41 Weeks: Hello in There!

Our girl is starting to remind me of this little egg, Sherman, from Garfield and friends.  She just does not want to hatch! I had a doctors appointment yesterday where they did a non stress test and an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid.  Both were fine, but she is definitely a relaxed little lady, or a cramped little lady.  It's hard to tell.  She still has her wild karate moments, but she has started to just relax/sleep more and more.  Lets hope she keeps that up when she is outside of the womb as well!  After my tests, I saw the doctor and he asked if anyone had talked to me about being induced. (I've only dialated 1 cm and haven't had any real contractions.) When I said no he said, "Well, we need to talk about it."  I knew this was coming and had already prepared myself for it.  Cory gave me a blessing over the weekend and part of it talked about being blessed to have all the benefits of modern medicine with my delivery.  Before that, I had been sort of against everything that I did not consider "natural" but after receiving a blessing, I have felt much more okay about it.  Sometimes, it is what you need. I feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life and worthy priesthood holder as my husband.  I have definitely needed those things and they have made the rough moments of this pregnancy much easier to get through. 

So I scheduled my induction for the 26th, tomorrow, and have felt at peace with the decision ever since.  Dr. Salley will be the doctor on call and I really like him.  He is my sister in law's main doctor and is the one I saw when I had the subchorionic bleed.  He made me feel so at ease during literally one of the scariest days of my life and so I'm sure he will be great to have for this experience as well.  I took today off work and have loved being able to plan everything out and make lists.  I already had most everything done but this extra day of planning has been great.  It has helped me relax.  Who gets relaxed from planning and cleaning all day?! I know I'm strange.  Also, a control freak so it works out that those things do make me feel better. :)  Tonight Cory and I are going out on our last date before we are parents and I'm excited about that.  I may even post one last belly picture since I'm actually planning to do my hair. :) 

Lydia Jane's Nursery

You would think now that I am 4 days overdue, the nursery would be done, right?  Wrong.  It is complete enough that she could use it but it still has some work that needs to be done.  They are all just the final touches like hanging up pictures and new curtains so not a huge deal.  I thought I would share what we have done so far anyway.  Hopefully soon we will have a little sweet girl in here to show off as well!

Her crib and rocking chair.  You can also see her little giraffe hobby horse partially.  The bed skirt on her crib is the one my Granny made for my crib when I was born.  It's a little long but I'm sentimental so it's staying.

 Inside of her crib.

 Rocking chair and ottoman.  My mom bought a regular storage ottoman from Target and recovered it to match the chair. 

 Her dresser.  Mom also made the lamp shade and painted the dresser white.  It was originally in Cory's room growing up and brown.  We also changed the knobs to make it more girly.

 Close up of her dresser decorations.

 Believe it or not, I inherited this little cabinet from my Granny years ago.  The doors are just perfect for holding her hair bows!  The teddy bear was Cory's when he was little.  His mom actually made it for him.  The first thing he said when he saw the pink ribbon and pearls:  "That's a boy bear."

Last, but not least: her closet!  That may look like a lot of clothes, but it isn't even the half of it.  You can't see the ones that go all the way to the back of the closet.  I don't know how she is going to wear them all!



