One More Day

This morning was my last Zumba class for awhile, hopefully. I showered at the Y after class and then went and met Tifni and Mallory at PT's in Leland for lunch. Tifni brought us a present and ended up buying my lunch. Mallory was disappointed to learn the present was going home with me and not back home with her. I had a great time chatting with Tifni and it gave me a lot of comfort to know that she was going to be at the amnio in the morning. She also informed me that Dr. McLean told her to let me know I didn't need to go to the hospital until 6am instead of 5:30am. I will take the extra 30 minutes of sleep time. After lunch I came home and worked on putting the closet doors together. Shea stopped by and brought Scruffy and her Rae Rae necklace to me. When I was in the hospital with Nolan, Shea brought me her teddy bear Scruffy to keep me company while I was there. Shea has had Scruffy since she was a little girl and Scruffy has been through it all so I knew when she first gave him to me how much it meant for her to part with him for a few days. Rae Rae was the daughter of one of Shea's good friends when she was in the military. Rae Rae had died as a young child from cancer. While Shea was in Hawaii this year visiting Rae Rae's parents they had given Shea a necklace that held inside it some of Rae Rae's ashes. I knew how much this necklace meant to Shea and I was honored that she wanted to loan Rae Rae to me so that we would have another angel looking over us during the birth of our baby boy.

I had my 4th Ukulele class tonight. After class Susan and I met Kelly, Stacey and MaryBeth at Hiro after for dinner. Marshall had gotten off work early today so he could drive home and get home at a decent time. Unfortunately, because his replacement didn't get there until later than he had hoped, Marshall didn't get away quite as early as he planned on. He still ended up getting home only about 5 minutes after I did. I let Marshall open the gift Tifni gave us and while most of it was great practical things like diapers, wipes and baby wash there was also a beautiful blue blanket with Ronan's name embroidered on it. I showed Marshall all the improvements I made to the nursery and my consignment sale purchases before we both tried to settle down some and get some sleep before the amnio. I'm a little scared about the pain the amnio might cause but more than anything I'm nervous about the results. I know Marshall isn't going to be happy if we have to wait another week because he will just be sitting around the house not working and waiting. I also really hope we can have the baby this weekend but more because I'm tired of the sleepless nights of worry. I'm ready to be able to sleep albeit sparsely but sleep soundly without worry. Every single night of this pregnancy I wake up, pee and then lay in bed worrying if the baby is okay and just waiting to feel him move. I probably spend just as much time awake and waiting to feel the baby as I do sleeping. Its very disconcerting and I'm so ready to be done with it. I'm ready for him to be out and healthy and safe. Every single night I pray to God that he keeps the baby and myself healthy and allows for an easy and safe delivery of our healthy baby boy.

Cars, Consignment & Conversation

Trying to continue my trend of keeping busy I got up early this morning and went to Zumba at Babs with Karson. Zumba is definitely becoming more and more challenging and I'm able to do less and less, but I still enjoy it. Since it was nice and warm today, I came home and did some weeding in the front flower bed. I showered and got dressed as it was time to take my car back to the shop to have the mirror replaced that they had overlooked during the initial repair work. They had called me yesterday saying the mirror was in and I could get it put on while I waited today. So at 1pm I went to get my mirror put on my car, but they had not ordered the correct thing so I have to come back. For some reason the pictures they took that clearly showed a chrome mirror and me telling them over the phone that the chrome was scratched on my mirror wasn't enough for them to realize my mirror was chrome and not just the standard factory mirror. So that was a complete waste of time. I left there and grabbed some chickfila for lunch and came home and ate and then cleaned.

