36 Weeks & Growing...

We did maternity pictures over the weekend but this is the only one I've got to see... Devin did them, of course, and he always does an amazing job... even when his subject is 36 weeks big & pregnant! haha!
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I can proudly say that Harrison's room is almost finished.... finally!!  All of his laundry is done and neatly folded or hung up in his closet. :)  I have looked in his closet approximately 99 times in the past couple of days like a completely psycho! ;)  That number does not include the amount of times that I've just opened his door to look in his room or look in his little bed trying to imagine him in there!  It seems soooo crazy that in just a few weeks his sweet little face will be here!  Three exciting finds this week.... I didn't realize how many clothes he has already!!! Wow!  I also didn't realize the ridiculously abundant amount of diapers we have saved back....... which makes me ecstatic!!  AND my mother in law called to tell us she is ordering our double stroller - beyond excited about this!!!  I'm starting to feel like we are much more ready to bring our little angel home.  There are still a few things that we need to buy but hopefully I can get that done this weekend.  

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Blood pressure update:  It's still going up when I'm on my feet a lot.  I can pretty much count on it going up if I'm up moving around for a while.  Some days are much better than others though and I haven't had any problems lately.  I have done a really good job of taking it easy and have Corey to thank for picking up the slack.  He has been playing mommy and daddy pretty darn good in the evenings! ;)  I stay up so that I can spend a lot of time with Christian but Corey does the baths, getting ready for bed, and all that... I can tell Christian is loving it, too!  Corey was watching football last night on the couch and Christian plopped down right beside him on the couch and said "football"... I think it made Corey's night for sure!!!

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Harrison weighs almost 6 lbs now and is almost 19 inches long!  He has pretty much wrapped up the developing process and is just hanging out in there packing on the pounds now! 

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Doctor Appointment Update:  I have gained 29 lbs and my blood pressure was perfect - YAY!!!   He checked to see if Harrison was still breech since he has been the entire pregnancy and it made me really nervous when he said he couldn't find his head when he was feeling around on my lower stomach.  He brought in the ultrasound machine and I was really upset... I just knew that he was about to tell me that he was breech and we might have to look at doing a scheduled c-section... However, MUCH to my surprise... he couldn't find his head because he has already dropped into the birth canal ready to go.  He hadn't planned on checking me but after realizing that he did and I am dilated between 2-3 and 60% effaced... HOLY cow!  I was kind of in shock.  I wasn't expecting that at all... I figured if he did happen to check me I just might be a 1 but that's it.  Anyhow, I realize you can be dilated and effaced for weeks so I'm not counting on having a baby right now or anything but we are packing our bags and getting everything ready to go just in case!  Next appointment is next Tuesday! :)

Wild Things Farm

This is just going to be a post of pictures.... My mom and I took Christian to Wild Things Farm last weekend and he loved it... He especially enjoyed the petting zoo!  We had a lot of fun!

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 "Sheeeeeeep"

 "Peeeeeeeg"

How handsome is he??!

 Picking out baby pumpkins with Nana

35 Weeks & Growing...

I'm not going to go into detail about the struggles that came along this week because my past two blog posts were about that.  However, things do seem a little better.  My blood pressure has been normal unless I'm being really active.  The air conditioning in my classroom has been out for about a week so I have started getting really swollen through out the day but as soon as I cool off it goes back to normal.  I had a few days of really feeling sorry for myself and last night I started reading other blogs and came across a blog about a husband and wife that had their baby boy really early and ended up losing it.  I spent at least an hour reading through all of her posts, sobbing in bed.  I cried and prayed so hard while I read that blog and all of a sudden nothing that I am going through felt important at all.... Things like that really puts things into perspective.  I thought to myself, here I am feeling sorry for myself because I'm "uncomfortable" and having to stay in bed just for the next few weeks until we meet our perfectly healthy - that we know of - baby boy.. and there are others out there that would give anything to have a healthy baby or even get pregnant.  So, I feel much stronger now and I know we will make it through the rough times in the next few weeks thanks to God always putting me in the perfect situation to see things clearly.  

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This weekend is going to be busy... We have a LOT to accomplish in order to be ready for H's arrival.  We are working on his room, I need to do a lot of laundry, pack our hospital bags, and buy some big last minute items we need.  We also have maternity pictures on Saturday! I hope Christian cooperates... I will be happy if we just get ONE really great family picture so I can hang it in the house.  

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This is the item that I'm on a mission for!  The Chicco double stroller.  Has anyone had this one and if so, what is your review?  I've researched a lot of them and this seems to be one of the best options for us.  We bought the Chicco travel system for Christian and Harrison is going to be using his old car seat so we pretty much have to go with the same brand so that it will click right in to the stroller.  I am a bit concerned that this huge thing will not fit in the trunk of my car.  I'm really not ready to upgrade to an SUV just yet.... I really love my Lexus and can't afford to buy a Lexus SUV! ha!  I'm really loving the new Acadia's though... but gosh, I really don't want a car payment!!!  Btw... I am not a major car snob but it is paid off and very nice so why in the world trade it in??  Wow, I got really off topic there... went from strollers to cars, but anyway, if you have this one please let me know if you think it will fit in a trunk! =)  I'm not a huge fan of it costing $300 either but I guess this is something we will have a long time and get a lot of use out of it so I'm justifying it being a bit more than what I thought I would spend on one.  I still haven't decided on which monitor to buy.  Do I want two separate ones or do I want one screen with two cameras?  Lots of decisions to be made.. however, I will be able to take my time on this one because Harrison won't even need a monitor for a couple more months at least because he will be sleeping in the room with us.