40 Weeks: Happy Due Date!

Today is my due date.  As some of you may know, I've had 3 different ones and this one is the earliest so I'm not really getting anxious yet.  Cory, on the other hand, more and more frequently shakes my belly saying "Come out of there!  We want to meet you!"
I had my doctors appointment yesterday.  I'm almost completely effaced but I haven't dilated at all.  I also haven't gained any weight the past two weeks which is honestly shocking to me because I have been eating like crazy.  This morning after I woke up, the first thing I said to Cory was "I'm starving!"   I guess our little girl is burning lots of calories in there getting ready for her big debut!  She is even more active than ever.  The squirms and wiggles are weirder than the punches and kicks, I think.  Definitely makes me feel more like there is an alien in there instead of a baby. 
After I had my regular OB appointment, I went by Dr. Holladay's office for a quick chat with him.  Well, that quick chat turned into another hour long appointment.  After looking at my chart, he couldn't believe I hadn't dilated at all and wanted to check me himself.  I know getting checked is really uncomfortable for most people, but it doesn't really bother me.  So he checked me again, but it just confirmed that I still hadn't dilated.  I did learn that he will be on call this weekend so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will have Lydia Jane then.  I like all the doctors except one in my practice and I'm even okay with him delivering her, but it would be super nice to have my doctor.  We will see though.  If she doesn't arrive by next Tuesday, I will have a non stress test and an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid.  I really hope she is here by then, but if not we will just go from there!
I'm still working and honestly, I'm really glad.  Monday I had the day off but Cory had to work and it was fine for the morning but by the afternoon, I was going crazy.  There was so much I wanted to do still but I was exhausted from everything I had done in the morning.  I couldn't really relax and I couldn't really work either.  Plus I had no one to talk to and time passed super slowly.  So while some people may think I'm crazy for working still, I know I really would be crazy if I wasn't! Today a couple of people asked when my due date was and it was really funny to see the looks on their faces when I replied "Today."  You would have thought I said I had a time bomb strapped to my belly!  The guys at work have a plan already for if I go into labor at work.  The plan is to throw me in the back of Cory's truck so it can easily be hosed down and take me to the hospital in that. (The guy who sits beside me has the same name as my husband which only causes confusion sometimes.)  Jack says he could deliver the baby if it is an emergency because he was there when his two children were born.  Also, Cory is terrified my water is going to break and gush under the wall between our cubes.  It doesn't matter how many times I've told him how unlikely this is to happen.  Basically, I'm very grateful my hospital is a very short 5 minute drive from our office because none of their plans sound good to me.  It is nice to be surrounded by such entertaining people while I wait on my girl though! :)

39 Weeks: Not Yet

Those are the two words I use most often these days.  "Any signs of the baby coming?"  "Not yet."  "Have you stopped going to work?"  "Not yet."  "Is the nursery finished?"  "Not yet."  "Are you ready?" "Not yet" "Are you in labor? "Not yet." And on and on...The last one comes most often from Cory when I have trouble getting up from lying on the couch.  So many things are 10 times more difficult when you have a huge belly. 
Basically I am just going about my normal routine trying not to wait and think constantly about when the baby will get here.  This is much more difficult than it sounds because I am constantly being asked when I'm due, have I made any progress, ect.  I understand people are curious, but as I've said before I really don't understand the feeling everyone seems to have that pregnant women are public domain. Also, I'm not talking about friends here, these are perfect strangers. I guess I had better get used to it though because I'm pretty sure people treat babies the same way.  Right now, I still want to find a way to fight it.  So far I've been unsuccessful. 

In good news, this guy is no longer in my house.

38 Weeks: Nothing to See Here, Folks.

Basically at 38 weeks, I feel exactly the same as I did at 37 weeks.  The biggest change has been that I can't sleep on my back anymore.  I feel like I'm being crushed if I try.  Oh well.  I'm very grateful to be feeling as well as I do at this point.
In a complete reversal, people are now shocked to hear I have less than 2 weeks to my due date.  The same people who were shocked I was not overdue a month ago are now shocked I'm due so soon.  It just goes to show people really know nothing about pregnancy.
Nesting is still driving me crazy and I've been organizing everything like mad.  Cory is so ready for our girl to be here.  If I say any little thing hurts or feels weird he asks "Does that mean the baby is coming?" in a super hopeful voice.  It is really cute.  For now though, we are just playing the waiting game!

37 Weeks: Moving Right Along!

My doctors appointment Thursday went really well.  I've started progressing toward labor which is good.  Her head is in the right place and she is low. They expect our girl to be right on time, which is in less than 3 weeks.  Yikes.  She is moving a lot still, depending on the time of day.  She has started to have more "rest times" recently.  Her movements are definitely different now as well.  I am now being poked and prodded more than kicked and punched. 
I've started to have little bouts of anxiousness that I'm not fond of at all.  They don't seem to be triggered by anything in particular but I guess the pressure of everything does weigh on my subconscious.  Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited to meet this girl and I'm really not that freaked out about labor and delivery.  It's one day of my life.  I could do pretty much anything for one day, right?  Especially when the reward is a sweet, cuddly baby!  If I'm being delusional here, please don't spoil it for me.  I guess it is really just the nesting instinct to have everything "ready" that is driving me insane.  I keep making list of things to stockpile like shampoo, paper towels, toilet paper, ect.  And I want ridiculous amounts of it.  I'm not sure if I think I'm having a baby or being trapped in my house for a year.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to be prepared for both circumstances. :)
We got a ton done in the nursery over the long holiday weekend and hope to finish up with most things this coming Monday.  We will see how it goes though.  I'm not going to freak out if she arrives and all the decorations aren't up yet.
In the midst of all my practicality and cleaning, I managed to make Cory a totally unpractical and mostly silly "Daddy Kit"  as part of his Christmas present.  It was small but cute I thought and he seemed to really like it. Here's what I put in it:

Baby books about dads for bedtime stories. 