Stacey came over and we went to the Posh Whale consignment sale where we met my mom and Dino. They had so much stuff! Lots and lots of clothes. I looked through some of the clothes and ended up getting a few surfing outfits and some board shorts for the baby. Then I got a couple of pairs of shoes. My best find was a baby bullet new and never used for only $30! It even had extra accessories. All in all it probably cost around $200 so I got a really good buy on it. I also got a bottle warmer for the house and a travel bottle warmer that plugs into the car. Stacey also bought a bunch of clothes for the baby and for Myra. My Mom showed some good restraint though and only bought some baby books for her house. She didn't fool me though, I know she still has a bunch of clothes at her house that she has bought for the baby but just hasn't given me yet. We all came back to my house and made zuchini pasta for dinner and oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. My mom and Dino eventually left and Stacey and I turned on American Idol. I totally disagreed with the judges and I also think the talent this year pretty much blows. What talent I should say. Nobody is a stand out and nobody blows me away. I think the judges did a really poor job at picking talented people this year. My plan of keeping busy definitely worked as I was nearly falling asleep before American Idol was over. As soon as Stacey left, I turned off everything and went to bed. I turned on a movie as always knowing good and well I would be asleep before 15 minutes of the movie were over.

36 weeks 4 days

This morning was my hopefully last ultrasound at MFM. My friend Shea had asked me if she could go with me this morning as she had never been to an ultrasound before so I agreed. They did a growth measurement on the baby today and he was 6lbs 10oz! They said again that he is long so I'm hoping that means he is long and skinny! He passed his BPP test with flying colors and everything looked great. We were able to spend a bit more time watching him this morning as we had a student ultrasound tech at first who went through everything and then her trainer came in and redid all the same tests. Didn't bother me at all to get to watch the little guy longer than usual. I think Shea was a bit overwhelmed by it all.

After my ultrasound I came home and did some work around the house. I rearranged some stuff in the nursery and put up another shelf above the closet door. I also managed to go to Zumba class this evening at Babs but was pretty spent after that so after a shower I spent the rest of the evening watching TV and knitting. So far I have managed to make two days this week go by pretty quickly. Now if only the rest will so Friday gets here as soon as possible!

Yard work

Since this is quite possibly my last week of exercising for awhile, I decided to get up and start the morning off right with Zumba at Babs McDance with Karson. After Zumba I was still feeling pretty good and energetic, so my Dad came over to help me get some more mulch from Lowe's. I had started on the front flower beds last week, but didn't have any where near enough mulch. While we were out we grabbed lunch at Surfhouse and then headed home. Before my Dad had to leave to head in for work, he dumped a couple of bags of mulch out for me so I could spend the next hour spreading it out. I managed to finish our large front flower bed and started weeding the side one. I did take a break in order to cut bit of grass in the backyard that was already beginning to be a bit unruly. I know, can you believe it? It's not even March yet and our back yard grass is coming in green and long. I did use the mower to mulch and bag up some of the plethora of leaves we have. I don't know if I will ever get all the leaves bagged and out of our backyard! They seem to really have taken over this year. Eventually, I had to quit and go inside as my back was beginning to feel the strain of the bending over. At least I had managed to be fairly productive today. I figured the busier I was this week, the faster it would go and the sooner it would be time for our highly anticipated amnio. I showered and spent the rest of the evening hanging out at the house knitting and watching The Bachelor. Fortunately, the exercise and yard work had tuckered me out and so I was sleepy pretty early tonight.

The Last Goodbye

Today was Marshall's last Sunday saying goodbye to head back down to Charleston before he comes home for the birth of the baby. We met my Dad for lunch at La Costa before Marshall had to head out of town. It had been some time since Marshall had seen my Dad, so he wanted to spend some time with him before the baby came. We are still hoping that next weekend we will be able to be induced, but it all depends on the amnio results. After lunch, Marshall and I had to run a few errands before he had to pack up and head out. It was nearly 4pm before he got on the road - much later than he usually leaves.

This afternoon it finally decided to warm up some and the sun was out so after Marshall left JoJo and I enjoyed the warm weather by wedding out the front flower bed. Of course, all JoJo really did was wallow around in the grass and occasionally come and prance around in the dirt of the flower bed, but she kept me company and had herself a good time outside. I managed to get 90% of the flower bed weeded before my back was killing me from leaning over and I just had to stop. It was also starting to get dark so I headed inside and spent the rest of the night knitting. I finally managed to finish the baby blanket that I had started when I was pregnant with Nolan. I put it down for quite some time and didn't pick it back up until after I knew I was having another boy. It was a blue blanket after all. Now that I'm finally finished with it maybe I can work on making some other things that I got patterns for. I'm still a pretty novice knitter so we will see how it goes.

