38 weeks...

Oh Mercy.... I'm

Tight as a tick,

Ready to pop,

About to burst...

...you know all those things you always seem to hear women say at the end of their pregnancies. Yesterday might have been my nesting day... I'm not sure. We had 30 people over for a pot luck dinner to say goodbye to some missionary friends. I went to the grocery store, cooked 2 pies, a huge chicken poppyseed casserole, homemade yeast rolls, and cut up fruit, then cleaned up the kitchen. Normally I just want to lay around b/c I'm so pooped from not sleeping at night. I didn't even want a nap yesterday! Still not sure if it was nesting or I just knew I had a lot to do and knew I HAD to get it done. I felt good till about 7. Then my back felt righteous so I sat with my friend Peace's baby Gabe:

Yea, he may have been a tad uncomfortable with his little buddy Ezra just under him. Seriously, I didn't hold him like this the whole time- I held him to the side and he went right to sleep. This pic was taken on a cell phone, but he is the CUTEST thing!

So tomorrow my hubby is paying for me to get a manicure and pedicure. Tender, huh? I mean... it does help that it's super cheap over here... but still... tender nonetheless.

The nursery is done and painted!! OH.MY.WORD. It is stinkin adorable. I know you want to see it but I still have to paint the apple. CT wanted me to have painted SOMETHING, so he gave me the apple to paint. You'll see. I stayed out of the room for 2 days so that it would be a surprise and it was the BEST surprise. Sooo glad I didn't peek.... though it was hard not to. AMAZING,TALENTED,HUSBAND. As soon as I paint the apple and CT hangs something on the wall I will take and post pics. The best part about it is it cost us $6 :) Y'all know how I get a kick out of saving money!

Meanwhile this will have to do:

PS- I go back to the MD on Monday afternoon.

37 weeks...

CT took me to my 37 weeks apt this morning. (she always pulls out her little wheel and then says "you are 36+4 days" I hate that. Just round up to 37. So she didn't ACTUALLY consider me "full term". Oh well- in my mind I'm full term. Any way, she asked several questions and I answered accordingly. Sparing you the details I shared one thing with her that made her say "then you are getting very close". This made me smile. I stepped back on the scale wondering if I had gained another 3kg. NOPE! Only 1kg to my surprise!! Good, then I can have cookies at home group tonight!

Then I laid on her table and she took my BP: 128/105!?!?! Take it again- that can't be right. I'm usually on the low side of normal. We sat and read in the lobby for 20 minutes and then reentered her office-l 145/105!?!?!? Shoot- no cookies at home group. She sent me to the labor ward to get a BP on their machine. 115/77. Oh good... cookies. Obviously I think her machine was just a bit off or messed up. Nonetheless she wants me to keep and eye on it. If it's high in the morning then she wants me to go on BP med and they will do something to try and get him to come a bit early. Otherwise she will see me again on Monday the 30th and do some kind of swab which is per the norm. EWE! Maybe she'll check me while she's down there! At any rate- no worries... just a messed up BP machine ;)

She told me to take it easy and rest the remainder of the day. Needless to say, our Juja camping trip tomorrow was canceled because my protective husband wishes me to rest and be closer to home. Oh, Danny Downer.

We are planning on finishing Ez's room next week after the team leaves. We'll have one guy left from the team for an extra 3 days and of course Ali. CT wants me to finish packing our bags for the hospital. All but the last minute items. I'm on it... tomorrow. Our birth plan... done! CHECK! ...even the circumcision. Did you know, here in Kenya, the Pediatrician doesn't do the circumcision? Nope. We have to pay a surgeon to do it and he does it in the O.R. I'm sending his Daddy with him on that. If we have a girl, I'll take care of girly decisions, so he can make the boy decisions. I like my doctor so much that I'm just going to let her pick Ezra's pediatrician. She's so natural and non invasive I'm assuming she will pick me the same kind of pediatrician that doesn't order antibiotics at the drop of a hat. There is only 1 immunization that we both decided to opt out of. It's called BCG. It's for TB but it only covers like 2 out of like 40 types and it leaves a nasty scar. Plus, he'll test positive in the U.S. when he gets a TB skin test. No thanks. I don't plan on taking him into the depths of the slum any how. We plan on sticking with the same immunization schedule as the US.

