Went to the doctor today and found out that I gained 8 POUNDS IN FLUIDS THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing I can say is HOLY CRAP!!!! I definitely can feel it though. Josh and I did a video that will probably debut on the site any day now, and you'll get a good look at where probably 4 of those fluid pounds went to (MY FACE)! Needless to say I am cutting down my work weeks now. I am officially only working half days, which is really nice. I have to monitor my weight through the weekend and if I gain like 5 more pounds then I will have to go to the doctor early next week, if I can hold off the swelling and fluids then I can go to my regular appointment next Thursday. No worries though, no protein in my urine and my blood pressure was just slightly off. Stay Tuned...
I have been thinking about posting my testimony for a while now. So, here it goes. I will try and keep it as short as possible, but if you have any questions feel free to post them or email me.
I grew up in Sarasota, Florida. Those of you who might think this is the south/bible belt, WAY WRONG! I was raised in a very non-religious/non-christian environment, no church on Sundays really, etc. If anything dominated my culture for faith, it was the Catholic church. So, I grew up with an occasional attendance to an AWANA or a Sunday service. Nothing really stuck, besides the free candy/donuts and the fact that I had this nudge (wink-cough=holy spirit) that there was a God and some purpose to this life on earth, but not sure what. Crazy as it might sound, but I pondered this question from a young age. I can remember having nightmares as young as 11, wondering what happened when I died. In middle school all my friends were going through confirmation and communion. This raised more questions for me because I was obviously not in this loop. When I reached high school I asked my dad to take me to church - naturally we went to the Catholic church. That lasted a few months, but I didn't seem to find what I was looking for there.
I seemed to always have this question in my head, what is the purpose to this life. I remember statements my mom would make growing up like "you work, pay bills, and then you die." Things like that stayed with me because that just didn't make sense in my small brain. Life had to be more than that. So I pursued what the world put in front of me for purpose. This meant for middle school and high school that the purpose must be to be popular. That is what the world seemed to be telling me anyways, so that is what I pursued. It seemed like that is what all my other friends were pursuing as well, honest or not.
My mom enrolled me in cheerleading in the 6th grade which soon became my idol until I graduated high school, but like I said this gave me purpose and I was good at it. It also seemed to help my end-goal of popularity.
My senior year in high school something happened to my mom, she started going to church all the time, which was really odd in my family. Odd fact here = it was the church across the street from our house, South Biscayne Baptist Church. She kept that up consistently that year. Well, I graduated from high school and moved away from home to go to college. Like every other teenager, I wanted to move away from home to party. Sin wouldn't be so appealing if it weren't so much fun, right? I had fun for a semester, but Christmas was fast approaching. My mom had placed herself in the "Christmas Pageant" at the church she had been attending. When I came home for Christmas she invited the family to come see her in it. Naturally families support each other so we all went to see her. My plans were to go to the pageant see my mom, check, and then go get hammered with my old high school pals.
That night was the very first time I heard the gospel. It was definitely a creative story along with the traditional Christmas story weaved in and out. Pastor John Cross came out on the platform and explained the purpose of the Jesus dying on the cross. This might sound crazy to some, but that always confused me. I had no clue growing up what the deal was with Jesus dying on the cross. So, here I sat 19 years old getting it for the very first time.
For me I did the traditional baptist thing. December 18, 1999 - I signed a card, checked that I had received Christ that night. I know some theologians might disagree with this model, but for me it was real and God saved me that night. He seriously made me a new creature in that very moment. I remember opening my eyes from that prayer and thinking my life is going to be different now. Needless to say I didn't make it to that party that night.
A little more back story, I knew my mom was praying because of subtle things she would say. I was pretty sure that night that she scanned through all the decision cards with her new friends to see if I had made a decision because the next morning she asked me if I wanted to run errands with her and we just so happened to end up at the Christian bookstore (wink-wink). She asked me if I wanted a bible, I was like yeah I do. I remember getting my first bible and leaving the next day going back to college with it in my bag. It was as if my mom and I had a silent conversation about what had taken place. As I look back, we never did define it. Just all of a sudden things were different. So, if you know my family at all, that is just how things work.
To be Continued........
So it is a little bitter sweet that our Bradley class is over. We had our last class last night. It was a bit more of a social fest then lesson packed, but we have been meeting for 12 weeks. We got a ton of information. Josh has been super glad that we took this class. All the information alone if priceless. Obviously these are pictures of all the girls and then a couple shot with our teacher. She is the one with the baby. Bethany was a really great teacher. She definitely loves what she does and it is reflected in her classes. If anybody is interested in taking a class to get them ready for child labor I highly recommend her Bradley class, and so does Josh. Even if you don't care about natural childbirth. There is so much information about all the different options and procedures. You can find her in Louisville Kentucky's Birth care network. Her name is Bethany Collins.
18 days to go!! I am starting to swell this week to the point it is really uncomfortable. Not a fan of this. Not to mention feel huge and really tired. Pelvis hurts too, I definitely can feel some shifting going on. Need to schedule Chiropractor appointment today.