Hung the Moon

Marshall got in last night around midnight, just as I was about to doze off on the couch and JoJo was sound asleep at my feet. That didn't last long though. As soon as JoJo realized Marshall was home she got her second wind. In fact, Marshall and I both were ready for bed and JoJo was still bouncing off the walls. We gave her a treat, Marshall took her outside and we even turned off all the lights and told her it was night night time. She protested by bounding up onto the bed and rolling around like a madman. She was wide open just like a little kid on a sugar rush. We finally got her to calm down by petting her and letting her snuggle on the bed for a bit. Eventually, she jumped off and took up her usual bedtime spot next to the bed. This morning I got up early for Zumba and Marshall got up to go get his hair cut.

We decided that since this might very well be our last weekend without a baby we would take advantage of the time alone and go to the movies. We went to a matinee and saw Beautiful Creatures. Marshall enjoyed the film, but I found quite a few flaws with it. I found some the acting really bad and the southern accents were driving me nuts. I really didn't like the main boy at all and I didn't really buy the chemistry between him and the girl. I do have to admit that there was a twist at the end that I wasn't expecting. That being said though, it did not make up for the rest of the film for me. I did enjoy the time with my husband though. Right before the film we learned that our niece who's 17th birthday it is today flipped and totaled her truck. Fortunately, she was not hurt other than some minor cuts and bruises.

After the movie, Marshall talked to his nephew and his family some more and was reassured that while the truck didn't survive, our niece was completely fine. After the film we went home and Marshall decided we should put together the remaining baby stuff. So he first put together the baby swing which went together pretty easily and without much complaint on his part. The bouncer chair was a whole different story. I was waiting for Marshall to just throw the whole thing in the trash he was getting so frustrated with it, but he finally got it put together. We then hung up the moon that Marshall had purchased last year when I was pregnant with Nolan. Marshall was so excited when he bought it that he was like a little kid showing it to me and how it would light up and show the different phases of the moon. It really was pretty cool. It had a remote on it that allowed you to turn it on in whatever phase you wanted to or to let it cycle through the phases of the moon. It also has a self timer that turns it off after 45 minutes. Ironically, when Marshall brought it home I showed him a wall decal saying that I had purchased that went perfectly with the moon. It read:

"I see the moon and the moon sees me, Please bless the moon and please bless me."

We also hung the painting my friend Teresa did for the baby to remind him of his big brother Nolan who's light burned out long before it could really shine. Hers was a painting of the famous "star light star bright" saying. Now I feel like there's only really cleaning and the closet doors left to put up and we are pretty much ready for the baby. At least as ready as we can be.

36 Weeks

It's Friday and that means it's doctor appointment day! Today more so than most Fridays as I also had an eye doctor appointment this morning. After my eye appointment, I stopped by the mall to get my eyebrows threaded then picked up some lunch before heading home. It was actually the first time my entire 2 years of being pregnant that I was able to utilize one of those expecting mother's only parking spots! Not very many places around Wilmington actually have them and those that do are always taken by the time I get there. Not today. There were several open ones at the mall's food court entrance so I seized the opportunity and used it!

 My OB appointment wasn't until 1:40pm today and it was my first appointment this pregnancy with a doctor other than Dr. McLean. Normally, they make you rotate at that practice but due to Nolan being stillborn, Dr. McLean had gladly agreed to let us just see her this go round. Unfortunately, she was on vacation this week with her 5 year old daughter to Disney World. So I had to see Dr. Carroll whom Dr. McLean and Tifni both assured me was very nice. In fact, Dr. McLean said she was her neighbor so if Dr. Carroll wasn't nice to me to let her know! First though, I had to do a NST test, or a non stress test. They decided to do that this time instead of the BPP ultrasound so that they could see what the baby's heartbeat was doing during periods of movement and also to see if I was having any contractions yet. The baby did very well and reacted just as they wanted him to during his test and I was not having any contractions yet. His heartbeat increased during periods of extreme activity which the doctor later told me that showed them that the baby was getting enough oxygen and behaving as would be expected. After that was over, I had to have a cervical exam and Strep B test. The cervical exam was indeed as unpleasant as I had anticipated it to be. I am 1 whole cm dilated! Ha. But my cervix is soft which the doctor told me was good for inducing as it would make it go easier. Tifni later told me they also refer to that as a "favorable" cervix as it is easily dilated. A hard or "not soft" cervix is unfavorable as it is harder to dilate. Dr. Carroll told me Dr. McLean had called her about me and then she made a comment about Dr. McLean hogging me all to herself, which I replied "Yep!" Two hours later and I was finally out of the OB's office. Well, if all goes well that will be the last appointment at Wilmington Health OB before the baby is born! I still have an ultrasound appointment at MFM on Tuesday, but no other appointments are scheduled before the amnio next Friday. I am 36 weeks now and exactly one week away from my amnio and hopefully only 1 week and a day or two away from giving birth to my baby boy!

