23 Weeks / “Official” Date / First ER Visit

Well, I’ve missed the past two weeks so I figured now would be a good time to update you on how everything is progressing. I’m sorry – I don’t have a belly photo to post. Most of you know we’ve been terribly busy lately. Forgive me! Hopefully next week we’ll have one.

How Far Along: 23 Weeks
Size of Baby: At 23 weeks, the baby is measuring about the size of a mango!

Total Weight Gain: –6!! That means I gained 5 lbs!
Sleep: Eh… Let’s not talk about sleep right now, hm?
Symptoms: Seriously I did not think I would be this sore so soon!! Ouch!!!
Cravings: Meh. Potato stuff as usual.
Gender: Girl!
Movement: She never stops!
Maternity Clothes: I same as before! Leggings and dresses are my bff’s, but I have also still been wearing some of my pre-pregnancy jeans. Actually they are loose. Awesome… I occasionally wear maternity pants but there’s no real need right now.
Best Moments This Week: We had a doctor’s appointment and everything looked good.
What I’m Looking Forward To: Next week means viability!
Milestones: None?

Well, unless you count that we have unofficially {meaning next time we are in the office we will get everything officially set up} picked a date for our c-section! March 22nd is the day, so mark your calendar! Unless something else happens, Lord willing nothing will!, that is Baby C’s birthday.

And I’m feeling pretty okay about it. I’ve had a lot of emotional stress leading up to this point but I think putting a date on it will really help me cope with everything I’m feeling.

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In other news, I know a lot of my FB friends already know this. Last night Benjamin was taken to the ER for the first time. He was struggling to take a breath here at home and although we had an appointment set up for him the next morning, we decided it wasn’t worth risking the night so Carl took him in. He went in around 9pm I think. Anyway, around midnight, they admitted him to stay overnight and Carl was permitted to run home and get a few things. I came with him this time to be with Benjamin.

The diagnosis isn’t completely certain at this point just because we don’t know what’s really caused it. Right now, they are saying he had bronchial spasms {a bi-product of bronchitis, which some of you know isn’t an uncommon thing for Benjamin}. Asthma keeps coming up in conversation. Once they get him under control {nebulizer, IV}, they will talk to us about how we can prevent this. He could have breathing treatments daily.

It’s really frightening  because it came up out of nowhere. It has really made me aware of the fact that we need to be extra careful with Benjamin when it comes to his allergies and the reactions they could cause.

I’m at home now, because I only got 45 minutes of sleep last night and started to feel extremely ill – probably exhaustion and a bit of dehydration – so a friend took me home. It’s really difficult being away from my baby. I won’t be going back up to the hospital because right now, I need to take care of myself so I can take care of the baby. Carl is with Benjamin and won’t leave him.

Please keep us all in your prayers. It’s so stressful and emotional and my sweet boy is exhausted and wants to come home.

To our friends who have stopped by to visit him or who have offered to help – I am so thankful for you. You will never know just how much. We are so blessed!

Thanks for praying, everyone. Hopefully we’ll have a good update for you soon.

Thanksgiving Throwback

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I hope you all had a lovely day filled with family and love and blessings! We had a very quiet day with just the three of us, but it was a really nice Thanksgiving, filled with my two favorite boys and my little tiny girl who is still “baking”. Our meal wasn’t huge, but it didn’t need to be and I enjoyed cooking all of it for my little family. I missed my family today, but even so, it was nice spending time with my boys.

Here’s a little Thanksgiving Throwback from Benjamin’s first Thanksgiving… another Thanksgiving where we weren’t able to travel to see family, but spent it with friends instead. Can’t believe how much time has passed since then! Wow!

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! And in case you were wondering: no. We do not go out at crazy hours for Black Friday. Hello, pillow! {But for those of you who do, be safe and don’t get into any altercations over flat screens! ha!}

A Letter To Baby Mine

Dear Precious Girl,

I wanted to tell you briefly that you have the best daddy in the world. I think that your big brother Benjamin would totally agree with me when I say that. Your daddy already loves you so much. I know this because he takes care of me so well while you’re hanging out in my tum. I can’t even count the amount of times he’s run to the store for us, or has indulged us in our cravings.

