Latest update- 38weeks 6 days

Had another appt this morning.... same old same old.
Check for swelling- i dont have any (although this week I can no longer wear my wedding ring) Blood pressure- staying the same.
Baby's heartbeat- still good- 152 bpm
Uterus growth- not much changes anymore
Baby's position- head is coming way down- probably why I can't move without feeling like i'm going to split in two.
Dilation? yup- 3 cm

So, still nothing, just continuing to play the waiting game. Will update more when something changes. Next appt- next week.

Barometric pressure change

There's a small barometric pressure change coming beginning of next week, so i'm hoping that it will start labor! :)

With each passing day, i'm beginning to think that Jadon was born early because of the stress I was under from my job during the last few months of him being in-utero.

Anyways, here's another belly picture. Last one we did was 3 weeks ago, and I thought for sure it would be the last one, so you can imagine the shock i'm feeling that we were able to take another one! As you can see, my shirts are all getting way too small, and I constantly have to make sure they are covering my big belly! Apparently Jadon wanted to be in the picture posing like mommy ;)

38 weeks and 4 days!!

Nothing

Wish I could tell you all that i'm having contractions, or that my water broke, but I can't. Nothing has changed. I had an appt tuesday, they didn't check me for dilation or anything since I havent been having any contractions. But, the doctor did feel that the babys head had dropped really low into my pelvis. She seemed surprised and asked if I was feeling pressure down there.... I havent noticed any addition pressure... I've got a bowling ball inside of me, so obviously there's pressure down there all the time, but havent really felt that its been worse.
So, thats the only thing thats changed. I keep thinking that any day she'll be here... but at the same time, it doesnt feel like she's ever coming.
I remember about 2 months ago, I was reading a blog of a lady who was 38 weeks pregnant... her second child was born premature like Jadon, and she thought for sure that #3 would be born early as well. However, there she was in her 38th week, and no sign of the baby coming yet. I remember reading about how the mom was feeling pretty down being so far with no sign of the baby coming yet. I couldnt understand it then, but I can now!!!! My bags have been packed for a month... both Derek and I thought she'd be here by now. Its hard to wait, especially since I'm just growing increasingly moody and uncomfortable... and time seems to be standing still. I keep reminding myself that the longer shes in there, the better off she will be.

Still going.....

Here we are, tomorrow will be 38 weeks. I thought for sure i'd have had her by now!
I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with each passing day (each passing hour!) Heartburn is in full force, and even Zantac is only partially helping now. And my back and feet are hurting after only being on my feet for a little bit. My mid-section aches- hips, groin, etc. which makes it hard to walk like a human. Totally understand why pregnant women waddle now! Its not comfortable to do much of anything... sitting, standing, laying down, etc. I'm getting increasingly irritable with not being able to do anything. My flower beds are littered with weeds, and it drives me nuts that I can't bend over to pick them!!! I've got my work cut out for me next spring! Actually, i'm just getting increasingly irritable - period. I know i'm whining, but i'm soooooooooooo uncomfortable!!!!!!! :) I'm sooooooooo ready to have this baby out of my belly, and into my arms!

Nothings changed yet, as far as I know. No contractions, although i'm getting a few cramps here and there on a daily basis now.
Tonight we went for a walk.... my hope is to get things moving a little! I doubt its going to work, and i'm afraid this little one is feeling comfy and cozy in there and isnt wanting to come out!

I really have nothing to talk about because i'm feeling very cranky and irritable lately! I hate feeling this way when I know there are women out there who would give anything to be in this position...however, i'm convinced that if they actually were in this position, and this uncomfortable, they too would be cranky and feeling guilty for being cranky! :) I think its just something that happens when you get to the 9th month of pregnancy, because I never made it to the 9th month with Jadon, and I was still relatively comfortable with him. It wasn't until this 37th week that I have REALLY started feeling miserable.

Time to come out little girl!!!!!!!

Full term!!