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Let's finally get to the exciting 35 weeks facts...

Harrison is over 18 inches long and weighs a little over 5 lbs.

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This week's major developments:  His kidneys are fully developed now and his liver can process some waste products.  Most of his basic physical development is now complete - he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

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I'm seeing the doctor every week now so I will post exciting updates as I get them! =)  5 more weeks to go, 4 if we induce, and 2 1/2 if he comes when C did!!!  Crazy!

Update

First of all, I am overwhelmed with how many phone calls, texts, and messages I got today just from people checking on me.  I even got a card and surprise from my "secret pal" at work which brightened up my day!  I honestly didn't know so many people read my boring ole' blog but that also makes me happy! =)  I also want to apologize for not being the best writer in the world and probably not the most entertaining either! haha!!  But thank you so much for all of you who took the time to check on me or say you're praying for me... makes things a lot better!

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So today has been much better... so far it looks like I'm able to control my blood pressure.  I took my cuff to school today so I could keep track of it every couple of hours and write it down.  I stayed off my feet for a good portion of the day and it was normal.  I did walk to the cafeteria and back for lunch and that was the only time it went up.  It wasn't dangerously high or anything but much higher than normal.  I have stayed off my feet for the most part tonight and rested and I'm feeling pretty good.  I would say that today's progress was MUCH better than yesterday's! =)  It really helps that I have a mom that would do anything for us, a husband who is doing absolutely everything he can to make things easier on me, and about 10 more "moms" at work! ;)  If things change, I'll keep ya posted... since I know people actually care enough to read this!

Rough Day...

So today has been an incredibly rough day.  It all started on Sunday around 5:00 when my blood pressure went up really fast... I started feeling light headed, got a terrible headache, felt like my face was on fire, and got sick to my stomach within about 2 minutes.  Thankfully my mom was there to help me out.  I never really started feeling that great again but after a long, hot bath and laying on my side with my legs propped up, I got my blood pressure back down.  I woke up this morning not feeling myself at all.  As soon as I got up and started getting ready my blood pressure went back up.  It makes me feel so disoriented and I hate that feeling.  I felt like I couldn't get my breath and my heart was beating out of my chest - such a scary feeling.  I went ahead and went to work because I knew today was a day that I would at least be able to stay off my feet in class.  It felt like it was 100 degrees in my classroom and my fingers started swelling and tingling.  I have never swollen during pregnancy so this also made me nervous.  I went home on my break and my blood pressure was still pretty high.  I called my doctor - he said go home and put my feet up but I really needed to stay at work because we had an important meeting after school.  I had several people tell me I looked terrible and by the time I got home I was done.  I went straight to bed and I feel like I don't even have enough energy to walk.  Thankfully my dad left work early to come over and let my mom go home so he could help out with Christian until Corey got home.  I honestly do not know what in the world I would do without my parents.  God has blessed me beyond means with parents that will drop anything to be there for me.  I feel like my mom has pretty much put her whole life on hold for us lately to help out because I haven't been feeling good.  She keeps Christian all day while we work, helps out in the evenings when I need to rest, and cooks dinner for us a lot because she knows I don't feel good right now.  God bless her... and that He will I'm sure of!  

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So anyway, I'm really scared that this little issue isn't going to go away but I am praying really hard that it does and would be very grateful for any prayers.  I don't want to be put on permanent bed rest for the next 4 weeks and really can't afford to start my maternity leave early - I would like to have all the time home with Harrison as possible.  I also don't want to run my myself and body into the ground though and I know I need to make the right decisions if this continues.  I need to do whatever I have to do to make sure Harrison stays put for at least 3 more weeks.  I'm also really upset that some of our family doesn't even know what's going on.... maybe I'm extra emotional right now because of the hormones but I'm such a huge family person and it just confuses me how some people view it.  I also don't know if I want a huge slew of people up at the hospital when I do go into labor... I have few people, family and very close friends, that have really been with me during this pregnancy and by that I mean checking on me frequently, calling to find out all the details after the doctors appointments, asking about H, and knowing when things like this are going on... so why in the world would all the others just show up for the big event?  Am I being irrational?  I've really thought hard about not making phone calls until after he is born.  Sorry that I'm venting and pouring out my feelings - this is usually such a light hearted and positive blog - it has just been one of those days and these are things that I have thought hard about.  I will continue to pray about these things!  

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As of right now, I've been laying down for about 4 hours and my blood pressure seems to be pretty normal... I'm going to try to go to work tomorrow but if it starts to go up fast, I will probably end up right back at home.  Please pray that everything works out just according to God's plan!  Thanks!