New underwear for sports playing with passes for an extra night of basketball for "when living with two girls is a little too much" and he needs some extra "man time." 

A book of useless information to share with her/keep him entertained during the early parts of labor, which he LOVES.  He is always looking up websites with random facts on them and sharing them with me.  This is only annoying sometimes. :) 

Some reeses for a snack while he is waiting for our girl to arrive.

My favorite:  oreos for them to share a midnight snack.  She gets the milk.  He gets the cookies. :)

36 Weeks: Brain? What Brain?

I am pretty sure I no longer have a functioning brain or at least one that can only function on baby related tasks.  Sitting at work trying to focus on anything is a basically an exercise in futility.  I am working at about 10% of my normal right now.  I keep stopping what I'm doing to make yet another list.  I have about a million at this point.  I start thinking of things I need to do, then start freaking out a little, then make a list.  Making lists is comforting to me.  It tricks me into thinking I have control when really, I don't.  Hopefully with my days off I can actually being crossing more things off than adding them!
After Lydia Jane is born, I will have 6 weeks off and then I'm going back to work.  Right now it is what is best for our family, even though the thought of leaving her already stinks.  The good thing is that my mom will be the one keeping her so at least she will not be in daycare and will get a lot of one on one attention.  I struggled a lot with the idea of being a working mom.  Is my baby going to be well taken care of?  Will she still know I'm her mother?  And on and on.  What really helped me was seeing my sister in law, Jennifer, handle it so well.  We kept the boys one night for her and Mike to go on a date when Carson was about 8 months old.  I was holding him when Jenn walked in the house and he literally lit up the second he saw her, started kicking his little feet, and reaching for her.  Even though my nephew was doing everything possible to escape from me, it made me super happy because I was able to stop worrying my baby wouldn't love me as much if I wasn't the one caring for her 24/7.  Of course that is the ideal situation but it doesn't work out for everyone to do that right away and that's okay too.  You can still make it work.  I actually have a great job that I like with wonderful benefits.  I really couldn't have a better job than this one for being a working mom so I'm very grateful for that. 
I had my 36 weeks appointment today.  Everything still looks really good.  My blood pressure is normal, I didn't gain any weight and LJ's heartbeat is going strong.  I haven't dialated at all which doesn't bother me because I didn't really expect that I would have.  I'm content to let this girl grow in there for as long as she likes.  The doctor told me today that they would let me go up to 2 weeks late which means that she will be here February 1st at the absolute latest.  I'm super against being induced so I'm trying to start early having a patient attitude about it.  I know the bigger she gets, the harder that is going to be to do.  I actually feel really good right now though so hopefully that will continue.

35 Weeks: The Beginning of the End

As of today, there is less than a month until my due date.  I feel like I am now officially in the home stretch! Even though I'm not kidding myself into thinking she will definitely be here by then, it is still exciting.  From now on I will have a doctors appointment every week.  My appointment last Thursday was completely typical.  Everything looks good and I was in and out in less than 30 minutes.  I asked about her hiccups and the doctor said that was totally normal.  He asked if I was feeling them on the right side of my pelvis, which is exactly where I do feel them, and said that was good because it means she is already in the right position for birth.  So hooray for that! 
After feeling her little foot the other day, I have had to move it a few other times.  It is very strange to feel someone stretching out inside your belly and when it hurts, be able to push them back in.  I can't decide if Cory thinks it is more cool or freaky.  I don't think he can decide either. :) 
I am definitely looking forward to my 3 days off around Christmas!  We are staying in Columbia for the most part because Cory is on call next week so I'm hoping we can get the nursery close to finished.  We have definitely been working hard to get the rest of the house organized and I'm pretty proud of our progress!

Maternity Photos!

