9 Months

Home stretch HERE I COME!!!! I am almost there. Now I am just preparing for D-Day and trying not to freak myself out with the thought of Labor and the pains associated with it. I am, however, trying to learn techniques to help ease the pain of labor thru breathing exercises and hypnobirthing. I am still aspiring to do labor "all natural" without drugs, but I am more ok with the idea that if I need drugs to help me than I will gladly take it. My doc has given us the "green light" to induce the 15th of July if Mason hasn't decided to join us earlier than that. My body is already doing what it needs to do to start the labor process and that is why the doc said, "Sure 15th works for me." So July 15th, Mason will be joining our family! So excited to meet this little guy that has been nudging me to death!

The baby room is pretty much done, I just have to get glass fixed on the cross stitch that my mom made and have it hung, and get a frame for another pix and get Matt to hang them up and the room will be done!!!

Everyday I am getting bigger and bigger and I keep thinking, I can't get any bigger. Opening doors and hitting my belly is getting annoying. Hitting other peoples car doors with my door because I can't account for how big my belly is getting and how wide I need to open the door is getting annoying. Falling in the store on water cause I can't see my feet is getting annoying. Getting out of breath just from going up the stairs is getting annoying. I am at that point that every woman gets to at the end of the pregnancy and I am ready to have my body back. Please don't get me wrong, I love the fact that I am pregnant and it is an amazing experience, but I am not a klutz normally and right now I am a klutz and it is very unnerving for me to not have control of my own body.

It is very nice to have my husband home to enjoy this last month with me and all the experiences that come with being the last month. And to see his reactions at child birth classes. (He has a lot to learn) He was very shocked with the size of my belly when he saw it last Sat when I picked him up at the airport after being gone since the beginning of March when I was 20 weeks. He said it was nice to get the pix every week of the growing belly but they didn't do justice to the real thing. He is still getting used to my enlarged abdomen as he puts it. He is excited to be a daddy, well it is hitting him more that he will be a daddy soon. We are excited to start this new journey together as parents. Keep checking back as I will be trying to post every 2 weeks for the next couple of weeks to keep you updated, and check out the Watch My Belly Grow post to see the updated pix of my growing belly. TTFN!

Watch My Belly Grow

So here is the Collage of the belly changes thru this pregnancy.

~13 Weeks~

~16 Weeks~

~18 Weeks~

~20 Weeks~

~22 Weeks~

~24 Weeks~

~26 Weeks~

~28 Weeks~

~30 Weeks~

~32 Weeks~

~34 Weeks~

~36 Weeks~

~38 Weeks~

~40 Weeks, taken the morning of Induction~

4D Ultrasound of Mason

I did an ultrasound to have Matt watch it where he is at, at the same time as it is being done. Sadly the computer he was one would not allow live streaming on the computer and Matt was not able to see one image of the ultrasound. I have sent some pix to him to view and there are more here which he will be viewing too. The ultrasound took aprox 20 minutes and I got to see Mason blink, yawn, stick his tongue out and do cute little smiles. Mason is currently breach, which is different than what I thought. The tech said I will know when he flips, but man he gets super low in my belly when I am walking. That is why I thought he already flipped. The ultrasound tech guy said that Mason does not look like his momma, however I beg to differ. There are some things that he does have that belong to me, like my chipmunk cheeks, my full lips, my butt chin, and my muscle, the tech said that he is super buff, and my big feet. He has his daddy's long lanky limbs, possibly his longer 2nd toe and face shape. Also we do know that he has BIG FEET, (thanks mom, me) and thick long fingers, hopefully we have a piano player in there. There is a debate on the nose and eyes though on who he has. It is kind of fun though to see before he is here what he will look like. Well less than 50 days now we will be able to meet our little man and then definitely figure out who he looks like. Now if only we could see the hair color...

Here is sweet little Mason, at 33 weeks:

~Already sucking his thumb~

~Cute little Smile~

~I love the smiles~

~He is sticking his tongue out at us~

8 months!!!

I can not believe it, and I know I say that every month but seriously I am 8 months pregnant. It has been many, many years that I have wanted to say that!

Things are going so well and have gone so well over the past month with the pregnancy. Only a few little things like, tired all the time, and lower back pain have been ailing me but, hey that is what happens when you pack on pounds and carry another life inside of you. I find it a sign that I am having a good healthy pregnancy.

