Week 130

Aug 24-30

We had to go downtown last week to officially turn in Ed's application for the Columbia Fire Academy. It feels good to finally officially have it turned in. The rest is up to fate. :) I have every faith in Ed. While we were downtown we figured we should go check out Uncle Will's Fire Station. Jack had a blast! He always loves to see fire trucks. We got a few pictures while we were there.

After our visit we went out to Finlay Park so Jack could play for a bit. It's a big park in the middle of Columbia and I was pretty impressed with the structure. Jack could run around and there were multiple slides, climbing structures, etc. It was pretty shady and in good condition. Unfortunately, we have found that parks around here are nothing like in Florida. We could choose from 10 amazing parks within a 10-mile radius of our house. I definitely give Brevard County an A+ as far as parks go. Around here there are outdated, run down, gross parks that are few and far between. There is another prospective park on Ft Jackson that we plan on trying out soon.

Saturday Ed's parents treated us to an amazing dinner at The Mill Pond Steakhouse in Rembert, SC. If any of you live in this area it is worth the drive. The food is ridiculously good. They serve a cornbread that is phenomenal. I will continue to dream about that delicious dinner for a long time! :) Ed's brother and his wife Amanda also came out. It was a very nice, relaxing, enjoyable evening for all. Jack stayed back at the house and Mimi (my mom) was gracious enough to babysit him for the night.

By the time we got back to Ed's parents house in Sumter, opened presents, and ate delicious pudding cake, it was pretty late so Ed and I decided we would just stay overnight. Ed finally got his PS3 that he has been eyeing since it came out. We decided to go ahead and get Netflix and stream it through the PS3. You really can't beat the deal. After talking to a bunch of different people who have it, it really sounded like a great bargain for what you get.

Well that is pretty much the end of another great week in SC! I am trying to stay ahead with the blog so that when I do finally go into labor it won't be neglected for too long. Our next doctor's appointment is on Tuesday. Next weekend we are going to the beach for Labor Day. Stay tuned! :)

Week 129

Aug 17-23

Well the longest 2 weeks ever finally came to an end! Ed wasn't supposed to be able to get here until Thursday, but he managed to get permission to leave a day early! Yay! The minute he found out he was able to leave he packed up the Jeep and drove straight here. We were super duper excited and got as much unpacking of the house as possible. I made a pot roast that day so he would walk into a nice welcoming, delicious smell that would feel like "home."

Ahhh...bliss.

Things are finally falling into place after all the stressing out and worrying of the past few months. This is actually the first time Ed has even seen the house besides pictures. He wasn't able to come up to SC and look with me so I was nervous he wouldn't like it. Thank goodness he felt the exact same way I did when I first walked through the doors. The openness of the living space is so inviting and warm. He loves it. Phew!!

Another great thing about Ed coming is that we had more help unpacking. I helped as much as I possible could at nearly 9 months pregnant, but every time I did anything I would get yelled at. "Stop bending over," and "Don't lift that box!" It was pretty frustrating for me because I wanted to do everything my way. I also would get tired after about an hour or so and have to put my feet up and rest. Most of these days I take a nap with Jack because I need it.

One of the neat things about living near family we have realized is that you have plenty of people to rely on. There is my mom, Ed's mom, my brothers and sister, etc. There are so many people to hang out with, invite over, have a meal with, etc. We will never be bored again. My sister is going to Clemson soon for her freshman year of college so we have been enjoying every minute with her. My brothers have come over quite a few times and they will WEAR JACK OUT! It's wonderful! I can cook dinner or do something productive and in the meantime my child is not only occupied, but getting plenty of physical exercise. It is sooooo nice!!!

Jack really loves his new big back yard! There is a little swing set that the previous owners left for us. I think eventually we are going to move it further back to the rear part of the property, but for right now he really likes to play on it. He has lots of grass and a pool to play in as well. It is so nice to have greenery again!

