It's been awhile... (33 weeks)

Yikes...I didn't realize it had been over 4 weeks since I had posted anything.  What a slacker I am.  We've been pretty busy the last few weeks, so I have lots of updates!

We're in week 34, only 7 more to go!  The countdown is officially 47 days.  Owen has been moving around a lot.  I've noticed that he's most active around 9-10 PM.  His movements have changed from fast kicks to more of a slow motion rolling.  And his newest trick is hiccuping, which is sometimes cool, but not really when I'm trying to sleep!  I've also started having Braxton Hicks contractions in the past few weeks and really noticing them in the past week or so.  They don't hurt, so it's nothing to worry about - just my body preparing I guess. 

We had our 32 week appointment last week.  Brian hasn't been able to go to the last few appointments because of work meetings, but he went to this one and I'm really glad he was there.  When the midwife measured me she said my belly was measuring small so she ordered an ultrasound.  Of course I was worried, but B was excited that we got to see the little guy again.  Everything is fine - it could have just been the way he was positioned.  The ultrasound tech said that according to his measurements, he's 4lbs, 4oz and he has long legs.  Glad he didn't get my stubs.  :)  At this point, his weight and measurements are within the 40-50th percentile.  She also went on and on about how cute his face was.  Brian and I think he kind of looks like an alien with sunglasses on.

We've been taking lots of classes at the hospital in preparation for the little guy.  We've completed the Childbirth, Baby Essentials, Nursing, and Dogs and Babies classes.  Our last class is Infant CPR this week.  We're on information overload, but we've definitely learned some helpful things from each class.  There are so many decisions to make about how you're going to care for and raise the baby.  And everyone has a different opinion - even the nurses teaching the classes have a difficult time being objective.  It can be tricky weeding through the facts and opinions, but as a result of our classes, Brian is now an expert swaddler (see photo below) and we feel better about how we're going to manage the interactions between Owen and the dogs. 

My friends threw me a lovely baby shower this weekend in Atlanta and Aunt Kris threw one for me a couple of weekends ago in Michigan.  We received so many nice gifts for Baby O!  He's spoiled already. :)  I've posted a few pictures from the showers below.

At the Michigan Shower.  This cake was AMAZING.  Half banana cake, half raspberry. 

 

Family at the Michigan Shower.

 

Owen's "Grammy" and I. :) 

 

Some of the girls and I at the Georgia Shower. 

 

The shower Hostesses (Sarah, Dana, and Heather) and I.

Just a few more things on my checklist before he gets here and now that I'm not traveling for work anymore for the rest of the pregnancy, I'll have some time in the evenings to get stuff done.  We're interviewing pediatricians this week and I'm determined to figure out the daycare situation this week as well.  We're on a waiting list at a place nearby, but it looks like we'll have to figure something else out until they have space.  Other than that, I just need to finish the nursery and wash all of the bedding and clothes.  That's the fun part. :) 

I don't have a bump picture for all of the weeks I missed, so I posted the two I have.  :)

30 week bump in a hotel room in LA

 

33 week bump

 

That's all I've got for now!  I'll try to do more frequent updates since I'm not traveling anymore!

xoxo,

Jennelle and B

The 3rd Trimester (28.5 weeks)

I finally entered the 3rd trimester...we're in the home stretch!  I feel like I've been pregnant forever, so I'm ready for these next 11 weeeks to fly by.  Baby Owen is about 2.25 lbs and it seems to me that he's running out of room in there.  Living is starting to get less and less comfortable as each week passes.

Here's a list of things that I recently can no longer do:

• Sleep on my back.  So I wake up with sore hips.
• Bend over to put my shoes on
• Squeeze through tight spaces
• Eat raw oysters.  This has really been bothering me because I've been taking so many work trips out to the West Coast.
• Shave my legs
• Eat a regular sized meal.  I'm full after 2 bites.
• Run 1 mile without having to pee
• Sleep through the night without having to pee (5 times)
• Update my blog without having to pee

I'm finding that there are perks though.  The more my belly sticks out, the nicer strangers are to me.  I notice this at the airport mostly.  On my last flight home from California, I caught the flight attendant look down at my belly.  She smiled and said "if you need ANYTHING, please let me know".  I should have taken advantage of that and asked for a seat change to first class.  On my trip this week some guy offered to help me find my gate and people were helping me put my luggage up and take it down from the overhead bin.  I find in general that people just smile more at pregnant me.  It's refreshing. 

We have an exciting few weeks coming up with lots of baby stuff planned!  This Saturday we have childbirth class at the hospital.  It's an 8 hour class, so I'm expecting to be fully prepared mentally for this whole birthing thing.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

Next weekend I'm co-hosting a baby shower for my close friend, Lindsey.  And the weekend after is our first baby shower in Michigan!  I'm really excited to go home, see family, and celebrate baby Owen with everyone.  Then my Georgia shower is two weeks later.  Lots of fun stuff to look forward to. 

