38 week appointment

Today is my 38 week mark. We had our final regular OB appointment. Everything looked good. Blood pressure was the highest it's been and it was still really good (118/78). We are all set for next Wednesday, provided I really do make it to then. If I go into labor before then I think I will still try for a VBAC.
I am so ready to have this baby but I really want to savor the last few days I have with GMFx3 before she arrives.
Monday (provided I'm not in the hospital) we will be walking in the Memorial Day parade. My OB asked if we would like to join them--they are representing growing families. I thought it would be fun for the kids and Matt agreed so we're going to do it. Of course that will probably put me into labor--at least my OB and his nurses will be right there. :-)

I'm ready...

I've been so nervous this whole pregnancy, but now I am really getting anxious and excited. I've had a feeling something would go wrong just like it always has for me and babies. But I'm starting to really feel good about everything. As much as I haven't been wanting a c-section I've really become okay with it--in fact kind of looking forward to it.
I know this will be my chance to cuddle with my new baby right away as opposed to days after delivery like it has always been for me. I can't wait to nurse a baby again. That is one of the many things that I miss from G1 being a little baby. I could never get the girls to latch on and pumping became way too stressful for me, so I didn't get the chance with them. I can't wait for everyone that comes to the hospital to actually get to meet our new baby instead of only getting to see her through the glass or on pictures. I'm ready to complain and stress about all the trivial things that new mom's take for granted the first couple weeks. :-P
I'm ready for a break from the 3Gs and I think it will do them good to have a break from me.
I'm ready to start working on getting my body back. I'm ready for my back to not hurt 24/7. I'm ready to be able to stand for more than 10 minutes at a time. I'm ready to have clothes that fit over my belly. I'm ready to be able to roll over in bed without having it become a 1/2 hour event. I'm ready to get my hormones in check so that I can stop fighting with Matt and the kids all day everyday. I'm ready to not feel so frumpy and big.
I'm ready to meet my new princess!!!

I know this post probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's more for me than anything.

37 weeks 4 days

Today is my final milestone. I had G1 at this gestation. If I were to have the baby now I would be okay with it (although I hope to hold out for another 10 days till we are scheduled). Tomorrow Matt and I will be going back to Peoria, but I'm finally not stressing out about it. Hopefully I will have pictures to post of G4 tomorrow.
*You will have to ignore the stains on the shirt--it has survived 2 pregnancies with toddlers around so I think it's doing good to still be hanging in there.
Oh, and you will notice with the last picture that my wedding ring (and other rings) no longer fit. I had to take them off a couple weeks ago. Every once in a while I can get them back on but that doesn't last very long.

37 weeks

We are 37 weeks along today. My appointment went well. My cervix is still closed. My blood pressure was good. My weight went up (blech!). All-in-all we had a good appointment. Oh, yeah we scheduled the c-section. I decided that I would just go with the repeat c-section because otherwise I will stress too much until the baby is born. We will have a baby in our arms 2 weeks from today!!
Here's today belly pictures. There are lots of them because all 5 of us got involved.

Quick update

Yesterday I had to go to the perinatologist. My OB thought the placenta still looked a little low. Mom, Marcia, me and the kids all went. Everything looked great on the ultrasound. They are guessing the baby's weight to be 6 lbs 4 oz right now. Do you know how huge that seems to me?!?!? lol She is still a girl--and I will believe it now! We tried to get a cool 3D/4D picture of her face but she was hiding a little. This is the best we could get. So much better than nothing though. (Not the best on here because I had to take a picture of the picture as I do not have the scanner hooked up.)
There is more to the day but I just had a few minutes and wanted to post the picture.

34 weeks 2 days

G3 wanted to join Mommy:




(This shirt(s) that I'm wearing tends to "hide" the pregnancy more than any other shirt I own.)

Yesterday I was 34 weeks 2 days which happens to be my first milestone. That is at the gestation that the girls were born. I am happy to announce that I am still pregnant. :-)
Thank you for taking my belly shots MarciaAnne!

