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...

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.

What Have We Been Up To?

I will be attending my first baby shower in three weeks! Really? Is it already time for that? I cannot believe how fast it has gone since we made our big announcement. The first trimester crawled by at a snails pace because we were trying to keep a secret, but it has been a whirlwind of a time since then. Several weeks ago I was itching to start on the nursery, and now we’re kind of at a stand still as far as what we can do. We painted it and got the crib set up, but I don’t have the bedding yet. My crazy talented mother is making the bedding and curtain, so I will have to wait until that’s finished. She has the quilt done, and she’s working on the bumper pad and dust ruffle/bed skirt currently. I’m hoping to be able to help with all that at some point! No pictures will be posted until the big reveal! I want to show all of it together when it’s in the room. Cannot wait!

We bought a used stroller/car seat combo the other day and it’s sitting in the nursery along with the changing table and “co-sleeper basinet” Mom got us. It looks more like a small pack and play than a basinet. That thing is going to be a permanent fixture beside my bed for the first few months. I’m so glad to have it!

I also bought a used little activity center that I could not find anywhere except at Babies R Us (for a whopping $90!!!) but I got this one for $40! Talk about a deal. My sweet nephew has the same one and LOVES it! I need to post a picture of him playing in his soon.

We’re doing the cloth diaper thing and my mom got me a few diapers to start my stash. I will have to do a whole post on those some day soon. They’re pretty cool and so adorable. I registered for lots of diapers so hopefully I will get all I need! I am so thankful to have my sister in law and several people at church who use cloth available for me to ask my many questions to. They have been a big help. I should probably have all of their phone numbers on hand when Gunner gets here, because I know I will have even more questions and concerns by then!

Aside from a handful of outfits, some socks and a few hats, that’s all we have so far! It’s a good start though. I’m starting to wonder where on earth everything is going to go… I guess I will figure that out later!

In pregnancy news, I passed my glucose tolerance test the other day! It wasn’t bad at all really. I just hate having my blood drawn. The doctor said I was doing very well, and that I was measuring a week bigger, which isn’t too big of a deal. I’ve only gained a total of 7 pounds so far, so I’m hoping it doesn’t get out of control in the last trimester. I know I will get much bigger and gain more, but I want to keep it under 25 pounds total!! We start our child birthing classes on August 9th! It’s a 6 week course and we have it every Monday night (except for one was moved to the day after Labor Day). I am looking forward to it.

Gunner is doing well and moving so much every day! His movements are starting to get really big and are in different areas now. Sometimes it even tickles my ribs! The other day I think he rolled over, but he kept pushing out with an arm or leg or something and I pushed where it was and I could feel something hard under there! SO WEIRD! He seems to have changed his sleeping schedule, because he’s moving at different times during the day than he usually does. He used to not move much until I got to work, and he would squirm randomly till I ate dinner and then would settle down for the night. Now he is really active when I try to go to sleep! I feel him moving much more in the mornings too. He should be about 15 inches long by now! Holy cow! That’s huge! Pretty exciting stuff. My next appointment isn’t until mid August.

Even though I really want to see what he looks like and hold him, I’m not quite ready for him to get here yet! I’ve got too much to do before then, and I’m still pretty anxious about D-Day! I still wish I could skip that part!

We Are Registered!

Well we officially registered for some baby items for Gunner today! We took Mom with us because we had no idea what we were doing. I armed Daniel with the scanner gun and set Mom loose to tell us what we needed. She was a huge help. It was pretty tiring too. We went to Wal Mart and Target, and when I got home I created a very small registry at Babies R Us for a couple of items I would really like that I can't really find anywhere else. I've got to go back to Target too because some of the bigger items that I wanted are going to be clearanced out and unavailable, but in a couple of weeks they're getting a totally new set of items in so I'll just add those to the list when they get them. So basically, it's an unfinished list. But we're almost done!

Here are the links! (I don't know how to do a hypr link or whatever it's called where you just see a word, and when you click on the word it takes you to the link. If you want to explain to me how to do that in a blog, have at it.)

http://www.walmart.com/giftregistry/gr_detail.do?registryId=52601860001

http://www.toysrus.com/registry/myregistry/index.jsp?overrideStore=TRUS

http://www.target.com/registry/baby/15Q91EWXCTYA6

Just a Quick One

It's a boy!! We found out on June 8th that our little baby is a little baby boy! We landed on the name Gunner Cullen Babb. Gunner because it's awesome, and we've both loved it for like a year or more. Cullen because it's a family name on Daniel's side of the family. And Babb....well duh, that should be obvious. Did you even need to ask on that one? Come on now... =)

He is REALLY starting to move around now. I can pretty much predict when he will be the most active these days. Daniel got to feel him kick for the first time on the 15th, and again today! My mom felt him jumping around yesterday. It's pretty neat to have other people feel him moving around too!

