34 Week Update or Should I Say 35?!

What an exciting day I had yesterday!  Miss Jorja Leigh Brewer was born!  She was 19 inches long and weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces.   She is ADORABLE!  Jorja and Mom (Jana) are doing wonderful!  She already has her daddy and paw-paw wrapped around her finger!  Congratulations Jana, Chad and Alex to a perfect addition  to your family!

Yesterday was also my 34 week checkup.  I received all good news!  My blood pressure was great, iron levels were back to normal, and urine was clear.  I questioned the doctor about my exhaustion I am feeling, and she pretty much explained that it will probably only get worse.  I asked the doctor about the swelling in my hands, feet and ankles and she assured me that it was normal.  She suggested I start wearing compression socks and lace up shoes.  YIKES.... that may possibly throw a kink in my wardrobe!  I also questioned the doctor about some sharp pains I am having in the lower, center of my stomach (right above pelvic bone).  These are different from the pains I've been having on my right side.  She informed me that these pains are normal.  She told me that this is the birth canal stretching and moving preparing me to give birth.  Talk about all of this really hitting home after she made that remark!  She also gave me some comfort when she explained that I should soon start feeling "lightning bolts" through my vagina.  WHAT?! 

The most exciting part of yesterday's visit was when Dr. Heaton measured me.  I'm still measuring about a week ahead.  Because of this, she wants to see me back next Monday instead of in two weeks.  Next week from what Dr. Heaton implied, she'll probably do a pelvic exam and treat the appointment as though I'm really 36 weeks!!!  It's like I lost a week in there.  She also mentioned us having another ultrasound at some point to "see how big this turkey is going to be."  She has not moved the due date as of this point, so I'm still due on May 08.  I know that I'm really 34 weeks, but I really feel a comfort that Dr. Heaton is preparing for an early arrival, just in case! 

In just a few weeks, we're going to have a baby!  =)

Happy 30th Birthday Dustin

During my twenties birthdays were a very big deal.  It seemed that all my girlfriends and I would throw each other grand parties to celebrate.  If we didn't have a party we all traveled out of town together to celebrate.  I love planning parties, and I really love making those I love feel special.  I knew that this year would be a little different from all the years before because this year I was pregnant and this wasn't just ANY birthday....this was the big 3-0 for Dustin!  I wanted to make it special for him because not only was he beginning a new decade of his life, but he would also become a daddy this year. 

Last Saturday I arranged (with the help of some very special people) a surprise 30th birthday party for Dustin. I invited our immediate families and close buddies of Dustin's.  Dustin has some really awesome friends!  Almost everyone invited showed up to celebrate this special time!

I had to call on some help from Sharon and Lauren Tucker (Dustin's mom and sister) to help pull off the surprise.  We decided that the best way to trick Dustin was to tell him that his mom was going to cook a birthday dinner for him.  Sharon convinced Dustin that she was going to cook all his favorite foods for dinner on Saturday night.  That was plan for getting Dustin over to his parent's house for the surprise. 

We all decided that we should set everything up as though it was a tailgate.  We had the tailgate tent setup, table, lawn chairs, corn hole, and bar all set up.  Sharon and Lauren really had to do all the hard work.  They pretty much set-up everything and cleaned everything up too!  Mike grilled a ton of hotdogs for everyone too! 

There were a few kinks thrown into our plan right about time for us to start heading over for dinner, but fortunately all the kinks were worked out and Dustin remained clueless to his surprise awaiting.  As we pulled up and he saw the crowd of loved ones and friends standing outside to greet him, he was speechless (sorta...but we'll leave those few choice words to your imagination)  :) 

It was a night of fun, and it was  so good to see everyone!  Unfortunately I totally forgot about snapping any pics!  Carrie Suggs came through for me though!  She took several photos that I can share. 

Happy 30th Birthday Dustin! This is going to be an awesome year!

I LOVE YOU!

I Got Up For That?!

