30 weeks and a Great Shower!

So we made it to the shower! Our list of things we wanted to get done was cut slightly because the deck took so long to stain. It's still not all done, but at least G got all of the main parts done. The great thing is we got things ready for everyone to come in and we had a great shower.

We finished cleaning the house Friday - luckily I got off a little early which was nice because I was starting to feel sick and as the day went on my energy ran low. Then on Saturday we started welcoming family. G's parents and sister's family got here first, followed closely by my parents and then my siblings and family came shortly after. Before we knew it the house was taken over with folding chairs, kids, and tons of food brought for the shower - luckily we turned my laundry room into an extended pantry.

We took a short trip to the store to get flowers and a few things saturday before we ordered pizza for the crew and had yummy ice cream cake for dessert. We wanted to celebrate all of the birthday's in may while everyone was here. Both my brothers, G, our nephew A, his dad, and one of my sister in laws birthday all run within a month of each other. There were a lot of names on that cake!

Sunday felt like a whirlwind. We got up and the ladies (sans me) started cooking and getting the food ready. We came up with a backup plan for seating since it was raining outside, and put that in place only for the rain to stop about 30 minutes before people came. We went ahead and set up tables outside as well so that if people wanted to go out they could. Plus at least the kids could go out and play with bubbles. We were disappointed though - especially for the kids. We had lots of fun yard things lined up for them, but with the grass so wet it just didn't work out. We did get to do the pinnata for the family though so that's good.

The house quickly filled up with more people than I ever thought we would have in this place and I was trying my best to talk to people that I knew didn't know anyone else. The food was absolutely delicious! Everyone that contributed to the menu and the preparation deserves a medal because it was wonderful. The cupcakes we got for dessert were fantastic! Thanks to G's sister for the very early drive to Dalton to pick those up. And before we knew it me and G were sitting there opening a plethora of gifts. People were all very, very generous and so very thoughtful with the gifts. We are well taken care of that is for sure!

After that people started to leave and then the clean up began. I was surprised how quickly so much furniture in our house ended up in our bedroom to get it out of the way, and then how quickly things were all back in place. We relaxed the rest of the day and then on Monday we seriously crashed because by then we were feeling pretty sick. All family left by noon on Monday and I don't think we left the couch other than to get some food.

I can not say enough how grateful we are for everyone's hard work, preparation, and gifts for this shower. It turned out to be a much bigger thing than I initially thought it would but it was so very very nice. So thank you all for everything! This little girl - yet to be named either Ella or Campbell is very lucky to have such a wonderful family.

luv you all!

29 Weeks and needing to take a picture!

So it's been way to long since I updated this page! I keep thinking I'll do it when we take another belly picture but since that hasn't happened and since it may be a little bit with our schedules lately I thought I'd at least write about all that's been going on.

I'm on a major countdown... not the baby countdown, the "I don't have a million things on my list and have to push myself so hard countdown". This morning we are preparing to shoot a wedding which will be approximately 11 hours. I love shooting weddings but 11 hours on my feet is starting to feel like a lot. Tomorrow we'll be spending the day working in the flower beds and outside trying to get things ready for the shower next weekend. Every night next week we have things listed that need to be done in preparation for everyone coming. We're mostly focused on getting the deck done (it's halfway stained), the flower beds weeded and mulched, and then the house picked up and cleaned. We have 2 things left to do in the nursery - finish painting the birds and put up the new ceiling fan and we'll be done with that. Then the saturday after the shower we have another wedding and after that is when I can relax. Needless to say I'm counting down these next two weeks looking forward to a couple months of slower life before someone changes everything.

I know you are all wondering how the name thing is coming... well we are close. Very close. We are down to 3 names yet and I have a feeling we are both leaning to 1 of them. Last night I dreamt about her and her name all night - and it was the one I'm starting to lean towards. I was introducing her to people and sorts. It feels weird to be so close to her name. Different than I anticipated. Although that's what this pregnancy has been all along - different than anticipated. Nothing bad, just the reality of it is different than I imagined it.

So, the pregnancy since 25 weeks. We had a little drama but again, everything seems fine now and soon we'll know for sure if everything is fine. Two weeks ago today actually I passed out twice after having breakfast. It was pretty scary never having passed out before. I didn't like loosing the ability to see or speak. After I came to the second time a short phone call to mom made it clear we should head to the ER. So we did. We were there about 8 hours before coming home. They first sent me up to labor and delivery to make sure I wasn't in labor and that the baby was fine... I was not in labor and the baby was fine. :) Actually she said the baby was perfect... something a mama loves to hear! :) Then we were sent back to the ER where they started running lots of tests. They hooked me up to monitor my vitals for a few hours while they took an eternity to get my blood drawn and the blood results back. Everything seemed fine until the blood test came back and that my D-dimer was high. This indicates that I might have a pulmonary embolism. Normally they would send me to have a CT scan but being pregnant they left it up to us because of the radiation exposure. After the doctor talked to the OB he came back and said he learned that the D-dimer is thrown off because of pregnancy and that the OB would prefer to just check me out the next day. We went and everything looks okay - my blood pressure is a bit low and I'm borderline anemic. That combined with being dehydrated was probably the cause of things. Nonetheless they drew my blood again yesterday to double check my D-dimer hoping that it was not so high. We'll see how that goes.

Other than that things are good. Baby is measuring about a week big... which I'm not sure if that means she's coming early or she's going to be big. I'll find out next time. She's always measured about 3 days big on ultrasounds so I guess her measuring a week big now is not that much of a difference. I'm just curious as to what it means. Her heart-rate is always good and her activity is great. I can start to tell what body part is what, and even a little bit of how she is sitting in me. Lots of fun. On the flip side I can no longer bend over without losing my breath, grunting, and having to hold on to something. Plus sleeping lately has changed - I don't sleep as well as I used to because I have a hard time getting comfortable. Oh the joys of pregnancy.

That's all for now folks - belly pictures soon I promise!