33 weeks and 2 days!

As of tomorrow I will be 33 weeks and 2 days along... exactly 3 weeks more pregnant than I ever was with Jaxson! It seems pretty amazing to me... I am forever thankful that things are going well, I have been able to remain on bed rest at home (thank you everyone for the help!), and I have a good "prognosis" as of last week. I saw my perinatologist for probably the last time last Friday (at 32 weeks). He said my cervix is 2.6cm and NOT funneling! Amazing! It seems to have improved! Which is amazing because I have (don't tell) been doing a little bit more than maybe I should... He also thinks, based on statistics, that I'll go full term (37 weeks). I will stay cautiously optimistic!

So, I don't have to see him again unless my OB requests it. I will see her again in a week, hopefully all will be well then too and she said I MAY have more activity. We'll see... she's been telling me that for a while now. I think it's her way of keeping me sane. I have had a bit more swelling this week, it seems to happen more in the morning when I wake up. I've been trying to really watch my salt intake (soooo hard... everything is chock full of it!) and I've been guzzling the water! My blood pressure is ok, I've been watching that too... I would hate to get this far along and then have something like a little high blood pressure or (heaven forbid) pre-eclampsia throw a wrench into the plan...

Here is a picture taken at 32 weeks this past week: I think I'm already bigger today! Please excuse the scary hair and no makeup!...

32 weeks!

Here is a cute scene that Shawn stumbled upon the other night...

Dinner tonight! He LOVES pasta and ate it as fast as possible, as you can see...

He actually was quite happy, the previous "face" was total drama!

Everyday Fun

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from the past month of everyday around our house...

Bedrest in the hammock (now that the weather is finally nice!)

Mmmmm... Hubbell and Hudson eclairs. Please excuse my way-out-of-shapeness

Jaxson wearing dad's cowboy boots

Playing in the sun tent

Playing in packaging from one of mom's many online orders! (it's scary when you have your credit card info memorized... it can be very dangerous!)

Baby update: I went to the doctor today because I had a high blood pressure reading last night (144/96). Turns out all is well. Must have been the super-salt bomb chinese I ate yesterday for lunch. Anyway, I have to monitor it now, hopefully it will stay within a decent range (I have to watch my salt intake too). I also was lucky enough to get the H1N1 shot while I was there. I will be 32 weeks on Friday which is wonderful! I need to make it to at least 36 weeks (Dec. 11th) which would be fantastic. I think I will... only 4.1 more weeks! Thank you everyone for the continued support and prayers... we are in the final stretch! :)

Nana's for Dinner

A couple of weeks ago Jaxson's Nana (Great Gramma) had dinner at her house to celebrate Shawn's Aunt and Uncle being in town. Of course I had to stay home on the couch... but they went and had a great time!

Playing with the 30+ year old toy that Shawn and his brothers played with in the 1970s...

Still a lot of fun!

Hello? When Jaxson says it it sounds like "Hel-Yo?"

With Nana

With Great Aunt Denice (she does look Great doesn't she?! :)

With his adorable new cousin Gavin

With Aunt Denice, Aunt Reyne, Gavin and Nana

More Halloween and Big Milestone!

Here are more pictures from Halloween and the day before. We went to Shawn's parent's house for Halloween. Of course I laid on the couch and tried to find scary movies on TV (that was disappointing) while everyone else went to block parties and ate hot dogs! Jaxson was Superman this year... he loved it! Anytime you ask him "what does Superman do?" ... he says "Superman!" and throws his arms up in the air, it's really cute.

Good news too- as of Monday I am officially more pregnant than I've ever been! Sunday marked 30 weeks and 2 days pregnant... the exact gestation when I had Jaxson. It feels really good to be sailing past that milestone! I'm still feeling good, definitely getting bigger, which is a very good thing! :)

The day before Halloween... please excuse my bedrest 'do. Looking pretty scary here (just in time for Halloween) that's just kinda how it is now. But at least I'm getting bigger!!! :)


With Oma and the pumpkins

Checking out the candle

The tractor/ trailer ride at Oma and Pa's neighborhood get-together

Not so sure about the cat

At Oma and Pa's

"Trick or Treat!"

