One Month Old

I am 5 weeks old!!

My mommy TRIED to weigh and measure me and she says I weigh 10.2 lbs and am 23 inches long! That's right....I'm a big girl!! (I go to the doctor in 2 weeks, when I'm almost 2 months old and they will tell me how big I really am.)

Well, this first month has really flown by! I guess when you sleep all the time.....well, you know. Anyway, my parents seem pretty cool. They let me sleep when and where ever I want, my mommy feeds me (I've really got this booby thing down!), and my daddy snuggles me so good that I can't help but fall asleep. I have to admit, Mommy and Daddy are pretty weird sometimes though. For example, one time, I was trying to sleep and m

y Daddy put his finger on my chin and made my mouth move and everyone was laughing. I don't know what that was all about...here...just see for yourself. Click Laughing Attack

Oh, and my mom sings ALL the time! She makes my arms and legs move and makes her laugh so hard....it IS pretty funny. Sometimes, I'll even smile too...but it isn't funny enough to make me laugh, I mean, come one Mommy! Geez!

Now that I think about it, my whole family is kinda strange! EVERYONE talks to me in the same voice. Mommy, Daddy, grandparents, uncles, cousins...they all talk really high and their eyes get really big and they smile a LOT! I wonder if I will talk like this one day?

Other stuff that has been happening:

I really, really like baths! (While I am actually IN the bath....getting out is COLD!)

I take naps in my "Big Girl" crib in my room now.

I got to meet family from Virginia and New York!

I got to meet my Great Gran (He's the OLDEST! Mommy says he's 85 years older than me....that's a LOT!)

Everyone says I look like my mommy. Here is a picture of her when she was a baby like me.

I think that's about all of the stuff I can remember about this first month. Oh and I forgot to mention that I've had so many visitor that I can't even name them all. I've met all of my Grandparents, 3 of my uncles, 5 of my great grandparents, 2 great uncles, 2 great aunt, lots of my 2nd cousins, and 3 of my 3rd cousins (one of them is 3 weeks younger than me!) Mom says that there are probably more that I'm forgetting, but you get the picture! I've had lots of visitors and I loved it!!

Ok, time for a nap!

See you soon,

Leah Love (that's what mom calls me!)

And then there were 3...

I guess since my baby girl will be a 5 weeks old tomorrow, I should probably update my blog, huh?

Leah Rose Street has made her appearance into our world! She was born on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010 at 7:23 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 20 inches long. PERFECT!

The labor and delivery, while unexpected, went very well. Jason and I went to the scheduled doctor appointment at 9:45 that Wednesday morning for our 38 1/2 weeks visit. The doctor didn't seem to be expecting much, but when he "checked" me, I was dilated to 4 cm and was 95% effaced! "Let's go break your water," were the next words we heard. We were checked into the hospital around 11 am, and about 8 hrs later, Leah was here!

I'm not going to bore everyone with all the details, but honestly, I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, I started having contractions at home about 40 hrs before Leah was born, got an epidural 6 hrs before she was born, didn't feel anything, pushed for like 10 mins, and she was here. Ok...ok...the 36 hrs of contractions before the epidural weren't THAT pleasant, but bearable, and the almost passing out and shaking for the next 2 hrs after the epidural weren't great.....but all in all...labor and delivery are doable! We had a healthy, happy, beautiful little girl. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

1 hr after delivery

When Leah was 10 days old (on her actual due date) we had some newborn pictures made. Our friend Summer, from Birmingham, came to our house and took some beautiful shots. (If anyone is interested, her website is www.summersimpson.com.) These just melt our hearts! Enjoy!

Jason and I are so blessed to have such a good baby and also to have such wonderful friends and family that have helped out during this first month. Thank you to everyone!

Mini-update

I will do a better update after our doctors appointment Tuesday, July 13th. But for now.....

We have all been doing great! We are mostly moved in to our house in Meridian, even though by looking at our garage, you couldn't tell. It is storage right now for "things we don't need on a daily basis". Hope to get it down to "stuff we don't need until the next time we move" before Leah gets here, but we'll see.

So, as of today, I am 27 weeks and 4 days pregnant. If anyone is counting (like me!!) that means we only have 12 weeks and 3 days to go! Give or take. As far as symptoms go, not much has changed. If you remember from my last post, I'm not working anymore, so my back pain is actually better as of right now. I'm sure it will probably pick up as my belly grows, but other than a little hip pain, it's not too bad. However...the groin pain is terrible! It doesn't hurt if I've been up and moving around, but if I've been sitting for a while, or when I sleep at night it's REALLY bad. Doctor says this is normal "round ligament pain".

I'm still having contractions - Braxton Hicks, that is. It started at about 1 or 2 a day, but now it has picked up to 6 or 7 a day and more than that at night. I've found that if I lay on my back at night, they get worse. Still, though, no pain with them....just a hard, contorted belly!

