We made it! 40 weeks! | When will he be here?

Happy 40 weeks to baby and me!  We made it!  But I think Baby Boy is happy in his warm environment because he’s not here with us yet.  So we continue to wait.

I’m still having minimal cramps/contractions.  Nothing major yet.  Yesterday, on the due date, we went to the hospital to get checked out because the day before I had some excess fluid drainage.  I was talking to my brother and sister in law and they encouraged me to go in to get it checked out in case the bag broke.  They got me all set up in bed with the fetal heart rate monitor on (I love hearing Baby Boy’s heartbeat and by the way the nurse said baby had a good strong beat) - False alarm.  The bag hadn’t broken and I was barely dilated.  What a bummer!  I’m having that “is he EVER going to get here” feeling………  I know for certain he’ll be here in less than two weeks.  Pray with us he comes on his own so I don’t have to be induced. 
I’m still battling fatigue a little bit.  My husband has been telling people that he’s been the one “nesting” because I’ve been too tired.  LOL!  He’s a good man.  He’s gotten everything set up, including the awesome last minute glider rocker so I can rock little guy in, so we’re ready for the big entrance! 


I’m still having a few cravings.  Yesterday I couldn’t seem to satisfy my hunger after we got home from the hospital.  I was craving salty potato chips at one point and then some salty authentic Mexican food that our dear friend Petra makes down in Mexico.  Still been craving Starbucks drinks like mad.  I treated myself one day to an iced drink and boy was I in heaven!  It was sooooo good!  Other than that still been wanting cold, creamy things like yogurt, smoothies, ice cream. 

We’re very excited to have my mom come for about 10 days.  It will be nice to have some company!  And hopefully her grandson comes soon so she can spend time with him.

So signing off for this week.  Maybe next week I’ll be writing with a little boy in my arms! 

39 weeks

(I tried adding the picture of how big Baby Boy is and the stats of 39 weeks but when adding it said the page stopped working so no pic today.  However, he is the size of a watermelon.  WOW!)

As I eat my oatmeal and drink my tea, I’m feeling the kicks of Baby Boy.  I’m 39 weeks today and still have had no real contractions and few Braxton Hicks contractions.  On Saturday night, I experienced BH contractions for a few hours with a few more intense ones and little tension in my lower back.  Since then I’ve experienced very little.  I’m thankful I’m still feeling good, a little tired but good.  Some days I wonder where all my energy went……..

Our boy is still growing!  How can I tell? It looks like my belly has grown some in just a week.  Some people at church on Sunday said the same thing.  I can also tell in the way I’ve been walking.  For the past month or so my husband and I have been trying to take nightly walks as I’ve heard it helps for labor and delivery.  So last night we took a nice walk and boy oh boy could I feel the extra weight in my hips and lower back.  It felt like there was 50 extra pounds weighing down on me. 

I’ve been craving Starbucks Frappuccino’s this week like crazy.  Actually it’s been anything creamy and cold like yogurt, ice cream, smoothies.  My stomach has been a little sensitive over the past week so I’ve been eating smaller, lighter meals.  I’ve also had a few extra bowls of cereal this week as it helps to ease stomach problems. 

We decided we needed to take a few more pregnant pictures before Baby Boy comes.  It was a nice day on Sunday so we took our friend Janet to the beautiful University of the Pacific campus in Stockton to snap a few pics.  I just have to say again that I love my husband.  He's an amazing man and I'm so blessed to have him in my life!

 

I’m curious to see what the next week holds?  Will I have some contractions this week with the start of labor and a baby? Or will it be another week?

38 weeks | The day is almost here!

Uugghhh…..where does the time go? It’s been a long time (like 8 weeks) since I posted last.  Well, no need to worry because here’s the latest details!

