Finally at the end

I am 39 weeks, 3 days pregnant and will be having my son in just two days. Yep, two days. April 13, 2011 at 5:00 am I will be checked in to begin my induction.

I had my 39 week appointment and it went ok. I learned 4 things:

1. My weight has not changed (yay!)
2. My blood pressure is "too high" (b00!)
   
3. I am between 1 and 2 cm dialated and 70% effaced (yay!)
   
4. I will be induced on Wednesday mainly due to my severe fatigue and high blood pressure (yay!)

Overall, I am pleased. Dr. D sent me home for good due to my blood pressure and just wants me to rest for the next 2 days. I'm ok with this and am ready for the next chapter to begin.

All along I had said no induction, but I now am eating my words. I am tired and ready. I feel like my BP is high because of my fatigue and lack of rest and sleep. There is no one to blame, nothing to point to, just plain old fatigue. I just can't do it anymore.

So, what do I do for the next 2 days? I am going to rest, spend some quality time with my sweet dogs, get the bags officially packed, the house cleaned and make sure I am totally ready for this new person in our life. I am trying hard not to stress about this change, the fact that we will have lots of people in our house, the need to talk to people constantly and to change my very private world to a more open one. I can do it, I think, maybe.

I'm so excited, Jerry Michael will be here so soon!!

"No progress"

Yep, no progress. Dr. D said I am still where I was last week (1 centimeter and thick) and that just makes me mad! I was so hoping things were moving along.

Here's the thing - I'm not tired of being pregnant, I'm tired of being exhausted with no real reason. I have loved pregnancy up until about 2 weeks ago. My feet stay swollen 24/7. My body throbs with pains. I can't sleep more than 2 hour stretches because of needing to pee and all the body pains. I have the sinus crud with no real way to cure it. I don't feel like I can do it anymore. My will-power is gone. My strength is gone. My stamina is gone. I just want to have Jerry and be a mommy. That's all I want.

So, the plan (what little plan there is), I go back next Monday (39 weeks 3 days) and get checked again. If there is significant progress, we will talk induction. If there isn't, then we continue to wait it out.

Tell me folks, what will make Jerry come a little quicker. I know sex, I know walking and cleaning, I know all the acupressure points. What worked for you or someone you know?

37 weeks

Look, I'm actually updating soon after an appointment.

I had my first "internal" appointment and all went well. I am "1 and thick" which is pretty decent for 37 weeks. Basically that means that I am one centimeter dilated and my cervix is still thick. I have been having braxton hicks contractions daily for about 2 weeks and have been wondering how thing were starting to progress.

My only complaint is that I tested positive for Group B Strep and that may hinder my "going natural" plans, but oh well. Maybe it just isn't in the cards for us. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Dr. D didn't give any kind of estimate, but then again, he isn't that kind of doctor and I am ok with that.

I will try to update often so that you all will know what's going on with Jerry and me.

Nearing the end

Today I am 36 weeks and 1 day pregnant and scared to death. I honestly thought I would be the pregnant lady that would be cool as a cucumber and be sitting on ready. However, I am not. I am scared, nervous, and anxious.

I'm scared that I'm not as brave and strong as I think I am. I haven't told a ton of people this, but my plan is to go through labor naturally. I don't want any drugs, I just want to do it on my own and know that I can really do this. But, my brain is screaming "YOU ARE INSANE!!!"

I'm nervous that I don't really know what to do with an infant. I have my BS is child development and can rattle off all kinds of interesting information on child rearing and education, but not mothering. I want the best for Jerry and I want everything to be perfect. Is that even possible?

I'm so anxious that I won't know when labor has actually started. About a week or so ago I started having some pretty good braxton hicks contractions and they honestly make me uneasy. A "WTH is that?" kind of feeling. My poor friends are being inundated with texts and emails of "what is this?" "is this normal?" I know this is all part of it, but whoa, am I ready?

I know I can do this, I know I will be a good mother and I know our house is ready, but I'm just so nervous. Who knew, huh?

The nursery

I'm going to do two posts, but this one is going to be centered around our (beautiful) nursery. I think it is just about finished. The only thing left is to hang his name on the wall above his crib and to hang some hand-painted pictures in the room, but I will probably do that this weekend or very soon (since we are quickly running out of time).

So, here it is. I am so pleased with it. I just love the way it turned out.

