Not Much Change...

My appointment today went well, she said I was doing great but the fact is that not much has changed with the progression. Still pretty much where I was last week. She is still convinced that I will go into labor before my due date though, so that makes me feel better. I plan to walk my face off over the next few days, maybe I can find some stairs and spend an afternoon walking up and down them.

She wanted to induce me next Wednesday. She is on call that day, and if I go into labor and she's not on call, the doctor who is on call will be doing the delivering. As nice as that sounds to have the guarantee for her to be there, I would much rather risk having another doctor be on call and me go into labor on my own. Convenience is not a good enough excuse for me right now. The thought of it being a week away was TERRIFYING! I think I might seriously freak out when I do go into labor though...it's really scary thinking about it!

So that's basically it. We're waiting to see what happens. Gunner is pretty low right now though, so maybe he's almost ready and he will come before my due date. I'm praying that God will make him come on his own before then. It can happen! It might not hurt if you pray with me! =)

Getting Closer...

Well I am at 38 weeks today. It is INSANE to think that we are this close to being parents. When we finally got to announce that we were pregnant, I thought to myself, "week 40 is so far away, it will be forever till we get to that point..." Well, here we are. We're pretty much prepared, as far as preparing goes anyway, for Gunner to arrive. We've got just about everything we need really, so I feel like we're "ready". (although, how ready can you be for your entire life to change.....)

The last two doctors appointments have been good, the first one I was dilated to 1 and 20% effaced, and the second one I was dilated between 1 and 2 and 50% effaced. My doctor was pleased and said I was really progressing well for where I was in the pregnancy, so her positive response made me feel like things are going well! My next appointment is Wednesday, so we will see what has happened in the last week. I've been having pretty regular contractions, nothing too intense but they happen throughout the day, and more at night. We've been going on walks every day and when I get done walking, I have lots of harder contractions, then they slow down.

Everyone was hoping today was the day, because 10/10/10 would have been a cool birthday! But alas, nothing. Oh well, he will come when he's ready! Apparently there is a front coming in, and the pressure changes have been known to cause labor to begin. Also, there is a full moon on the 22nd or 23rd which could cause it as well...and many other things I have heard that could cause labor! Every time I tell Daniel one of these theories, he just says, "Oh really? What about if you watch Star Wars: Return of the Jedi while singing the Star Spangled Banner during a rain storm on a Thursday?? Will that cause you to go into labor too?!" lol I can see his point, but it IS interesting the things that have caused some people to go into labor! You never know...

That's about all that has been going on in our lives currently, we're just playing the waiting game now. People are giving their predictions and it's pretty fun to hear every one's thoughts! I personally think that I've got at least another full week, if not more...but I always think negatively so I don't get my hopes up...

Scary Moment

I had a little scare at my 34 week appointment today. I will go ahead and say EVERYTHING IS FINE, NOTHING IS WRONG! So no worries! Here's what happened.

I went in for my usual appointment which consists of me getting weighed, giving a urine sample (hooray...) blood pressure checked, uterus measurement and listening to the heart beat. Well, while the doctor was listening to Gunner's heart beat, she said it was a little low. (It's usually around 135, today it was 115 and lower) So she decided, to be safe, to hook me up to the fetal monitor for 20 minutes to get a read on what is going on. Ok, so I was slightly concerned but I wanted to get it over with so they could tell me if anything was wrong. A few minutes into the test, she came back in and it had dropped into the 90's. She immediately ordered an ultra sound, and I started to panic but kept it to myself. I didn't want to be the girl that freaks out!
They wanted to finish the test, so I had to sit in there, freaking out, all by myself for the next 15 minutes. The nurse gave me a magazine to look at. Yeah right, like I can read a magazine right now. I just held it open but stared at the monitor watching the numbers go up and down. (apparently that's good for them to fluctuate a bit) After that we did the ultra sound. She told me everything looked fine. They checked the amniotic fluid, his movement, listened to the blood pumping through the cord (amazing that they can do that) and watched him practice his "breathing". (He doesn't really breathe yet since there's nothing to breathe other than fluid, but the fact that he's practicing is an excellent sign) She said he looked great and the doctor released me! It was scary, but at the same time, I got to see little Gunner again!! He's HUGE compared to the 20 week ultra sound! He looks much fatter too and you could see his hands, they looked just like baby hands!!!! Amazing. She even printed out a few pictures for me! She happened to notice the area between his legs and said "OH yeah he's a boy"...I won't go into detail, but it looked much more like a boy than the last ultra sound! (she took a picture of that for us...lol)
It was amazing how much more developed he was this time. I'm so glad everything is fine, but that was scary for a few minutes. I did not like it. I did enjoy seeing him again though. OH and he is head down! His little feet are what's been sticking in my ribs! It's nice to know what everything is when he moves now!
I go back in two weeks and after that every week until he is here. Hopefully the next appointment will be less eventful...