Signs

I had good intentions on going to Zumba this morning at the Y and then I woke up and was having some pain in my lower back and decided that was not the best option. It's a good thing I only have a little over one more week (hopefully) to go because I am finding it harder and harder to get to Zumba class and easier and easier to gain weight. So I spent the morning finishing up my baby signs. One for when I was breast feeding and one for the front door to let guests know if the baby was sleeping or awake so they wouldn't just ring the bell and cause the dog to bark her head off and wake the baby. At least in theory that's what the signs are for. We will see if they actually help our cause any or not.

It wasn't until it was almost time to go to ukulele class that I got up and showered and put on some clothes other than my PJs. I had almost forgotten it was Thursday today and would have totally missed my ukulele class if it wasn't for Marshall asking me what time my doctor's appointment was tomorrow. Knowing my appointments are always on Friday, I then realized it was indeed Thursday. At class tonight we learned two more songs - Shady Grove and He's Got the Whole World. We also learned three more chords, one of which is really challenging to play - B flat. It is still a lot of fun to go to class and I'm hoping to at least get to where I can play a few songs on the ukulele and they sound pretty decent.

Lights, Coffee, American Idol

This morning the electrician showed up at 8am to begin installing our vanity light and ceiling fan. He started with the bathroom as that was the most complicated. Not only did he have to move the light over in the wall, he had to rewire the bathroom in order to give the vanity two different dedicated switches since the light had not only the regular vanity light but also a top night light. While he was still working on the finishing the vanity light, Tina and Harper showed up for coffee time. Shortly after they arrived, Dino and Stacey both pulled up. We all made some coffee (decaf for me and a bottle for Harper) and then sat down to chat.

The electrician finished the ceiling light pretty quickly and left so we all went to take a look at the new nursery light. It had only taken us over a year to decide on a ceiling light for the nursery but I'm glad we took our time because it's perfect! It's a surfboard ceiling fan, but not a cheesy kiddie looking one. It's very classy looking and even if we changed the decor in the room in years to come, it could easily stay in there and go with other things as the surfboard blades are solid wood and very subtle surfboards. After Tina and Dino left, Stacey and I decided to go pick up my car which was ready from the body shop and go grab some lunch. We finally settled on Big Thai 2 for lunch. I ventured out of my norm and got sweet and sour chicken. While it was good, I think next time I will go back to my usual entree.

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing some shopping, primarily at Michael's. Originally, we went there to pick up the artwork Marshall and I had framed, but we ended up walking out of there with a cart full. Stacey bought a bunch of cake decorating utensils and I found some stuff I needed for my latest craft project - making breast feeding door hangers. I figure the way things are around my house, people could just drop by and I was definitely not okay with people walking in on me breast feeding. I am an extremely modest person and I am not okay with people seeing my breasts, whether I'm breast feeding or not. I had found some cute ideas online for breast feeding signs and I decided I could probably make them myself. I found some wooden door hangers at Michael's and some paint. I was also looking for a wooden cow cutout or sticker, but was not able to find one at Michael's. By the time we left Michael's we had worked up enough of an appetite to make a pit stop at Fuzzy Peach for some frozen yogurt. After yogurt we decided to swing by A.C. Moore to search for the cow cutout. While we didn't find a wooden cutout, we did find a foam sticker that will work. It was nearly 4pm by this time so we headed back to my house so Stacey could make her way over the bridge into Leland before traffic got bad. Plus we were having American Idol night at her house and she still had to figure out something to cook for dinner.

