19 Weeks

I went to the doctor on Monday, and everything is fine. The baby has a strong heartbeat - 142 beats per minute. I was relieved to hear that. With everyone telling me that either I don't look pregnant or that I'm not showing much, I was starting to get concerned. Everything is fine though, which means I just have a really blessed pregnancy. No morning sickness, and no excessive weight gain.

I am having some chronic back pain though. The doctor gave me a pamphlet with some exercises I could do to help relieve it, and she gave her approval to get a "maternity massage" at a local spa. She also suggested that I wear a maternity belt for extra support. If it's still a problem, she said she would send me for physical therapy. I'm going to try all of those others things first, though, and hope I don't end up having to do the physical therapy.

I found a prenatal yoga dvd on Monday. I used it last night for the first time and enjoyed it. The Body Flow class that I've been taking at the gym is becoming more difficult each week, so my plan is to just do yoga at home with the dvd. Many of the moves we do in class are on the dvd anyway, and the dvd offers modifications for each trimester.

The ultrasound to find out the gender of the baby is scheduled for October 10th. I will be very glad to tell people whether or not I'm having a boy or a girl. I've lost count of how many times people have asked me that question! Interestingly enough, I've had two random people tell me they think I'm having a boy. One was a cashier at Wal-Mart.

She said, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but...are you expecting?" I smiled and nodded as I thought, Finally, I am showing! When she found out how far along I am and how much longer before I'll find out the gender, she said, "I think it's going to be a boy. Come back and tell me if I was right when you find out."

I thought that was a little odd and decided not to put too much stock into it, since she does, after all, have a 50/50 chance of being right. But I had someone else tell me the same thing today. I had to go back to Savannah today to get some bloodwork done--screening tests for the baby. When the nurse found out how far along I am, her eyes got wide, and she looked at me in disbelief. She said, "Well, you're wearing that baby well. Alot of women would like to be in your shoes." Then she told me about some other pregnant women she's seen who aren't as far along who are much bigger than I am. She said, "You must be having a boy. Girls make you gain a lot of weight, but boys don't."

I will be very glad when I do find out, so people will stop asking me that question and then sharing with me every old wives' tale they've heard!

18 Weeks

I've been feeling some movement lately! Right now, it's just little flutters here and there on my left side. I wouldn't have even known that's what it was, though, if my mom hadn't told me that's what I did when she was pregnant with me. Even though it's faint, it's still pretty exciting.

A question I've been asked a good bit lately is, "Have you been craving anything?" The answer is no, not yet. Occasionally, I've had the desire to eat a nectarine or carrots, but that's about it. Nothing that makes me wake Wes up in the middle of the night to go to the store to buy.

I'm still feeling fine. Cindy says I'm ruining the stereotypical miserable pregnancy. I have been blessed, for a couple reasons. One, many people have been praying for me. Two, I've really been making an effort to take care of myself. I've been eating more of the right foods, trying to get enough rest, exercise, and--this is the big one--eliminate as much stress as possible from my life.

I found a fetal heart monitor and microphone in the store not too long ago. You can use it to listen to the baby's heartbeat, play music for the baby, and talk to the baby. I was really excited about it, and then after I got home realized that I have to be five months pregnant before I can use it. It seemed like the day would never come, but now it's only two weeks away. I can't wait to start talking to the baby, singing to the baby, and reading to the baby!

17 Weeks

I stayed at work late every day last week too, but I did manage to make it to my exercise class on Thursday night. It always makes a world of difference when I go. I sleep better, feel more energized the next day, and end up having a better weekend. When I don't go, I am wiped out on Friday night when I get home from work and don't feel like doing anything. Not so this Friday, though. I went through my normal exercise routine with weights at the gym, and then Wes and I went out later that night.

Saturday was spent at the beach with Wes's mom's family. They said, "Look, she's getting a little belly now!" Finally, someone noticed. It would have been kind of hard not to though, with me wearing a bathing suit. It would've been even more noticeable, too, if I had not been wearing shorts over my bathing suit bottoms.

I had a good time at the beach, although I wasn't able to do all the things I normally do. (I didn't think playing football or bodysurfing would be the wisest things to do.) Most of my time was spent either talking to people or reading a book. I'm reading The Cross and the Switchblade, by David Wilkerson, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I did get my exercise in, though, as I made the long trek to the pier to use the restroom four times.

Sunday was church as usual in the morning, and "Girls' Night Out" in the evening. An elderly lady and one of the youth asked me for a ride in the morning, so my afternoon was cut very short. I'd already planned on getting there early to tune my guitar and practice a little bit before the masses arrived, so that meant I had to leave even earlier to give myself enough time to pick them up. I ended up staying for the whole thing - I didn't want to deprive them of having a good time by making them leave early - but I still got home at a reasonable hour. It ended up being enjoyable too, so that was nice.

