She has arrived!

(sorry, details are a little skewed for me) On Wednesday, September 17 at 7:30am, we arrived at Kennestone for my induction. They started me on Cytotec at 10:00am to ripen my cervix. 4hours later they check my progress, which there was none. So they give me another dose of Cytotec. It helped with contractions, but at 6pm, they checked me again and I was only at 1 cm (started at 1/2 cm). I was disappointed that I hadn't made more progress since I was in a lot of pain. At about 8:30 they started the pitocin.

I got the epidural at about 9:30 in hopes that it would help with my progress because at that point I was still only 1 cm. Getting the epidural was incredibly painful and I hated the way it made me feel. At 11pm, they broke my water. I was at 1.5, and they said that breaking my water would help me go from 0-60 in no time. So I was hopeful!

I didn't make much progress overnight. I was so frustrated. (They also had me on oxygen the whole night, which I hated). It was emotionally draining. At about 7am, they checked me and I was at 4cm. Finally progress, but then they midwife started to mention a c-section. Will and I started praying because we did not want that to happen. I started dilating pretty quickly after that. Praise the Lord! But soon, the epidural started wearing off. I could feel all my contractions, but since my legs were completely numb (I felt paralyzed...hated it!), the anesthesioligst said that the epidural was working and couldn't give me anymore.

At 10am, I was finally at 8cm. They said they would come back in about 2 hours to check me again. At this point, the epidural had completely worn off above my pelvis, so I could feel every single contraction. I had never been in so much pain in my life! I started feeling really sick and started throwing up. I kept praying, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

At 12:10, I was checked and was at 10cm. Finally! Time to start pushing! We thought it would be another 2 hours. But around 12:45, I pushed really hard, so hard the midwife told me to stop pushing. Abigail was here at 12:47pm! I lost so much blood, and was hemorraging, my blood pressure plummetted. I almost blacked out and began vomitting again. It was incredibly scary. I also had a partial 3rd degree tear.

The important thing is that Abigail was perfect! Weighing in at 7lbs 10 oz, and 20.25 inches long. She looks just like me!

I'm loving being a mom and can't believe she actually belongs to me. My love for Will has even grown so much more than I thought just from watching him with his daughter. Its amazing.

We had so many people praying for us, and felt every single one of those prayers. God is good!

What NOT to say...

To a 39 week pregnant woman.

- "You're still here??"- Does it LOOK like I'm still here??? (Most popular by co-workers)

- "You haven't had that baby yet??" -Actually, I just gave birth during my lunch break. She's in the car waiting on me!! (Also common amongst co-workers)

- "When's your last date?"- Are you planning a big going away party for me or something? Otherwise, NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS (Again, by co-workers)

- "Your life will never be the same"- No, kidding??? I mean, its only a human life that will be solely dependent on every small decision I make...even going to the bathroom.

- "Sleep now while you can, you won't get the chance ever again!"- If I COULD sleep that would be great, thank you!

- "She'll come when she's ready"- Really?? Didn't realize that. That definitely helps all the aches, pains and discomforts disappear! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

- "Tell her not to come until I can get there!"- Of course, because we definitely don't want to inconvenience YOU in anyway!! Heck, Why don't I just wait until AFTER Christmas, so that's less Christmas presents you'll have to shop for!"

And the #1 thing to NEVER say to a 39 week pregnant woman.....(drum roll)

- "You sure are BIG!!!" -Well, geez, I am carrying a human life inside of me. What's you're excuse CHUBS?? (This is particularly inappropriate if you're BEHIND the pregnant woman)

She wore an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny bikini

Will and I are going to Maui in January for our 3rd wedding annversary (Our anniversary is in February, but for some reason we go on a big trip to celebrate in January). We decided the other day to take Baby Girl with us. Of course, this gave me a great excuse to go shopping for a teeny weeny bikini. For her, not for me (**shudder**). I wandered into Gymboree last night while at the mall shopping for my stepmom's birthday. They had one swimsuit in size 3-6 months. It was a bikini, so I wasn't quite sure how Will would feel about it. He's already concerned about skirts being too short. (haha!). But for $7, I thought why not.

