Almost Parents

Chris and I will be parents sometime tomorrow! (unless he reaaaallly takes his time and then I guess it could be tuesday). We are both pretty excited and just ready for something to happen. I don't really feel nervous at this point but I don't really know fully what to expect so I'm trying not to anticipate anything and to just be prepared to take it in stride. We both relaxed today and took naps :). I'm not sure I will sleep much tonight so I'm glad we both got some rest this afternoon. We have to be at the hospital at 6am.

Finally have a few pics for ya.

This first one is kinda random but funny. It's Chris and me at Fazoil's. It was taken earlier this week when we went with Erin. She took it cause we have spent MANY dinners at fazoils throughout the pregnancy. It's weird cause we never went there much before but for some reason it sounded good to both of us a lot and they have some pretty good deals (espeically Thursdays) so we ended up there a whole lot. :) Basically we are recognized by the staff. Haha. Chris took this yesterday. This is a pretty common site. Our dog thinks she is a person and she LOVES laying with us like this. Since I've been pregnant, especially lately, she doesn't spend much time laying with Chris. I'm wondering what she will do once her pillow is gone and there is a baby in her place. ;)
Don't you just wanna squeeze her!! :)

Ok here is the last and final prego picture. I feel huge next to the tree. Haha! I think its the angle...and the fact that my tummy is quite large. :) I have been very uncomfortable this whole week and in lots of pain...it's hard to get up once I'm laying down. It's pretty funny though too.

Well, we would appreciate everyone's prayers tomorrow. I hope things go smoothly and quickly and safely. Hopefully we will be posting pictures of a beautiful, perfect little boy soon!!

I will be a mommy very soon..wow!

Drumroll Please......

I had another appointment today. 38 wks and 3 days according to the doctors schedule. Everything was pretty much the same, aside from the fact that I am in pain a lot more (this kid is getting bigger and bigger the longer he waits). :)
We did FINALLY get some ultimatum though - if nothing happens before then - we will be inducing on Monday. Yes, November 30th!
The doctor did a "thorough" exam in order to - as she said - try to help contractions start on their own. I like to call it - OWWW!!! Haha, it did NOT feel good. But so far nothing has happened today so we will see.
I know that once the process starts there is no stopping it but I feel ok about the fact that I at least know something will be set up for Monday if nothing happens before. I am just so tired of anticipating!!
Please be praying for us and the baby. Chris is really in his busy season at work, poor guy, and he is trying to get everything lined up and under control for the next several days so that he can be free when the time comes. I am anxious but trying not to anticipate pain or complication or the overwhelming experience we will be going through once he is here. :) I just wanna see him too!!
I've been having migranes the last couple of days. Didn't end up seeing the neurologist because he was "called out of the country on an emergency"...which they failed to let me know until I was ON MY WAY to the appointment. But really its ok with me cause I would rather see if there is still a problem after the baby is born or if it just seems to be pregnancy related before I go to a neurologist anyway. Doctor was fine with that.
Who knows maybe we will have a Thanksgiving baby....then we would all be holidays! (technically - if april fools counts). ;)
I know I have been HORRIBLE about posting pictures. I need to take some now since this is apparently the end. I am so huge I don't see how I continue to grow but it sure does hurt at this point. :) I barely have any clothes that cover me up. Anyway, I will try to remember to take a few pics but if not - you will have to wait til there is a baby to see pictures of. :) Woohoo!

So the Dr. Says...

