It's 2am...

And Im up with heartburn. Ugh.

I'm officially a Woman of Leisure!

As of about 11am this morning I am officially on maternity leave and it couldn't have come any sooner! I wish I could go to Stone Mountain or the pool or just out somewhere to enjoy it - but its way too hot and Im way too swollen. All I can do at this point is small projects around the house.

We had our last OB appt this morning and I was 1 cm dialated and 50% effaced. Its not much - but its better than nothing which is what I was last Friday when I went in. We got our paperwork for the induction and now we just wait until the hospital calls us on Monday night and tells us there's a bed ready for me!

38 weeks

Woo hoo! Its our last belly pic! We won't be making it to 40 weeks because we decided to get induced at 39 weeks. We'll go into the hospital next Monday night to get things started and Baby Girl Herndon will be born next Tuesday (if all goes well). We are really excited and definitely ready.

I'm glad this is our last week because all of my maternity clothes are too small! You know you're done when you can't even fit into the stretchy maternity pants anymore. I really can't imagine getting any bigger.

Im up to 4-5 shots of insulin a day which sucks. I won't miss that. Im feeling achey and crampy and generally uncomfortable but I think its to be expected at this point. I understand why people start maternity leave a little early. Its hard getting up and getting out every morning to go to work thats for sure. I know I'll enjoy that last paycheck though.

We are taking advantage of our last few nights of being a couple with no kids and went to one of our favorite local restaurants Feast with our friends Lanny and Steffani tonight. We're making an effort to go to our favorite non-kid friendly restaurants this week because we don't know when we'll be back again. We'll hit Watershed and Wahoo before Monday.

37 week appt

I had my 37 week appt today. We had our ultrasound... which was good. Baby Girl is still hanging in there sucking on her fingers and moving around just as she should. The ultrasound said she was measuring at 7 lbs 10 oz (yikes) but the tech said she thought she was more likely around 7 lbs. Either way... we still have two more weeks of growing to do and 8 lbs is big enough for me! I would post a pic of my ultrasound but its even more blurry and hard to make out than last week. Im telling you - we need to start a collection for a new ultrasound machine for my drs office.

I than had my internal exam with my dr and I won't go into details about how unpleasant it was... but Im not dialated at all. My dr did bring up the "i" word (induction) at 39 weeks. I guess its standard for diabetics to get induced at 39 weeks for various medical reasons that all sounded very reasonable. Its up to me and Jim if we want to do it. Im really up in the air about it. Ive always been somewhat against induction because it seems unnatural to force your body into doing something its not ready to do... but there's something very comforting about having a somewhat planned labor. We would also do it on the day my dr will be at the hospital so I will definitely have her delivering me. So... we're thinking about it. I'll keep you posted on what we decide. (Im secretly hoping my body goes into labor between now and then and makes up our mind for us!!!)

37 weeks

3 more to go!

I can't believe it. Things are going okay. Besides the RECORD HEAT WAVE here in Atlanta... things are kind of same ole same ole for us.

I had my NST today and everything was fine. Baby's heartrate was good and she was moving around quite a bit. Only needed cold water today to get her moving (no Diet Coke). I do feel a little guilty doing that - its kind of like chinese water torture or something. She clearly doesn't like it when I wake her up with a nice cold water bath. I hope she doesn't hold it against me when she comes out. No one tell her please!

I think Im officially "nesting." Im not quite as physically tired at night (despite the ridiculous heat) and I just want to clean and straighten up everything (well, more than usual which Im sure is scary to Jim). I'm trying to not go overboard with it and Jim's been understanding so far.

Our neighbors Deliana, Gabe and their 4 month old Sophia came over tonight and dropped off a gift for the baby. It was two footie pajamas and a hat/bib/bootie set. Very cute! We have such great neighbors and I can't wait for our girls to play. They'll be 4 months apart.

I am about to run out of blood test strips. What a bummer. They come in 30-day supply so I guess I have to bite the bullet and buy another 30-days worth. I am secretly hoping to only be pregnant another week or two... but oh well. Im going to have to cough up the $20.

Ok- Im off to bed. My next appointment is Friday!

Almost done!

Here she is (I told you the ultrasound machine at my drs office takes horrible pictures!). Its very hard to see... but she's laying down looking up. Its a profile shot with her head on the right side.

She was being very quiet during the ultrasound but she passed all her movement tests. She was playing with her hands moving her little feet and legs around too. There looked to be plenty of amniotic fluid and she is measuring right on time. The tech said she looks to be about 6 lbs - which is perfect.

I also had my first internal exam and the doc said that nothings happenin down there. Kind of a bummer... but its still very early! 4 more days and she's considered full term.

I give her a few more weeks of cooking but then Im ready for her to get here!

36 weeks!

We made it to 36 weeks! Phew. Im exhausted. It doesnt help that the heat index here is 102. I really can't remember is being this hot here. It was 92 at 9:30pm last night!! Jim and I definitely feel like we're in the final few weeks of this pregnancy and we're ready to meet our little girl! Like I said, Im extremely tired. I am pulling muscles left and right, have pains in weird places and am having Braxton Hicks contractions what feels like almost constantly now.

We finished our last childbirthing class last night and even got a diploma to prove we passed! I guess we can officially have our baby now. We have a breastfeeding class on Saturday. We still need to take infant CPR, but Im just too exhausted at this point to take another class. We might take it after she's born.

Im still going for NSTs every Tuesday and ultrasounds on Fridays. This Friday I'll have my first internal exam after the ultrasound so we'll see if I'm dialted at all. I can't wait. I'm not getting my hopes up but its exciting that we're at this stage of things.

The nursery is still almost done. We painted and got the furniture in and then I just pooped out! We still need our rug and glider as well as the decorations on the walls! Jim wants to build a toybox - so until we have that I need to figure out where to put all her new toys!

And last ... Im still working full time! Ugh. Im happy I just have a desk job but getting up and getting out and working a full day is still really hard. My mom wants me to take some time off before the baby is born to relax and get some rest... and while that sounds so GREAT right now, I dont have enough time off to do that. I can only spare a few days and Id like to save those as long as possible.

I think thats it for now. I'll make sure to fill everyone in after our appointment on Friday!

Freckles... what?

Yup. I now have freckles. I think they're pretty funny. I never in a million years thought Id wake up one day with freckles on my face! Its amazing what crazy things pregnancy does to a body.

I tried to take a picture of the freckles for you all but the close up pictures of my face were quite scary. Sorry!

Showered again!

I had a wonderful shower today put on by the great ladies at our church. I shared the shower with another woman who is also due in September which was really fun. It was kind of nice to not have ALL the attention on me. The parlor looked great and I can't believe how creative some of the ladies were! Melissa made a beautiful cake and molded chocolates and Ellen made the cutest little pacifiers made from candy! I will definitely be stealing that idea for the next shower Im a part of! And Steffani did such a great job with the decorations. I loved the baby flower chime toy as the centerpiece for each table! So cute!

Jim and I are so happy that we are a part of that community and Im so thankful to those women for putting so much time and effort into doing something like this for me. So if any of you are reading this... THANK YOU! I really do appreciate it.

Here are some pics for you to enjoy.

P.S. Im so glad Ive only got 4 more weeks of this pregnancy because boy do I look HUGE in these pics! Its my first time looking at pictures of myself and really feeling like I look BIG!

Appointment Update

I had an NST this morning and it went fine. Baby Girl was a little sleepy this morning and I had to drink two Diet Cokes to get things moving and pass the test... but I passed!

I go in on Tuesday for another NST and then we have an ultrasound and drs appt on Friday.