The Sixth Appointment and a Very Full Weekend

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday have been very busy and very fun!  We started off Friday with my sixth prenatal appointment.  The scheduler had told us to set aside two hours for this appointment, and it ended up taking two and a half hours.  I started out with chugging 10 ounces of Glucola.  I had been a bit concerned about having to get it down in five minutes, because drinking liquids quickly has been an issue during all of my pregnancy, but it wasn't an issue this time.  Then they had Robert and me just sit in the waiting room for an hour while my body processed the drink.  Thankfully, we had brought books to read, but it was still pretty boring.  I had another ultrasound, and everything looks great!  Her heart rate was 138 bpm, she looks healthy, and the fluid levels and placenta are both good.  I feel like this ultrasound picture gave us a really good view of her little lips, chin, and nose, and she's so stinking cute!

A tech came to draw my blood, and, per usual, it was a negative experience.  Having my blood drawn is always very unenjoyable, and this time it was coupled with a technician with a very thick accent that I couldn't understand, so it wasn't very relaxing.  She didn't have any success on my left arm and left me with a nice bruise.  She proceeded to my right arm and had success after a bit.  Now I just have to wait until Monday for the results.  The goal is for the glucose level to be under 140.  If that's the case then everything is a-okay.  If not, then I'll go in again, drink more Glucola, and have my blood drawn once an hour for three hours to test for gestational diabetes.  I obviously don't want to have gestational diabetes, but I also really really really don't want to have my blood drawn three times in one day.

We went back out to the waiting room and started to get quite antsy.  At this point we had already been there for an hour and fifteen minutes, and then the nurse came out to updated the estimated wait time for 30 minutes for Dr. Graves.  They kept on calling in people who had gotten there way after me, but we finally got called back.  Blood pressure was good.  The actually appointment with the doctor lasted less than five minutes, and then the nurse came back again to give me a TDAP vaccine.  This was my last monthly appointment, and now I'll go in every two weeks for the next eight weeks or so.

We went straight from the doctor to the zoo to meet up with my dad for a picnic and a walk through the zoo.  The weather all weekend was so perfect!

Finally, on Friday night I hosted the college girls book study.  We've been going through The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst.

On Saturday morning I squeezed in about two hours of work.  For the last 13 weeks I've been working part-time from home for Insite Solutions, the company where I worked full-time in NC.  I had been working on the launch of the new website which launched about four weeks ago.  During those nine weeks I got in about 20-30 hours a week, and since the launch it's died down quite a bit, but I've still been working on various tasks for about 10 hours a week which has been nice.  After working for a bit, I went to our church's spring tea.  It was beautifully decorated, the food was delicious, and I enjoyed our time together.

About 30 minutes after getting home from the tea Robert and I hopped in the car with Lori and Brian and we headed to Table Rock Lake.  I'm pretty sure I had never done anything there before, but it was really pretty.  Like I said, it was pretty much 80 degrees and sunny all weekend.

The party continued today with a lunch for new members and prospective members at church.  It's exciting to see new families joining and wanting to get involved!  Robert and I sneaked out after Robert spoke about student ministry so we could get to the youth pool party.  I even got to swim after discovering that my swimsuit still fits.  Ha!  The water was very refreshing!  I came home and promptly began my Sunday afternoon nap. :)  Robert has more energy than me and is now watching Age of Ultron with half a dozen of the youth guys.

Weeks 23-26

23 Weeks (Sunday, April 5)

Size of baby: A grapefruit, 10.5-11.8, 12.7-20.8 ounces

24 Weeks (Sunday, April 12)

Size of baby: A cantaloupe, 10.5-11.8 inches, 12.7-20.8 ounces

24w3d

25 Weeks (Sunday, April 19)

Size of baby: A cauliflower, 13.6-14.8 inches, 1.5-2.5 pounds

26 Weeks (Sunday, April 26)

Size of baby: A head of lettuce, 13.6-14.8 inches, 1.5-2.5 pounds

Milestones: She can hear my heartbeat.  Her skin is less see-through.  She knows which way is up and which way is down.  She can grasp her legs with her hands.  She can open her eyes!  She has eyelashes.  Her immune system is growing, and she's taking breaths.

I'm 60% of the way there.  It's crazy to think about all that's happened while I've been pregnant - moving to a different state, living in a new apartment, Robert starting a new job.  Wow!  We've picked a name, but we've made a vow of secrecy.  Also had the realization today that I've been pregnant for half a year.  The third trimester is just around the corner!

Third Annual Girls Weekend

This weekend was our third annual girls trip with my in-laws.  Due to my current state, we decided to keep the trip more local, and we spent Saturday-Monday in Kansas City.  On the way there, I split my drive into two sections and drove an hour on Friday to stay the night with my parents.  Aunt Pam was in town, and we all enjoyed a family dinner together.  I hit the road Saturday morning after breakfast and made it to Serina's house at 11:00.  Grandma June had driven in the day before, so the three of us hopped in Serina's car and drove over to pick up Bethany.  We started out the trip with breakfast at Mi Ranchito.  In honor of Robert, I got his favorite dish: cream cheese enchilada.  It was very good!

After lunch we went to Johnson County Community College to take an art class.  It was free class day at the college.  We took a quick tour of a couple of the exhibits at the art museum, and then we made nature sculptures of our own with some modeling clay.  I made a dad turtle and a baby turtle in honor of Robert and baby and his love for turtles.  Unfortunately, Mittens also has a love for turtles and she tore off the feet and eyes last night.

Next up: manicures and pedicures.  Bethany and I even got cute little flowers painting on our big toes.  After that, we shopped at The Plaza for just a bit and hit up a couple of stores there.  That was followed by dinner at my choice of Jack Stack.  Serina and I split the sampler.  I failed to get a picture of the meal, but I'd say the after picture is a good indication that it was delicious.

We finished off the day by checking into the Hampton Inn and watching some Food Network.  On Sunday morning we had breakfast at IHOP and started our day of shopping with a trip to Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Anybody want to spare $3,500 for a massage chair?

We spent the majority of the day at The Legends Outlet.  I had never been there before, but there were so many stores and great deals.  My goal was to get Robert some new dress shirts for work, and I managed to come home with five of them.  Shopping was tiring, so we needed some dessert and an afternoon nap in order to get charged up for more shopping.

We watched the new Cinderella on Sunday night, and it was very cute.  We wrapped up on Monday with breakfast at Cracker Barrel, a trip to JCPenney and Hobby Lobby, and lunch at Blue Koi.  I had success at Hobby Lobby.  For about three months now I had been trying to find six picture frames for some canvases that friends painted for us.  Since the canvases are thicker than photos it's been kind of difficult, but I finally found six matching frames, and they were even 50% off!  My drive home was much easier than my drive to KC.  On the way to KC it rained very hard for all but about 10 minutes of the drive.  The drive back home took about three hours, and it was sunny and pretty outside other than quite a bit of wind.  I only stopped once for a gas/bathroom break.  I needed to get home in time to go to one of our student's track meets and Robert's softball game.  South Gate won big time!  Robert managed to get on base every time he was up, scored a couple of times, and even got out a couple of people at second base.  Maybe having our own Gator mascot helped.