He's Coming!!!

baby Sam will be here tomorrow! I go in around 6am and they begin the induction! Today at my appointment I had dilated a little bit and she liked what she saw on the Ultrasound as far as his size. She did not like, however, the way that he is folded in there. Because of his length, he's in an upside down "U" position and this could cause future fetal distress if he gains anymore weight. Based on the measurements taken at the time of ultrasound, she estimates he will be around 7.5 pounds. I am so excited!!

Mom and Keri will be here tomorrow around lunch time. My dad has to take a test on Friday for a computer training course he's been doing and should be here on Friday evening. Tom and Pat are still in Spain, but should arrive back in Tyler on Saturday. Wish me luck!!

38 Weeks

Is this the week? Will I be able to post a "39 weeks" blog?? Whooooooo knows!!!!

I am really hoping for this week to fly by. Today should be the longest day, really. Tomorrow is my birthday, so that will make Tuesday go by fast and then Wednesday is my appointment. This weekend Jake and I took 2 very long walks to try and get the ball rolling. I would start contracting during the walks, but nothing painful. It's weird because for every 3-4 painless contractions, there is one monster painful one. The Dr. told me that I wont "not" know Im in labor when it's time, so that's reassuring. How great would it be to just go into labor on my own sometime between now and Friday?? :) Jake and I tried to really understand that we could have just had our last weekend with just us two for the rest of our lives. On Friday we went to Sam's and bought a few items. We got up early on Saturday morning to drink coffee on the porch and watch the Susan G. Koman runners run past our house. We had breakfast tacos at this great little Taquiria down the road. It was funny because as Jake was paying for the tacos he pulled out his wallet and it was so packed full of junk he could barely get his debit card out. I looked at him and said "I think its about time..." and was going to follow up with "to get a new wallet." but before I could, he goes "REALLY?!" because he thought I meant "ITS TIME!!!!" Haaaaahahahahaahhaaaaaaaaaaaaa. You should have seen the look on his face. He was so excited! Aw, poor guy. Haha. After breakfast we went to Lifeway Christian stores and he bought me a new pink Bible. I had needed a new one badly. I love it and I will always remember that he got it for me on my first unofficial Mother's Day weekend. :) Sunday we slept late and then did our small Bible study. We finished our series on Character last month and this month we are doing one on Raising Godly Children. Since we dont have a church home here ( i know, i know) we do online devotionals with one another on Sunday mornings. I know it's not church, but it works for us right now. We cant wait to get back to Houston and return to Sugar Grove or Cinco Ranch Church of Christ.

Have I told you guys recently how much I look forward to seeing Jake as a father? He's just going to be SO good at it. He has truly been the best husband EVER during this pregnancy. He's just a great husband, period. He helps me out around the house and does whatever I might not have gotten to during the day or might need to get done at night. He never complains, he just does it with a quarky little smile. He rubs my feet and back the best he knows how. And the way he talks with Sam just melts my heart. He goes straight to my belly when he arrives home from work to tell Sam hello (before he even kisses me!) and tells him he loves him. And this is something he's done all 9 months! Not just when the belly started bulging. Sometimes when we are watching TV I will catch him staring at me and when I ask him what he's thinking about, he says Sam. Watching him grow to love this person he's never even met has made me fall in love with him all over again. I cant wait to see him when he finally gets to lay his eyes on his baby boy. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So awesome!

I have a lot to be thankful for in my life, that's for sure. This week could potentially be the biggest in my whole life, and I just cant wait to see how it all plays out. I can take walks and do other things to "begin" labor, but when it comes down to it, God is in charge. This pregnancy has taught me so much about patience, faith and courage. From the miscarriage, to the 11 months of trying afterwards, to the bleeding during the first few months and the cyst on Sam's brain, God has led me through some pretty dark moments. To get through all of this on earth, He blessed me with an amazing husband, a wonderful family and some pretty awesome friends. Thank you guys so much for being so supportive and helpful. From showers, to kind words of encouragement on Facebook and through email, y'all have made this so much easier and less scary. I love you so much.