Since I'm behind on my posts (again), I attached a couple bump pictures below:

The one above is at 27 weeks and the one below is 28 weeks. 

 

 

And the last picture is my best friend, Heather's precious new baby girl!  She was born Monday.  Her name is India Eve and she was 8lbs 7oz.  I've been dying to talk to Heather and I think I finally get a phone date with her tonight!  :) 



Gotta run!  More updates next week after child birth class!

xoxo

Jennelle & Brian

We have a name! (26.5 weeks)

I'm about two weeks behind on my posts, but better late than never!  We had a couple of busy weekends and I was in California last week for work, so I feel like we've been going non-stop.

My parents were in town last weekend and we had a nice visit.  The only time we ever do anything touristy in Atlanta is when they're in town, so this trip we took them down to the Botanical Gardens.  It was really pretty.  They had an edible garden that put my little garden to shame.  But it might inspire me to plant more stuff next year - like eggplant and cucumbers maybe.  We'll see.  We planted a bunch of peppers this year - jalapenos, habaneros, and banana peppers.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of these peppers.  Let me know if you need some!

Mom and Dad are super excited about becoming grandparents for the first time.  My mom says she still can't believe she's old enough to be a Grandma.  I keep reminding her that I'll be 32 this year and that she's plenty old enough to be a Grandma. :)

Onto baby updates...So, as the title of this blog post suggests, Brian and I have decided on a name!  Before I tell you what it is, I just want you to know that picking a name was not as easy as I thought it might be.  Brian goes with the flow most of the time, but he had some very strong opinions about what baby Mac's name shouldn't be.  He never really came up with a list of names, but he wasn't shy about crossing names off of my list!  We probably went through a good 100+ names before landing on this one - Owen Maxwell McDonald.  The origin of Owen is Irish and it's meaning is "young fighter".  That's what the internet says anyway (which by the way has no bearing on why we chose it).  Young fighter is accurate though - when he's awake he seems to be using my insides as a punching bag.  Unfortunately he's been awake lately when I'm trying to fall asleep!

Here's the weekly bump picture.  This week baby Owen is about 14.5 inches long and weighs about 2 pounds.  Leaves me to wonder why I need the other 14 pounds that I've gained.  :) 

As for the nursery update, we haven't accomplished too much since the last post, but I feel good that we have the basics completed.  The crib mattress and changing pad came last week.  I just need to figure out what I'm going to put on the walls.  We have one wall taken care of - Brian put these shelves up for me.  Something I saw on Pinterest - I love that site!

Oh..and I've experienced a new symptom of pregnancy starting last week.  It's called "pregnancy brain" and basically what happens is that pregnant women do and say stupid things and tend to forget things that they normally remember.  My first episode occurred last week when I tried to use dish soap in the dish washer...twice.  When I discovered the suds, I yelled for Brian to help me and instead of coming to my rescue with towels, he ran upstairs to grab his phone so he could take a picture.  Very helpful.  Thanks babe. 

Well, that's about all of the excitement we have going on here.  I'll get back on track with my posts next Monday! 

Have a nice week.  Xoxo, Jennelle and Brian

Six months down (24 weeks)

Well, we passed the 6 month mark....4 more months to go!  We had a doctor's appointment on Friday, just a check up.  The nurse told me that since I was 24 weeks along, I could do my glucose test that day.  I gave her a run down of what I had eaten for breakfast (3 chicken minis, hasbrowns, and a Grande Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks) and told her I'd prefer to wait.  I would have failed that thing for sure. 

Everything else at the appointment went well.  My belly measured a normal size, weight gain is right on track with where they want it, and the baby's heartbeat was right around 150 bpm.  I think the nurse midwife got a sense of how often I eat chick-fil-a in the mornings and she told me I need to cool it on my chicken minis.  I literally cannot drive past a chick-fil-a in the morning without stopping.  It lures me in.  You know you have a problem when you have to take alternate routes in the morning to avoid a Chick-fil-a.

After work on Friday, I stopped by my friend, Stacie's house to pick up some baby items that her son has outgrown.  She's very sweet.  She gave us a Baby Bjorn, some clothing, toys, and a diaper genie.  The diaper genie will probably go in the garage.  I've put some thought into this and I don't think I want to store poop in the house.  I might cave in after a few hundred trips up and down the stairs to dispose of diapers, but we'll at least try it in the garage to start.  She gave me a tutorial on how to wear the Baby Bjorn, so I tried it on Brian when I got home.  Doesn't he look so cute? :)

Saturday morning we did a tour of the hospital.  Baby Mac will be born at Northside Hospital in Sandy Springs.  They deliver more babies every year than any other hospital in the country.  I was concerned that it might feel like a baby factory, but it didn't.  It's a really nice place.  The labor, devliery, and recovery building is totally detached from the rest of the hospital.  The rooms are a decent size and it was surprisingly quiet and calm in there.  I'm not sure why, but I was expecting chaos.  We have a good idea now of where we have to go and what to expect when getting to the hospital. 

