Catching Up … Counting Down

Click “Like” if the last several weeks have flown by? *clicks Like .. Hehe.

We are approaching Week 38. Yes, 3-8 .. That’s just fourteen days from 40 weeks and it’s still not fully believable! Let me catch y’all up on what the last almost seven weeks (yeah, I know .. didn’t I say it flew by?) have consisted of.

Week 32 – Clifton’s football season has been in full effect since the last post. I’m officially at the end of attending his games after rolling strong through the end of September. I can’t fathom laboring in the small Delta towns, so we decided I’d sit the rest of the season out. The weekend rounding out Week 32 was Labor Day Weekend and one of my last two visits home. Kara and two of my awesome cousins, Joyce and Erica, hosted Ava the cutest baby shower while we were there! The theme was “She’s About to Pop!” and included all goodies that tied into the theme – popcorn chicken, pop tarts (homemade pies), pop fizz soda, cake pops, and other things! One of my (many) favorite moments that the hostesses included was a headband-making session.  Ava literally has an entire stand filled with creative headbands that I get to dress her up in! I can’t forget the decor – they transformed the space the shower was held in – from the chandelier to the backdrop to the centerpieces to the fellowship .. it was a blessed day!

Weeks 33 – 36 – September was also spent getting prepared for October. We finished the nursery additions and worked to get our house in order for our highly anticipated VIP. My desire for not wanting to worry with cleaning and straightening when she gets her got the best of me at times – I’ve had to remind myself that Ava will not know about or care how our home welcomes her as long as it’s comfortable. Nevertheless,  thanks to to-do lists, my Husband,  Twin, and amazing In-Laws, if she came right now, we’d be perfectly fine.

I took my last road trip in September. It landed me in Birmingham (insert big grin). I didn’t want to pull my Husband away from weekend plans he’d made and my friend could not make the ride any longer, so my Poppa came along with me! I was so grateful – true, at 8 months prego, it was not a necessity, but it all worked out and we had an awesome time on what was our last Daddy/Daughter trip before I become a Mommy.

We ended this month with a baby shower given by my Sister-in-Law and Mother-in-Law. They went with a tutu theme incorporating tulle and ruffles EVERYwhere! The foods were some dishes that I’d been wanting such as buffalo chicken dip, cheese balls, and corn dip, along with cupcakes. Camesha had the cutest idea to ask for books instead of cards for Ava. We officially have plenty to do in our “downtime” when she gets here. I was able to see a lot of my MIL’s colleagues who we don’t see that often, but have supported Clifton and I so very much. We’re so excited that so many of our cousins, aunts and friends showed up to both gatherings to support and shower us with love and blessings! The shower was held in the gorgeous home of a family friend and I’m still smitten that she was so willing to host us.

Week 37 – October started our weekly visits to the doctor! This week started with a cervix check and we got the results from the Group B Strep Test. I had no change during the first check, but was glad to hear that something was progressing at this week’s visit. I should have started wondering what dilation may entail because just four days later, we had an interesting Braxton Hicks episode. I’ve been having them off and on since Week 33. For me, they’ve been more of a discomfort than anything. I started incorporating drinking red raspberry leaf tea* into my prego routine around that time which, I believe, offered relief during the contractions. Sunday, we were doing our normal routine of tv watching, napping, and winding down when I started to feel similar discomfort, with a wee bit more aggression. After several minutes, I realized that the pains were going and coming …. these were contractions, people! 8|I downloaded an app that captures the time of contractions (duration and frequency), so I used that to clock the timing. We also looked to our pregnancy handbook to gauge how alarmed we should be. Two major differences in false contractions and true contractions is the growing of intensity and what alleviates it. I got up to walk around and the pain went away, so I knew these were false. This went on for about 45 minutes and finally my body settled down. {Whew!} Talk about a practice run …

So, we’re knocking at Week 38’s door (Wednesday makes it official). I’ve proclaimed that this week at work, I will be ubberly productive in case it’s my last week. 😉 I’ll leave y’all with a variety of photos that were snapped over the last several weeks, beginning with Week 37 and 36 bumps (sorry for the incorrect positioning).