The FIRST day of my LAST trimester!

Praise the Lord! I made it to 28 weeks. I have had a lot of selfish moments since April 20th when I saw two lines appear on that pregnancy test, but hopefully I'm getting a little better. And I have been assured that when I hear that first little cry all thoughts of ME will turn to thoughts of HIM. I can't wait.

I have my 28 week appointment on Wednesday which will start the every two week cycle at the OB. How exciting! I'm going to try and remember to ask Terry (my favorite nurse) what Dr. Brown would like as a thank you gift. On a personal level all I know about him is he drives an old Ford pickup with a hula girl on the dash and wears amazing dress shirts with ordinary khaki Dockers... and has a great sense of humor.

Oh, and the find of the week courtesy of my BFF Jane is... THE DESIGNER HOSPITAL GOWN. Jane found this on Etsy and I can't wait to get mine. I also saw that Tori Spelling got one from a company in CA called BYOG. Bring Your Own Gown. It snaps up the back and both sleeves snap too and the belt thing is removable. Now I just have to pick which flip flops I will wear with it. Too cute!!!

Juror #02-257

Question: Does being 36 weeks pregnant when you are supposed to report for AT LEAST one week of jury duty exempt you from service? If it would, should I want it to?

Believe me... there's a part of me that wants to do my civic duty and would love to take a week off from work (paid) and finally read all those baby books that are collecting dust on my coffee table, but there's another part of me that wonders if they'll let me get up and pee as often as I need to.

I decided to call Dr. Brown and get his opinion. If he thinks it's not a good idea I will need a letter from him and then I will see if I get excused or if they will postpone my week of service until after the baby, my maternity leave, and tax season has come and gone. If Dr. Brown thinks it will be fine, I will go ahead and show up. Besides, Christopher says I'm so opinionated they will never let me on a jury anyway.

Happy 30th Birthday Alyson!!!!

My dear friend Alyson turns 30 today!!!

Alyson, may you have a wonderful birthday and year ahead. I look forward to the birth of your son and all the wonderful blessings that will come your way this year. This morning when I looked at the calendar and saw your name I thought of when you came to my 30th birthday party and lied to my face about not being pregnant :) No worries... you were very newly pregnant and without knowing, so was I! And here we are months later and many miles apart about to give birth to sons just weeks apart. God is good! We miss you, Mike and Carter so much!

A Blank Canvas (Almost)!

The nursery is cleaned out! The nursery is cleaned out! So much progress this weekend!!!

Our bedding arrived (adorable) on Friday and then Christopher and I took advantage of the gas shortage in Nashville and stayed home all day yesterday and cleaned up the rec room and cleaned out the nursery. The desk you see above is currently listed on Craigslist and the treadmill on the far right will be donated to the VHA yard sale AS SOON AS they schedule a drop off!

This week I'm going to stop by Porter Paints and match paint to the bedding and then the real work can begin. In an effort to conserve much-needed baby funds I think we are going to paint the nursery ourselves. Correction - my sweet baby brother Glenn is going to help Christopher turn the room from Turkish Coffee to a lovely shade of baby blue and then Meg and I will do the stripes. I think the striping is a job for women. And after seeing Meg's crafting skills Saturday night, I have complete faith that she can do it!!!! Besides, she's got the steady hands of a surgeon which will be very helpful.

I'm starting to get very excited!!!!!

100 days and counting!

How could I already be 100 days away from giving birth? Other than a few minor things, I haven't gotten anything ready! My friend Tracy swore I'd have my nursery ready within days of finding out what I was having, but that just didn't happen. So today I grabbed the bull by the horns and ordered our baby bedding. This single purchase will allow us to pick paint colors, get the room painted, then purchase and assemble furniture. Then I can fill in with accessories and we will be so done. I haven't figured out what to do about curtains yet, but all in due time.

Paige Elizabeth Reagan

Congratulations to our friends Betsy and Brendan on the birth of their little girl Paige! I know Kyle and Wade will be awesome big brothers. I'm going to pay very close attention to Betsy over the next 15 weeks and try and figure out just how she manages a newborn while her husband manages the schedule of a first-year cardiology fellow. I look forward to learning a lot from her as our families walk down similar paths.

24 Week Ultrasound

This morning I had another ultrasound and thus another chance to see my baby boy dance around the screen in black and white. I feel closest to him during these moments and as the tears slowly roll down my face I forget about the to do list that haunts me or the not so pleasant pregnancy symptoms that plague me. I thought the tech was just going to check the heart outflow tracks and be done, but instead she basically re-did the 20 week ultrasound and measured everything.



This is what I learned about my baby:

- He prefers to lay on his left side (like his mom).

- He has long legs and arms (like his dad).

- He has the sweetest heart beat I've ever heard... 139 bmp.

- He currently weighs 1 pound, 9 ounces (a little on the large side).

- His major internal organs were easily identified including kidneys, stomach, bladder, heart.

- He does not have a cleft palette.

All good news!!! I see my OB tomorrow morning to go over the ultrasound and do whatever else is required at the 24 week appointment. My third trimester will be here before you know it! I anticipate my next ultrasound won't be until 36 weeks when they will re-measure and size him up!

I have a DVD of the ultrasound so I will get Christopher to capture some still shots and post them later.