39 Weeks

I'm now within a week of my due date.  Everything was good at my appointment yesterday.  Quinn has a green light to make his appearance.  I think he might be pretty comfortable in there, though.  He doesn't seem like he's in a hurry.  However, tonight is a blue moon.  It's very rare for there to be two full moons in one month, but August 2012 is one of those months.  My dad was the first person to tell me that some people swear that full moons cause women to go into labor.  True or not, Mia was born close to a full moon.  I'm hoping that it will be true for Quinn.  Dad said he predicts that Quinn will be here by Sunday.  I'm ready to see Quinn and hold him in my arms, so I hope that Dad is right.  Maybe I'll go outside and stand in the moonlight.  I wonder if it would help.  Bye!  I'm off to try it!  Haha!

Mommy and Quinn at 39 weeks

Wordless Wednesday: In Brother's Crib

38 Weeks

Here we are at 38 weeks.  There isn't much to report from my appointment yesterday.  The doctor said that his heart rate is good, and he's still head down.  We've been getting last minute things done to prepare for his arrival.  Today was spent washing bedding, clothes, etc.  I think we're pretty much ready.  It's hard to picture what he will look like.  Will he look like Mia?  Wesley?  Me?  I can't wait to see him.  I'll miss feeling him wiggling around in my belly, though.  Now, I just need to finish packing my hospital bag.  We're getting close to meeting our little boy!  Mia came a week early, so everyone is just waiting for him to decide he's ready.  Any day now!

Mommy and Quinn at 38 weeks

 

Lunch Date

On Sunday, Wes had to work, and our kitchen floor was still being completed.  Mia and I decided to go down to the Bishop Arts District and have some lunch.  We had to circle around a couple of times before we found a parking spot.  It's getting too popular!  That's a good thing, I'm sure.  I took some pictures of her on our way to Hunky's.  They have the best grilled chicken sandwich!

Love this children's boutique...

which is right across the street from Hunky's.

My sweet lunch date

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Helping Daddy Prepare for Quinn

37 Weeks

I got a little behind posting for this week.  My 37 week appointment was on Thursday.  Oddly enough, I didn't gain any weight this week.  I couldn't believe it because I've been eating like crazy.  My doctor said that everything is still looking great.  Out of curiosity, I was asking her some questions about induction.  I didn't have it last time, but you never know.  She just laughed and said, "I don't think you'll need to worry about that."  I guess she figures that I won't make it that far.  That's okay by me, but I hope Quinn gives me a little more time.  Our kitchen floor is still not finished.  Grrr.  Hopefully, it will get finished today, but then we'll have to wait for the grout to dry before I can do laundry.  I have a TON of laundry to do.  Piles of it!  I really need access to my kitchen.  However, the tile looks beautiful, and I'm glad that we decided to go ahead and do it.  It makes me want to start another home improvement project.  That will have to wait until after this baby arrives, though.

Going to the Chapel

Two days after getting back home from my grandmother's funeral, we left for what we hope is our last road trip as a family of three.  We headed to Oklahoma City for Nana and Keith's wedding.  Mia was a little worn out still from our last trip, but she did very well.  Nana, Kenda, Mia, and I stayed in a hotel the night before the wedding and had a girls' night.  The guys all went to a Redhawks baseball game in Bricktown.

The wedding was beautiful.  Of course, Mia felt the need to go sit on the steps by Nana a couple of times during the ceremony, but she was quiet at least.  There was plenty of yummy food at the reception, but I must say that my favorite thing was the Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets.  I should've snuck some Ziplock baggies in my purse and filled them up with that chicken.  Haha! So good!

Mia loved the dozens of pink balloons with ribbon hanging down on the dance floor.  She danced and played with those balloons quite a bit.  It was good to see Carol Ann and Keith so happy.  It was a lovely day.

Mia was so tired when we got home on Sunday.  She fell asleep in the shopping cart at the grocery store!

36 Weeks

At my 36 week appointment last week, I had my last scheduled ultrasound.  I was excited to see little Quinn on the screen.  The ultrasound tech told me right off the bat, "He's still a boy!"  That's good because I don't know what I'd do with all of these boy clothes otherwise.  Everything looked good on the scan.  The tech told me, "He's a big boy."  She said that he weighed about 7lb, 8oz.  I wasn't surprised.  Mia was 8lb, 8oz when she was born.  I figure he will be at least that much if not a little bigger if I make it until my due date.  Apparently, I don't make small babies.  Haha!

