33 weeks and counting!

Just a quick update on Baby Montgomery#2!

No, we still dont' know if it is a boy or a girl. I can't believe I will make it the whole time without knowing! We have names picked out, so we'll see once he/she arrives if the name "fits". Emma told someone yesterday that she wants a baby sister, and if it is a boy they could take him home instead of coming home with us. Oh my. But she had a good time with Kirk and Janice Holland's 10 month old boy tonight...so I think we will be ok. :) I have registered for both boy and girl stuff, with showers being planned after the birth. We have enough to bring the baby home, and really...how much do you REALLY need at first? We just have to make sure that the baby carrier hasn't been attacked by bugs in the garage...but I think it is ok.

I had another appointment with Dr. Thigpen, our high-risk pregnancy doctor on Wednesday. Everything looks great from my little bleeding/tearing episode in December. I never had a sonogram this late with Emma, and it was amazing to see how much more defined all of his/her features were! You can really see his/her eyes, nose shape, and mouth curve! He/She had his hand over his face (just switching to "he" for ease sake...) and at one point stretched it towards the sono wand and you could count and really see all 5 fingers. It was like he was saying "hello out there!". They take a lot of measurements at this sono than just a regular sono and all of his size measurements were reading about a week further along than we thought! Although I will keep 7 weeks in my mind so that I don't lose my sanity wishing for sooner, 6 weeks would be nice schedule wise-- an Easter baby perhaps! He was weighing in at 5 pounds already from all of the measurements they took. We'll just see!

Dr. Thigpen then came in to do the echocardiogram. Again, it is AMAZING to me that I was looking not only at my baby's heart, but we could see all of the 4 chambers, the fully formed walls of the chambers, the flow of the blood through the chambers and yes, a fully and perfectly formed aorta! Again, technology is amazing sometimes. So Dr. Thigpen told me to stop worrying about the heart and start worrying about how to pay for college! He discharged me from his care and when I said that made me happy, he tried not to be offended (not really! He says he likes it when he gets to discharge people from his care!) .

Not 15 minutes after I left his office estatically, did I get the news that a friend's 7 day old sweet baby girl passed away that morning from lung/neurological problems. We grieve with the Bassett family (please keep them in your prayers). Again we are reminded of how close we got to losing our Emma Rose, and how blessed we are by her existence. We might have had a hard first year and complications still after, but at least she is here. I am reminded that we don't know why God calls some precious angels home and why some are given additional time here. Why was Emma spared when we know of many that are called home so early? Only God knows and we must trust that His glory will be revealed through the miracles and the "losses". I think going through our experience and seeing other's experiences just makes you so thankful for the gifts we have been given, for health, and for family.

Onto less deeper thoughts...I am carrying baby pretty well. My weight gain has been really good- only 19 pounds so far! I only gained about 30 with Emma so hopefully I'll stay below that mark again (don't worry, I'm definitely eating for two! For some reason pregnancy is the only time I DON'T easily put on weight when I eat and eat!). I'm not swelling this time like I did with Emma at all-- I'm still easily wearing my ring! The winter temperatures have definitely helped with that aspect. I was already chipmunk-looking at this point with Emma! I have definitely felt sorer sooner this time around. Most days I'm sore from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep. And yes, the waddle has definitely started (some days more pronounced than others!). One of the hardest things about this pregnancy is the energy issue. Not only am I following Emma around in the evenings after teaching all day (although I am getting better about laying down once we get home from school, letting her watch a movie before I start dinner- sometimes a TV babysitter is ok right now!) but at this point in my first pregnancy the school year was almost finished. It will be most definitely harder working/teaching up to my due date. I'm sitting a whole lot more as I teach, which is REALLY weird for me to do (I'm usually walking around a whole lot more), but hey, what can you do? Right now I am really pushing my two AP classes to finish as much material as possible before the baby comes. My AP Calculus class is in good shape- we should finish right after Spring Break. AP Chemistry just covers a whole lot more material, but I switched the order of material around at the beginning of the school year so we just finished up all of the "new" material, and they next few units are 90% review from last year, with just a few new concepts here and there.

Well, it's 9:45 on a Friday night and yes, bed is calling my name. Ahh...getting older and being pregnant!