My amazing friend/photographer Naomi took some maternity photos for me a few weeks ago. I love how they turned out even though towards the end I was getting pretty tired. I may or may not have resembled a grumpy two year old. Regardless, Naomi handled it like a champ. :) I suppose she is used to dealing with me in all my moods at this point. Anyway, here are some of my favorites. I'm 33 weeks in these.



 I love both our hands making the heart.  I'm going to frame this one in LJ's room.

 The old blue paint on these windows looks so cool.

I just like this one. 

And then there were three...

 The looking down shot so popular in maternity photos...

Me smiling: because in not too much longer that girl will be here!

34 Weeks: Under Pressure

The fact that I have made it to 34 weeks does not seem quite as monumental as that fact that I only have 6 weeks left.  6 weeks!  I feel like I have just come to terms with the idea of being pregnant and now it is time to start coming to terms with the idea of no longer being pregnant and being a real live mother instead.   Sometimes I feel that is the way my life works.  I work so hard to become comfortable with a situation I am in, go through all the tears and prayers and craziness, and then bam!  I finally realize I've come to accept and be comfortable with where I am because I see it changing and start to freak out a little.  I will definitely be glad once our girl is here and I'm holding her in my arms instead of feeling her kicks and punches from the inside, but I think I'm going to miss this a little too.  I'm also starting to get a little nervous about the whole birthing thing, which I know is ridiculous because it is what my body was made to do, but I still can't help it.  I ordered my first birthing book from Barnes & Noble, which was sort of a mistake.  Literally every person they show giving birth is completely naked.  Seriously, this book has more boobs than a National Geographic tribal special.  So lesson learned:  do not buy birthing books without looking through them in the store first.  I still have not decided what kind of birth I want to have.  The more I think about it, the more conflicted I feel.  How am I supposed to make a decision about an experience I've never been through before?  I can't say if I will be able to handle the pain or not because I have never felt anything like it.  So my plan is to basically do what feels right in the moment and listen to my body.  Maybe that sounds crazy, but oh well!  Women did this thing with no plan for thousands of years.  Certainly I can do it now in a hospital surrounded by doctors and nurses.
The good news is that I've been so busy that I haven't really had much time to worry about it.  In the last week and a half, I've had maternity pictures taken, two baby showers, done some Christmas shopping, had jury duty, chaperoned a youth dance and begun organizing the nursery, which is now covered in presents once again.  Oh well!  I will catch up with my to do list eventually, I hope! I'm going to try and do individual posts about some of those things but who knows when.  Tonight we have the youth Christmas party, Thursday we are cleaning the church, Friday is the ward Christmas party and Saturday is Thompson Family Christmas!  Don't you just love the holidays?!
Health wise, I'm doing really well which is a blessing for sure.  Lydia Jane is a super squirmer these days and the other day I even felt her foot or hand!  It was so cool but also weird.  I have felt her movements for a couple of months and my belly is in constant motion from her some days but that was the first time I actually felt her.  The best thing was that Cory was able to feel it too.  His response was "There is definitely an alien in there!" ha! Also, I've started to feel a little cramped.  I guess it is about time.  I can't bend over without feeling like my lungs are being flattened so I've started asking Cory to do a lot more for me.  Luckily, he is super awesome about helping me!  This girl definitely loves her personal space.  I can't even rest my arms on my belly without getting a nudge like "Excuse me, but this space belongs to me!"  AND she has started getting hiccups which is so weird.  My stomach will give a little shake every few seconds for five minutes or so and I get so distracted by it.  I try and shake my belly to scare her, but as far as I can tell, that doesn't work. :)

