A blow by blow account!

Here it is folks the long awaited much anticipated blow by blow account of my labor and delivery of the most beautiful baby ever.....Jack Robert Gentry!!!!!

I had been contracting almost the whole week leading up to the momentous day. The day in question I hadn't really been noticing them too often, sure I felt them but they weren't coming very regularly. I walked around at work and was feeling pretty tired, and my back was aching something awful.

Got home from work and piddled around doing nothing really....After Travis got home from work we got a call from our friends Kevin and Lisa, who asked us if we wanted to go out to eat, we said Sure! And met them at B&D burgers. Afterward, Travis and I went to the grocery store to get snacky stuff to take with us to the hospital. We got some granola bars and some reeses pieces, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Fudge Brownie Ice cream. Mom had suggested a milkshake because it worked for her (inducing labor), made her throw up but she went into labor. We came home and I read a bit and Travis got online. Anyway the fun stuff started at around 10 pm.

I grabbed that icecream as soon as we got home and ate the entire pint...In one sitting....I had never done that before, partly because I like to stick to the serving sizes but also because I didn't want to get fat...Ha...Anyway I ate the whole thing, and I enjoyed every spoonful. I was sitting in my wonderful gliding rocking chair watching a rerun and Law & Order SVU, and could barely keep my eyes open and figured I better go to bed, went and brushed my teeth and crawled into bed; fully expecting to wake up the next morning as I had done the last few being a bit sad I hadn't gone into labor.....Little did I know......

So, as soon as my head hit the pillow my eyes popped open. I was suddenly wide awake! Just thinking about stuff I needed to get done before the baby came. I lay there thinking for a few minutes then had to go to the bathroom, gee I thought I just went I hope I don't have another bladder infection......

plop!

There went my m**** plug! I giggled cause I knew that's what it was. I called Travis (who was sitting where I am now) and said I just lost my mucus plug.....And he said "That's great but I don't need to see it!!!"

Well that was interesting, so I went back to bed....Then got up and walked around a bit, then I thought maybe I could help things along...And squatted a few times. I needed to hold onto the bed though or else I would have landed on my butt. Then went to the bathroom again.

I laid back down again. Travis came to bed and I said "You know I think tonight might be the night" and he said "That's good! Just wake me up when you need anything".

Now it's about 12:30-1 in the morning and I'm contracting a lot. Nothing too strong but they felt much more organized. I kept getting up to go to the bathroom too, everytime I noticed more of a bloody show. I was getting excited but didn't want to get my hopes up. I knew just cause you lose your plug doesn't mean you'll go into labor......But not in my case!!!!

One thing that really was irking me was that my toilet seemed to be sluggishly flushing. At one point, it didn't go down at all! So I grabbed the plunger and started to plunge......Then I felt a little trickle of warm fluid running down my leg, hmm I thought was that my water breaking? No it's was more just a trickle...

I came out here and turned on the computer, and noticed my contractions were about 10 minutes apart, then 7 minutes apart, then 5 minutes apart....Actually it seemed as soon as I started timing them every contraction was coming closer and closer.

Once they got to be 5 minutes apart I called the doctors office after hours call line. They said they'd get a nurse to call me back and about two minutes later she did. She asked me all kinds of questions like: 1. How far apart are the contractions 2. Has your water broken....Then she said "Well it sounds like you're in early labor...So go ahead and come on in."

Travis had come out to see what was going on when the nurse called me back and I turned to him and said "lets get to the hospital!!" He ran around getting dressed and brushing his teeth and fixing his hair.....I ran around getting more stuff than we needed to take with us but felt I needed anyway.
We got in the car and made our way to the hospital. I'll admit this, (I didn't say anything on the way there but) I did look to see how fast Travis was driving.....There were a few other people on the road which was a bit odd as it was about 2 in the morning. Seemed we got stuck behind the slowest people....But still Travis was only going the speed limit or five under most of the way there.

He wasn't going to rush and be stressed out. His goal was to get us there safe and sound. Can't fault him for that, he's a great guy.

You know he was wonderful through out the whole ordeal...No question the best husband ever!

