Babymoon

BABYMOON: a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby. The term babymoon comes from the more traditional term honeymoon, which is a vacation taken by a newlywed couple after their wedding ceremony.

Josh and I took our babymoon this past weekend. We went to North Myrtle Beach. We stayed in an ocean front hotel, and even though our room was on the side of the building, we could still see the beach from our room. There is just something to waking up and opening up the curtains and seeing the ocean. The rip tide was really bad this whole weekend, so there was no swimming. The lifeguards only let you in to your knees. I am not much of a ocean girl anyway plus being pregnant, it really didn't effect me. Josh, however, loves to spend the whole day in the water. This time he had to just look at the big waves and imagine. We did take our chairs down to the water and spent a lot of time having the waves cool us off. This was officially our last vacation just the two of us without kids...bittersweet!



As soon as we got down to the beach, Josh was down checking out the water!



Just enjoying the sun from our little spot on the beach!


I had to get creative to get comfortable on the beach, I used many towels to prop myself and for the first time we brought chairs.


Just the two of us enjoying time on the beach! You wouldn't imagine the looks and comments I got from random people. It's a baby, people!


We also bought an umbrella, which I thoroughly enjoyed!


Caleb and I enjoying the shade!


It was a little on the hot side but the breeze was so refreshing.


Josh and I went to this really cool restaurant on Saturday Night. The atmosphere was great and we really enjoyed ourselves.


While we were waiting for our table we were relaxing on this picnic table swing thing. The weather was perfect and the patio overlooked the water.


It was an all you can eat buffet with crablegs! Yummy!


Did I mention there were crablegs!!?!?!?!?

My 29 week Belly

Things people are saying...

"Wow! You have really blossomed!"
-Blossomed? Really? Is that the new nice way to say you are huge? It doesn't offend me, however you say it, but its just really funny.

"You must be due soon"
-Nope...not until NOVEMBER!!!

"You will be here in a minute"
-My patients at work say this to me. First of all I really don't understand why people say in a minute meaning soon, just say soon! So I say back "in a long minute"!

"Why are you still working?"
-Again, they think that I am due any day now. But... "Momma has bills to pay!"

"You are HOW far along?"
-Yep, you heard me right not even 30 weeks yet!

"What are you growing in there?"
-My usual response to this one is either a "toddler" or a "linebacker". When I told the grocery guy a linebacker he said that would be good for the dad! WHAT??? What part of growing a linebacker is good for the dad...he apparently didn't think about the dad dealing with the mom's back while carrying the linebacker or that the linebacker would ever be coming out!

"That girl has poly too and her belly is huge" or "I got bad stretchmarks when I had poly"
-This is when I put my fingers in my ears and sing "lalalalalalalalalala, I can't hear you!"

Are you sure there is not another baby in there?!!?

So I am 29 weeks now and I am measuring 33.5 weeks! That sounds fun! What's even more interesting about this measurement is that the doctor that measured me yesterday is known for measuring SMALL! Oh great! But all in all my doctor visit went well, blood pressure, weight gain, and his heartbeat! The NST is looking better and better every week, which it is supposed to, but it's still fun to watch him mature in that way! Way to go little guy! One of my newest symptoms is that the top of my belly goes numb/burns. I asked the doctor about it. I was thinking that it was a nerve that baby was hitting, but he said that it's caused from the skin stretching. Clearly my skin is stretching over all of my belly so it's weird that it is only happening in one spot.

Best for the Children

All of us have watched the marriage of Jon and Kate Gosselin fall into an abyss that is somewhat expected and a terrible sight to see. As a newlywed (a little over 2 years) and expecting, I asked myself: what did they do or not do to make sure their marriage stay intact. I have come up with more than a few answers but one answer really sticks out in my head: we do what’s best for the children.

I wonder how much thought has really gone into those words. What is best for the children? I bet it’s not divorce. I bet it’s not seeing weaknesses that are never worked on. I bet it’s not seeing parents regularly get pushed to their limits and snap. My suspicion is it’s the children seeing a loving relationship between their parents. I bet it’s seeing integrity, virtue, and values that build, not tear down relationships.

