My Best Friend's Wedding

I am so so late on this post, but better late than never, right!?

My best friend, Alicia, got married 2 weeks ago! It was so beautiful and I was so blessed to be standing next to her on such a special day. They have been together for 7 1/2 years, and now they are finally MR. and MRS. ZELLNER!!!

The bride and groom cutting the cake

The stunning bride and I

Bryson was telling jokes to Alicia :)

The guys singing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" to Alicia

Michael and I

Michael and I toasting the newlyweds

My sisters and I

My wonderful inlaws

Ray and Alicia leaving

Congratualtions Mr. and Mrs. Zellner!

We love y'all and pray that The Lord will bless your marriage beyond your wildest dreams!!

Pregnancy by the Numb3rs...

I have 28 days to go until we get to meet Bryson!! Since I am 36 weeks pregnant and in my 9th month, I thought I'd do a fun pregnancy update in numbers :)

0.....times I've gotten sick

33.....times I've blogged about the baby/pregnancy

3.....sonograms (and have been able to see our baby boy!)

7......times I've forgotten to take my prenatal vitamins

31.....pounds I've gained....so far!

4......times we've been to the hospital in November. (3 for childbirth class and 1 for this)

2......unopened bottles of Tums that I've had since my 1st Trimester

100......percentage of strangers guessing the sex of our baby guessed we're having a boy

4.....times I usually go to the bathroom during the night

42......diapers I've gotten free in the mail from differnt blogs

5......times I've rearranged/reorganized Bryson's drawers and closet

2......times I've taken medicine- Tylenol and Tamiflu

9.......Pregnancy/Baby books I've read

6.......caterpillar size stretch marks on my bum -which just appeared a few days ago :(
 3......bra sizes I've had to go up-haha!

1..... cm dialated (only 9 to go!)

countless......times I've prayed for Bryson and thanked the Lord for letting me be his mommy!

what a crazy CRAZY week!

I'm not really even sure where to begin. It was been an eventful week to say the least.

(P.S. This is going to be a long post... )

So, Monday, I had my Dr appointment that went great. Wonderful start to the week...

Tuesday morning, I was getting into my car to go to school and I got the most intense, horrible pain in my right side. It hurt SO badly. I suffered through them the whole way to school. It was 6:30 in the morning, so my Dr's office wasn't open yet, so I couldn't call to figure out what was going on yet. Well, I got into my classroom and the pain was just getting worse. I had the trash can next to me because I thought I was going to throw up at any second. It was not fun at all. Oddly enough, the pain totally and completely went away an hour later. I called my doctor and told her about everything. She said that it was most likely a strained ligament or muscle and to just be careful and not do anything too strenuous.

So that was crazy.

We went to our last childbirth class on Thursday- woohoo! I think we passed....we're ready to have a baby :)

I took the morning off of work on Friday so I could go to my sonogram appointment. I could NOT wait to see our baby boy again!! Michael met me there and we went in for the sonogram. Bryson looked perfect!! Based on his measurements, he's already 6 lbs2oz! She said that babies gain about 1/2 a pound a week from here on out, so he's going to be a good size baby for sure! Well anyway, towards the end of the sonogram I started feeling really hot and everything started to get dark. I propped myself up on the bed with my hands behind me, trying to make the feeling go away. But it didn't. And I fainted. Michael jumped up and caught me before I fell back on the bed. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was pretty scary. I had some water, a nurse came in with a wet wash cloth, I sat there for a few minutes and then felt much better. They said it most likely happened because I was lying on my back for a while and Bryson was on top of one of the main arteries in my stomach and cut off the blood supply.

I felt fine, so I went back to work. I was there for about 2 hours when my doctor called me and said she really wants me to go straight to the hospital to be monitored after what happened this morning and also because of the pain I was having on Tuesday. Hearing that scared me to death! I split my class between 2 of the awesome girls I work with and went to the hospital. Michael met me there and I got hooked up to the monitors. Bryson's heart rate and movements were perfect, but it was picking up lots of contractions that I had no idea I was having (more than normal at this point). After about 20 minutes, the nurse had me lay on my side and the contractions became less frquent and less intense-which is normal for this stage of pregnancy.

Yes, I was stressed out and forcing a smile. Yes, it is totally noticable. :)

So after about an hour, we got to go home!! Michael was so wonderful. While I was obviously scared to death and freaking out at every beep the monitors made, he was completely calm and so sweet about trying to calm me down and distract me from what was going on. I sure do love him like crazy!!

The one thing that was nice was that the nurse said I haven't swollen up at all and if it was going to happen, it most likely would have happened by now. So that's a plus :)

But all in all...a VERY crazy week!! I'm praying that is the extent of drama for the rest of my pregnancy.

35 Weeks!!

5 Weeks left!? 35 days!!!??? Are you serious!?!? Whoa, Baby!!

I have gotten humongo!! We had school pictures last week and I realized I get to be big and puffy in my yearbook picture. hooray. Last weekend, I also went with Melony, my mother in law, and ordered my bridesmaid dress for Rebecca's wedding (hooray!!!) and I had to get a super large size because who know what size I'll be in April. AND I'm no longer able to wear all of my clothes that I have been able to wear throughout my pregnancy. There's no way around it. I'm just huuuge! I still love being pregnant, I'm just getting really ready to deflate back to a normal size again! :)

35 Weeks!

I started my weekly appointments today!! My 1st weekly appt also included having my first exam. Oh my goodness--not fun. BUT, she told me that I am 1cm dialated!! I freaked out a little. Then, she told me she could feel his head!! And I freaked out a lot. I sat straight up, my eyes bugged out, and asked what that meant. The nurse in the room died laughing and assured me that it was totally normal and it was a really good sign since that means Bryson is head down and ready to go :) I thought it meant Bryson was on his way, like, now! But no worries. My doctor said everything is exactly how it should be progressing and I'm no longer measuring small; I'm right on track with where I should be right now. :) YAY!