So we get to the hospital, and we sit down in the ER admitting/waiting room. Sign in and wait for the wheel chair. It came and we went up to the triage room on the maternity floor. Travis had to wait before coming in, so I took off my clothes and put on a hospital gown and went to the bathroom before going out and sitting in the neat little chair/bed thing they had with the doggie diaper. There's something free and wonderful about sitting in a chair without underwear or fear of what others might think if you "make a mess."

The nurse got me hooked up to the monitors and checked to see how are dilated I was. Travis came in and did his best to make sure I was comfortable and had everything I needed. The nurse left to go let the delivery staff know to get a room ready. I was having some of the worst heartburn of my pregnancy....And I have to go to the bathroom again!!

TMI warning...

Both times I went to the bathroom in triage, I pooped. I was glad too, I thought hopefully I won't poop when I deliver the baby now!!

Lets just put a TMI warning on for the rest of the post, to spare people blushes.....But you gotta expect certain things when reading a post about birthing a baby....Duh...

So I go back out to the chair/bed thing. The contractions are pretty strong now, they do hurt but I'm breathing through them ok. Funny thing I noted too, I kicked my legs when I had them because they hurt....The kicking helped! Another thing too, sometimes the contraction would hurt so bad I'd start laughing. the triage nurse said "No that's not right you aren't supposed to be laughing!!" There was another lady in labor in the curtained room next to me and she wasn't breathing hard at all...I started worrying that maybe I wasn't going to make it drug free. The heartburn was starting to get really bad, like making me want to throw up.

Travis was sitting right next to me stroking my hairy legs and breathing with me, encouraging me to get through the contractions and letting me know, by watching the monitors, when the contraction was almost over. I can't tell you how much that helped, that and his telling me over and over that I was doing good.

At one point, I don't remember if I asked him or just pointed at it but I got the garbage can and threw up into it...A few times. Travis pressed the assistance button and a voice said "yes what do you need?" and he said "she's throwing up" and they said "what do you need?" We were both annoyed by that, what do you think I might need? Some water or something for nausea? All this happened in about 20 minutes.

The room was ready now, so the nurse disconnected me from the monitor and asked if I wanted to walk down or ride in a wheelchair. I thought about the wheelchair but decided on walking. I didn't make it to the door before the next contraction hit, I leaned on the wall and breathed until it passed then made my way out into the hall. I had one more big contraction before we got to the delivery room and leaned against a spare bed in the hall.

Once we got into the delivery room, I was relaxed and settling in but feeling sick. The nurse asked if I wanted any pain meds or anything to help with the nausea (heck yeah I wanted something for the nausea!), I told her no pain meds, I wanted to try as natural as possible. She offered me a birthing ball and other alternatives and then went to get the IV stuff to administer the nausea meds.

She gave me the IV, and told me if I changed my mind she'd give me pain meds right away. After the IV she checked to see how far dilated I was now, remember 15- 20 minutes before I was dilated 3-4 cm.....When she checked me I was 8!!! So she and the other nurse started running around getting things ready, they both weren't expecting me to be that far along.

The doctor was paged again with the new info, and things were being done around me. I threw up two more times and started pushing....The nurses kept telling me not to push (ha!), I really did try but it was pretty much impossible. My back was really hurting, the contractions hurt but in between those my back was killing me!!I just remember wanting to ask for something for my back, I couldn't actually verbalize anything at this point.

I had been on my back in a kind of sitting position for this whole time and I remembered hearing that with "back labor" that it helps to get on your hands and knees. I tried it, and it did help!! My butt was hanging out for the world to see but I didn't care, my back wasn't hurting. The nurses told me to turn back around because that position is one of the easiest ways a baby can be born, and since the doctor wasn't there they needed me to turn back over. I did, but not happily. The doctor finally came in and checked me out, I pushed a few times for her but they weren't very good pushes, he'd come down a bit but then he'd go back up. The doctor assuming I'd be at that for a while went to check on another patient.

Two pushes later, the nurses were frantically asking Travis to hit the call button and running around getting things together....Travis was asked to hit the call button quite a few times and the nurse was acting very stressed....I wasn't worried though, strangely......Anyway two pushes later the nurse caught Jack!!! He was followed by that gush of amniotic fluid most people wait to feel but never do....I apparently had a leak, I broke just enough to bring Jack down to block the rest coming out till after he came out.

Travis watched the whole time, he told me I was doing great and told me he could see Jack coming. He was the best birthing coach ever!!

