Maternity pictures

Dear AnnaBella Jane,

You are in my tummy & based upon your continuous movement having a dance party. You are also breech which has ceased all good imagines during the doctor's visits. You are growing quickly & we are trucking right along. They last thing on our maternity checklist is pictures. You must know that this is really just your first set of pictures & you will spend your life wondering if Hon has a camera permanently attached to her. She loves taking pictures & does an amazing job. Easton has about every special, funny, holiday & cute outfit moment captured by Hon. So get ready little girl, Hon's ready to take your close-up!

Final Countdown

Tomorrow is one month until my Princess arrives. Hibdon has been anxiously tracking every day on his phone, sending me updates on when AnnaBella will be here. He walks in to every appointment saying, "I'm just ready for her to get here". Well, I am too!!!!

We have been preparing pretty well. Hon has been over helping get the nursery organized, Nana-Great has helped with washing all the sweet little outfits, CC has finished furniture and helped with the hospital bag. They have gotten us together. Hibdon and I have been to a BF class, infant massage class, Safety class is coming up, installed the car seat, had consultations with Pediatricians. We have watched endless YouTube videos on C-Sections. We are feeling more & more like a parents. I'm super ready.

However, AnnaBella is not quite ready. She's got a few more weeks to grow & develop. She's still breech & running out of room. My stomach muscles constantly feel tender & bruised. Her little head just pushes out alllllll the time right below my sternum. I've started getting these little pushes on my left side. I think these might be her little feet. It just melts my heart! I continually rub my belly. I've read where the baby can feel the touch & understand the affection. Every car ride home from work, I sing & rub my belly. I consider it Momma-ABJ time.

So I'll continue to sing Wagon Wheel, Tom Petty, Eric Church & Sheryl Crow, rub my belly & patiently wait for AnnaBella Jane to come see her Momma & Daddy. We are WAITING!

Week 33 Sucked

Nine times out of ten, I'm a very positive person. I'm really thankful & typically see the glass half full. So when I say week 33 sucked, you can understand it sucked.

I started out the week with food poisoning. Yeah that was awesome. 24 hours of not wanting to even drink water. Then once I was over that I got a HORRIBLE sinus infection. Apparently your sinus infections can settle in various sinal (is that a word?) cavities. Mine decided to settle in my jaw, causing extreme pain. I'm not really a crier. I sometimes cry at sad things, but more likely out of anger & exhaustion. I could not tell you the last time I actually cried out of pain. Well it happened this week. It was just awful. Finally I got the right meds & kind of feel better. You can throw in the mad dash to stage my house for a showing & almost passing out on Hon & Nana-great. After that, I'm kind of like a normal person.

Now that I sound like a big whiny baby I will tell you the epiphany I had during this time. The first night I was super sick Hibdon was the best ever. Waited on my hand & foot, prayed for me to feel better & just held me when I had taken my max in Tylenol without getting relief. My momma was my rock the entire day Friday. She taxied me around to the various doctors & pharmacy twice. She stayed at my house while I slept, until Hibdon got home. Just in case I woke up. My daddy had a few hours of care taking for me in which he sat by my side alternating a cold rag & heating pad, while looking up what's safe for a pregnant woman to take.

I finally got some sleep & then bright & early we get a text someone wants to look at our house.. I've been sick for a week. It's so not ready. Hon & Nana-great came as fast as they could. We cleaned & staged, I almost passed out, they nursed me back & finished the house.

Today I'm feeling a little better & able to rest because of the village that is still raising me. My epiphany was that we will NEVER move away. I can't be away from this village. Not when they are so so so so good to us. I can't imagine how wonderful they will be to AnnaBella. I for one, will not be rolling the dice on that one. Staying close to our village!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was literally one of my favorite pregnant days. Many reasons are obvious time with family, food & Easter candy. Sar-Bear & I have a great love of Easter candy. We even prefer Easter candy over Halloween candy. Seriously, cadberry eggs, peeps, Reese's eggs, Jolley Rancher jelly beans...the list goes on. Well, my Easter was extra sweet this year, even without the candy.

We went to Granny's church. This is our typical move on holidays, Granny loves to see her pew full of grandkids. Her exact words are "it just tickles me". Now how can you not want that?! Our home church in Owasso is rather large, more people attend our church than are in the entire town of Barnsdall. So, going to church in Barnsdall is so different, but it's precious. Going to this tiny church I was raised in is very special to me. It's like hearing one of your favorite songs in acapella. You just want to slow down & soak it in. You want to absorb it all. As I sit in the pew that has been exactly the same, the same row I have always sat in, chewed juicy fruit gum straight from Granny's purse & sang from the same hymnal I was just so humbled & thankful. I just wanted to slow down & soak it all in. I listened to a great message & quietly laughed with my husband as we heard my best friends little boy getting restless behind us. It's home & it was so nice to stop & smell the old wooded church. To remember seeing my Grandpa sit in the deacons pew. To remember my Brother Beaver preaching, laughing & slapping his Bible when he was getting really wound up. It was a great time to slow down.

After church it was straight to GPa & Hon's for my FAVORITE meal. Uncle Speedy & Aunt Sar-Bear joined us. Our table is crammed full of family, food & laughter. Obviously E was the dinner entertainment.

We followed dinner with some good old fashioned outside sitting & sweet tea drinking. AND watching E in the bounce house, because every grandparents house has one of those.