She also ordered another ultrasound just to make sure he is "locked" in place and doesn't have a chance of flipping around before the 21st. I didn't think I as going to have another one, so this is an AMAZING surprise! We get to see our baby boy again before his arrival! :)

I'm still feeling great and truly loving being pregnant.I know I still have the tail end of pregnancy to go, but so far so good! I think I'll actually miss it once I have Bryson. I love knowing that my sweet boy is growing inside me. I love feeling his love taps karate chops on the inside of my belly. I love that he gets the hiccups several times a day. I just love everything about it!! (well, except that I'm as big as a house, like I mentioned before) :)

Michael and I have our last childbirth class on Thursday and then we have a newborn care class in a few weeks. All of the classes have been really helpful and informative. I think they have made me even more anxious and ready to see our little boy though. :)

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I am SO excited and SO ready to see my baby boy! :) 

Grow Baby Grow!

Watch as the beach ball in my stomach inflates before your very eyes...

Tah Dah!! Stay tuned, 6 more weeks of this to go! (Yikes!) :)

33 Weeks!

I'm getting so anxious about meeting our sweet boy! I feel like I am getting a little taste of his personality from all his kicks and wiggles, but I can't wait to see it in real life.

My growing belly at 33 Weeks

Bryson is now a little over 4 lbs and a little over 17 inches long according to Babycenter. He moves and flips ALL day long! On Tuesday, a couple of my kids were reading at my teacher table and one girl looked up and saw Bryson wiggling around in my belly and jumped up and got so excited. The rest of the kids stared at my belly for at least 5 minutes! It was funny :)

So, I have a confession to make. I've been lying to you the whole pregnancy. All along I have said I haven't had any bad symptoms of pregnancy...but I have. I have had a TERRIBLE case of pregnancy brain!!! I feel like I am losing my mind half of the time! I forget everything unless it's written down somewhere, and even then, there's no guarantee that I'll remember where I wrote it! It's baaad! This gets better after the baby comes, right????
Other than that, I'm still feeling awesome! I have yet to have any heart burn (knock on wood) and even though I'm up on my feet teaching all day long, I haven't noticed any swelling at all. I am starting to get more uncomfortable though. I'm fine laying, standing or moving around, but I can't stay seated very long or it gets annoying. It's hard to watch a movie or sit in church, but I guess that comes with the territory.  

Michael and I went to our first childbirth class on Thursday. I can't believe we're already to this point. We learned a lot of really helpful information that is going to come in very handy in a few weeks. We have 2 more childbirth classes, a infant care class and I am going to a breastfeeding class next week. Hopefully we'll be a little more prepared with all these classes!

On the way home from class, Michael asked if he could put the car seat in the car. So he did!! I love how excited he is about his son. :) Our car is now ready for a baby passenger!!

 He also suggested that we go ahead and pack a bag, but we didn't quite finish that task. Bryson has a bag packed, but mommy and daddy don't have one yet. :) We still have time though :)

I start my WEEKLY appointments in 2 weeks!! WOW!

I am so ready to meet you, sweet boy!!

 

P.S. I put a new poll on the right side...you should vote on when you think B will come!! :)

Run, Run As Fast As You Can

My sister, Stephanie and Michael ran the Dallas Running Club Half Marathon on Sunday morning and I went out to cheer them on. I camped out around mile 7 and waited for them to come by. I knew what time the race started, so based on their normal pace, I figured out time they would probably be running by my mile marker. I was soo wrong about the time! They ran by so much sooner than I expected...I almost completely missed seeing them!

BUT, I got in my car and jumped ahead to mile 9

They look like they just started running...not 9 miles into the race!!

They crossed the finish line and Steph set a new personal record....by 20 minutes!!

Way to go Michael and Steph!!! Y'all are awesome!!  :)

Halloweeny Wedding Events

One of my best friends, Alicia, is getting married next Saturday (whoa, that's so weird to say....NEXT Saturday!!) On Halloween, we threw her a Lingerie Shower and a Bachelorette Party, and it was great fun!!

The Lingerie Shower was at a cute little Tea Room in Dallas.

The Bride and the Hosts-Kaylan, me and Stephanie

After the shower, we went back to Kaylan's apartment to hang out. We ate waaay too much candy and watched Juno since that's who I was dressing up as later that night and I hadn't seen the movie yet :) 

We all drank a big full glass of Sunny D so I didn't have to carry around a full jug all night. My arm thanks you!

Then we got in our Halloween garb and went to Magic Time Machine for dinner.

Several of the wait staff had to stop by our table just to see Juno! Haha (Thanks for the costume idea, Amanda!)

Juno, Elementary School Indian, Bridezilla, Vampiress

It was such a fun night hanging out with these girls and celebrating Alicia getting married!!!

Only 2 more weeks and then I'll be posting about the wedding!!! YAY!!! :)

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Halloween last year:

Bob and Jillian from The Biggest Loser

Halloween this year:

Juno (I forgot the Sunny D for the picture)

Halloween Next Year:

Bryson dressed up as something precious!

**Waiting on a picture for this one :) **

Happy Halloween!!