Its official! We are full term now! We made it! The progesterone shots seemed to do their job!
Also, its wednesday today, and I don't have to get poked in the hip!! How exciting!! However, I did get a flu shot yesterday. The doctor was joking that I just couldnt go a week without getting a shot.
Anyways, we had another weekly appt yesterday, all looks good. Blood pressure still holding steady, growth is right on track. Haven't had any contractions (that i'm aware of) however, I never felt any with Jadon until I was actually in labor.... so, who knows! I don't seem to be a person that notices having braxton hicks contractions.... only thing is i've had cramping here and there over the last couple months, but in the last couple weeks they've been more frequent, and almost every day i'll have at least one now.
So, now we just wait! Its weird... every night I go to bed thinking "could this be the night? could tomorrow be the day???" Never got to play the waiting game with Jadon, so this is new to us! Derek told me tonight he's getting nervous/excited thinking about the birth and introducing Jadon to his baby sister.

Ten wonderful years!

Ten years ago today, Derek and I became a pair! Hard to believe its been 10 years already, but at the same time it feels like we've been together forever (and thats not a bad thing!)

Its weird to look back 10 years ago and see where we've come. Ten years ago, we had no idea we'd be getting married, switching jobs several times, going to Hawaii and Florida together, be pregnant 6 times, lose 4 babies, buy a house, buy an SUV that we LOVED... sell the SUV that we loved, have a beautiful son who we adore and expecting a daughter any time. Of course, there's many many many more things that have happened between all of that, but those are the bigger events in our life together over the last 10 years!

Through all the ups and downs that come with every relationship, I can honestly say that I love Derek more and more every day, especially when I look at what a wonderful husband he is, the fantastic father that he has become, and a hard worker who supports his family the best that he can.

I love you Derek!

Its done!

The progesterone shots are all finished! All 20 of them!!!! I don't know who's more relieved, me or Derek! Now we don't have to dread our Wednesday nights! ;)
So far, all the extra progesterone i've been prescribed over the last 8 months has done its job!!! I couldn't be more thankful!! Now I just have to wait for my progesterone levels to drop, and then our little girl will be on her way!

36 weeks!!

Well, we made it to 36 weeks! Now i'm ok with her coming any time!
Had my first weekly appt today, and everything is going good. Measuring just about right, and the doctor guesstimated that the baby weighs close to 6 pounds, but still in the 5 pound range. Of course, thats just a complete guesstimate! That weight is completely average for 36 weeks, so she's on track to being a normal sized baby! Phew! I dont think i'll have to worry about delivering an 8+ pound baby! In fact, I feel that shes going to be pretty tiny. I feel much smaller than I did with Jadon. And with Jadon, they were predicting he would be a big guy of 8-9 lbs.
Of course, it also depends on when she comes! If she comes this week (like Derek is certain is going to happen) then she'll definately be tiny!!
Anyways, as I was saying, everythings looking good! Doctor expects that i'll have a really fast labor though, since Jadon's was only 5 hours. Derek and I are a little nervous about doing this the normal way- not being in the hospital already when I go into labor, but being at home when labor starts, like most people! We are both starting to feel nervous! Every day I think to myself, "today could be the day!" And it makes me instantly nervous!

At the risk of sounding like more of a germ freak than I already am, i'd like to remind everyone who plans to come visit us after our little lady is born, please remember to wash your hands thoroughly before holding her. Also, now is a good time for everyone to try to stay as healthy as possible, and if youre sick, or have been exposed to someone who is sick, please stay away. I know this sounds rude, but after everything we've been through to get to this point, I dont want to have something happen to her because she caught some kind of bug from someone. So please, use common sense.

Just so everyone knows ahead of time, we have chosen not to have anyone in the delivery room with us, other than the doctors and nurses. After she's born, we'll have Jadon come in the room with us for awhile so as a family we can get to know our new edition. When we are ready, we'll let everyone else come in. This was our plan for when we had Jadon too, but things didn't work out quite that way since he came early and ended up in the NICU. Really hoping that this time around we can do things "normally"- normal labor/birth, and hospital stay. I know of course that rarely do things go "normally" when it comes to labor and delivery, and even full term babies can end up in the NICU, but i'm really praying we dont have to go through that again!

Anyways, i've got my last progesterone shot tomorrow! I'm so excited!!! The doctor was really pleased and happy that we have made it this far!

I'll leave you with a picture of my handsome little man!

