34 Week Doctor's Appointment

Grant and I went to the doctor today for our 34 week appointment. Grant's little heartbeat was good and steady and mom's blood pressure is doing well despite the swollen feet and ankles. I have the loveliest pair of cankles you've ever seen!! Seriously disturbing. In fact, every time I look down at my feet I am reminded of my very sweet great grandmother, Granny Thelma, because her little feet and ankles were always so swollen from her diabetes. Isn't it funny what triggers our memories of things? :) I hope she is smiling at my memory of her feet! Haha!

I am mildly concerned that Grant is laying transverse or horizontal in my uterus which he has been for as long as I've been able to feel him. He's actually never moved out of the same general position the whole pregnancy. Obviously I can't deliver a sideways baby and apparently a lot of times (according to Dr. Cowen) babies are transverse for a reason. Either the cord or placenta is too short to allow them to turn head down or the shape of my uterus doesn't allow for it. I'm sure this is all too much information, but other than being so glad we are both healthy, I am so bummed that the likelihood of needing a C-section (which is MAJOR abdominal surgery don't forget) seems to have increased after my discussion with my doctor today. We're going to give Grant 2 more weeks and then do a sonogram and see if he's changed positions. Apparently we have like a 60% chance of him turning on his own. PLEASE PRAY he decides to flip his little head upside down and get in the right position in the next two weeks. I want to avoid a C-section with every fiber of my being!!

So that's the update on Grant. I'm measuring about 35 weeks although we (the doctor and I) think it's because of the way Grant is positioned so really we think I'm right on schedule for a delivery date sometime around November 14th if Grant decides to go full term. We're just going to pray, pray, pray he flips around in the next 14 days and gets all ready to go (he should be a planner.....his parents certainly are!) Hehe!

Maternity Pictures

Last Thursday my friend Courtney who has started her own photography business Anthologie came over to the house to shoot our maternity pictures for us. She did a FANTASTIC job and was so sweet to actually give us 2 of her favorite shots at our baby shower yesterday. We're still going through all the proofs trying to decide which ones we want so I will post more once we get those ordered, but here are the 2 shots Courtney gifted us with yesterday. Thanks so much, Court! We couldn't have gotten a better gift!

Baby Love

A HUGE thank you to all of our sweet friends for showering us with some major baby love today! We had a beautiful shower in Coppell this afternoon and had such a good time catching up with friends. I always love getting together with so many wonderful people I've known for so many years now! And wow is Grant set now or what?! You all were too generous. The nursery is literally overflowing tonight. We cannot thank you enough for helping us get ready for our little boy's arrival. All the little details were so lovely and thoughtful and we appreciate you all so much!

ROLLER COASTER

No, I am not riding roller coasters 33 weeks preggers, but this weekend was a wilder ride than any I've been on at Six Flags! Saturday afternoon my parents delivered one of the best gifts any soon-to-be mom can ask for.......a plush, comfy, oh-so-soft glider and ottoman. This was a gift to us from my parents and my grandparents for mommy, daddy, Grant, and any other children to come. We LOVE it and look forward to rocking miles and miles in it! :)



Well, the roller coaster ride started as Dad and Jason were unloading the chair. Dakota was going in and out with them as they brought in the 2 or 3 pieces and then when we called her to come in so we could shut the front door, no Dakota. She couldn't have gone far, right? We'd just seen her 45 seconds ago. We all fan out into the street calling her name.....nothing. Not too panicked, we know she's not far. We start walking around the block, nothing. Time passes, Dad starts driving through the neighborhood while the other 3 of us continue on foot....nothing. It's now been 2 hours and no sign of her and we have to leave for a baby shower- FOR US - in 30 minutes. Quickly print out posters (Did I mention I'm a total idiot and had her collar off???!!! Meaning no tags, no nothing.) Post flyers all over the neighborhood and have to leave for the shower. My sweet brother and sister-in-law come over after we leave to search a little more before heading to the shower themselves.

So, I'm crying buckets all the way to the shower and finally get a grip enough to enjoy the evening. And what a lovely evening it was. Our sweet friends, the Walks, who had moved into a new house just 10 days ago, yes 10 DAYS ago had a BBQ dinner and shower for us and it was fabulous!!!! Mandy, you outdid yourself girl! The tables were darling and the house looked like you guys have been there forever! I don't know how you did it! The dinner was catered by Eddie Dean's BBQ and man was it good. Grant ate him some seconds it was so good! We had such a good time visiting with everyone and loved all the precious gifts you all lavished on us! Thank you so much for celebrating Grant!

















