34 week checkup, 2/2/09

Hello, hope you all are doing well. We had a check up yesterday and during the visit they hooked us up to the fetal/contractions monitor. I had been having some pain in my right side, so they wanted to give it a thorough check. The monitor did show some good contractions, so they decided to check my cervix. Everything was fine, but since I've been having so many contractions, they put us on a low dose of generic brethine to slow them down. We don't want him coming too early, although we are very anxious to meet him! They also did an ultrasound. He measured exactly 5 pounds!!! Also, my blood pressure was good, 110/72, gained 1 pound since last visit (2 weeks ago), total so far is 26 pounds. My fluid is 12 1/2 cm which is good (this is the amniotic fluid around Braydn). At 28 weeks it was 10 cm, so it has actually increased, so this is good. It means he is drinking the fluid and passing it through his little body. It is a good sign that his kidneys are functioning well. So we are all doing well. I'll try posting some of the ultrasound pictures from yesterday very soon. We are having computer problems at home, so I'll get to it as soon as I can. Thanks for checking in and keep us all in your prayers as we near the BIG day!

01/18/2009, Baby Shower at Jackie's House

Where Braydn will sleep his first few months.... This will be in Mommie and Daddy's room.

My sister had a baby shower for us at her house on Sunday, Jan 18th. Braydn got so many cool things!!! We had a great time and I'm so thankful for all the nice gifts that were given to us. Bear, Braydn, and I, will get lots of good use of these items and we really appreciate all the help! I will post some more pictures from the shower soon. Here are a couple, showing some of the goodies that we received.

1/19/2008, 32 week check up

This is a shot of the crib with the bedding that we got for him.

Here we are, the proud parents-to-be, at 32 1/2 weeks!

We had to include Ame, can't forget about her...she seems to be REAL excited, too! :)

So, today we went for our check up with Dr. Gilliam. It was really an uneventful appointment. We listened to Braydn's heart beat, which sounded great. Dr. Gilliam mashed my tummy to try to figure out his position, and she believes he is headed in the downward position. My blood pressure was good, 112/64. Weight gain is HEALTHY at 4 more pounds since last visit. So we are at a total of 25 lbs. I didn't realize how much bigger we had gotten until I looked at the above photos myself. We have come quite a long way!!!

Thanks for checking in. Our next appointment will be February 2nd. That will be our 34 week visit and then at 36 weeks, we will have another ultrasound to confirm his position.

OH, one more thing. Dr. G says that if we make it 3 more weeks, we are in the clear and she will not stop labor. She said at 35-36 weeks the baby should be fine. She said they won't help me along at that point, but they also won't stop it........

32 weeks, prenatal classes begin...

We started our prenatal classes last night at Parkway Medical Center. As it turns out, one of my good friends, Misty Coker is the instructor. Misty is an RN on the Labor & Delivery floor. So, I think it's great that she will hopefully get to be our nurse! She did a great job last night. We just covered a lot of the basics about the stages of labor and answered lots of questions/concerns that we all had. We will continue the classes over the next 3 Thursday nights. Also, we did have a check-up on January 5th that I never posted on. Everything was fine, we listened to Braydn's heartbeat, still great! Also, checked weight gain, blood pressure, urine, etc. All the usual. Everything is still going well! As of that day, we were up to 21 lbs total weight gain. Our next appointment will be Monday, January 19th. We are currently going for check-ups every 2 weeks. I will post again after our appt Monday to let you all know how things are going. Thanks for checking in and TGIF!!!

We Have Nursery Furniture!!!

Hello, again, everyone....wow, posting twice in the same weekend, so unlike me. But, I wanted to show you the furniture we got this weekend for Danley Braydn's room. With some help from my Daddy and Grandaddy, we got it all put together and in place. So here are the results.....

Have a great week!

Christmas is Over...12/27/2008

I got this for Bear for Christmas. It says, "I want to be like Bear." It will go in Braydn's room. It's framed, although you can't tell in the picture.

These are all the gifts that Braydn received this year. Here are Mommie and Daddy on Christmas Eve, 29 weeks pregnant.

As you can see, we all had a great Christmas. Hope you all did, too! We have had a total of 6 gatherings since Sunday, 12/21/08. Needless to say, we were pooped, but enjoyed every minute of it. This time next year, we will have a 9 month old to enjoy it with!!!