So let's get this week started, shall we. It's already a quarter till 11am and that means that Monday is almost half way over. Yay!! I will be back on Wednesday as soon as I know something. My appointment is at 11:40, so I figure by 1pm I should be out of there and ready to give everyone a date for his official arrival. Y'all have a great week!! xoxo

37 weeks

Hello, Sam Bender Fans!!

Well, we had our 37 week appointment today and I have some interesting news to report. I have made zero progress since last time! You may be thinking to yourselves, "why is this a good thing?" It isnt. HOWEVER, she was feeling around my belly and measuring it and was looking a bit concerned. She asked me if I felt like I had "grown" a significant amount since last visit, which was just 6 days ago. I told her yes, I did feel that way because honestly, I really have had a miserable 6 days. And she was like "He's VERY big. And I dont like the way he is wrapping around" Hmmmmmmm. Sooooo, she said she'd like to give me one more week to dilate and she wants to take a look at him via sonogram. She said that if we look at him and he's a biggin, like she expects, and I have dilated a little, we will induce late next week. If he is a biggin, and I have NOT dilated, then we will do a c-section the next week. So she gave us some homework and will see us on Wednesday. So Sam will be here next week or mid-week that next week. Does that make sense? What a good birthday present. If he's huge and they induce me, she is going to let me labor for just a small amount of time and probably end up doing a c-section anyways. I know this is confusing.

So, that's our story. If anything, I get to see him on the big screen again on Wednesday and you know what that means. PICTURES!! Although by that point you will probably be able to wait a few days and see real life pictures. Meh, oh well. It's all so exciting. :)

36 Week Appt.

My appointment went very well today. I am 50% effaced and 0cm dilated. She said he is sitting very low and measuring right on target. I saw a different Dr. in the practice this week because my Dr. is out of town. I go back on Tuesday at 4:20. Being "checked" was very uncomfortable. Meh.

The Dr. also said that normally they are open to inducing up to one week early and normally dont let you go more than one week over your due date. This makes me feel VERY good. I'd love to induce the week before as long as its on a weekend. My due date falls on a Sunday, and I would like to maybe have a Friday induction that way my family could get there and stay for the weekend and not have to take off very much work.

I dont really have much more to update on. Keri and her family come home from Disney tomorrow and I cant wait to see all their pictures. Pat and Tom leave for Spain on Saturday and will be gone until the 14th. Jake and I are just planning on another restful weekend. Hope everybody has a good rest of the week!!!

Umm...

Had a little talk with the Lord this afternoon and we decided that I need to be patient and relax. I'm giving all my fears and anxiety to Him. What a load off.

35 weeks

I know I have mentioned this before, but let me just say this again. I dont want your mouth on my child. Like, people who smother new babies in kisses, like babies that dont belong to them, really gross me out. Maybe a little kissy on the hand or forehead, but like, only one. I saw this lady at CVS slobbering all over this new baby and I almost had a panic attack. I myself dont even like hugs, much less kisses from people (besides my family) and I REALLY dont want you putting your germs on my child. So that's that. Lips off people. Green lights for hugs and snuggles, but no mouths please. You've been warned.

