33 Weeks

How Far Along: 33 Weeks

Size of Baby: 5-Pounds
As measured by ultrasound on Monday

Movement: Cale's punches and kicks have slowed waaaaay down because of his growing size. Now, I'm getting those 'waves' of a knee, foot, hand, elbow, arm across my entire belly---sometimes it totally catches me off guard.

Sleep: Sleep is so/so.  I'm still obviously waking up plenty to take bathroom trips, but I've also been waking up more during the night with back pain. Since I've been reduced to these 8-hour work days, I'm trying to take more naps. On regular working days I'm usually in the office by 5:30am, so I'll work until 1:30pm. A quick afternoon nap has felt sooooo good on those days!

Symptoms:  Normal pregnancy stuff---aches, pains, crazy baby movements. I still have 1-ish Braxton Hicks contractions a day, but it's nothing to write home about. I've had more 'cramping' in my back and pelvic region, though.  Knock on wood, I have no current stretch marks and my belly button is still in (barely!). I'm soooo ready to meet this sweet little baby, but I'm also a little sad that pregnancy is winding down so quickly for me. Even with the aches and pains, I have found this whole process to be miraculous and I've really enjoyed basking in God's creation of life! Simply amazing!

You're getting the 'ol self-portrait taken in really crappy lighting this week (I'm the worst self-picture taker in the world)! :) Alan has been out of town on a boys camping trip, and I sent the camera with him. Oh well!

Speaking of work and life in general, I can honestly say that I have felt truly blessed to have these long working days reduced to 8-hours. I'm the type that likes to think I can do everything---as I told my doctor, I'd been working twelve hour shifts since I finished highschool (10 years, yikes!) I've never known anything different in my life. Well, let me tell ya how much of a difference it has made!?!  I feel like I'm getting so much more rest, like I'm not stressing as much about getting things done around the house, like my attitude in general has been so much better, and like I can be the wife that I truly want to be to my husband and our household.  I'm feeling rather refreshed these days and ready to tackle these last few weeks of growing baby! :)

Baby Moon

This past weekend we escaped town for three days with two other couples to take a little, relaxing 'baby moon' trip to Branson. We have loved going to Branson each fall, and next year, we're looking forward to it being a family trip :)

Normally, we do the whole show/run-around-like-crazy thing while we are there; however, this time we opted for a more relaxing trip.  The boys played rounds of golf on Friday and Saturday, while the girls shopped their little hearts out. I had a goal of starting my Christmas shopping while we were there, and I was able to get ALL our nieces and nephews D-O-N-E! This makes me so happy! Not knowing life with a newborn OR recovery time after a c-section, it helps me relax a bit knowing that the kids are taken care of for Christmas.  I was also able to score big time at the Old Navy and Gap outlets for comfy post-maternity, guest presentable, lounge around the house type clothes!!

In the evenings we went out to dinner, then finished off our nights hanging out at the condo watching the Cardinals games.  A mean game of Spoons even erupted one night :) I'm pretty sure someone (not me) even suffered a injury while playing, haha!

We sent the camera with the boys each day for golf, so we didn't get many girl pictures. As you'll see, though, the courses they played (Payne Stewart and Branson Creek) were BEAUTIFUL :) My husband turned out to be quite the little photographer.

Our Condo at Thousand Hills

Picture of Thousand Hills Golf Course

Payne Stewart Golf Course

Branson Creek Golf Course

I caught these three having a spitting contest off of our balcony! Some people's kids..... haha! ;)

Me, Tricia, and Rachel

Me and My Love

Dustin and Rachel

Johnny and Tricia

I think this was my last hoorah before Cale's arrival. Alan will be out-of-town this weekend on a camping/4-wheeling trip with his dad, then he'll return for a couple days before he heads to Texas for Nascar. I had been on the fence about Nascar, but I have officially decided that I'm going to sit that one out. I think that's the smartest decision for Cale and I :) I'm becoming more uncomfortable, and I just don't think I'd get the rest that I needed. I'm going to take that time to hang around the house to organize last minute things--much better use of my anal retentive time :)

Shower Three

This past Sunday, my church threw me a 'come-and-go' shower hosted by several lovely ladies that volunteered their creativity and time to make it happen!  These girls did such a great job to coordinate the afternoon. It was absolutely wonderful, we had some great ladies show up to shower us with love before Cale arrives.

Alan stayed at this shower for it's duration to help me open presents. I had passed my camera off to Meg--I guess she kinda volunteered--to snap some pictures of the afternoon. Lo and behold, these pictures were some of my favorite that were taken of my showers! :) She snapped 'real life' non-posed pictures of us opening gifts, I will treasure these forever.

As you can see, Brooke and Paige were front-and-center helping us move gifts. These girls were a HUGE help all weekend, preventing me from having to bend over so much--it was nice to breathe! :)

32 Weeks

How Far Along: 32 Weeks

Movement: Cale likes to camp out on the right side of my belly. He's big enough now that I get that awkward belly "hump" on the right side where he likes to stick his little booty out.

Sleep: My sleep is still the same--I have nights of extreme restlessness and nights of fairly good sleep.

Symptoms: On Monday morning, while getting ready for work, I had my first Braxton-Hicks contractions. I'd always wondered if I'd recognize the feeling as such, but there was no mistaking that feeling--ha!

We went to the doctor on Tuesday, and Cale measured at a whopping 4 pounds, 8 ounces! :) He is such a good little grower.  His head size measures in the 97.7% range; however, his little legs measure in the 35.4% range! Haha--poor kid, he gets that from his momma. Big head, short legs.

The doctor was NOT impressed with my swelling. It's gotten pretty bad recently. I'd been able to keep it under control, but I'm not really getting any relief from it right now. I can keep my legs propped up all day, but it won't ever fully go away. My weight gain with all this swelling was actually much better than I anticipated it to be, I'm up +31 pounds total right now.

The doctor has restricted my working hours, so I'm taking a pay cut a little sooner than I had anticipated. I work 12-hour shifts (6am-6pm); however, now I'll be working a maximum of 8-hour days--it's going to feel weird having a "normal" work schedule. He said me and Cale need much more rest. Cale looked perfect, but he was more worried about my health at this point. He wants to keep me from having to take an unexpected trip to the hospital in early labor....I'm sure our finances will thank him ;)

From my shower pictures that I've been posting I've made two observations: a) I'm pasty white! Yuck! and b) I've started showing my pregnancy weight in my arms and face. I've had several people tell me, "Oh, you're just carrying all your weight in your belly!" Well, now I know...they are big fat liars! Haha!

Here's my little guy this week:

He's finally 'head down' in my belly. We'll get to see him much more often now. The doctor has moved me to the weekly countdown appointments---eeeeek! Yay Yay Yay!! :)

Shower Two

Our second shower celebrating the soon-to-be arrival of Cale was thrown by some of my mom's dearest friends--Jill, Kellie, and Susie. (Just a little fun fact: Jill and Kellie threw my mom's baby shower when she was pregnant with moi! :) )  This shower was at a local restaurant in a large party room, and it was absolutely PERFECT! It was attended by mostly family members and family friends.

Once again, we were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love we received! :) We are truly, truly blessed.

Enjoy the pictures from this day!

Aaaaaaand, last but not least, here are a few pictures of shower guests