But that isn’t all that makes him an amazing daddy. Your daddy is a very wonderful person because he cares for other people. He cares about them in ways that a lot of other people may not. He’s generous and kind to people and gives up a lot of his time to help them when he can.

He is a wonderful daddy because he has committed to lead our family in a godly way, to make sure that we all are on the right spiritual path, that we know what God expects of us and that we know how to love God, ourselves, and others. You don’t know it, but every night we all crowd up on Benjamin’s  bed and read a Bible story together and say a prayer. I’m sure you hear it… and I can’t wait till you can sit there with us and listen while Daddy and sometimes Benjamin reads to us.

I know that you’re going to love your daddy to pieces when you get here, and that you’ll have him wrapped around your little finger instantly. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time that you’ve got the best daddy ever, so prepare to be swept away!

Love,
Mommy

Nursery Plans…

Decorating is something that I find somewhat of a daunting task when it comes to building up a whole room. When I began to think about how we were going to do this baby’s room, the first thing I decided right off the bat was that I didn’t want a “theme”. Certainly it would have been “easier” to go and buy a crib set and then all the other things that came in the collection, but that gets pricey. I wanted to build it around colors that I liked and add in things from there.

Of course, pinterest was the first place I started looking. Even that gets overwhelming at best. Another thing I knew was that I wanted to do most of it by hand, as much as possible, without breaking the bank. Of course, spending money on fabric for window treatments and a crib skirt seemed much, but when you think that most crib sets cost close to or more than $100… or just crib skirts alone that are not cheap-looking cost around $20-$35, and drapes can be like $20 per panel… doing it by hand and spending $40 on fabric isn’t as bad as all that.

{I’m reassuring myself, here…}

So initially, I went into Hobby Lobby looking for aqua, orange, and coral. But would you know that the designers couldn’t read my mind in advance? Thanks guys. ;) Well, the one print I had found on the internet that I liked was there, and once I had that, we began to build the rest of the scheme around it.

Here’s what we ended up with:

The aqua-colored pattern was the one that I had gone in looking specifically for. Not a whole lot of the floral pattern is shown, but if you look hard enough, you can see the orange in there – it was important to bring in that orange. I didn’t want an overwhelming amount of pink – most who know me know that I’m not incredibly girly, so pink really isn’t what I wanted the main color to be.

The curtains will be made out of the floral pattern with a block of the aqua scroll pattern at the bottom. I will also {hopefully} have a pennant valance with the three patterns across the top.

Here’s the vision… laugh away, I am terribad at drawing!

Uh… hopefully it turns out a lot nicer than my drawing.

The “oriental” pattern {I think that’s what it was called} will be the main fabric for the crib skirt.

Anyway, that’s the plan as we know it… I know it’s terribly interesting. :) I will show you more as we get more done on the room!

20 Weeks: Half-Way There!!

20 Weeks already!? I’m blown away! This pregnancy has, so far, simultaneously flown by and crawled by… depending on how I’d been feeling. Please ignore how terrible I look in the picture, ha! Hello, Sunday nap!

How Far Along: 20 Weeks
Size of Baby: Beginning at 20 weeks, the baby is measured from head to toe, instead of from head to rump. At 20 weeks, the baby is the length of a banana.

Total Weight Gain: Eh, pretty sure we’re still at –10.
Sleep: Getting better!
Symptoms: Hypotension, still a bit of nausea, moody, stretching pains.
Cravings: Zaxby’s. Always Zaxby’s. And potatoes… like baked potatoes…
Gender: Girl!
Movement: Feeling more and more!
Maternity Clothes: I same as before! Leggings and dresses are my bff’s, but I have also still been wearing some of my pre-pregnancy jeans. Actually they are loose. Awesome… I occasionally wear maternity pants but there’s no real need right now.
Best Moments This Week: Georgia won SEC East! Carl and Benjamin put the crib together… aaaaand…. I am pretty sure there was something else, but I’m drawing a blank.
What I’m Looking Forward To: Young adult study tomorrow night – woohoo tacos!
Milestones: Halfway through! SO awesome!