Last night Matt and I had planned on going to see some racing going on, but it got canceled. But our children still were shipped out to other people. Rick and Ginny had G1 for the night. Jacob and Marcia had the girls for the night. Thank you to all of you for keeping them for us. It was nice to have one last night without the children (well the ones that are out of the womb already at least). Since the races got canceled Matt and I ended up going to dinner and a movie. The movie we went to see was Baby Mama. It was pretty funny. We had a really nice time. But I sure did miss my babies a lot.

On May 5th I will be going to Peoria to see the perinatologist again. I saw him at the beginning of this pregnancy just to be sure things were going okay. I will be seeing him again just to make sure things are still good. Marcia will be going with me (as well as the children and possibly Mom if she has laundry done--they will just be getting back from out east and may not have a chance to get things done before I have to go). Other than going to Peoria for that I have decided that going for long drives (longer than just the 10-15 minutes to get to Mom's) are too much for me and I will not be doing anymore traveling before this baby comes. Except I do hope to take the train down to see Marcia (and Jacob and Jessie and Aiden) before the baby comes. The Gs would love it and I think it will be easier to do before G4 arrives.

Anyway, that's it for now.

34 week appointment

We got to see the baby today. We took G1 with us and he was all excited to go and see his baby. But we had to wait for awhile (I think they had a new patient today) so by the time we started the u/s he was ready to leave. Oh well he is excited to have new pictures of the baby though (he even showed them off to the receptionist ).

The only measurements that we could really get today were of *her* legs; which are measuring 3-4 weeks ahead. So *she* is either going to be big or just really leggy. We got to see *her* face really well and *she's* so cute! lol That really helped me get excited again because I've been feeling so stressed out. *Her* heartbeat was 160-ish. My blood pressure is staying perfect (this is about the time it started to go up when I was pregnant with G1).

I have gained a total of about 15 pounds (I'm actually down a pound from 2 weeks ago). My cervix is high and long (I believe that's how he put it); amniotic fluid and placenta look great. Baby is still head down. YAY!! VBAC here we come.

So really nothing new or exciting (except getting to see *her* again--it's been 3 months).

I will be posting some belly pictures on Friday (possibly later if I don't get to it right away). Friday is my first milestone; I will be 34 weeks 2 days and that is when I had the girls.

Update on life

This post will not have pictures today. My computer is being stupid and keeps freezing up on me so I'm not going to risk pictures or videos. Also, Jessie G1's post will be coming shortly--that is the post that keeps making my computer act up, so I'm taking a break from that one and will try again in a day or so.

Let's start with Matt:
Matt is working as much as he can--which hasn't been as much as he would like lately. But he has been working hard around the house. He has been helping out a lot more with "my" duties (cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.) and I am very thankful for that. The Jeep died on him one night so he drove the van for a few days. We then got one of his grandpa's old Mercedes from his dad and he has been driving that now. There was one night though that it wouldn't start up for him (it was too cold) and he ended up having to walk home. Poor guy, it was freezing out and he had to walk a few miles (not exactly sure how many) at 11 PM. Other than the sinus crud that everyone seems to have he is doing pretty well. Exhausted and sore from all the house stuff he's been doing but that seems to be about the worst of it.

Ronda:
I am getting bigger every day it seems. If it weren't for being pregnant I would be completely depressed by that statement. I am getting exhausted pretty quickly now. After being on my feet for even 10-20 minutes I've been needing to sit and rest. It's not much fun. I've never been this exhausted before. My legs ache all the time and my back hurts all the time. I'm just getting plain miserable. But I'm "keeping an eye" on myself. I really would like to have this baby as close to my due date if possible. Heck, despite being so miserable I really wouldn't mind if I go over-due if it means I get to have a "normal" labor and delivery experience and then get to bring baby home when I come home.
I was sick this week, I'm feeling a little better today; still not great but better. Thursday I woke and could barely move. I laid on the couch for pretty much the whole morning and then took a shower and nap when the kids were napping. Then I spent most of the evening on the couch. I took my temperature around 7 PM or so and it was 101.4 degrees (F). I called Mom and she came up to help with the kids. After forever I talked to my doctor and he told me I should go to the ER. I called Matt and he ended up getting off early and taking me. Mom stayed with the kids (who were in bed by this point). It was a waste of time going to the ER. They didn't run any tests. They listened to the baby's heartbeat and listened to my lungs. That's about it. Since my lungs sounded clear the doctor said I have a sinus infection, prescribed some meds and sent me on my way. Well, I'm not taking the meds. I took one pill when we got home but after reading the paper on it I learned that since I have a penicillin allergy I probably shouldn't take it. I couldn't get ahold of my OB yesterday to find out what to do. So, I'm just taking Tylenol. I feel better though. I am at least up and about today. Anyway, that was our excitement for the week (well, that and the earthquake).