(Excuse the quality of the photo it was taken in my car with my camera phone)

And Will approved!! Its so cute, how could he not?

By any means necessary

Apparently I'm willing to do absolutely anything to get this girl out of me! Falling on my butt in the rain didn't work so maybe getting in accident will! I rearended a guy on my way into work this morning. Maybe I'll jump from a 12th story window next.

I had my 38 week appointment yesterday and still absolutely no progress. He even mentioned the word "overdue". Eek! I guess its a good thing I've been mentally preparing myself to go 10 days past due because that looks to be where we're headed. There's still time though...

History of the Belly

16 Weeks

19 weeks

21 weeks
23 weeks

26 weeks

30 weeks

32 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks

It was bound to happen eventually...

As clumsy as I am, plus add the pregnancy factor, I was going to fall one day. That day was yesterday. I took a spill right outside my work building. I called my doctor just to be safe, and they had me go into labor & delivery to monitored. I felt fine, so no surprise that after being strapped to monitors for 2 hours, all came back well. The fall didn't faze Abigail one bit! But maybe, just maybe, the fall got things moving a little bit! I have my 38 week appointment this afternoon, so we shall see.

37 Weeks- What's going on down there??

Not a whole lot!! I'm closed up like a fortress! Good thing is I'm 50% thinned out. Not that any of that means anything, but I still like knowing if there's a party going on. The doctor couldn't feel her head, so he thought she was breeched, so I had to get an ultrasound. Thankfully, she's right where she needs to be.

As for the diet...at my 36 week appointment I had gained another 3.5 pounds, so I decided to forget the diet. If I'm going to gain weight, I'm going to do so by eating!! Then at my 37 week I had LOST half a pound! Haha! So I was happy the burgers and fries diet was working.

We're getting so excited to meet our little girl. Especially Will! He just got back yesterday from his last international trip for a couple of months. Madrid last week was going to be his last one, but then he decided to go to Amsterdam so he could go shopping for Abigail. He loves shopping for her, its so cute! (She's going to be the best dressed kid around!). I'm glad Will is going to be home almost every night now. That way we can enjoy these last couple weeks together...while in the same country.

The quest to get this baby has started. Last night we went out for Mexican, then came home and walked around our neighborhood. I walked more last night then I have my entire pregnancy. I even out-walked Will. I'm determined to get her out of me and I'll do whatever it takes!

35 and 35

I'm 35 weeks today with 35 days to go. We have the nursery almost finished as of Saturday. I love it! (I'll post pictures soon, we're still waiting on a crib) I find myself just sitting in the room imagining the little girl that will soon take up that space. The other day I was reading her some of her books. I could spend so much time in there.

Abigail has been incredibly active the past few days. Last night, while laying in bed, Will just kept his hand on my belly so he could feel her move. He got a huge kick out of her somersaults. Though, according to babycenter.com, her movements will soon decrease because she's running out of space. Not sure if that's true in her case since she's measuring small and I'm measuring big. She probably has plenty of space still to practice her gymnastics for awhile.

Here are her stats according to babycenter.com (again, this is on average, and she's measuring small...allegedly):

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Depending how I'm feeling tonight, I may take a belly shot. We shall see...

Next Month!!

It is now August, which means sometime next month I will be holding my little girl! Craziness! There have been times that it felt like the day would never come (especially lately). But now that I'm just 40 days until her Estimated Date of Arrival, I'm kind of freaking out a little bit. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for the day that I get to meet my daughter. But my entire life will change! I thought it has changed a lot as it is just from being pregnant. I mean, the day you find out there is a little human being growing inside of you, and depending on you for nutrition, etc [almost] all selfishness disappears. But we can still drop everything we're doing and go out to dinner or spend the day at the movies, which we often do. And before I got pregnant, we were able to drop everything we were doing and hop on a plane and take a mini-European vacation. Next month, that will all come to a screeching halt. I won't even be able to go to the bathroom without thinking about another human being. The thought of how much one human life will depend solely on me terrifies me. God entrusted me with this little life! What an honor! But it terrifies me! What if I can't cut it?