Okay, so thats it... oh except the pic:

Our boys' growth!!

You asked for it! Here ya go:

14 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks

22 weeks

25 weeks

27 weeks

31 weeks

33 weeks
35 weeks

37 weeks

(I will add the last few weeks later on and change the date on the post... or re-post this.)

This is so crazy to me b/c as I was looking at older posts I read a couple from right around the time we must have conceived little Ezra. I can still remember those feelings. And I just can't believe that the Lord saw fit to open my womb and intrust CT and I to actually raise another human being. SUCH.A.MIRACLE!

We have friends here (3 couples), right now that are going through nearly the same thing. Of course, there are different circumstances... but I just pray that God will do a miracle for them as well. I also pray they have friends as wonderful as ours back home (as well as here). We promise to approach the throne and petition our Father daily on their behalf, just as you have done for us. I know that it will take many intercessors just as we had many.

I have an Ultrasound Tuesday and MD apt Thursday. The only one CT can go to is Thursday so my friend Sandra is taking me Tuesday.

Several of you are asking how I'm feeling. I'm doing pretty well, a bit... okay very emotional at times. Last night I just laid in bed and sobbed. My sweet man just got me tissue and rubbed my back. I really can't give you a straight answer as to exactly WHY I was crying. We watched "Like Dandelion Dust" which got me started. Then I kept it up because I had eaten this huge yummy (good for ya) dinner at some friends house and felt like I was literally starving last night in bed. I'm trying not to gain another nearly 7 lbs in 2 weeks when I go back to the MD Thursday. But it is SO SO SO HARD. I am so hungry especially at night when I get in bed no matter what I've eaten. Then I wake up so many times during the night and feel like I could eat and eat and eat. It HAS to have something to do with laying down and my stomach being squished or something. So any way, I just cried because I was so hungry, but I didn't want to eat and gain bunches of weight. Oh mercy. Can I please have this little boy now?

I think it's really good for me having this team here though. It has really helped this past week go back quick and it will make this next one the same way. I'm enjoying them being here, but yes I am SO ready to go to bed when it's time. But I will say that I just can't sleep. Laugh if you want, but I'll lay on one side then my hip hurts and then I get a butt cramp so I flip over and then it happens again and again through the night. It's a chore to flip over and I can't help but grunt every time. Then I can't go back to sleep because I'm so hungry. The cycle continues. So by 4,5, or 6 every morning I'm so ready to get up because I can't get comfy. Otherwise, I feel great considering I'm carrying around nearly 50 more pounds than normal. Seriously, my feet aren't swollen- only a tad above my ankles. So I honestly have zero complaints. I feel better than I thought I'd feel. Thanks for asking you guys! I will post again (hopefully) after the U/S to check his growth and then after the MD's apt.

This was the perfect weekend for our team to go on Safari. And Ali went too. So we had the whole weekend to ourselves. We really just hung out- went and had dinner out Friday night then Saturday we worked on Ez's room then sat at a cafe with beautiful weather, drinking sweet tea listening to Goo Goo Dolls and Pearl Jam. See, today is our 7 year Anniversary! 7 years. Wow. I sure love being married to that guy. He makes life so fun. I CANNOT WAIT to see him holding our little boy, kissing him, changing him or just sitting and staring at him.

This is going to be SO much fun.

35 weeks...

WE MADE IT TO OUR APPOINTMENT!

We live about 40 minutes from our hospital/MD office and yesterday after a few hours on the road we had to turn and come back due to traffic. Today our appointment was at 4:30 and we left the house at 11:00! We went to a small mall about 20 minutes from us and while Chris had a meeting with a former pastor we worked with-I sat and did some computer work. We were already 20 minutes closer when we left at 1pm. The office called and said they could see us earlier if we could get there. We ran into a little traffic on the way, but nothing terrible. This is what we ran into on the way there:

This is the line for the gas station

...a little more congestion

It was on the way back that we ran into more traffic- but again, not too bad. What would be a 40min drive was 2 hours. But again, nothing like the day before.