I held on to Jack for a little while while things were being done elsewhere, then the nurse came over to clean him up and stuff. Dr. Pettigrew was taking care of delivering my placenta, we had a nice conversation about a story I saw on TV about a woman who had saved her placenta, frozen it and then one year later made it into a pate she served to guests (the guest were told what it was before they ate it). Dr. Pettigrew had seen it as did one of the nurses, we all talked about how strange certain rituals are and the nurse mentioned how some people take the placenta home and bury it in the yard (or something to that effect) to bring luck or ward off evil or some such thing.

I was pretty tired after such stimulating conversation oh and giving birth, but I was really happy when Lisa, Kevin, Lil Trav, Matt and Jessica came in!! They took lots of pictures and talked about how beautiful Jack looked, how they couldn't believe I had done it without epidural and how fast it went....I was very happy they were there, but too exhausted to talk or do much else then sleepily look around at them all.

Travis will have to remind me about a lot of things, they get fuzzy in my mind from here on out...I don't remember how long we stayed in the delivery room before going down to the recovery room. I remember being in the wheel chair and wheeled down there, Jack was in a bassinet being pushed by another nurse. I remember getting into the bed in the recovery room and thinking it was the most comfortable bed ever....I'm sure we must have gone to sleep after that I don't remember.....

Anyway that's how Jack made his grand entrance into the world as we know it! I can't believe I ever lived before him, I'm so happy to be a mommy and so lucky to have such a wonderful baby boy!!!

Thanks everyone for all your support and love during my pregnancy and now that I'm a mom!!! All I have left to do now to fulfill my lifes goals is get my degree and work as a nurse. It'll happen, I know it!

Early Childhood Memories

Last night as Travis and I were settling into bed to go to sleep, we started talking about memories. We wondered why people don't remember more about being in the womb...Aside from the obvious there's not much to remember....I think some people do remember, sometimes.

Anyway, that was silly but we tend to get a bit silly when we are tired. Then we started talking about early childhood memories like when we were 2,3,4 and so on. I said I had a memory from when I was 18 months old (correct me if I'm wrong mom) about the fourth of July at one of my grandparents' neighbors houses'....Mom told me that was when I was 18 months old.

Then Travis got quiet, he usually falls asleep within seconds to minutes of his head hitting the pillow....Lucky guy....I stretched my mind back to some early memories cause it usually takes me forever to fall asleep.

I remember lots of stuff that don't really mean anything and a few things that mean a lot, atleast to me.

I remember sitting on the front lawn of our house on Judd Avenue, I remember there being a cat carrier, and I remember looking at the raised rectagular areas on the top. I assume those are there for stacking, but at the time I thought they were the perfect spot to hold a drink!!

At the same house I remember coming home and being greeted by our pet guinea pigs' bweeep bweeep coming from upstairs. I remember building sheet tents in Paiges' purple bedroom, I remember one time there was a thunderstorm and I told Mom and Paige what I though caused thunder (a big rock rolling down a hill near by, even there were no hills near by) and Mom told me what actually caused it. And I remember stepping on a rusty nail while running around barefoot at a neighbors house, then going home and sitting on the toilet while Mom looked me over and decided we'd better go to get a tetanus shot....I remember her being angry about me running around barefoot :/ sorry bout that.

I remember being at the YMCA once swimming, I got out of the pool and climbed up on a life guard tower that was no longer used. I apparently annoyed a wasp, which then chased me back into the pool. Mom was there she saw the whole thing!! I got back out after a very short time but the wasp was still chasing me, I hopped back into the pool, the shallow end and swam under the water a ways. Popped up for air and the wasp stung me!! Like it was waiting for me!

ooh it hurt bad too! Worst wasp sting ever, I'd say.

I got out and went to my mom who wrapped me in her arms and consoled me, told me she watched that wasp chase me the whole way too. I loved that, being in my moms arms, her hugging me and telling me I'd be fine.

I didn't like that wasp though, I remember what it looked like still today!!
So black it was blue!!! I don't remember how old I was when that happened though.


I remember living on Shoshone Trail. I was a gullible child and two "friends" I had in the neighborhood were very manipulative, got me into a lot of trouble. One of them wanted to go down to the creek, which I wasn't allowed to do by myself, I told her this of course but she said she wouldn't be my friend anymore if I didn't go with her. I couldn't have that!!! So I went.