This is the view from the door. You can see the rocker and the antique hutch. The rocker originally belonged to Jeremiah's great-grandfather and the hutch came from Jeremiah's Aunt Beverly who is an antique dealer. You can also see the toy box which was made by my dad many years ago.

This is the other side of the room. You can see the crib, which is a Bonavita. You can see the medicine cabinet that came from an old pharmacy and the church pew. The blanket hanging on the back was hand knitted by Jeremiah's step grandmother.

A better view of the hutch and church pew. Can you tell we (well, I) really like elephants?

This is the view going out the door. More elies! The sign over the door says "hello little one."

The wall over the crib. We decided to put our maternity pictures over the crib. I wanted to do something a little unusual and thought that having some pics of us during this special time would be great. The mirror is an antique that Jeremiah refurbished for me.

The crib! The bedding is JJ Cole and we got it for $30. It was our first craigslist find and I have to say that I am in love with this. Also, here's a fun story for later. Jeremiah called the lady about the bedding and discovered that the lady selling it was the original owner of our house. Small world, huh?!

So, what do you think? Like I said, I love it. I am getting so excited to have Jerry here to enjoy it also.

February recap

Wow, February was a really busy month and I absolutely neglected my blog. Sorry folks.

In a quick fashion, here is what our month looked like:

• February 1st - my shadow at work started, which isn't what I expected it to be.
• February 5th - prenatal massage, the best thing ever in the whole world.
• February 6th - maternity pictures, Erin Hollis (Lens Envy) did the best job.
• February 7th - meet with Birmingham Pediatrics to help choose a pediatrician. I'm very impressed.
  
• February 9th and 23rd - 30 and 32 week appointments, everything is progressing great.
• February 19th - Preparing for Parenthood Class, we now know everything there is to know about raising a baby - YEAH RIGHT!!
• February 25th - Baby Shower thrown by 3 great friends.
  
• February 28th - ended the month with a stomach virus from HELL!! I honestly thought I was dying. It was terrible.

So, like I was saying, February was really busy. I'm still feeling great, so this update is just going to be short.

I will come back in the next few days and update more.

1st Doctor's Appointment in the 3rd Trimester

Yesterday, January 26th, I had my first prenatal appointment in the third trimester and it went well, as usual. Granna (my mom) went with me, she was able to hear his little heartbeat and meet my wonderful doctor. We are getting so close.

Here are the stats:

• Blood Pressure - "excellent" (I always forget to ask what it actually is, though)

• Jerry's Heart rate - 170

• Measuring - 30 weeks - As of yesterday, I was 28 weeks 5 days; which means I am measuring a little over a week ahead

Mom remembered to ask about whether Dr. D felt that Jerry had flipped yet (thanks Mom). He said that he felt like he had because of where the heartbeat was, but wasn't too concerned about it yet and said he wouldn't be until we hit 36 ish weeks.

Everything is still looking great and I am feeling pretty good myself. My only major complaint is back pain and lack of sleep. But, hey, what's a girl do?

26-27 Weeks

Hope you are all enjoying your 2011! Ours is starting off just right.

You see, here in Alabama, we don't get a lot of snow and when we do it is usually a huge mess. Well, on January 9th, we had a "Winter Storm" come through that brought tons of ice and a nice little mixture of snow. We went to bed that evening with the sound of ice hitting the windows and snow on the ground. When we woke up, it was just a 3 inch layer of solid ice on the grass, the roads and anything else that was outside. IT WAS A MESS! It was pretty, but oh so nasty. Here are some pictures of our yard.

Back Yard:


Front Yard:



Looking at the neighbors yard:



As you can see, the road and driveways were iced over, which meant Monday and Tuesday, we were completely iced in. We didn't leave the house until Tuesday afternoon and that was just to go get paint (post about that later). Fun stuff, I tell ya. I have no clue as to how people in the north and east deal with this white stuff all the time.

Now, on the updates about Jerry. That's the best part, right?

On the 12th, I had my last appointment as a 2nd trimester girl. I am now on to the every-two-week appointments. The check up went well. I had the 1 hour glucose and passed with flying colors. The result was 117. Also, they checked my weight, BP and all the usual stuff. I am down 2 pounds, but Dr. D is not worried about that because I gained a lot in the beginning and am just starting to level off. We won't go into how much I have gained total, that isn't necessary. My blood pressure was fine and Jerry's heart rate was 163

That boy is a mover and a shaker. I feel him constantly and am pleased to say that as of yesterday, I now feel up right under my ribs. Oh the horror stories I have heard about babies and ribs, but hopefully he will keep away for awhile. I'm still not sure if he has flipped yet and I would be willing to say that he has not. I'm not going to worry about it until Dr. D does.