We (Daniel) painted the nursery this week (which was a chore), but it looks fantastic. I will probably just post a picture of it once it's finished instead of posting pic after pic of one or two things added at a time. It's a work in progress. My mom is making his bedding and we picked out the material this week and made a mock up of the quilt she is doing...I am SO excited! It's going to look stinking awesome and cute.

My belly is really starting to get big. I read that in the next month he will double in size, and I'm sure I will do some expanding as well. I got some maternity shorts this weekend and I totally love them. They're also the only pair of shorts I own. Sad. I hate showing my legs, but I just got to the point of wanting to be cool more than caring what other people think about my pale fat legs. They can get over it!

Our third anniversary is on the 30th, and to celebrate we're spending a day in Tulsa, cause that's where all the fun is like The Cheesecake Factory, Babies R Us, and an aquarium. Ha! Not exactly sure of what all we are doing that day, but too much cheesecake is for sure on the agenda....ahhhh I am very excited about that.

I'll end with this week's "Bump Shot"!

Halfway There!

Today marks 20 weeks in my pregnancy! WHAT?!? I can't believe it. 20 weeks down, 20 to go. That's hard to believe. About three weeks ago I felt the baby move for the first time! It was so weird, but it was for SURE a kick. I've been feeling movement every day since then! It's pretty exciting. It likes to move more after I eat. At first I thought it was just because of the fact that my digestive system would start doing it's thing and making noise and things would start moving around, so it would kind of wake baby up, but I later read that eating raises your blood sugar a bit and gives baby a surge of energy! Pretty neat. No wonder it's moving a lot - I can't stop eating now! It seems that my appetite has returned with a vengance. I eat a lot these days. Which feels good to me since I hardly ate anything in the beginning months.

My last doctor's appointment went well and that day I scheduled the appointment for the big ultra sound where we'll find out the gender! That is THIS TUESDAY!!!! Oh I cannot wait. It seems like we've had to wait for ages for this day to arrive, but it's only been a month! What a long month. My belly is pretty sizable now, so I'm anxious to see how much I weigh. Last appointment I found out that since our positive pregnancy test, I have lost 10 pounds. I asked my doctor if that was ok, and she assured me that gaining weight is good for people who are at an average weight for their height. I was overweight when I got pregnant (still am of course), so it's ok that I am losing for now, but I should start gaining a little soon. The baby is getting bigger so I will be getting bigger. but losing a little weight is not a bad thing for me right now.

We signed up for our child birthing class this month!! It starts the first Monday in August, and will be every Monday for six weeks, except the class that falls on Labor Day will be moved to Tuesday. I am excited about that big step. We bought a changing table last weekend, and Daniel tore down our computer room! He was pretty excited about the changing table. It needed to be done though. We went from two computers to one, and moved it and a couple of other "office" things into the guest room so we could start the nursery when we wanted to.

Big changes have been happening! Things are going to get more exciting from here! We find out the gender on Tuesday and I am so looking forward to it! It's SO amazing to watch the baby move around on the ultra sound! Oh, and we don't have a preference on the gender, we'll be excited either way!

Baby Update - Baby Is Great, But People Are Frustrating

First off, nothing is wrong, everything looks good! Baby is doing well. So no worries.

Secondly, I am going to tag some people on Facebook when I post this link, so if you've been tagged, it's because I wanted to let you know about today's events, but there are several of you, so calling you on the phone wasn't as efficient.

Ok, so today was our second appointment! At our last appointment, they told me that at the next one I would get an ultra sound. I called them about three weeks ago to ask if there was a possibility that they might be able to tell us the gender, and they said yes. So, Daniel scheduled to go with me today, as did my mother. We arrived at the office and they sent us back to get the ultra sound.

We were sitting, waiting, and then the ultra sound tech came out and said: "It looks like there's been a mix up, it's too early to do the ultra sound so we're not going to do that today, you're just going to do your normal doctor's appointment." A few seconds went by with the three of us staring at her, and then I realized how mad I was. "Um, they told me last time that I would be getting an ultra sound, they scheduled it, we told them we didn't think we were supposed to get one but they did it anyway, and now that my husband and mother are here we're not getting one?!?!?" I shared with her about how at the last appointment, there was another mix up with our information, which ended with Daniel not being very happy with the lady at the front desk. I was very clear with my disdain for the way they have been handling things, and how frustrated we were and then said "Well, Mom, you should just go to work now because you've already missed work for this and it was all for nothing." The tech looked around for a second, and then said "Wait, you guys come back here really quick." (By this time I could tell that Daniel was about to rip his shirt in two and turn green and start throwing chairs...) So we followed her into a dark room...that had an ultra sound machine. We stood there for a second while she closed the door and said, "Jump up here, you guys came here to see the baby so let's take a look!" So I jumped on the table and thanked her and explained that I was not mad at her, I was frustrated and feel like things should be clear at all times on what's going on. She informed me that the people at the front were new...great.