G1:
He seems to be doing a lot better. He is done with his anti-biotic (as of last night). His breathing is almost normal. He is not coughing nearly as bad. Pretty much G1 is back to his old self. There's nothing really new with him.

G2:
G2 is learning what seems to be a new word everyday. She is just as helpful as ever. I don't think she ever crawls anymore. She is up to 8 teeth (2 being molars) and working on another molar. She has become a big "Daddy's girl" which makes me sad because she doesn't kiss on me like she used to.

G3:
G3 is also learning lots of new words. She barely crawls now. She still knows she is faster when crawling so if she is trying to get to something before someone else she will crawl; but that is about the only times. She doesn't just observe all the time now either. She gets in there and gets "dirty" with everyone else. G3 has become my cuddle buddy now. She also has 8 teeth (only 1 of which is a molar).

G4:
We have an ultrasound next Wednesday (34 weeks) to see how G4 is doing. But according to me *she* is doing great. She is moving all over the place making sure I don't forget *she's* there. *Her* heartbeat sounded wonderful the other day. I can tell *she* is growing well. I really hope *she* decides to stay put for at least another 5-6 weeks but I am so anxious to meet *her* at the same time.

The house:
We have carpet in the girls' room and Matt & I's bedroom. The hallway is halfway painted and will be carpeted sometime. We are all in the bedrooms we belong in. HOORAY!! As soon as the hallway is finished and we have the rooms arranged the way they are supposed to be I will take you on the "virtual tour." Are you excited? You should be. The girls' room looks pretty cool--especially now with the carpet in.

That's our update, I can't remember if I was going to say anything else or not. Sorry there are no pictures this time. I can assure you that I will more than make up for it another time.

30 week appointment

I had my 30 week OB/GYN appointment this morning.

Everything looks good. I am measuring 34 weeks! I have gained a total of 11 pounds (after gaining back what all I had lost in the beginning). The pains and everything I was having he figures are just "growing" pains but told me to keep an "eye" on them. The baby's heartbeat sound great.

I will post belly pictures and my measurement next week.

Another one for today...

Well, my monkey children never cease to amaze me. G2 and G3 have learned how to climb out of the play pen (I will try to get a video of it sometime). Since we have all still been staying in the same room (the girls' and our bedrooms are taking longer than we had anticipated) we have been having trouble getting the kids to nap in the afternoon. We decided we needed to get the girls out of the bedroom. So, we put them in the playpen in their room. G1 took a nice nap today. But the girls didn't sleep a wink (although they were way over-tired). I had to keep going up to give G3 her "Happy thing" because G2 kept taking it from her and throwing it out. Which in turn made G3 scream her head off until I went up to help her. A little before the time that I generally go up to get them out of bed I heard some little thumps. So I went running upstairs to see what was going on. Much to my surprise the girls were standing outside of the play pen. I then put them back in and they immediately climbed out again!! ARGH!

We will be getting Mom's play pen to use for one of the girls at naptime now. Hopefully that will help. But of course who knows if they will even stay in them. I wish G1 would just let those girls sleeps so I could keep them in the crib during naptime.

I am going to post how big around I am so maybe that will help me to remember to measure. I will probably try to measure on the days that Matt takes pictures and just post with the pictures. But since I did not do that on Wednesday I will post today for Wednesday. I am measuring 44.5 inches around. (I just realized that that is almost 4 feet! Holy cow!!) That is up 3.5 inches from March 4th.

29 weeks

27 weeks

We are 27 weeks pregnant today. And oddly enough I am starting to feel a lot better than I had for a LONG time. We are due 3 months from yesterday. While I am very excited, I still can't help but stress about everything we HAVE to get done before she arrives.