Well this week I actually had my first BPP and it went very well. Baby scored 10/10 and is measuring in at 7 lbs 1 oz already (give or take a pound either way). BIG baby! I am really hoping to go into labor on my own this time and avoid the whole induction thing altogether. I didn't have much luck with it the first time. In fact it was awful. Induction led to epidural, which led to drugs to get my BP up, which led to stressing out baby, etc. It was horrible. I am praying that I go into labor.

In fact, I have planned as many activities as possible from now until D Day hoping that it will induce labor. I figure if I have plans then baby will come. Haha! We are even taking a trip to the beach with my in-laws over Labor Day weekend. My doctor said it would be fine. Myrtle Beach is only 2 1/2 hrs from here. He said there are wonderful facilities there if something emergent should happen, otherwise it's close enough to make it back if I went into a slow labor. Hopefully none of that will happen and we can just have a nice relaxing weekend at the beach. The question is, will I be brave enough to be the 9-month pregnant lady in a bathing suit? Hmm.

Another thing that we did this week was move my sister into her dorm. Jack sure is going to miss his Aunt "Carehine". My mom and I drove the Jeep and Caroline drove her car with her friend Haley to help out. I hadn't been to Clemson since I graduated (which is pathetic). We have just always lived kind of far and the opportunity never really presented itself. It was nice to see the place again. There were definitely some changes but it was still the same old place at heart, especially on campus. I love walking through that campus, it is so peaceful and serene. The saying "there's something in these hills" really holds true. It captivates you. I have SO MANY memories there and now that I live closer and have Caroline as an excuse, will try to visit more often!

It was kind of fun to make a girls day trip. Of course I wasn't allowed to lift anything or do anything so I took pictures. Caroline is living in the infamous "shoeboxes" on the same side of campus I spent my freshman year. I just hope she loves it as much as I did. She is super smart and will get good grades, but I hope she has some fun in there too. Her roommate Lisa seems sweet and they are both neat and outgoing. I think they will get along just fine.

After moving everything in and getting the loft up we went to lunch at TD's. Yummy! I splurged for a meal and just kind of disregarded the whole blood sugar thing for a meal. I figured with all the walking in the 90+ degree heat across campus I would be okay. I had my usual turkey melt with sour cream and chive fries and side of ranch. Delicious!

At the end of the week we got to go to Ed's moms house for Sunday dinner. It was nice to go relax and hang out for the afternoon. She even made a "diabetic friendly" meal that was very good and kept my sugars perfect! Double score! As you all are well aware Ed recently graduated with his Bachelors degree (with a 4.0!!!!). Since we were in the middle of the move he didn't want the actual degree to get lost so he had it mailed to his moms house to be on the safe side. He finally opened it and saw it! I know when I graduated there was nothing like actually opening that thick cover and seeing your actual diploma. There is something different about reading it, holding it, looking at the fancy gold writing and neat fonts with YOUR name on it! I am so proud of him!

Of course Jack had a blast. Grandma had plenty of goodies for him as usual! I remember the days of being little and going to Grandma's house. You got to eat and drink whatever your little heart desired. I think Jack has already tuned into the fact that he can get away with whatever he wants to at Grandma's house. When we left Grandpa Harvin showed him the sirens on his Denali. As the County Coroner you get to have a badge, lights, and all kinds of sirens on your car. Jack thought it was neat!

It was a very busy week for us! We are now at the mercy of a BPP every week and waiting for this baby to get here. We are pretty much unpacked, but still rearranging last minute things and getting the house "organized." The next thing in line is to set up Jack's fireman room. We also need to get the baby's area straightened out. The changing table fits in our room and I think the crib might just fit too! We can't seem to find one of the legs to the bassinet so we might just scrap it and put up the crib. I love that crib and I hate to see it in the garage anyway.

Week 128

Aug 10-16

I have to show you our empty house "campsite" that we had set up for a few days. It was quite creative, yet functional and simple. All of these pictures are from my blackberry, so not the usual Nikon quality that you guys are used to. I apologize. These are just some sneak peaks of the house in the middle of the unpacking progress. As soon as we are completely finished I will take pictures of the house! :)

Our truck came and delivered our stuff! :) Surprisingly there wasn't too much lag time in between loading the truck, driving it from FL to SC, and unloading. There are times when you might not be the only load on the truck so they have to go somewhere else to pick up more things and that can make it take a long time. They packed our truck Tuesday, drove Wednesday, and delivered Thursday. Sweet!

