yesterday was our childbirth and breastfeeding class.  both classes were at the hospital where we’ll be delivering.  the childbirth class went from 9-12, was taught by one of the labor/delivery nurses and she did a great job of answering questions and letting us know not only what to expect but also the way that they handle things at this hospital.  I really don’t have a lot of concerns about labor/delivery… I’m sure it’s no walk in the park but I don’t see any point in worrying about something that I can’t control.  all I can do is try to stay calm and concentrate on getting my son here as safely and healthy as possible.  I prefer to go natural and I’ve been told I’m stupid and naïve for that but I’m going to try my best to not drug my baby on his way into the world… if something happens and I can’t handle it or have to have extraordinary measures taken to get him here, then so be it.  I’m not going to let myself feel like a failure if things don’t go according to “my plan” but I’m not going to get all stressed and worried about it beforehand either.  /tangent.  anyhow, I was saying that birthing hasn’t really been a source of concern to me but it was good to get all the information that they had to offer and to know more about what to expect during the whole process.  after the birthing class, we got to take a tour of the L/D floor of the hospital so we could see how the L/D rooms are set up, how close the operating rooms are in case of emergency, and what our post-partum room will be like.  we also toured the NICU, which is a level III and is very nice and which we will hopefully never see again.  after the tour, we headed back to the learning center where they served a lunch before the breastfeeding class.  I was glad that I wasn’t the only woman there who was highly confused about the fact that they served lunchmeat to a room full of pregnant women who have been told for months that we are not allowed to eat lunchmeat.  I ended up making a cheese sandwich and eating that with a bite of potato salad, a bag of chips, and too many brownies.  the breastfeeding class was the one that really had my attention.  all of my worries have revolved around breastfeeding… will he take to it?  will he latch right?  will my milk come in?  the class really helped calm my fears and I left with more knowledge and less stress.  definitely a good use of the day.

when we got home, we decided to go ahead and put together the rest of the nursery furniture which had been delivered earlier this week.  we put the crib together Monday night but hubby was out of town for a couple of days on condo business so the changing table and dresser were put off.  so we finished it up last night.  it wasn’t bad… the crib took us about 1.5 hours, the changing table took 1:20, the dresser took 1:15.  we definitely learned as we went 🙂  after getting everything assembled, it only made sense to stay up until 1 in the morning going through all the gifts we’ve received and putting things up where they belong.  I felt good about the progress we made and the room just about looks like it’s ready for a baby.

today was our church campus’ beach blast.  after the service, we had a big cookout on the beach behind the restaurant next door.  it was a great afternoon of fellowship and we got to know people we see at church much better.

11 Jul 2014

today was our last ultrasound, to find out the baby’s size. they measured him up and estimated his weight to be 4 lbs 15 oz, which is right about on target according to the books I’ve been reading. the dr guesses he’ll be right around 7 lbs at birth. as for the ultrasound, our little turkey was quite the entertainer. he had his head pressed against the wall, facing us most of the time so we never got a good still pic. the creepy alien below is the best we got today (sadly our camera that we were trying to take video with failed us). what we did learn, however, was that our boy is a licker. we watched as he kept putting his hand up to his mouth but instead of sucking his thumb/fingers, he would stick his tongue out and lick them. and then, the part that really had us laughing like crazy, he stuck his long giraffe-like tongue way out and licked the wall of the womb! it was so cute and hilarious. the tech said she’d never seen a baby do that before. I kept thinking of my younger nephew when he went through his “I’m a doggie” phase as a little one and went around licking everyone and everything he came across. yep, our boy’s going to be one of those 🙂 I could’ve sat and watched him all day. other good news was that there’s plenty of amniotic fluid, the kidneys look good, and he’s exercising his lungs really well. all signs point to healthy!

take me to your leader

to celebrate our independence day, we woke up early and walked down to the mall to cheer our friends through the color run. they were both injured so they walked it and we ended up walking most of it with them, avoiding the color stations since I didn’t think it was great for me to be breathing all that in. it was a lot of fun and there was a great turnout there. lots of kids and families. I think the turkey will really enjoy that in a few years. between walking around the race course and the walk to and from the mall, we probably got in more than five miles this morning. much needed exercise for me and baby.

chef and trainwreck, colors of love

aww, i'm such a cute pregnant chick

showing off the baby bump

23 Jun 2014

a few days late again because of travels to ga/al but things are going great. I do believe my traveling days are over for the next few months and I’m looking forward to relaxing for a while. the ride home yesterday was awful – starting with my first puke in seven months of pregnancy and ending with torrential storms that made the drive that much longer. I really couldn’t be happier to be home right now.