I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my baby signs. I got the two wooden door hangers painted a solid color and started painting on some of the letters. I was only about halfway done when it was time to head over to Stacey's for American Idol. Stacey made one of my favorite dishes of hers - steak and fries salad. Dinner was delicious. Shea was finally able to join us for AI night as she was finally over her cold. I have to say I was rather underwhelmed at the girls performing tonight. In fact, I was so bored with most of them I started to fall asleep by the end of it. As soon as it was over I had to leave as I was quickly falling asleep. It was a busy and long day and I was glad to get home and be able to turn a movie on and crawl into bed.

Shelving

This morning I had my 35 week and 4 days BPP ultrasound test. My mom went with me again to my appointment. We had thought they were going to do the baby's growth today as that's what they told me last week at my appointment, but instead they decided to wait another week and do it right before the amnio. Everything looked great with the baby as always. His heartbeat was strong, his movement was good, his practice breathing was strong, and the fluid level was good. I saw Dr. Reddick after my appointment and she said everything looked great and they were all hoping the little guys lungs were mature next week. She said she knew I had to be anxious to go ahead and have him and I told her that was indeed the case, the sooner the better. My fluid level today was 20 which Dr. Reddick assured me was normal and not concerning in the least. Good. I always knew too little fluid was a bad thing but I never knew you could have too much fluid. Apparently, it can be a sign of something being wrong but Dr. Reddick told me that usually occurs at a much earlier gestation period and for my gestational period, my levels are just fine. After my appointment I went by the Kitchen and Lighting Gallery to pick up our ceiling fan light that had finally come in. The light was for our nursery and I had already hired an electrician to come install it and our vanity light tomorrow morning. Since I was both hungry and nearby a PT's I met my Dad for some lunch. Since the rain had yet to come when we were finished with lunch, Dad stopped by my house to help me dig up a couple of little trees. We intend on extending our front porch over to the end of our house but first we needed to removed the little trees and dig up all the weeds and grass. It's one of many projects we have around our house that we just haven't had time to get to yet, but I'm hoping that before the summer gets here that patio will be built. At least now we have the big stuff out of the way and just have to kill off the rest of it.

The rest of the afternoon I spent doing some work around the house. I hung a shelf in the baby's room and moved the TV from the office in there. It was a pretty long shelf so I was quite pleased with myself that I not only hung it securely but that it was perfectly level. I had to take a picture of the level on top of it to send to Marshall just to prove it. While I was motivate to do some work, I started putting together the closet door track for the nursery. We had decided to remove the heavy mirrored doors when we remodeled the room and wanted to put up some sort of doors that wouldn't catch little fingers in them. Therefore, bifold doors and most track door systems were out. We finally found a couple of door systems at Ikea that used only a top track and no bottom track. In our house in Charlotte, we installed one such door system that utilized fabric panels as doors instead of solid doors. Once installed it looked really great and modern so we decided to do that to the nursery doors. That way if the toddler pulled the door down, only a piece of fabric would hit him, not a heavy closet door. Also, the fabric panels are easy and cheap to replace if the kid messes them up. Marshall had cut the track for me the other weekend when he was home, so I secured the two pieces of track together and put all the panel wheels in and installed the bar to the closet door frame. By the time I was finally done with all of that, it was time for Zumba so I stopped my project. Alice was in town visiting her fiancé so she came by and picked me up for Zumba as she wanted to try out my instructor. She really enjoyed Karson and said she was a lot more fun than other instructors she had been to. After Zumba, Alice treated me to dinner at Towne Bar and Grill. It was nice to catch up with her as we only see each other sporadically when we happen to be in the same town as one another. She plans to be back in about 3 weeks which will be perfect timing for her to come meet the new little guy.