A Whopper of a Weekend!

Labor Day weekend was CRAZY, but very fun too! It all started Friday night with a Pampered Chef party! We had a lot of fun. I hosted my first PC party, and the girl who was the PC consultant just started out so it was her first show too! I barely had anyone show up (seeing that I scheduled it on Labor Day weekend and all..) but I got a TON of outside orders and ended up getting a ton for cheap because of all the orders! Thanks everyone!

Saturday I got up and ran a few errands before dressing up and attending my second baby shower with friends! It was so fun and pretty! My three friends Bonnie, Ashley and Meagan did such an amazing job, it was great! The cake was ADORABLE and delicious, the food was so yummy and the decor was adorable! I loved it. We all had a great time! Daniel even came! I got some great and much needed items. I even got some hand made things! Ashley's grandmother made us a beautiful afghan that I love so much! Thank you!!!! And Bonnie (and Tom too!) made an adorable custom quilt! I love custom, hand made things so much and especially when they are for Gunner! It was a wonderful shower, I had a great time and thank you girls so much for throwing it for us! (I didn't get a ton of good clear pictures from the shower for some reason!)

Saturday night we had the family birthday party for my niece Emily's 16th birthday! It was a ton of fun and I cannot believe she is 16! When I met her (and most of Daniel's family) it was at her 11th birthday party. Hard to believe!

Sunday we got my family and Daniel's family together for a big BBQ lunch and diaper shower. That was some delicious food and adorable decorations! We all had so much fun. We got SO many diapers and other items that were much needed. My brother in law and sister in law (Scott and Kristi) helped us finish out the nursery by getting us a beautiful glider rocker with a glider ottoman! Two of my nieces even got us gifts! (Janna even made Gunner a cute little pillow!) The most memorable part though was opening the gift from Daniel's mother. She had several items from the past, and there were notes describing what each item was, who it belonged to before, and how special it was to the family. It was so amazing seeing what these items were and how they were significant to Gunner's family history.

"Gunner, This was the first outfit which was bought for your Uncle Stephen when he was just six weeks old by his mother and your grandmother, Nanny. It cost $3.98. This outfit was also worn by your Uncle Scotty and your dad. It was given to Cousin Colton when he was born, then passed down to you three years later. Today, September 5, 2010, this outfit is 40 years old."

"Gunner, This outfit was worn by your Uncle Stephen, Uncle Scotty and your dad. Uncle Stephen had his six month old pictures made in this outfit."

"Gunner, These shoes belonged to your dad, Daniel Babb, and were a gift from Mrs. Eubanks who was a neighbor and went to church with us at the time Daniel was born."

"This is the blanket that was made for Daniel before he was born. Why is it pink? One girl and two boys in the family already....you figure it out!!! He always loved his pink blanket. Right Daniel?" [the yellow one was also Daniel's blanket]

"This is the Pound Puppy Daniel begged for when he was in the fourth grade. (along with a cabbage patch doll.) He got both for Christmas that year."

"Daniel and Mandy, This is a family heirlook which belonged to Cullen Ward. [Cullen was Daniel's grandfather on his mother's side] This was his shaving mug, razor and brush he used for shaving. He used this for many years. Mama Ward [Daniel's grandmother] and Nanny want you to keep this for Gunner so he will have a little bit of heritage from our side of the family."

"Daniel and Mandy, This is a stocking which belonged to Cullen Ward. It was bought for Cullen when he was one month old by his mother. Cullen Ward would have been Gunner's great dranddaddy. Cullen would have been 98 years old on August 22nd, 2010, which is the year Gunner was born. Mama Ward found this stocking in some of her keepsakes and wanted you to keep it for Gunner in memory of his great grandparents, Nettie and Cullen Ward." [this stocking is almost 100 years old.]

So as you can see, we had a very special baby shower. It's so amazing to hear these stories, and even more amazing to see the items from the past that went along with the stories. Gunner has some amazing family, past and present, and I cannot wait to share all of this with him someday.

Friday the 13th and a Baby Shower

My Friday started out with a bang. The kind of bang that tells you "Yeah, you're welcome, you better hang on because today is going to kick you in the face". It started out with me taking way too long to get ready, but I wanted to dress up a little for my FIRST BABY SHOWER! Yeah!! I was too excited. So excited, that I forgot my gas tank was on empty and I was supposed to get gas the night before. I HAD to do it before work because I was meeting a friend for lunch and would have ended up on the side of the road trying to get there...it was that empty. So I left the house, later than normal, to go to the gas station to fill up.