33 Weeks: Amazing Things

I had my "34 weeks" check up on Wednesday, again a week early. Maybe this will be a trend for everything pregnancy related from now on?!  *fingers crossed* :)  I was the very first appointment for the day and actually got there first so I was in and out in less than 30 minutes.  Everything looks good still and I only gained 2 pounds in the two weeks around Thanksgiving which I was super proud of! I've started taking salads for my lunches this week to be healthier and to hopefully keep my weight gain down to no more than a pound a week for the rest of the pregnancy.  I've done pretty well weight wise so hopefully I can do it.  I still have to make it through Christmas though...
Also, I've heard about 20 times in the past few weeks that I MUST be having a boy.  Ummm..no, it's a girl.  I don't really understand the need to even guess.  I realize there are good odds with 50/50, but still.  There is absolutely no way to tell from looking at me the gender of my unborn child. There also is no prize for guessing correctly, yet many people insist on trying. Someone asked my due date today and when I said January 18th she replied with "I thought you were going to say any day now!"  My response "I wish!" complete with a forced smile and laugh.  Pregnancy sure gives you lessons in holding your tongue!  I just wish all these inconsiderate people had the same ones.  I've learned to deal with it, it just never ceases to amaze me.  It reminds me of riding to church with my mom as a kid and passing the same man cutting his grass every week and my mom saying "I can't believe that man is out cutting his grass on Sunday!" every week.  Some things are just too amazing not to comment on no matter how frequently they occur, apparently. :)
The good thing is that even though there are people like that, there are also people like my best friend.  She read about the horrible week I was having and instead of leaving me a comment she brings me homemade blondies, which were super yummy.  Not that I do not appreciate the comments.  I definitely do, I just can't eat those. :)  She also brought along a super cute red head I was able to bribe into showing me her new walking skills with M&Ms.  There are people like my fellow counselor in YW who, after hearing me say how I was totally disappointed that the stake presidency had cancelled their weekly interview session, pulls out her phone, in which is programed Pres. Mayo's number, and calls him to find out what is going on.  First of all, the fact that she has a member of the stake presidency's number in her phone would surprise no one who knows her.  She is just that kind of girl, an awesome one.  Secondly, how great is it that she just does stuff like that without you having to ask her to do it?!  Turns out they were there and we were able to go and have our temple recommends renewed.  This was really important to me because they expired the next day and I wanted to be able to tell our children that we were never without a current temple recommend. And lastly, there are people like my husband who not only puts up with my ramblings about crazy hair brained schemes but has them completed as a surprise by the time I get home.   No matter how he feels about the state of my sanity these days, he is willing to do whatever he thinks will make me happy.  Or maybe he just doesn't want a crazy AND angry pregnant woman in the same house as him. :)  Either way, I'll take it.  I'm so very grateful to have so many people in my life who allow me to feel the love of my Heavenly Father through their love and service to me.  It is times like this that I am so thankful that there are so many people in my life who love the Lord because really, that's what it's all about.

32 Weeks: Gobble! Gobble!

Not much exciting has been happening on the baby front this last week.  The kicks are getting stronger and the naps are getting longer.  That about covers it.  We did have a great time celebrating Thanksgiving though! I only took one picture the entire time and it was this one of Carson eating my blueberry pie.  He loved it and that made me super happy! :)

 I also took a belly picture in my same outfit from the first belly picture to really see how much bigger I've gotten. I probably should have taken the same side and angle as well, but you can definitely see how much the belly has grown!  I'm kind of afraid to see what it looks like in January!

26 Weeks

32 Weeks

31 Weeks: Growing Girl

I had my 32 weeks appointment today.  Somehow, I got a week ahead in my appointments.  Everything looks great.  I had an ultrasound to check Lydia Jane's growth and she has gained 3 pounds!  She now weighs 4lbs. 2oz. and is in the 65th percentile.  I'm definitely happy about that because she was only in the 10th percentile at 24 weeks.  Our girl is definitely catching up! 
She also has a big head. haha.  When they measured it, it measured 33 weeks 4 days and I said "She has a huge head doesn't she?"  The ultrasound tech just laughed and said "Not necessarily" which totally means yes.  As a big headed girl myself, I'm totally okay with that. 
I didn't get to see much of her face today which was sort of a bummer but when I told Cory that he just said "Well, we will see her for real soon enough so that's okay."  He is totally right but I still wanted to see her little face more! 
I'm now in the single digits for the due date count down!  Only 9 more weeks!  Even though I totally expect her to be late, I will still be happy to reach that point.  So I say now, right?
My health hasn't really changed much.  I have become a zombie again, falling asleep at 8 or so for the night.  I think Cory is starting to get a little bored. I feel badly that he is having to spend his nights alone these days but there is honestly nothing I can do about it. 
I guess my body is prepping to have a newborn by behaving like one.  I basically have two main wants:  to sleep and to eat.  I do both way more than I used to but I'm fine with that! :)

The Nursery: Phase 1

My mom came to Columbia on Friday to help me get started on Lydia Jane's nursery. We got all the current furniture arranged, picked out some fabrics and made lists of things still to make. Here's an overview:

 Her crib and dresser.  We are painting the dresser white and adding ruffles to the lampshade.

