James is an overachiever!

At my routine doctor's appointment on Monday afternoon, my doctor informed me that according to measurements taken, James is "much larger than expected." He asked that I come in for an ultrasound as soon as possible to confirm. "As soon as possible" ended up being on Wednesday morning, and the ultrasound did indeed confirm that James is growing rapidly and that he is a few weeks ahead. He is in the 81st percentile for growth (50 percentile being normal, of course), and he is already around 3 pounds and 10 ounces! If he continues at this rate, he will be around 9-10 pounds at the time of birth!

All I know right now is that, according to the chart, his Actual Ultrasonic Age is 30 weeks and 5 days (I was 29 weeks pregnant at the time), and his Actual Ultrasonic due date is June 26. The ultrasound tech told me that in another few weeks I will have another ultrasound down to monitor the growth and decide what needs to be done and when.

I don't necessarily understand all of this, but none of it scares or suprises me. Chris was 9 pounds and 15 ounces at birth, and he was 2-3 weeks early! I never really expected to stick to the due date. I laughed when the doctor told me on Monday that he was "much larger than expected."

I'm just taking it all in stride. It's not anything bad, and, the good thing from the ultrasound is some more pictures of my sweet boy!

Counting blessings

I've recently discovered the maternity leave policy of my school. I've also realized that I misunderstood what colleagues have told me. All this time, I thought that summer did not count, so I would get six weeks come the start of the school year. I was wrong. My six weeks of leave starts the very day that little James is born. Depending on when he is born, I may or may not have time off from school. I also do not have enough sick days stored up if James is born on time, meaning I might have to take unpaid leave.

I have been really upset about this discovery. I was looking forward to a decent amount of time home with my first child, and now that is taken away from me.

Then I watched a news report about how the poor economy is affecting families all over the world.

At least I have a job to go back to in August. That puts things in perspective!

Update on James!

I had a doctor's appointment two weeks ago. It was nothing too exciting; however, the doctor was suprised at the size. I think James is turning out to be a little larger than expected, but that is just my guess. I'm not really suprised. I really hope James does take after his daddy! (I might take those words back come July!)

The nursery is coming along nicely. I am really upset with myself for not taking "before" pictures. Our nursery was the catch-all junk room because our house has less closet space than our apartment. Chris and I spent several weekends cleaning it out, traveling to Goodwill, boxing up decorations and other odds and ends, loading up the attic, and rearranging furniture to get the room to where it is today. I am not taking pictures of it, though, until it is painted and ready to go! I got the nursery theme all ready to go. At a local baby goods sale, I got an extremely nice nursery bedding set for only $50. It includes the crib bumper, fitted sheet, valence, musical mobile, lamp, quilt, and dust ruffle. At Babies R Us, it sells for $170. I registered for fun extras, like curtains and wall hangings.

James is a very active little dude. I feel him moving constantly. I feel little kicks and punches, and I still feel what feels like him rolling around inside. It is one of the best feelings ever! I could be having a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day, and then James will move, so I know all is right in the world. Chris has even been able to feel him move once; he felt a little flutter. I can't wait until Chris can feel and see the movements. It makes me sad sometimes that he can't share in it, and I know it frustrates him, too.

He was rolling around all over the place yesterday while we toured the Family Birth Center at St. Mary's, which is where he will be born. It is an amazing facility, and that is all I can really say. I'm not looking forward to the whole labor and delivery process that will take place there (I read up on it yesterday), but I am really looking forward to the end result.

