What a Wonderful Christmas!!

Christmas this year was fantastic! I enjoyed every second of spending time with family and friends but the holidays definitely flew by! I got to see Amber on Wednesday; she was in from New York and brought her super sweet boyfriend Kenny. Thursday morning we woke up and spent Christmas Eve with Eric's family. We got such awesome gifts and baby Graham racked up on some goodies. I woke up Christmas morning and drove to Florence at 4 am when Eric woke up for work. I just don't see how he does it every 3rd day! I was fighting sleep the entire time, and I had to pee about 20 minutes into the drive. I get to Cullman, and of course no gas stations are open. I get to Moulton, and of course no gas stations are open there. As I start to panic, I call Eric to ask if it would be inappropriate to go behind a building (he yelled at me for thinking that would be safe haha). I look in my rear view mirror, and I see blue lights behind me. GREAT! I am getting pulled over! This very country, overweight cop saunters up to my window and says, "sweetie, whatcha doing out this early?" I explain that my husband who is a firefighter had to work on Christmas Eve, so I was driving to Florence to spend the holiday with my family, and that I was pregnant and desperately needed to use the restroom. He said "honey, you aint goin anywhere here. Theys all closed. I can let you in City Hall if you need it or you can hold it 30 more miles." He told me I was going 70mph down through town and needed to keep that little baby safe and slow it down, and let me go. Thank the Lord! I have never been pulled over before this incident, and I definitely did not want to ruin my Christmas! I don;t know if it was the fact that I had a firefighter tag, was pregnant, was driving on Christmas, had to pee, or a combo of all of these things, but that sweet little Moulton cop made my day! I think he felt sorry for me. After safely arriving to Florence, I had another fantastic day of giving and receiving, and especially enjoyed spoiling Graham even more. Here are just a few of the many precious things he got from people, but Graham says thanks to all of his family for thinking of him!! He LOVED everything!!

Yesterday I got to go and see Robin and Jared's new angel, Reese. She is 2 weeks old and is absolutely precious! Eric, my mom, and I all got to hold her and she was so good- she basically just slept while we ooed and aahed at how beautiful she was. It made me even more ready to see my little tot! Krystal tried so hard to hear or feel him all weekend but he was being silly and would not cooperate. She even had her stethoscope out mashing all over my belly, but I think all she heard was all of my Christmas food sloshing around that I had eaten haha! He kicks all day long, so I know Eric and everyone else will feel him very soon! I also got to see my pregnant friend Beth Sunday at her baby shower! I love sharing these special moments with other pregnant friends. SPEAKING OF, I have always wanted to be pregnant at the same time as my best friend. After waiting rather impatiently for this to happen for 6 months, I can finally say that Lesley and I are pregnant together! I could not be more excited right now; every time I think about it I cannot stop smiling! She is probably about 8 weeks and got to see that precious little baby this morning on the ultrasound! So CONGRATS Les, I love you and wish you a very easy pregnancy with NO morning sickness!

Healthy little man!!

We had a fantastic day today!! We went to UAB this morning to the Dept. of Genetics to have our genetic counselling appt. This was a referral from our doctor due to Eric's brother having a rare form of dwarfism called Seckel's Syndrome. Eric and I had to watch an educational video on amniocentesis, which I had opted out of from the beginning of my pregnancy. No Thank you, I do not want a needle stuck in my stomach dangerously close to my sweet little baby to find out whether or not he has a birth defect and risk a miscarriage. I understand why some mothers to be would want this done, but personally, I am at peace with what God has created inside of me. He cannot be changed, so I am content without the amnio!! After the video, Eric and I met with our Genetic Counsellor. We discussed Matt's condition in detail and the likelihood of our baby having Seckel's. I have already done plenty of research on the syndrome so I pretty much knew that she would reassure us that the chances are slim to non of him having it. The syndrome is so rare, and therefore there are very few carriers of the dominant gene in this world. It is likely that Eric is a carrier, but the chances of me being a carrier is like one in millions (maybe even billions). After the meeting, we got to go get a targeted, or level 3 ultrasound. A more qualified ultrasound tech and a maternal fetal medicine doctor performed this, and it was awesome!!!!! We got to see every nook and cranny of that little boy! His head and brain development was perfect, as was his heart and all limbs. He was even above average (59th percentile) in weight at 1.1 pounds! We got a great view of his side profile and could even see his little ears! So precious! I could have stayed there for hours watching him. He was a little stubborn when it came to showing his privates. Although we knew he was a little boy, it took some prodding and shaking to get him to move and unclench his thighs haha! I will post pics of the little guy as soon as I ge ta chance. I have to run and do some last minute Christmas shopping, and I am hoping these swollen feet won't get any worse tonight because I need to be productive!