 Her little animals!  My parents got the sheep for her in England this summer.

 Bed really not at all looking like it will.  We are making new drapes and adding lots of pillows.

The pink and brown fabric is to make my rocking chair cushion and the others are for pillows.

It's not much at the moment, but I think now that the basics are in place it will be a lot easier to add things.  I am starting to get a mental picture of how everything is going to fit and look now, which is exciting. 

Tonight I'm starting on my first craft for the nursery.  These pom poms:

Source: jessicademaio.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

So I'm really excited about that even though it is most likely going to take forever.  Hopefully they will look really cute in the end though!  I will definitely post my progress!

30 Weeks: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I can no longer make it through more than 5 minutes of testimony meeting without crying.  The absolute dumbest things irritate me beyond belief.  One minute I'm happy, the next I'm sad.   I literally do not enjoy being around myself most of the time.  Even I do not know which of my personalities I will be pulling out of the hat any given morning.  People of Columbia beware:  there's a mad woman on the loose and she looks a lot like me.
That may be a slight exaggeration, but only slight.  My emotions have been all over the place this past week and it is starting to make me a little nuts.  Also, I have been starving ALL THE TIME.  I will have just eaten breakfast and I'm already ready for second breakfast.  The other morning my stomach was growling after I had eaten a waffle and an apple.  I don't know what this little girl is doing in there, but she is burning up the calories!   She is starting to get more on a "normal" schedule.  Her daytime movements are becoming even more frequent and her nighttime movements are starting to slack off a bit.  Unfortunately, I've started to have a little trouble sleeping.  This week marked the beginning of Nighttime Pee Runs: Part 2.  Between that and my low iron, I am pretty exhausted most of the time.  In good news, I'm only 10 weeks away from my due date! AND Cory felt Lydia Jane kick for the first time this morning!
When I was having cory take my 30 weeks picture, he kept telling me to do all these silly things and I was cracking up the whole time.  I thought it was only appropriate to add one of them.  Please excuse the roughness.  I'm pregnant and do what I want, right?

Mom came today and we worked on the nursery a good bit.   Hopefully I will have time tomorrow to take and post some pictures of the progress!

29 Weeks: Hopin' and Dreamin'

Things are moving right along with the pregnancy.  Lydia Jane's movements have become a lot more frequent throughout the day.  She still has some "super spurts" of movement but the random punches and kicks have become a lot more common.  I'm still the same health wise, I've just started having super vivid dreams.  I think I read somewhere that this happens sometimes during pregnancy but I'm not sure.  Also stretch marks:  why did I not know these things were going to hurt?!
This week we finally cleaned out Lydia Jane's nursery (for the most part, at least) and it is ready to be redecorated. My grandparents came in town on Saturday buy her crib. This is it:

 I love it!  We haven't gotten the bedding yet, but I wanted to see how the breathable bumpers worked and looked so we put those on.  I have to say, I like them a lot more than I thought I would.  When I woke up Sunday and walked out of our room to see her crib set up it made me so happy!  I can't wait until our sweet girl is in there for me to wake up!
And of course, a belly picture from this week!  Also, I think this picture is a little deceiving, it looks a lot bigger to me in real life. AND I have the stretch marks to prove it is indeed getting bigger!

29 weeks.

28 Weeks: Plans? What plans?

I have officially reached the "I probably should have done more by this point" part of pregnancy. Everyone keeps asking me if I have done certain things with the tone of voice that makes me sure they assume I have.  They have assumed incorrectly.  We still haven't picked out a crib, let alone registered!  I need to pick out a pediatrician?  Really?  My birth plan consists of:  I will be in the hospital and have a baby.  Lydia Jane's nursery is not even an empty room yet. I can't even say we have a blank slate because really what we have is a slate full of things that need to be erased.  The big kicker:  none of this bothers me in the least.  I am totally calm about it.  I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.  My goal for the month of November is to do all of those things.  And not to worry, I've made a bit of a start on them already. I'm pretty sure we have a pediatrician now, I just need to actually call them.  While I don't know which crib we are getting, I do know who will be purchasing it.  My grandparents told us last weekend that is what they want to get Lydia Jane, which is super generous and exciting! My mom is coming for 2 days in a couple of weeks to help me get the nursery together.  So while it still seems like I have a lot to do, I also think I'm making some progress or at least plans for progress.
In how the Watts girls are feeling news:
I'm still pretty much the same.  I have good days and I have bad days.  As I have said before, it is hard to get used to but I'm handling it.  In new developments, my feet were swollen for the first time last week.  It was only at the end of one day and I guess I should really be thankful it didn't happen sooner.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it last week or not but I've also started to have some Braxton Hicks contractions.  Not too many and not every day but they sure aren't comfortable!  I've tried to get up and move around more at work and that seems to be helping.
Lydia Jane is still kicking up a storm and Cory still hasn't felt it.  He did see her kicking me the other day though, which he thought was really cool.  I can definitely tell she is starting to get stronger!
She also got her first present in the mail the other day!  Aren't these the cutest?!  Thanks Joanie, Ryan and Jaxson!