Today was relatively easy - a nice, quiet day at work. I have two meetings scheduled for this week - one tomorrow afternoon, and one on Thursday night (yes, night - it starts at 7:00). Hopefully this relaxing pace will continue though, because we have another busy weekend coming up.

Everyone keeps asking me if I've found out the gender of the baby yet. No, not yet. My next appointment is on September 24th. I'll be 19 weeks then, but the doctor won't do the ultrasound until I'm 20 weeks. Honestly, I think some people are more excited to find out than I am. I will admit that Wes and I hope for a boy - and that is very likely given all of the males in his family - but we will be happy either way. Truly, we will be. I'm just so excited to be a mommy, I'll be happy with whatever God decides to give me. We'll see in a few weeks!

16 Weeks...What a Day!

This picture was taken yesterday, just as we were getting ready to leave for church. I am now four months pregnant, which is hard to believe. Just five more to go!

Last week was an extremely busy week at work. Between getting ready for progress reports and my parent meeting on Thursday, I stayed late every day. I did not exercise at all until Saturday, which was not bright on my part. My lower back hurt pretty bad, and I had headaches during the week. After my class on Saturday, though, I felt renewed. No more back pain, no more headaches, no more stress.

The three-day weekend could not have come at a more opportune time. I worked especially hard all week, and so did Wes. He had to pull overtime on Monday and did not get home until 9:30 that night. He also had some travelling to do with different site developments he's been working on, plus all of the normal church stuff.

We did not go anywhere on Friday night, and it rained most of the day on Saturday. When the rain finally did let up, we drove to Lowe's to get some landscaping materials for our yard. The rain had cooled things off dramatically, so we decided to work on our yard some when we got home. Sunday was church as usual in the morning, and then we had the evening off because of it being Labor Day weekend. We decided to do some more landscaping around the front of the house and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Today was an adventure. We went kayaking at the river for the majority of the day. It was an eight mile journey, and one that we'd done before. We left mid-morning, dropped off the truck at Steel Bridge so that we'd have a way to get home at the end of the trip, and then headed back to the Sherrod landing (in my car) at the Ogeechee River. It was a beautiful day - clear blue skies, only a 10% chance of rain, and a cool breeze the majority of the time. The river was a little higher today, thanks to all the rain we've been having lately, so it was also a little easier to navigate. We stopped at the same sandbar we stopped at last month for lunch and rested for about thirty minutes. With only the minnows to keep us company, we basked in the sun and enjoyed the serenity of the day.

About an hour later, though, we had a scary encounter. We were kayaking through a narrow part of the river, and there was a willow tree that had fallen in the water. The current had picked up, so I stayed a good 20 feet or so behind Wes so we wouldn't bump into each other. As we neared the tree, I heard a big splash. I asked Wes what that was, and he said it was probably just a turtle (we'd seen several already). Then all the sudden, a few exclamations escaped from Wes's mouth and he told me to turn around and paddle the other way. I asked him what was wrong, but he just kept telling me to paddle. I turned around as quickly as I could, asking him as I was going if he'd seen an alligator. He wouldn't answer though, just kept directing me the other way.

Finally, when we'd come to the eddy, he told me he'd seen a ten-foot alligator. Little did he know, there had been a sandbar on the other side of that tree, and an alligator had been basking in the sun until we arrived. When she heard us, she got scared, jumped in the water, and swam downstream. I was so terrified that I was shaking, trying to get my breathing back to normal. I asked Wes if he wanted to walk along the bank for a little while. He told me it wouldn't be fun, but I said it would be more fun than getting eaten alive by an alligator! He agreed, so that's what we did. Wes actually dragged both of our kayaks, wanting me to only carry the paddles and lifejackets. Reluctantly, we did get back in the river. We'd come too far to turn around. It is an eight-mile journey downstream, which normally takes us about three hours, and we'd already been travelling for two.

The rest of the trip went without incident, but we were both very glad to see the truck at Steel Bridge! We've been kayaking for a while now, and that is the first time we've had that type of encounter. Out of all the times Wes has been to the river, that is only the second time he's seen an alligator - and he's the one who grew up around here. We had a great time despite that incident, but that will definitely be the last time we do that while I'm pregnant. After the baby gets here, I doubt we'll do it then either.

The interesting thing is, I was praying this morning on the way to the river. I just see prayer as talking to God, and that is something that can happen anywhere, even in the car. So I've been praying in the mornings on the way to work or on the way to my exercise class or on the way to church. Anyway, I was praying this morning about our kayaking excursion, and I prayed specifically for protection from snakes and alligators. I don't know why. I'd never really thought that much about it before. I just sensed a need to do it, I guess. Now I'm so glad I did!

I'm also glad that we had such a relaxing weekend, because we are going to be wide open for the rest of the month of September. We have something to do every single weekend for the rest of the month. Signing off for now...