This was on the way back... just wanted you to have a taste of the nin-com-poops that drive on the sidewalk and occasionally killing an innocent pedestrian b/c they believe that their time is more important than others. This DRIVES.ME.CRAZY!

Okay- on to the appointment. It was scheduled to be an hour long but she answered all of our questions in the first 30 minutes. I asked her when she would check me for effacement and dilation (secretly hoping she'd check me today). Her reply?: "I won't". Though disappointed- I must say i.love.my.doctor. SHE IS SUPER NON-INVASIVE. She doesn't do a single thing unless absolutely medically necessary. Not a C-section, induction, episiotomy, not even an IV. LOVE IT. She will not pressure me to have an epidural or anything. She said "you run the show". So, with that being said she is not all that concerned about my big baby and she WILL NOT induce, just because he's big. She said if at 40 weeks I am super uncomfortable she would do a "sweep" (opening the cervix a bit) and then tell me to go home and have intercourse- hoping that will make it happen "naturally". Apparently she believes in the use of natural prostaglandins first.

I gained another 3KGS in 2 weeks! YIKES! She said "yea, that's too much." Then she tells me "But don't diet". uhhh... okay- no problem. I did have a banana split the night before... but it was a small one. I really don't know WHY I'm gaining so much so fast. I can't even eat that much b/c my stomach is all squished. She measured me again- 39 week uterus at 35 weeks. I literally feel as though I have a 40lb bolder hanging from my front. It-feels-heavy. And My upper abdominal muscles are feelin' it.

She saw the scan I had on the 19th of April and she said "Big boy, huh? I'd like you to have one more at 37 weeks so we can keep an eye on his growth." (Is she sure she doesn't want to just sweep my cervix at 37 weeks- cause I promise I'll be okay with it). So I'll have another scan- hopefully the last b/c this is getting expensive!) just after our anniversary, May 15th, and then we go back to see her on that following Thursday. Other than having another scan, which surprised me, she seems so not concerned about him being big. She said "you're tall, you can get him out". Uh- thanks. I'm sure it won't hurt that bad.

I thought I had a pediatrician picked out, but I told her today that I really had no clue. She wanted to know if I trusted her to pick one... well, of course I do. So, I'm letting her do that. We did find out today that if we have a NORMAL delivery (very basic- basic room, no meds, no c-section) that will still don't have quite enough to pay for the delivery. We were thinking it would cost a little less. Maybe we should have gotten a little old Masai lady to deliver Ezra out in the sticks somewhere! ;) It sure would mean a lot to me if you, my family and friends, would pray for an uneventful labor! Not sure what we'd do if we had to section this big boy out.

Look at this big boy justa hanging there!

(I may add more to this post a bit later if I have time)

Doctors Appointment... only... not really

We had an hour long MD appointment at 2pm today to talk about numerous things with our doctor... only we sat in crazy amounts of traffic instead. We went about 1/4 of a mile in 1 hour people. Yes, we sucked in massive amounts of diesel fumes and sweated like mad men ... for nothing. At 2:30 we seemed to have gotten through the worst of it and were headed to a back road to beat traffic in another congested area. Then CT looked across the highway and that "back road" was COMPLETELY backed up all the way to the highway. He said "We're going home"- after all it had been almost 2 hours and we weren't really even that near to the hospital- so we weren't going to make it in time anyway. I was tired, nauseous from the fumes and an ill pill. But the Lord quickly brought something to mind "It could be worse- you could be in labor sitting in this traffic!" So, I'm thankful for that for sure! We were able to reschedule for tomorrow at 4:30. CT had to cancel his day to drive me over there, but seemed glad to do it. Tomorrow we plan on going about 4 hours in advance because it's possible it could be the same way. The problem is there is a fuel shortage and MANY gas stations don't have gas, so the ones that do have MASSIVE lines like this:

It's a bit hard to see, but this was one of the shorter ones we've seen because it was in Karen.