36 Weeks

I will be 36 weeks tomorrow. I cannot believe I am this far along. I swear I thought I was going to have this baby either earlier or right at 34 weeks like Alexa. At my 35 week appointment, the midwife told me I was 80% effaced and 3 cm dilated. She predicted that I wouldn't go much farther, so I was expecting to have this baby by Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I am still pregnant! I will probably make it to my next appointment, which is on Dec. 1, but have a feeling they might send me to labor and delivery then. This baby has definitely moved down and is low.

This pregnancy has been so different this time around. I have major heartburn and indigestion, breakouts on my chest and back, and my stomach is much bigger and all baby. I have acculumated more stretch marks, and I just can't stand to see the sight of them!! Oh well, what am I going to do about it.

I have not been able to sleep comfortably for the past few weeks or so, I have carpal tunnel BADLY in both hands, and have been using the bathroom every 5 minutes! I can't wait for this baby to come out and have my old body back! I thought I would never say that considering how much I love being pregnant, but I am sooo ready! But I need to be careful for what I wish for because I do need this baby to bake a little more. I want a healthy baby that does not need to spend any time in NICU this time. With Alexa, it will be impossible for me to visit the baby if it ended up in NICU.

So with the H1N1 virus going around, Alexa is not allowed to visit us at the hospital. I'm really saddened by that since Alexa and I spend a great deal of time talking about the baby and her visiting us at the hospital. She even bought, with our money of course, a little stuffed reindeer for the baby. I don't want her to be disappointed when we come home and she realized she wasn't at the hospital. I don't want her to feel left out. Hopefully she'll be having such a blast, whoever she stays with, that she wouldn't even think about us the whole time we are at the hospital.

I am so anxious to meet our little one, especially since we don't know the sex. So final names: Ansley Elaine or Chandler Robert. Can't wait!!

30 Weeks

I cannot believe I am 30 weeks!! Actually this pregnancy has been kind of going by slow only because I am sooo anxious to find out what we are having!!! I had another ultrasound done today so they can check my cervix. Everything looks great and the baby is actually measuring a little bigger than most babies at 30 weeks. They are going to start checking my cervix from now on so hopefully this baby will stay in the oven until at least 37 weeks!!

We need to start setting up the nursery and washing blankets and car seats and stuff. We are not on top of our game like we were with Alexa. I guess the next several weekends will be dedicated to setting up the nursery and cleaning everything. Alexa is so excited about being a big sister. She's already learned that if she has a sister, her name is going to be Ansley. I just hope if we have a boy, she doesn't call him Ansley, LOL.

She has been so anti-boy lately. She constantly says she doesn't like boys. Just today when she said the baby's name is going to be Ansley, I said but if it's a boy his name is going to be Chandler and she said I don't like boys. I'm sure Jeremy is loving that ;)

So my wonderful sister-in-laws are throwing me a baby shower. I'm pleasantly surprised because I really wasn't expecting to get one! I went to Target today to register and they gave me a tote bag with some goodies. I didn't register for much, since we have pretty much everything from when we had Alexa, but I just loved looking at all the newborn stuff!! I got a couple of diapers in the goodie bag and I just can't picture my baby wearing these teeny widdle diapers. I just can't believe how small it's going to be!! It's been soooo long!!

25 Weeks

So tomorrow I will be 25 weeks!! This baby has been more active lately and it's movements have actually been movements instead of just kicks. It's awesome to actually see my stomach move when the baby is making movements. I can't believe I only have 15 weeks or less to go. I'm gonna miss my belly!! I better cherish every minute of it because it'll be flab before you know it! HAHA. Hopefully I'll be volunteering at a pregnancy center while Alexa is in preschool so maybe I'll get another sonogram before this baby is due!! But I'm still not finding out the sex!! LOL

Alexa has officially started preschool. She loves it! She had snack duty the first day of school so she got to be the big helper and the leader of their nature walk. She probably thinks she rules her classroom now. LOL. She came home today and said that the girls are nice and boys are mean. She said the girls talk too much about boys being mean. Oh no, the gossiping has started already! LOL

So in other news, I'm joining a MOPS group! I'm so excited about meeting some moms and hopefully getting some playdates set up for Alexa. She loves getting out of the house, but preschool is only three hours in the morning. It has been very hard for both of us adjusting to staying home all day, but God has truly blessed us in many ways. I cannot comprehend the goodness of Him and His mercy for us. Some days I just cannot help but fall on my knees and just praise Him for all that He has provided for us. Hopefully I can give back by leading others to Him so they can receive and enjoy His goodness.

21 Weeks

So I turned 21 weeks this past Saturday. We had an ultrasound done and the baby looks perfect! We decided not to find out the sex of the baby, so that remains a mystery. Every now and then I regret not finding out, but I think in the end it'll be worth it when the doctor announces IT'S A _______!!!

Everyone we know, with the exception of one of my brother-in-laws, thinks we are having a girl. So we really concentrated on picking out the most perfect name. Her name will be Ansley Layne. If it's a girl, we wanted her to have the same initials as Alexa. I know I know, we are corny. If it's a boy, we were thinking about naming him Alec Robert, but we are still working on that. I'm not a HUGE fan of the name Alec.

I haven't been feeling much movement from this one. I don't know if it's still too early or if it's going to be a calm baby. I hope for the latter. Jeremy has felt it a few times. It's awesome to share moments like that with him. He'll ask me once in awhile if the baby is moving...hehe.