Will and I pray for her everyday. That she will grow up to be a mighty woman of the Lord. That her confidence won't be in anyone or anything but Christ Himself. But we need prayer too. That we will be the Godly example God has called us to be. And that we will be an encouragement to her and love us the way Jesus has loved us. And that she will always know that know one, except the Lord, will love her and adore her as much as we do.

None of it seems quite real yet, but next month, it will all be reality.

Farewell to Some Good Friends

Good-bye O'Charley's heavenly rolls (my only craving throughout this whole thing). Good-bye cheesecake icecream. Good-bye my daily dose of Dr. Pepper. Good-bye all my true loves of carbs and sugar. I have been put on a "diet". I figured it would happen eventually. But I'm not allowed to gain anymore weight. This is going to be so hard. I simply don't have the discipline. I've been thin my whole life and have never had to worry about watching my weight. I'm one those people that could eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight. So, I guess its payback. I'm always hungry anyway, which has contributed to my weight gain, I'm sure. So everyone needs to stay clear of me even more now! I'm not pleasant when I'm hungry. And I have a feeling that will be the norm for awhile.

Will and I had one last hurrah last night. Will fixed hamburgers and hotdogs then we went and got icecream for dessert. We should have gone out for a huge Italian dinner with tiramisu cheesecake for dessert. But, we're on a budget. I will request that as my first post-partum meal. Then we had a little bit of retail therapy. We bought Baby Girl a bunch of clothes. I could spend so much time looking at baby clothes now. And, honestly, Will is no different! In fact, I think he enjoys shopping for her more than I do!

Everything else is good, though. The baby is measuring small. If she keeps it up, she'll be a 6-7 pounder. Not too surprising since I was 6lbs 13.5 oz when I was born. So, unfortunately, my weight gain isn't attributed to being all baby, probably just all belly. She's like her mama...she likes her space.

Oh, and when I got off the doctor's table and stood up, he said, "Oh! You're a lot bigger standing up!" Thanks, Buddy, as if you hadn't made me feel fantastic about myself enough as it is...

Here we are!

Little bit of an introduction: I'm 26 years old and married to a wonderful man for 2.5 years. I do court support for the county government and my husband is a flight attendant for a major Atlanta-based airline (bet you can't figure out which one!) For the first 2 years of our life, we've been blessed with the opportunity to travel all over the world together because of Will's job. Those are times that we will always treasure. And I believe we wouldn't have the relationship we have if we didn't share those experiences together. They definitely made us a stronger as a couple. Now we will soon have another little person to share those moments with because we found out on Sunday, January 6, 2008 that we are having a baby. Its such an exciting time, and I wanted to start documenting it as we come to the end.

We're at 34 weeks today! Only 6 weeks to go! That's just 42 days. I thought this would be a good time to make my appearance into the blogging world. I think I have been blessed with a pretty easy pregnancy thus far. No morning sickness, no unexpected trips to the doctor or hospital. But, I have vowed to not ever be this pregnant in the summer ever again! My poor feet can't handle the swelling.

Abigail currently weighs approximately 4 3/4 lbs (about the size of a canteloupe) and 18 inches long. I often feel like she should be twice that size!

Last night, I spent some time at my sister's hanging out with her and my almost 4 month old nephew Jacob before they leave to go to Australia for a couple weeks. Being around "Roo" (Will's new nickname for him) makes me even more excited about Abigail coming. I can't wait to meet her!!

I've had all my showers, and now we just have to prepare the house for her arrival. So much to do! But I'm blessed to have such wonderful friends to help me out. They're coming over on Saturday to help finish up her room. I'll post pictures as soon as its done!!

Here are our pictures from our maternity session with Lori Gordon from Shooting Star Photography. I had them done 4 weeks ago when I was 30 weeks along.

www.shootstarphoto.com/amanda.html