I'm sitting here in Chris's office - still no luck with the internet at home. Thought I would give a little update cause I had another appointment this afternoon.
Nothing has changed since last Monday according to the doctor. Still 3 and 1/2 cm and 90% effaced. She says the baby is still sitting really low. (I am definitely well aware of that- VERY sore pretty much all the time now)
It took her a loooooooong time to find the heartbeat today which has never happened before but he kept moving out of the way. I would have been freaking out a little if I hadn't felt him kicking himself away from the machine. It was kinda funny. She said it's been a while since she has had one try THAT hard to get away from her. :) Once we FOUND the heartbeat it was fine though.
She said she was going to "let me go" one more week. We go back next tuesday and I guess if nothing has happened by then we will discuss inducing and stuff. She said she doesn't really think I will still be pregnant by this time next week though. I would be more excited about that comment....except that she told me 2 weeks ago that she didn't think I would still be pregnant last weekend, so really that could mean nothing.
I am getting pretty anxious. It's not fun to be this big and uncomfortable and STILL waiting on my baby boy to get here. I feel like we mentally prepared ourselves 2 weeks ago and nothing has happened and I'm just getting impatient. :)
On a random/interesting/weird note: I have had a couple of spells where I have had weird vision issues in the last week and 1/2. I didn't think much about it cause I know people say your vision can get worse while you are pregnant, but when I told the doctor today she seemed a little concerned. Basically, 2 separate times I have had spans where I cannot see correctly - as in, I try to read something and can only see half of a sentance or only portions of a page or screen and no matter how hard I try - I cannot focus on the rest. It's the strangest feeling. What made it a little more concerning is that the first time it happened I was also slurring words for a few minutes. (I think I tried to say one sentance to Chris 4 times in a row and there was one word I just COULD NOT spit out no matter how hard I tried.) I also tried to type an email during that time and had to keep erasing it because I was typing things....just not the words I was trying to type. It was SOO weird. That only lasted a few minutes so I let it go. Then my vision went all wacky again yesterday at lunch for about 45 minutes (no slurring this time) so I figured I'd better ask about it. The doctor said it COULD be nothing but that if it happens again she wants us to drop what we are doing and see her immediately because she wants to do some tests with my blood pressure. My BP has always been really good, even throughout the whole pregnancy. The doctor always tells me that mine BP when I'm pregnant is better than hers is when she isn't pregnant. But it's possible that something could be triggering it to increase at certain times and she just wants to check it if something similar happens with my vision or speech again. Hopefully it won't happen again.
So that is basically it. Every morning I wake up and wonder what I am waiting to feel that will let me know that I am in labor. I'm not looking forward to the pain, but I am looking forward to something happening that means our baby will be HERE. :)
Please oh please let him come soon! - as long as it's healthy for him to do so of course. ;)

A lots has happened

This is Chris. I am making my first appearance on this blog. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks so I thought I'd post a little update. Our internet at home has not been working lately, so Christie has not been able to get online much. Here is the latest:

A week ago Monday we went to the doctor. It was an educational visit for me. I learned a lot of new vocab words like dialated and effaced. Apparently our baby is ready to get life started sooner than later, because we were still over a month from our due date and she was 3 cm dialated and 80% effaced. I was not shocked until the doctor explained what these new words meant... then I was a little shocked. She seemed to think that there was a good chance that she would go into labor before 37 weeks, which would be considered full term. Today, marks 37 weeks, so we are pretty relieved that he did not come before today. Apparently our hospital has a policy that if a baby is born before 37 weeks (even 5 minutes before) they automatically keep the baby for the first 6 hours to monitor the health. We are thankful to be able to avoid that.

So basically what I am saying is that we are in hurry up and wait mode. We went into a little panic that day after the appointment. We rushed to pack a bag for the hospital and get a car seat so that we could actually take him home if he came early. Here we are, two weeks later, still waiting. We are still 3 weeks before the due date, but we are awaiting Zachary Paul Kauffman's arrival any day now. I'll keep you posted.

Baby Shower

So yesterday my friend Erin threw us a baby shower. This is me and Erin. :) We have been close friends since high school.
My family also helped out a lot. My mom helped with the cooking and dad ran the grill. This shower was set up to be "guy friendly" :).
We had a cookout and no shower games. It was a lot of fun!
(ps - love how Lily posed for this picture)


Since Chris was invited to this one, he got to help open the wonderful gifts. :)

The food was great!

We really appreciate everything that Erin and Mom did to make the shower great and all of our friends that joined us and helped us get ready to the baby to be here.

I wish we had a picture of all of the guests together. It was cool to have friends from church, college, work, and family all together in the same place. :)

We missed those of you who couldn't be there. (And susan, I did not pull your picture out but we know you guys were still there in spirit. :) We do hope to see you soon though and to meet Rilynn!)

Only 5 and 1/2 weeks to go! I have another appointment this Thursday and hope to find out more about how things are progressing and if they think he will come "on time"....I don't know if they can give any prediction at this point but I am curious!

I feel like my stomach is weighing me down now. :) When I turn over at night I have to support it or its really hard to move! Haha. I'm starting to have more discomfort but still can't really complain. I feel like I have had a great pregnancy compared to the struggles and issues that some people have so even though its getting more and more uncomfortable, I don't wanna fuss too much.

The biggest pain so far has been some lower back pain that comes and goes. Last Friday it was pretty consistently bad but it went away by Saturday. It's probably just the weight of my stomach or how the baby is laying or something.

He is still quite active.

