We're gonna have a May baby!

Today we found out that this baby will be arriving via c-section on Thursday May 3rd! It's not what I wanted, but after my appointment today, we are confident that this is best for both me and the baby. The growth ultrasound today showed that the baby weighs 9 lbs 11 oz. I know women can give birth to 10+ pound babies, but what really concerned the doctors was the size of the baby's stomach, which apparently indicates how big the shoulders will be. If the shoulders are too big, it can lead to shoulder dystocia where the head is delivered but the shoulders get stuck and can cause permanent damage or death for the baby. My high-risk doctor consulted with 3 other high-risk doctors to get their opinion and all 3 said without a doubt I should have a c-section.

With Will I was so confident that I would have a c-section (it is very common in diabetics because of the size of the baby) that I wasn't prepared for labor at all. I hadn't gone through any classes and didn't know what to expect. I had a pretty horrible delivery and recovery. This time, I  desperately wanted things to be different and thoroughly educated myself on all things having to do with labor and delivery. I read Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, Husband-coached Childbirth, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, Baby Catcher, and Your Best Birth. I watched documentaries and educational videos - both of the Business of Being Born dvd's, Laugh and Learn about Childbirth class, and a documentary called Pregnant in America. And I researched things to death on the internet. I'd been doing so much to get my body ready for labor - squats, tailor sitting, and pelvic tilts, sitting on an exercise ball everyday, drinking 3-4 cups of red raspberry leaf tea a day, doing accupressure for the last few weeks to start labor, etc. So it was quite ironic to learn today that this time I was wrong once again and will be having a c-section! Strangely I feel peace about it though. Especially during these last weeks of pregnancy, I pray pretty often for wisdom for my doctors. So when they very strongly say I need a c-section, I believe them.

My mom's been here for 2 weeks but needs to leave Friday (my sister is graduating from graduate school with a degree in counseling this weekend - SO proud of you MB!!) so Matt's mom is going to come up to watch Will while we are in the hospital and for the first few days we come home. My mom has been a tremendous help taking care of Will, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, etc. I don't know how we would have survived without her!! Here's a few pictures of the last few weeks...

We made Scalini's (an Atlanta restaurant) famous Eggplant Parmigiana to put me in labor. It was absolutely delicious, but obviously didn't work on me!

Will liked it!

Last week I was VERY close to being induced because of pre-eclampsia. My blood pressure was high and some of my lab work was showing signs of pre-eclampsia also, so a nurse called the day before my appointment on Wednesday and said to bring my bags with me, because there was a high chance I'd be induced (blood pressure had gone down a little by the time I went in so they held off). So Tuesday night we took Will out for ice-cream as a last "just the three of us" outing.

And Wednesday morning mom took a last "just the three of us" picture before my appointment!

Will giving his baby sister a "hug"

Mom and I have been busy doing lots of sewing projects while we wait on Baby Girl! Mom's projects are awesome and I'll get pics of them later, but I'm pretty proud of my simple little swaddling blankets!

We are SO SO SO excited to meet this baby girl in a few days!!!

Waiting...

I am officially full-term now and just waiting on this little girl to decide she wants to come out:) I'll be induced on or around May 1 if she doesn't come on her own sooner. My blood pressure has been high for the last week, so we are monitoring it closely and hoping it doesn't turn into preeclampsia like it did with Will. I am on modified bed rest, but thankfully it hasn't been that bad because Matt has been able to help out a ton and on Tuesday my mom came in town! I am SO thankful for that! She has been a huge help.

As of today's ultrasound she weighs 8 pounds 11 ounces! I know they can be off by up to 2 pounds, so we'll see how big she ends up being! I would love to avoid an induction or c-section so I am following some old wives tales to naturally induce labor but so far nothing has worked! It is hard to just be patient:)

Picture dump

I was going through my pictures (both phone and camera) and came across a lot that never made it to the blog. I do want to have these on here so I won't forget about them, so here they all are at once!

In January, Will had Pajama Day at school! His teacher sent me these pictures she'd taken...

Somehow, Will learned that this is how you smile, and whenever he sees the camera this is what he does...

Will is officially a little chef. He LOVES to help Matt in the kitchen!

Sometimes it's messy...

Now that the weather is nicer Will has gotten a few chances to learn to ride his bike...

And play outside with daddy!

First signs of spring in our backyard...

My handsome hubby...

He also LOVES flying his kite with daddy...

A minute after the photo above was taken, Will let the kite go and it sadly got away! He's gotten a new one since then and been to the park several times with daddy to fly it. Matt texted me this picture one day of our dirty little "monster" while they were flying kites...

And being goofy...

I LOVE having a little boy, SO much more than I ever thought I would, and I can't wait to see how having a little girl will be similar and different!

Easter 2012

We had a very low key but fun Easter this year! The weather was great and on Saturday we dyed eggs in the backyard...

On Sunday our church had an Easter egg hunt after the service. It took Will a few minutes to get the hang of it, but once he figured out what he was supposed to do he had fun!

Matt and I tried to teach Will what Easter is really about this year. We told him the story of Jesus dying and rising again over and over, until finally a few days before Easter I asked him what Easter was about and he said, "It's about celebrating Jesus!" And then a couple of days ago I heard him waking up from his nap and he yelled "Jesus is alive!" It makes me so happy to hear this!

He got an Easter basket from mom and dad...he got a coloring book, a book about Jesus and Easter, play dough, stickers, and eggs filled with crackers! He was happy:)

For dinner we had a picnic of fried chicken, potato salad, and deviled eggs! Southern and perfect! We've never attempted gluten-free fried chicken before, but it turned out great! We both thought it was better than any "regular" fried chicken we've ever had! Matt used Thomas Keller's method for fried chicken (the best!) - you can find the recipe in his Ad Hoc at Home cookbook (or it is all over the web).

After dinner we watched Veggie Tales Easter on netflix. Will loved it!

Overall it was a perfect day!