Here are some pregnancy pictures from today. G1 decided he wanted to be involved in the pictures--as you will be able to tell. In the last picture he is giving the baby kisses. He is so sweet and just loves his sisters (all 3) so much.

Pregnancy update

I am 26 weeks along today. I had a doctor's appointment this morning. Everything seems good. I am measuring 28 weeks. Matt says this will be our 10 pound baby--I would be happy to just be able to deliver a 6-7 pound baby. Baby was real active and heart was beating away. It's actually the first time we have heard the heartbeat on the Doppler--we've had ultrasounds at all the other appointments. I will start going in every 2 weeks now until I am 36 weeks and then we will start weekly visits. I can't believe how soon we will have a newborn in the house again.
The doctor gave me some tips on how to ease the discomfort of the varicose veins--most of them I do already so I guess I just have to tough it out for now. He also gave me some medicine to help with the heartburn.

Marcia came up to watch the kids while I was at the appointment (Matt went with me and then left so he could get to work--working 11-11 today.) Then we went to see the fishy at the pet store. The kids all liked that. G1 picked out what ones he wants. We got lunch and ran another errand then came home. The kids laid down for a (late) nap and Marcia and I (mostly Marcia because she's better at this stuff than I am) worked on the stencils for the flowers for the girls' room. After dinner Marcia, Mom and I figured out where we will place the flowers on the walls and started painting. I am so excited for the girls' room to be done. I think it will be absolutely adorable. Once you see it and everyone oohs and aahs over it you will have to tell Marcia how wonderful she is for coming up with the design (and for just being her!). :-)

Best Friends

G1 and I were watching a show one evening (Reba to be exact--oh and the girls were there too). It was the last episode and Reba either told Barbara Jean or made reference to Barbara Jean being her best friend. G1 then started talking about best friends. So I asked him who his best friend was. I of course already knew exactly who he was going to say. He tells me, "Daddy's Gavyn's best friend." It was so cute and so matter of fact. He will also tell me that "Gavyn's Daddy's best friend." :-)
I asked him this evening (while we were visiting my mom) who Grammy's best friend is. He told us "Mommy's Grammy's best friend." When I asked him who Poppy's best friend is he told us Grammy, and Geneva's best friend is Gretchyn. I really do think he understands (at least a little) about best friends.
Last night all 5 of us were sitting on the couch before putting the kids to bed. We were all just talking and playing. We started talking about best friends. I asked Geneva who her best friend is. She looked right at Gretchyn and tried to hold her hand--Gretchyn of course wanted nothing to do with any of this right then. But it was still very sweet. *Darn pregnancy--I'm getting tears in my eyes just thinking about how sweet and loving my children all are to each other.*

The other day G1 was playing with one of his (numerous) phones. He was "talking" up a storm with someone. I asked him who he was talking to and here is the conversation:
ME: Gavyn who are you talking to?
G1: Coo-coo.
ME: Who's Coo-coo?
G1: Nammy (which is Grammy for those who don't speak Gavyn-ese). Nammy's Coo-coo.
So, of course I'm cracking up wondering where in the world he would come up with something like this. Then I called her when I knew she would be able to talk for a minute. Even tonight he was calling her "Nammy Coo-coo."

I am 25 weeks pregnant today. I cannot believe how close we are getting to having another baby in the house. We still have yet to finish painting our room and the girls' room. Then we have to get the bassinet. Thank goodness we have everything else we will need. We the exception of some mostly minor things (namely varicose veins for those who are curious) going on I feel pretty good.
G1 loves "pushing on the baby" as he calls it. The girls are even getting "into it" I guess you could say. They love to come up to me and rub my tummy. G3 even started rubbing my tummy earlier and said "Baby". It was the first time she had said baby. It was so cool.
When we drive past the hospital that I plan on delivering at I always point it out and tell the kids that "That's where they baby will be born. That's where we will meet our new baby." So, now when G1 sees a big brick building (the hospital is brick) he says "Baby born" and points. He can't wait to meet his new little sibling. But he *knows* that the baby still has "months" (that's what he tells me-because I've told him over 3 months left still) left until she can come home.

