Random Additional Thoughts

One: I have successfully quit biting 6 of 10 nails. 3 on each hand. I think I'm doing pretty good with it. Sometimes when I scratch, like my leg for example, I actually do it hard enough to draw blood (gross, I know, but I'm not used to having any nails at all!). The prenatal vitamins are making them very strong, too. Gotta learn to have a gentle touch before that baby gets here, otherwise he might not like Mommy too much!

Two: My swelling has gotten annoying. My fingers are swollen to the point where I can only wear my wedding band. But hey, at least it beautiful! And I won't get dirty looks from the elderly for having a bare fourth finger on my left hand. The other swollen bit that is annoying...my nose! I mean seriously, it is getting out of control.

Three: Here is a funny little interchange between a random patient and me...

Me: Okay, we're gonna get started. You let me know if you have any discomfort.

Random Patient (RP): Why do doctors say "discomfort" when they really mean excrutiating pain?" (Keep in mind RP has already had the shot and is numb) It's like when a male doctor tells you a Papsmear is gonna be a "little pinch." (True, but waaaay TMI!)

Me: Yeah, those are especially fun when you're pregnant. (Maybe TMI on my part, but I was just rollin' with it)

RP, ten minutes later: So, do you have little ones?

Me: I'm expecting my first one in about 8 weeks!

RP, looking down at my obviously rotund, pregnant stomach: Oh! I just thought you were chubby! (Please refer to the picture in the post two posts ago to refresh your memory as to what my "chubby" belly looks like)

This interchange was pretty funny to me. It amazes me that people will not hesitate to say whatever is on their mind.

Four: Is it a bad sign that I have a little bit of a mild panic attack every time I walk down the hall now and see the crib setup in the room? Actually seeing the crib together and in the nursery just makes it that much more real. As if Reese kicking me under my ribs 80 billion times a day isn't real enough! And it's not that I'm so much nervous about being a parent as excited. Okay, I'm lying...there is definitely a little (okay, maybe a lot) nervousness, too. I think I'm just anxious because I just have this gut feeling that he's gonna be early and I want to be ready. Not necessarily early as in pre-mature, but early because they miscalculated my due date. I guess we'll see soon enough. Any guesses as to when Reese will make his appearance? Post in the comments!

Adventures in Nurseryland, Part 1

We have our crib!! Yay!! It came in last week, so Cameron and I made an early morning trip on Saturday to Norcross to pick it up. We decided we needed to go early because one of my Granny's best friends was having a 90th birthday party that afternoon that we wanted to be back for. Sunday evening was spent putting it together. It is so beautiful and I could not be happier with how it turned out!

This is what the nursery looked like as the guest room.

I can honestly say I was surprised with how easy the crib was to put together. Cameron had to move the bed out of the room, but that was all we needed to move for now. That gave us room to get the crib in. The man at the store told us once we got it together we would not be able to get it through the door, so to set it up in the room we were using as the nursery. From the time we opened the box, to the time we were finished was about an hour. It was very straightforward!! And Cameron and I managed to put it together without fighting...amazing!!

Cameron doing his Daddy Duties!

The finished product!

Ella wasn't quite sure what was going on so she started out in the door of the bedroom but eventually ended up in the doorway of the kitchen. Carter, too, was a little unsure about what we were doing. The guestroom is his space and it's about to not be anymore. Well, the bedding should be in this week (fingers crossed) so hopefully we'll be able to continue our adventures in Nurseryland this weekend!

Ella watching us from the kitchen doorway.

31 weeks!

Only 9 weeks to go! I can hardly believe it. Just a disclaimer...this might be kinda long!!

Reese has gotten so much more active the past couple of weeks. He's not so much kicking me a lot as much as he is just rolling around in there. I'll put my hand on my belly and he'll kinda push back against me. He has a more definite pattern to his movement, so he's fallen in to a routine, I guess. Cameron will put his hand on my stomach and Reese just rolls and rolls.

