Hallelujah!

For the first time in two months, I can see and feel my ankle bones today!! Yea!! And I can see the bones in my hands too. It's a miracle! :) I was swollen really bad to begin with, but I actually came home from the hospital even more swollen, if that's possible. So it's a banner day for me!

Baby G has arrived!!

Baby G made his grand entrance to the world this past Saturday, May 17th at 3:21 pm. He was 8 lbs, 5 oz (not 8 lbs, 7 oz as emailed previously, if you got that email) and 21 inches long. He has a lot of dark brown hair and dark eyes (can't tell what color they'll be). But he doesn't have as much hair as the Bean did when she was born, if you're wondering! I think he's a total cutie. Here are a few pics...warning: these are not glamour shots. I am so swollen I'm hardly recognizable (I was actually MORE swollen after leaving the hospital than when I got there!), and we haven't gotten any great shots yet of the little guy. But regardless, enjoy!

*For those of you who want the details: long story short, we'd been praying for a VBAC, and that's what we had! God was very gracious to us. It looked like we were headed for a c-section again for a while, but God intervened and answered our prayer. We are so grateful!

Showers of blessing & pregnancy update

This is overdue, but here are some pics from Baby G's B'ham shower. It was super fun, everything was beautiful, and we got some much needed things! Also, is that not the cutest diaper cake you've ever seen? My friend Erin made it. I will be stealing that idea at some point in the future.

Also, if any of you want an update, for the third week in a row, I am 1 cm and 50% effaced with 15 days to go 'til the due date. :)

The Cutest Diaper Cake Ever

A burp cloth...we had NONE for Baby G. All of the Bean's were pink and/or monogrammed. (I know, Baby G won't know, but still it's nice to have new ones that aren't stained and/or girly!)

A "Taste and See" cake by Shanna Phillips...I did taste and see, and it was good!

The wonderful hostesses...thanks everyone! Y'all are each a blessing to me!

The beautiful table set w/ goodies.

Hannah Home hits the jackpot!

This is what happens when you are 9 months pregnant, nesting, and married to a neat freak organizer. Since we had to get rid of some stuff in our guest room to make room for the nursery, and b/c in a year or so we are planning on starting the "grown-up" house hunt, we decided to do a little purging/spring cleaning. So we went through EVERY (and I mean every) cabinet, closet, and drawer in every room of our house. And we gave away or threw away so much stuff. And our "nursery" still looks like a wreck, so there is still more to come. But as of now, pictured above is how much stuff we gave away to Hannah Home, and we've had 10 garbage bags and one large cardboard box full of trash as well. That doesn't count the four huge bins of books we are storing in the attic either. We are "getting skinny" as RR says. And I must say, it feels good!!

Quick update

With 4 1/2 weeks to go, I'm 1 cm dialated and 50% effaced. And no, we're not ready (in the logistical sense) if you were planning on asking! Eeek!!

Quick update on the knee & pregnancy

I thought some of you may be wondering how my broken knee cap is healing since I haven't posted any updates on it. I has been a little over 8 weeks now since I broke it, and just last week the doc told me to take the brace off and start really trying to bend it and walk normally. And it seems to be doing just fine! I was nervous about walking sans brace w/ the Bean underfoot, but after the first day or so my leg started feeling stronger. I am still limping, and the knee is still sore and stiff, but I am making definite progress. The doc thinks I'll more or less have full mobility back by the end of this month. And the OB doesn't think my knee will interfere w/ trying to have a VBAC (vaginal delivery after caesarean).

Speaking of, I've got 8 weeks left in my pregnancy! It has FLOWN by! Soon we will be working on getting the new nursery put together. Crazy how time flies. I am feeling good, just a little tired and swollen like every other preggo w/ 8 weeks left. And I'm trying to enjoy every minute w/ just the little Bean to play w/ and take care of. :) (She thinks Baby G is in her tummy most of the time, by the way.) She is so sweet and is growing up so much...not a little baby anymore. :(

Have a great day!!

Pink or Blue?

Well, I can't tell you yet. :) Sorry! RR wants to wait to tell my family on Saturday when we are having his birthday dinner. And my brother does read my blog, and so do other family members, so I'll have to wait for the big reveal. I will say that everything on the ultrasound looked fine, and it looks like we have a healthy baby. We are also 99% sure about the name, so we'll reveal that too.

So the party line until Saturday is "The Bean is going to have a baby sibling!" If you call, I will tell you I can't talk about it, b/c if I do, I might slip up!

Update on the Pain Train

The pain is over! It lasted about 6 days or so and stopped just in time for me to go to my parent's house for Christmas, so I was able to enjoy the holidays! I just KNEW that the doctor was wrong and something bad was going on, but apparently the round ligament pains can be excruciating. My stomach almost literally grew overnight during that time, so I am assuming that the pains came from the baby having a major growth spurt. Hopefully we won't have any more of those any those any time soon!

Round Ligament Pain

So, since Saturday evening I have been experiencing "round ligament pains" associated w/ pregnancy. It started Saturday evening as mild to moderate cramping (similar to menstrual cramps). It got worse and worse, and finally the pain was so bad that I threw up twice early Sunday morning. On Monday I went to the doctor just to be sure that's what it was (I'd already called the after hours number twice over the weekend), and yep, that's apparently what it is. But the pain is so bad that I've basically been bed-ridden since Saturday, and my mom came over to help for a couple of days. She left yesterday, so I'm trying to be a big girl and make it through the next couple of days until we leave for Gadsden on Friday for Christmas.

Has anybody else had these? Apparently they get worse w/ each subsequent pregnancy (never had them w/ the Bean), and they are supposed to come and go, although mine have not went anywhere! Fortunately the doc says they are very uncommon after 20 weeks, so only 3 more weeks to go, and hopefully they'll stop b/f then!

Big Sister

This is me and my sister-in-law Marianna and their little boy Evan. You can't really see the Big Sister part of the Bean's shirt, but I had to do a light color b/c that's the only solid colored pair of pants she has!

The Bean is going to be a Big Sis! We are expecting baby #2, due on May 28th. That makes me 9 weeks along. The Bean and Peanut (what this baby shall henceforth be called on this blog until future notice) will be 21 months apart. I have been feeling great, and we are very excited! We told my family this weekend. We had planned on going up there anyway to watch the AL game on Saturday, but we also suggested that we all go out to dinner on Friday night. So we to a little Italian place (Hence the phrase "pesto cheese" in my pics...not the best choice of background, I guess...I'm sure all you photographers are ashamed!!) in my hometown. We thought a fun way to tell them the big news would be to let the Bean "tell" them, so we had a shirt monogrammed for her that said "Big Sister" on it. We put a bib on her so nobody could see the shirt when we first got there, then we unveiled it and told her to "tell" everyone what her shirt said. Of course, everyone was excited about the fun news!



For those of you who don't know, it took us 30 months (2 1/2 years) to get pregnant w/ the Bean, and only 2 months this time, so we praise God for this sweet blessing! We are so thankful!