So we got an ultra sound!!!!!!!! As soon as she put the thing on my belly, there was the baby! It was clear as a bell. You could make out it's head and facial features, and it's arms and legs and feet! Then it stretched all of a sudden and Daniel said "WOAH! DID YOU SEE THAT!" And it just moved like crazy! It kicked it's little foot out, and then it's hand went up to it's face, and then you could see it's cheeks moving.... it was sucking it's thumb!!! Amazing!! It was adorable. I don't have the pictures scanned yet to put on here, but I will soon.

She printed out a few pictures, and I thanked her again. Then we went back out to the waiting room to tell Mom goodbye, and to wait to see the doctor. Twenty minutes later a nurse came out and called "Rachel?" So we got up and followed her back. As she was weighing me, she said something about us having a different time than she did. I wasn't sure what she was talking about, so instead of asking, I just gave a nervous laugh. She marked my weight, and to me it looked like I lost a few pounds so I asked what I weighed last time. As we went into the exam room, she said "Well you've gained about 15 pounds, are you feeling better? Looks like you're eating just fine now!" I looked at her weird and said "I don't think that was my weight last time?..." She then said "So you're at 15 weeks now?" And I said "No I'm at 16 weeks.......wait a minute..." and I looked at her computer, my name was not up there. It was some other Rachel! I told her that was not me, and so she ushered me back out to the waiting room. Ten minutes later she came back for the correct patient, and called out again, "Rachel?" No last name AGAIN! Real smart, lady. You're supposed to learn from your mistakes!

We FINALLY went back with the right nurse, only to wait another half hour for the doctor. Daniel had to leave before the doctor came, but it was a quick appointment with her anyway and wasn't too eventful.

So I scheduled the REAL ultra sound for June 10th to find out the gender. On Twitter and Facebook this morning I said "We have our first real ultra sound scheduled for this morning!!! I'm excited, and a little nervous. Praying for a normal, healthy baby." What I should have said was "Praying for less confusion and more organization at the doctor's office!" After it was all said and done today, I told myself that the people at the front desk are not delivering this baby, my doctor is, and I have total confidence in her.

Seeking Advice

15 weeks pregnant tomorrow! In 5 weeks I will be halfway through this pregnancy. That's hard to believe! We're planning to find out the gender of the baby, and we might be able to find out as soon as next Monday. I have an appointment on May 10th, and by that time I will be 16 weeks along. I am having my first real ultra sound that day, and if this little Babblett cooperates, we might be able to find out if it's a him or her! How exciting.

So, with that said, this blog post is going to be an open forum on baby products. I am getting ready to start a registry, and I'd like to take my time on it (I felt rushed on my wedding registry for some reason). I know a LOT of people who have had babies recently, and I would like to know any and all of your suggestions on things you like, things you love, things you can't live without, things that are totally unnecessary, things that are fun to have but aren't imperative, and anything else I have not covered.

When you give your suggestions, please be sure to include where the items are available and any other important info you might have about them. This should be fun! Let's get going!

It's true!

Well, we're pregnant! After a week of telling all our family and friends, I kind of feel numb today. I've been so excited about sharing the news, that after a long week of being ridiculously excited and happy, I feel like I have no emotions left. Kind of sad. Also, I'm crazy tired, which is to be expected.

Here are the stats. We're due October 24th, so right now I am just over 11 weeks along. I'm almost to the second trimester! That's kind of huge. I have had a type of "morning sickness", but no actual throwing up yet. Around week 6 I was incredibly nauseous, and it got worse when I got hungry, so I had to eat, but I felt sick so I didn't want to eat, but I needed to eat because I felt sick....it was a crazy feeling. It's started to get much better these last two weeks, and I am thankful for that.

Daniel is pretty stinking excited, but like me, he is drained after this weekend. We have been tossing around some ideas for names, but nothing has been decided just yet. I assume we will tell everyone our choice of name when we find out what we're having, which should be in about 9 weeks or so. We still have time.

It feels really strange to talk about it openly now. We've kept it a secret for so long that it started to feel like it was keeping the baby "safe", and now I have been nervous that now that everyone knows something might happen.....I know, it sounds weird and I can't really explain it. I'm a weird person and I am also a worrier. Just pray that everything is going smoothly AND that I will stop worrying! I have been dreaming a lot about this baby and everything that goes with it! I need sleep!

Speaking of dreaming, I have had some weird dreams so far, and one of them is pretty funny. I dreamed that we had the baby, it was a boy, and 2 weeks later we decided to go out to eat. Well, Daniel takes the kid and sits him up on the table like he's 3 years old or something...and the baby slowly falls over! I grabbed him and said "Daniel, stop that! He can't even sit up on his own. He doesn't need to be on the table" and Daniel kept grabbing him from me and put him on the table again! Over and over, it was like a cartoon or something. Really weird.

My first appointment is Thursday, so we will see what all that involves! We are so excited and this is by far the biggest thing to ever happen to us.