So we get home around 10:00 from the shower and I grab the flashlight and head out calling for Dakota. I see a few neighbors, ask if they've seen her, nobody has seen anything. We go to bed completely distraught. I don't know if I've cried that hard literally in years. Not even over the melanoma!

I get up early the next morning and the tears are still flowing as I brush my teeth. We can't even pull ourselves together enough to go to church and lead our small group (thank you Fitzhughs for filling in for us at the last minute!). We put up more flyers.....any lamp post within a 2 mile radius of our house has had a picture of our dog on it! We did finally decide around 10AM to go to church and try to get some perspective and leave our furry baby in God's hands. It was ROUGH!

This is turning into a very long, boring story but around 5PM on Sunday we're sitting in the living room and we hear Dakota barking. We know our dog, we know her bark....that was her. We run outside and try to follow the barking which leads us to our neighbors house right behind us. Apparently Dakota had walked into their garage Saturday afternoon and they kept her all night. Never mind that we were worried sick! Dakota had slept in their bed with them Saturday night! Are you kidding me? She doesn't even get to do that at home. Anyway, I guess they hadn't bothered to go outside and see the 50+ signs with Dakota's picture all over the neighborhood but we were grateful to have her back safe and sound. We think she had a grand adventure and has no idea the anguish she caused us!

Lesson learned: NEVER TAKE OFF YOUR DOG'S COLLAR!!! She does have a microchip but someone would have had to take her to the animal shelter to find that out and get our information.

Anyway, our household is back to normal and we are exhausted from a truly roller coaster weekend! It's a wonder I didn't go into labor!! :)

Tea With The Girls

Yesterday, Grant and I had afternoon tea with Jill (a dear friend of mine from Baylor) and her daughter Emory. We had a great time catching up and I think Emory enjoyed her first afternoon tea with the girls. Miss Em is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L and such a girly-girl. She was loving my jewelry and anything else colorful or sparkly in the restaurant. As Jill says, though, she's still more of a milk girl than a tea girl at this point. :) Thanks for a fun afternoon girls! I think even Grant had a good time though he was the only male presence at tea yesterday! haha!

A Big Crate

Since getting back from California we have really tried to start work on the nursery and get things ready for Grant's arrival. We can't believe we only have 9 or so weeks left until he gets here!! The crib arrived yesterday (took 8 weeks to get it.....who knew??!!) and Jason went and picked it up so we could put it together and get it in Grant's room. Dakota was a big help and we kept asking her if she knew who was going to sleep in the "big crate?" (Dakota is crate trained and sleeps in her own crate at night and when we are not home during the day.) She was very interested in this new big crate and was a big help to her papa in the assembly process. :)



Like the smart master's degree holders we are, we decided to assemble the crib in the living room because there's so much space which was a great idea until we realized that once assembled, the crib did not fit through the doorway to the nursery. Hehe. But we did finally get it all together and up in Grant's room. Dakota tested it out for us and we think if it will hold her, surely it will hold Grant just fine. :)



There's still lots of work to be done in the nursery but we feel better having a crib set up and it certainly makes it feel more real that yes, a new little person is going to be living with us pretty soon. YIKES! :)

Mommy and Grant's Modeling Debut

That's right, mom and baby will be modeling tomorrow.......for the dermatologist! Let's just say I feel sorry for my derm team having to comb over this 7 month preggo tomorrow. I feel a lot like that elephant!:)

In all seriousness, though, I go in tomorrow (Friday) at 10am and I'm anticipating to be sliced and diced some more. I've had quite a few new moles and changes in my skin crop up in the 2nd trimester and am moderately concerned about 2 of them (one of which is right on my ever growing belly making a large excision if it is malignant somewhat difficult). So, if you think of it tomorrow and in the coming week, will you pray:

1. That each biopsy and tissue sample taken will have all the pigment removed on the first try so we don't have to worry about it growing back and having to go in again at the same site.
2. That the pathologist will be well rested and accurate in his analysis of the tissue taken.
3. That if it is within God's Will and Plan for us that all biopsy results will come back benign.

And of course, some prayer that we will be at peace in the coming week while we wait on the pathology report would be great. :) I am 30 weeks preggers today and it would be such a gift to make it to the end of this pregnancy without a cancer incident. Thanks for any thoughts and prayers you have time for this week. We appreciate it more than you know!

Love,
Lindsay

P.S. I will post an update on our Caring Bridge site. There is a link to it on this blog on the right hand side.