Maternity Pictures Sneak Peek

This past weekend, we had some maternity pictures made.  Stephanie Eades, the pastor's daughter at Cody's mom's church, took pictures for us.  She did a great job!  Here are just a few for a sneak peek.  We should receive all the pictures on CD's in the mail in about 2 weeks, so I'll post some more then.  (If you have Facebook, there are a few more pictures posted on there!)

Doctors Appointment Update

We had our doctors appointment yesterday, and everything is going great.  I've gained 23 pounds since the beginning of the pregnancy and my belly is measuring right on target.  Madelyn's heartbeat was a strong galloping sound, which is always good to hear.  She is in the head-down position.  I go back in 2 weeks for another check-up, and....a flu shot. I'm not looking forward to that, but I know it will be good for Maddie.

We were supposed to go to the ECU OB/GYN ultrasound lab yesterday, but it was, unfortunately, cancelled.  I was so disappointed!  I was looking forward to seeing Miss Madelyn and looking at how much she has grown.  They are maybe going to reschedule for sometime next week, so keep your fingers crossed that it will actually happen!

32 Weeks

Wow!  I can't believe we are already at 32 weeks!  Time has flown by!  For the most part, I have been feeling well.  It is getting a little more difficult to sleep comfortably, indigestion is getting worse, and my energy level is decreasing.  I go for another monthly check-up with our midwife this Thursday, and then we will start going to appointments with her every 2 weeks.  We are lucky enough that I was chosen to be a guinea pig for the ECU OB/GYN interest group ultrasound lab--in exchange for letting them practice their ultrasound skills on my pregnant belly, we get to see Miss Madelyn again for free (plus I get a gift card to Peppermints Ice Cream Shoppe)!  The ultrasound lab will also be this Thursday night--hopefully we'll get some more pictures of Madelyn that we can share.

Mommy at 32 weeks

Cody and I are so excited about Madelyn's arrival!  I can't believe she'll be here in only 8 more weeks (give or take a little)!  Madelyn continues to be very active. She is most active at night, but I feel her throughout the day. (She is kicking like crazy as I am typing this.)  She is kicking lower, which causes me to have to go to the bathroom more, and she is kicking farther on my sides, which can be a little painful at times. It seems like she responds to our voices when we talk to her sometimes.  Sometimes it seems like she gets in a ball, which makes my belly lop-sided and shaped funny. 

For the most part, we are ready.  I've done all of our Christmas shopping and have everything wrapped so I don't have to worry about it later.  Her nursery is almost complete, other than a few small things.  I still want to make some meals to freeze for after she is born, and I need to pack our hospital bag.  I've ordered a book that was suggested by our midwife about the labor process, as we are trying to go through it as natural as possible, due to my fear of needles.  (We'll see how that goes once labor actually starts!)  Hopefully the book will be here soon so I can feel a little more prepared.  We go for a breastfeeding class this Wednesday. 

Updates to Maddie's nursery:

The Wrath of Hurricane Irene

Remember our storage building that Cody worked so hard to build about a year and a half ago?  He worked so hard in the middle of winter to put it up all by himself, and he was so proud of it!  (I was proud of him, too!)  It was beautiful, and it was just what we needed for a little bit of extra storage.  Cody used his building to store his tools, the lawn mower, his cornhole game, our bicycles, etc.
Well, Hurricane Irene showed her wrath and took the building down!  Unfortunately Cody had to work the day the hurricane came through, so I was here by myself.  To be honest, I really wasn't worried that anything was going to happen...maybe I was a little naive.  I had just looked out our back door at the flooding that was taking place in our back yard, and the building looked fine.  (There is a drainage area in our back yard, so we get the run-off from the houses up and down our street, which usually creates a little river at the edge of our back yard anytime it rains pretty hard.) 

