Three showers in three days!!!

On Saturday I had my second shower.  This one was given by three of my mom's friends.  It was a brunch and it was wonderful!  We had biscuits with ham, yummy grits, fruit salad, artichoke dip, and a rotel spinach dip.  Literally makes me hungry thinking about it :)  They had beautiful flower arrangements all over the house.  My family and Lonnie's family were there, my mom's friends, and the girls that I work with.  It was a great turnout and there were SO MANY GIFTS.  I was seriously overwhelmed!

My niece and nephew (Syble and Collier) were at the shower.  Collier was so not wanting to be there so Lonnie came after he got off work and played with Collier.  He was super excited to see Lonnie until he realized there weren't leaving!  I tried to get Lonnie to sit and help me open the gifts but he was having NONE of that..HA!  

And now for a picture overload :)

These were the napkins...how cute!

 She helped me open all of my gifts...and did such a great job.

 This is a Christmas dress from Syble.  She has one just like it and so does her other cousin.  So at Christmas all the cousins will get their pictures made in the matching dresses.  She was so excited to tell me all of that after I opened it.  

 Blanket that my mother-in-law made...this is the first thing she has ever crocheted! (Does that spelling seem weird to anyone else?!!?!?)

 monogrammed diaper bag from my Grand!!!

 Those are baby TOMS people!

 super cute onesie with diaper cover and bow :)

 This is what one of the hostesses gave my mother for her birthday...Now baby girl will have a place to sleep when she goes to Granny Diannie's!  (Not sure that is what we are going to call her but cute anyway!)

 Grand, Aunt Jerry (Grand's sister), and me

 all of my fam :)

 best mommy ever :)

 The hostesses with me and my mom and my aunt

Marilee, mom, Beth, me, Casey, and Jenni

 Mother-in-law, Syble, me and mom

 This is my BFF Sarah.  Seriously I don't know what I would do without her.  She is the best and I love her so much!  

On Sunday night I had a small pajama shower!  Hello!  It was so great to not have to worry about something to dressy to wear!  This shower was given by the wife of one of my husband's partners.  All the other wives were invited so there was a total of about 10 of us.  We sat outside and it was perfect weather!  She even brought her glider out and that is what I sat in all night...SO COMFY!

I look so huge and puffy in this picture!!!  And you can see my pink bra and my white belly...WTH??

This was her youngest daughter telling me to lift up my shirt and take the baby out.  It was super cute!!

I had such a nice time at this shower.  It was really laid back and intimate.  They all brought me their favorite book that they read to their children (I am the only one without kids) so her library has already been started!  My favorite part though was this.  The hostess had a piggy bank and she passed it around and everyone shared a parenting tip or any parenting advice with me and then they put their change in the bank.  It was so sweet to hear what they all had to say.  The ages of these women range from my age to my parents age.  So to hear the advice of a woman who just sent her child off to college and then the advice of a woman whose baby is about to be one was very helpful.  It was also very emotional and I cherish everything they said to me.  

On Monday night I went to my monthly bunco group and they threw me a surprise shower!  It was so sweet I almost cried!  Here are some pics of that.  We forgot to take pictures until the end so there aren't very many!

 Yes, I was as tired as I look in this picture.  I had a long weekend and then I had worked all day....I look AWFUL!

So there you have it!  I have spent this entire week washing baby clothes and organizing all the wonderful things we were given.  We are so blessed!  I am so thankful that we have so many people who love us and our baby girl.  

If you made it through all of that you are a trooper and thank you :)

Kelly Belly-35 weeks

How Far Along:  35 weeks!!!

Size of Baby: I think it said she was the size of a honeydew melon....I'm thinking she is about 6 lbs...

Maternity Clothes: what do you think?

Weight Gain:  +3 more pounds the past two weeks.  So that puts me at +28 overall

Sleep: hit or miss.  I didn't sleep well last night but I can sure nap like crazy during the day!