Here’s the kicker, it’s so easy to focus on the children’s needs and wants, that we miss one of the fundamental building blocks for raising our children: building a strong marriage as a couple. We’re only pregnant and our sole focus is getting a healthy Leigh Anne and Caleb through the birth…and he’s not even born yet!

So, I leave you with two questions:

1. If you are a parent, what are you doing to keep your marriage first?
2. Would you as a community of folks who support us, keep Leigh Anne and I accountable to keeping our marriage first in spite of a culture that reinforces the “children first” mantra?

Agree? Disagree? Drop a line and let me know.

2 Thumbs Up!

Today was NST(nonstress test) #2. It went much better than last weeks. Words to describe his heartbeat that we are looking for to "pass" the test are reactive and reassuring. Today the nurse practitioner(NP) went to show the doctor my strip (a 30 minute tracing of the babies heartbeat) and when she came back I got a thumbs up and she said the doctor said that it was reactive! Yeah baby! She even said that he looked better than he did last week. The more that I thought about it- the more that makes sense. Last week, they laid me back in the recliner and hooked up the monitors. I immediately felt the need to start wiggling. I have never tried to remain still when I get the urge to wiggle. But I was trying to be a good patient, so even though I couldn't breath I just laid there on my back. After I got to the point of feeling like I was going to pass out, I finally said something to the NP, and sat up quickly. Josh said that I got white as a sheet. I was really close to passing out. Apparently with all the weight of the fluid and the baby, it put too much pressure on my main artery that runs down the back of my belly. So it would make sense if I didn't feel good because of circulation issues than little guy wouldn't have either, making his strip not look so good. It didn't look bad just not good. After my little incident last week, I finished the test on my left side. So this week we started the test on my side. He was the wiggle worm this week! We both felt much better!

P.S The bold terms are medical terms that make it a whole lot easier to explain things if I can use them...so you get a vocabulary lesson while reading our blog!

Pitter Patter of Little Feet

So I thought that "pitter-patter of little feet" was talking about after the baby is born. But I have decided that its means now...when he rubs your ribs raw with his little feet. I do love feeling those little feet with my hands it can be quite painful on my ribs, because he stays on the same spot, usually the left side. I do love to feel his movements and even though I won't miss much about being pregnant, his sweet little movements I will! I also love to share this with Josh. It is so special to have Josh lay his hand on my belly and feel our son! We can get to giggling sometimes because of his crazy movements.

I would put a picture of his feet, but I don't have one.
So this cute profile one with his strong legs will have to do!

Oh and by the way: I passed the glucose test "with flying colors"! Yeah for good news! The nurse was so sweet when she called. I told her how happy I was because I couldn't take any more bad news this week. She reassured me and said that they would be monitoring him closely and "hey whats a few more ultrasounds to see your little baby"! Thank you to everyone for your prayers and encouragement, it has meant a lot!

Look how cute!

27 weeks

We went to the doctor for our normal 27 week check-up as well as a ultrasound to check on why I am measuring big. Also added on to that was my sugar test to check for gestational diabetes(they check everyone for this). We haven't found out those results yet though.

• Baby weighs 2 lbs 14 oz, which is the 95 percentile. I asked the doctor to guess what that would mean for delivery weight and he said 9lbs, then added "I don't think we are looking at having a 10 lb baby", OH good, glad that was cleared up! So looks like I don't need any newborn clothes.
  
• Amniotic fluid level is really high, >97%, the doctor says its almost always means nothing but there is always a chance of there being a problem, so they are going to be monitoring us really close. I will have NST (nonstress test-a monitor for baby's heartbeat) done every week.
• Hemoglobin level is 10.4, which is low, so I will start taking Iron every day as well. My co-workers were guessing this past week that I was anemic because I was more pale than usual(yes apparently you can be more pale than my usual!)
• I am now only measuring 2 weeks ahead as far as my belly size. My last doctors appointment I was measuring 3 weeks ahead.
• My weight gain was right on target this time too. I was worried that I was going to continue with the weight gain that I had last time, which if I stayed on that curve I would be the size of a bus by delivery.
• We got a really cute picture of Baby Caleb's face during the ultrasound. When we get a chance we will scan it so you can see it! Josh thinks that he looks like him already, I think he just looks like the cutest little baby!