Mason is so active and loves to kick me all the time. I keep thinking he is going to kick right out of me because he is such a strong baby. He loves, loves, loves music and does not love Archer trying to walk all over him. I play the piano for him almost everyday playing Chopin, cause I don't like to play Mozart and well Classical is Classical and I love Chopin. He loves to move around at first then goes silent while I finish playing. He goes crazy after I eat and after I walk on the treadmill at the gym. I do feel a little funny going to the gym still cause I am only getting bigger and the point of the gym is to get smaller, but I am still trying to go as often as I can and when I am feeling well. It does wear me out for the rest of the day but I am doing something good for me and Mace.

I start birthing classes in just a couple of weeks so that will be exciting. I also got a tour of the hospital after my last monthly check-up and that was very surreal for me. It was weird thinking that in just a few months I will be in there and will have a new little life to take care of. My last prenatal appointment went really well. The doc is happy with my weight gain, which I am indifferent about, and he said that the contractions I am having a perfectly normal and he is glad that I am having them cause they are getting my body ready for D-Day. Also he said that the size of my uterus is right on track and everything is perfect! So perfect in fact that at 30 weeks pregnant I am still having appointments every 4 weeks when usually they change to every 2 weeks. I am just so glad that everything is going well.

This last weekend I had the baby room and the other bedrooms and guest bath painted along with having our pergola stained out back. The baby's room is all ready for Mason to get here. I will post pix but I am waiting for some other artwork to arrive before I post the final pix of Mason's room up.

I will stop teaching next month and will have a few weeks off before the baby gets here so I can prep everything and me for it and also spend some time with Matt when he gets home. But really this past month didn't fly by is kind of crept by and I am enjoying being pregnant and getting to know what Mason likes.

~32 Weeks Pregnant~

30 Weeks

I just wanted to post a fun pix! So Matt requested that when I take my weekly pix to send to him that I use the same shirt so that he can "really" see the changes in my belly and it is a good control. So I thought I would have fun and wear one of his regular T-Shirts. I sent this pix to Matt and the first thing he says is, "YOU'RE STRETCHING MY SHIRT!!!" No I did not take offense to this because that is exactly why I took the pix and I wanted to see what he would say. He then said how HOT I looked pregnant and that it was actually a really great pix and he could really tell that, yes I AM PREGNANT! Anyways I just wanted to share our fun little story and the pix!

I am starting to get excited because in less that 10 weeks Mason will be here. I am a little nervous too for the the big changes that will happen in my life as I don't really know what to expect. I still have to have the baby's room painted and put the curtains up, but really I am almost done. I am starting to get that nesting itch because everything I look at in my house just doesn't seem clean enough to me, but I am trying to put off cleaning until I really can't stand it anymore. Not "cleaning" cleaning but the DEEP CRAZY Cleaning that I know I will get.

Things are still going well with the pregnancy. Just getting stronger Braxton Hicks contractions especially when I exercise. That is really how I know that yep this is really happening!

This past Sat, my Studio had the 4th annual Spring Recital. All of my students did so well performing. I even played my horn as a duet with my two players so the parents got to hear me perform. Mason got in on the action too, cause I had a contraction during the first duet. But all the kids did so well and we all had a fun time. Now that the recital is done, and symphony is done, and I was released from being a counselor in the Relief Society, I feel like I can actually relax and take a deep breath. It is kind of weird but nice.

Matt is doing well and looking forward to being a daddy. We are hoping and praying now, and I am telling Mason everyday many times during the day that he needs to arrive while daddy is here. Matt is going to be deployed to Iraq on the 21st of July so we are hoping that he is here for the birth. He will be, he will be here for the birth! So if you could keep us in your thoughts and prayers for that too.

That's all here! I will post again soon at 8 months!!!! CRAZY!

7 months Pregnant!

I can not believe that I am 7 months pregnant. I am trying to do a post every month so that I have a record of it and so you can see how much I have changed in the last month. I am excited for April to be done and over with. This week is concert week for me, my final concert week of the season, and the Studio Spring Recital is a week from Saturday too! Once these are done I will finally feel like I can RELAX and take it easy for the first time since I have been pregnant.

Monthly facts:

I am suffering from Seasonal Allergies, again, and I can't take anything for it so it kind of sucks but they hit later in the season than normal.

Mason is super ACTIVE! He likes to attack me from the inside out, and flip around, and do all sorts of fun stuff that makes me wince all the time.

