What a month

Sorry about the delay in posts. This has been one crazy month. I hope that everyone has had a safe and wonderful holiday season.

Two weeks ago Jason had to have oral surgery to have a couple of teeth cut out. He went in today for his post-op check up. The Dr. says that he is healing amazingly well. The timing of his surgery could not have been better. He was laid off of work the day before his surgery, so he has been able to relax and take care of himself. After 2 weeks off of work, we are both ready for him to go back. He gets a little stir-crazy not having anything to do during the days.

Everything is going fine with me. About 3 weeks ago, I noticed that my feet were beginning to get a little tight in my work shoes. I have now reached a point to where walking can sometimes be a chore that Jason has to help me with due to the massive swelling. I only have one pair of shoes that will fit my foot comfortably - Jason's XL house shoes. The tennis shoes that I have been wearing to work are as unlaced as possible and are quite painful to put on in the mornings. Jason described my toes as "tator tots" and my fingers as "sausage links". My extremities have become food products. As of now, my ob is not as concerned about my swelling as Jason is. I do not have any other signs of pre-eclampsia. I will be going back on Friday to be checked again. As of two weeks ago, my ob said that I should be able to work until I pop, however, my coworkers and my husband are beginning to think otherwise. I was also told two weeks ago that our baby is measuring extremely large. Dr. Ramsey does not like percentiles, but reading the look on her face made Jason and I both a little squirmy. I know that people have been delivering 9 and 10 lb babies forever, but I would really like for my business to somewhat return to normal when we are done.

I will update again at the end of the week. Sorry for the long delay.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bill Cosby

Over the weekend, Jason and I attended a childbirth class at Deaconess's Women's Hospital. After about an hour or two on Saturday, the instructor asked the class what the first thing that came to mind was when she said the word "birth". Nobody in the class said anything so Jason popped up and said "Bill Cosby's skit on breathing during birth." For those of you who don't know which skit I am talking about, it is worth the $2 rental fee to see "Bill Cosby, himself".

Saturday's class was 8 1/2 hours long and full of information. By the time we left, we were both so overwhelmed that we just went home and crashed. Jason also decided that he didn't think he could handle me all by himself during our birth. He has informed me that my mom will be in the room and that he has 2-3 backups already lined out, just in case. I think that the video of the women giving birth kind of affected him.

Sunday's class only lasted about 2 1/2 hours and covered the basics of new baby, including cord care and bathing. It is amazing how much random information the brain can absorb in such a short time frame.

Jason was unable to go to Sunday's class with me because he had to finish his homework. He is attending classes this week offered by the Carpenter's Apprenticeship Program. 2 - 3 times a year, they give him books and a syllabus and tell him when his classes are. He has to read and do homework before attending the class. At the end of the week he will take a final exam, just like he would in high school or college. By the time he completes all kinds of various classes, he will have an associates degree in applied science (I think). Today was his first day in class and to say the least, he is a little frazzled. It has been 13 years since he has done homework or sat still in class for hours on end. He just keeps looking for the prize at the end.

Not much else going on right now. Just one more crazy busy week down and 8 more to go.

Get togethers.

Every holiday season seams to get even busier than the one before. Jason and I both got a 4 day weekend but we were so busy that there was no relaxation.

On Thanksgiving day, we went to his parents house to celebrate the holiday. Once our bellies were full, the movie went in, and the turkey coma set in. Once we finished our nap, Jason and I decided that we were going to go shopping on Friday morning to get his xmas present. I got my xmas present early (a new couch) so it was only fair that Jason got his xmas present early as well. We decided since this would be our last xmas just the two of us, we would splurge on each other. I wanted a new couch and he wanted a new TV. We got his TV for $400 off of the sticker price. Yeah for being a bargain shopper, especially the day after Thanksgiving. Jason had never been out shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. He could not believe that anyone would sit in a parking lot for almost 2 hours to wait for a store to open. We began talking to the people around us and found out that people had been camped out at Best Buy since Thursday morning. I don't think that he believed me until about 6:45 outside of Kings. We had been there since 5 and we were the 3rd people in line. By 6:45, the parking lot was full and there were probably about 100 people lined up behind us. Once we got home, we both slept for a few hours to try to make up for what we lost on Thursday night. We headed up to mom and dad's on Friday evening to have Thanksgiving with them, Liz, April, Chris, and of course Kate. We had such a good time just getting to sit around and chat. And Kate, as always, seems to be the main attraction for our family functions. She is absolutely beautiful and always so well behaved. I hope and pray every day that our child will be like Kate.

