I have 3 whole days left of being pregnant... the last three days that I will EVER be pregnant in my life.  I really want to enjoy them and relish in the simplicity of it and eat it up.  I want to always remember how active Jackson is... I'm told it's a boy thing!  He is constantly moving way up on my belly - sometimes I can grab his foot!!!  I love having Jason and the kids see him dancing inside of me and my belly going from side and side and then hooting about it.  I loI love how everytime I seem to get nervous that he's not moving, he senses my fear and voila... starts to dance.  I love how he kicks and punches everytime I sing... I used to think he loved my singing, but then the girls pointed out that he's probably trying to get away from the noise!!  Haha.  
I even love that I have started to wear snore strips b/c I apparently ahve been snoring SOOO badly the past few weeks... how can I NOT with a belly this big and no room for my lungs?  I will misss these Braxton Hick contractions that I hav ehad prety much constantly for the past 6 weeks or so.  They start up high in my belly and squeez down my uterus, taking my breath way.  They happen even if I exert the littlest amount of energy. 
I love that the girls feel so comfortable with my belly - they kiss it and hug it and talk to Jackson.  We joke that he will come out all bruised up from us rubbing on my belly and pushing on him all the time. 
I love that I can tell when he has the hiccups (methodical movements) and when he's just going nuts.  I don't remember ever knowing or thinking that the girls had teh hiccups.
I even love my stupid little waddle walk... It's really quite ducky!!!!  It's probably b/c he is so big and causes so much pressure down below!
I absolutely will NOT miss the heartburn I've had this time around... oh the heartburn!!!  It has deprived me of sleep some nights, literally woken me up with a mouth full of stomach acid a time or two, and caused me to swallow many a Pepcids and Tums.  But... in 4 days, it should be gone... hopefully for good!!
I'm hoping that these last 3 days will be sciatic pain-free, heart burn-free, full of energy and just plain fun!!!  I've been having a terible time sleeping the past few nights with nightmares, uncomfortablity and a hubby who wakes me when my snoring gets outta control... I'm hoping these next few nights are quite different.
I also love how Jennibelle now calls Jaylee "Sissy" or "Sis" at all times.  It was always annoying to me when I heard othere kids saying this, but with her it's just darn cute.  And Jaylee doesn't seem to mind at all... will Jackson be "Jackson" or "Brother"?!?!

70 degree Feb days...

What did YOU do today?!?!

It's Feb 18th and we had 70 degree weather for two days,
so we...

explored the corn fields to find bones!!

helped Dad maintain the car

lost our shoes in the mud in the corn field,

so Daddy had to help rescue us!

then we used heh mud on our shoes to paint the tree!

of course, we swung a lot!

We even had a mud flinging fight!!

We THINK it's mud, anyway!

Daddy cleaned up the grill and cooked out!

We played and played and played in the mud.

We finally got to explore the basement...

Mama is still NOT allowed down there.

Jenni painted herself to be a kitty!

Morgan and Cole came over and we got to show her the steer!

We biked, scootered, took a walk, chased, drew with chalk, blew bubbles, had a picnic and more!

Nan even came over on her lunch break with pizza!

Morgan got to try out our swing too! 

Can't believe it's going to snow again in 4 days!!!!

We are READY FOR SPRING!!!

Locks of Love

The girls were pretty much forced to donate 10 inches of their hair to Locks of Love tonight.  I wanted it chopped and figured someone should benefit from it... and it made it a little easier on the girls knowing they were helping some sick kids!!!

Jennibelle decided to go first.  She was not excited at all and burst into tears when Meg made the big cut.  She cired for most of the hair cute but after Meg blew it out and styled it, she realized that she loved it!!!  She admired herself the rest of the night in all the mirrors... we'll see how she feels when she wakes up in the morning.  I had wanted it shorter around her face but Meg said we can always go shorter in a few days, we can't go longer... and I really like it!!!!  here's her before/after.  She's still sad in the after pix and you can't see how great it looks in the back.  BUT I'm sure that I'll be taking another 1,000 pix in the near future and will update then...

Then we had to take a break so Meg could deal with her paying customers.  Jaylee loved Jennibelle's hair so much, that she was super ready when it was finally her turn.  After the 10 inch cut, she was left with hair a timy bit longer than Jennibelle's.  She had wanted to cut her bangs but decided to hold off for right now.  She's so funny how grown up she is at times, when she explains rationales!! 

