3rd Trimester

Oh my gosh, I look horrible, tired, swollen, VERY PREGNANT!

This is the night before I had my baby. (And look, all the baby

stuff is neat and in order. Yeah, my house has not looked like this since!)

Last belly picture at 39 weeks.


Roses from my husband for my first Mother's Day. I love him!

The view from above.

I'm about 38 weeks here, sitting in the car while I ran an errand with my mom.

I had to get out of the house but wasn't allowed to stand.

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So most of the details in the next few posts will probably be boring to read, but I wanted to make sure I wrote everything down so I could remember these few months forever!

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I started my 3rd trimester full of energy and feeling pretty good. Richie kept saying how well I was handling the pregnancy and I couldn't agree more. It definitely wasn't as difficult as we had anticipated it would be.

As I got bigger, I started having problems with feeling faint. I would tell my doctor and he assured me it was normal to feel faint and dizzy while pregnant.

Then, on May 3rd, I was teaching my 1st period class when I started to feel faint. I did what I had been doing all along when the feeling struck-- I grabbed a coke to boost my sugar and sat down. Only the feeling wasn't going away; it was getting worse. I popped across the hall to ask Crystal to come over and went to sit back down. That's when I knew it wasn't good. Everything was going white and I couldn't really hear.

Before I passed out, I told one of my students to quickly get another teacher. That's about all I remember as I lost consciousness.

I came to and had several teachers and our assistant principal standing around me. They were calling an ambulance but I was able to tell them I didn't need one. Soon my principal arrived and I guess he thought I was having the baby. He walked in rolling up his sleeves saying, "Well, I've never delivered a baby..." Just a minute later my dad arrived and the nurse was able to wheel me to the office. Richie & my mom arrived almost at the same time and I was rushed off to the doctor.

Unfortunately this episode took me out of work before the end of school. I was so upset because I wasn't prepared to leave early. Plus I know I scared my students. Thankfully I work with some amazing people who helped my sub finish out the year for me. I know it was hard on them to have the extra work. I will be forever grateful to them for doing what I couldn't!

After passing out that first time, I continued to have fainting episodes. I wasn't allowed to drive anymore and soon got relegated to the couch. I spent the last five weeks before delivering either on my couch, in bed or on my parents' couch on my left side with my feet propped up.

It was such a scary feeling to always feel faint and to not know if I'd actually lose consciousness or not. I couldn't tell the difference between the episodes where I simply felt like I was going to faint and when I actually would faint.

My mom, dad and Richie all took great care of me making sure we had food, a clean house, clean clothes since I couldn't do anything at all. The only good thing out of the situation was that I got lots of rest before our little guy arrived!

One of my favorite parts of the end of my pregnancy were the baths I would take. I couldn't really spend time alone in case I would faint, so while Richie worked I spent the days at my parents' house. During the nights when Richie had a baseball game, my mom would draw me a bath. I would get a glass of cranberry-pomegranate juice and then stretch out and float in their huge tub. It was the only place where my back didn't hurt and I could lay however I wanted.

After my bath I would put on a big, comfy robe and mom & I would sit in bed with the door open and fan on. We watched wedding shows and design shows. It was great! I always left feeling relaxed and ready to tackle another day of being pregnant. I'll miss those quiet evenings.

One thing the baths didn't help was what came to be known as Shrek foot. My right foot swelled considerably the last few weeks of pregnancy. It became so bad that I couldn't even bend my toes! Richie had to rub the swelling out as much as he could each night just so I could regain some feeling in it. Little did I know that Shrek foot would only get worse after delivery!

Why I love my husband.

I woke up the other morning to my husband announcing, "I almost had to wake you up last night!" He said it so excitedly that I thought something had happened.

Here is our conversation:

Me: What!? Why?
Richie: Because you were sleeping so soundly.
Me: Um...huh?
Richie: I almost woke you up because you were conked out.
Me: Again, um, what?
Richie (laughing): You were sleeping so hard that you were snoring really loud like you were passed out drunk. It was great and I wanted to tell you! So I almost woke you up to tell you how loud you were snoring. It was awesome!