I went to the doctor last week and everything is right on track. He measured my fundal height (from the top of my pubic bone to the top of my uterus) and said I was still measuring ahead. What does this mean, I asked. Oh, just that he'll probably be a big baby. Awesome!! That's what I wanted to hear. Cameron was a rather large baby and I'm trying to push that fact to the back of my brain. I was kinda hoping Reese would be a good average (Cameron weighed 9lbs 4 ozs...I was 6.2). It's probably not looking too good for him to take after his Mommy. I got some fabulous news about my heartburn. I can start taking something stronger now like Zantac or Prilosec. Really all I needed to hear was that I could start taking my Pepcid Complete again (which I have been doing and have had very, very little heartburn). I also told the doctor I was a little concerned about the swelling I'd been having in my legs. It just kinda started happening more in the last few weeks. I've been on my feet more at work because I've been there by myself (my Dad had to be out because my Mom had some pretty major surgery...more on that later) so the swelling was much more noticeable. That wasn't really my concern, though. My concern was that my left leg always seemed to be much more swollen that the right. Just to be safe he ordered me to go back the next day to have a doppler/ultrasound of my legs to make sure I didn't have any clots. That was the biggest ordeal. I had to register in one part of the hospital where they gave me a hospital bracelet to wear (really...I needed a hospital bracelet for an ultrasound?!?). They then sent me to a totally separate building of the hospital for the actual test. I sat in the waiting area for one hour...one hour and I was the only one in the waiting room. When they brought me back, they couldn't find my orders so they had to find them before they could start. The actual test took about 45 minutes. Everything looked fine, though...no clots! Oh, and we hadn't met our deductible for the year yet, so the whole thing was out of pocket. Fabulous! I was glad to do it though for the peace of mind.

I really was starting to get a little worried about our crib and bedding. Cameron called the store where we got the crib and they checked on it and said it should be in this upcoming week. So, we'll probably go pick it up next weekend. The bedding, which was only supposed to take 4-6 weeks probably won't be in until next week, so it will have been over 8 weeks. So maybe by the end of this month we'll have all the pieces to get started on the nursery. I was hoping to have the nursery somewhat ready before my Fort Valley shower. I still may have it painted and the crib put together, but the shower is only two weeks after everything should be in, so it might be kinda tight. We still gotta paint.

So, my Mom had surgery two weeks ago on her stomach. Long story short, she could not digest her food and had to basically have her connection between her stomach and small intestine re-routed. She was under for about 6 hours. It was pretty rough. She was in the hospital for 8 days. So, my dad had to be with her at the hospital and for a couple of days after she got home, so I had to hold down the fort at work. Needless to say we were all very tired by the end of the first week. She is doing much better now and seems to be well on her way to healing. She is happy to be home and getting geared up for her grandson to get here.

30 weeks

31 weeks

With Friends Like These

I have a small group of girlfriends that I have known pretty much since birth. We all grew up in the same town and went to school together. This was back in the day when Fort Valley actually had young people living there. We have all grown up and gone our separate ways, but we always manage to get together everyone year or two. It has been decidedly more difficult since Erin has moved to Australia, but we do the best we can! Erin came home to visit for a couple of weeks so we all got together both weekends she was home. I'm always amazed that we can pick up right where we left off, no matter how long it has been. One of the Saturdays we were all together, they gave me a "sprinkle". The four of us got together for an afternoon of eating, gossiping, and painting pottery at the Peach Palette downtown. The girls and I all painted something for Reese's nursery. The stuff turned out really cute. They also gave my the Baby Bjorn I registered for. I am so thankful to have these girls as my friends for all these years. Erin will be home again at Christmas. Kind of strange that I'll have a three month old then!

Me, Morgan, Kim, and Erin after a yummy dinner at Bonefish.

Our Other Babies

As I might have mentioned before, we have two other "babies". Carter, the cat, is almost 8. He's actually Cameron's cat because he had him for a couple of years before we even met. Eleanor (aka Ella) is our puppy. She is almost 2 and is spoiled rotten. She is very much a Daddy's girl and doesn't like it when Cameron gives me or Carter attention. Our "other children" are probably going to have a rough time when the baby comes. Carter does not really get along with Ella because he got bumped down on the totem pole when she came into the house. A lot of the attention he used to get became directed toward Ella. So, when Reese comes, even more attention will be taken away from the animals. I think they will adjust to the baby...eventually!