 ~ The biggest news is that we’ve moved into our own place!! In literally a few short weeks, many phone calls and viewings later we were blessed with our own little place.  We didn’t have much to move so we got it all done in one day.  My husband was more energetic than I was so he started unpacking a bit to make it homier.  We’re still not 100% settled but we’re close.  We have Baby Boy’s things organized, clothes washed and his new crib set up in his room and the bassinet in mommy and daddy’s room set up.  We’re so thankful for our own place.  We can’t wait to bring Baby Boy home to his new home!

~ The Lord has continued to bless me with good health and things are still going well.  I could tell as I headed into the last trimester, I was getting a little tired again.  The week that we started packing to move it seemed all I wanted to do was sleep.  It could have been from all the running around I was doing looking at places.  But I took the opportunity to rest as much as possible too.  A few weeks after we had been in our new place some kind of sick bug got to me.  Besides hacking and blowing my nose constantly I was more tired than before.  I found myself napping 3 or 5 hours a day and wondering where my motivation had gone.  However, I knew the best thing for me was to get as much rest as I could.  Also, my husband’s orders before he left for work were, “Honey, I don’t want you to do anything today but rest.” 

 

                                                        This was at 33 weeks pregnant.

It’s hard to believe that in about 2 weeks (or so…..May 8th) we’ll get to see our little one.  I am very close to that point where I’m ready to have him in my arms instead of my belly.  I’ve wondered for much of the pregnancy when the baby bump would appear.  Well, folks, no need to wonder any longer.  It has appeared!  It’s made walking and sleeping a bit of a challenge.  I never used to have trouble sleeping but now it takes a while just to get comfortable.  I discovered that using a nice, soft blanket under my belly helps me to get a little more comfortable at night.  My biggest weapon is remembering to pray before falling asleep.  Most of the time if we pray I sleep pretty well and the Lord blesses our rest.

I’ve had a few cravings over the last few weeks:  chocolate cake, pizza, Chinese food, Coca-Cola, grilled cheese sandwiches, cold smoothies, ice water, cold/milky drinks from Starbucks. cinnamon rolls and McDonald’s hamburgers.  And cereal.  Sometimes all I want is a bowl of cereal.  Kind of strange but it works for me.  Thankfully I’ve had no big aversions expect I’m still not keen on tomatoes. 

My suitcase is packed and ready to go!  I’ve been a little nervous the past week as I’m sure all new mom’s are.  I’ve been nervous about contractions, making sure they are timed right, wondering when the right time is to go to the hospital, what will happen during labor and delivery, etc.  I try not to think about it too much and I lift it up to the Lord.  I haven’t had any real contractions just a bit of cramping every few days which I assume are Braxton Hicks.  Just a few times they’ve been a little intense.    

Along with Baby Boy coming into this world, we are having family members come and visit to meet their new grandson.  My mom is coming at the beginning of May and my husband’s parents are coming at the end of May.  We’re looking forward to this because we haven’t seen our families in almost 2 years.  We're going to be having lots of fun over the next month!

Stayed tuned for next week's update.  It's a guessing game from here on out as to when Baby Boy will arrive.  Could he come early? Or late?

 

Celebrating the day of ~ LOVE ~

Our Valentine’s Day this year was filled with surprises, fun and spending time together, reflecting on the blessing God has given us – each other.  Here are some pictures to reflect the day.

 The surprises!

 

 

The day before Valentine’s Day, on the way home from work, my husband bought a beautiful bouquet of roses.  He was so tricky!  While he was showing me how to use the grill (I’ve never cooked on a grill before so I asked him to show me) and I was cooking dinner he would disappear a few times.  I thought it was funny that he took off a few times but didn’t think anything else of it.  The next morning I got up with him as he got ready for work.  I gave him the card I made special for him.  As I walked out of our bedroom I saw the beautiful roses he put by the stairs, got teary eyed and gave my husband a kiss on the lips.  What a guy!  I am so blessed and thankful to have him in my life.

The fun!