It was a great day, perfect weather & a good feeling pregnancy day. It fed my soul & just filled my cup.

Perception

Perception is a funny thing. It means so many different things to an individual person. There's a whole new level of perception I am reaching through pregnancy.

I'm understanding more that my depth perception is way off. Not only do I run into absolutely every thing, I also tried to slide in between things. I even sometimes suck in to get through. Funny right? Yeah, it doesn't really work. I genuinely think I'm skinnier than I really am. I also perceive this when I put clothes on that I purchased a few months ago. I think I'm skinny enough to fit into them & then BOOM I look in the mirror. Yikes, that's really how I look? Some days I get to work feeling pretty chipper & people ask if I feel okay or if I'm "makin it". I don't get it until, I look in the mirror & realized I forgot lipstick & I wore non-waterproof mascara. This usually warrants a trip to my friends desk to ask why she let me look like that all day.

On the other side of perception, people seem to perceive every pregnant woman is okay with you making comments about the size of her belly, touching her belly or giving her all your maternal advice on a short elevator ride. Now, not to say I don't appreciate the advice, kind words you say when you rub my belly, but its not my fav.

Another perception is what I had before pregnancy...really a few months ago. Things like breast feeding. I knew that it was good, but it felt bizarre to me. Now, I'm so happy that this bond will be made between my angel & I. A bond that only she & I can have. I perceived myself as nowhere close, not even in the same zip code to being ready to be a Momma. Now I am, I'm excited , I'm ready, I'm anxious, I'm pumped, I'm waiting.

The last perception is how you perceive the wait. I'm going with Francesca Batestelli. "I've got a front row seat to the longest wait"

Let's get you scheduled!

I had an appointment yesterday with Dr. N. Everything is looking great. However, AnnaBella is still breech. She's is sitting in what Is called the frank position. We went ahead & scheduled the c-section. For May 20th! That's 5 days early....so so crazy. I'm sad I won't be giving birth like most moms, but I've been praying for AnnaBella's birth to be just the way God intended.

I read a little on breech babies there's a mix of information. It's sounds that the turning of babies seems awful & risky. Also, babies still have a chance to turn, but Dr. N thought it would be wise to schedule the c-section. Which had me research c-sections. Good & bad I don't think there's any way to keep you from worrying. Next I wondered if there's any characteristic traits of breech babies. My sweet friend Reg was breech & I still remember her mother saying breech babies are very intelligent. I really didn't find anything backing up her theory, but Reg is smart & loveable making ABJ in good company. I read tons of info on c-section babies. Again, totally not reliable. Stating c-section babies can have timid personalities with separation anxiety issues. These people have obviously not met my c-section nephew. Ill keep my prayer wheel turning that AnnaBella will live up to her beautiful, grace name.

Just some stats on ABJ, she's already 3 lbs 9 oz. She may be a little on the chunky side. I'm guessing Momma's love of hot fudge sundaes & Daddy's love to spoil Momma has gone straight to making a chunky baby. That's okay I hope she's nice & plump, chunky babies are the cutest. (I do need to lay off the junk!! It's time I start reeling myself in. ) We couldn't get any face shots & may not be able to after this point. We did however get to see her sweet little head with hair!! Why I am so in love with this I'm not sure, but I was a bald baby/toddler. Also, I have truly felt the phrase loving every hair on your head.

Pregnancy at this point isn't terrible, but sleeping is getting harder. Swelling is getting on my nerves. I'm way more hungry than ever. My bp has been spot on textbook, blood sugar great, thyroid is steady, but still low & still anemic. I have gained 30 lbs (wowzers). Dr. N said I have about 5 more lbs to stay in the normal range, but he's not worried. He also said most women loose at the end because there's no room for food & baby. I think he was trying to make me feel better, but that sounds like it straight sucks.

Oh well chubby baby cheeks, chubby Momma thighs, c-sections, breech baby are just what God ordered & lll love them all.

Hurry up May 20th. Momma needs to see her baby girl.

Showered with L-O-V-E

On Sunday, March 17th most people were celebrating a little something called St. Patty's Day. They put on their green outfits, probably ate some type of green food & indulged in the annual tradition of green beer.

I woke up very early with eager anticipation of something different. I didn't put on anything green. I slipped into a pink dress. Why pink? It was the baby shower day of my sweet baby girl. It was a day in which I was completely humbled by how richly I am blessed. I was so thankful at not only the people who came, the thoughtful gifts they provided, but also the kind, sweet, touching words they said. I felt more loved than I could have imagined.

Also, the amount of effort & detail my sweet Sar-Bear, Tator & Aub put into throwing this shower was so touching. Seriously, looked straight out of Pinterest. Every detail was planned to a T. Between the adorable decoration, the amazing food, the fun idea of notes on AnnaBella's diapers, birthday cards for ABJ at every age & bringing a book instead of a card...it made the shower picture perfect.

The gifts were perfect, some straight from the registry, some hand made & others were picked from Mommy experience. I loved every single one of them. I by far don't have a favorite. I loved and needed everything I received. A few standouts were the adorable handmade outfits from Stasia, Randi-dolls ginormous box of clothes, shoes & accessories & the sweet perfect embroidered blanket from Duke.

Everything was overwhelming sweet & perfect. I'm so thankful, honored & humbled at the crowd of people who are so excited for my little angel's
arrival. I think the shower made my anxiousness grown ten-fold. ABJ get here already!!!!!