Here are a couple of pictures showing how spoiled they are. The pictures were taken while we were sitting on the sofa one evening. Carter was sitting with me and Ella was sitting with Cameron.

Carter's new favorite spot to sit. Cameron gets a little jealous because it took Carter so long to like me.

Ella sometimes thinks she's a cat...she loves curling up in Cameron's lap. Our only question is...where's Reese gonna go?

29 weeks and a Doctor's Visit

Wow! I cannot believe I'm already in the third trimester. My, how this pregnancy has flown! It seems just like yesterday I was shakily holding the pregnancy test in front of Cameron's face and now we only have 11 more weeks to go. I am still feeling good. Heartburn has picked up a little, but I'm learning to deal with it. I'm sleeping on three pillows now instead of two because it's worse at night at being horizontal does NOT help.

Here's a couple of pictures from 28 weeks...

Full body shot

Scary close up!

We had a doctor's visit last Monday with an ultrasound to determine if my placenta had moved far enough away to not be concerned with have placenta previa. Thank goodness it has! The doc said it is long gone now. The ultrasound technician did a couple of 3D images (even though we didn't ask her to) so we got a little preview of Reese's sweet face. I know I'm a little biased, but I think he's going to be a beautiful baby! I also had my glucose screening test at this visit, which can be a little nerve wracking, but I passed it with flying colors, so that's one less thing to worry about. Now if we can only get started on the nursery and get registered for baby stuff. When I think about the things we still have left to do and the fact that Reese will be here anywhere from 9-13 weeks (only if he's really late, which I pray he won't be!) I get a little overwhelmed. We'll get it done, though. My husband is too organized and not a really big procrastinator, so it'll get done. I just keep telling myself I can't work on the nursery till the bedding and crib come it...which they haven't. (Should I be worried?)

Sweet little profile!!

Preview of his sweet little face! How cute is he!?!

Vacation to St. Simon's Island

I know I have become the worst slacker when it comes to the blog! But, I have been gone for a little while and it's been a really busy week. Excuses aside, I will do better because I figured out how to download pictures myselft and am no longer dependent on the hubby to do it for me!

Father's Day was kinda of a busy one in the Garvin and Mathews households. That was the day we left for vacation to SSI. It's always kind of an ordeal for my family to go anywhere because we are not light packers. We take everything you can possibly imagine from beach necessities down to the garlic salt and cheese knife. And please let me clarify "my family" by saying it is the Mathews part of my family and not the Garvins. However, when I say "we left", I don't mean my father or my son's father...they got left at home. Mom and I headed down to meet my sister (who flew in from Nashville) so we could have some girl time before the boys joined us Tuesday night. Do not despair, though...Cameron had a busy day visiting with his family in Cochran before coming home to spend some time with our furbabies, so he was not left alone. We also had a couple of last minute visitors...my friend Ashlee from over at http://www.acrossthebranch.blogspot.com/ and her precious daughter, Blair, joined us for a couple of days! Ashlee is really my sister's childhood best friend and while Ash and I have always been friends, we've certainly gotten closer with age. It was a joy to see her little girl and get to play with her and hold her. None of us Mathews girls had been able to see Blair before then, so it was a real treat! Needless to say, it was good practice to spend a few nights with an 8 1/2 month old! Dad and Cameron came down on Tuesday night after work, Ashlee and Blair left Wednesday afternoon, and the rest of us stayed till Sunday. It was a great last family vacation before our little addition arrives in a few weeks. I was careful to stay in the shade most of the time, rest when I needed to, and, of course, provide Reese with lots of nutritious vacation food! It's hard to believe that next year at the beach we'll have a 8 or 9 month old.

The view from our balcony at the St. Simon's Grande

Aunt Emmie, Cameron , and I before dinner one night

Cameron and I (with Reese) in front of the SSI Lighthouse...we got engaged on the top May 27, 2006