37 weeks!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, yeah! Never thought I would make it this far but certainly happy I did! 37 weeks was my goal and I can't believe it is here already! We get to the doctor tomorrow which I am excited about. It's our first appointment since Dr. Sun returned from maternity leave. Hopefully I she can give us an idea of Baby T's position, weight, etc.

This past week was a rough one for me. My hormones are all over the place so I am really emotional and a bit crazy. Mat is very understanding. I have no doubt that he is the best husband in the world. We have been enjoying our time "just the two of us". I could hang out with him all day and never be bored. Other than feeling a bit nutty, my feet and hands feel very swollen. Don't know if they really are but boy, the feel like it. Every morning I step out of bed and feel like I have been at 6 Flags the day prior. Everything hurts until I get going. I think the extra weight is catching up to me. So I have been laying around with my feet up. Trying to drink as much water as my body will hold. Today it seems that I have a bit of a cold. Hopefully I don't get worse and can drink lots of water to flush it out. I don't want to deal with a cold!

We did lots of baby clothes washing this weekend. We are almost done and now we just have to put everything away in a logical manner. We are soooooo grateful to have so many donations from everyone. I don't think I have bought a single item of clothing for Baby T. Everyone has been so generous.

Mat had Daddy Bootcamp this past Saturday and seemed to really like it. I figured he would. He came home with lots of great suggestions and stories from other dads. I think it would be beneficial for anyone. Maybe they have a bootcamp for mommies too!

While Mat was at class, I went to BRU to spend more $$$$$$$$$. I used the rest of our gift cards and I got almost everything on my registry. The rest of items we can pick up after Baby T is here. If not, we can pick them up next time we are near a BRU.

My hospital bag is getting packed. I can't say that I am ready to go but I am very close. Could be any day now!

Fabulous news for a Fabulous Couple!

Fabulous news for a Fabulous Couple! Michell and Edison Garzon are friends of Mat's from college. They were married in March of 2005 in a beautiful Florida wedding (click here for pictures). They are expecting triplets!! We can't wait to meet them around late November/early December. Maybe around my birthday!! We couldn't be more happy for these two. They are going to be fabulous parents!

Happy Birthday Vijay!

Email from Renee...
ladies,
i just got a call from a drugged up Sonal telling me that she gave birth to a tiny little boy about 45 minutes ago!!! he weighs 3.4 lbs and came out screaming and crying, so it sounds like he's going to be a feisty little thing! He's on his way to the NIC unit, where the docs and nurses will take special care of him for a while (not sure how long at this point). Sonal sounds great and she had a super quick and easy delivery (thanks to the marvels of epidurals). I'm sure she'll send out a more descriptive email later today, but she wanted me to spread the news! Oh, and his name is Vijay (there's a middle name too, but in all the excitement I forgot it!)
Very exciting!
xoxo,
renee

Email from Sonal...
Bruce and I proudly announce the birth of our son, Vijay Kadakia Stokes at 8:11 this morning, June 25th, the day after his daddy's birthday:) Vijay is a wee little thing weighing 3 lbs 14 oz but came out crying and screaming.
Vijay is currently in the NICU, is doing very well so far. They have him on iv fluids and are checking his blood sugar, temperature, etc. We will send out a picture in the next few days. Thanks to all of you for your support during
this difficult time. We look forward to introducing Vijay to all of you soon! Love, Bruce and Sonal

Went to another doctors appointment today...

Went to another doctors appointment today. I am measuring right on and they listened for the heartbeat. All sounded really good. Our doctor is back from her maternity leave and so hopefully we will meet with her soon. I didn't pass my GBS (Group B Strep infection) test but they said it's okay. I will just have to have antibiotics after my water breaks.

Next appointment is a week from today.

I'm feeling good this week, 36 weeks! I really feel like the baby keeps dropping and dropping. When I went for my walk yesterday morning, I feel pressure on my pelvic bone right near the top of my legs. I was having what I think might be braxton hicks contractions on Saturday night. But that is after I was at a Bon Jovi cover band concert, with my girlfriends, standing for like 3 hours. I left the concert and couldn't wait to sit in the car. On the way home, I felt some tightness pretty low in my belly. It went away after I went to bed. That might have been my last night "out". One more week until I hit my personal goal of 37 weeks! After that, she can come any day.

The nursery is about 95% done. Mat and I worked alot on it this weekend.
Here are some pictures...

We took a childbirth class over the weekend and that's my last class. Mat has Daddy Bootcamp next week. Daddy Bootcamp is supposed to be really fun. Childbirth class had lots of good info. Kinda scary seeing all those births but it information we were given was really good. Less than a month to go now!

Baby T's Birthday Hat!