Also, Leah is a little wiggle worm. She still isn't making my belly look like an alien, but she is definitely squirmy! She has really gotten busy over the last week all of a sudden...must be packing on some pounds. I know I am!!! At my 24 week check-up, I had gained a total of 5 or 6 lbs...but that was all in 4 weeks!! The doctor didn't say it was too much, but I have a feeling that if I gain that much this time, he will tell me to "Slow Down!!" I haven't changed my eating habits, but I have quit work, and that may have something to do with it. Keeping my fingers crossed for 5 lbs gained or less at this next visit on Tuesday. Here is a picture of the belly from today. Sorry it's blurry...Jason took it with an iPhone.

In my last post I had promised pictures of Leah's "stuff". I didn't take many pictures of individual items, but just enough to give you an idea. Most of these things are from my baby shower that the girls at work threw me during my last week before we moved. Other than that, my mom sent me some things that were mine when I was little that she had saved and she also sent just a couple outfits that she had purchased a while ago (even before I was pregnant) to give as gifts. Well, they are Leah's now!!! We still have two baby showers to go......blessed or what???!!

Clothes: Newborn - 18 months

Laundry basket, diapers, wipes, lotion, blanket and other random items.

Cabinet holding blankets, shoes, socks, rattles, onesies, towels and washcloths!

One of my dresses when I was a baby.

Little Alabama booties from my Mom.

And finally, this is just a little preview of what the theme will be in Leah's room. We can't paint in our condo so we found a cheap bedding set that we are gonna use to decorate with. We decided on something neutral so that we could use it for the next baby...boy or girl!

WHEW!!

A lot has happened since my last post. First, we had our 20 week ultrasound and found out we're having a BABY GIRL!!! We've picked a name, Leah Rose, and cant wait to meet her! Everything went great at the ultrasound/Dr. appointment. The ultrasound was at 8:30 in the am, so we didn't have to wait very long to find out. (This is great since pregnancy has not brought on a great amount of patience for me.) The ultrasound tech checked her heart (rate and 4 chambers of the heart) and the heart rate was 149 bmp and healthy. She also checked her kidneys, brain, spine, bladder, weight and took a peek at the girly parts. She said everything looked wonderful and healthy. The average weight for a baby at 20 weeks is around 11 oz (so said the tech) and Leah weighed 13 oz. PERFECT! "Thank you, Lord!" That is exactly the kind of news you want to hear.

This was also our last Dr. visit in Hattiesburg. We loved our doctor, Dr. Bailey, but as most of you know we moved back to Meridian (just this past weekend actually) so that Jason and I can be closer during the second half of the pregnancy. Also, it's just less stressful to be close to Jason's work (now a 10 min drive compared to a 1.5 hr drive!!). I digress....back to the topic at hand (oh and "pregnancy brain" is definitely a real thing). Dr. Bailey said everything was well with me and the baby. My uterus was just above my naval and I was still 1 lb shy of what I was at the first Dr. visit. However, I don't think that will be the case at the 24 weeks visit!!

Since my last post, I have also been feeling a LOT of movement. And now, Jason has felt her move too! Actually, as of two nights ago, we have been able to see her little wiggles from the outside! She's finally big enough to make my ever-growing belly move! So sweet. Another new observation is that she seems (as of right now) to sleep until 10 or 11 am everyday! WOW! (Any shot of this happening when she pops out?!) My tummy is definitely growing, but while my mom says it's ( and I quote) "BIG!!", I haven't seen much change since about 19 weeks (I'm now 22 weeks 4 days). I've also started to have Braxton Hicks contractions, usually less than one a day. They're not painful, just strange. AND, GROSS, I've started swelling a little bit, YIKES!!! I still have 17 HOT, SWEATY, FAT, PREGNANT weeks to go!! Granted, the worst days were the weekend that we moved, probably due to the cleaning, packing, driving, and unpacking....but still!!! I'm to the point that I have an audible conversation with myself every morning, "Randi, please remember to take off your wedding ring, when the swelling from the previous night goes down!!" I never remember because it's usually 12 or 1 pm before that time comes. Oh, I almost forgot, before I left my job in Hattiesburg, the whole Radiology department threw us a baby shower! We got lots of super cute clothes and tons of other stuff. I can't even begin to name it all right now, but I'll try to take some pictures before my next post! Now, if I could finish unpacking, I could start getting Leah's room together! Anyway, here's a pictures of the belly as of today.

Since I'm officially unemployed now, I'll try to stay on top of this better. Until next time!!

Update Central!

I'm gonna just throw this out there...."I'm a terrible blogger already!" I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner, but we've just been so busy! I will attempt to make some sense out of the mess and update on 3 topics in one blog. Bear with me.