With only 7 weeks until delivery of William (and who knows, it could be less than that), I've found myself very uncomfortable.  I've noticed a huge decrease in my energy level.  I've started taking iron pills to help with this, but I really can't tell any difference in my energy level.  Getting ready in the mornings takes the breath out of me!  It's really embarrassing to say that, but it's very true.  I really hate this feeling of exhaustion, but everyone warned me that it would come back...and it has!  I've really felt SO good during the last part of the 2nd trimester and into this 3rd trimester.  I guess I'm entering into the homestretch, so I'm trying to welcome the exhaustion because I know it's getting close to meeting our baby boy! 

Here are a few other pregnancy symptoms that I've found I possess these days.  I hope you enjoy them and have a giggle.  I know I did as I was thinking about all of them!  

* I find myself exhaling large amounts of air frequently.  I used to make fun of my mom for this and now I'm doing it! 

*  I rest my arms on top of my belly all the time.  They fit very comfortably right there even though it is so not attractive. 

* I sound like a 100 year old women when I try to roll over in the bed at night.  In fact, there's no rolling at all at this point.  I now raise up on all fours whenever it's time for me to change sides in the middle of the night. I HAVE to change sides like every couple of hours because my sides and arms go numb.


*I'm always out of breath.  Just trying to give simple directions to my class each day is a task!

*Quite, danty sneezes no longer exist.  They are loud and come in groups of 3 or 4!

*Getting in or out of a car is normally accompanied by a groan, moan, and blowing of air (see the first symptom for explanation). 

*Bending over to pick up anything is considered a workout for the day!

*It's become normal to use the bathroom at least 3 to 4 times a night...yes, that's right... I get up 3 to 4 times every night because I feel that my bladder is going to explode. However, the majority of the times I'm totally let down because the feeling I have of near bladder explosion does not match the actual outcome of the of the bathroom trip.  Does that make sense?  I always think, "I got up for that?". 

*I have two pairs of shoes I wear right now: a gold pair of flip-flops and a black pair of flip-flops.  That's it!  Flip-flops are all I will put on my feet right now. 

*At any given moment, I can go from a completely clear nasal passage, to a completely stopped up nasal passage.  It's unreal the congestion I've had during this pregnancy. 

*I developed eye allergies.  My eye doctor says it's common during pregnancy. 

*I love cake (and anything sweet)!  Yes, that's right, I LOVE CAKE!  I could eat cake all the time and any kind of cake at that.  I find this humorous because I didn't care for cake a year ago.  In fact, I didn't even want a wedding cake!  I had cheese cake as the Bride's cake for my wedding.  Now, I love cake.  Thank you William for opening my eyes to the wonderful world of delicious cake! 

*I have found that I'm extremely sensitive.  Now, Dustin says that I've always been "overly" sensitive, but I don't necessarily agree with that.  However, there have been times during this pregnancy that I've thought to myself, "Why is this bothering me???" and "I've never ever cared about that before, but I do now".  Apparently pregnancy makes me very sensitive. 

I could honestly go on and on with little things (and big things) that have changed about me throughout this pregnancy.  I'll stop for now with these though!  I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really not!  Humor is my outet for alot of emotions.  It's my way of dealing with my ever changing body and emotions! I try to laugh at it all because let's face it.... it is pretty funny! 

I want to end by saying that every minute of discomfort is going to be totally worth it! 

This is me at 32 weeks, even though I'm 33 now! 

32 Week Update

Today I had my 32 week doctor appointment.  It went great!  William's heartbeat was 144.  I'm still measuring about 3 weeks ahead (but this doesn't necessarily mean that he will come early).  The doctor said that he was in the 60th percentile!  This just means that he's growing great right now. 

The doctor also asked me if I was feeling sluggish or tired, and I told him that I had really been feeling fatigued lately.  He informed me that I was severely anemic and needed to start taking iron.  Hopefully this will help with this fatigue feeling. 

I also told the doctor about some sharp pains I was having (especially in the mornings) around my lower abdomen on the right side.  I told the doctor it felt like a runner's catch, but down low.  He told me I was having round ligament pains and probably pulled that muscle.  It's really uncomfortable, but there's not much I can do for it. 

Our next appointment is March 28! This will be our 34 week appointment.  Time is just flying by!