Siler will be waiting for Baby T's arrival in this fabulous hat from Jon and Judy Brown!

Nursery Updates

Take home outfits

Newborn outfit that we can take baby T home from the hospital in...













If the baby is a little bigger, we will take her home in this one...

New Nursery Pics

Bed Rest for Sonal

This is an old pictures but I just wanted to give a shout out to my friend Sonal who is laid up in a hospital bed right now in Raleigh. She is trying her hardest NOT to deliver. She is due August 20 but her water broke over the weekend, 9 weeks early. Baby Stokes is just chillin for now and seems to be happy. Sonal is trying to keep herself entertained by catching us all up on the celebrity gossip. We are hoping that Baby Stokes stays in there for a couple more weeks. We might end up delivering right around the same time!!

Doctor's appointment today

So today's doctors appointment went well. We are seeing all the other doctors in the practice because Dr. Sun is on maternity leave for another couple weeks. Anyway, we saw a great doctor today (Dr. Houston). She was super sweet. We did that Group B streptococcus (GBS) test and we will get the results next week. My cervix is still closed and the babies head is down which is fabulous. She just wants me to stay pregnant for 2 more weeks! Just till I hit 37 weeks and I am 35 and 3 days today. So my legs are closed!!

Soooooooo, we then we mentioned to the doctor we think it's a girl. We told her how we weren't sure but one tech had told us they thought it was a girl. The doctor asked if we wanted her to double check and she totally did!! She whipped the ultrasound out and we saw our little girl! CONFIRMED!! Woohoo! Mat could not stop smiling and singing some song about a little girl being in my belly. It was fabulous!

We start going every week now. Next appointment is next Thursday. Can't wait!!

The best of our maternity pics

All pictures taken with love from Grandma Davis!

Atlanta Shower weekend / 35 Weeks

What a fabulous weekend! My mom, Terry and her best friend Ellen flew in on Thursday. Mom and I did a bit of running around and settling in for the weekend. Friday Mat and I had to work so the ladies set off around Atlanta with our car and GPS. They toured 5 points and had a great time. After I got off work we had a great dinner at Sidebar with Ellen's family. Nancy and Caroline flew in that night.

Saturday we had a great brunch at Radial and stopped at the Farmers Market. After a quick change we were off to Pavan's for the shower. Her house was decorated with such cute decorations. Tons of food! Lots of friends were already there! We had such a nice time chatting with everyone. It was great to get caught up on everyones lives! The gifts were amazing. I got TONS of new books, some clothes, lots of stuff for the nursery, diaper bag and genie, more books, a fabulous bike trailer, etc. We got tons of great items. As I opened a gift, the gift-giver would give me a slice of Mommy advice. No matter if you were or were not a mommie, they gave me a little bit of help. I am still thinking about all the wonderful words that were said. Thank goodness my friends videotaped the shower so I can go back and remember all the words of wisdom. Baby T is certainly loved!!! As am I and Mat. We have a remarkable set of family and friends.




After the shower dwindled we headed for dinner and ice cream.

We had to say goodbye to Mat's family on Sunday. It was great to have them here to visit. They are all soooooooo excited for Baby T's arrival. Can't wait to see them all in a month when she gets here.

Sunday afternoon we took a trek to Babies R Us to put those Ohio gift cards to work! We shopped for waaaaaaaay too long but it was so helpful to have Mom there to help me pick out all the good stuff. We tested gliders/rockers for several mins. It was just nice to sit down! After spending ridiculous amounts (thank you family) at BRU, we headed to Costco where we continued our spree. I didn't know it but a digital SLR camera was in my future. I might be scared to touch it now but I won't be later! I can't wait to test it out and play around with all the settings. Finally Mat doesn't have to hear me whine about getting a SLR! I have one of my very own!!

After a long day of shopping, we rested up and had dinner. Next up, more maternity pictures!! I didn't really like my dress choice for the pictures below so I changed and we took some more pictures around our house, in our yard, in the park near our house. Mat and Siler were a good sports and we had great time. Here are a couple of my favorites are below. We cleaned up the babies room and put away almost everything. What a relief!!




Today was pretty emotional as I said good by to my momma. I was dreading it all weekend. She is, as always, such a big help and we will miss her. It's times like these that you want/need love and support from your family. Thank goodness they are all just a call away.

5 weeks remain before d-day! Who knows how long she will stay in there. I am feeling really good. Yesterday was tough but we were going all-day-long. My legs felt like they are about 200 pounds each. They look it as well! My feet are still pretty sore in the mornings but after I get going, I'm okay. Mat said that I look a little bigger at the end of each day so I must be growing at rapid speed! Bout' time!! We have a maternity tour of the hospital tonight. We will find out where we are supposed to check in, see the rooms, ask lots of questions. Should be good stuff. Wednesday we have a doctors appointment. We are going to finally find out if she has flipped and/or dropped. I am thinking she has done both but I have no idea!