Happy Halloween!

Jaxson fully enjoyed helping dad carve pumpkins this week! Of course, I had to spectate this year but Shawn did a great job carving all 3 pumpkins!

The first two were the best...

I think he lost some inspiration by the time he did the third! On top of that he had to referee a 2-year old... he deserves the Father of the Year Award!!!

Jaxson loves the pumpkins! You can't tell because of the flash, but these are lit. Jaxson says "dark outside... light pumpkins"!

Baby News: I am currently 30 weeks and 1 day pregnant!!! I've been waiting for Halloween for a while because of that. :) My doctor appt. went very well yesterday! She said everything looks good still and I am measuring about 32 weeks (yikes!). I guess that's what happens when you lay around all day. The whole "calories in/ calories out" equation is weighing HEAVY on the "calories in" side for me! My fFN test came back negative again so I'm good to go for another 2 weeks! Right now baby is breech - actually I think he might be transverse or sideways because I feel his big head poking out my right side! If he doesn't flip in the next few weeks it's unlikely he will so it may be another c-section :( I am hoping to try for a VBAC but we'll see.... that won't happen if he's breech. I just want a healthy full-term baby, so I'm not too worried about it. That's all for now. Thank you everyone for your love and support! We are going to make it! :)

29 week update

Today I am 29 weeks which is great... moving right along! I also had a great appointment today with the perinatologist. He did an ultrasound and said everything looks good as far as my cervix goes. There's really not much change. It's 2.6 cm. (6 weeks ago it was 2.7 cm.) and it has "miniscule funneling" according to my Doctor. I'm assuming that's an improvement over the "slight funneling" he saw last time. He said he wasn't going to even mention it! So I guess the bed rest is working!!!

He said the baby weighs a whopping 3 lb. 10 oz.! Of course that's an estimate... Just for reference, when Jaxson was born at 30 weeks 2 days, the ultrasound said he was 3 lb. 2 oz. but he was actually 2 lb. 13 oz. so it can be off by a few oz... Any way you cut it, this guy is BIG and that's good! I definitely look bigger at this point! We'll just have to name him Brutus Maximus! :) I have a theory that he's bigger because I haven't been able to workout this pregnancy. :( I worked out pretty much the whole time with Jaxson... until I was ordered bedrest!

Other than having to stay horizontal, I am doing well! Shawn and Jaxson are hanging in there and we do have a lot of help! There is a chance my OB will allow a little more activity due to the good report on the ultrasound. I'll just have to wait until she reads the report. So I'll probably hear next week sometime. It would be nice to be able to take Jaxson to preschool, that would help out a lot! Anyway, we'll see. I feel confident that this baby will stay put until at least December... and how cool would it be to go full term?!

I'll post more pics next time... Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and help!

Love,

Ann

Good News

As you can see from the picture, I am growing! I am 28 weeks along tomorrow, and very happy about that. My doctor appt. went very well today... she said I look good (cervix-wise) and my fFN came back negative again. I had to take the glucose test today and it wasn't too bad. The orange drink despite being overly sweet actually tasted pretty good. Maybe because I've been craving sweets! That is evident... I put on 5 lb. in 2 weeks! Yikes! Anyway, all is well and I see her again in 2 weeks. Hopefully the gestational diabetes test is negative too. I have another ultrasound next week, so I'm looking forward to that! So... we'll just keep doing what we're doing until further notice! (lots of couch lounging and lots of help from wonderful people with Jaxson!)

To obtain my look: lots of couch time, Hubbell and Hudson eclairs, dried apricots, chocolate brownies, a 2+lb baby, and a fantastic servant/husband!

Jaxson used some great hair product to get this look... Chick-fil-A polynesian sauce!


Cute dirty boy

Helping dad cook

"lifting weights" in the kitchen with dad!

And once again I want to thank the army of people helping us get by!!! Thank you so much for all of your time, love, prayers, food, and friendship! :) Jaxson sure loves all of the attention! I love all of the company, it's helping the time pass!!! "Only" (it's all relative, right?) 8 weeks to go!