Aw, my sweet husband. How I love him & the things that make him happy! And I'm so glad my pregnancy induced stuffiness that has now lead to loud snoring is endearing to him. I love him so!

Pictures of my feet- you've been warned!

My poor feet and ankles have not been taking pregnancy as well as I have.

Here is a before work picture.

And an after work picture. Grossed out? Me too.

My belly keeps growing- this is at 30 weeks.

A picture of us from Easter. I don't look too happy here for some reason.

And for making it through pictures of my feet, I have ultrasound pictures of the baby!

It is really difficult to take pictures of ultrasound pictures. I gave up after 20 minutes. Here are the best shots I could get. These pictures are from yesterday at 31 weeks.

Richie was concerned about the blobs by the baby's lips and cheeks. The u/s tech kept reassuring him it was just the cord floating around. In a few shots there are lumps by the top of his head- that would be the placenta. Richie seemed more worried than I was- and I've been worrying a lot lately!

Here is the glider from John & Kathy. It is 10x more comfy than I thought it would be!

We are trying to finish up the nursery and get everything ready. Just a few more weeks- eek!

Baby Stuff Galore

First, belly pictures by request :)

Just for comparison, here is my belly at 17 weeks.

And here it is at 28 weeks. Yikes!Not baby related, but we got the bonus room cleaned out- such a relief.

This is a newborn hat that my mom found for us. I can't believe how small it is. And, at the same time, that my baby will actually be big enough to wear it one day.

Here is the pack'n play all set up and ready to go in our room.

Dad hung the curtains- thank you!- and it totally brings the room together. When they say "room darkening" they mean it.

The babe's bouncy chair. Richie put one thing together every day this week leaving nothing else to be assembled. Go husband!

Baby's swing in our family room. A pile of bibs, sheets, towels and blankets from the shower. Thanks, Kathy!

I love this cute bear that Mary gave to us. He is so cute and snugly.

Our car seat and stroller ready to roll.

Richie was worried the car seat was too girlie with this "flower" pattern, but he likes it now. Or so he tells his pregnant wife ;)

Shower pictures!

Getting ready to play the game.

Me & my hubby after the shower. You should have seen my feet. Poor ankles. They are lost I fear.

Me and my wonderful momma. Sorry these next two pictures are so fuzzy. I don't know what happened.

JoJo, me and Crystal.

And the cutest Francesca.

Love her curls.

Spring Break!

Today is the last day of spring break. I can't believe how time has flown by. I just realized yesterday that this is my last break before the baby comes. Yikes! I better get moving on things that need to be done.

So far this spring break I've:

1. Had my shower. It was absolutely perfect! Pictures to come soon.

2. Purchased remaining baby gear that we needed.

3. Helped my loving husband put everything together for the baby. He's such a good dad already!

4. Semi-cleaned my bathroom.

Things I need to do before Monday:

1. Make the 1 hour drive to Target to return a few things and to purchase a few things.

2. Clean. My whole house. Including my "semi-cleaned" bathroom.

3. Clean out my freezers.

4. Make some frozen meals so Richie & I can eat these last few weeks.

5. Pay bills.

6. Did I mention clean my house?

7. Put away winter clothes and organize spring/summer clothes (a.k.a. the few maternity pieces that I do have).

8. Finish organizing baby's room.

9. Upload the gazillion pictures I have on my camera to my computer and organize them.

10. Actually try to document something from this pregnancy. My poor child is going to think I was never actually pregnant at this point.

11. Take care of pool committee stuff for our neighborhood.

12. Write & enter lesson plans.

13. Enter grades for Social Studies.

14. Clean my house.

15. Organize the bonus room.

16. Go to Goodwill to drop off piles of stuff.

17. Have I already said clean my house? It really needs to be cleaned.

Ok, so plenty to do and about 48 hours to do it in. Does anyone have magic powers they'd like to share?

