Having Fun!

Well, it has been weird for it to be schooltime again and for me not to be a part of it! Not working has been fun, but also very different. Now my responsibilities at home have increased and I am dabbling in new activities like sewing and painting. Reading has also become a love of mine! A couple of books that I have really enjoyed are "It Worked for Me...1001 Real-Life Pregnancy Tips" and "Hot Mama - How to have a babe and be a babe". Both have made me laugh and be able to focus on the fun parts of pregnancy - which are many! I am enjoying my long hair and experimenting with various nailpolish shades. Facials and at-home pedicures are a ritual now. Really cherishing my big belly and actually enjoying being in elastic-waisted everything - so fun! Eating healthier not only for nutrition-sake, but also because if I don't indigestion becomes my shadow. Exercising is sometimes comical! As is shaking my boodie to music while cleaning! So, all-in-all, I am having a blast being at home and having the honor of being pregnant! So as the "Hot Mama" book states as its mantra, "I am not fat, I am a voluptuous goddess."

It's a...

Only God knows at this point. The little bugger was shy today. Apparently, it's so cozy in there that there's no good reason to show off for the ultrasound tech. Though we're a little disappointed that we still don't know the gender, we are grateful for another good check up: mom and baby are both healthy. Besides, 30 years ago no one was whining about the fact that they were halfway through the pregnancy and still didn't know the gender. Invention is the mother of necessity, I guess.

Here are the 3 newest shots:


Glamour Shot 1: The baby was kicking a lot - can you tell?


Glamour Shot 2: Here we have a nice side view of the whole kaboodle. What a catch, ladies and gentlemen!


Glamour Shot 3: If you look closely, you can see the face on the left looking at you.

Third Time's The Charm...

I don't know what this has to do with the baby, but I dislocated my shoulder today for the third time. D'oh! The good thing/bad thing about dislocating your shoulder multiple times is that every time it is easier and less painful to reduce than the previous time. Of course, that's also the reason it dislocates more readily.

Here's how it happened: Brad Small and I were destroying his son, Chris, and Josh Patrick in a little 2-on-2 hoops. It was 2 games to NONE and we were on pace to win game 3 and take the series in a sweep. The fans had already gotten out their brooms and keys when the deal went down. Josh set a pick on Brad for Chris. I was moving over to switch and cover Chris. Chris breezed past his dad and somehow was making his way around me. I put my hands up, he made minor contact and out comes the shoulder. I hollered a moderately inappropriate phrase (dang it) and had visions of emergency rooms, hours worth of deep throbbing pain, and $1500 worth of bills (did I mention that I've done this before??). Not at all like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon, I whimpered like a little puppy and made a successful effort at reducing the dislocation myself.

My right shoulder feels like James J. Braddock went 15 rounds on it, but other than that, I'm okay. Shannon's taking great care of me and I'm grateful that I didn't need to go to the ER. In the short term, I'm sure I'll enjoy a week or two of calling my left hand off the bench to brush my teeth and all the other tasks usually given to my all-star right hand. Lefty does okay, but we're all waiting for Righty to come back from the DL (disabled list). Aha, here's how it fits in with the baby: I'm hoping that I can have surgery and physical therapy before the baby comes so that I won't be slowed down by it after the baby comes. We'll see.

BUMMER

Today is Wednesday. The Sonogram tech only works on Tuesdays. The Sonogram tech was not there today. We did not have a sonogram. We still don't know what the gender of our child is.

We may be able to find out either next Tuesday or the following Tuesday. Of course, there's still an outside chance that the baby maybe positioned such that it still can't be determined.

Kudos to Shannon for not getting her hopes up about finding out today. I got my hopes WAY up and was mildly bummed out today when it didn't work out.

To put things in perspective, Dr. Ashby said that both Shannon and the Baby are in great health and doing very well. That means more to me than anything.

Boy or Girl??

Our next doctor's appointment is next Wednesday AM. At that point, we'll find out if the Voodoo Test was accurate. And if we're having a boy or a girl!

For the first time ever...little Ott wakes up the parents...

I have been praying many things for this baby and this pregnancy, one of which was that I would start feeling this angel move soon and that John would be with me when it happened.

I usually get restless at about 4:00 a.m. every morning, but I am able to get back to sleep quickly. This morning I kept getting more and more restless, and by 6:00 a.m. I was completely awake. This is a lot earlier than when I get up so I thought I would stay in bed. At 6:11 a.m. I felt something move on my left side. I didn’t think anything about it until it happened again in the same place harder. Every few seconds, I felt it…I knew it had to be the moment I had been praying for for a few weeks now. I woke John up and told him. The more excited we got about it, the more the baby moved! I kept feeling it do the same thing over and over. It felt like a foot or an arm moving up and down on my left side. This sweet baby continued to dance until about 7:00 a.m.! I could just envision the LORD singing over this baby and it dancing for the LORD! Of course I could not go back to sleep after that! John and I got up and took a walk…praising GOD, the Giver of good gifts. He delighted us this morning and we are so excited!!!

Catch up

Okay...so we've fallen off the cart a little over the past month or so. Time to get caught up:

1. The move to Amarillo has been made and we are loving it. We have a new OB: Dr. Wendell Ashby. He has a dry wit and is fun to be around.

2. Both [future] grandparents have already made the trip to Amarillo. It's been great to have them.

3. If you haven't noticed, the post about the "Voodoo Test" has generated more than a couple of comments. I think the comments are from some hoodlums. I have it through some back channels that this particular band may formerly hail from the north side of Atlanta. I also understand that one of the ring leaders had a child who previously went by the name of "Lothar of the Sand People." The poor child was taken in public wearing a headband of aluminum foil. [For those of you deeply confused by all this, just ignore it.]

We're settled now and should be able to keep up with the action as it happens...thanks for staying tuned in.

The mom @ 20 weeks

Half way there!

The mom @ 18 weeks

The mom @ 17 weeks