 

My husband has had a long term substitute teaching job with a 5^th grade class since the beginning of the year.  He has told them about me and told them we were having a baby.  When he would come home each night he would tell me stories about the students and I knew I wanted to meet them.  So, we got permission from the office for me to join the Valentine’s Day party at the school.  Going to their party brought back memories of having parties when I was in school.  They were of course off the wall because of the fun day plus all the SUGAR so it was fun to see their personalities.  One of the mom’s brought a fun game of using tin foil and tape to make a superhero.  They were judged at the end for the winner.  Let me tell you, they were very creative!  Proceeding with the day they continued to eat more candy along with snacks other mom’s brought while watching a movie.  By the time I left I was exhausted because of all the energy in the room.  But boy was it fun! It also reminded me of my students in Africa.  I miss them.

Spending time together!

 

Last year we waited until a few days before Valentine’s Day to start making reservations at restaurants.  Needless to say, we ended up making a meal at home because all the places we wanted to go to were booked.  So this year, we got a really early start!  My honey made a reservation at a highly talked about restaurant in town back in December.  We both enjoyed our meal of a mouthwatering steak and a side of vegetables.  The best thing was it was so big I got to enjoy it again the next day!  It was a blessing to be able to enjoy a nice meal together and soak up being in each other’s presence.  Romantic!  aaahhhh…….  At the end of the night we stopped at a Chila Berries for some frozen yogurt. 

Let me encourage all ladies out there young and old(er).  You may or may not know but I waited for my husband for almost 4 years because he was not ready for marriage.  Yes, it was really hard to wait but I’ll tell you it was worth it.  My husband is the most amazing man and the biggest blessing in my life.  He far succeeds anything I ever wanted or desired for a husband.  So I encourage you to wait for the right one, the one the Lord has chosen for you, even if you have to wait a few years.  Even if you feel life is passing you by and you’re getting older.  Trust me, you won’t regret it.  Hang on and you’ll see what I’m talking about!

30 Weeks | Blessings in the mail!

10 weeks until Baby Boy is here!  WOW! The pregnancy seems to have gone so fast but yet so slow.  A friend from church asked this week if I was at that point to be finished.  I told him I wasn’t ready because I know Baby Boy has lots of growing to do and I’m enjoying this stage of the pregnancy.  I love feeling him kick, wiggle and move in my belly.  I love learning every week how he’s developing in my belly and the growing anticipation by me, daddy, our friends and family.  But I did tell him I’m ready to have my body back to normal.  I really thank the Lord because I’m feeling great (besides the increasing heartburn and sometimes restless night because of hip/back pain.)

On Saturday, we got a big box of blessings in the mail from my husband’s side of the family.  It was so fun going through the box and looking at all the cute clothes, toys and other goodies.  The best and biggest blessing was the Baby Bullet System to make our own baby food!  I can't wait to make good, healthy food for our boy.  It's a bummer I have to wait for several months.  :-(

 

Childbirth Class | Daddy felt his boy

 

On Saturday we attended an all day class at the hospital where Baby Boy will be born.  We went in clueless and ready to learn and came out a little more prepared for the birth of our son.  Some of the topics covered were: car seat safety, stages of labor and how the body prepares itself for delivery, different medicines you can take if needed, breathing techniques, different ways to deliver (normal, c-section, etc), lots of questions and much more.  The more I learn about our pregnant bodies and how baby develops, the more I realize just how amazing God is.  It really makes this scripture verse so real – Psalms 139:13-19 :

 

The lady who did the class was awesome!  She is a nurse and assistant program director of the maternity floor.  We were blessed to have her.  The great blessing is by attending the class she told us if she is in the hospital when I’m there, we can ask for her and she will assist in the delivery plus she will do what she can to get me a private postpartum room.  Talk about preferential treatment!  God is good.

 

I've been dreaming about babies lately.  mmmmmmmmm....I wonder why? In one dream I was holding a boy, knowing he was mine.  I'm waiting for that day!