Free Weekend

Baseball was on the road this weekend so I had my husband all to myself. It was wonderful!! He works so much that some days I barely get to see him before my head hits the pillow.

We spent Saturday running a few errands around town. Then we headed to Southhaven for some shopping.

For the first time this pregnancy, Richie & I went shopping for our baby. It was such a fun, heart-warming experience. I loved just watching Richie look at all the baby gadgets and gear, picking things for our child. It was hard to say we didn't need something, but I had to put some things back or else I think he would have bought out the entire baby department.

It looks like we are really getting ready to have a baby in our house. The pack n play is all set up in our bedroom, we have a swing ready to go, we have lots of clothes and a few diapers. After our shower this Saturday we will start filling in what we'll need for him.

One thing that I'll need for me we will be taking care of this Tuesday- our epidural class. The state of MS does not allow anyone an epidural unless they take this class. No exceptions. "They" say to take the class (offered only once a month, naturally) in your 8th month. Um, no thanks. That's cutting it waaaay too close for me. What if something happens and I go into labor early? I do not want to be caught without the wonderful invention that is an epidural. So, we are taking the class this Tuesday.

This busy week also brings Kathy (Richie's mom) and her friend Mary to town, as well as my Aunt Mel, cousin Ashley and her little girl Francesca. I can't wait to see everyone!

This is shaping up to be a good week!

Mr. President

As our neighborhood grows, the builders are getting ready to turn over the Homeowner's Association to, well, the homeowners. They recently sent out a letter asking if anyone would be interested in serving on the board.

I was so proud when Richie said he wanted to help. He jokingly said they'd never let him be President but to tell them he'd serve as Vice-President.

So I went to turn in our dues and offer Richie's services. To our surprise, they asked Richie to be President.

Go Husband!

We had our first meeting Thursday night and it was great. We have many wonderful neighbors, all who want to be involved and help.

I'm so excited for our family to play such an active role in our neighborhood.

Now he just has to find time between his 70 hour work weeks, the start of the baseball season and dealing with his crazy pregnant wife to get all the work done!

Another (Semi) Snow Day

Stop the presses- we have yet another bout of winter weather here in O-Town.

Living in Atlanta for several years taught me a valuable lesson about weather & its prediction: weather people are often wrong.

I'd watch tv at the threat of snow, see people stock piling groceries at the store, and then I'd cross every body part that school would be closed and we'd have a snow day. All to be let down the next morning with...usually nothing.

Thankfully this has prepared me well for the weather here. We get rumors days before- "It's going to snow!" "I hear 2 inches!" "Make sure you have milk and bread!"

Then I repeat my routine from yesteryear and wake up just disappointed as I did when I was younger.

Only this year, we've had TWO "winter" weather experiences. I put winter in quotes because, well, having also lived in NY, this weather isn't exactly what I'd call snow.

The past two days have played out with all the usual rumors, and I awoke this morning to not a mere drop of precipitation. Then, on my way to work, it started raining. Which turned into freezing rain and ice and, finally, a snow flake or two.

So today I got the best of both worlds- some "winter" weather which meant they let us out of school early, but a late enough dismissal so that we don't have to make up the school day. YAY!

Funny students

My baby belly is really starting to show now. And the fact that I am already practically waddling doesn't help hide the fact that I'm pregnant.

Naturally my students are becoming more interested in things and they have questions. Sometimes they just amaze me with their...um...specialness?

Case in point: I was at the basketball game after school yesterday when a girl student walked up and rubbed my belly. I was a little uncomfortable but ok. The other girl student looked me up and down and said, "So where is the baby?" I looked at her puzzled and asked what she meant. She motioned with her hand up and down and asked again where the baby is. I told her it was in my belly and she replied, "Ooh, that makes sense."

What the heck!?

I should have just said my feet.

Adult Topic

I'm usually a good month or two (or three or four) behind in hearing about cool, new web sites. Then, when I finally hear about it, I often have absolutely no desire to even check it out.

One of these web sites is omegele or something to that effect. The essence of the site (from my understanding) is that you sign on and it connects you with some random stranger to chat with. Both safe and productive! Amazing!

