37 Week Belly Picture

So here I am at 37 weeks!!! The time is really starting to fly by now. I am big and uncomfortable. I don't sleep. I am really ready to meet the baby!


We had the 37 week doctor visit yesterday. Kennedy is still breech so we scheduled a version which is where there doctor will attempt to flip her over to avoid a c-section. We are going in on January 13, two weeks from yesterday, and they will give me an epidural and then attempt to flip her. If she flips they will then take me in to be induced. If the induction works and she stays head down, I will be able to have her by a natural vaginal delivery. If she doesn't flip or she flips back before I deliver her I will go straight in for a c-section. So it looks like right now, unless she flips over on her own or I go into labor before then, her birthday will be January 13th, 2010.

My belly is definitely getting bigger and tighter. There is really no where for her to go so this is why I really don't think that she is going to flip on her own. I think she is comfortable just the way that she is and that is that. You can see that my stretch marks are getting darker by the day, YUCK! The swelling in my hands has also given me carpal tunnel in my right hand, which I just had an injection for and am wearing a splint at night. It's helping a little but my middle and ring finger tips are still a little numb. Oh well, it will all be better in just under 2 weeks!

My belly looks like a balloon that is filled up with too much air and is just about to pop! According to the WebMD emails; she is about 6.5lbs and 21 in long. The doctor doesn't like to guess at the visits so he won't tell me what he thinks she is.

We got our belly pictures taken today. It was really fun. I can't wait to see what they look like. We will get to see them in about 2 weeks or so, I am hoping that we get to see them before Kennedy gets here. They lady that took the pictures is also coming back before Kennedy is 10 days old to take pictures of her too!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone! We are enjoying a nice relaxing Christmas at home. Our very first and for a very long time if not, for the last time as well. We went to midnight mass last night which was surprising that I was able to stay up so late but it was nice to go. We slept in a little bit this morning and are planning to stay in our pj's as long as possible today and spend it being lazy and watching all the classic Christmas movies that we have been recording on our DVR all week. Tom took Shirley and Riley to the woods yesterday for a hike on the 5 mile loop trail and wore them out so they are even still tired today so they should be up for relaxing with us. For our Christmas present this year we bought a nice video camera to record all of our wonderful moments with Kennedy and we also bought a Wii with the money that Pat sent to us for Christmas. We are also hoping to get a Wii fit when Santa comes to visit us in a couple of weeks and that is going to be my post pregnancy workouts until I can get out on the jogging trails.

We hope everyone has a great Christmas and we look forward to seeing everyone once we are able to travel again after we welcome little miss Kennedy into the world! Happy Holidays!!! We love you!

36 Week Belly Picture

Okay, so I am almost 37 weeks pregnant now but I thought I should get this up instead of putting them both up together.

I haven't noticed a big change in size, 36 weeks feels just as big as 35 weeks but I have noticed more back pain, abdominal cramping and holy cow! the swelling in my hands has gotten horrible.

As you can see the stretch marks are coming in better now. They just keep creeping up closer to my belly button now. It seems there is just no stopping them now. Oh, well! Hopefully they will go away soon after I have her!

At 36 weeks she is supposed to be about 20 inches long and almost 6 pounds. The movements I have been feeling are definitely more predominate. They are rolling waves and strong punches. I have noticed a feeling like she is using my bladder like a trampoline as well. After our visit to the doctor for the 36 week check I found out why. She is! She is in the breech position so her little booty and her legs are bouncing off my bladder. We opted against going into the hospital and having the flipping procedure done. We are just going to wait her out and hope she goes on her own. But, if she doesn't flip it looks like a planned C-section at 39 weeks. We will see what she decides to do. Other than that she is perfectly healthy and we are waiting to see the results of the Group B Strep Culture at our 37 week visit this coming Wednesday.

Sorry... Got to catch up...

So, it has been a crazy week and a 1/2. There has been a lot going on at work and Tom was out of town all last week so I really didn't have a lot of extra curricular time to do the blog. It was such a blur I can't even remember if there was anything important that I needed to say on here. Basically, it was a lot of last minute packing up of my training room at the high school. My last day at FRA will be next Thursday and the movers from Vanderbilt came this past Monday to move all of our stuff out of there. I didn't do any of the heavy lifting but it still took a lot out of me mentally and physically to get it all done in time.