 Joanie has the cutest etsy shop!  You should definitely check out her stuff!

I had planned to take some cute pregnancy photos at the river last Saturday but that didn't work out.  My youngest brother was in a wreck on his way home and we had to rush to meet them at the emergency room.  He is fine, but it was definitely a crazy time!  So instead of pretty river pictures, you get another in our den picture.  From a different angle this time though, exciting! :)

27 weeks

27 Weeks Appointment: I Passed!

I had my 27 weeks appointment today with my full time doctor, Dr. Holladay, and it was great!  I had to take the sugar test today so ever since lunch yesterday, I avoided anything with sugar like the plague.  It paid off because I passed and won't have to take the three hour one!
Lydia Jane's heartbeat is 153, which is great and I'm measuring right at 27 weeks.  The only bad thing is that my iron is really low (9.3) and so I have to start taking iron pills.  I'm not really looking forward to adding another pill to my already ridiculous list, but you do what you have to do. 
I talked with Dr. Holladay about my recent bouts of yuckiness and basically found out that there isn't that much to be done about it.  He gave me some more medicine ideas (yay.:/) and told me to drink as many fluids as I can.  Hopefully that will help some but I get the feeling that it is one of those "It's going to get worse before it gets better" scenarios.  Unfortunately the "it gets better' part won't happen until Lydia Jane makes her appearance.  Oh well.
He also told me to google some pregnancy yoga poses and start doing those every night.  I didn't admit to him that I have a complete prenatal yoga video I have yet to actually try.  I have been walking at least a few times a week but I really need to get with the yoga program!  The 1st councilor in the YW when I was first called suggested it to me because she said it made her labor so much better.  The fact that I have yet to try it has nothing to do with how much faith I have in her advice, it is more a testament to my laziness.  After I get home from work, I am seriously zapped of energy.  I usually take at least 2 naps before I make it to bed every night.  I try and pack as much into Saturday as I can which totally wears me out so I do nothing but go to church and rest on Sunday. But it works and we are still making slow but steady progress on project organization!
Tomorrow we are taking a break though and heading down to Georgetown to see my family.  I haven't seen them since July 4th when I wasn't showing at all so I'm interested to see what they think of my new belly! :)

A Birthday and a Belly!

Saturday night we went out with Mike and Jenn and some friends to celebrate Jenn's birthday.  It was so much fun!  We split the table into guys and girls and just chatted and laughed the entire time.   It was really nice to actually get dressed up and go out as well.  I've gotten so slack about that kind of stuff lately.  I got my hair cut three weeks ago and people are just now noticing because I think I've only worn it down once since then.  Because of this, I never really feel like having my picture taken and documenting my hastily done make up, air dried pony tail, ect... Saturday though, I made a point to have Cory take a couple belly pictures before we left. 

26 weeks.

Me and my silly husband.  He loves giving himself crazy facial hair.  It usually only survives for a night though.

After we ate dinner we had planned to go back to Mike and Jenn's for cake and icecream but I just wasn't up to it.  Since it was a special occasion I went all out and ordered the strawberry peach lemonade.  It was really yummy but also a mistake.  I was feeling terrible by the time we got the check.  Sugary drinks just do not sit well with me at night I have discovered.  Luckily there wasn't another fiasco.  We just went home and chilled on the couch watching Clemson's ridiculous comeback victory.  I still can't stand Clemson, but it was pretty impressive.  Well, the parts I wasn't asleep for were. 

