28 weeks

Yes... Officially third trimester time! Different sources say different things, but everyone agrees that by this week (at the latest), I'm in my third trimester. Only 12 weeks left. That's gonna fly by! The weather is slowly inching toward spring and I'm feeling pretty darn good. No real news on the prego front this week. It's been a relaxing week full of yummy food that I have missed so much!

Jax is about 15 inches and 2 1/2 pounds this week. He's getting to be a big boy. I can't wait to go to my doctor when I get back to NC. I haven't seen her in 7 weeks so it'll be nice to see how Jax is measuring and to hear his heartbeat. All that good stuff. Plus, I think that I will start going in every 2 weeks pretty soon, so that'll give me something else to do. Ryan and I are starting our childbirth classes on Tuesday so I'm looking forward to that. Lots of fun stuff to look forward to over the next few weeks. Thank you Jesus for blessing my little family!

XOXO

Prayer

Keep this little boy in your prayers. He and his family need it.

27 weeks and some updates

Well a few updates for ya'll.

First, I got to CA just fine. I actually felt a sense of calm about flying and everything so thank you for the prayers. So, I got up at 2am on the 19th, after only getting about 90 minutes of sleep. A good friend drove me to the airport at 3am, we got there at about 430am and my first flight left Raleigh at 6am. An hour-long flight to DC, a 2-hour layover then on to a 6-hour flight to San Francisco. One more hour-long layover in SF and then on to Fresno... finally. I got in at 230pm, which is 530pm on my body clock. Needless to say, I was POOPED! We went to a yummmmmmy dinner at Cheesecake Factory then I came home and crashed at 7pm :)

Second, my baby shower was yesterday and it was fantastic. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful women who care about our family and love to just express their love for us in so many ways. I got lots of great stuff and continue to appreciate all the prayers surrounding Jax's development and health. I'll do a post soon with more details and pictures once I get them all in.

Lastly, I'm 27 weeks now! Only 13(ish) to go! It's going by pretty fast and it's very exciting. I still have 3 months, but I am getting a lot of comments about how big I am. I know people aren't trying to be mean, but it's still hard to hear. Us girls spend our whole lives trying to stay small and now I have people telling me how I'm getting so big. I just keep telling myself that it's a good thing that Jax is growing! He is about 14 inches and a little over 2 pounds this week. Babies born at this stage have an 85% chance of survival. That fact is so very comforting. My parents and brother have all been able to feel him moving, which is so awesome. My mom even got a couple really good kicks from him. I am just looking forward to finally getting his nursery set up. It's one step closer to our baby boy being here!

XOXO

Flying

I'm not sure why, but I am SO nervous to fly tomorrow. I think it's a combination of flying alone, being pregnant, having a prop plane for one leg of my flights and all those darn planes that keep crashing lately. I know there are plenty of people who make safe trips across the country everyday, but still. I'm really nervous. Keep me in your prayers... for safe flights and for a sense of calm about it.

All Alone

Ryan left this morning to go to the field for 4 days. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't leaving for California in 2 days. This means that I won't see him for two weeks. I know that I went 15 months without seeing him, so you would think that I would be able to do this more easily. But I am so used to him being home now that 2 weeks seems like such a long time. It doesn't help that he couldn't take his phone with him, so I can't even talk to him for the next 4 days. In a way I'm thankful that I'm going home, because that will distract me from him being gone, but at the same time I'm sad because that's more time that I won't see him. I really wish he could have come home with me. Oh well... I guess that's just Army life. I'm sure that 2 weeks will fly by and then we'll both be home and we'll just be getting ready for him to finish up his school and for Jax to get here!

26 weeks

This week marks the week that babies have a good chance of survival outside the womb. YAY! I pray against that everyday, but if something were to happen then he would have a definite chance of making it. It's a comforting thought. 

Jax is getting bigger and bigger (so is my tummy!). He weighs about 1 and 2/3 pound and is about 14 inches long. He loves to move around and I LOVE feeling him moving. I've decided that I don't think I will ever tire of feeling him moving and kicking. It's especially fun now because Ryan and I can see him moving by just watching my tummy. It's funny to see... and weird to think about! I have a tiny little human inside me. WIERD!

I am very noticeably prego now and people comment on my tummy. I always get questions about when I'm due, what I'm having etc. I haven't had any strangers touch my tummy yet, so we'll see how long it takes for that to happen. Everything else is going well. I feel good and am enjoying being pregnant. I hope this continues as I enter my 3rd trimester. Only 14 weeks (98 days) left!

XOXO

California, here I come!