Don't remember what we did there, probably just threw rocks in the creek. But when I went back home I saw my dad sitting in the doorway waiting for me. I knew what was coming...I started crying, not because of what was to come but because I knew I deserved it. I walked up the wooden stairs and laid across my dads lap, he didn't even have to say anything to me.

I think he asked me after where I had gone, and then asked me why I got a spanking. I said it was because I went to the creek with Brook (that's funny isn't it LOL) and I wasn't supposed to, and Dad said "you made us worry about you, we didn't' know where you were." I felt terrible, told him about how Brook wouldn't be my friend if I didn't' go with her and he said well she isn't a good friend then is she......."Nooo oh ooooooooo" I tearfully replied.


LOL


I've got lots of memories from my early childhood. It was neat thinking about them last night. But best of all lots of them included my Mom Dad and sister......And not like I had forgotten this but remembering all those things made me think about how much I love all of them!
Funny how that works isn't it?










sniff.

Ok....WARNING rant

I don't normally post things like this but I've just gotta have some outlet for what I'm feeling in response to stuff I've been reading and hearing about lately.

First The Dixie Chicks. Everyone knows that they are outspoken about their disappointment in President Bush....I can't believe though that many music stations are not playing their music because of this, I also can't believe they are being sent death threats. To that I say " This is America, people, it is our right and it's in the constitution that we question those in power, and speak our minds freely."

I understand that people would retort with some good points about how speaking freely and questioning our president may not be patriotic but it's just the opposite....Look at our founding fathers folks what was it they did?

Me for one, I don't agree with a lot of things George has done or says or believes (what does it matter what language the national anthem is sung in if it's being sung by someone who loves our country).....But if he weren't supposed to be President he wouldn't be. Everything happens for a reason, it might not be clear what that reason is now but all will work out the way it's supposed to.


Secondly, this whole oil business! Why, for gods sake, would we need to drill for oil in the artic wildlife refuge if we have other means for oil, (CORN!?!?!) that won't damage one of the last pristine environments we have? If we are one of the richest countries in the world and are having such difficulty depending on "foreign oil" why not put all those resources into producing and distributing "domestic oil." Seems to me we've got some smart people here who can come up with alternative ideas and it seems to me we've got lots of corn (hey that's an alternative idea!!) that grows around this country and lots of Farmers who are struggling who could use the income......And then there's the whole Hybrid issue.

I hear that it's just as bad for the environment because of the lead in the batteries, but can't the batteries be recycled? Or can't research be done into recycling them...Aren't we supposed to be one of the richest nations in the world???

As for gas companies and their "Record Profits" I'd like to think they have enough money (and moral fiber?) to research and come up with lots of ideas involving Ethanol and other types of fuel that will make them more money in the future but cost less and rely less on foreign nations. Perhaps making the US and themselves richer in the long run cause we'll start exporting our knowledge and maybe even our oil will be used and called "foreign oil."

Maybe they could come up with some way of using garbage as fuel, like in Back to the Future!!! Yeah...Right....

And what is up with the whole Iran thing now? Are we just running around telling everyone how to run their country? Of course I don't really know what I'm talking about when it comes to this......But no one has said anything about it except the negative "they are making bombs" remarks...

My question is, and I keep forgetting to ask my dad cause he'd know, Can enriched Uranium be useful for things other than making bombs? Like I don't know, nuclear power plants and stuff? I honestly don't know....But no ones said anything about that on the news it's all " Iran is making bombs, they are the new Iraq" crap. I thought Iran was on our side before all this. Whatever I just wanted to know about that. AND I say let the UN deal with them, lets finish what we started in Iraq and Afghanistan before we go stretching our troops too thin.


Ok and Baseball!!! What is up with all the players using steroids??? Why?
I gotta say Barry Bonds may have made those hits but I don't think he should be inducted into the Hall of fame, it's like one of those posters said at one of his games "Babe Ruth did it on beer and hotdogs"
It just doesn't seem right. I'm sorry too I don't believe people who say they didn't know what they were being injected with......Professional Athletes are people who know, or should, about nutrition and taking care of their bodies as it's their livelihood. If you are being injected with something and you don't know what is it, and people tell you oh it's just vitamins....And you start noticing your balls shrinking and your muscles getting bigger.........It's a no brainer to get yourself checked out.