When I was home I felt like I had to give a lot of attention to the dogs because they were home by themselves all day. We couldn't go on walks because lately they have been pulling a lot and I don't feel comfortable walking them by myself but we played outside a lot. Unfortunately, picking a ball or a stick off the ground seems a lot further away than it used to. I was smart enough on the last day by myself though, to go out and buy a new "Chuck It" that's a long reacher thing you use to grab a tennis ball and then throw it easier. I should have thought of that weeks ago. Now its no big deal to go out a play for long periods of time, you just have to dodge the squishy land mines, but Tom took care of that yesterday.

Last night, we went to a Christmas party over at the Rummo's house. Paul (the team physician I have been working with at FRA and in the clinic from Vandy) and Becky invited us over since we were going to be home all by ourselves for Christmas. They are also the ones that gave us so much of the stuff we have for Kennedy like the crib, dresser, car seat and so much more, that their youngest of 4 has just outgrown. They are such good people and we are so lucky to have them in our lives. We had a really good time over there visiting with their friends and family and we also had a really yummy dinner. They even sent us home with the extra lasagna to put in the freezer for a meal after we have Kennedy.


Shirley cuddling up with her momma. She was sniffing the belly before Tom got the camera out. Her and Riley have been very clingy to me lately. I think they are going to be very protective of the baby.

35 Week Belly Picture

After a busy weekend, it was really nice to sleep in a little bit this morning and be lazy around the house. I didn't do much of anything except run to Walgreen's to pick up my vitamins and my Christmas cards. I had to go up the high school for about 2 hours for Boy's Basketball practice and then back home. It was a beautiful day here today. To bad I was too tired to get out and enjoy it. It was 65 degrees and sunny. I felt really weird to be out in mid December in pants and a t-shirt and drive with the window down, listening to Christmas music.

I think she has started to drop a little bit. I have noticed more movements lower in my belly and looking at the picture I really do think that she is hanging lower too. I hope she is starting to move to the head down position.

Stupid Stretch Marks!!! I started getting them last week down on my lower belly and on my sides a little bit. I have been using the stretch mark lotion every day for several months but I don't think I can hold them back any longer. I just hope they don't get too much worse!

So this weeks email from Web MD says that she is 20.5 in long and just over 5.5 lb which is pretty much what the doctor said at my appointment last week. As of now her lungs are almost developed completely although, because I had the steroid injections at about 25 weeks, they really should be much more developed than someone that has not had them so I think she should be good. And then the only other thing developing is toenails of all things :) So now she is just putting on the weight and we will get to meet her very soon. 5 more weeks!!!

Kennedy's Room!

Today we had a group of our friends over for brunch and then the boys watched some football while the girls got the baby's room decorated. (The guys helped a little hanging the blinds and the curtain rod) We had such a good time and it turned out fantastic! Kennedy is going to LOVE IT!!!!


Her little bear blankie that Lisa,a mom at the high school, gave her and Missy, the volleyball coach, embroidered with her name on it...

The Crib with the flowers on the wall.

The window, the changing table and the rocker. We also put up a couple things on the wall and decorated with ladybug decals.

Her closet... Still a bit messy but it will come around soon.

The inside of her crip with her musical mirrow and her ladybut teddy bear that Grandma and Grandpa gave her.

Now there is only a few things left to do. I have to pack my hospital bag, put the car seat in, get a pediatritian and probably some other stuff but that is the big stuff I know of right now.

Vanderbilt Christmas Party.

Last night we went to my work Christmas Party. We haven't got to go since the first year we were here because I had basketball games last year. We had a really good time hanging out with all of the trainer and some of the physical therapists. And, its fun to get all dressed up and go out together. Although, it is definitely not as easy as it used to be. Tom had to help me put on my panty hoes because I could not reach to pull them up. I got them over my toes and then I had to teach him how to pull them up and he got them up to my knees for me so I could do it the rest of the way.

Tom and Me (and Kennedy) in front of the Christmas tree.

34 Week Belly Picture

Sorry, it has been a really FAST week. I don't know where the time went. But, we took a 34 Week belly picture last Monday and I never seemed to find time to get these up. This past week and a half I have been pretty busy with high school stuff and we have been working hard on trying to get the baby's room together.