 

YAY!!! Daddy is so excited!  He was finally able to feel Baby Boy kick – twice even! He was finally able to feel his son move.  What a day in the Lemieux family! The event was recorded in Baby Boy’s journal…….  :-)

3rd Trimester | Stork Tour

Today I have officially entered the 3^rd trimester.  That means our little man will be here in just 3 short months!  eeeekkkkkkk…… (sound of shrilling excitement!) 

Here are the stats on Baby Boy this week:

 

 

On Friday, I took my husband to work will I took a few hours for myself and went out on the town!  I took a few hours doing a few errands, looking at baby things and spent some time at Barnes and Noble.  While I was out and about I noticed that I have started the “pregnant waddle” while walking and it made me chuckle.  The next day we went for a walk and my husband noticed it too!  It made me laugh! I am definitely carrying some extra poundage these days!

I don’t know if you moms out there have experienced this later in your pregnancy but it’s becoming uncomfortable sleeping these days.  I’m sleeping more on my sides and my hips hurt like mad and sometimes my lower back has some tension in it due to this.  I’ve started sleeping with pillows between my legs.  Sometimes it works and sometimes not.  I ordered a special pillow praying it will help me sleep better. 

Baby Boy continues to move around a lot.  Sometimes if I sit or lay in bed the wrong way, he’s kicking me.  At church yesterday he was most active during the worship times so I know he was enjoying the music.  Daddy still can’t feel Baby Boy move.  Is he being silly and playing games?  It seems that when daddy puts his hand on my belly to feel him move he stops.  My husband said it could be that he feels peaceful when his daddy’s hand is near.

We visited (“Stork Tour”) the hospital where Baby Boy will be born this last week.  It’s a big place but we were really impressed and have peace about delivering our boy here.  The really neat thing they just implemented recently is that when the baby is born, they don’t take him out of the room to clean him off, etc.  They have a little place right there in the delivery room so we can see at all times what is happening.  I don’t know if that’s a normal practice in hospitals now but I love the idea.  Then after some time if baby needs shots they take him to the nursery.  However, I was a little nervous about remembering all they told us and thinking about how the delivery will go.  But I traded those thoughts for peace believing and trusting the Lord for a great delivery of our first born!

2nd Trimester Bliss

I’m sure all pregnant women can say they are thankful once the 2^nd trimester comes along!  It’s been a bit uneventful for me but for baby boy he’s been growing and developing by leaps and bounds.  As each week comes and I read how baby boy is developing, I’m amazed at how God knows each phase of development babies need to go through.  It’s amazing that He knows when the heart should form and the ribs and the lungs, etc.   Babies are truly a miracle from the Lord!

A few weeks into the 2^nd I still had some morning sickness but I could tell when I started feeling better.  All of a sudden I had an increase in energy!  YES!!!!!! I could start cooking and doing normal things again.  I also had an increase in appetite and those crazy cravings for greasy foods evened out.  It’s taken awhile for the baby bump to start showing.  I’m still not really big but I can definitely tell I’m carrying a few extra pounds.  I still get tired quicker than before I was pregnant but I make sure to find time to rest.  I have to be careful not to eat too many foods with tomato in them; things like spaghetti sauce, chili, etc. because I get terrible heartburn/acid reflux.  Oh….. and one sad thing is I can’t drink coffee because it has the same affect.  For those of you that know me you know that I love coffee so it’s been hard to give that up.  But I’d rather give it up than have problems throughout the day.  For some reason the delectable drinks (not the brewed coffee) at Starbucks don’t bother me.  I don’t know if it the milk or the sweeteners but thank goodness I can have a nice treat once in a while. Other than those things I’ve been able to eat almost everything.  Whoever invented Tums was a genius!!  Milk has been my friend the last few weeks.  I love having a bowl of cereal in the morning and a nice cold glass of milk with a meal…..AMAZING!!!  I haven’t had many cravings but below is a list of things that I’ve really enjoyed eating:

* Milk
* Yogurt
* Broccoli
* Cauliflower
* Ice water
* Mexican food
* Apples/Oranges/Papayas
* Morning cereal for breakfast
* Chocolate
* Iced Starbucks drinks!