Kicking and Fluttering!!!

I have always thought that the most amazing feeling in the world was being in love with my wonderful husband, being able to help people hear better everyday, kisses from my pups, relaxing with friends and family, and being inside Jordan-Hare stadium during a big win. I am adding a big one to my list: feeling Graham move around in my tummy. For the past few weeks, I have been feeling some weird sensations at odd times in my stomach, but I haven't been able to say for sure if it was Graham or not until about a week ago. The feeling is so hard to describe; it is almost like gas bubbles, or light thumping and it occurs around 3 or 4 pm and again at night when I am going to sleep. For the past two days I have also felt him rumbling around in there throughout the day while I am sitting still. The sense of relief I have now that he is moving is huge! I have proof, everyday, that my baby is still alive and well in my tummy and I don't have to wait once a month to verify this using the Dr's doppler. My tummy is growing daily and getting rock hard- I guess my pre-pregnancy pudge has migrated to other areas on my body! One monumental change is the appearance of my belly button. I have always had an innie that you would get lost inside of- until now. Eric pointed out the fact that my belly button now is so shallow that you can barely get a fingertip in it. I forsee the outie making its appearance any day now!

On an exciting note, one of my good friends will be a mommy within a week! It has been such a blessing to be able to share being pregnant with her, and I get goosebumps everytime I think that she is about to be a mom! it reminds me of how fast being pregnant flies by! I love you Robin, and I am praying daily for a perfect delivery! I cannot wait to see that sweet little girl! Below are some pics of my growing belly from 16 weeks to 20 weeks

16 weeks:

17 weeks:
19 weeks:

20.5 weeks:

We're Halfway There!!!!

Today marks the halfway point in my pregnancy- I am 20 weeks!!!!! I woke up singing the Bon Jovi song "Living On A Prayer" as I was getting ready for work, determined to have a wonderful day, and an unfortunate event occured. Since I am running out of work clothes more frequently nowadays, I decided to throw on one of my jersey dresses with a pair of tights and be comfortable today. I have never had an issue with pantyhose because I always have bought them a few sizes too big so it isn't an act of God to get them on. On this day, I was in for a rude awakening. I got to about my knees with my tights and the "give" in my once roomy tights were not "giving" any more. I finally got them to my hips and thought, "ok, the worst is over". Boy was I wrong. After much yanking and attempted stretching, my belly was tucked snugly inside my tight tights. I then reached down to slide on my flats and BAM, they rolled all the way down under my belly. So here I sit at work, with my pantyhose maxed out and rolled up under my belly, afraid my legs are losing all circulation. My lunch hour will be spent shopping for maternity hose! It is amazing how rapidly your body changes to accommodate for a baby! I know it varies from person to person, and I also know that it will be worth it in the end when Graham makes his appearance into the world!
My friends and family have been fantastic to Eric and I! They have sat on the phone and responded to my emails about nursery design, have gone to baby boutiques with me to ooh and aah over baby gear, and have even started getting baby Graham some goodies. Mom, Dad, Donna, Leo, Krystal, Lesley, and Lena have already shopped for my little man, and I LOVED every gift he has received so Thank You!
I am going to post updated belly pics so you all can see just how much Graham is growing!