I also took a trip to the Babies-R-Us today too!  I love looking around that store.  It took some major self -control to not run wild in the store.  Our travel system that was purchased came with one car seat base, a car seat, and a stroller.  I purchased the second car seat base today.  This base will go in Dustin's truck.  I also purchased a Diaper Champ too!  Hopefully this will keep the dirty diaper smell confined!  Fortunately, some gift cards from the baby shower came in very handy today :) 

I'm loving Spring Break '11!  I hope everyone is having a great week!

Nusery Update...Progress Made, but Still A Work in Progress!

I know I'm probably "jumping the gun", but I was just so excited yesterday about the the new additions to the nursery that I wanted to share.  I promise the next nursery update I do will be the finished product! 

Dustin has been working all week on building and painting these floating shelves I've been wanting.  He finished the project, and they were waiting on me when I arrived home yesterday from work!  He had also gone and picked up the glider too!  Mom finished sewing the curtains this week, so we were able to hang those up.  Everything is really pulling together.  I love the feeling I get when I walk in William's room.  I can't wait to start accessorizing now!  I've called on help from my sister Jennifer for this.  She is going to come by and help me add some very functional touches to the nursery! 

Here is the updated nursery:

Baby Shower for William

Saturday, March 5, 2011 will be a day I will never forget!  A few friends hosted a baby shower  for me and William, and it was over- the -top fabulous! I can't even begin to thank the hostesses (and a few behind the scene people) enough for everything. I was overwhelmed, overjoyed and speechless by the end of the shower. 

The hostesses were Lacey Duncan, Lauren Tucker, Juli Antanaitis, and Holly Yates.  Lacey was in charge of organizing the event and also in charge of the cake and oh my word, what a cake it was!  I'll let the pictures speak for itself!  Lauren brought tons of fabulous foods.  Juli brought the most divine cookies as a parting gift for my guests, and Holly brought some very tasty chicken salad!

I do want to thank a few other people that really helped out.  First I'd like to thank my mom for being so generous to me in letting me use her house for the second weekend in a row (Jana's baby shower was last weekend).  I'd also like to thank Sharon Tucker for coming early and helping decorate and prepare the food table as well as helping clean everything up.  I'd also like to give a big shout out to my sister Jennifer who spent the majority of the shower frantically trying to display gifts in the back bedroom. Sara Tucker was also instrumental in the clean up of everything after the shower was over.  Believe me ladies, without all of you, this day would not have been quite as special as it was. 

I really, really enjoyed Saturday. So many of my close friends were able to make it to the shower, and it just made my day to be able to share this time with them.  Once I started opening gifts, I didn't get to say goodbye to many friends (because I opened gifts for well over an hour), but I hope they all know just how much it meant to me for them to be there! 

A couple of blogs back I posted about a "Taking Baby Home Checklist".  I was freaking out because I didn't have anything on the list!  Now, I can calmly say, IF I had this baby tomorrow, I would be prepared.  I can credit that nice feeling of "calm" to my friends and family.  Everyone was so generous, and our friends and families have all prepared Dustin and I for the arrival of our baby boy!  We can hardly wait! 

Here are some pictures of that very special day!

Top layer: coconut and cream; Middle layer: penutbutter
and chocolate; Third layer: Red velvet and cream cheese

30 Week Update: 4-D Ultra Sound

Yesterday, Dustin and I headed down to St. Vincent's for our 4-D ultrasound and doctor appointment.  We got some of the cutest pictures of my baby!  The doctor appointment went well too!  William is weighing in at 3 pounds and 11 ounces right now.  He is actually measuring one week ahead of schedule at this point. 

Dustin and I will begin going to the doctor every two weeks now.  Our next appointment is March 15!  Once I hit 34 or 35 weeks, we'll begin going every week to the doctor. 

It was amazing to be able to see our little boy so clearly yesterday.  It's unreal how much I love him already! 


Enjoy the pictures below! 

This was our favorite!  We feel like he was flexing for us! 
I think he looks so much like Dustin! 



Little Ear



Little Foot

Our Adorable William

We Love You William!