Saturday morning, while Jason was getting the new TV set up with his entertainment system, I was helping get ready for my baby shower. I had so much fun. It is so enjoyable to be able to sit and play games and laugh and talk with family and friends. By the time the shower ended, I was exhausted. Jason and I unloaded the Blazer and ended up filling about half of the living room floor with bags. It took quite some time to get everything separated and put away. Our dogs feel as though it is their job to look in every bag that is brought into our house, regardless of what is
in the bag. They helped me inspect everything that was given to our little girl.

These are two of the three blankets that were made for Alexandria (Lexie) ___?___ Roberts. The first picture is a quilt done my my Aunt Geriann. The second picture is a quilt that my mom made. The third blanket (not pictured) is a crocheted blanked done by my mother-in-law. All three are absolutely beautiful and I don't think that I want to use them. I would be heartbroken if anything happened.

Me, Lisa (in middle), and Christa (on right) are all due within 9 days of each other. Christa and I are both having girls and Lisa is waiting for her surprise. She has to have a girl to keep with the tradition. All three of our older sisters were pregnant and due within 12 days of each other and they all had girls. We are now on the second round and she is the only one who hasn't found out yet.

We got a picture of all three generations of girls together. Three new grandmothers, three new mommies, three new mommies to be, and three new babies.

During the baby shower, all three little girls were wonderful. I think that they liked being oohed and aaahed over.

Sunday was Lisa's baby shower in Celestine, IN. In the last few years, I have been having problems with car sickness, so driving through the hills in Dubois County was rough. Neither me nor Lexie were very happy. All it took was about 5 min out of the car and we were fine. Lisa's shower was super nice. She made out very well. I met Carla (second to left) in Evansville to ride up to mom and dad's house together and Christa took me back to the Blazer so I could go home at the end of the afternoon. By the time I got back home, Jason was already sleeping to prepare for work tonight.

It has been a long weekend with a lot of activity. April, Chris, and Kate will be returning to Virginia tomorrow afternoon. I hate seeing them leave, but I know that they will be back in for xmas. Since I am still very new at this blog, April has agreed to make my blog more "snazzy" so we will all have to wait and see what she does. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and I will keep you updated.

What a week!

This week has been crazy busy for us. On Monday I went to the Physical Therapist to try to figure out what is going on with my back. She told me that my hip joints have slipped causing one leg to be about 1/2 inch longer than the other. This slippage caused my back muscles to try to correct the problem within my hips. The physical therapist hit all of my pressure points to try to relieve the pressure, but ended up just making things worse.
By Friday morning, I had a Chiropractor's appt. Let me just say that my chiropractor is amazing. I waddled into her office and walked out. And as an added bonus, I got to lay on my stomach for about a half an hour! She has these pillows with holes cut out of the center so no pressure is put on the baby. She realigned my back and hips and massaged the knot out of my back. I have another appt. with her in the morning to see how well aligned I stayed over the weekend. She thinks that once I get my hips straightened out, then my back muscles will relax and my back will naturally realign. Once I left her office, I went to my OB appt. which is now every two weeks. I found out that 2/3 of the weight that I have gained has been in the last 8 weeks. Talk about depressing. But they say that I am still within normal range and that everything still looks good. I then got to meet with the dietitian who put me on a diet that is almost identical to the Atkins diet. I can eat all of the meat and cheese that I want so long as I lay off of the fruits, breads, and pastas a bit. As of now, the fruit has been the hardest to put down. She also gave me a blood glucose meter so I can check my blood sugar levels 4 times a day. I have a whole new respect for people who do this every day of their lives. The dietitian told me to send my numbers to my OB on Wed. this week in the hopes that she will let me splurge on Thanksgiving.

And I am just kind of curious, what happened to fall this year? It went from 80 degree days to snowing in less than a month. Jason and I decided that my new handrail to get onto the porch is probably going up next weekend and all I can say is thank God. I sometimes have problems walking in the best of conditions so I am worried about walking in the snow and ice with a big belly in front of me throwing off my balance.

Another new development. My in-laws have finally gotten a washer and dryer hooked up and operational in their house. My father-in-law has been working on this project all summer long. It might not sound like a lot, but they have put in a new septic tank, field bed, dry well, ran all new pluming to that area of the house, and a lot of other odd and end things that had to be done first. Jason and I went to their house on Saturday to help them finish and watch in awe as their first load of laundry was started. This might not sound like real exciting news, but my mother-in-law has been doing her laundry at my house for the last 4-5 years.

I know this post is getting long, so I will wrap it up by saying that I am super excited to see April, Chris, and Kate on Thanksgiving while they are in town. I also want to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and I want you to have a safe and happy holiday!!