 Between hanging out with friends, running errands, and playing golf this weekend, Brian was able to get the first coat of paint on the dresser for the nursery.  The plan is to have that painted by the end of the week.  At some point today, I need to go exchange the knobs I bought for the dresser (for the third time).  I might be the most indecisive person in the world.  We bought a bookshelf for the nursery a couple weeks ago and I've actually sold it to a friend already.  The glider arrived last week and I realized that there's not going to be room for everything, so we'll do book shelves on the wall instead.  At least we got an early start on the room!  Here are a couple pictures from the nursery - the crib, glider, and the closet organizer.  I'll post more pictures as the nursery comes together.  There's still lots to do!

 

I ordered a couple of the basic nursery bedding items - crib skirt, fitted sheet and changing pad cover.  As you can see, I've got the skirt on the crib already. :)  I'm still searching for a good organic crib mattress, so once we have that i'll post a picture with the sheet. 

 

 

You're probably wondering why in the world I ordered a white glider.  Part of it goes back to me being indecisive.  The other thing to note here is that it's a slip cover, so i can throw it in the washer if it gets dirty.

 

 

And this is my favorite part so far (probably because of the effort that went into installing it).  Brian and I put it in last weekend.  It was a little more challenging than they make you believe in the store.  I can't wait to get all of his little stuff organized in this closet. 

 

More nursery photos to come in the upcoming weeks!

 

My parents are coming this weekend, so we probably won't be doing much nursery work, but we'll see.  When I asked my Mom what they wanted to do when they're here, she said "relax".  They're both retired...that's all they do is relax. :)  We'll probably go to the Botanical Gardens one day and then maybe while they're relaxing the rest of the time, we can get some more work on the room done.

 

Here's my 24 week bump picture.  I feel like I'm growing at an incredible pace.  Brian assures me that I'm still beautiful, which is very sweet of him because some days I feel like a whale.  He did tell me the other day that he can't wait until I start waddling.  How nice.

 

 

Hope you all have a nice week!  xoxo Jennelle & Brian

Our little spaghetti squash (23 weeks)

We're officially 23 weeks along and the bump is getting bigger every day!  Baby Mac now weighs about 1 lb and is about 11 inches long.  The vegetable he is being compared to this week is a spaghetti squash.  I wonder who ever thought of comparing a baby to a vegetable?

My cravings have been pretty consistent the past few weeks - fruit, waffles, and fish tacos.  Oh and the newest craving is beer.  Thank goodness for non-alcoholic beer.  I always wondered who drank that stuff.  Now I know.  I suppose I shouldn't leave out the Chick-Fil-A craving - Baby Mac loves him some chicken minis and hashbrowns. 

Overall I can't complain about how I've felt.  I did have some nausea that completely disappeared after the first trimester.  And other than feeling heavier than normal and having some occasional lower back pain, I've been feeling great.  I did read that maintaining an exercise routine can help reduce the aches and pains, so I've continued my running (at a much slower pace) and I've been doing barre classes.  If anything, it helps me justify the frequent desserts. :)

We've been slowly chipping away at the nursery and have plans to do more work on it this weekend.  Brian finished painting this week.  I'm concerned that the grey we chose has some purple undertones. Brian says no, but I think that's just because he doesn't want to re-paint.  Maybe he's right and I'm just seeing things.  He wouldn't let our baby boy have a purple room, right?!?! 

We've got most of the furniture for the nursery.  Brian's parents bought our crib for us and that arrived on Tuesday!  Hopefully we can get that put together this weekend and I'll post pictures next week.  We're going to try to get the closet organization system in this weekend as well.  And the glider we ordered is being delivered on Monday.  It's all coming together.  I'm trying to get it done in the 2nd trimester since I hear that the fatigue will kick back in during the 3rd trimester.

I ran a 5k this morning in Virginia Highlands (which is a really cute area in Atlanta).  It was probably one of the most beautiful 5k courses I've ever run.  Brian missed this one because he pulled his hamstring a few weeks ago and he's still recovering, but he was still there to cheer me on.  We made a New Years resolution to run a 5k (or some type of road race) every month this year.  Between his injuries, my growing belly, and being rained out for the May 5k, we're not going to make it.  But I'm determined to do as many as I can.  I figure if that lady who ran the Chicago marathon and gave birth right after the race could do it, I can certainly do a few 5ks up until it's time to pop. 