My doctor appointment got cancelled today. No fun! I don't know why it was cancelled but I was on my way in and I got a phone call saying that my doctor wasn't there today. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but I took my glucose test on Monday and I needed to get the all-clear before getting on a plane next week. Not to mention that I'm supposed to see my doctor every 4 weeks and it'll be 6 weeks since I've seen her by the time I get back. But the most important thing was getting my glucose results. I called the advice nurse, waited on the phone for about 20 minutes and finally got through. My test results were 80-something (and I have no idea what that means), but she said that anything below 140 is normal. She said my number is perfect. YES! So California, here I come! Now I just have to try to schedule a doctor appointment, but her schedule only goes through the first few days of March. I get back March 2nd and there's nothing available on her schedule for after that. I just have to wait for them to call me with an available appointment. It's been so frustrating trying to get all these tests and appointments worked out, but luckily the receptionist and nurses are awesome and very helpful. I'm so thankful for that!

XOXO

Before our lives change forever....

25 weeks

Third trimester here I come. This is the last week of my second trimester! Yay! I can't believe that I am 2/3 of the way done. It's gone by so fast. This week has been pretty good. My previous post explains the drama of yesterday, but besides that all is well. Last Sunday was the superbowl and we had people over here for that. It was a bit interesting.... we ended up with more people than we expected. It was an odd combination of people (and kids) and personalities. Overall it went okay, but we won't be doing that again any time soon. 

As for prego news, not much is new. I go in on Monday to take my glucose test. Pray that there won't be any complications and that I will pass with flying colors. I have to pass in order to fly home, so I'm a little nervous. But gestational diabetes isn't very common, especially in women who didn't start out overweight so I think that I should be good. 

Jax weighs a pound and a half and is about 13 1/2 inches. He's getting so big, so fast. Some babies come out at that size. It's nice to know that I'm getting to the point where if something were to happen, he has a fairly good chance of surviving outside my belly. I can't believe that in about 15 weeks we are going to have a little baby boy!

XOXO

So today was interesting...

It started yesterday when I noticed that I hadn't felt Jax moving as much as he normally does. I have been trying really hard not to be paranoid, so I tried to let it go. I had gone to the gym in the morning, so I thought that maybe he was just worn out from that. On top of that, I usually feel him more in the evenings than I do in the mornings, so I figured I would just wait until last night to make a better judgement of the situation. 

By the time we were getting ready to go to bed, I still felt like I hadn't felt him move much. Maybe one or two TINY movements, but normally I feel him kicking and squirming a lot. Again, I was trying not to be paranoid so I casually mentioned it to Ryan but he just blamed my gym/Starbucks morning. Which I was quick to defend because I had gotten DECAF coffee. So we prayed over my tummy and called it a night. I woke up at 2am to pee and decided I was going to lay awake for a little while and see if Jax was moving more. He wasn't. My brain went into overload with worry until I finally drifted off to sleep. Again with the trying not to be paranoid, I didn't want to wake my husband from his slumber (although I think that my getting up to pee had already done that). 

This morning we ate a good breakfast. Still not much movement from Jax. I decided to look online for some advice as to what I should do and whether I should go to the hospital. I spent the next 30 minutes trying everything I could to get him to move. Drink orange juice, then lay down. Poke my tummy and sit still to feel him. Bend over so he's squished and I can feel his movements (that one usually works when I want to feel him moving). No surprise that none of it worked. By this point I was crying and a bit hysterical (thanks prego hormones!). I called Jen and she suggested I go in and make sure he was okay. I knew that if I called the advice nurse she would say the same thing. I quickly got ready, called Ryan (bawling, barely able to talk) and told him I was going to go in. Stupid traffic, traffic, traffic all the way to post because it was almost 9 which is when everyone has to be at work. I finally got to Womack (the hospital where I am delivering) and found the Labor and Delivery Unit. I got checked in, put on a bed, set up with a heart-rate monitor and a contraction monitor. Turns out he's fine. His heartbeat was 135-140. I wasn't having any contractions. Nothing. On top of all of that, he started kicking the contraction monitor, making a complete liar out of me! 

It turned out to be a good thing that I went in though, because I got see the LDU, plus it made me feel a million times better that Jax was okay. The nurse said I did the right thing and she told me that if it ever happens again to come right in. So overall, it was quite an experience but I'm glad to know that I did the right thing. And I'm very glad to know that Jax is okay. Phew!

24 weeks

I'll make this quick because I have to get ready for our Superbowl party. But I'm 24 weeks now... and getting BIG! I think i've officially "popped". I'm feeling really good. Jax is moving a lot and he likes to kick my bladder, which isn't cool. I hope that doesn't continue or I am going to have to start wearing diapers! Ryan has felt him kicking and moving a few times so that's really fun. I am just starting to feel Jax actually moving, not just kicking me. It's the weirdest feeling... I can't even put it into words. It's very cool though. Jax is 12 inches long and weighs a little over a pound. He's gaining lots of fat now, so he'll be getting bigger faster. YIKES! Everything else is going well. We finally finished our registries (Babies R Us and Target), so now we are registered for pretty much everything we need. I can't wait to get the nursery set up!