The day before our stuff was to be delivered I dropped Jack off at Ed's moms house for an overnight stay so he wouldn't be in the way of the movers. We figured they would arrive first thing in the morning. That didn't happen. Somehow there was a mixup between the driver and the helpers...and we did not get a delivery van until 1:30 in the afternoon. Grrrr. It was frustrating, but luckily they brought plenty of help so the unloading was complete by 5:00 pm.

That kind of ruined our plan of trying to get some things unpacked before Jack was to get back that night. We were exhausted. Luckily my MIL saved the day and kept Jack for a second night so my mom and I could try to unpack as much as we could the next day. We got the kitchen and living room unpacked as well as most of Jack's room.

Throughout the weekend we continued to plow through boxes and unpack/put away as much as we could. I had to take frequent breaks and wasn't allowed to lift things so that kind of slowed us down. We made some progress.

Monday I had my first doctor's appointment here in SC. The office staff were very efficient and pleasant. Even though the practice is quite large, I will only be seeing one doctor for the rest of my pregnancy. He is a maternal fetal specialist and works exclusively with high risk pregnancies. Very nice and he took the time to explain everything he has planned from this point on in my pregnancy.

Because I have gestational diabetes and with this pregnancy have started on a low dose of insulin at night, he explained that increases the risk of a still birth. A normal pregnancy has a 1-2% risk of still birth. A pregnancy on insulin increases the risk to about 2-4%. Odds are still in my favor that everything will be fine, but he said that due to the increase in risk they take some actions to monitor baby very carefully.

Once a week along with my regular check up I will have a BPP (biophysical profile). It is a test that includes two parts: first an ultrasound that measures activities a normal baby would complete such as movement, swallowing, breathing, muscle tone, heart rate, etc. The baby gets a "score" after the ultrasound. The second part of the test is a NST (non stress test) which is basically where you get hooked up to a monitor for 30 minutes and measure how much activity baby is having and whether or not babies heart rate is increasing slightly with the activity (which is considered healthy).

The ultrasound is worth 80% of the score and the NST is worth the other 20%. Baby has to get 8/10 to be considered passing to the next week. If baby does not pass, I get an automatic admission to the hospital where more testing would be done. If baby passes, I get to go another week in my pregnancy. A little scary, but this baby is very active so I'm not too worried about passing these tests. My first BPP is this Friday.

Week 127

Aug 3-9

Last week in Florida. Sigh. Although we are super excited to move home, it is definitely sad to have to leave all of our friends here. We have been fortunate to meet some awesome people. Jack and I managed to get in a few play dates before leaving. One of them was to the zoo with my friends from work Sara and Cindy and all of their kids. Even though it was super duper sweaty hot we had a great time seeing a few animals and then finally making our way to the water park. Jack had a great time running around with all the kids and playing.

It was sad that this was our last time to Brevard Zoo. We have had so many fond memories coming here! Jack loves feeding the animals. This was the first time he fed the giraffe all by himself! It's amazing how such a large animal can come up so close to him and he is not scared at all. He loved it!

I was supposed to leave for SC on Monday when the packers were scheduled to come, but since I was driving Ed crazy he suggested I just leave Saturday. He would have a chance to get the house ready for the packers and the movers. This is the bad part of being this preggo while moving, you aren't allowed to do anything. It is very frustrating for me but I have to follow the rules or I might hurt myself (or worse, baby).

Jack and I drove up early Saturday morning and made it to the new house. Luckily my mom was already there so she had a bed set up and a few items in the living room. We were basically camping out in the house until the movers delivered our stuff. We had dishes in the kitchen, a working tv/dvd player, and a bed. No problem! :) Stay tuned for more moving fun...