29 weeks

This post is dedicated to April and Barbara who wanted to see an updated picture of me. I set the timer to take this picture after working a 10 1/2 hour shift at the hospital. It is not the prettiest picture, but it will have to do for now

Pregnancy

Everybody that I have talked to either loved being pregnant or they couldn't wait to go back to normal. Before I got pregnant, I couldn't understand how someone could dislike being pregnant. Now I know. On one hand I am so excited about bringing a new life into this world and building our family; however, on the other hand, I feel like I have been pregnant for years and years. I miss my body, but more than that, I can not wait to get rid of my pregnancy hormones (and neither can Jason). After keeping tabs on my hormones throughout the work week, Jason gets the wrath of them just about every weekend. After I unload on him, about 3-4 hours later I am fine and ready to go back to normal. I knew that my hormones were going to change, but nobody warned me that they were going to rule my world for 9 months. All I can say is that Jason is one hell of a good man for not divorcing me yet. At this point in time, there are days when I would like to divorce me.

Jason has always enjoyed cooking, but he only cooks a couple of times a month. I have only cooked one meal this weekend. Because my back has been bothering me, he has insisted that he cook so I could sit down to relax. We have decided that when it comes to fried potatoes with breakfast he takes over the kitchen. So two thumbs way up for my in-home chef.

I will try to have some pictures posted by next weekend to show how much I have grown.

100 vs. 101

When it comes to gestational diabetes you either have it or you don't. There is no in between. If your blood sugar is 100 or lower then you don't have gestational diabetes. The results of my 3 hr. test showed my blood sugar to be 101. I am going to see a nutritionalist on Friday before my Dr.'s appt. I also have to go see a physical therapist on Monday due to some severe back pain that began this past week. I am hoping that they can show me some exercises to control the pain and allow me to continue to work close to the pace that I have been at.

One of the best things about working in x-ray while you are pregnant is the free ultrasounds. I normally have one of the girls scan me every 2-3 weeks just so I can watch her develop. I was scanned on Thursday and here is the latest stat - 3lbs. 6 oz. at 28 weeks and 1 day. All of the information that I have read states that once you hit 27 weeks, or the third trimester, your baby gains about 1/2 lb. a week. If I go to term, I am going to have a 9 1/2 lb. baby. My baby will outweigh me, Liz, and Kate at birth and we were all big babies. I guess on a good note, the ultrasound now has bumped my estimated due date up to 1-24 instead of 2-4.

Today has been a great day. I sent Jason off this morning to go hunting for the first time this season while I had a girls day out. One of my friends from Radiology school had a Mary Kay party today. The party only lasted about an hour but I was there for almost 3 hours catching up with a couple of girls that I graduated with. I then got to come home and watch the girleyest movie that I could find. Talk about a great day!

Our week

Jason and I have had a pretty quiet week. On Oct. 31, I had a Dr.'s appt. That is when they did my blood glucose to check for gestational diabetes. I failed the 1 hour test so I had to go back yesterday morning and do the 3 hour test. I was a little nervous about going because the lab told me I couldn't leave the hospital in case something happened. Jason was also nervous, so after working all night long, he came with me to the hospital. He stayed in the car and slept, but he made sure that he was at the hospital for the "what if's".

Last night we went over to his parents for dinner. I discovered at that time just how big I am getting. I was laying on the love seat watching a movie when I discovered that I could not get up. It took me a good minute and a half to go from a laying position to a sitting position! After that, every time I had to get up, Jason had to help me.

This week was also Rad Tech week at work, so we had carry-ins and lunch delivered all week long. Jason has also got to reap the benefits. I have brought home leftovers for him every day.

It's about time!

I have been putting this off for far to long. Jason and I now have our own blog so everyone can stay updated. Just fair warning, I am horrible about keeping people updated so I will make a diligent attempt at a weekly update, but I am making no promises.
Well, I am officially in my third trimester. I had my 6 month Dr.'s appt. on Friday. Dr. Ramsey says that I am looking good and growing in all the right areas. I have been trying to stay active throughout my pregnancy, which is helping when I have to step on that dreaded scale. I have gained 18 lbs. so far which they tell me is normal. Now we start going to the Dr. every 2-3 weeks for checkups.
We have not yet decided on a name for our little girl, but we are leaning toward Alexandria. That is one name that we both really like. She is most active every 2-3 hours just like a newborn would be. Jason has only got to feel her at night when she kicks him in the back because she refuses to move when he touches my belly.
Not much else has been going on in our world. Yesterday we went to Jason's parents house for a little while. We ended up going to the neighbors house for a Halloween party but didn't stay to long. Jason and I were both exhausted from a long week. Mom, dad, and Liz came out for a few hours today to visit. It was so pretty outside that we took the dogs to Burdette for a walk.
Well, that's all for now. If anything new happens, you will know.