President's Day

I nearly forgot today was Monday since Marshall was home today for President's Day. I remembered though when my alarm went off and I had to take my car in to the body shop to get the hood fixed. Fortunately, I was there all of about 20 minutes and left with a rental car. It was a fairly painless process and I should have my car back by Thursday at the latest. Originally we had thought about going to a movie today, but Marshall opted out of it saying he didn't want to waste the day in the theater. Instead, he finished up his laundry and packed before we went out to grab some lunch and do some shopping. We settled on mexican today as I can't go a week without some form of mexican and it had indeed been entirely too long since I had gotten my mexican fix. Not really shopping for anything in particular we ventured to the mall to see what kind of President's Day sales were going on. I ended up finding some good deals on shoes at Belk's so I texted Brandy and got her okay on a pair of nude high heel shoes for her wedding. We then stopped by the Motherhood store so I could look at getting some nursing tops as I had none at home. I picked up a few tank tops and a nursing nightgown. Eventually, Marshall had to pack up and leave to head back to Charleston and JoJo and I were left on our own once again. I spent the rest of the day napping and knitting.

20 Things To Tell Your Son

This morning was one of those sleep in and enjoy the bed type of mornings. Of course I awoke to JoJo laying snuggled up on one side of me on the tinest bit of bed she could possibly fit on and Marshall snuggled up on the other side. While I appreciate the snuggle love, it made climbing out of bed to go pee virtually impossible. I woke them both when I finally had to roll myself out of bed to drain my bladder but I quickly climbed back in bed for some more snuggle time. We did eventually have to drag ourselves out of bed so that we could make it to lunch on time.


We made plans today to meet Susan and my Dad for lunch at RX so Marshall could get his highly coveted chili cheeseburger. I actually saw my friend Josh and one of the owner's of RX today while we were there. Josh and I are old friends from Goldsboro where we went to junior high and high school today. I think it's fantastic how much success his business is having. The food is definitely excellent as I have yet to hear anyone go there and not love what they ate. After lunch Marshall and I went back to the house and both crashed on the couch. We had all intentions on going to see a matinee movie of Beautiful Creatures, but we slept right through the matinee shows. By the time we woke up, the only show we could make was the late show that wouldn't get out until midnight. Knowing neither one of us would actually make it through that show, we decided to just hang out at the house.

So while Marshall talked on the phone to his Mom, I searched around on the internet. I ended up finding an interesting article entitled "20 Things a Mom Should Tell Her Son." I found most of them pretty interesting so here they are:

1. Play a sport - it will teach you how to win honorably, lose gracefully, respect authority, work with others, manage your time and stay out of trouble and maybe even teach how to throw or catch.

2. You will set the tone for the sexual relationship, so don't take something away from her that you can't give back.

3. Save money when you're young because you're going to need it someday.

4. Use careful aim when you pee. Somebody's got to clean that up, you know.

5. Allow me to introduce you to the dishwasher, oven, washing machine, iron, vacuum, mop and broom. Now please go use them.

6. Pray and be a spiritual leader.

7. Don't ever be a bully and don't ever start a fight, but if some idiot clocks you please defend yourself.

8. Your knowledge and education is something that nobody can take away from you.

9. Treat women kindly. Forever is a long time to live alone and it's even longer to live with somebody who hates your guts.

10. Take pride in your appearance.

11. Be strong and tender at the same time.

12. A woman can do everything that you can do. This includes her having a successful career and you changing diapers at 3am. Mutual respect is the key to a good relationship.

13. "Yes ma'am" and "yes sir" still go a long way.

14. The reason that they're called "private parts" is because they're "private." Please do not scratch them in public.

15. Peer pressure is a scary thing. Be a good leader and others will follow.

16. Bringing her flowers for no reason is always a good idea.

17. It is better to be kind than to be right.

18. A sense of humor goes a long way in the healing process.

19. Please choose your spouse wisely. My daughter-in-law will be the gatekeeper for me spending time with you and my grandchildren.

20. Remember to call your mother because I might be missing you.

Snow at the Beach

I was still feeling pretty sore this morning when I woke up so I opted out of Zumba this morning. I've started having some back pain here and there, usually at night and it makes walking pretty uncomfortable let alone Zumba. So instead I decided to make breakfast for us - pancakes. Since Marshall and I weren't together on Valentine's Day, today is sort of our make up day and what better way to start it then by having pancakes? Marshall seemed to enjoy them at least. After I had showered and dressed, Susan came over and brought us some Starbuck's. Since I missed her at Zumba she thought she would come visit with us before she went to the Shag Competition.

