How are you feeling?

I really don't mind people asking me this. Because in all honesty, I feel fine. I guess that's the problem being 40 weeks and 2 days, ha. This pregnancy has been good to me; I'm healthy and Hunter is healthy. What more could you ask for? I was able to work (remember, I taught 1-7 year olds gymnastics) until I was almost 37 weeks. I could have probably worked longer, but my parents were giving me the worried look every time I walked into class. I've been able to walk at least a mile every day and live basically the same life I lived before I was pregnant. All and all, my pregnancy has been good. I shouldn't complain.

But, if I can be honest (and, since it is my blog, I will be), there are some things that I haven't really enjoyed. And, since I want to be able to remember everything about this pregnancy, I will just list those things.

-Swelling... all the time... in my legs, my feet, and my hands. Sometimes parts of them go numb. But, blood pressure is good so there is no need to worry.

-Peeing.... every hour at night. And having to roll this big belly out of the bed. I should have taken Carl up on his offer on building me one of those things that transports whales from one water to another.

-Having to get off the couch. Our seats are tilted back, so getting up is quite the task. I have now resorted to sitting on the exercise ball if I'm sitting down.

Really minor things, but I feel I can be honest on here. I hear you forget all these things once the baby has arrived. So, when Carl and I are discussing a second baby down the road, I will come back here and ask myself if I'm ready for all of these things again. :]

Waiting

Hunter is very comfortable where he is. I am pretty sure he isn't going arrive any time soon. I'm only 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. His head is low, but isn't engaged.

He was served his eviction notice yesterday during our 39 week appointment. If he has not arrived by next Friday (18th), we will have a non-stress test performed at our appointment, and then will be scheduled to go to the hospital Monday night and then Tuesday morning I will be given pitocin to start contractions. Unfortunately, if we have to go this route, I will not be able to walk around. I will only be allowed to sit in the bed, on the ball, or in the rocker and walk to and from the bathroom. I'm really hoping he decides to come on his own because I would prefer to be able to walk around to help me dilate. If he does decide to come on his own, I'm guessing he comes between tomorrow and Wednesday because my midwife is out-of-town and that would be my luck. But, as my friend Kelly (who is a L&D nurse) says, they really just come in a catch. So, if he does come during those times, hopefully either Kelly or another one of my nurse friends will be working. :]

I've been walking at least a mile and a half almost every day, doing squats, sitting on the exercise ball, etc. to help convince him to come. I even jumped in a kid bouncer this past weekend at my sister's mother-in-laws surprise party with no luck.

I really haven't been anxious for him to come (I mean, I have, but it hasn't bothered me that he isn't here) up until the last week and a half. I really just want to meet him and cuddle him. Carl told me I was being selfish because I'm not sharing our son with him, lol. I will gladly give him my belly for a while, I would love to see my ankles with no swelling.

In other news, Hunter's nursery is TOTALLY complete. I'll post pictures later on. I also received my degree in the mail today. Woohoo! It's official. :] Now I can send my official transcript off to places.

Sorry this is the only picture for this post. Hopefully my next post will be titled "He's Here!!!"

Maternity PIctures

Love, love, love them!! Sarah Fitzgibbons did a WONDERFUL job! She will also be doing our newborn pictures. I can't wait. Luckily, we caught her before her price went up! :] Each picture came in color, black and white, and sephia.

I apologize for the amount of pictures in this post. I just couldn't decide on a few of my favorites; they were all my favorite. There are a lot of other pictures on her websitehere if you want to see all the ones she took. I also apologize for the size/quality. I had uploaded them to facebook from my desktop (my Mac wouldn't read the disk) and then I saved them to my computer from facebook.

The Past Week (or 2 or 3)

Here are some pictures of the recent weeks. I wish I had the excuse that Hunter arrived and that is why I haven't updated. I just haven't felt like waiting for the pictures to upload (anyone else having issues with how long it takes for pictures to upload?!).

On Mother's Day Carl and I had maternity pictures taken. The proofs look awesome and I'm in love. As soon as the CD comes in the mail, I will post pictures on here. The photo session motivated Carl to get Hunter's letters up in his room and the pack and play in our room. He definitely wasn't trying to avoid having his picture taken, not my husband. :] Koal actually appears in a few photos. We will be using her for our newborn pictures as well.