Wednesday, we had our 34 week doctor's appointment and all went well. My fundus, the height of my belly from top to bottom, measured at 34.5 cm which the doctor told us was perfect for this time. It is supposed to be 1 cm per week +/- 2 cm. She said that Kennedy was probably about 5.5lbs and 19 in long.

I asked her to feel around in there and tell me what position she was in and she says Kennedy is still in the head up position but by my 36 week appointment she should be head down. At the next appointment they will do a Strep B test and then an internal exam to check her position. If she is still breech they may try and flip her but I am not sure when they will do that.

So, tomorrow I turn 35 weeks so I will try and get the new pictures up because I only have to work for a couple hours.

Kennedy's hiccups...

Last night I was sitting and watching TV and I started to feel the baby moving. I have been trying to get her hiccups on a video for a while now so before I sat down I grabbed the camera. I got it turned on and was able to record about a minute of good hiccup action. After the hiccups she started moving around like crazy, unfortunately every time I had the camera on she stopped so I didn't get the crazy belly spasms on film but man was she active last night...

Enjoy...

Tour of Labor and Delivery...

Last night Tom and I got to take our tour of the Labor and Delivery area. I was really looking forward to it because it means that it is just that much closer to us being able to meet Kennedy. We got there a little before 5:30 and sat and waited. There were about 9 couples with us and some of them brought quite an entourage with them. You would think that most of the people wanting to take this tour would be first time parents who don't have a clue, like us, but there were people that brought their little kids in strollers and their parents and it was a lot of people in a little room!

Besides being frustrated and annoyed by the amount of people there and the screaming little kids, we did get to learn a few things that we wouldn't have known otherwise. We learned where we need to park and enter the hospital depending on what time and day we go into labor. Also, that there is a separate room for Labor and Delivery and then post partum. The rooms all have wireless internet so we will be able to bring our laptop. Tom seems to think it would be a good idea to Skype the birth... not sure if I agree with him on that one! :) Although, it will be nice to be able to email pictures and update the blog from the hospital room.

We also learned the limits on visitors in the rooms during labor and after the birth. We are only allowed 2 people plus the support person during labor and 4 visitors after the birth. It was also nice to know that the baby will have the option to stay with us in the room at all times and doesn't have to go to the nursery. We also have to find a pediatritian soon which I forgot about. All in all, I think it was a good idea to do the tour however, I wish there would have been a smaller group.

Wednesday, we went and picked up the crib and dresser/changing table from Dr. Rummo, the physician I work with at the high school. It is a really nice set, it looks barely used!! He also gave us several other items that we are so excited about. It is really nice that we were able to collect so many hand me downs so that we were not hit with all of those expenses. We have got he dresser in the room and are now just waiting to figure out how to get all of the computer attatchments set up in the spare room to move the desk so that we can set up the crib and get on our way with finishing up the nursery. I can't wait to get it done and share the pictures with everyone. It is going to be a bit crowded so its a good thing that she is going to be itty bitty anyway!

33 Week Belly Picture

This week was really nice being able to spend most of it at home with Tom... Cooking the Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday took a lot more out of me than I thought it would. I really didn't do too much but I guess that I was on my feet in the kitchen a lot throughout the day. Unfortunately, my back pain has come back in full force, except that now it is on my right side instead of my left. Sleeping the last few nights have been very uncomfortable. I only sleep about 20-40 minutes at a time before I need to roll over to the other side. The rolling is almost worse than staying on the hurt side. I usually have to get up and use the bathroom anyway, so yes I am peeing at least 6x/night!! Tell me that's not annoying. I was telling Tom the first night that I can sleep on my back again, I don't think anything will be able to wake me up!

Of course it is not all bad. I have actually felt her moving a lot lately except the moving is feeling a lot different now. I still feel the occasional kick in the side but now it is more rolling and shifting feelings. She has also gotten the hiccups a few times which is really neat to watch and to feel.

Do you like my saggy pants? I have gone up from a Medium to a Large. The Mediums are too tight and the Larges are too big, but I am choosing comfort over fashion right now. I can't breath well as it is, tight pants don't help!

The belly button is still hanging in there and my line is gradually getting a little darker. I can tell that I am still growing because the skin on my lower sides is feeling really tingly and sensitive to even the touch of my clothes.