There were a ton of parents with jogging strollers at the race today - I started counting them, but lost count after 25. It always motivates me to run faster when I see someone pushing another human along. My rule is that I can't let old people or people with strollers pass me.

The next race we have on our calendar is the Peachtree Road Race.  It's a 10k on July 4th - a huge Atlanta tradition and the biggest 10k in the US.  There were about 60,000 runners last year.  Hopefully Brian will be fully recovered and can at least run/walk it with me.  Can't wait for the day we can run Baby Mac in his first road race!

So, I know I said I wasn't going to purchase anymore baby clothes before the showers, but I couldn't resist when I saw this online (and I knew Brian wouldn't be mad).  This is Baby Mac's first Michigan State outfit.  And I was right...Brian was very excited to see this come in the mail today. :) 

That's all I've got for today.  I'll post some nursery pictures next week!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

xoxo  Jennelle & Brian

A much needed long weekend (22 weeks)

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  This long weekend couldn't have come at a better time.  My week in New Jersey drained me and it was topped off with a 10 hour day at the airport Thursday trying to make it home.  I finally made it home around midnight Thursday and I think the baby was just as happy as I was to be home.  As soon as I laid down, he started kicking and flipping around in my belly.  He was really busy in there last week...the most active he's been since I've been able to feel him.

We have lots of fun planned for the weekend!  We're grilling with our friends, Dana and Ben tonight.  They're in the process of buying a house that is literally 3 doors down from us and we couldn't be more excited.  Dana and I think that we need to have a sit down meeting with the boys to enforce some rules before they move in.  More to come on this after said meeting occurs.

Brian is golfing tomorrow morning and I'm going to treat myself to a prenatal massage.  Then my hippie feet and I are going to get a pedicure.  Tomorrow evening we're grilling out with friends in Roswell, Cessy and Dave.  They have an adorable little 2 year old (Peyton) who is obsessed with Brian...so cute.  And they're expecting another little one two weeks after we're due.

And Monday we're heading over to Erin and Joey's for a pool day!  They're also expecting a little boy about 4 weeks before we're due.  It's fun having so many friends pregnant at the same time.  Misery loves company.  Haha.

Busy weekend!  And on top of all that - Brian started painting the nursery today.  He informed me that I was not allowed to help.  And not because of the paint fumes being harmful to Baby Mac, but because he "knows how crappy of a painter I am".  Love him.

Here's my week 22 belly picture as promised.  I've managed to gain 13 lbs so far.  I wish I could say that it's all in my belly, but it appears to have distributed itself evenly.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!  xoxo

Hands off my belly, lady! (21.5 weeks)

As you know, Brian and I are expecting our first baby in September!  I wish we would have started this blog earlier, but better late than never.  Since we're so far away from a lot you (our family and close friends), we figured this would be a good way to provide updates on "Baby Mac".

We found out a few weeks ago that we're having a boy!  Brian can attest to the fact that this unborn child of ours owns more clothing than I do already.  That's one of the dangers of finding out the gender before birth I guess.  I just can't get over how cute ALL of the clothing at Baby Gap is.  For the record, I've ceased purchasing anymore clothing until after the showers. :)

So, this week I'm in New Jersey for work.  I'm only able to travel for 9 more weeks, so I'm trying to fit all of my visits in before I'm put on a ground stop.  It's been an interesting week here so far.  I come up here often, so the team at the Distribution Center has gotten to see my baby bump grow.  Today, one of the ladies that I don't typically interact with discovered my pregnant belly and did the unthinkable - she said "oh, there's a baby in there" and started petting my belly.  While it's taken me a little while to get used to people I know touching my belly (which I'm now ok with by the way) - a perfect stranger is a different story.  I read an article awhile back to prepare me for this very thing.  The article suggested such things as petting their belly back or asking them to buy you dinner before they feel you up.  I did neither.  I just froze, smiled, and slowly backed away.  My goal for the remainder of the pregnancy is to NOT be touched by any more strangers.  5 hours down, 19 weeks to go!

I posted some of our ultrasound pictures below so you can see how much Baby Mac has grown over the weeks.  He's gone from looking like a gummy bear to resembling a small human.  It's a crazy feeling to know that this little guy is growing in my belly.

The one above is from our 8 week ultrasound.  It was so cool seeing him for the first time.  This was the first time we had been to the doctor since finding out we were pregnant, so it was a huge relief to know that everything with the pregnancy was progressing normally.

This next one is from the 12 week ultrasound. It's crazy how much he grew in only 4 weeks!

And this one is from our 20 week (and final) ultrasound.  As long as there aren't any complications, they won't do anymore ultrasounds.

Well, that's all I have for today.  I'll be back in the next couple of days with a week 22 update and belly picture!

xoxo