Belly/Doggie Seat

My dog, Bentley has made himself comfortable a couple of times on top of my belly. He doesn't seem to understand he's sitting on my baby, he just thinks I grew him a comfy seat. Good thing he's not very heavy.

Patsy decided she wanted in the picture.

Swine Flu

Well I contacted the Rutherford County Health Dept. about getting the H1N1 vaccine and even though they were telling the public they were all out, they had a few doses stashed away and they said I could come down and get one. I have had my doubts about getting the vaccine and would rather not have to deal with this kind of thing during my 1st pregnancy, but I decided the right decision for myself and my baby was to get the vaccine. I think the chance of getting anything bad from the vaccine is a lot less risky than if I were to actually come down with the H1N1 flu. I don't want to think about the possibility of getting sick and then going into labor or having to have a C-Section. So we'll see if I suffer any side affects, but I'm not too worried about it. If anything, I may have caught a disease from all the nasty people in the health dept. waiting room. Gross! I hate that place! Now, I just need to have my husband vaccinated so he doesn't get sick and pass it to the baby once he's here.

He's Dropping

I went to my OB appointment yesterday and found out that I am not dialated at all (no surprise), but as I had guessed Carter's head is bumped right against my cervix and that baby is riding low. If you don't believe me, just look at these two pictures taken just a week apart:

35 weeks

36 weeks

I think it's fair to say he's dropped a bit. Hopefully this will mean I'll have a quick and easy delivery. HAHAHAHA!

Coughing and Pre Term Labor

Is it possible for coughing to lead to pre-term labor? Because if it is, this kid is going to pop out of me any second. I've hit the 36 week mark today and I'm sicker than a dog. Well maybe not that sick, but I've got a pretty nasty cold-bug-thing going on. I have coughed so much in the last couple days I'm surprised this kid hasn't gotten tired of it and made his exit. Needless to say, being 8 months pregnant (or 9 depending on how you look at it) and having a cold is not fun! My joints were already starting to get achy from carrying my big butt around, but now they're really achy. On top of it all, I'm not sleeping well at all and I wake up about 8 - 10 times a night, so my body refuses to heal itself. I start my weekly OB appointments today, so I'm hoping they just tell me I'm already dialating and this baby will be here in a week or two. That'd be nice! I also wouldn't mind putting an end to the weight gain, so delivering early has another bonus.

Anyway, with that aside; I can't believe I will be a mommy in 4 weeks (give or take a few days)!!! That's just an amazing thing to take in. It seems like it was just yesterday that I read the positive sign on the pregnancy test and now my baby is almost here. As miserable as pregnancy is, it has flown by. I think the first trimester goes by fast, because you're usually half way through it before you even realize you're pregnant and the second trimester flies by, because it's so easy. The third trimester is where time begins to slow down a bit. Even then, it seems like I just hit the 28 week mark and now I'm already to 36 weeks. The car seats are in both cars and our hospital bags are packed. I have like 3 outfits packed for Carter even though I know he'll probably only wear one of them, but I couldn't help myself. I think I have everything I will need, but if anyone out there has some advice as to what to bring, please let me know. Thanks!

The Countdown Begins

So today marks 35 weeks into my pregnancy, which means I only have 5 weeks left until my due date. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by and the fact that I'll be a mommy in 5 weeks!!! (Give or take a few days) I'm really really excited about becoming a mom, but also still feel so unprepared. Everytime I say that I've got everything I need, I think of something else I've forgotten to pick up. For instance, I have a few pacifiers, but I do not have a single newborn pacifier. I think the ones that I do have are for 2 & 3+ months. Lord knows I am not going 2 months without putting a pacifier in that child's mouth.

I did finally purchase a little swing for Carter's sanity and mine. I've been reading "The Happiest Baby On The Block," and according to Dr. Karp "swinging" is a crutial part of the 5 S's that will make your baby happy. I still need to get some kind of noise machine that replicates the mother's womb and I've found a couple stuffed animals that do that, but I just haven't made a decision on which one to get yet.

Other than the last few things I still need to get, I guess I am as prepared for this little guy's arrival as I can be. I even put the carseat in Brett's truck already. I hung a little toy from each of the 2 carseats we have, but after thinking about that for a minute, I may just remove them. I don't think a fresh newborn is going to care anything about his little jitter pal, seeing how he's been in a dark whole for the past 9 months. It might actually upset him.