My weekly e-mail says that she is now 19.4 in. long and weighs about 4.4 lb. She should be gaining about .5 lb per week now. I really can't believe that we are getting so close to the delivery. It is so exciting yet so scary at the same time. We are looking forward to our tour of the Labor and Delivery area this Thursday!

Where's Shirley?

We should write a children's book with the "Where's Waldo" theme and name it Where's Shirley? She loves to cuddle up under her blankies.


Her favorite is this brown, soft blankie... Her only problem is that this is Riley's favorite too and Riley likes to play the part of the annoying little sister and steal it off of Shirley and try and play with it. Riley also likes to steal it when Tom or I am covered up in it.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Friday, after laying around most of the morning, Tom and I decided that we would go ahead and get our decorations up so we could enjoy them for that much longer... It's not often that we are both home at the same time for several days in a row so we took advantage of it!!


We were the first on our block to get them up. It only took Tom a little less than an hour to get this done. I think it looks great and it inspired a couple of our neighboors to get their lights up too!!! All we need now is some cooler temperatures... Tom was doing this in his pants and a t-shirt!

Our mantle with a warming fire and our lit Christmas Tree... It is so cozy in the house now. I wish it could be Christmas all year round!

My collection of snow globes has taken over most of the living room. They are going to have to start spilling into other rooms next year, I think.

Happy, Day After, Thanksgiving!!!

This is the first Thanksgiving that Tom and I have spent just the two of us. At first it was a little sad that we couldn't be with our family but we soon found out that it was going to be a really good day. We got up and I cooked some breakfast, I made pull apart cinnamon bread, and then when it started we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.







While we were watching the parade I was also preparing a couple of casseroles for dinner and working on crocheting a blanket.

Shirley is quite the cuddle girl!!

The "Pop Rock" Puppies...


Tom's mom likes to give pop rocks to babies when they get a little older and laughs when they pop in their mouths. Tom decided it might be funny to give some to the dogs and see what they do with them. Well, they were so excited that they were getting a treat the popping didn't bother them much and I really don't even think they started popping until they got in their belly. You can hear a little popping if you listen closely. All in all, it wasn't that funny after all but the dogs liked the sugary treat :)

Our Thanksgiving Feast for Two...I made a turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, broccoli casserole and biscuits. We also had a homemade apple pie and homemade ice cream for dessert. We ate about 5 o'clock and spent the rest of the night by the fireplace watching TV. We are so thankful that we are able to spend so much time together this long weekend and most of all that we are going to be welcoming our little baby girl into this world in about 7 weeks. She is going to be sooo worth staying home for the holidays this year!

The puppies got a plate of Thanksgiving Dinner after we were done eating and then they were pooped out...

We are going to attempt to get some decorating done for Christmas today but we are still both tired from yesterday. We will see what gets done!

I tried to get motivation for nesting today :)

I have been thinking a lot lately about how close we are getting to my due date and how NOT ready we are for her to be here yet. The house is definately still set up for a couple with dogs; not a couple with dogs and a baby! We have so much work to do and it seems when you look at the calendar that days are just slipping away from us now. We still have to move all of the office furniture into the spare room, get the baby furniture, put it together and decorate the room. We also have to figure out everything we still need to buy. There are a few necessities we need to purchase and some things that would just be nice to have.

I was supposed to meet my friend Ashley this weekend in Paducah to have a nice relaxing, pampered weekend out of town; that wasn't really that far out of town. But, things changed and we weren't able to meet up. She is going to be coming down here to Nashville in about 2 weeks so that we can hang out while Tom is at his Reserves weekend in Birmingham... I decided to use this day as a catch up day for rest and also to try to get some of the motivation for that "nesting instinct" that pregnant women are supposed to have. I suppose I have the nesting feelings but no desire to actually accomplish them right now. What I did today I consider a huge feat! I opened all the bedding and blankets and everything we have gotten so far including the clothes and spent the day doing laundry and folding. I wanted to make sure that everything was clean and washed in the baby Dreft soap that is supposed to be good for their skin. Other than that I just layed around watching my DVR'd shows. I don't even have the energy to cook so I just ordered my first pizza online. I hope it gets delivered correctly because I am not so sure I trust my technology skills!!!

