Baby Shower

Saturday, April 11 was our first baby shower, and it was so much fun! It was hosted by my aunt Terry, my cousin Shelley, my mom's dear friend Linda, and my friends Candace and Mary Beth. It was at Earle Street Baptist Church, and there were so many wonderful people who made it to help us celebrate the coming birth of this precious baby! I didn't get very many pictures. My mom took a lot more of me with the grandmothers-to-be and lots more presents. You can check out those pictures on Facebook if you want!

All of the hostesses with me before the shower. Check out the gorgeous diaper cake Shelley made!

There were so many presents I couldn't believe my eyes! I just kept opening and opening! Thanks to everyone for being so generous and thoughtful! We got our car seat, a stroller, a pack 'n play, and lots of other wonderful things!

My friends Laura and Jennifer from high school!

My belly in all of its glory!

The Countdown is On!

Well, last week we officially made it under the 10 week mark! And, as of today, we are 31 weeks pregnant. I finally feel like it is OK to start counting down instead of counting up. It is so hard to believe we are more than 3/4 of the way through the pregnant stage of this new addition to our lives! We have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to!

I went to the doctor last week, and everything still looks good. My blood pressure is on track, the heartbeat was strong, and my belly measurement was good (I still don't really understand that one!) I will be going in for checkups every two weeks now until I reach 36 weeks, when I will start going every week. I feel like my belly is getting huge, but other than that, I am feeling great, so I am certainly not complaining!

Our big news is that we bought a new car today! Well, not really new, but new to us. Sadly, I had to trade in the Mini Cooper (sniff) but I am relieved to have a car that we can actually fit a car seat into. We bought a 2007 Mazda 5, which is kind of a combination of a station wagon and mini van. From the outside, it just looks like a big car, but the back doors slide like a mini-van, and it has third row seats, which fold down for the same amount of storage as a station wagon. I am really excited about it!

I have my first baby shower on Saturday, and I am so excited about that, too! I will post another update with pictures next week! Thanks for keeping us and this baby in your prayers!

After a punishing day of crappy chairs and information overload, Smith Family Robinson is now ready to kick Bill2.0 out of the 34 pounds o' uterus that are currently growing inside Meredith. I'll explain.

About two lectures in to our class yesterday, our helpful nurse Michelle started passing around life-sized models of babies at certain stages: 8, 16, 22, 28 and 40 weeks gestation. Our size, 28 weeks, was easily palmed. That forty-week sucker though weighed as much as a heavy backpack of school books and wobbled like a jello boulder. And the uterus model was as big and heavy as a donut tire from a crappy import car. Holy cow. All this business is growing in wifey's belly?

After we wolfed lunch, we toured the Casa de Poppage to find out where we need to be and when. It seems a bit surreal, but I am holding auditions for a cameraman who can be a good back up for the delivery room. Let me know if interested. Please send references.

ttfn

28 Weeks

I am a little belated in posting this update! I went back to the doctor last Tuesday. Everything checked out great. My blood pressure is good, the baby's heart rate is strong in the 150s, and I wasn't too disappointed by the number on the scale! They also did the Glucose Screening Test, which I assume went fine. They told me they would call in 2-4 days, and I never heard back from them. So, I am guessing that no news is good news in this case! I also went to the pulmonologist last Thursday, because my asthma has been acting up lately. Long story short, my lung capacity is terrible. However, they have put me on some new medicines that are safe for the baby, and life seems to be improving!

Here is a picture of me with my friend Erin at her baby shower last week. It is looking like she is going to have her baby, Parker, next Monday (if she doesn't have her on her own by then, they are planning to induce!) On the other side of things, Mama Martin is currently in the hospital. She fell yesterday and has a head injury. It seems she is improving, and they are hopefully going to move her out of ICU and into a private room tomorrow. I am trying not to worry. This baby needs to meet her Granny!

26 Weeks!

Here I am at 26 weeks! I cannot believe how quickly time is going by! I am still feeling good, although I am starting to feel the weight of the growing belly! By looking at the size of my belly, I feel like I am further than I actually am! We are sneaking into the third trimester, and I can only pray that things continue to go as well as they have through these first 26 weeks. I am still having Braxton-Hicks contractions here and there but I am trying not to worry about them. I will mention it again next week at my monthly appointment. I will also be taking the glucose test next Tuesday to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. I have heard that it is not a fun test, but hopefully they will give me the "all clear!" I took advantage of the snow day today and went to Babies R Us to begin the arduous task of creating a baby registry. Bill and I went in a couple of weeks ago to pick out some of the big stuff, but I went by myself today to actually start the registry. I had no idea how much stuff there was to choose from and how many things a baby needs! I still didn't get it all done, but I got a good start! We are both so excited for the weeks, months, and years to come! Bill has been practicing his daddy skills...

Two Doctors' Visits in One Week

Our monthly visit to the doctor was last Monday. Everything checked out great - my blood pressure is low; no protein in the urine; the doctor said my uterus is measuring where it should be, with the top at my belly button; and the baby's heart rate was 140. When the doctor told me the top of the uterus was at my belly button, I wondered what all the stuff is making my belly pop out above the belly button!
So, after my wonderful check up on Monday, I started feeling some strange things on Tuesday night. At first, it felt like the baby was pressing its head really hard against the bottom of my belly. Then, the more I felt it, I realized it was a little too big to be the head at this point. So, by Wednesday I started thinking, "Is this what a contraction feels like? Maybe it is Braxton Hicks?!?" On Thursday, I decided to ask some of my friends at school who were pregnant recently if they had Braxton Hicks and what they felt like. They convinced me I should call the doctor, so I did. At this point, I was pretty calm about the whole thing, but when I talked to the nurse, she said I needed to come in right away. So, of course, I started panicking and imagining all sorts of awful things. But, when I got there, Dr. Demosthenes checked me out and said everything is fine. She confirmed that they were Braxton Hicks contractions and nothing to worry about unless they start hurting or coming regularly. So, the panic subsided! I had a few more on Friday, but haven't felt any in a few days. I have been feeling the baby more and more, though. He or she is moving around like crazy now!

Santa Vaca!!! I felt the baby. It felt like a Hong Kong Phooey chop.