I guess that pretty much updates everything for now. We are just about finished with the nursery and when we are done with that, I will tell all about it.

Until next time, stay warm everyone!

I love being pregnant...

There is one thing I can say about being pregnant, it has made me a much more positive person. I don't know if it is just that things seem to be going our way, knowing that I accomplished this or just the hormones, be either way - I like it!

I was just thinking of all the things I like about being pregnant and thought I would share, since I'm on a positivity kick. (This list is in no particular order)

1. I love feeling his movements and kicks
2. I love watching my belly grow
3. I love my pregnant body
4. I love when people ask me about my pregnancy
5. I love telling people that I'm having a boy
6. I love hearing my mom talk about my pregnancy and knowing how much she already loves him
7. I love how womanly I feel
8. I love feeling connected to my friends who have children of their own - it's like an a new initiate into an elite club
9. I love when Jeremiah wants to talk about Jerry's future and planning fun things for him
10. I love that my house will be full in just a few months.

All in all, I just love it!

Reminiscing (very long)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I got up this morning and knew I needed to do a blog post, because, well I haven't been very good at it lately. So, I sat and thought about what I wanted to post about. I thought "it would be neat to do a decade in review" and realized that a decade is a long time and most people probably wouldn't care to read that. So...

Oh, how about a "review of the years since Jeremiah and I met?" Hey, that could be interesting. A lot has happened since 2007. So, I am going to start at the year before and work my way up.

2006 - The year that was supposed to be nothing too exciting that turned into a year of change and heartache. In May I graduated from college with my BS in Family and Consumer Sciences. I moved to Birmingham in June and got my first big girl job as a lead teacher for a Pre-K class. Nothing about the beginning of this year was that grand and then October came. I was engaged and knew what was going to be happening in the years to come. That is until October 16th, my world changed with a simple phone call from my then-fiance. He was unhappy and ready to call it quits and he did. An eight year relationship was over. What do I do now?
2007 - The year of change. Things got bigger (namely my cup size, lol), I started to party a little and become more outgoing. I was really happy and loved life. March 1oth, a cute guy walked up to me and asked if he could buy me a drink. I said "sure, how about a bud select" and he came back with a mich ultra. We both knew it was wrong and laughed it off. Skip to March 20th and we are on our first date at CCF talking and closing the place down. Jeremiah was so easy to talk to. So nice, so different. I knew he was something special. by the end of this year, I had decided that I didn't want to teach anymore and changed career fields abruptly.
2008 - Jeremiah and I had begun living together, were totally in love and really enjoying our time together. August 8th (08/08/08), he proposed and that was the beginning of a wonderful whirlwind.

2009 - A year of happiness, growth and loss. May 2nd, we got married and it was wonderful. We had our own little tiny family of us and Savannah. We got back from our honeymoon and began talking about what to do next. What big changes we wanted to take. I said "I want a baby, a house and a new - in that order." Jeremiah said "I want to buy a house and go from there." So, in August we put a contract on a house, in October we started talking babies. November 6th, we closed on our house and were so proud of what we had done. November 17th, we found out I was pregnant. Life seemed so full! Then came December. December 10th we found out I was miscarrying and on December 15th I had my first D&C and was devastated. The year started out exciting and ended terribly.

2010 - So many things happened this year. To fill my void, Jeremiah and I decided to add a different kind of baby, our sweet Molly Ann. It really did help to have something new to take care of and love. By April, I was pregnant again. I just knew this was going to be the one. This baby had to stick. Boy was I wrong. I moved on, but fell into a deep depression and didn't know how to get out. I began seeing someone in May and worked through my sadness and sense of failure. Jeremiah and I called off TTC between May and August and were just going to wait it out. However, it's funny what God has in store. August 8th (yep, two years after getting engaged), I found out I was pregnant for the third time. I cried and cried and cried. I was so scared. But look, this baby stuck! We are going to have a baby boy! A year that began in sadness has ended in such happiness and excitement. I just can't believe it.

2011 - The year of the baby! Jerry Michael is expected to arrive in less that 15 weeks from today. I really can't believe that 2011 is going to be such a HUGE year for the Watts household.

Happy New Year, again. May this year bring you joy and everything your heart desires.