I had forgotten my camera so Mandy came up to the salon with hers, but her battery died as Jaylee was getting chopped, so I'll have to take and post and after pic of her in the morning, sorry.  She does look super cute though!!!  Not sure why the goofy faces, I guess 7am is just NOT photo time!!!!



baby shower

Surprise Baby Shower!!!

Mom, Mandy & Meg threw me a surprise baby shower on Sunday, Feb 6th at 1:30 at Mom's house.

It was fun and relaxed... my kinda party!!!

There were tons of kids who seemed to have a really good time!

Debbie, Diane, Nicole, Dorcas, Mrs Constein and Mrs Esh were there.

We had delicious chicken salad and ham-and-cheese sandwiches for lunch, then the kids made a "Bouquet" for Jackson's hospital room and then we opened gifts.

The finished bouquet:

Jennibelle working on her flower:

 Everyone like the project!:

The food:

I had lots of help opening gifts:

My new diaper bag from Mom, Mandy and Meg.

They also got me a neat voice recorder for Jacksons NICU bed: 

It was so nice to get together with everyone and celebrate Jackson!

Hope my sisters and friends know how much I appreciate it!!!

Now it's about time to write my Thank you notes!!!

BTW...

March 1, 2011 is the day of my c-section.

In the hospital!

I have to remember that God is always in control.

Jason and I had to head up to Geissinger Medical Center last night around dinner time b/c yet another bad winter storm was set to hit Tuesday night. 

 (4th Tuesday in a row & all of my appts have been on Weds these last weeks!-But Dr Smith is NOT supposed to be at GMC on Weds but b/c of the bad weather on these Weds, they've been switching him to be here... this is where the "always in control" part is so true!!)

We had a delicious dinner at Lancaster Brewing Co in Harrisburg - makes me hungry thinking about it!!  Then we contd. to Selinsgrove and got a Hotel for the night.

The phone rang at 8am... Cardiology was cancelling our 11am appt b/c of the weather.  I was bummed!!  So, I called my FMF office and explained the situation... that we were stuck in a hotel b/c we came up last night so if anyone cancelled their am appts, we'd like to switch our 2:30pm appt.  Well... they called back 15 mins and said to come in at 10 am for my MFM appt and to have my Cardio ECHO done... ?!??!?!?!

OK!!!!!!!

When we arrived, EVERYONE knew our situation... our MFM office has the most caring staff!!!!

So we had our Biophysical Procile done first with lots of measurements taken.

I am 33 weeks and 3 days - the baby should be appx 4 lbs.

JACKSON MEASURES 7 LBS!!!!!!!!

They measured him twice to be sure! 

Dr Maslow said that in all reality he probably is a few ozs lighter simply b/c on this set of measurements his abd is measuring bigger (unproportionate) to the rest of his body - this is what I did NOT want to hear, but it is what it is.  He said that it is nothing more than what they would expect, with his diagnosis. 

So... off to Pediatric Cardiologist we went for an ECHO.

I had mentioned to the Dr multiple times that I had a lot of pressure down below on and off with inconsistant contractions (Braxton Hicks) but at first he didn't seem too worried about it.

The Cardiologist gave us a clean bill of health for Jackson... all of the fluid around his heart is now gone (YEAH!!)

But when the two of them finished talking, he decided to check my cervix....

That was 10 hours ago and her I lie in a hospital bed!!

He said that I was totally effaced, 1 cm dilated and that the lower part of my uterus was very engorged!

(Fun, huh?!?)

So right now they are monitoring me giving me steroid shots to boost his lung development.

They will recheck my cervix tomorrow and I THINK that if I have dilated any more, we talk about a c-section... but Jason and I are both kinda confused as to exactly what their plan is.

I guess we'll find out!!

Well... my sleeping pill is kicking in!!!!

G'night!


Update: 2/3/11 10:15am...
With no increase in contractions, we will be D/C'd after my second steroid shot at 4pm.
They'll check my cervix then too to make sure I haven't dialated it more (though I doubt I have, since I've been just laying her for 22 hours).
Looks like he gets to cook a little more!!!
Maybe I'll go home and get ready for him now!!!

Update: 2/4/11
We were discharged after the 2nd steroid shot and now I just follow up with my app ton Weds.
I have hardly been contracting since getting home...
Time to pack some bags though, I think.
I have all of the cameras charging now too!!!