pregnant is!
My next appointment is scheduled for Tuesday, September 8th at 10am. At this visit I am having a sugar test done, along with a RhoGam shot. Needless to say that I am nervous about this one! For those of you who do not know what a RhoGam shot is; it is a shot that is given to a mother at 27 weeks and also at time of birth. This is done if the mother has a negative blood type and the father is a positive blood type, which could cause the baby to have a positive blood type. The shot is a precausion to the mother and any future baby to prevent the antibodies from treating the baby as an intruder and attacking it. So please pray for us as we go in for this appointment.
On a lighter note...I am approaching the point in my pregnancy where if I wanted to have a 3D Ultrasound done, we could schedule it within the next couple weeks. This is something that Don and I have discussed and decided not to do, due to insurance not paying for this procedure. A really good friend of mine, Jessica Winn Lillard, knew about the situation and wanted to be a DEAR friend. She has announced that she wants to take care of this ultrasound as a shower gift, so Don and I can experience this magical moment as parents!!!
Thank you so much Jess! You are such an amazing friend!!!

27 weeks. One more week and I'm at 7 months!!!

So here we are at my 27th week and I am starting to realize that this baby is coming in just a few short months. Talk about CRAZY!!! So we have been getting things ready for this little girl to be here. (Am I ready, NO!!! Is our house ready, just about!)
So let me update you on her room. In our house, we only have a two bedroom. We have our room and then we made the other room my office so I can work at home. Now that we have a baby on the way, we decided to make her room be a nursery/office. On one side of the room is my desk, a bookshelf and a file cabinet. On the other side of the room is going to be her side...her bed, changing table, rocking chair...you know, all the baby stuff. Well, to make this seem more of her room and not my office, we decided to put stripes on the wall where her bed is going to be. Her theme is going to be elephants and her colors are green, pink, white, and brown. This past week we had my Dad come up and help us paint "her side of the room." Here is a picture of what the finished project looks like.

photo by: a.nation

Today I'm 26 weeks along!

Today I am 26 weeks pregnant and 14 more weeks to go! WOW is that scary!!! This week Baby Nation is now a full 2 pounds and measures at 9+ inches long. Her eyes are beginning to open and is now able to see - though there's not much to see in her uterine of a home! She now has the sense of sight and hearing causing me to notice an increase in activity when she sees a bright light or hears a loud noise. (Although I haven't yet!)
Overall I am doing really well. Baby Nation is a lot more active now and you can see my belly move when she gives me those nice kicks and punches! I haven't been exercising as much as I was in the beginning. It has been too hot for me to walk, but I know that I need to get back into it. My next appointment is September 8th. At this appointment they are going to do a glucose screening test, which will determine if I have gestational diabetes. So pray for me during this time because I really don't want anything to be an issue at this point.
I will keep everyone updated on how things are going in the next week.

24 weeks!!!

So here I am guys at 24 weeks and growing like crazy! This week, Baby Nation is 1.5 lbs and about 8.5 inches in length. Her weekly weight gain is now about 6 ounces which is coming from accumulating baby fat, growing organs, bones, and muscles. By now her face is almost fully formed complete with eyelashes, eyebrows and a sprinkling of hair. (We are hoping for a red head folks!) My Mother is a red head, along with Don's Grandmother...so maybe Baby Nation will get the red genes!

23 weeks and a year older!

As most of you know, Don and I just got back from a well needed vacation to the beach. What a great time that was for us to spend some alone time together as seeing this will change in the near future. I did have a little trouble swelling while I was there, but that all went away once we got back to TN. I think it was just the hot weather and the long ride. I have grown, a lot, well it feels like a lot, while I was there. Although, I'm sure it didn't help that I DID NOT watch what I ate while I was there. I thought, "Hey, I'm on vacation! If I want a two scoop ice cream cone, then I'm gonna get it!" Probably not the best thing once I realized I had gotten bigger! HAHA, we'll see how much I have gained this month when I got to the doctor again next Monday.
This week I am 23 weeks, which puts me in my 6 month, according to my What To Expect When You're Expecting book. This month marks the last of the second trimester, which means I'm almost two thirds of the way there. (Which scares the crap out of me!) It also says that little Nation is around 8 inches long and just over a pound in weight and she will begin to pack on the pounds (including me!). HUH! But by the end of the month, baby Nation will be double the weight she is now.
August 2nd was my birthday, and if you know me...then you know that I LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!! This year I turned 25, hitting the half-way mark to 30, which I'm not too excited about! But none the less, it was my birthday. So seeing as I felt it was a big deal, Don made arrangements to invite my parents, my brothers family, his parents, his brothers family, and then a few of my friends (which Lori was the only one that was able to come) to go to the Olive Garden (which is my favorite place to eat) on Sunday night. We had a really good time visiting with the whole family together in one room along with their little ones. As I was sitting there I could not help but to thing that next year we would have one of our own, and I'll be turning 26!!! GOSH!! I got a few gifts from the family and then enjoyed an ice cream cake Don had ordered for me when we got home. All around it was a good birthday!