Marathon of showers and love!!

Wow!  This month has flown by, I am now going to WEEKLY doctor appointments, and time is of the essence!  Adam and I are so blessed and so loved, and we are so grateful.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Gym for Him shower, given by Lorie Kimes:

Baby Acklin's first Gym for Him shirt, and yes, he WILL be taking gymnastics, and YES, Adam WANTS him to!

Sweet, fun girls.  They also drew pictures on posterboard for Baby Acklin, as well as wrote down name ideas!  There were three categories:  "A" boy names, regular boy names, and girl names "just in case!"

Here is a picture of me at 34 weeks, right after Easter:

Yes, I am still in heels!  Why not?

Poplar Bluff shower, given by my Aunt Jeanne, Teresa, Beth, and Grandma Hays:

Can you tell my aunt is my mother's sister?  All the details...everything matched and was in the exact pattern of Baby Acklin's bedding!

Everyone made a personalized onesie or bib for Baby Acklin.

The wonderful hostesses and my huge self.  I can't believe you can't see the cutest thing there:  it was a Radio Flyer red wagon, full of goodies!  Only THIS wagon had TWO seats with seatbelts (twins), and even drink holders!  Not to mention it was full of awesome things, like Baby Acklin's first Poplar Bluff Mules t shirt and Mizzou onesies!!  We've got to allow him choices- he can't be forced to be a Razorback.

Me and Ashley!!

Me, mom, and Grandma (but not in that order)

These are the favors up close.  So cute!

In the meantime, we receive a package from no other than...

MY FATHER!!!

Once we dug through the copies of the Daily American Republic, this is what we found:

Oh wait.  There's more.

Yeah.  It's a fog horn.

ONLY MY FATHER...

Work shower:

Sunday School shower:

Look at the precious cake and St. Louis Cardinals diaper WREATH Kendra made us!!

All the girls.  There are FIVE pregnant girls in our Sunday School class.  Three of them (including me) are in this picture.  It is really fun going through it together.  I'm due in May and so is another, one in June, one in July, and one in August!  We had a cookout/shower, and it was so fun!  The guys were all outside.  Later, we all watched the TWENTY something inning Cardinals game!

Along with all these showers, I gained two pounds in one week!  But then again, that's what 4 showers in 6 days will do, huh!

That's pretty much what I've been up to lately!  The baby continues to move a LOT, and he has had the hiccups at least once a day every day for the past week!  Keep up the practice, little guy!  He is getting ready to breathe on his own!  I am definitely starting to feel "pregnant," but I have felt so good this whole time, I am not going to complain (too much).  My SI joint right by my tail bone has been killing me.  I tried to run on Wednesday but it was too painful.  Our doula's husband is a chiropractor, so he has helped some, plus my physical therapy friends have given me exercises to do that have been helping as well.  I'm still swimming and working out too (complete with pushups :) )  I've also been exhausted lately, which is frustrating because I still have so much left to do!  Adam and I did go tour Labor and Delivery at Baptist, so we got that checked off our list, and we both got our FMLA paperwork turned in to our employers.  Tomorrow morning, my mom is coming over here to help me sort through the baby's room to organize and see what we have duplicates of.  Since the showers, things have just piled up in his once neat room!  Hopefully I can post of picture of it soon.

One more thing.  I have not given Adam any credit throughout all this, but he has been such a huge help to me.  Especially in the past month or so, he has gradually taken over more of the laundry, cooking, housework, and helping me with my exercises, and I am so grateful.  Who knows what shape our house (or my mind!) would be in if he weren't here! 

He is riding in a 50 mile bike ride for diabetes on May 8 (assuming Baby Acklin hasn't made his appearance!).  This is his personal website for the race:  http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/TDC428118030?px=5806688&pg=personal&fr_id=6790&et=eeuxwtKm0x0LsQgP4J445w..&s_tafId=288278

22 more days...

Havin' a baby next month!