On May the 20th, Jason and I were able to go to Texas to visit Jason's brother and family. (I would like to insert a special thanks to Oliver, Rebecca, Kate and Cole for putting us up for a few days.) We hadn't seen the family in FOREVER. Kate and Cole are 5 and 2.5 yrs respectively and they are growing up so fast! They both have such adorable personalities and are so loving! It definitely made me and Jason wish that we lived closer to them.

Also!!!! Rebecca gave me almost all of her maternity clothes! I was so excited! Almost every single piece fits perfectly or will fit perfectly when my belly gets bigger! What a great sister-in-law! Not to mention that she sent us home with her rocker/glider that she used for Kate and Cole. The only thing wrong with it was it had a little squeak.....but Jason got the squeak out in about 5 mins with WD40!! Good as new. Lastly, Rebecca and Oliver said we could have their changing table and convertible crib! Of course we took them up on it as long as we can figure out a way to get it to Mississippi (we live 11 hrs apart). All of that makes me want to set up a baby nursery!!

After returning from Texas we had a Dr. appointment; 17 weeks 3 days pregnant! Everything looked really good. The baby's heart rate had dropped to 154 beats per minute, but Dr. Bailey said that was completely normal. Still down 4 lbs from the beginning of the pregnancy, but the way my appetite has kicked up, I don't think that will last too much longer. She scheduled us for our 20 week ultrasound on May 18! We will find out (with the cooperation of the baby, of course) if we are having a little Girl Peanut or Boy Peanut! Can't wait!

Finally, I celebrated my first "Mother's Day" (or "Expecting Mother's Day") depending on how you want to look at it. Unfortunately, Mother's Day weekend at Jason's work is one of the busiest weekends of the year, so I didn't get to spend it with him (but he did send a Gift with me....really beautiful hoop earrings! "I love them, Jason!") However, that did give me an opportunity to go spend Mother's Day with my own mother. Also, it allowed me to see, in person, the gorgeous cradle my Dad and late uncle had built for my brother, Adam, before he was born. It is "signed and dated" under the bottom. So special to me! My mother had cleaned, sanded, varnished and re-varnished the cradle so it looks brand new, not 20 years old (actual age). She worked so hard and it REALLY shows!! It is so beautiful and our baby will get to spend it's first few months sleeping in it by our bedside. Her new project is cleaning, sanding and varnishing mine and my brother's old wooden crib. It's in really good condition, just needs some elbow grease, and now our baby will have a bed when we visit my Mom and Dad. ( They haven't picked Grandparent names yet.) So excited!! Thanks, Mom! I love you!

iMac: Reese Vs. Turtle

My birthday was January 3rd and my husbands birthday was February 22nd. Since we are expecting a baby, we thought we would purchase a video camera with our birthday money. We bought a SONY Handycam and we think it's great.

Until today, we really haven't had a reason to use it. But today......oh today.....my husband spotted a turtle on the way home. We wrapped it in a pink towel and took it home to our back yard. We took Reese (miniature dachshund) to the back yard as well. The following video is a cute montage of what happened.

I'd like to add that I actually had over 5 mins of video that I cut down to a little 52 sec clip with our iMac. (We had used our Christmas money to buy the iMac.) Oh and I want to say to Mary, "I know that you love your Mac, too!!" I hope you guys enjoy this as much as we did.

It's a Baby!!

I'm a little delayed with this post out of pure tiredness! All I want to do is nap here and nap there...oh well. So, last week (wednesday) we went for a baby check-up. We were 11 weeks and 4 days along. {Time is passing so quickly!} I did the whole, pee in a cup, weight and blood pressure thing and everything looks great. I've actually lost 4 lbs, so I guess that's good. My doctor wasn't worried so I'm not worried.

We go in for the doctor visit part, which, by the way, only lasted about 5 mins or less, and we asked her a couple of questions. She also said she wanted to listen to the heartbeat to make sure everything is sounding okay. (Apparently this is something they will do from now on, I gather.) So after about 1 min of listening and looking for the heart thumpity-thump, she said, "I'm not worried, you're probably just a little early to hear anything on the hand-held doppler and I hate to send anyone home without hearing their baby's heartbeat, so lets just jump in and take a quick peak on ultrasound."

YYYYAAAAAYYYYYY!!!! We were so excited! Jason and I had been kinda bummed because we thought it would be a few months before we would get to see the baby again, at the 20 week "big" ultrasound visit. So she slipped us in there and as soon as she put the ultrasound probe on the baby, we KNEW everything was ok! Baby Street was moving and shaking everywhere! Long arms and legs kicking and stretching....it was amazing! In fact, "Awesome" was the word Jason said about 35 times! haha

Baby Street's heart rate was 184 beats/min! Really fast! So of course as I told my family, everyone's guess was instantly "GIRL!!!"

Only time will tell. We go back to the doc on April 27th and we will be 17+ weeks. We will probably set up our "big" ultrasound on that day. That thought makes my heart beat a little faster. Until next time, here are a few pictures from our ultrasound last week.