Since you have read this far, I will amuse you with some of my crazy pregnancy dreams. Because I have been studying up on labor, delivery, and postpartdum stuff, I am afraid my dreams from last night expressed all the nervousness I feel about bringing home a baby and taking care of him. I had three unusual and upsetting dreams in a row that my co-workers ended up finding quite amusing today, so hopefully you will, too. :)

Dream One: I do not remember the dream. I only remember waking up, frantic and terrifed, wondering where James was. I guess I lost him in the dream or something. Thankfully, night time is an active time for little dude, so he kicked me, and relief flooded me; he hasn't even been born yet!
Dream Two: I was attending a meeting at my old church. I had nothing to carry James to the car in, so I placed him in a small duffel bag and zipped it up. When I got to the church, I unzipped the bag, afraid of what I would find. He was lying still, but, as I picked him up, he coughed. I woke up, crying. Horrible dream. It has haunted me all day long.
Dream Three: I did not have a bottle to feed James with. I was panicking, and his cries were getting louder and louder as we rode in the school bus. I snatched a sheet of paper from a student, dabbed some formula (which was already mixed by some miracle) on the end, and siphoned the formula into his mouth. I woke up after I fed him.

I am almost in the "home stretch" of this pregnancy! Where does the time go? Before I know it, James will be here!! :)

So excited! :)

Knowing that Chris and I are expecting a boy has made this pregnancy even more real to me. I can't help but wonder so much about this little dude.

Will he have blonde or brown hair?
Will he take after Chris' weight and height? (9 pound baby...)
Will he have Chris' wild imagination? (I hope so)
What will his laugh sound like?
What will his smile look like?

Every time I watch television or walk around and see a baby boy, I can't help but get lost in thought. As each day passes, I get closer to meeting this little man and getting some of my answers (I know some I will have to wait for even longer).

What a blessing this is! I cannot wait to meet James!

Every Two Years

I realized a while ago that at about every two years, something significant has happened to Chris and me in our relationahip.

December, 2003: Chris and I met at Berry College.
October, 2005: Chris proposed; we were engaged to be married!
May, 2007: We get married!!! :)
July, 2009: We will welcome our son into the world.

I wonder what 2011 will bring...?

It's a Tallywhacker!

While the phrase "It's a Tallywhacker!" is a slightly jarring way to announce the sex of a child, such is the manner in which our veteran ultra-sound technician chose to announce our baby's gender. It was funny and memorable.

So without further ado, I present to you James Randolph Edwards:



Can't wait to be a Daddy!!
Chris

Peanut Update!

Well, I am officially, as of today, entering into the last week of the first trimester!

I had my doctor's appointment on Monday, and, being a first time Mommy-to-be, I had a little scare. For the next few appointments, the doctor is going to introduce himself or herself, shake my hand, whip out what I am assuming is a hand-held version of an ultra-sound machine, find my sweet baby's heartbeat, tell me I'm still pregnant, and send me on my merry way.

Well, Peanut, apparently, did not cooperate with us on Monday. The doctor could not find the baby's heartbeat with the little hand-held ultra sound machine! That scared me, but the doctor and nurses assured me that it was perfectly normal for that to happen. They shoved me into a real ultra-sound room, and the millisecond we found Peanut, Peanut was moving up and down. It was SO awesome to watch the baby move-- I laughed. The doctor smiled at me and told me that if the baby is moving, then, obviously, it is alive and well. We tracked down a heartbeat, took a quick (but blurry) snapshot, and called it a day.


If you look closely (I know it is super blurry-- the goal of this ultrasound was not to get a picture, but it turned out to be a perk!), you can see the face; you just have to look down-- Peanut is hanging out upside down! :)

I have been really blessed to not be very sick. I have extremely random food aversions: I cannot eat ranch dressing or any creamy dressing on a salad, I cannot eat cereal when it is too soppy (so I have decreaed the amount of milk I put in it), and Mexican does not appeal to me the way it used to. I have been extremely tired, though that is nothing new for me. I have taken advantage of this break to just nap and sleep in. My back also occasionaly hurts, but I keep quiet about that because most people just tell me it is going to get worse. I have also had some pretty messed up dreams! I have only gained about two pounds so far, and I think that is simply because I had a weigh-in right after Christmas! My momma got me a work out video that is safe for pregnancy, and I cannot wait to get started on it.

I have procrastinated on packing long enough-- Chris and I are heading out of town for 5 days to North Carolina and Tennessee. We are SO excited! It's our Christmas present to each other.

2009 is looking to be really good for this little family, and I hope it brings many joys and blessings to all of us! :)

Happy New Year!