The most amazing thing about the 2^nd trimester is finally being able to feel baby boy kick.  Since Christmas he has been kicking lots!  He’s going to have strong legs like his daddy for the fun hiking trips they’re going to take together.  Last week I got up at night to use the bathroom and for about 15 minutes, he was like a ninja inside my belly.  A few times it was so strong it made me jump.  My husband is anxiously waiting the day when he can feel baby boy move and kick instead of just me.  But for now he continues to talk to and pray over baby boy.  We can’t wait to see our little guy.  We were talking last week about what traits baby boy will have.  Will he have some Lemieux traits or mommy traits?  One thing we know for sure is that he will have mommy’s cute little nose as we saw on the ultrasound.

It’s hard to believe that in 3 months our baby boy will be joining our family.  We cannot wait.  I’ve been busy doing baby registries and looking through the massive list of things that are out there.  So many cute things and so many choices!  However, despite all my experience working in childcare I’m finding out that I feel clueless about having a baby.  I know a lot of it will come as we go and I know we have lots of family and friends to call on if we have questions.          

1st Trimester Blues

I never thought this time would come!  The time when I would have my own children.  I love kids and I've worked with them for most of my life.  I've waited and prayed for the day when I can love on, snuggle with and watch my own kids grow.  So both my husband and I are so excited that the Lord blessed us with a little one all of our own.  We're excited that we will be starting our own little family!  As you've probably seen on my Facebook comment we are having a little boy (I love the picture of his foot to the left) on April 30th.  We were both surprised that it was a boy because we had had a few dreams that it was a girl.  But we are both very happy for our little boy and so thankful he is healthy.  We have chosen a name but you'll have to wait........   hehehehehe………..

Well, the 1st trimester was not fun.  I was always so tired so I slept a lot.  I was very nauseous (and visited the bathroom many times) and sometimes the only way to make it more tolerable was to lie in bed.  My face was oily and broke out terribly.  I didn’t have much of an appetite (I lost about 10 lbs.) but had some funny cravings at the same time.  We had to stop using spices in cooking because I couldn’t handle the taste so my poor husband had to start eating blander food.  Up until the beginning of the 2nd trimester all I craved was greasy, bad for you food (thank goodness that has passed).  There were many times when my tummy was upset the only thing I could eat was a bowl of cereal.  I was very sensitive to smells.  A couple of times my husband ate something with garlic in it and I finally told him it was ok to have but he had to brush his teeth so I didn’t have to smell it.  It’s funny thinking back but I was more emotional than normal.   Sometimes I would cry at something little and for no reason.  It’s amazing what hormones do to a woman’s body.  Uff…writing this brings back memories.  Below is a list of things I ate and didn’t eat much of during the 1st trimester.  Thankfully, most of my taste buds have returned to normal!

Foods I ate and craved:

Cold fruit like watermelon, cantaloupe, oranges, and apples
Yogurt
Cereal, mostly Lucky Charms
Creamy soups like clam chowder
BBQ’d chicken
BBQ chips (we got a big bag from Wal-Mart and ate them all within a few days.  After that the craving was gone.)
Burgers from McDonald’s
Eggs
Saltines (carried them with me wherever I went plus they sat on my bed stand)
Ice cream

 Foods I couldn’t stand:

Anything with tomatoes in it (even the thought made me queasy)
Spicy foods
Garlic  
Green peppers/onions
Bread (I know it sounds funny but I couldn’t stand the thought of bread)

I am so grateful and thankful for my husband.  He is an amazing man because through the 1st trimester he took over the “housewife” responsibilities as I could not plus he did what he did.  It was a lot of extra work; cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. but he did it with lots of love and a heart to serve me.  He was even there to comfort and cuddle with me when I was feeling emotional.  I love my husband so much! 

Stay tuned next week for another “glimpse” into of mommy hood according to me!