Sympathy Pregnancy?

I guess Michael wanted to know what it feels like to carry a baby around in/on his tummy!? Ha!

Actually, Orion has recently decided that he likes to crawl up his sweaters and sleep on his chest.

It's SO stinking cute!!

Snug As A Bug In A Rug- 39 Weeks

I waited to update this week until after my appointment this morning. I was REALLY hoping I would bring back good news (as in Bryson is ready to come any second!) but he's still just as content as can be in my belly.

I am STILL only 1-2 cm dialated, but now 50% effaced, so at least something is progressing. I can't believe this was my last appointment! I'm somewhat thankful thats it was because I can't bear to step on that scale one more time!!

It looks like I will most definitely have to be induced on Monday. We're going to go in at 5:30 PM on Sunday night and I'll get some medicine to help move things along. They'll give me Pitocin at 5:30AM on Monday to start contractions and begin labor. My doctor went through everything step by step to let me know what to expect. THEN, he continued to let me know that I should expect to have a long labor. A REALLY long labor. As in, he said there was a big possibility that I wouldn't even deliver until Monday night!! Lovely. You know what's sad? The first thing that went though my head was, 'Oh my gosh, I can't eat anything while I'm in the hospital until after I give birth. I'm going to starve to death!!!'  Haha! You can definitely tell where my head is! :)  So, now, I'm trying to get used to the fact that I'm going to have "one of those" labors. Yuck! But I know it will all be so so worth it in the end. We'll be able to hold our precious little boy in our arms and everything will be wonderful!! :)

About ready to pop!

Me and Bryson at 39 weeks and 2 days --Can you tell that he's dropped?

Why are you still in there!?

For now, I am putting the last few things in the bags for the hospital, doing a little last minute cleaning (and I do mean a little!) and decorating cookies for the hospital.

5 days until we see you, sweet boy!!

You did it!

My sister in law, Rebecca, and her fiance, Beau graduated from UT two weekends ago!! YAY!

I really wish I could have been there to see them walk across the stage, but everyone figured it would probably be best if I stayed here "just in case."  :)

The Fants plus Beau :)

We're so proud of y'all!!

Rebecca was accepted to UT Southwestern Medical School, so they'll be living in Dallas for the next 4 years and I am SO excited about that!

Perspective

SO

I feel humongous. If there was a word that means "bigger than humongous" then I would use it!

I am really uncomfortable 80% of the day.

As of Wednesday, I am swollen. My ankles are swollen. My fingers are swollen and my face is swollen and puffy.

I'm waking up multiples times a night and not sleeping very well. Which, needless to say, leaves me very tired all the time.

I am REALLY ready to have Bryson in my arms instead of my belly.

Well, my mom called me today after church and asked how I was feeling. And I told her. She was really sweet and sympathetic and then said,

"At least you don't have to ride 70 miles into Bethlehem on a donkey  like Mary did!" :-)

That changed my perspective for sure!

38 Weeks- Camping Out

Michael and I have had a strange feeling that Bryson was going to come early, but apparently we were wrong.

At my appointment on Monday, I found out that Bryson is pretty content where he is and is pretty much planning on going to college in there! HA! I'm still only at a 1-baaarely 2...so I'm moving really slowly.

Bryson is doing great, my doctor said that he feels like he's around 7lbs, so he's not going to be as hefty as we had thought.

She also had some not so fun news. She said there's a huge chance I'll have to be induced since I'm moving so slowly and have been in the same place for 3 weeks now.   :(  I had to reschedule an induction (I had cancelled the original appointment I made) for the 21st, which is also my due date. She is afraid of waiting longer than that because my fluid levels were a tiny bit low on my last sono at 35 wks and since there's hardly any extra room in my belly, she doesn't want to take the chance of him growing even more and running out of amniotic fluid. Needless to say, one way or another, we're going to have a baby boy ON or before the 21st!!

I'm really thrilled that Bryson is so healthy and growing so wonderfully. I have to admit, however, that I was slightly bummed that we have to wait 2 more weeks to meet him. I'm also bummed that I have 2 more weeks of walking around super humongo and getting more and more uncomfortable by the hour. I actually feel like I have started to waddle in the past day or so. It's a lovely feeling. HA! 

Here we are at 38 weeks :)   Only 12 days to go!!

Speaking of "only 12 days to go", a couple of my girls sang a super cute song to Bryson this morning. It was called the "12 Days of Bryson."

The only line I remember was, "On the 1st day of Bryson, his mommy said to him 'please stop crying. I don't want to spank you."

It was really funnny :) I love my kids!!

