35 week appt.

Yesterday I had my 35 week appt.  I was tested for group B and will find out the results next week....yah, now I go in every week!!  Crazy! When my doc walked in, she's like, "I love your smile.  I love having you as a patient, you're always so happy".  I responded with, "I have a good reason to be happy!"  She agreed.  It's awesome to see how God has opened doors in sharing His miracle and what He's been doing in our lives with others!

I am not dilated yet, but I am definitely thinning...at least 60% she said!  And she laughed as she told me how far down his head is!  She said it is definitely looking good for a vaginal birth. 

We had our church shower last Sunday, and it was such a blessing.  I was tearing up from the beginning, which I knew I would.  These ladies have been praying for me through this journey, and celebrating the miracle that this little guy is.  A great friend, who is like a second mom to me, did a devotional and it was on praying for your son.  She had 10 scripture verses that she handed out to 10 different ladies to read and pray over little guy.  It was SO amazing, and of coarse emotional!  Then, she handed me a small pumpkin (little pumpkin was the theme of the shower) figurine that said "blessings" on it with the prayers rolled up in it!  What a keepsake!  God has blessed me/us so much through these relationships we have built over the last 11 yrs at church! 

I have one more shower this weekend, and then we can start getting ready!  I'm slightly saddened that this will be our "last" shower.  We've been waiting for 8 yrs to have a shower...and now it will be over.  I am so thankful for all the many blessings, and the showers have been sooo special, more than I ever could have imagined.  Below are some pics from the last two showers.

Dave's Family Shower:

Church Shower:

Reflection...

Now you may look at this picture and say "what on earth are we looking at, and why are we reflecting?"  This is a picture of my nightstand.  Now it's not that I don't clean it, but a few months ago I looked over and realized what I still had laying there, and I couldn't get myself to put it away.  It's an amazing time of reflection and remembrance of where God has taken me over the last 8 months.  You see, those blue pills are naproxen.  I had them out, waiting to take them, sure I needed them, expecting my period back in February.  I had all the "classic" symptoms of AF arriving...cramps, back ache, fatigue, etc.  They had slid under my alarm clock, and I was dusting and found them still laying there...and it took me back.  I praised God in that moment. 

Next, you will see the lovely saltines, a reminder of my first trimester nausea/morning sickness.  I was living in fear at that time.  Fear that something would happen to my baby, fear that I would wake up from this "dream" and back to the reality of IF.

But here I am...34 weeks pregnant.  God has taken care of me...God has remembered me, and I choose to leave these items out for now to remind ME of my journey...to remind ME that God has always had a plan and that I still need to trust him in ALL things.  How could I not?  Look at the picture and tell me how I could forget or not believe...God is good!

Insomnia!

A few weeks ago I kept telling everyone how hard sleep deprivation will hard be on me cause I need 10 hours of sleep a night....well...God is proving me wrong! I'm finding I don't need that much to function, which is good and bad! Bad cause these last 6 weeks will be the best/last of the amazing sleep I love/need. Good, cause I now know I can function on so much less. Two nights ago I was up at 4am for the day (went to bed after 11), and last night I couldn't fall to sleep till 2, then I was up at 6:40...coffee helps (only one cup)! This has been my first real experience with insomnia!

Tomorrow is going to be a fun but longggg day for me. My mom, sister, nieces, and I are going out for the neighborhood rummage sales, FUN! There will be literally 100's of sales that you just walk down the street and stop at, I'm super excited!!! Then, we are having lunch and then family nesting day will start! I invited my parents and my in-laws over to help Dave knock off the long list of things I"d like done before baby comes. Some things like weeding, putting up nursery stickers, potting plants, scrubbing carpet, and washing windows will be getting done. I'm so thankful that our family is willing to come help us out! THEN, after that is my first shower! CRAZY! I'm super excited to be attending a baby shower...for ME!!! Now i'm just praying I can sleep tonight so I'll be ready for the big day ahead!

32 weeks and a big milestone!

This last week Dave took off and we had a nice relaxing vacation at home. We celebrated our 10th Anniversary! It's amazing how fast time flies by and how much we have grown over the years! I'm so thankful for the last 10 yrs that Dave and I have had to build up the foundation of our marriage before having a family...don't get me wrong, I would have loved to have kids sooner, but that wasn't God's plan for us.

On our time off we enjoyed some of our favorite foods/restaruants/bakeries, went mini golfing (where I redemed myself with a hole in one on a terribly hard hole that over 11 yrs ago when Dave and I were dating I got angry and almost ruined our chances of having kids after taking a nice hard swing at the ball with Dave standing straight ahead...sorry honey!), visited the zoo, took some nice walks, and went shopping...oh and we can't forget trying to catch up on sleep! It was crazy to have what seems like our "last" quiet vacation before baby arrives...crazy!

Little guy is moving quite a bit, and it makes my whole belly move! I think he may be head down with his little tootsies poking at my ribs every once in a while. This week has been surprisingly hot, and my ankles have started to swell...man I hope it's cuz the heat...I'm not a fan of this swelling! I know it could be worse, so I'm not complaining, but I've just never seen my feet look so big!

I started purchasing some items to prepare for the hospital and afterwards...it really made me start to slightly panic on getting everything together cause he could be here in seven weeks! I just need to start making a list and start crossing things off so I don't feel too overwhelmed.

Dave took some pics of me this week since I wanted to have some maternity pictures before I got too huge, and he did a great job! I posted my favorite down below. We're looking to have some pics of the both of us taken soon.