After she left we headed out to get some lunch at Jackson's Big Oak BBQ. That seems to be Marshall's new favorite place these days as he is always asking to go there when he is home on the weekends. While at lunch Marshall was asking me about Dr. McLean and Tifni and if they were going to be there for my amnio and delivery. He was raving about them both and how lucky we were to have them on our "team." He also said he was so glad I had Tifni to talk to for he knew if I was talking to Tifni then he didn't have to worry that I wasn't talking to him, he knew I was okay. I told him how Tifni knew how I was feeling before I ever told her and how I had been talking with her daily for the past few weeks. If I don't contact her first, she is quick to contact me with something. It isn't always a text to ask about how I'm doing. Sometimes it's a funny picture or video of her kids or some crazy thing that happened to her that day. The point is though that she reaches out to me on a daily basis so I know if there is something concerning to me that she is available to hear about it. She's been a great source for not just her experience but also her knowledge as a labor and delivery nurse. Just yesterday she helped confirm the pediatrician I was leaning towards. When I asked her about her pediatrician she informed me it was Seaside Pediatrics, the exact pediatrician I was favoring. Then she proceeded to tell me that Dr. Horger from there was the best circumciser in town. Well she would know, she's seen a million of them done by every doctor in town. Dr. Horger is the only pediatrician from that practice that does them so that makes me feel very confident in my choice. Ironically, while Marshall and I were talking I got my first of many daily texts from Tifni - a picture of her and Dr. McLean. Obviously, Dr. McLean was on call today as they were both at the hospital.

After lunch, Marshall and I went to Pier One Imports to get my Valentine's Day gift - my swingasan. I was so excited to finally find a swinging chair for the front porch and even more excited when Marshall agreed to get it for me for Valentine's Day! Yay! He's usually not a big Valentine's Day gift giver so I will take it while I can get it. Now I can't wait for it to be hung up so I can enjoy it. On the way home from Pier One it started snowing! Yes, snowing at the beach. Can you believe it? The temperature dropped dramatically from the time we went out to get lunch to the time we got home from Pier One. So we left the chair in the car knowing there was no way it was going to be hung up today, especially in this weather.

We both were pretty tired and the weather was now cold and snowy so we decided to spend the rest of the night in. On the way home we had stopped at the grocery store to pick up stuff to make chili for dinner. It seemed only fitting for such a cold night. While I was making dinner Marshall mentioned to JoJo if she wanted a bath and she walked straight into the guest bathroom. Bath time it was. Marshall bathed JoJo and then she came and got on her bed in front of the fire to dry herself. It only snowed for about 30 minutes and it didn't really stick to anything but it was fun while it lasted.

35 Weeks

My Mom called me this morning to come have lunch with her so we went to Zaxby's to claim our free lunch that we received back in January when we went. I had a little time to kill before my doctor's appointment, so I went to Home Depot to look for a replacement cabinet handle to no avail. Then I stopped by Walmart at Monkey Junction to pick up some things. I left there and headed to the Porter's Neck office for my doctor's appointment with Dr. McLean.