32 weeks

As of yesterday, Adam and I can say we are (most likely!) having a baby next month!  It feels so weird to say that, but it's getting close!  We are supposed to pack our bags this week!  Yikes.

Baby/babies Acklin (no, I'm not giving up hope) continue to move and shove and kick and punch SO much!  Nothing has slowed down at all, but I know he/they are running out of room because it is actually starting to hurt when he kicks!  His little butt continues to stay mainly over on my right side up by my rib cage, but sometimes it moves back and forth.  As long as he's head down, I don't mind!  I actually convinced Adam I felt TWO bottoms the other day.  I seriously think he's worried there are twins inside!  He keeps saying, "We'd know by now if there were twins, right?"  I just say, "Kelli's (his sister) had a few patients not know they're having twins until delivery, and she's worked in Labor and Delivery recently!"  Like I said, only time will tell!

Names, no names.  To everyone's dismay, Baby Acklin remains nameless and that is okay with us!  We talk about names we like/don't like occasionally, but we never decide on anything in particular.  I will be fine to name him/them after we see them anyway.

I have taken to swimming since my last post.  My sides were starting to ache, especially at the end of the day, so I started going to the pool at work a couple of afternoons a week.  It feels really good, like it holds my belly up for me, and I feel so relaxed afterward!  THIS week, however, my hips have started aching too; I wonder if that means I am getting close?!!  As anxious as I am to meet him and see what he looks like, I also know it goes by soooo fast once he's here (that's what everyone tells me anyway!), so I am trying to enjoy every kick and movement I feel.  Also trying to be thankful he is still in my stomach while I run around crazy treating patients and how wonderful it is to have him with me all the time, because the first day back to work without him won't be easy!

Last weekend, Adam and I went on a Babymoon.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a getaway ("one last hurrah") to relax before the baby is born!  We went to Bartee Meadow Bed and Breakfast and were blown away!  I had gone there several years ago with some girlfriends and couldn't wait to take Adam!  We packed books, board games, and movies.  It was perfect in every way, and just what we needed!

            

Our breakfast at our door every morning, hot and delicious!

We had a patio with fireplace and hot tub.

This is what we did a lot of!

We also played Rummikub pretty much all day Saturday!  Vista at Bartee Meadow packed us a picnic lunch, complete with red and white checkered blanket.  We played games outside in the beautiful weather all day, and layed in the hammock later.

In front of our cottage before heading back home!

Tomorrow Mrs. Lorie and my girls from Gym for Him are having a shower for me at church!  The girls I teach are so funny, from their questions ("Why is Mrs. Jennifer's belly so big?") to their name suggestions (my favorite is Abraham).  One girl, Emily, put her hand on my belly and I told her that was his bottom, and she immediately pulled her hand back and said, "EWW!"

Here are a couple of funny things my patients have said:

"Honey, are you married?  There's a pregnant nurse upstairs, and she's not married."

"Be sure not to lift your arms up too high, or you'll strangle your baby."

I need to start writing all of them down, because I don't want to forget, and my memory is NOT what it used to be right now!

Here is a picture of me at 33 weeks:

Still so much left to do:  Tour Labor and Delivery at Baptist (the hospital I work at-how convenient!), Fill out my FMLA paperwork, fill out Adam's FMLA paperwork, wash baby/babies' clothes and diapers, organize his room, put the car seat in the car...I don't know what girls do that go into labor early, or get put on bedrest like a friend in my Sunday School class is on right now (and who is due the same week as me!).  This pregnancy has definitely hampered my "Get it done yesterday" attitude.  I feel like I'm moving and doing as much as ever, but somehow I'm just not as productive.

Thanks everyone for all the prayers and encouragement.  Please keep us all (3, 4 or 5!) in your prayers for the next few weeks that everything will continue to go as well as it has these past 8 months!!!  I am so blessed already for how "easy" (relative term) my pregnancy has been!

Love you all

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to  give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11