Medicare, what is the deal with that??? These people who are signing up for it now are our parents and grandparents. The people who raised us and made us who we are today (either through love and all things wonderful parents do, or through strife cause some people are just clueless). In either case, why is it so difficult for them to get the medications they need when they need them. Why do medications cost sooo much, why is the paper work that must be filled out to sign up so difficult to understand. These people aren't stupid, the forms are all legal jargon and confusion. It's crap!! Why is there a deadline for signing up too? Why not postpone it if people are having such a hard time filling out the paperwork, why not get the forms rewritten to make them easier to fill out? It shouldn't be hard, we are one of the richest nations in the world, we shouldn't have all this difficulty.

Social security. Can someone explain to me how it's supposed to be bankrupt in however many years they are saying it's going to be bankrupt. Is it because the people who are now claiming it and will be claiming it in the upcoming years and draining it are paying too much for medications and medical treatments they need, when they didn't get their Medicare forms filled out correctly or on time???

If that's a problem can't a system be set up where people just have their social security deposited into their own personal IRA or CD or something so that they keep what they earn? Or am I wrong in thinking the government has borrowed from it when they've needed a little extra money to pay for a war or what not, and don't have the funds to pay it back?

And finally, all these Vets who's SSI info was stolen. How's that for national security? These people fought in wars for our country (not a fan of war but a fan of people who fought and are fighting) how is it that something like this could have happened? What are these people going to be expected to do when their identities are stolen and all their Social security benefits are spent by someone else? And for those people who haven't had their info stolen, how about those people who try to claim it and then get run through the mill trying to get their check when they really need it? Why do they have to go through lawyers to claim what is rightfully theirs (this being before all the stealing) That's not right!!! How can this be a problem if we are one of the richest nations in the world???

Of course I could sound like a complete idiot about all this stuff. Feel free to comment and let me know if I'm being ignorant of somethings, I'd rather not continue feeling the way I feel about some of this stuff if it's just my own ignorance that's fueling it (wish ignorance could be bottled, man we'd have a never ending source of fuel in that case wouldn't we!!). But (and this is for people who aren't family of course) unless you've got the facts and not just your opinion I'll keep thinking what I'm thinking.

Who is in charge of all the spending and money usage of our rich rich nation? Families do better jobs of budgeting than our government, I know there's lots that goes into it but if you don't have the money for something then you can't have it....Otherwise you are writing bad checks and you can go to jail for that......And why is it that companies with record profits aren't turning those extra profits around and helping out other companies that would benefit from more money?

Just imagine the boost our school system or social security would get from the record profits from the oil companies or others who are experiencing "record profits"!!! Take the extra money and put it towards things that need it, that'll improve national moral and intelligence. Farmers could do with extra money, schools could do with extra money. I guess that's my idea of a "trickle down effect." I've seen no evidence of it in my little corner of the world, I'll keep thinking happy thoughts for things to turn around though.

Sorry for the rant guys, but it had to come out.

Irritable what?

Had another appointment today. Nothing much to report.

I've gained about 27 pounds for the whole pregnancy so far, it all seems to be baby though LOL as everyone says I look great!!
I've got a few more stretch marks though, my belly button is stretched almost to bursting. Still not poking out though, just getting shallower and shallower.

Jack, as everyone I think will find out, is quite a joker. He likes to give our sonographer a hard time, most of the time he would show her his back, or hide his face with his hands so she'd have to see us a bit more often so she could make sure everything was ok with him. He's been like this the whole pregnancy!!!

We went in today for our last ultrasound. He's so squished in there, and so low that it's hard to get a good look at his face but that's not really necessary now. No, the important things are his femur, his head, his abdomen and his heart. We could find his heart and kidneys ok.

They check the length of the femur, the circumference of the head and abdomen and the machine does this calculation that estimates the size of the baby. Last time they guessed he weighed 5 lbs 13 oz, this time they guessed 6 lbs 2 oz. It's been two weeks since the last ultrasound and he should have put on more weight then that.

Back to Jack being a joker. The sonographer said not to worry it's hard to get a good measurement when they are that squished in there, but I know he's capable of moving a bit more they he would for her, I've felt him do it.... Little stinker!