We also went strawberry picking out in Pungo on Mother's Day with my sister, her 3 girls, and her mother-in-law. I love fresh strawberries, they are just so much better than store bought. I think they taste even better when they have been sitting in the sun than once they have been put in the fridge. I filled a huge kitchen mop bucket (clean of course) and paid $9! The little containers at the store are like $5 and I probably had 10 of those in my bucket. We did have a little bit of an issue with a thief by the name of Molly. If you weren't looking, she would steal your berries from the bucket and eat them. The farmer probably should have weighed her before and after our adventure and charged us for her. It reminded me of 2 years ago with Ryleigh. My sister has more pictures from our adventure (and some of me picking strawberries a few days before I was "officially" 9 months pregnant).

Deja vu?

Ashley, Devyn, and I met up for a lunch date for all of our birthdays. Miss Ella has gotten so big! She was such a little ham. Ashley ate one of her Cheerios and she looked at Devyn like, "Mom, did you see that?! That lady just ate one of MY Cheerios!" It was so funny. The next time we go on a lunch date we won't be able to say it is a "girl's lunch" since we will have Hunter. :]

My last day at The Little Gym before Hunter was yesterday. It is very bittersweet. I LOVE my job there; it is rewarding to watch the kids grow and progress. I've had a lot of those kids since I started and my Parent/Child kids I've had for 2 semesters. I'm hoping to teach my Parent/Child class in the fall. Carl and I will be taking Hunter to class starting in the fall at 8:30 on Saturday mornings. I'm very excited. It isn't exactly his age group (okay, it isn't his age group, it is the one up from his age group) but we are unable to make it to his age group classes since they are during the day during the week. But I truly believe in our program, which is why he will be attending classes there. Only 3 more years until he can go into an independent class, haha.

We have basically finished Hunter's nursery. I have a few collages I need to find frames for and hang around his room. I've packed his hospital bag, mine is somewhat packed, and we had the car seat installed by the fire department yesterday. It is crazy seeing a car seat in the back of my car. I told Hunter he can now come because we are totally ready (well, I'd like to get one more good house scrubbing in before he comes).

His lovey is waiting for him

The link is a lot shorter than that now!

I love the blanket Ashley made. I don't want him to get it dirty yet, so it is wall decor.

Look at all of those books!

My favorite spot :]

I think we are set on diapers for a while

Tomorrow marks 37 weeks. Saturday night I was waking up every hour with really good contractions. I really thought I was going into labor. But, no, by 5 AM they had stopped. Boo. Anyways... there will be no more naked belly pictures. I wish I could brag and say I am like my sister with no stretch marks. But, I have gotten a few on the lower part of my belly. Ugh. So much for getting back into a bikini. Looks like the ones in storage will have to find a new home.

I'll have Carl take a better one... but this is my "I want the swelling in my ankles to go away look" after cleaning.

I'm not sure how much bigger this thing can get

Baby Shower and This and That

I just want to first say thank you to my sister, Kelly, and Ashley for my wonderful baby shower! It turned out perfect and Kelly worked so hard to set up her house for all the guests. Hunter is going to be a very spoiled boy! He has so many people that care about him and love him already! It was very overwhelming trying to organize all of the wonderful gifts (which still aren't completely organized). Carl's way of dealing with being overwhelmed: putting together the stroller. I would post a bunch of awesome pictures on here from my shower, but I didn't get many. I really wanted to get a picture with my wonderful hostesses, but I failed. But here are the few that I have:

If you want to see more, you can head over to my sister's blog post on my shower.

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The day before the shower, Ashley and I went and got a pedicure. It felt soooo good. I can't wait to go again this week before graduation.

I could only get a certain amount of my feet in the picture due to the ever expanding belly.

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School is winding down. I just had my very last class EVER! The only thing that stands between me and graduation is one more final on Monday. It feels awesome!

Oh, and the best part is this bad boy:

My thesis is complete!! Yay! I am so excited about this. It felt great printing it out at the computer lab and going to get it bound. Isn't he a beauty? If you want to know the results, just ask. :]

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I am 33 weeks pregnant! Time is flying by! I'm sure the time will go a whole lot slower once graduation is over on May 8th. I read that Hunter is roughly 4 1/2-5 pounds. I had an appointment today. Everything went well. I'm still measuring right along with my due date. I asked her today, if Hunter decides to come late, how far she would let me go. She said no later than June 21/22, so that gives me a good light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, he won't decide to come late.

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We had our Member's Luau at work on Friday. It was a lot of fun and I got to be "co-host" since Miss Sarah was sick. It was so nice being able to around and chat with all of the families. I don't get to do that much, especially the ones I don't see during the week.

And this is what my feet look like after only 6 hours of work (not all 6 hours actually on my feet):

Ugh. So gross.