yesterday was our grand finale… a jam-packed day that was supposed to have been even busier.  we started off with hubby’s high school reunion that he’s been working so hard to organize all year.  they rented a house on the lake and basically just made it a “stop by and hang out” kind of day.  we stuck around there until about 14:30 and I got to meet several of his old classmates.  I was actually rather pleasantly surprised by it.  i had always thought my hubby was just one of the few that really made it out of the small town to see the world.  it turns out that more than a few of his classmates have had wonderful worldly adventures too.  i guess that shows my ignorance… or is it prejudice?

after the reunion, we were supposed to rush back to the house for a family reunion.  sadly, there was a death in the family so it turned out to be a funeral home reunion.  since the family get-together was cancelled and there needed to be time for people to visit the funeral parlor, the baby shower got moved up to that time slot and became more of a “drop by and drop off” kind of shower.  hubby’s sis and aunt did a beautiful job and we had a wonderful time seeing various family members.  we spent a few hours there and then went back to the class reunion for a little bit to see who else had shown up and then ended the night by paying our respects at the funeral home.  It was a long, tiring day but we packed a lot of socializing into it!

“a huge thank you to Brenda, Miranda, and aunt diane for throwing a beautiful shower. really, could we be any more blessed?”

From Wedowee Shower, posted by J’Lynn Holloway on 6/29/2014 (40 items)

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this morning, we got up and headed south.  i can’t say much good about the trip.  while i am starting to feel more human, i can’t get rid of the horrible coughing fits.  hubby has been throwing cough drops down my throat but with all the coughing and the increased heartburn, they really just make me nauseous and don’t seem to calm the cough at all.  so i was sucking on a retched cough drop on the little windy roads on our way to swing by an uncle’s house and i ended up having my first puke of the pregnancy.  i yelled at hubby to pull the car over (on a tiny windy road with hardly any place to pull off) and just barely made it in time to throw the door open and hang my head out.  not fun, not fun at all.  there went all my breakfast and pretty much anything else I’ve eaten in the last few days.  thank God we had plenty of baby wipes in the car 🙂  we finally made it to uncle’s house and had a nice little visit with him and the cousins before getting back on the road for home.  the GPS ended up taking us the long way home and we ran into severe storms most of the way so it was a long, tense drive with hubby worrying about keeping the car between the lines and making sure i was okay (but he sure didn’t make me suck on any more cough drops!).

i am so glad to be home.  we’ve been so blessed with all of these showers and getting to spend time with family and friends over the last several weeks but I’m just worn out.  i am definitely looking forward to staying home and relaxing and getting ready for our little turkey’s arrival over the next couple months.

the good news is that i only had that one night of slight fever.  the bad news is that i feel like crud with sinus and respiratory congestion and coughing fits that are not making baby happy at all.  i called in sick Monday and slept almost all day in the hopes that it would all just go away.  obviously, that postponed our travels too and made the furniture haul an impossibility for this trip.  that means hubby will have to make another trip on his own sometime later on.  Tuesday morning, after a night of coughing fits so severe I was sure I’d end up giving birth before daylight, I got up at 04:00 and went to the store with my trusty dr’s book in hand to stock up on cough and congestion medications that were on the approved list.  I still had no voice and felt pretty cruddy but i was determined to make the trip to ga so that hubby could meet his boss (who is ca-based so this was the only chance for them to meet in the foreseeable future).  we made the long drive after work (got a call from the dr office on the way letting me know that I am not diabetic – yay!!!) and ended up getting a hotel room around 23:00.  I’m glad we chose to go to a hotel, where I could keep my yuck quarantined, rather than staying with our friends like usual.  I’m sure I kept the entire hotel awake with my coughing.  I probably spent half the night in the bathroom breathing shower steam to get some relief.  poor hubby was frantically worried about me and the baby and kept asking if we needed to go to the hospital.  I had to assure him many times that there was nothing they could do for a bad cold and that I would immediately let him know if I saw any danger signs (bleeding or abnormal pains).  as for my son, he was just not happy at all.  after every coughing fit, he would just go into a kicking fit to get back at me.  poor kiddo.  we took our time getting around in the morning, working from the hotel while the cough calmed down.  happily, the steam must have loosened up whatever was killing my voice and I could actually talk a little. we got to the office mid-morning and found the break room all decked out in monkey baby cuteness.

leave it to beth to go all out with a crazy beautiful, impromptu office shower (more office pix below the fold).  we got to see most of the old gang plus hubby’s new boss, and the kids.  it was such a nice day and, again, I am completely blown away by the generosity of our co-workers and friends.

after work, we went to my brudder’s house for dinner.  my SIL made her yummy shepherd’s pie, just for me 🙂  my niece played very shy but I was actually happy about her keeping her distance this time since I really didn’t want to get the poor little cutie sick. we had a great visit and received some more terrific gifts, which my brudder was very proud of shopping for himself 🙂

we left at a reasonable time so that we could get to the hotel and try to get some sleep but, again, it was not meant to be for me. *sigh* this morning, we got up and went into the restaurant to work and visit some more. halfway through the morning, we looked up to see beth and the girls walk in. she is just all about the surprises! turns out they had to go to the university to have their bunnies fixed so they were near the area and figured it was time to try out my SIL’s wonderful cooking. They hung out for a couple hours while we worked and we enjoyed some great conversation and food with our friends and family all at once. after work, we made our way to ‘bama where I will hopefully get to recover and feel some better before hubby’s high school reunion and our baby shower on Saturday.