A friend happened to forward to me a conversation from this site, and it cracked me up (along with proving I was correct in not venturing a go with this great new internet frontier of internet chatting).

It could just be the English teacher in me that made me laugh for a good 10 minutes, but I like to think that most educated people would find it somewhat amusing.

Enjoy, and if you too have not heard of or experienced this great omegele phenomenon, be very, very glad!

**And just to clarify- this was not me taking part in the conversation. This is from a web site that I was directed to so that I could enjoy the hilarity.

Snow Days

We are on our second snow day today, and I am loving it! Richie even stayed home yesterday which never happens. We slept in, ate a yummy breakfast, watched our favorite shows. Such a nice morning.

Unfortunately when I went to get the ice cream out of the outside freezer, I noticed something was wrong. Over the past week things haven't been as frozen as normal. I pulled out the ice cream, and it was mush. Not.good.

The upside of having a broken fridge and freezer during a winter storm is that it is currently 11 degrees outside, so I just unloaded stuff that has to stay cold into our garage and that is working just fine for today.

There's always a silver lining if you look hard enough!

Back to work

Well, our wonderful two week break is over. Tomorrow Richie & I head back to work. Can you hear the excitement in my voice (for the both of us)?

Yesterday was a very productive day. We cleaned out the baby's room.

That sounds like a small task but, trust me, it was a massive undertaking. I'll try to find a before picture. The room was filled to the brim with stuff- baby stuff, my stuff, Richie's stuff, more of my stuff. If you've ever been to my house and opened the door next to the bathroom, you understand why this topic warrants its own entry.

It feels good to have the room completely emptied and cleaned and ready for all the things a new baby brings!

When my headache goes away, I'll upload the pictures I have of the room and hopefully find a before picture just so you can be amazed at our skills.

New Year's Eve & Baby Announcement

We spent New Year's Eve at Uncle Mike & Aunt Donna's house with Verne, Mayia and my parents. We had yummy food, excellent company and football games on tv. It was a perfect night!

Naturally, I didn't make it to midnight. In an interesting twist, Richie actually fell asleep before I did. Granted it was only about 5 minutes before I was out, but still. That never happens!

Here are Verne & Mayia chatting in the family room.
Of course the Chunkling was there to celebrate. This is his 1st sip of sweet tea.
Ahhh! He enjoyed it!

Richie & I posed for a picture- I think this was the only time we sat together the entire night.

And last but not least, we found out on 12/21 that we are having a...

BOY!

Oh, and today (1/1/10) I felt the baby move for the 1st time. Grow, baby, grow!

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a little different for me this year- it was the first time ever I've not been with my parents on Christmas morning. I usually sleep at their house, wake up bright & early, open presents and then play with everything as my mom cooks a delicious breakfast.

This year my parents headed to Atlanta to be with Doug. I stayed in Oxford with Richie and his family. It was a wonderful, relaxing day!

We woke up around 8am to the smells of Kathy whipping up some food for later in the day. The smell was so delicious, I could've eaten dinner right then!

Once we were all up, we started opening our gifts. We had such a nice time exchanging presents and enjoying each other's new trinkets.

We spent the rest of the day lounging around, watching movies (I think I watched Christmas Vacation twice- it's my favorite!) and eating.

Here is an early morning picture of me & my sweet husband. All of the gifts pouring out from under the tree.

Richie distributed the gifts. This was Emma's box of gifts...

She didn't need Richie to give them to her; she took matters into her own hands and got her gifts herself. I can't believe Christmas 2009 is over!

Decorating for Christmas

We didn't decorate as much for Christmas this year as we did last year. We were still happy with the holiday vibe at our house.

We hung stockings by the fireplace...
And I set up my nativity...

Richie even let us get a tree without incident! We went with my mom & dad to get it the day after Thanksgiving, even after having driven in from Atlanta that afternoon.

Richie had to reach up high to get all the lights and ornaments up while I stayed on the ground.And the final product- before the gifts started to pile up.