Yeah, Still Pregnant.

I'm pretty over being pregnant.  Work is rough, as I'm either on the floor playing with kids, picking kids up, or holding kids using my whole body strength most of the day.  I'm hungry but can't eat more than a little bit at a time, thanks to a baby taking up my entire abdomen.  It's hot.  And I mean HOT.  My back hurts, I have no energy...blah blah blah...I'm just done.

Two weeks ago we had our 35 week ultrasound to check on the baby's position and size.  I was a little sad we didn't get to see his face since he was turned around backward, and we didn't get a single photo as a souvenir.  Baby boy was head down (which is good news), and was measuring at around 5 pounds 12 oz, which was a little big for his gestational age but that's how Sam was too.  I go to the doctor every week now, which gives me something to look forward to.  Most weeks are boring.  Takes all of 5 minutes. 

The most excitement we have had so far was last Thursday.  I had actual contractions (painful) for about 3 hours that night.  They never became regularly spaced, and slowly faded away.  Sigh.  It was a new experience for me though.  With Sam, my water just broke...I wasn't having any contractions.  The only contractions I got to experience were the ones brought on by a big bag of pitocen, and those contractions SUCKED. 

As far as the rest of the family goes, Chris participated in a Warrior Dash in North Georgia this weekend - an off road race with a lot of obstacles.  He had a good time, and Sam and I kept busy with our own adventures while he was gone.  I took Sam to Monkey Joes - a kid's playplace with a bunch of blow up moon bounce type stuff.  Sam was a little small for most of the stuff, but he had a blast just running around and watching other kids bounce and play. Parents are allowed to get in and help kids under 4 climb in the bouncers, but I didn't exactly want to go into labor at Monkey Joes.  Today, we went to our neighbor's daughter's birthday party.  They had a blow up moon bounce-like water slide.  Once again, Sam was a little too small for it.  It was a double slide, and they had once side with water and one without.  Sam was content with me shoving him up to the top of the dry side, UNTIL he saw the kids in the water.  But it was unusually cold today, and when the water would spray on him he would shy away.  I shoved him half way up the wet side a few times and he would chicken out as soon as the water would start to hit him. Finally, one sweet little girl coaxed him the rest of the way to the top and slid down with him.  Of course, when he hit the freezing pool of water at the bottom of the slide, it took his breath away and he started screaming!  He recovered quickly, and moved on to throwing water balloons at his own feet.  Needless to say, he went to sleep so easily tonight.

A few prayer requests:  A heart friend from north Alabama is having a very rough time with their child, who has a very serious complication in addition to HRHS (Sam's defect).  He is in the hospital awaiting their next move.  Another heart friend from Daphne with HLHS (opposite but similar to Sam) just had his Glenn (Sam's surgery), and is recovering.  And a prayer of thanksgiving for Amelia - niece of a friend of mine.  She was born at 24 weeks gestation the Sam weekend as Sam's emergency surgery 2 years ago.  She stayed in the hospital almost a full year, and has been struggling at times to reach milestones.  However, in the last few months, she has really started to thrive, and their most recent victory is that they are starting to gain ground with getting her to oral feed vs her G-tube.  It's been thrilling to hear her progress recently, and I've always been impressed with how well her parent's have persevered and helped her get to where she is today. 

~Kathy

Two Baby-Moons

Our little family was lucky enough to have the chance to escape our Macon, GA world for two vacations in a row these last few weeks.

First we were blessed by our neighbors, who gave us a weekend at their Fripp Island beach house off the South Carolina coast.  It's a private island, so the crowd was super small.  This was Sam's first real beach experience, since the oil spill ruined our chances to hit up the gulf coast last summer.  He had a freakin' blast.  He saw the water on our first trip down to the beach, and saw all the kids running around without shoes and shirts, and immediately started stripping off clothes while running down the beach to the water.  It was so much fun to see him explore and experience the sand and water.  Our neighbor's beach house was awesome too, and Chris and I got in some good relaxation time.

The next weekend we drove up to Gatlinburg, TN to my parent's cabin.  We picked up my sister Amanda at the Atlanta airport on the way, and then met Chris's sister Shannon and her family up there.  We did a waterfall hike, and Chris, Shannon, Mark and the boys did a bike ride through Cades Cove.  I hope they enjoyed the break as much as we did.  After Chris's sister and her family went back home, my parent's drove up for the Easter weekend.  They picked up my brother along the way.  I didn't think Sam would ever recover from a full week of seeing his cousins and being spoiled by family.  I'm finally getting to that point in the pregnancy where I would rather sit than do anything else, so I hope I didn't ruin anyone else's time...but it was nice to have a full week in the mountains to just hang out with family.

Speaking of the pregnancy, me and baby are doing fine.  I have had 2 nights of braxton-hix contractions, but I'm pretty sure it's because I can't lay off the sweet tea and caffeine.  We had our 35 week ultrasound today.  Everything went great!  Lil' baby had his face hidden, so we didn't get to sneak a peak.  But he is measuring a little a head of schedule, and weighing in a 5lbs 12 oz.  We should finish the last little touch on the room Sam and brother will share this weekend.  Now comes the list of last minute details: pack the hospital bag, bring down the bassinet, buy the last little bit of essentials including little tiny diapers.  I'm ready.  I'm done wondering how this will all go down....I'm ready to just get started!

Kathy