This and That

Here's the latest belly picture- at 35 weeks and 5 days! I've made it almost a week farther than with Jadon so far! My shirts are all beginning to get too short, but I hate to buy new ones since I'm only going to be wearing them for a very short time! So, i'm just trying to make do with the few that I have that still fit! ;) I did go shopping the other day for some PJ's to wear at the hospital. The other day I mentioned that i'd started packing my bags, and realized that my PJ's consist of Derek's old T-shirts that after years and years of wear and tear, are stained and extremely holey. And then sweat pants. Its quite embarrasing actually... I never really paid too much attention to them until recently.
Derek and I were also talking about when we think the baby will be coming. Derek thinks that sometime this week she will come. I, on the other hand, think she's going to hold off for much longer.
I've always wondered if my job caused me to have Jadon so early. During the last couple months at the clinic, we were under a ton of stress trying to learn a new program, and then when they went live with the new program, it was just HORRIBLY stressful. Also, the last month that I was there, we were having to train a bunch of new people, which is stressful enough in itself, but with the new program, it was absolutely awful. Anyways, 2 weeks after I quit my job, I ended up in the hospital, only to have him a week later. So, i've always wondered if my major stress at my job caused me to have him early, since extreme stress can cause early labor. Only time will tell I guess! We've got one more shot in 2 days, and then i'm done, and she'll be free to come whenever she pleases!

Some good news (I hope) is that I haven't been nauseated in the mornings for most of this week! I say I hope because I've had a couple days here and there in the past when I havent been nauseated, and then it comes back again... so I am hoping that it is gone for good!!
The bad news is, now I am getting hungry by 9:30 or 10am... and I mean STARVING hungry! To the point where I have almost no energy to make it through until lunchtime.

In other news-

Well, Derek and I are growing increasingly suspicious of one of our neighbors. Its a man who lives alone in his house.... he's probably in his 50's or 60's. Anyways, he used to live a block away with some lady (who we get mail for all the time from drug and alchohol rehab centers.) Then a couple years ago, he moved into the house across the street to our side. He's always been a very private person... I dont think i've ever seen his blinds opened the entire time he's lived there. Which is fine, some people are just private. Anyways, weird things have been going on at his house lately... we've called the cops a couple months ago when a guy and girl were trying to get into the house for 30-45 minutes without any luck. We'd never seen them before.
We've seen this man arrested at his house before.
Recently we think someone broke into his car.
The cops are at this mans house ALOT.
Lately, he's been doing some weird things... like installing a piece of board to the top of his fence that looks like a saw (like to keep people from climbing over the fence.)
Last week, he installed a servailance camera outside his house.
He also has had a red porch light for awhile, but recently added a blue light to one of the lights by his fence as well..... however, they are not always on.
Tonight, he traded the blue light for a motion flood light, as well as the light on the other side of his garage. This evening, he kept coming out of his house about every 1 minute (and i'm not exaggerating that)... going to the end of his driveway, looking down the street (like he was waiting for someone), then would go back inside.

We are just starting to get really suspicious of his activities. We joke about him being a drug dealer or something, but its really not funny... and lately we've been failing to find any humor in his weirdness. We dont like living next to someone that we know nothing about, who has strange activity at his house, and cops there all the time. Whether he deals drugs or what, we are not liking it... especially since i'm home alone all day, and we are trying to raise our young children.

Anyways, Derek's been looking online at houses for sale lately. This is such a horrible time to sell a house, but tonight after his weird antics (by the way, he is still going outside his house looking every couple of minutes... and its been well over 3 hours since he started doing it) Derek said he feels like we should hurry up and get the house upgraded and put on the market asap. We are beginning to feel very uncomfortable living next door to him. Between my wild imagination, and from watching too many crime drama's on TV, I just imagine all the worst things that could happen. It just stinks living next to someone who makes you feel very uneasy like this.

Sadly, we are now constantly watching his house for anything weird, suspicious or different. If something is going on at his house, I want to know about it, even if that means spying on him all the time!

The Name Game

When you're expecting a new baby, one thing that people ALWAYS ask you is "do you have a name picked out?" I'm guilty of asking too. Well, I hate when complete strangers ask, since we are not telling the name until she's born... I feel stupid telling a complete stranger that I can't tell them because we aren't telling until after the birth. So, this time around, i've just been telling strangers that we haven't really talked about names much.... which is completely true! We've had our kids names picked out since before we were married... so we haven't had to talk much about names during our pregnancies.