Sunday was wonderful.  Everyone at church was telling me how good I looked and it just made me feel so much better after all those terrible elevator conversations this week.  I really love my ward!  It is full of so many fabulous people who do their best to lift each other up every Sunday.  I've realized over and over that even though this wasn't where Cory and I planned to be, this is the place the Lord knew we needed to be all along.  I'm so grateful for His guiding hand in my life and the countless blessing that have come into my life because of it.

26 Weeks: What's in a Name?

This past week has not been a great one.  I'm pretty sure everyone in my building is running a contest to see who can say the most insensitive/annoying thing to me in the elevator.  Things I have gotten recently:
*"How many months are you?"  "About 6."  In a super shocked sounding voice "Well, you're pretty!"  Umm...I don't even understand.  Was this supposed to be a compliment?  Should have turned into a hag by this point in my pregnancy?  How I managed to hold that off while getting every other pregnancy side effect, I will never know...
*"You're STILL pregnant???" "Yes, I'm only 6 months" "Oh." I know I'm terrible about posting pregnant pictures of myself on here, but I've only gained 20 pounds.  I just checked and I haven't gained anything in the past two weeks.  It feels like baby girl has taken up an exercise routine so that is not really surprising. :) Granted, my belly has gotten bigger but I still haven't gained any weight.  So why people think I look 9 months pregnant already, I don't know.
*"Have you decided on a name yet?"  'Yes, it's _____." "Oh, well I guess those old fashioned names are coming back in style."  with a voice and face that make it obvious she doesn't like it.  Excuse me, but I did not pick out her name hoping anyone else other than myself and Cory would like it.  I especially do not care if you do not like it, woman with a bimbo name. 
This whole idea that when you are pregnant everything about you, your baby, and your pregnancy becomes public domain kind of bothers me. (I type on my blog. Yes, I realize the irony.) Why do people you don't know feel like it is okay to give you all kinds of opinions on what you should do ect. just because you are pregnant?  It makes me want to go up to them in the grocery store, start looking through their cart, and give them a critique about their choices. 
Sorry for the soapbox, but I really needed to get that off my chest.  I try really hard not to explode at these people, but it needs an outlet somewhere.  I've been physically sick this past week, which I know makes me really emotional and prone to irritation as a result.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
We actually missed church on Sunday because I was sick.  I was downstairs talking to my dad. Seriously, I don't know how people survive without their own personal doctor/dad.  I know I couldn't! Anyway, I was really upset and when I got off the phone with him and went upstairs to tell Cory I needed to stay home, he was just getting up from saying a prayer.  For me.  He heard me crying talking to my dad and his first response is to ask Heavenly Father to help me.  I don't think I have ever felt so blessed and loved. 
During all that drama, we have actually been able to make some progress.  We picked a name!  Cory still likes to tease my by periodically suggesting something ridiculous.  I doubt this will stop even when her name is on the birth certificate.  Poor girl isn't going to have a clue what her real name is because her daddy is going to call her so many different things!  The name we chose is:
Lydia Jane
I've loved the name Lydia since I was walking through Hyde Park in London and heard a mother call her daughter that.  I just thought it sounded so pretty.  I didn't know if I would like it as much without the British accent, but it turns out I do. :) Also, Lydia is the name of the first convert to Christianity, which is pretty cool. 
Jane has been on my "middle name list" for a while.  For a long time, I loved the name Isabelle but it is just too popular now (Thanks, Twilight.).  I never could decide on a middle name to go with it until I was doing baptisms at the temple one night and was baptised for a woman with the middle name Jane.  It would have been perfect!  Turns out, I think it goes really well with Lydia also.  So much so that we are going to call her by her first and middle names. 
So after looking through hundreds of names on the Internet, in baby books, and in family history we finally decided on one of our very first choices!  Go figure.  I really wanted a family name but when your choices are things like "Cora Elvira" and "Ethel May," (not making either of those up) giving her her own name to make a legacy for seems much more appealing.  :)
We have also made significant progress on what I like to call "Project Organization."  If this is what I'm like now, I really hate to see what I turn into when the nesting really starts.  I'm hoping to have some picture worthy projects done over the next month or so.  Right now it is all pretty boring stuff.  I have gotten rid of so much useless junk, it is crazy.  Moving so much during college created several "black hole" boxes of things that I hadn't looked at in years.  It feels really good to finally go through and get rid of things!  My goal for this week is just to keep it up!