Ok right now my #1 pregnancy frustration is that I can't lift my legs up. This might sound really crazy to some. I don't even know if this is normal so please if you have been pregnant and experienced this please reassure me of my sanity. I can't lift my legs up because my stomach is so big and so low. I try to prop my feet up so that I don't get crazy veins and swollen feet, well now that is getting impossible. Trying to put any clothes on my lower extremities is almost impossible. I feel like I need my mommy again to pull up my training pants. Getting in and out of the car requires lifting my legs as well which I almost have to get a swinging start now. Not to mention sitting I need to spread my legs so that my belly can hang between them. That is something a man does. I feel ridiculous. I have said it many time, but I am done - stick a fork in me.
Now I don't say this complaining about the gift of life God has given us this far. I know someone having trouble having kids might read this and say they would give anything not to be able to lift their legs, but in this pregnancy process it feels like God prepares you emotionally to be ready to get it out at whatever cost (which is told to be painful). Does that make sense?
Last week the meat department at the Fresh Market where I work was 3rd in the company for ribeye sales. I did a cutting demonstration last Saturday and cut 359 lbs. of meat in 4 hours on the floor - special cuts right in front of the customers. I got a nice gift card from the company. Also, because we did such a good job we became the test market for the new Prime Grade Ribeyes that we'll carry next month. We got one case of ribeyes in today and sold out in 5 hours. I managed to get one:
The thing about prime meat is the marbling. Its not the big chunky kind of marble but its the small strands of fat equally distributed in the meat...as you can see in the picture. Usually prime beef only goes to restaurants. Because of the economy, restaurants aren't buying as much beef so more is available for stores like ours to buy. So I got a prime ribeye for dinner. We've carried prime filet mignon in the past few months for holidays, but ribeye is my steak of choice (with some grilled zucchini from our garden).
Josh and I have been taking a very long birthing course called the Bradley Method. In our lessons there is a list of all the things we might need to bring to the hospital. Well, the past two days Josh has been off from work and he has been compiling lists on his big white board of what we need to take to the hospital. It is so darn adorable. I have a bag in my closet half packed, ready for last minute things to throw in it. Josh has his bag pretty much packed and ready to go. We have our snack cooler pretty ready. The baby's bag is packed. It is getting really crazy actually thinking about loading the car for the hospital. OO we also have a basin and towels for the car packed. Josh said when I got up in the middle of the night last night to go to the bathroom I touched his foot and he thought I had said it was time to go to the hospital, but he was still sleeping/dreaming. He said his dreams were all crazy hospital dreams from then on out. I thought that was kind of funny.
How many bags is normal to take to the hospital? Does anybody know of anything that I might want with me that I wouldn't know to bring?
I know it is blurry, but I never think to take pictures when I actually have a camera. So, the camera phone takes most of these. Solution might be smaller camera or better camera phone, hmm?
Shout out to Maggie and Sarah. Maggie gave me this skirt. One of my favorites. Word on the street is her mom (Vena) made it into a maternity skirt too. Sarah gave me the shirt. Have I mention how blessed I was with all the maternity clothes given to me. One more way that God has provided, He is forever faithful :)!
Part of the preparation for welcoming our son into this world has been a spiritual journey. Now I have always held onto the sovereignty of God, well ever since Senior Seminar when I was forced to read "Chosen by God" - that is an entire other story for another blog post. As Josh and I fill our brains with everything we can get our hands on pertaining to child birth and the first months of babydom, we are still forced to our knees in that God is in control. I was reminded of that again this week. Many of you who know me well know how details and organization are all me, and how I like to be prepared for anything that comes my way in life.
I had my Group B Strep test again at the doctors office. Wasn't a huge deal, but if not treated while in labor can be severe for our son. This causes us to change our ideas of laboring at home as long as possible before we go to the hospital. So, like I said this puts us on our knees surrendering that God is in control and even if things don't seem to want to go according to our plan we need to be willing to surrender to it. I keep saying we, really it is I who needs to be in an attitude of surrender.
My midwife, Jesse, is awesome and I am super excited to give birth with her. Josh and I both have been super pleased with all the care and information she has been willing to provide for us in this process. We have no doubts that if something were to come up outside of our plan/control that she'll do her best to inform us of all the options and considerations. With that said, please Lord keep me in an attitude of surrender to a birth plan that falls outside of the one in my medical chart :) This is my prayer for the next few week, feel free to join me in it. I need all the help I can get. My #1 sin = CONTROL, yikes. Forgive me Lord and help me to grow through this.
P.S. I started to have some spontaneous contractions yesterday. :)
Well, my poll on how much my birthday dinner was a total flop. It was 30.00, for the 3 of you who voted. If we would have went out for dinner to get that caliber of meal we would have paid twice as much. Not to mention, making it at home was way healthier for us.
This is absolutely hilarious. Especially the end...remember the video about the kid on the way home from the dentist?