The tech said that Quinn is in the head down position which is good.  Hopefully, he'll stay that way.  His back was to my belly button, so the tech couldn't get a good picture of his face.  That's alright with me because he needs to be turned that way when he's born.  Mia came out looking at the ceiling or "sunny side up" as they say.  That majorly contributes to back labor.  It would be nice to avoid some of that back pain this time if possible.

Although I'm extremely worn out and my ankles are really swollen, I'm happy to report that my sciatic nerve pain has greatly subsided.  I guess Baby Q decided to cut his momma some slack!  I'm not sleeping very well, but I can deal with that.  My face in my 36 week picture looks pretty rough, though.  I look so puffy and tired!  That's okay.  This precious boy can keep on cooking for awhile longer.

Mia is getting so excited as we approach the end of this pregnancy.  She is sooo ready to meet Quinn.  She wanted me to pick her up the other day.  I told her that I can't right now because her brother is getting too big.  She said, "Well, he just needs to come out then!"  Haha!  Soon big sister!  Sometimes she gets a little worried about him getting big.  She has told me on several occasions, "I hope Quinn doesn't fall out of your belly!"  If only the miracle of birth was so easy.  Haha!

Mommy and Quinn at 36 weeks

 

My Mamaw

I've been away from the blog for awhile because we've had a lot of things going on.  Some of those things were planned and others were not.  First, I noticed that our hot water tank was leaking.  We had a plumber look at it, and he said it needed to be replaced.  Plus, the plumbing for the current tank wasn't up to code, so that had to be fixed, too.  Apparently, the tank had been slowly leaking for quite awhile, so the floor is damaged.  On the bright side, we decided that when we have the floor repaired this week, we're going to also have the contractor re-tile our whole kitchen.  That will be one home improvement item to check off of our list.

The most major unexpected event was that my grandmother passed away on August 3rd.  She had been in the hospital for several days and her condition started to deteriorate.  Pregnant or not, there was no way I wasn't going to be with her.  Wes had to work, but I made the decision to go anyway.  I packed up Mia, and she and I made the almost five hour road trip by ourselves.

Within 30 minutes of getting into town, my sister and I went over to the nursing home that my Mamaw had been transferred to that day from the hospital.  I knew that they were keeping her in a medically-induced coma because her pain from her recurrent colon cancer was too severe for her to tolerate.  I was a little scared to see her.  I was afraid she wouldn't look like herself, but there she was.  There was my Mamaw lying so still in that little room with just her chest moving slowly up and down.  I knew things weren't going well.  I knew that as much as I wanted her to, she wouldn't open her eyes, smile at me, and say, "Well, hi honey!" the way she always used to.  I could accept that.  I was able to stroke her hair, kiss her a few times, hold her hand, and tell her that I loved her.  I know that she heard me.  I feel like she waited for me because 45 minutes after I got there, she gently and quietly went to be with her Lord.

She was 92 years old.  Her birthday had been that Monday, July 30th.  She was ready to go.  She knew it was coming, and she got to see most everyone.  I'm so glad I made it in time even though we didn't get to talk.  My Mamaw was an extremely independent woman.  My dad said that she's proof that we come from "tough stock".  She still lived in her own home alone up until she went into the hospital for the last time.  She was a great cook.  I remember growing up that on Sundays after church we would usually go to her house for lunch.  The menu was almost always blissfully the same: brown beans, fried potatoes, and cornbread.  However, we didn't call it that.  We're from the South.  We ate beans, taters, and cornbread.  Any Southerners that read this will know what I'm talking about.  Nobody could make that meal like she could.  The most iconic thing that sticks out in my mind when I think of her (other than her rocking chair) is her front porch swing.  She loved to sit on it.  We would just swing and talk until the sun went down.  Time seemed to stand still.

She also loved going fishing and was planning a fishing trip before she went to the hospital.  I like to think that maybe that's what she's doing now.  She's with family and friends that had gone on before her.  Maybe she's just sitting on a bank and fishing while she waits patiently for the rest of us.  I look forward to the day when I see her again.  Her eyes will crinkle up as she smiles.  I'll hear her say, "Well, hi honey!"  Until then, I'm happy here with my husband, my babies, and the rest of my family.  I'm thankful for God's awesome promises, and I'm happy to know she's in heaven where we'll meet again some day.

This is the last picture I took of her at Zoey's party last month.

Mamaw and Nanny at Easter 2011

 

Mamaw with me, my sister, my brother, and our kids at Mia's 2nd bday party.