Anyways, I know everyone just hates it that we won't tell names until after baby is born. But, we have good reasons for it.
First of all, we find out the gender, so we have to keep SOMETHING a surprise!
Secondly, EVERYONE has an opinion about names, whether its good or bad, and to be honest- we just don't care what everyone's opinions are. So, if we don't tell the name, we don't have to worry about people whining and complaining about the name! Because, after she's born, and we announce the name, there's pretty much no turning back, so people just have to keep their mouths shut. :)

With that said, I will give you a couple clues that will be of absolutely no help to you if you're trying to think of the name! :)
First clue- Neither first nor middle is a family name on any side! We decided long ago that we would never do a family name because there's no doubt that there would always be someone in the family who would get their feelings hurt.
Second clue- both Jadon's and Baby Girls full names (first, middle, and last) have the same amount of letters.
Third clue- I expect some people will think the name is hiteous. Thats ok, because its our child and we can name her Sticky Bugar if we want to! ;) But ultimately, we love the name and after everyone finds out why they will understand..... but that won't necessarily change how they feel about it though.
Fourth clue- its not a Jr. name. (for example Alicia Jr.... it just dawned on me, do they do Jr. names for girls?? Or is that just a boy thing?)
Fifth clue- dont worry, its not a weird name like Apple or Coco! :)

Its September!!

Lets have a baby this month!!! :)

Well, we reached 35 weeks, so this is officially the longest i've been pregnant now. And as miserably uncomfortable as I am, I'm praying we make it to 36/37 weeks at least. We'd like to be able to bring our baby girl home after a couple days rather than after a week in the NICU!

So, I think its safe to assume that based on the size Jadon was when he was born at this time, the baby should be close to 5.5 lbs, and 19 inches! Amazing!! There's never a moment in my life when i'm NOT completely amazed by the beauty of pregnancy!

I feel so blessed! Thinking about how far we've come now, I feel blessed, amazed, and this whole thing is so surreal still! I prayed so hard for this baby to make it, and now here we are at 35 weeks and talking about when we think she's going to make her debut, and the closet is full of her clothes, and the crib is all set up, etc. And oddly enough, there's still days when I dont really feel pregnant. Even though my belly is hard as a rock and uncomfortable and morphs into strange shapes as the baby moves around. And even though I pee about 900 times a day and feel sick in the mornings still. Even though I can hardly make it to lunch because i'm so out of energy by 10:30am. Even though having this baby is all I can think about right now... I still dont feel like i'm actually pregnant. Like I said, its surreal to me, and I don't think i'll really truly believe it until I am in labor.

I am also so grateful that God is giving us the chance to raise a boy and a girl! I was in Target last week getting some baby stuff, and I was looking at baby girl clothes, and as I wandered on, the clothing sizes got bigger until it was bigger toddler stuff, and I looked up at all the racks, and saw all the boys clothes, and girls clothes, and I just felt so lucky to get to experience both. I know this is probably a silly thing to be so excited over considering how much I would have LOVED to have another boy. However, regardless of what the gender of this baby ended up being, this is most likely our last. We are bursting at the seams in our house, and really couldnt fit a third child in here. Plus, the thought of having to go through all of what we went through last year again is not very appealing to either Derek or I. And, for my own selfish reason, I HATE FIRST TRIMESTER thanks to the horrific weekly migraines I got. So, I feel grateful that God is blessing us with not only a mommy's boy, but a daddy's girl too.

Speaking of mommy's boy, have I mentioned before how much I LOVE cuddling with Jadon in the morning??? The other day I got up before him, and when he woke up, I heard him go into our room, and then I didnt hear him anymore, so I went up to see what he was doing. He was standing in the doorway to our room looking out and I told him good morning, and he points to our bed and mumbles something along the lines of "want mommy to cuddle with Jadon." So, how could I turn that down!!! Of course I laid down and cuddled with him! :) He seems to love this little tradition as much as me. I hope and pray that it doesnt change after the baby comes. Its such a special time for me.... it really makes all the tantrums, all the mood swings, all the messy meals, all the trials of being a mother to a busy toddler boy SO worth it!

I found an old doll of mine the other day, and we've been "practicing" with the doll, so here he is playing with the doll in the bouncer.


And here he is trying to learn to ride his tricycle a week or so ago.

By the way, I forgot to mention that I changed the background of the blog to something a little more "girly" in preparation to welcome our little girl.