I forgot to mention this last week, but we went to an infant care class last Tuesday and Michael learned how to swaddle a baby. It was so sweet to watch him practicing on a babydoll. He was pretty good at it! :)

SO, for now, we're anxiously awaiting the 21st!! Or, if Bryson decides to come earlier, then that is PERFECTLY ok with me!!! :)

Cookie Monster!

One of my friends, Katy, had a super cute Christmas present idea...and I borrowed stole it. :)

I'm shameless, I know, but they're so cute! They're going to be for all of Michael's coworkers at the bank and some of the girls I teach with.

I found a recipie online, got all the ingredients and set aside a couple of hours to make the treats. They were really easy to make, but boy was I wrong about the time estimate. I was in the kitchen for over SEVEN hours with those suckers! But it was worth it :)

I only made Chocolate Chip cookies beacuse I figured everyone likes chocolate, right!?

I even copied Katy's picture. I'm such a copycat. Sorry Katy :)

2 Magic Words: FULL TERM!!

WOO HOO!! Bryson is officially full term as of Monday! I can't believe it. We are only 3 weeks away from meeting our son for the first time!!

I have been unbelievably anxious about when he is going to make his debut. For the past week, every time Bryson kicks, moves or hiccups I think it's a contraction and he's going to pop out all of a sudden! Yeah yeah, I know it doesn't really work like that. Ha! I actually have been having quite a few contractions though. Every once in a while they're pretty strong, but most of them are pretty mild--as in I barely notice them.

I'm still feeling pretty good. B has definitely dropped in the past week or so. He's starting to feel really heavy and it's getting uncomfortable. It's also getting a little depressing stepping on the scale in the mornings. I am SO ready to start deflating back to normal. I have started feeling like the overexaggerated pregnant girl in the movies when all they do is sit around  eating unhealthy stuff, all big and puffy and only wearing sweats (or their husband's t-shirts!)  I also think it's a bad sign when you start outgrowing your maternity pants!!

This was in one of my pregnancy email updates and I thought it was pretty fitting. :)

I had my 37 week appointment on Monday and it went pretty well. I'm progressing sloooowly (1-2cm) but everything still looks really good! I was secretly hoping she would say, "Hey what do you know, you're ready to have the baby right now. Let's go to the hospital!" But, instead, she said it looks like I'll be really close to making my due date, December 21. I just can't wait to see his face and hold him in my arms. But I suppose I can wait...I only have NINETEEN days left!!

Bryson and I at 37 weeks

My big ol' belly :)

I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, (Ha!) but I am REALLY anxious to find out when Bryson is going to come. I know my doctor has said that he's probably going to be born close to his due date, but Michael and I both have had this strange feeling that he's going to come early. And I thought this morning at 2:30 AM was it!! I thought my water broke after one of my potty trips! I sat there for at least 15 minutes completely giddy/nervous/anxious/frightened. I finally went into the other room so I wouldn't wake up Michael and paced the house for a while thinking about our baby and waiting for the contractions to hit me. I stayed up for another hour and a half and nothing else happened. I felt kind of silly afterwards, but oh well :)

This last month of pregnancy is turning out to be kinda dramatic! :) HAHA!

Trimmin' the tree

I LOVE Christmas time. Like, LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

I love everything about it: the weather, putting up the tree, decorating the house, baking, my dad reading the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas Eve, trying to find the perfect gifts for special people, watching kids wait in line to sit on Santa's lap, snowmen, jackets and scarves, singing Christmas music, celebrating Jesus' birth, shopping, Orion's Christmas sweater, and SO many other wonderful things!

This year is different though. This Christmas, I get to add "the birth of my son" to my list!!! And oh, I really really can't wait for that! The whole time I was decorating the tree I kept thinking, "when we take this down, we are going to have a little baby boy in our home."

I got to decorate 3 Christmas trees this year. 2 at our house and 1 at my inlaw's house. So fun :)

Michael got all the stuff out of the attic for me. After looking at our pile, he said, "We have all of this stuff and we've only been married for two years!? Uh Oh, we're in trouble!" Heheh- so true!! :)

I'm not finished with the tree in our entry, but hopefully I can get it done soon! :)

I don't want to grow up

Michael makes fun of me for sitting like this all the time.

I can't help it, ever since I was little, I've always dried my hair, done my hair and done my makeup sitting up on the counter.

I suppose it is really silly looking. And it's SUPER silly looking when I'm 9 months preggo and I basically belly bump the mirror when I'm up there! HA!

Sleepy Puppy

I sure do love our sleepy puppy!

This is how he is every morning...never wants to get out of bed, and I don't blame him one bit!