As far as having fears that I won't be a good mom or Brett won't be a good dad, I don't have any of those. I know I won't do everything perfect and I'll make a lot of mistakes, but that's just part of life. I really feel like Brett is embracing the fact that he's going to be a father and head of the household and is really stepping it up big time. Over the last few months his faith in God has grown stronger than I've ever seen it. For a long time I felt he just went along with what I believed because I had the more dominate personality and he just did what made me happy. Lately he has become so passionate and outspoken about his faith and what he believes in, he puts me to shame. He even bought an Ann Coulter book and loves sounding off about it and politics. I thought I was pretty bold about my conservative views, but he's really getting bold about it. But I just say all of this, because I am so impressed that he has chosen to stand strongly for what he believes in and has chosen a path for his family. I have no doubt that he's going to be a great dad.

So here we go. The countdown is on and I couldn't be any more excited about it. I just hope the next 5 weeks fly by rather than drag on.

1 year down, 74 more to go

Well, we made it!! Brett and I celebrated our 1st year of marriage on Sunday and I must say I can't believe how the time has flown by. We have been together for almost 6 years now and I have to say that the first year of marriage is the one year that flew by the fastest. We've had our fair share of bumps in the road along the way, but this past year has been amazing. We've never gotten along as well as we have since we got married. I have to say, we've accomplished a lot since last October and we've done a lot more growing up.



We had plans to hit up a pumpkin patch on Saturday, so we made our way to Walter Hill, TN (which is just a few minutes from our house) and found the smallest, most pathetic excuse for a pumpkin patch I've ever seen. They had awesome pumpkins though! But they didn't except debit cards and we didn't have cash, so they directed us to where we could find an ATM. We stopped at a little country store and when I say country, I mean COUNTRY! I thought we were in an episode of the Andy Griffith show. We stepped in and there were 2 old men sitting in the corner to the left of the door and there was another old man behind the cash register to the right of the door. We asked them if they had an ATM (I was embarrassed to even ask the question) and the guy says, "a what?!" An ATM, you know the machine that dispenses cash. He then told us to go down to Smokies and they've got one, but wasn't sure if it would have anything in it. So we ventured down to Smokies and sure enough they had an ATM, but there was no money in it. Go figure. Traveling to some of these little towns is like stepping back in to 1945. Not something I'm used to due to growing up in northern Indiana. So needless to say, we didn't get any pumpkins.

So Sunday, we went to church and then we were going ring shopping to buy me a replacement engagement band. My grandfather had sold us the stone for my engagement ring when we got engaged and we bought a band for it here in town. Well the band which was supposed to be white gold, turned yellow a month after we got it and the head didn't fit the stone, so they cut it down and in the process mangled it. Well we didn't have any luck finding a band or a jeweler that wanted to work on my ring, so we went baby shopping instead. We got a swing, pacifiers, bottle nipples, newborn chew toys, and some last minute items that we still needed. As Brett was unloading the stuff out of the cart onto the register, I had to laugh as he grabbed my nursing pads and just stared at them in confusion. He was a little embarrassed once he realized what he had been staring at for several moments. So now I can officially say, "we are set". I think. At this point in time I can not imagine anything else that we "need" for this baby. If he comes tonight, I am completely prepared for his arrival. I even have his diaper bag packed. So I will sit back and impatiently wait for his arrival in 6 weeks, give or take a day or two.

Anyway, we ended our night with a nice dinner at Red Lobster. My parents loaded us up with gift cards to Red Lobster, PF Changs, and Cold Stone, but we chose Red Lobster for dinner last night, because it was the closest to us. It was very nice. We also ate some of our cake top from the wedding earlier in the afternoon and I must say, it was better the first time around. I can't quite describe the flavor of a year old, frozen cake, but 'plastic' would probably be the best label for it. So here's to 1 year down and 74 more to go! Cheers!

Is growing more even possible?

I am amazed every week by the fact that I'm not done growing yet. Believe it or not this is me at 33 weeks and I still have 7 weeks to GROW. To say my eating habits have been not the best since I got pregnant would be an understatement. When you continue to gain weight regardless of what you do, it's hard to pass on the french fries and ice cream. This is what gaining 35lbs thus far looks like. Ain't it pretty?
P.S. My tummy is a little red do to the extreme scratching I did right before this pic was taken. Brett told me to stop before I started bleeding; but I think I'd rather bleed than itch this bad.

Oxymoron

Isn't it kind of an oxymoron to drive onto a semi-truck sales lot in a Smart car? Yeah, I thought so too.