About 15 minutes later, I looked outside again, and the doors to the storage building had come open from the strong wind.  The building was looking a little unsteady due to the wind flow that was now allowed to come inside the building.  The rain was blowing inside too, so naturally I was worried about all of our stuff we had stored in there.  I started to panic a little, so I paged Cody to see what I needed to do.  Naturally, he said not to worry about it and that I should stay inside and stay safe.  But my pregnancy hormones must have kicked in, because I all but lost it!  I couldn't stand to see Cody's building get destroyed, and I knew we had lots of things in storage that could potentially get messed up in the rain.  Meanwhile, Cody is trying his best to calm me down.  About that time, our neighbor had noticed the doors on our building, and he was walking over to tie them shut.  (I'm not really sure what good that would have done, considering Cody had them locked before the wind blew them open.)  However, he was just a little too late--the doors ended up blowing off the building, leaving the building even more unsteady than before.  He brought the cornhole game inside for me, since I seemed to be most worried about it (once again, pregnancy hormones going crazy!), and then he and another neighbor attempted to tie the roof of the building to our tree to keep it from blowing away completely.  No sooner than they had it tied down, a piece of the roof came off, then a wall, and then it pretty much just fell completely apart.  Oh, it was so sad!  I felt so bad for Cody! 

Pictures of the building during Hurricane Irene (sorry about the fuzziness; I couldn't get them any clearer because of the pouring rain):

Right after our neighbor tied it down (notice the rope stretching to the tree and the part of the roof that has already come off)

The building blowing away

Cody and his building the day after Hurricane Irene:



Our damage does not meet our deductible for our homeowners insurance, so a new building will unfortunately not be paid for by our insurance.  However, we are both so thankful that it was just our building....not our house....not us!  We are also reminded in times like this how lucky we are to have such good neighbors who are willing to help no matter what, even if that means standing in hurricane with pouring rain and 60+ mph winds! 

29 Weeks and Counting...

We cannot believe that we are already 29 weeks, as of this past Monday.  It seems like the 1st trimester went by slowly due to all the nausea, but the 2nd and 3rd trimester are flying by.  Little Miss Madelyn will be here before we know it!

2nd trimester was really pretty good.  Once my nausea was gone, I felt pretty good, and had close to my normal amount of energy.  My doctors appointments have been going well.  My weight gain has pleased Monica, our midwife.  (I'm really not sure how much I've gained at this point, but by my guess-timation, I'm thinking I've gained about 16-18 lbs.)  I've been pretty hungry the past few weeks.  I'm not really craving anything in particular, but ice cream is always good, and Chinese is getting to be at the top of my list too.  I'm starting to get where it is hard to sleep--I'm up so often using the bathroom again, and my hips are hurting from laying on my sides.  I finished working a few weeks ago, and I've really enjoyed being a stay-at-home wife and mommy.  I have to remind myself to take it easy during the day, as my body is getting to where it just can't handle as much.  I still feel good, but I just need to take more regular breaks between chores and errands.  We have signed up for an expectant parent class and a breastfeeding class, and I've sent in our pre-registration for the hospital.

Mommy at 28 Weeks, 2 Days


Our friends/neighbors, Kelley and Susan, took me out for lunch to celebrate Madelyn.  Elizabeth, our neighbor who moved, unfortunately wasn't able to come, but she sent her love and well wishes!  Chili's was quite yummy, and we all had a good time!  Thanks for the shower, girls!

We have really made great progress with Madelyn's nursery.  Cody has painted, the furniture has arrived, bedding has been washed and put in her crib, clothing has been washed and put in her closet, and pictures have been hung on the walls.  We still have a few things to do before it is complete, but things are coming together.

Madelyn is still a little wiggle worm.  She moves around a lot throughout the day (if I am still enough to feel her), but she is most active in the evenings.  I've been trying to read to her most days--we've already starting rocking in her rocking chair in her nursery and having storytime.  (Usually big brother Hershey will join us!)  According to what I've read, Madelyn is probably around 2 1/2 lbs and about 16 inches long!  She is able to blink and practice breathing.  Her main job over the next couple months is to gain weight. 

We are so excited about Madelyn's arrival!  She will be here before we know it!