Neither girl is walking yet. They both have on numerous occasions. But they don't feel like it yet. Which is fine--as long as they start before the baby comes otherwise I will go nuts! G2 could be standing in the middle of the room holding onto something and the minute we ask her to walk to one of us she gets down on her knees and walks that way. Silly silly girl! :-) I have a video of her doing this and will have to post it later. (I also have about a million pictures that I'm wanting to share--I just don't want to upload them right now, so y'all will have to wait!) G3 really doesn't seem too terribly interested in walking. She really only wants to walk for Poppy--sometimes for me or Matt but mostly just Poppy.

There have been/are a bunch of birthdays this month--plus one wedding!!
CONGRATS RICK AND GINNY! WE LOVE YOU!

1st was Grandma Fairlie's birthday
11th was Grandpa Fairlie's birthday
13th was Aunt Ginny's birthday
19th was Aunt Anissa's birthday and Uncle Collin's 16th birthday!
21st (this Thursday) is will be Skyler's birthday
(I hope that is everyone--if not I will edit later) HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALL OF YOU!!!

More exciting!

G1 got to feel the baby kick this morning!! He was so excited. He's been putting his hand on my belly everyday and saying "Baby kick!!" It's so cute!

Here is a goofy picture of me from Wednesday evening--21 weeks along.
Here is how I look from the front.

Exciting!

Matt felt the baby kick this morning. Such a great milestone! G1 tried to feel the baby but instead of just having his hand on my belly he wanted to massage and push to really feel the baby. It didn't work.

How rude!

We went to Target this morning to get me a new pair of maternity jeans. When we were back at the fitting rooms I had Matt run and get me a different size than what I had grabbed. When he brought them back to me the fitting room attendant says to me in the most disgusted and rude tone "You're having another one!" I just grinned real big and said "Yup!" What I wanted to say was "I'm not on welfare and my children are well taken care of and loved, what business is it of yours?!?!" Why do people have such a problem with other people having "lots" of children? I used the " " around lots because I know that 4 children is not a lot but to the rest of the world it is. No one else has to take care of them or pay for them so why do they have such a problem with it? UGH! Anyway, that is my rant for the day.

Also, we got the main paint color G1's bedroom today. He is very excited about it and picked it out himself. It is a green/blue that has the word "rainforest" in the name of it. He will have stars painted on the walls also (he chose that too). When he gets moved into his new room he will have an upgrade from his toddler bed to a big boy bed (twin sized). The frame for that is red. He will have a very colorful room and seems to be very excited about it.

Hmmmm...

So, I think Marcia, Fiona and Ashley are the only ones that read my blog. Hmmmm.... But that's not why I'm posting. lol To all of you that I didn't name-please please please feel free to comment. It's so nice to read what others think of what I have to say (if you can make sense of it) or what others think of the most beautiful children on the face of the earth (yes I mean mine-who else would I be talking about--Noah, Nuala and Bran are all gorgeous too-and yes I'm only listing them because they are the only ones whose parents comment) :-)

I wanted to point out a link that I have on here. It is up on the left hand side right above our family picture. If you click on it- it will take you to a "game" where you can put in your guesses about our new baby. You can choose if you think it will be a boy or girl (I know we've had the u/s that said girl-but that could be totally wrong still) what the date and time of birth will be, and what the length and weight will be. And after the baby is born I will put in the right answers and we will see who our winner is. What do you win, you ask? Well, let me tell you..... You win.....{{{drum roll}}} the satisfaction of knowing that you guessed the most correctly about our baby. That's right you win nothing but satisfaction. But hey, it's fun. So, give it a try. Oh, and don't let Rick try to tell you that you will win the right to name the baby-because that just ain't true. :-) Sorry Rick!

Yes there is only 1

We have had 4 ultrasounds now. I am positive there is only 1 in there. The 1st picture is from my first ultrasound--I was about 8.5 weeks along. Looking at this picture really makes me wonder how anyone could say that they aren't babies this early on. You can totally see that that is a person.

Here is me at 14 weeks-12/6/07

Here is me this morning-18 weeks 1 day

We had our BIG ultrasound yesterday. The baby looks like a girl. Poor Matt and G1--there is going to be so much estrogen in the house-I wonder how they will survive. :-) Of course I won't really completely believe 'girl' until the baby is born-but for now that is what we are preparing for.

June 4, 2008