I had my BPP ultrasound test first which the baby was very cooperative for and passed pretty quickly. The baby is 35 weeks now! His heartbeat was 142. My amniotic fluid level was slightly high. Normal is between 19-20 and I'm at a 21. Dr. McLean said she wasn't concerned about it but it could make me slightly uncomfortable. Great, as if I'm already not uncomfortable enough. I talked to Dr. McLean what the amnio would involve and I have to admit I'm not thrilled about the really long needle. She did tell me that sometimes they numb the skin first and I hope that sometimes will be with me! She did say she would be the one preforming the amnio along with an ultrasound tech and Tifni has switched to triage so she will be there too. Well, I couldn't ask for better people to be doing it and of course Marshall will be there so it will all be okay. She did tell me some rather disappointing news though. Originally, we had thought we would have the results of the amnio back within a couple of hours and would just stay at the hospital until we knew the results. However, Dr. McLean has since learned that the lab at our hospital no longer has the equipment to do the labwork in house. Now the sample has to be driven to Greensboro to be processed so it takes a day to get the results back. She said we would either know Friday evening or early Saturday morning. As soon as she gets the results she will call me and let me know when we can induce. The earliest we will be able to go in and start the induction will be Saturday, March 2nd. It's a bummer but as long as we can go in then and start the induction I will be happy. This is the last time I will see Dr. McLean before the amnio as she will be on vacation next week with her 5 year old daughter to Disney World. Heartbeat 142. Next week I have to see Dr. Carroll whom I've never met before. Tifni assured me that she was really nice and Dr. McLean did too. Dr. McLean also told me they were neighbors so if Dr. Carroll was mean to me to let her know. Next week I have a cervical exam as well as a Group B streptococcus screening. Yuck. At least I luck out and only have to have one cervical exam (other than the ones in the hospital while being induced). Most women have to endure them for 4-5 weeks.

After my appointment I ran by the house to let JoJo out and feed her and then went and met Stacey for dinner at Indochine. I'm glad she will go with me since Marshall is so anti Indochine. He's crazy if you ask me. They have a huge menu and if he tried something other than Pad Thai he might actually find there is something he really likes on it. I came home and did some knitting while I waited for Marshall to get home. I worked on the baby blanket I had started last year when I was pregnant with Nolan. I finally finished it and started working on adding a border to it. I finished adding a border on one side of the blanket before Marshall got home.

Valentine's Day

For the past week, JoJo hasn't attempted to get into bed at all, even in the mornings until this morning. Without any prompting at all, she jumped into bed when she heard my alarm go off and came right up to my pillow and buried her head into me. Usually when she gets into bed she either finds a spot near my feet or confiscates Marshall's empty side of the bed, but this morning she was all about the Valentine's Day snuggles.

Susan and I went to Ukulele lessons this morning so that this evening we could go to Zumba. We learned 2 new songs - "Don't worry be happy" and "Ain't no bugs on me." We also learned how to tune, but for now I'm going to stick to using my electronic tuner. Since I was across the street from Surfhouse, I decided to stop by there and pick up lunch to take home. After lunch, I went and had my hair cut. I figured I should get it trimmed now while I could since pretty soon a baby was going to take precedence over all else. Stacey texted me after my appointment and we decided to do Fuzzy Peach in Leland for an afternoon treat. So I headed over to her house where she was waiting for Oliver. On the way, I texted Tifni to see if she and her kids wanted to meet us there and it just so happened she was already planning on taking her kids there after she picked up Parker from school. When I got to Stacey's, MaryBeth was just dropping off Oliver. We loaded up Oliver's carseat in Stacey's jeep and headed off to Walmart. I needed to get a few things from Walmart and I hate the one that is near me so we decided to go to the Leland Walmart first. Of course, with Oliver in tow we couldn't go to Walmart and not walk down the vacuum aisle. That kid is obsessed with vacuums. I've never seen a kid's face light up going down the vacuum aisle the way Oliver's did. It was so cute. There were two aisles of vacuums and we had to go down them both. He pointed out which vacuum his mom had, which one Stacey had and then wanted to know which kind I had. When we left Walmart, we drove across the parking lot to Fuzzy Peach. Tifni and her kids weren't there yet so we went ahead and made our bowls and grabbed a table. They came in shortly thereafter and we all enjoyed some frozen yogurt treats together. Parker was very chatty today and him and Oliver had fun talking and playing checkers (their version of playing was to simply fill up the board with all the chips).

I left Stacey's and headed back to my house to change quickly and head to Babs McDance for the Zumba One Billion Rising dance. All the money raised tonight went to fight domestic violence. It was a great cause and a great thing to do on Valentine's Day. Especially since my Valentine was all the way in Charleston, SC. The dance was from 5:30-7pm but I stopped dancing around 6:40pm. An hour was about all I could handle, plus it was getting so hot in there we were steaming up the windows. I waited around though for Susan to finish dancing and I just enjoyed hanging out and listening to the music. It was a fun, but busy day so I was glad to finally get home, shower and put my PJs on.