This weekend was pretty good, with the exception of being 100% uncomfortable 80% of the time. It just started off bad with a drive to Katy on Thursday. First off, we didnt get to leave when I wanted. I just cant stretch out how I want to in the Jeep. I told myself that I wasnt going to buy any more maternity clothes so I am having to wear jeans still. I was hot and it felt like they were digging into me. Every bump we went over felt like the Grand Canyon. Not to mention Jake was on the phone with work the whole time and that's always stressful. I was happy to see my lovies when we got to Katy, but I didnt sleep well that night. I knew I had to get up at 6am so I tossed and turned until about 30 minutes before the alarm went off and I just decided to get up. I sat in an uncomfortable chair for 6 hours during THE WORST dental seminar I have ever been to. I have been going to this convention for 3 years and this was the biggest disappointment yet. None of them are totally entertaining, but this was just AWFUL. Terrible speaker, terrible material. I wanted to lay out on the floor so bad. That night was good, though. Keri made some AWESOME chicken sour cream enchiladas and mom and dad came to eat with us. She made brownies and ice cream for dessert. It was a nice end to a rough day. That night I slept MUCH better, but you know, its just not a GREAT sleep when it isnt your bed at home. The next morning we went to Grayson's T-ball game and it was really fun. Grayson is so attentive when it comes to T-ball. I'd probably say he's one of the best on his team. After the game we went ahead and left so that we could make a crawfish boil back in Tyler. Steph, Chip, Griffin and Will were in Tyler visiting Jake's parents so it was nice to see them. I wish I'd have had more energy and enthusiasm. It had been a long weekend and all I wanted was to sleep and rest my feet. We ate our crawfish, went home, and on Sunday we were pretty much comatose the whole day. We slept until 10am, took naps at 4 and stayed in bed all day watching TV. It was great.

Today I was treated to a wonderful massage and pedicure, care of Pat. She had set it up for me last week and I have been looking forward to it since Thursday. Because I cant lay on my stomach, it made it kinda awkward, but it was a nice treat and I REALLY needed and appreciate it. THANK YOU SO MUCH, MOMO!!

So we are at 35 weeks!!! This is so exciting. I had a Dr.'s appt. last week and everything is still looking good. I go to my next one on the 28th, next Thursday, and from then on I will have them every week. I will get checked next week and I am very excited about that. At this point we are just waiting on my little lovebug to make his next move. :)

Have a good week, everybody!!

34 weeks

My sweet little boy looks so cute on the big screen. We have 35 new pictures of him! I just want to kiss him so bad. Look at that mouth. We went to Stork Vision of Tyler to get some good pics of him before we get to meet him in person. Im not sure when exactly they will look at him again at the Dr.'s office, but Im sure at that point they wont be interested in getting me some money shots. So, we did it ourselves. He was very sleepy when having his picture taken, so we got very few with his eyes open. Sometimes I think he was just "acting" like he was sleeping because he was annoyed with us. Ha. It wont be the last time.

I have a Dr.'s appointment tomorrow. I am 34 weeks this week and feeling exhausted. My feet still hurt, mostly my heels, and I have now begun to walk with a limp. It just hurts so bad to put my weight on my heels, so I walk on my toes. Sam is "head down" most of the time at this point, and having him weigh on my bladder is VERY interesting. I try so hard not to complain about this experience because I know how blessed I am to be going through it. It's getting harder though, I'm not going to lie.

Right now I'm especially annoyed with people who make having a newborn sound so excruciating. I'd like to think I'm not a fool, and I realize that they arent easy. I'm fully aware that the first couple of months involves lack of sleep and lots of confusion and frustration. I mean, arent we all aware of that? I just wish people would just stop giving me their horror stories and their "well wishes" for the "misery" to come. Isnt that annoying? They are BABIES, people. And also, I dont care about your awful labor and delivery story. Just let me have my experience. The last thing Im going to tell a soon-to-be mom is how much pain it involves. Sheesh!! That also, I'd like to think, is pretty much a given.

This Thursday we are making our last trip to Houston. I have a dental convention to attend on Friday in order to get my "CE" credits for dental hygiene. My license expires on May 1, so I better get to it! I have to sit all day through one class. I plan to bring some snacks and a pillow to lean against. I'm going to try my hardest to sit in the back row, that way I dont annoy anyone when I get up 30 times. They give you breaks, but mine might need to come sooner than every hour and 15 minutes. HA!

Jake and I have the "delivery day" bag all ready and packed. It's sitting in Sam's room, just ready to be snatched up and thrown in the car. We talk almost every day about what the "day" might be like. We are SO excited. I'm happy to say that the nursery is READY, as well. We are very happy with it and cant wait to lay little Sam in it. He's gonna love it.

Ok, I'm off to the grocery store. Im cooking tonight for Pat and Tom and I'm trying a new recipe. Wish me luck!!