Best Moment of the Week:  Lots of great moments this week!  It was super busy!  We had maternity pictures on Friday which went great.  I really hope we got some cute ones.  I had a shower on Saturday and then another one on Sunday night.  Sunday afternoon my dad took me to get a new camera (EEK!).  On Monday night I went to bunco and they threw me a surprise shower!  So I had three showers in three days!  Is that not insane?!?!?!  So I am going to spend this week getting all of that stuff organized...SO MUCH STUFF....

I also got her bedding in yesterday and put it on her crib...OH SO CUTE!!!  As soon as I get all the stuff from my showers organized I am going to post pics...

I (or my mom and aunt) finished the nightstands for her room...pics soon!

Movement:  Yes..I can tell she is running out of room because I keep getting kicked in the ribs :)

Symptoms:  all the same really.  I am pretty exhausted these days...I have a good few hours in the morning to get stuff done and then I rest.  Same thing in the afternoon. 

My body just hurts.  It takes a while to get out of bed at night to go pee.  I just ache all over and it is hard to get going.  I can't open or close my fingers when I wake up.  They are so sore and swollen in the morning.  They get a little better throughout the day but not much...such a weird feeling.  I haven't really had any swelling in my feet...just my hands.  I did look in the mirror this morning and realize that I had a double chin...where did that come from?  

I also have started to feel like she is going to just fall out.  Seriously!  She just feels sooooo low!  I went to the doctor yesterday and told him about that and when he checked me he said oh yes!  She is super low!  This is a good thing because when my cervix gets ready, her head pressing on it will help it to dilate faster.  I am all for a faster labor :)  Her head being this low does mean more trips to the bathroom with not much resulting.  Just a little dribble...pretty disappointing when you've spent 10 minutes just getting out of the bed.  Oh well...it is all worth it and I would do it a million times over to get her here safely!  

There was no change in my cervix...just her head being really low.  They did the Group B strep test yesterday as well.  

Oh and my belly button is starting to poke out a little bit.  It does poke out when I have a contraction or when she pushes behind it.  But now the rim is starting to poke out all the time...

What I Miss:  nothing.  I am trying to enjoy these last few weeks of pregnancy even though it is getting uncomfortable.  I wanted this so bad for so long and I am going to miss it so much.  I know it will be better to snuggle with her but I have really enjoyed pregnancy.  I can't believe it is almost over.

Food Cravings/Aversions: nothing new...I have had a ton of sweets this weekend with the three showers...

Gender: princess B

What I'm Looking Forward to: getting all of the stuff organized from the showers.  I only have five more days of work left until my due date.  I usually work two days a week but I am down to just one day a week because our PRN girl needed some hours and I was happy to give mine up :)

We are going to get the things off of our registry that we have to have and that we didn't get at our showers this weekend.  I will be happy to get all of the stuff and then just relax and wait for her to come...

Weekly Wisdom: try not to stress or worry too much in these last weeks.  Just enjoy having your baby girl so close....

Milestones:  35 weeks!  As in 35 days left!  We are getting close close close!  I packed our hospital bag yesterday....what a weird feeling!  I am also now going to the doctor every week.  It is so crazy that after worrying this whole pregnancy about keeping her in there and begging my cervix to stay put I am now wanting my cervix to change so we can get her out.  Sometimes it feels so surreal.....

And here are a few belly pics from this week.....

And here is a little comparison....31 weeks to 35 weeks.  Notice I don't have on my rings now....they so don't fit :(

Kelly Belly-34 weeks

This is two days late....I'm tired and lazy :)

How Far Along:  34 weeks!  That mean only 6 weeks left...OMG!  So much to do!

Size of Baby: she is the size of an average cantaloupe and is getting close to 5 pounds

Maternity Clothes: always

Weight Gain:    +25 so far.  I go back in a week so we will see...

Sleep: ya just never know how sleep will go.  Some nights I sleep really hard and other nights I stay in the living room for three hours unable to fall asleep.

Best Moment of the Week:  Collier and Syble (niece and nephew) came to our house this weekend and that was fun.  My husband has been taking really good care of me this week.  He gets me water so I don't have to get up, runs me a bath when I am having contractions, rubs my back, etc.  I love him so much!