He LOVES music! If I play music on my computer he goes crazy. Playing in Symphony and Ensemble he goes crazy for just a bit and then sleeps thru the rest of the rehearsal unless there is a low "boom" then he wakes up and goes crazy! He also likes to migrate to the right side of my belly when I am playing, which is the side that my bell is on. I think he likes the sound. Sometimes he even likes to thrash around to my playing. It is very amusing to feel his movements.

I was sleeping well at night up until just a couple weeks ago, and now I am back to how I was in the first trimester, having to get up all the time in the middle of the night, and I know that it is only going to be getting worse.

I also just started to have lower back pain too which isn't fun but I know that my body is doing what it is supposed to and is getting ready for what will happen in 2 months.

Also my belly just totally shifted in the last week. It is lower and more full now than it was last week. I feel like I actually look pregnant now and not just carrying around a little extra fluff.

Archer is also adjusting to being a big brother. He has been super protective of me over the past few months, more so than normal and he really does like kids. A friend of mine brought her little boy over and he is 9 months old. Archer went an got his fav toy and brought it for the little boy to play with him. It was totally cute!

Well, that is all I can really think of for now. I am really enjoying being pregnant. All these crazy changes going on with me are amazing to experience that the human female body can do them for just a short amount of time and then go back to how it was after the baby is out. It really is a miracle the process of making a child. I am so thankful that I get to experience this for myself! Till next time!

~28 Weeks Pregnant~

6 Months!

I seriously can not, can not believe it. I am 24 weeks pregnant. 6 months! After years of trying and wishing and hoping it is still hard for me to believe that I am pregnant. Yes I know I can feel him moving, all the time but still it is weird thinking that in just a few months from now my life as I knew it is going to be completely different.

I am still trying to stay active. I am exercising 3-4 days a week, trying to up it to 4-5 days a week, but there is always something stopping me or making it difficult for me to get to the gym. I am staying busy with teaching, playing in the Charlottesville Symphony, and the UVA Horn Ensemble, also with my calling in church. I only have one more concert series left for the Symphony and the Horn Ensemble's concert is in a few weeks. The studio's spring recital is also just a month away so we are busy here with preparing the student's for the spring recital.

I also have a doula that will assist me during the labor and birth of Mason. A doula is just a birthing assistant who is trained in the art of helping women birth their baby, by helping the mother thru the different stages of labor and also helps the spouse to know what to do to assist the mother. She makes sure that I am comfortable, well as comfortable as I can be. And will assist in Nursing the baby after he is born. I am so excited to have someone tell me exactly what my body is going through and how to get thru it. Right now, I am still wanting to do a natural un-medicated childbirth, but if I induce the labor that might change. We shall see what happens in aprox. 111 days from now. Anyhew, here is a pix of me at 24 weeks. I am going to try and post a pix of me and the changes every 4 weeks.

Info about Mason:

He is SUPER Active. I guess starting at 28-30 weeks I have to start counting his kicks and the goal is to have 10 kids in 2 hours. I did that today and I had 10 kicks in less than 10 minutes. He is still pretty small and has plenty of room to move around in but still he is very active. He kicks me when I am not at the gym. The other day at the time I usually go to the gym and had been for a couple days in a row, when I wasn't there he started kicking me like crazy. So hopefully he will be a health nut when he is older. He loves music and kicks me like crazy during Symphony especially when the lower instruments start to play very loudly.

He is measuring a little bigger than my original due date of July 26th. In January based on the size of him the Docs moved my due date to the 20th and now based off the ultrasound on the 2nd of March he was measuring for the 18th of July. We shall see when he makes his debut.

His room is almost completed. The closet organizer has arrived and in Mid April I have a company coming out to paint his room, the guest room, the office and the guest bathroom. Plus finish staining the pergola for us. After that everything will be up on the walls and ready to go. The wall color will be a light yellow and there are apple green gingham curtains, lamp shade, and basket covers. Also the furniture is espresso in color, well you saw the pix of the furniture already.

I had my first baby shower in AZ earlier this month and I am so grateful for the wonderful gifts that we received and all the gift cards. I have 2 more big ones here in VA and the Horn ensemble is also having a end of the year party/baby shower for me after our concert. Crazy. Mason is already loved by many and excited by all. Thank you everyone! Here is the pix for you to see with my changes.

~24 Weeks~