T-21...

I've made it...there's only 21 days left before my sweet baby girl is in my arms!!

It's been a lot easier than I expected it to be.  Hearing stories and watching others go through this wonderful experience made me expect the worse.  However, I never had morning sickness - only the occasional nausea.  I was also blessed not to experience food aversions.  I've recently experienced some killer heartburn, but nothing that milk & TUMS can't handle.

I have probably pushed my body to do things that I shouldn't, but never putting the baby in danger.  At 5 months, I took a week to create a new flowerbed in my backyard.  I have also been mowing my lawn and weeding my flowerbeds.  Both activities are now being done by a friend until after Samantha is born.

I am blessed with this wonderful pregnancy since I was so afraid it would never happen for us.  I am thankful that it has gone so well that I have been able to continue with travel plans that were made before the pregnancy.  I have been able to take several mini-vacations with Roger and visit some of his extended family.

The last week has been one of the best because Roger is definitely getting more and more excited (not to mention impatient) about Sam's arrival.  He's constantly asking when is she going to come out.  I love when he talks to my belly as if Sam is already here :)

Roger and I have been doing a lot of walking to help speed the process up.  Next week, I'm hoping to hear the doctor say that I've dilated a little - so we'll see!

Stress is over rated...

I've been stressing over the baby nursery since Roger and I found out that we were expecting.  We've had a plan of what we wanted it to look like - but the execution of the plan has been stressing me out completely.  I wanted the nursery to be completely finished early on in the pregnancy so that I could go in and relax in it as the due date inches closer.  I definitely wanted it finished before my baby shower so that everyone could see where Samantha would be sleeping.  Unfortunately, Roger wasn't in as much of a hurry as I was.

It took us at least 2 months to agree on painting.  The walls were originally painted with flat paint (which I think would be fine).  Roger wanted to re-paint the room with semi-gloss and go ahead and make it "fingerprint ready" when Samantha gets to the point of putting her hands on the wall.  I finally gave in and put 2 coats of semi-gloss in the nursery.  Unfortunately, I'm not the best painter in the world, so there were plenty of roller marks visible when the light shown in.  I was fed up with painting and ready to put the rest of the decorations on the walls, so I didn't care.  Roger had the opposite feelings.

Thankfully, this past weekend, his parents came to town.  His mother listened to my stressful/hormonal/female venting and convinced Roger's dad to add a 3rd coat of paint to the walls so that I could finally put up the rest of the decorations.  I spent Saturday morning working in the nursery trying to get it completed before my shower that afternoon.  With determination and the help of my wonderful mother-in-law, the nursery decor was finished and ready to show the guests at the shower.

So without anymore stressing, check out Sam's nursery. :)

Weekend Getaway

Roger and I took some friends to Fall Creek Falls State Park in TN last weekend.  It was nice to have a vacation before my spring break vacation.  Although I was unable to do a lot of the hikes that I enjoy, I was still able to enjoy the scenery and some of the waterfalls there.

Roger, Kathi, and Josh took advantage of the beautiful outdoors and hiked a lot of the trails.  I am glad that he had company to join him since I was unable to.  They trekked across a creek to travel to the top of a waterfall while I watched with my heart in my throat.  The water was moving fast, and they were all crossing barefoot, I was afraid one of them might lose their footing and...well you know.

Going down the steep cable trail that I had to skip

Cane Creek Waterfall at the bottom of the cable

 the 4 of us @ Buzzard's Roost lookout

 Roger & I @ Piney Falls

 Roger & Kathi sitting at the edge of the top of Cane Creek

 looking over Cane Creek Falls

week 20

This week we had another doctor appointment.  This was the appointment we've been waiting for - the gender ultrasound!  We saw images of the brain, kidneys, heart, and all the other important parts of the body.  It was very interesting to view.  Sadly, our first attempt at identification was unsuccessful because the baby had his/her legs closed tight together.  The sonographer let the doctor come in and do her measurements in order to give the baby time to move around some more.  The second attempt was just as disappointing as the first.  Although the legs were spread, the umbilical cord was going right through them obscuring our view.  So we took a walk around the office and waited for baby to move some more and went back in for a third try.  The 3rd time is ALWAYS a charm - and it was for us.  It took about 10 seconds for the baby to show us what he/she is working with!  We are going to be the proud parents of a little girl :D  Her name will be Samantha Rayne Gray and we plan to call her Sam for short.

Now my pregnancy feels more real than ever because she has an official name and I'm proudly sporting my baby bump!  I have 4 more months to go and am super exciting about experiencing everything during that time.  Most of all, I'm looking forward to holding my baby girl in my arms at the end of July!!

wk 18

I've been on cloud 9 with the baby this week.  This past Saturday was wk17d6 and I finally felt the little miracle kick/punch me!  Since then, I've felt it on and off every day.  Most of the time it's early in the morning before I roll myself out of bed or in the evening when I'm lounging on the couch.  It's the most interesting feeling right now b/c the baby is only 5-7 inches long so it still has plenty of room to flip and roll around in there.  I'm sure my thoughts will change once it outgrows it's current space.

We find out what we're having on the 14th of this month - 11 days and counting!  Will post again once we have the official information and pictures to share.

4 months along

I am one day shy of being exactly 4 months pregnant - according to the Dr. (I already know they are off by at least 3 or 4 days).  The nursery furniture is put together, set up, and looks great!  Now we're simply waiting for another month to find out if we'll be decorating with boy or girl monkeys. 

I have finally "popped" as well.  I have been wearing larger shirts than normal to school in order to prevent my students from noticing and trying to rub my belly.  I have several girls that are becoming obsessed with the baby already and want to talk about nothing but my baby during class time. LOL

Baby G is currently the size of an apple and weighs around 3-4 ounces.  I am anxiously awaiting the first time I actually get to feel him/her shifting around in the womb and seeing the gender next month.  It will be a long 5 more months before I finally get to hold my miracle in my arms!