Tomorrow I plan on getting up and making my way back to church. We haven't been in a long time because the air circulation is so bad in our church that the last 2 times we went I almost passed out. I guess the rest of the weekend I will get the house cleaned up and work on the adult laundry that needs to be done. At least I will be able to eat left over pizza for my next couple of meals!!!

31 Week Belly Pictures!!!

She's getting big now. I can't believe there is still 9 wks left to grow!

The pregnancy week by week says that she is now 18 inches from head to toe and weighs about 3.5 lbs. She still does a lot of shifting but instead of just feeling her on the right side now I am feeling her on the left as well. I think that she is starting to get cramped in there because I don't feel as many movements as I have in the past few weeks.

The front view!!! My belly button is barely hanging in there and I am starting to notice a very faint line down the middle. Still no stretch marks and I have just broke the 20 lb mark on weight gain according to the scale at the vets office today! Sleeping is getting a lot harder. I think my mommy senses are really kicking in because I have become the lightest sleeper. Everything seems to wake me up and every time I wake up I have to use the bathroom so I am peeing about 4-6 times per night. It's also getting harder to bend over and put my socks and shoes on and to get up off the floor. Turning from sided to side in the middle of the night has also become and enormous feat but it will all be worth it soon!

The puppy cousins!

Mazie, Shirley and Riley had such a good time playing with each other all weekend. They were such good girls. Riley especially liked Mazie being here because Mazie still likes to play like a puppy. She can hang for a little while but she is defiantly starting to show her age. Alan sent us a picture message on the way home last night and she was out. The poor puppy will probably have to sleep for 3 days to recover but I know she had fun at Aunt Amanda's!

Alan and Cate visit Nashville

Alan and Cate decided to come down and visit us this weekend which was unexpected but fantastic news! They got into town about 12:30am Saturday and we headed to bed. In the morning we got up and I cooked some bacon and eggs and then Alan played Mr. Fixit around the house.


First he fixed our stereo which hasn't worked for about a month and a half. Shirley and Riley loved helping him out. It turns out after he took the thing apart that randomly somehow the knob that switches the speakers on and off was turned off and all he had to do was click it back on to speakers on. That made us feel kind of dumb but at least its fixed. He also fixed our scanner and our Microsoft Office. He is very electronically inclined as Tom and I are obviously not! Thanks Alan!!

For lunch we headed into Nashville which ended up being quite the adventure. We wanted to take them to Monell's which is a meat and three traditional Nashville place but they don't serve lunch on Saturdays. We then decided to go to the Loveless Cafe which is also a Nashville landmark but they had an hour and a half wait. We also tried a burger place which I messed up the directions and then to the Tin Angel which also wasn't open for lunch! By this time the pregnant lady was getting really hungry and cranky! We finally gave up and went downtown to eat at a BBQ place. We sat right down and the waiter took our order and an hour and 15 min later we ate. Horrible service!!!!! He even admitted that he forgot to turn our ticket in and didn't do anything to make it better like take some of the money off the bill!!! Not going back there anytime soon!!!

After lunch we took some time to walk around downtown and went to a couple of the bars to listen to some music. They are smoke free now so I was able to tolerate them just fine. We walked up on the pedestrian bridge to see the view and that was a challenge for me. I thought I wasn't going to make it up all the stairs and then the walk to the lookout!! Holy Cow I am getting big and out of shape! It was a really pretty day, a little over 70 degrees. They couldn't have picked a better weekend to come down.

We got home about 5 o'clock and it felt like midnight to me but we decided to start a fire in the back and just hang out. We had a late dinner and then went inside to watch a movie. Cate barely made it through the opening credits before she fell asleep and I made it about 10 min in. The boys woke us up when it was over, about 10:30 and we headed off to bed.

Sunday morning I got up and made everyone breakfast again... Biscuits and Gravy, Scrambled Eggs and Hash browns... Yummy however, by the time I was done cooking it I got really hot and didn't feel good so I didn't get to eat any of it... I had it this morning for breakfast though and it was really good! We layed around the house all morning and then they headed out for home about 12:30. It was so nice to have them here and especially to get to know Cate a little better. They say they are coming back after the baby is born so we will see. I hope they do!!!!