I don't have a picture of the necklace Bear got me, but I must mention it. It is a heart with a mother and baby inside, surrounded by diamonds. It is beautiful and I love it! Thanks, Bear!!!

Well, our lab results from Monday came back good. My sugar levels were good from the glucola test and my iron level was good, too!

I have forgotten to mention that Braydn has a new baby cousin in the family. Lynsy and Jason Newman brought home his 2nd cousin this past Monday from the hospital, Owen Bryce Newman. Owen is doing well and is glad to finally be home!!!

Thanks for taking time to check in on us! We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers! We will post again very soon!

28 1/2 week update and Dr. Appt

In this picture, Braydn has his arms and legs (ankles crossed) in front of his face....OUCH!

This is the only face shot we got of him. It isn't very clear, but you should be able to make out eyes, nose, and mouth. Big foot shot! You could clearly see all 5 toes... (and fingers on his hands).

Side view of the belly at 28 1/2 weeks.

Bear and Dany in front of our "Christmas Mantle" posing before the doctor's appt.

This morning we had our 28 1/2 week check up. This was the last monthly visit appointment. After today we will begin seeing the doctor every 2 weeks.

• First thing - we weighed....gained 5.5 lbs since last visit (total weight gain is 18.5 lbs). She said we are right on target and if our total weight gain stays between 25-30 lbs by delivery, we will be perfect!
• Second thing - blood pressure, it was 90/54, has gone down since the beginning of pregnancy, but this is where my bp normally sits. This was also a good report.
• Third thing - glucola test, to prepare for this I had a choice of whether to drink 'the famous orange drink' or eat 18 jelly beans. I chose the jelly beans! Then in one hour they draw blood to determine your sugar level, this is an indicator of gestational diabetes. If level is okay, that means my body, and Bradyn's body, are producing enough insulin to keep sugar levels under control. We will get these results tomorrow.
• Fourth thing - ultrasound, Braydn's heart rate was 151, he measured right on target for our due date of Friday, March 13th!!! He also measured 2 lbs 15 oz. He is in the 60th percentile, which Dr. Gilliam says is great...not too big and not too small! We only got one very faint face shot, you can see above. He was asleep almost the whole time (until it was over, of course) with one arm across his face and one arm behind his back (Ouch!).
• Fifth thing - bathroom break and wait on Dr. Gilliam. The bathroom break was very necessary by this point! I began to wonder if I was going to wet my pants before they would let me go! Urine checked out good, no sugar or protein.
• Sixth thing - Dr. Gilliam came in to talk with us. We got the schedule for birthing classes. We will most likely be in the class beginning Jan. 15th. She also explained the hip pain I've been having. We've also been having some Braxton Hicks contractions, which she confirmed. This is normal. The only concern is if I have six or more within one hour. They are very sparatic, 3-4/hr then no more for a few hours, then maybe one here and there. So, we are good in that department, as well!
• Lastly, Seventh thing - scheduled our next appointment which will be January 5th at 11:30am.

Dr. Gilliam is planning to be at the hospital when we deliver, she said, unless she is out of town. They only time she is scheduled to be out of town is March 15-18!!! So, I pray that he will come the week of our due date or after the 18th! She did say she will not let us go longer than one week past our due date, so the absolute latest he will arrive is March 20th!

Thanks for checking in on us. We will post tomorrow after we get our results from the glucola test.

26 1/2 week photo update, December 7, 2008

As you can see we are moving right along. :) Braydn is really active now, especially in the morning and at night. This morning he actually woke me up with his aerobics practice! For almost 45 minutes we felt him kicking and/or punching continuously, one after another!!! So, I guess we need to prepare ourselves for some all-nighters with this little guy! Things are still going well. No problems at all, just an achy back every day and night, but I guess that can be expected! Thanks for checking in. Our next visit is December 22nd. I'll try to post again before then, though.

Nursery Pictures, 12/3/08

Here are a couple of photos of the newly painted nursery, finished it Saturday. It's a shade of light green. I couldn't get a great angle, so I hope you can tell enough from the pictures. I was proud to finally get it finished and for once the color matched what I had imagined!

Photo Update, 12/02/08

These are not the best pictures.....I set the automatic timer to take these. The top picture was taken this morning at almost 26 weeks. The bottom 2 pictures were taken on 11/22/08 at 24 weeks. As you can see, we are definitely making some progress. My belly seems to have exploded in the last month! :) I painted the nursery this past weekend. I'll post some pictures of it soon.