Another week has past and we're moving right along to meeting our baby girl.
This past weekend was fantastic! Kelly & I did absolutely nothing. It has been a while since we've sat back & relaxed at home together with absolutely no plans. We spent a lot of time thinking about our past year of marriage and our recent trip to Gatlinburg - we do have our 1 year Anniversary coming up in 17 days!! I won't go into much detail right now about the past year of our life - I'll save that for a later post this month.
This past weekend was eventful only because I experienced my first false labor contractions on the 4th of July. Kelly had no idea what was going on and I was definitely in pain. My stomach was cramping pretty bad & I was having a lot of lower back pain at the same time. To top it off, I was feeling quite nauseated as well. My doctor said that false labor contractions were very normal during the 3rd trimester - I just needed to monitor them if they occurred too often. Thankfully, I have not experienced them since Saturday. I am hoping that was God's humor and his way of showing me a small insight into what I will experience until the doctors give me that wonderful epidural.
Outside of the false labor contractions, baby Kaitlynn is doing great!! She is treating my stomach these days like it's a punching bag. I assume that's normal, but sometimes it's not much fun! Kelly enjoys watching her go crazy in my stomach and is amazed by the entire process, but sometimes I would like for our baby girl to be calm and just rest :) At least we know she's very active and strong already! Hopefully that means we'll have somewhat of an athlete with our first daughter since Kelly & I both were very involved in sports growing up. Other than her using my stomach as a punching bag, I am feeling her daily hiccups as well. I cannot really pinpoint where the hiccups are but they definitely seem lower than higher, so hopefully that means she's moving in the direction of head down and not breech :) We'll find out for sure next Thursday at our 4D ultra sound. I do not have updated stats this week because we're still going every other week to the doctor. I will have updated stats next Thursday, July 16th. As of 32 weeks, I am still feeling great besides the normal aches & pains that come with each new week of our pregnancy. I am so thankful that I feel good in the mornings and am able to continue walking & using my elliptical. It definitely helps start the day off well and keep my motivation going rather than laying on the couch all day.
I've definitely started taking time out of the day here and there to rest, but I keep myself mostly busy!! I've really enjoyed reading lately - it seems to keep myself engaged yet calm. I just finished reading a book recommended by a good friend, Sally Mertens - "In Praise of Stay-At-Home Mom's" by Dr. Laura. Excellent book and really reassured and confirmed both Kelly & my decision for us to live on one pay check - Kelly's, and for me to stay at home, raise our daughter, and take care of our home/personal needs here. Again, we spent a lot of time before we were pregnant talking about me working verses not working once we had children. Everything we talked about & prayed about pointed to me staying home. It means a lot to both of us that I will be raising our daughter & Kelly can come home after a long day at work to hopefully a peaceful & relaxing home instead of the stresses of still taking care of the home and children after both adults have worked. We're excited about our decision and I can't wait to see how it's going to pan out!! Now that I have finished that book, I have moved on to one by Gene A. Getz - "Measure of a Woman" - discussing with biblical references & stories the true beauty of a woman; spiritually through God, personally, connecting with her spouse, through her children, etc. So far, so good!!
Things are finally coming together with Kelly's new job. Most of you know he's been working from home for the past 3 weeks. They have yet to get a permanent location here in Atlanta, but should be in a temporary location by this coming Monday at the latest. Kelly & four other Center State employees here in Atlanta have been working in Birmingham, Alabama this week. As much as Kelly does not enjoy being on the road, it was definitely good for him & his co-workers to head to Alabama and try to get things up and running. They all have had really long days, 7:00am - 8:00pm each night eating lunch and dinner in at the office. I feel confident that their hard work will pay off and help things begin to settle and start here in Atlanta. It's definitely been a long two months of changes with Kelly's job and we're both ready for everything to settle down for good.
We have a lot to look forward to during Week 32:
This weekend - Kristin & Shea's wedding & our Maternity Pictures
Next Thursday - 33 week check-up & 4D ultra sound appointment
Next weekend - my mom's birthday