Some days I am soooooo ready to see him and have him here. I also know that I should be appreciating the last few weeks of baby-free life, which I am trying to do also. I tend to have adjustment issues with big changes so I am trying to prepare for the first weeks to be emotionally difficult , but we will see. :) It's almost time!!

lil update

Well I was gonna wait til I had some pictures from the shower my sister threw for me last weekend to post antyhing but I have not been able to get them from my cousin yet so they will have to wait. Until then...thought I would update a little since I haven't in quite a while.

Lets see...

I am 33 and 1/2 weeks along now.

I feel huge.

No swelling yet, which is great. Still wearing the wedding rings and everything.

I have no clothes that fit....well, no long pants really which is difficult since it's been kinda chilly this week...I don't wanna buy anything else though - we are so close! Haha.

Doctors appointment this last Friday went well. I started getting a little sick on Thursday. It kinda came out of nowhere and hit fast - sore throat and drainage - but the doctor said my lungs sound clear and I didn't have a fever or anything. She suggested sudafed and rest and said to call if I get a cough or fever at anytime...so far, just drainage and stuffy head and the sudafed does help....so did the amazing amount of sleep I got on Friday afternoon and night. :)

I tried to get a flu shot for a few days last week, the only problem is NO ONE HAS ANY!! Everywhere I have called is either totally out, or out of the ones that don't have much mercury and that is the kind that pregnant people have to get. I don't understand why they even make one with mercury at all, but what do I know. My doctor said it's fine cause the flu that it is for does not actually come around until January, but it will be pointless for me to get one if it's not soon cause it takes the immunoglobins 4 weeks to transfer to the baby and if it's not going to eventually help the baby I'm not planning on getting it.

The baby hurts me a lot more now. Haha, he tries to stick his arms and legs in places that they can't go....like through my stomach or around my sides. It's funny looking but painful. :) Least he's movin around well.

My sister and brother in law came in from Memphis last weekend for the shower that she threw for us. It was great and lots of fun. Things are starting to come together in the nursery.

I had an emotional week a couple of weeks ago - where by the time I got home from work I would just be crying for no reason at all...it was weird cause I haven't had too much craziness as far as my emotions go throughout the pregnancy but my hormones must have been up to something then. It was funny but not funny at the same time cause i really was emotional...I just didn't know why. :)

It's crazy to think that we will have a baby here in like 6 and 1/2 weeks. Sometimes that seems like a long time and sometimes it doesn't at all.

So I guess that is all the news I can think of to share for now. I haven't taken pictures of my pregnant self in a while - hasn't seemed that appealing - haha!

Gotta go - I need to pee again. ;)

Hmmmmmmm....???

Chris and I have been talking about how excited we are about seeing our baby and seeing the different ways that he is a mix of us.

Some babies/children don't really look like their parents much, but usually there are at least some similarities.

.... I just think it would be great if our baby gets Chris's hair. :)

I love those curls! I just wanna squeeze him! :)

I had an appointment today. I'm still measuring well and doing fine. My numbers on the 3 hour glucose test were MUCH lower than the 1 hr test, which is good but weird how that worked out. I have been having some false contractions but no real ones yet. I honestly didn't know that it was possible to be having real ones yet but apparently it is. Other than that I have just been increasingly uncomfortable. I guess I didn't expect much more discomfort until closer to the end but I guess I am getting bigger all the time and so is he so it's bound to happen.

The baby is head down and hopefully stays that way. That does explain the increased pressure on my bladder recently...there is a head pushing on it. :)

They want me to get a flu shot....boooooooo!! I REALLY was hoping that wouldn't come up because I NEVER get a flu shot and NEVER get the flu. I talked to the doctor about it and she said I certainly don't have to but that they strongly recommend it because if you DO get it while you are pregnant there are far worse problems than if you aren't pregnant. Also, there are immunoglobins (sp?) in the shot that actually strengthen your immune system and those pass to the baby which helps it have a stronger immune system as a newborn. Since it will still be flu season when the baby is born that would be a good thing. I will probably go ahead and get it but I'm not too excited about it. I'm afraid that it will somehow make me more likely to get the flu in the future and since I never have it, I don't want to do anything that could alter that. Decisions, decisions. :(

Other than that things are going well. I am very excited that the weather is getting cooler and have even had the windows open some which I hope doesn't end up making me sick but I just LOVE it. I am so excited that autumn is here! It's my most favorite.
My sister and her husband are coming next weekend and she and my mom are throwing me a shower. I am very excited and happy to get to see them!