Labor Day

Today I had another doctor appointment and my blood pressure was still high. So the doctor has advised that I be induced. Wednesday morning James and I will go to the hospital and start the labor process. I was a little shocked at first I had always thought I would go into labor naturally but I'm trusting that my doctor knows what's best for me and baby. On Wednesday I'll be 38 weeks pregnant. I'm just praying that my body takes well to being induced and that baby Eli is healthy and strong throughout the process. I have no guess as to how big he will be, we'll have to wait and see :-) I'm super excited knowing that we'll be able to hold our little boy in just a few days! I'm also nervous about the delivery process and would love any prayers people would like to send our way. I know we're all in the Lord's hands and that gives me great comfort. Anyway guess I'll be catching up on cleaning, laundry and sleep tomorrow since James and I may not be getting a lot of it after Wednesday. Here's to another exciting week!

Pregnant Pictures & Anniversary

Since I'm at home with nothing to do I thought I would post a few pics for you all. The first two are of my huge belly and the others are from our anniversary celebration last night.

Interesting Week

Last week I was feeling quite stressed about work pojects, getting things ready for the baby, and other random things. I found myself constantly busy the entire week & weekend. I ended up doing some deep cleaning projects as well as regular cleaning on Saturday and it really tuckered me out! This weekend James was able to finish painting the crib and the rocking chair. I think he did a great job. Too bad we had to re-do the finishing twice. James had to spend so many hours on this project. He is such a sweetheart though and it's finally done! Together we set them up in our room and made little Eli's bed. It's surreal to look at the crib all set up and know that little Eli will be sleeping in there soon. Below are some pics of the finished product. I think I want to put a pic above the crib of little Eli eventually. Yes...we are living in tight quarters so you may see pieces of my closet and our bed sticking out in the background. Sorry I didn't feel like photoshop-ing the the pictures so you can just enjoy them in their raw form :-)




The last couple of days have been rather strange though....On Sunday after more working around the house, cooking, and cleaning I spent some hours getting a head start on work. I went to bed feeling overwhelmed and a little stressed. That night I spent dreaming about completing all my projects. I didn't sleep well at all. I woke up around 6am and shortly after got busy on the work projects I was dreaming about. I wanted to make sure I got some things done before my doctor appointment at 10. Then I went into the dr. and everything started out the same as it usually does. I peed in a cup, got weighed, and then they took my blood pressure. This time though my blood pressure was high. When the doctor came in he told me they would check my blood pressure again at the end of the exam. So the doctor poceeded to check me out. The baby's heart sounded good and the doctor measured my belly which seemed to be fine too. Then he did an internal exam and let me know that he could feel the baby's head about 1 inch away. (That excited and freaked me out a little) I wasn't really sure what that meant but it was interesting none the less. I have been feeling the baby sitting lower in my pelvis so I wasn't too surprised.

After the exam I had my blood pressure taken again. And again it was high so the doctor told me that he wanted to run some tests because high blood pressure later in pregnancy can be a sign of preeclampsia, and he explained the complications that can result. For the tests I had my blood drawn and now I get to pee in a jug for 24 hours :-) He also looked at me sternly and told me that today was to be my last day of work and that he needed me to rest. Whoa! I was planning to go at least a week and 1/2 more so this was a shocker. I had to quickly get all my forms filled out and re-signed. I had to call my HR department at work as well as our insurance company. Then I had to chat with my director, organize all my projects for hand off and send out many emails to various internal stakeholders and vendors about my leave. It was a crazy day! I was working until 9:30pm just trying to get things organized. Today I have a few last meetings to help with the hand off on my projects and other than staying home and peeing in my jug, I'm hoping it will be uneventful. Tomorrow I'll take my jug back in for testing. I'm praying they don't find any cause for concern and that if they do find anything concerning, that they will be able to step in and help both baby and myself.

On the good side, I enjoyed waking up and not having to go into work. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week. I'm also looking forward to spending a relaxing anniversary with James. On Thursday we'll be celebrating 4 yrs. of wonderful love :-) I really did marry an amazing man and I'm so happy to share life with him! Not sure yet what we're going to do to celebrate but something tells me we'll be taking it easy. ;-)

Getting Closer

It's hard to believe the baby is due in less than 6 weeks! Being pregnant and functioning like a normal person is definitely a challenge. My belly gets in the way of everything I try to reach, I have frequent trips to the bathroom making all my work meetings interesting, and I'm just tired. It's fun though too. People are so incredibly nice to you when you're pregnant. They let you cut in line, they buy you presents, and everyone wants to talk to you. I know this won't last long so I'm going to soak it up while I can! :-) Recently the girls at work surprised me with a baby shower. It was really sweet I felt very loved!

Though my work is still keeping me busy at record speed, I'm really looking forward to taking maternity leave soon. I finally took the forms to have my Dr. fill out the necessary items. Once my work reviews, and hopefully approves, I'll be able to leave work on the 28th for maternity leave. I'm asking for 2 weeks off before the due date. I'm praying all goes through all right so I don't have to work right up until the due date.

Lately I've been shopping for baby gear and items to have on hand while James is finishing up the baby crib and other things. So far I've been lucky to be able to purchase so much online but soon I think I will actually have to trek out to Babies R Us for a few needed items. I know I've been avoiding it...sigh. I've also been cleaning and organizing everything I can think of. James and I don't want to get too baby crazy so we've been trying to do some non-baby things with our weekends as well. Last weekend we hiked up Griffith Park, and though it took me double the time to get the top it was a wonderful time to relax and chat with my best friend. I'm hoping we can go on another hike this weekend :-) Below is a pic of my baby bump from a hike we did 3 weeks ago.



Last weekend along with the hike, I had a fun opportunity to take some photos of a friend and her lovely baby. See below for some of my favorites. I'll probably post the rest on facebook sometime soon. Have a great week everyone!