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I know the baby’s not hear yet but if you could see how wonderful my husband has been throughout this pregnancy… how worried and protective and supportive he’s been for both me and the turkey, you would see that he is every bit the daddy already. one of his favorite pastimes is laying his head on my belly to talk with the baby and feel him kick him in the ear or chin.

father-son bonding time

after his bonding time today, hubby looked up at me and exclaimed “how can I be so completely enamored with someone I’ve never even met yet?” it brought tears to my eyes. in the beginning, I worried because it seemed like he just wasn’t nearly as excited as I was but i think that was just that it hadn’t sunken in for him yet – he couldn’t feel or see anything like i could. I see him now falling more in love with this little boy every day and it just about brings my heart to bursting. and the worry… he worries about the baby constantly. he says that’s been his biggest surprise – how worried he is that the baby is healthy; that his age hasn’t caused any problems or abnormalities. i didn’t think it was possible to love my husband more than i already did but i was so, so wrong.

in other news, i think he gave me that bug after all, dagnabbit!   we had some houseguests from his home town this weekend.  they were here for their daughter to get married so yesterday we had the bride and her bridesmaids here all day making bouquets and doing hair/makeup and getting dressed.  i started getting hoarse in the mid-morning.  by late afternoon, i had almost no voice at all and was running a low-grade fever.  the book says i only need to worry if my fever gets to 100.5 or higher so i will definitely be watching that and taking acetaminophen to keep it down.  i just hope i get over it quickly enough to not impede our travel plans for the week.  we’re supposed to be leaving tomorrow to start our final southeastern tour.  this week we need to take the guest room furniture to wedowee so that we can start working on putting the nursery together, go over to the old office in ga to meet hubby’s new boss, stop by to see my brother’s family, and then go back to wedowee for hubby’s class reunion, family reunion, and our baby shower.  clearly, i have far too much to do this week to be sick.

13 Jun 2014

Where has the time gone???  I just can’t believe we’re only 10 weeks out.  I’m not ready for this to be over.

aaackkk!!!

after a great week+ of spending quality time with friends and family – including a couple days with my dad where he has looked and gotten around better than I’ve seen him in a long, long time – we are back home to relax for a few days before starting all over again with the in-laws. yesterday was the baby shower that my sissy, niece, and bff so graciously put together. once again, I was humbled by the love and generosity of our friends/family. I got to see a couple of ladies who mean the world to me even though I haven’t seen them in over a decade. there were a couple more that weren’t able to be there but I look forward to seeing them on our next trip down, at which time there will be three of us!!!

love this group of ladies like crazy!

“a huge thank you to my sissy, niece, and jenny for the fabulous shower (not to mention the lovely ladies who attended or were unable to attend)! we’re so blessed to have such great friends and family!!!”

From Orlando Baby Shower, posted by J’Lynn Holloway on 6/11/2014 (33 items)

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8 Jun 2014

a couple days late because we just got back from Orlando late last night.  it was a great trip but we are happy to be home (for a few days at least).

when I told my boss I was pregnant, she insisted that we had to come into the office sometime before the baby was born so we agreed that I would do that on my trip down for my nephew’s graduation.  yesterday, we got up super early and put on some office-appropriate clothes (thank goodness for still having so many clothes I can still fit into!) and fought traffic for the commute into the office.  I got to meet several coworkers who I’ve emailed with and even spoken with for a couple years but never seen face to face.  I had expected my boss to give us a nice congratulations card and probably even a little gift card or something but I was blown away by the lovely surprise shower/luncheon that the whole group put together.  people we had never even met before had come together to give our baby cute little gifts and it was just so very nice.  we’re so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. I felt bad for my other remote co-workers who had to cover for me getting almost no work done all day but it was so nice.

“my boss asked me to come into the office while we were in town and surprised us with a lovely shower/luncheon. what a great group of coworkers we have!!!”

From Surprise Office Shower, posted by J’Lynn Holloway on 6/11/2014 (16 items)

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tonight, my firstborn nephew graduated high school.  I can’t believe how quickly he’s grown.  this is the young man who’s shining example finally convinced me to open my heart to Jesus.  I am so proud of him and so grateful to have him in my life.  I can’t wait to see what fantastic and exciting things his future holds.

“congratulations to my nephew, jimmy, and the rest of boone hs class of 2014!!! and now… go gators!!!”

From Grad Night 2014, posted by J’Lynn Holloway on 6/11/2014 (20 items)

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