Luckily, I got to work only a few minutes late. As I walked to the door I reached for my badge to open the securely locked doors and what have we here? No badge? Oh, that's right...I left it at home, in a different place than I normally put it. Of course. So I had to call someone to let me in. There goes a few more minutes. I get to my desk and apologize to my boss for forgetting my badge, and she tells me that I should head home to get it since I will need it later to go walk my mom back for the shower later. (The security is really tight in our building. There's a reason it's called Arvest Fort Knox) So I ran home to get it. It made me feel much better having it all day.

So lunch rolls around, and although it was so fun and really delicious, it took an extra 20 minutes, so I then was late getting back to work! I did have an hour of overtime that week....but it pretty much disappeared after all that craziness happened. Oh well, it's better than being short an hour!

That was the crazy part of my day. The rest was great! I attended my first baby shower thrown by my amazing coworkers! My mom got to come and that was awesome. It was fantastic. I had a great time and was blown away by the kindness of the people that I work with, past and present! There were a few faces there who I haven't seen in many months! Thank you guys for coming. We got tons of great baby items, and Gunner is going to look so stinking cute in all the new clothes he got! Here are a few pictures from the shower.

I guess that whole day took all my energy, because when I got home I was worthless. Poor Daniel just told me to go to bed at 8 45, and I wasn't about to argue. I got 11 hours of sleep and loved every minute of it. I am trying to savor these hours of sleep because I know they will be few and far between in the near future.

All in all, it was a great day, even with all the weird things that happened in the beginning. I had an awesome time.

Also, just ignore it if this post isn't totally centered and pictures are spaced weird. I can never figure out how to make it all fit perfectly, because it looks right when I'm setting it up, but the preview is always off! I don't even care...lol

We attended our first birthing class Monday night, and it was great! I was nervous about it but it went very well and was informative and fun too. It was about 2 ½ hours long, but it flew by. We sat around learning about some things, talking about pain and how to deal with it, and the last part of the class involved everyone sitting on mats in a circle with their coach doing breathing exercises. We then tried out some massage techniques for labor, which was fun. I can’t wait for Daniel to sit and massage my hands and feet for seventeen + hours. =) I could get used to that! I’m sure he’s thrilled about that idea too… I think it will be very helpful for us to learn all this information though. Its kind of fun to do this with Daniel, neither one of us have ever done anything like this so this is a new exciting adventure for us to share together. Plus, we have way too much fun in anything we do so of course we got tickled during the breathing exercises. I have a feeling we will both be more serious during the real deal.

Our instructor for our birthing class has suggested that we pick out some music to listen to during labor. Of course, Daniel and I have lots of really hilarious ideas.

Crazy Train
Eye of the Tiger

Theme from Rocky
Chariots of Fire

The Final Countdown

My more serious selections include:
John Mayer
Feist
David Crowder Band
smooth jazz
instrumental guitar

I have never gone through labor and delivery, so I really have no idea what type of music will help. Who knows, maybe I will feel the need to stick with all techno and trance music. Get me some glow sticks and I’ll be good! HA!

Got any song suggestions, funny or otherwise? Share them!

Day Off

This week has been different! My parents stayed with us from Saturday until this morning. We have a ton of fun together so it was a nice change having company over for that long. Before hand, Mom and I planned out all the meals we'd have so we would be prepared. Taco night, leftovers, steak night, hamburger casserole, and Wednesday they had church so we all had to fend for ourselves. Our dog Baily loves Daniel so much, it's insane. She adores him. But I think this week she took to Papa and didn't want him to leave! Here is a picture of his truck all packed up this morning.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to get a "yes" from my boss to take today off. (thanks!) Daniel has been on vacation all week, and this will be the last time we would be able to have a day off together before Gunner gets here so I took it off. We started the day by getting life insurance! (Woo hoo...) Something I never thought about until now...actually Daniel mentioned it since he seems to think more long term than me. Good idea though. Then we went to see Inception at the theater at noon, so there was practically no one else in the whole theater. That is a good movie I might add. It'll make you think. After that we stopped by Bath and Body Works because they were having their 5 for $15 hand soap sale (yahoo!) and of course I had to take advantage! What a deal. On our way home we picked up some Chinese food and had a REALLY early dinner since we didn't eat lunch, and I fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up Gunner started kicking. He's bee incredibly active the last few days, either that or he's just so big now that I can feel any time he moves. It's really fun, and really distracting at work. Yesterday he was kicking so much I had one of the girls in the cubicle next to me come over and feel my belly! Some people say they hate when people rub their belly, but I just want to show him off! It's so fun when he's kicking and others can feel it! I'm already proud of how hard he kicks...ha!

According to "What to Expect", on Sunday I reached the third trimester! Here is the picture we took that day.