Movement:  yes...all the time.  I seriously love it and I know that I will miss it so much when she gets here.  But I'm thinking snuggling with here will be more fun :)

Symptoms:  Holy Reflux Hell...that is all I have to say about that..

I am exhausted most of the time.  I have a few good hours in the morning and then it is time for me to take it easy.

I swear my belly button is going to pop out at any second.  It was stable for a while but this past week it is looking really funny!  It is basically flat.  When I have a contraction or when she pushes really hard behind it it sort of pops out.  I'm interested to see what happens....

I have had two not so fun little episodes this week.  One was last Saturday night.  I was making dinner and I just all of the sudden started having contractions.  They were more than I thought I should be having so I went to lay down and started timing them.  They were very irregular but I had about 12-14 in an hour and a half.  I couldn't decide whether to call the dr or not.  Thank goodness they went away just as fast as they came on.  This same thing happened last night.  Only this time they were more regular.  I had about 6 that were 5 minutes apart...I was on the verge of freaking and calling but then they just stopped.  It is so weird!  I think that I just need to realize that I am over 8 months pregnant and I need to be resting.  So that is what I am trying to do.  One of these days very soon they aren't going to just stop and it will be time for her to arrive!  

What I Miss:  nothing really...I wish my esophagus wasn't on fire but I was used to that even before pregnancy.  

Food Cravings/Aversions: I still love fruit.  But this week I have had WAY too many of those pillsbury orange danishes....Oh my...they rock!  Other than that I am just really hungry all the time. 

Gender: Little Miss B

What I'm Looking Forward to:  I have a busy weekend ahead!  Tomorrow morning is maternity pictures, then Saturday morning I have another shower, and Sunday evening I have another small shower.  I am going to try to rest in between all of that!  

I am also looking forward to getting her bedding in.  I got the email yesterday saying that it had shipped!  Should be here on Monday...WOO HOO!!!!

Weekly Wisdom: Ask for help if you need it.  

Milestones:  making it to 34 weeks is HUGE.  I can't believe we are this close.  I am getting so excited to meet her and see her little face!

Here is a belly pic from this week.  I feel like it is expanding on the sides....

And these are in my bathing suit.  We didn't go on the boat while the kids were here but we did go down to the dock and let them swim.  I actually went outside this weekend because it wasn't 115!!!!

Childbirth Classes

We finished up our childbirth classes last week.  I wanted to do a quick post for those out there wondering if they want to take the classes or not.  


I am glad that we did them.  If I had it to do over again I would have taken the weekend class and not the 5 week course.  I chose to do the 5 week one because I wasn't sure what weekend my husband and I both would be available.  He had two call weekends, I had one call weekend, and I knew I was going to have at least one shower in August.  So I figured going on Monday nights would be easier as far as scheduling.  


There was a lot of stuff that she talked about that I already knew...probably about 60%-70% or so.  There were multiple times when I thought....people don't already know this?!?!?


But there were some things that I did like hearing about.  It was good to know how this hospital works and what their protocols are for things like getting out of bed, epidurals/pain meds, catheters, breastfeeding, pacifiers in the nursery, etc.  She was very reassuring when it comes to true labor/false labor and wondering whether or not your water broke.  She made me feel much more comfortable calling labor and delivery to talk to the nurse and ask questions if I needed to.  


Our last class was probably the best one.  She talked all about what they will do to the baby once she is born, what they send us home with, and what products to use or not use.  I might be the only one but did you know you shouldn't use baby powder??  Apparently it has talc in it and that can be very dangerous if inhaled by the baby.  There are some that are cornstarch based and those are ok.  


So, all in all, I am glad we did the class.  I would do it again.  There was a ton of info that I already knew and feel like most people already know.  But there is a reason she talks about the things that she talks about.  She has been doing the class a long time so I am sure there are people that need to hear the most basic things.  Ya know, like don't put a plastic baggie over your baby's head.  I'm kidding, but really, things as obvious as that!  


I have my breastfeeding class next Thursday.  I am really looking forward to that.  I have been reading but I really feel like I don't know a thing about it!  


Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!  I am going to try to blog more often in the next couple of weeks....I have a ton of posts in draft that I just need to finish up!