A Letter To Baby Mine

Dear Sweet Baby,

Tomorrow we will be halfway through this pregnancy. I feel like the past twenty weeks have simultaneously flown by and crawled by, depending on what we were going through at the time. It is kind of funny to think that whatever I happened to be going through, you have gone right along with me even if you had no idea what was going on either. You, in your safe, warm little place, confined and secure and being formed just the way God has decided to make you.

I have begun to wonder what you’ll look like when you get here… I wonder if you’ll have blonde hair like your big brother {how I love saying that!}, or maybe if you’ll have  brown hair like your daddy. I wonder if you’ll have blue eyes like your big brother and your daddy, or if you’ll have skinny little green eyes like me. I think you’ll be smaller than your big brother was, but maybe a little chunkier at birth and I just can’t wait to see your sweet baby rolls if you do have them.

You probably will never know just how much mommy and daddy prayed for you before we knew that you were here and growing. We waited so long to be able to say that Benjamin was going to be a big brother, for many different reasons. I waited so long to be so sick those first few months, but I know that no matter how sick I have felt, how tired I am, how sore I am becoming… you are worth so much more.

Your big brother prays for you every night before bed to let God know that he is thankful for you, and he asks about you a lot. He can’t wait to meet you – like the rest of us – and asks every day if today is the day. We are all very anxious to hold and kiss you and to have you here in our arms, but we don’t want that day to come too soon, so for now we love that you are nestled safe inside to peacefully grow.

Keep growing, sweet baby C! We cannot wait to meet you!

Love,
Mommy

19 Weeks Pregnant

Can I complain a little? I mean, am I allowed to without people thinking I’m being petty? I know that I am very blessed to have this little life growing in me, and I am ever thankful to God for her! But this child will not move up. I have never felt so uncomfortable! Mamas to girls – did your girls ever just sit so low the entire time?? I carried Benjamin high, but this lil miss is just hanging out super low. Sitting is uncomfortable, I waddle when I walk, and I visit the bathroom every 30 minutes.

There. There’s my complaint. :) Thanks for indulging me, friends. Now, back to your normally scheduled week update…

Wow, Kristen, you’re really showing! You must be finally getting that bump and gaining that weight! Right?? Wrong. Well, halfway. That bump is encouraged by my maternity pants, which I don’t actually need to wear right now but I was trying a pair on and decided it was too much work to change out of them before evening services. So there we have it. But there is a bump there… unfortunately to the people who like to pat bellies and talk to the lil baby in there, the bump isn’t a baby hanging out there. As I already said, she is much too low. That’s a result of all of my organs being shoved upward and my muscles no longer able to suck it all in.

So, tummy patters, you will literally just be patting tummy when you go for this bump. Sorry!

How Far Along: 19 Weeks
Size of Baby: A 19 week baby is about the size of a large heirloom tomato.

Total Weight Gain: –10. I know I should be gaining more… so I’m a little concerned about this. This means that I have only gained back 1lb that I lost during those three months of being sick constantly. Tips on gaining weight, mamas? 
Sleep: Getting better, and thanks to my sweet husband, I am able to nap better during the day because he got me some of those Eclipse window treatments that blocks out the afternoon sun when it is coming in full blast during my nap time!
Symptoms: Hypotension, still a bit of nausea, but that is mostly when I am silly and have a sweet, I’m still moody, but that’s about it.
Cravings: Zaxby’s. Always Zaxby’s. And potatoes… like baked potatoes…
Gender: Girl!
Movement: Feeling a good bit.
Maternity Clothes: I same as before! Leggings and dresses are my bff’s, but I have also still been wearing some of my pre-pregnancy jeans. Actually they are loose. Awesome… I occasionally wear maternity pants but there’s no real need right now.
Best Moments This Week: My birthday was Friday and my parents came down for the weekend. It was awesome!

What I’m Looking Forward To: Hmm, I can’t think of anything going on this week... Except for the fact that when this week is over, we’ll be halfway through with the pregnancy! Woohoo!
Milestones: Almost halfway through!