So this past Sunday Jeremy and I visited the Sunday School class I mentioned in my previous post. Everyone was right around our age and really nice. We plan on visiting that class again this Sunday. Also last Sunday I made the decision to get baptized. I have been saved for about 2.5 years now, but decided to fully commit my life to Christ and publicly announce it. He has really been working in our lives and has really shown Himself to us through our crisis, and we don't want to live a life without Him.

That's all the update I have for now. Jeremy had a job interview today, but they won't be hiring anyone until the middle of September, so he is still looking.

Update

Yeah so I haven't updated this blog in awhile, and I was reminded that I will regret not blogging about my second pregnancy so here I am. I am 19 weeks today. This pregnancy is a little different. I am not as sick as I was with Alexa, I am showing a month earlier, and I am bigger than what I was at 19 weeks with Alexa. I started feeling the baby last week at 18 weeks but just small kicks. I can't wait till I can feel the big ones and have Jeremy feel them too! This time around we are not going to find out the sex of the baby. This will probably be our last one so we want to be surprised! Besides everything we had for Alexa is unisex so what's the point of even finding out. We aren't going to buy anything anyway.

So a lot has been going on since the last time I blogged. Jeremy got a job as a senior healthcare consultant. He gets frustrated with the traveling, but loves the job itself. He is pretty great at it. We started attending North Metro Baptist Church back in April and we love it there. We plan on joining a Sunday School class that is for married couples 25-35, married 4+ years (which is just perfect for us), and I plan on joining a women's bible study group for the fall. Alexa will be joining preschool at North Metro for the fall also. We are just so excited about the work God is doing in our lives. He has changed our life in every aspect.

Well that's it for now. I promise to be a better blogger, but time will tell. Hehe.

Round #2

So about three weeks ago, I started having some serious pain in my lower abdomen. I thought those pesky cysts were back to haunt me, so I asked my sister to send me some birth control pills so I can zap them away! Then last week my breasts started becoming tender, so I thought I was going to get a little visit from the menstrual fairy. Monday night and she doesn't show up. What shows up in her place are those cramps that I have been feeling on and off for the past three weeks. So Tuesday morning, I took a pregnancy test so that I can get the OK to start the birth control pills. I did not get the OK. Instead what I got was a plus sign. I AM PREGNANT!!!

TOTAL SURPRISE!!! It's funny how for both of my pregnancies, I thought it was something else, but I was really just pregnant. That's how much I know my body!!!! HAHAHA

Here is a little clip I sent to the family announcing our new addition...

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a131/jubottoms/?action=view&current=BigSister.flv

Second Time Around

I feel like I've done this before. Actually I have done this before. It was back in September of 2002 when I said goodbye to my family, my friends and all that I knew. And now I'm doing it all over again. However, this time it's different. It's going to be especially hard because of Alexa. She has bonded with my family in ways I cannot explain. Her and my mom are best friends; She views my sister like her second mother. To have to say goodbye to that saddens me the most. I truly hope that Alexa never forgets the relationship she has formed with my family.

Being back here as taught me a lot about myself and life in general. God has taught me things I never would have learned living down in GA. Do not be arrogrant, do not be prideful; so many of what I have been. Family and friends are very important. I have such a hard time keeping close relationships. I know how important it is to have love and support from people you trust. It's hard and painful to be alone.

The most important lesson I have learned is to keep God first and foremost. To trust Him with all aspects of your life. Without Him, everything is impossible. These past seven months have been wonderful because I was close to my family, but at the same time very trying. No job, no money, no way of catching up on bills. But I put my trust in the Lord and He has carried me through these trials and I am forever grateful. This is my summary of my last seven months. I plan on carrying this with me for the rest of my life.

New Approach

So I have been on a journey to weight loss since I was born. Back in September I joined Weight Watchers and have managed to lose 10 lbs. Since then I gained a couple of that back. So about a month ago I started working out. I can tell my body is changing, but my scale is not going down at all. I'm guessing that is due to building muscle. However, I don't care about building muscle; I care about the scale numbers going down. So I decided to start Weight Watchers again and doing light exercises so I don't have bulging thigh muscles. I'm gonna try this for about a month and see if it changes the numbers at all. I can't WAIT till I'm finally skinny and never have to worry about my weight again!!! YEAH RIGHT, keep on dreaming...

WOW!

WOW! I cannot believe it has been a year and a half since I last posted!!! Time sure flies. We moved up to CT back in the fall, so my sister-in-law thought it would be a good idea if I started blogging again to keep our GA families up to date on us and Alexa, but more Alexa, hehe. I sure wish now that I kept up with my blog. Alexa has grown so much and has done so much that I wish I kept a record of it. I have those memories in my heart, but I wish I could recapture them by reading about it. Oh well, live and learn.

So she is three now! I can't believe it. Just yesterday I had her at Northside Hospital! HAHA. Here is a recent picture of her.

She has truly grown into a little woman. She is so independent. Knows exactly what she wants. She is at such a fun age though. She can have a full conversation with you. It's amazing at some of the words she knows! It's so funny though when she really gets into it and starts talking all excited, she lapses back to her "toddler can't understand a thing" gibberish. We love her though! Best thing that has ever happen to us!!