34 week belly pic

This is one of the many many pictures that my mom took when we were at home for my Ohio Shower. We went to Raising Park in Lancaster and took some really beautiful shots. My mom should becoming a professional photographer!

Happy pregnancy news to report!

Congrats to Neil and Lila who are expecting on December 1, 2008! Neil is Mat's first cousin and Lila is Neil's lovely wife. Lila and Neil reside in Philadelphia.













And congrats to Jose and Pavan Navarro who are expecting on December 21, 2008! Jose is Mat's business partner and close friend. We are so happy to have someone so close to us on the baby train as well!

Video with Chloe

34 Weeks

Well, the Ohio shower this weekend was great!! I wasn't able to take many pictures so I am hoping others did. Kari sent me some pictures so I will send those out. The Ohio shower was a gift card shower which was so nice because I didn't need to bring stuff back in suitcases. So Mat and I are going shopping soon!! They also did this really nice things where everyone wrote down a piece of "mommy advice". Mom and Kari put them on a board and framed it. It's going to be really nice to read the advice from time to time. Everyone brought a book so that our kiddy library is growing! My friend Katie did this series of 4 paintings that match our monkey bedding. They are really cute and they match perfectly. We will probably hang those tonight. I'll take a picture tonight! Kari got us a baby journal and we filled part of it last night. I remember reading the baby journal that my mom made for me and my sister. It's nice to fill out one of my own.

We were traveling non stop Monday. We dropped Terry off at the Columbus airport. Then we drove to the Dayton airport. Then flew to Atlanta. After I got home, I started to notice that my ankles were feeling tight. I look down and they looked like huge sausages!! So I went in and laid on the couch with my feet up. I looked it up on the internet and it says to be careful when traveling in your 3rd tri, drink water, put your feet up when you can, and do some exercises to get the blood flowing. None of which I was doing much of. So I drank lots of water and Tuesday morning they were not swollen so I went for my workout.

So just 39 days left! I think the baby flipped (head down) during the drive in movie on Friday night. I am feeling a bit different but still comfortable, just different. Next doctor’s appointment is next week and then I start going every week. My mom and Mat's family comes in this Thursday. Can't wait for this weekend!

Karla noticed that I wasn't wearing my rings at the shower. They were getting tight so I thought I would go ahead and take them off for now. Just in case I couldn't get them off later. I feel kinda weird without my wedding ring on but oh well.


My feet have gotten mostly uncomfortable. They are so sore when I take my first steps in the morning. No matter if I wore tennis shoes, heels or flip-flops the day previous. They just hurt. Guess it's cause of the extra weight and whatnot. Plus I have super flat feet so shoes have never been my friend. I felt bad wearing flip-flops to work although they really don't care here. So I got a pair of crocs that I could wear to work. They look like mary janes and are really cute and stretchy. Yesterday was my first day wearing the crocs and they are really nice. They are light and feel pretty good on my feet. I bought a size 9 which is my normal size but I think my feet overall have gotten a bit bigger. Kinda strange!

Mat and my single traveling days are over. Mat and I were waiting in the airport talking about how this was our last trip without a kiddy. Traveling is going to be much different from now on!

To see pictures from the weekend click here
To see pictures from the shower click here or here

New fabulous gift!

A new fabulous gift from Deanne Breithaupt and Joe Brand! Siler is modeling just one of the items that we got in this box of goodies from D and Joe!!

This is a terry cloth hooded towel has the cutest matching robe. Too bad Siler can't fit into the robe. We love all the goodies and thank D and Joe!!
We are looking forward to Joe and D's wedding in Baltimore in November.

33 weeks (a little late again)

Only 47 days to go until baby T!! We had a doctors appointment this morning and that went really well. She just measured me and listened for the heart beat. All is well. We go back in 2 weeks (at week 35). She will then check to see if I am dilated and do a Group B streptococcus (GBS) test. GBS is a type of bacterial infection that can be found in a pregnant woman. If postive, I just do some antibotics so the baby doesn't get it. Anyway, she said all is well and that's good. So I go back in two weeks and then every week after that. I just want to keep her in there till 37 weeks and then I will be a happy camper! The doctor said that it's too early to tell if the baby is head down yet. But the doctor said that we should be able to tell in a couple weeks.

My first shower is coming up this weekend in Ohio! I literally can't wait to get home and see my family and friends. Should be a great time! I will post pictures as soon as I get back.