So I start thinking about how I've lost my appetite lately (I've still be eating don't worry) and wondering if I'm to blame for him being a bit small...Then I tell myself, Nah he's just decided he's going to take it easy on me labor wise! Travis said he told Jack to do just that, "take it easy on your mama." They have these discussions when I'm out of the room or sleeping...sleeping mostly.

So besides the uncertainty of his size everything else checks out great! My amniotic fluid looks good, the Doppler indicates he's getting a good flow from the placenta. I'm dilated a centimeter and a half, and thinned out a bit more.

In my last post I explained that was having contractions. They weren't anything like I thought they'd be.....They weren't labor contractions but they hurt. Anyway I explained how they felt to the doctor today: I have pain and tightness and pressure really low, that feels like menstrual cramps...Like Jack has some how fashioned a shive and is trying to dig his way out... That lasts for about 6 seconds (that's right I counted them) and then once that let up, I'd have a huge braxton-hicks across the top of my belly...That felt like that part of me had turned to stone. This would happen back and forth. He said "it sounds like you've got an irritable uterus." Of course it's irritated I'm sure it's not happy, what with the stretching and the pushing and the kicking.


Dr. Jackson said that was normal it was just my body bringing Jack down and thinning out my cervix in a slow way. Which just confirmed what I had been thinking it was doing anyway. So the more I dilate and thin out now, the less I'll be doing it in labor...Shorter labor, less pain!!!!

I hope.

Baby news

I started having contractions last Saturday. Nothing much has happened yet, I have dilated a wee bit more and Jack is a bit lower. I've been having contractions on and off the whole week so far. Sometimes they are a bit painful other times not at all. Every time I sigh or groan or giggle or anything Travis looks at me and says "Are you having a contraction?"

The other night, I had something funny happen that I thought would make Travis cringe....He's got a fear of spiders.....I was sitting in my lovely new gliding rocker and reading a book. I've been blessed with quite a bit of cleavage and my shirts are straining to contain the boobage. So I'm sitting there reading my book, and a spider drops from the ceiling and into my cleavage!!!

I started giggling because it tickled and I knew once I told Travis what my problem was (I started taking my shirt and bra off) that he'd freak out a little bit. Well I didn't know, he thought my water broke or I was going into labor.......I think he was disappointed when I told him there was a spider in my shirt.

He tells me today not to hesitate walking around or "eating eggplant or whatever" to induce labor....Cause he wants to get out of class!!! Every day he says "Today could be the day!!!"

Our friends Kevin and Lisa have been keeping their cell phone by the bed at night in case I go into labor....

Everyone is so excited and anxious for little Jacks arrival!!! I am too but the closer I get to going into labor the more I think about how I'm going to miss feeling him move around in his cramped quarters....I'm silly.

Anyway, that's all for now!!

Thanks everyone!!

I haven't posted anything about this because I haven't been able to get the computer to turn on for me the past few days....Plus my belly was getting in the way of me bending over to do it.....ANYHOO

My dad went into the hospital with chest pain last weekend. Now don't worry he's fine now, the doctors ran a ton of tests and drew lots and lots of blood (Dad said he felt like a pin cushion). The test came back abnormal, so they ran even more tests.

They finally injected him with radioactive junk and took pictures of his heart and arteries. They found one partial blockage and put in a stint. He didn't have a heart attack, so there's no muscle damage, they found a little heart disease but that's not totally unexpected since Grandma Ginny has it too....

Last I heard, he was eating like a pig and cutting up like he always does. If you know my dad, and most of you do, it's what he does.....He's a great fun loving guy!

He should be released from the hospital sometime this morning and will stay in Boston for a follow up check by his doctors on Friday. Then the plan I believe, is for Theron to drive Mom and Dad home then fly back. Mom doesn't drive on highways.

Perhaps that's where Paige's anxiety of driving comes from?


Anyway, Thanks all of you who knew what was going on and spent many a free moment praying for my Dads recovery!!!! Thanks all of you who are just hearing about it and will pray for his recovery too!!!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Happy belated Anniversary to our friends Bobby and Lyndsy who got married 2 years ago on May 8th. They are two of the nicest people you will ever meet!! Two of the best friends Travis and I have and we miss them very much!!! Good luck Bobby on your finals!!

Happy Anniversary to Paige and Theron!!!! Today is the third anniversary of their wedding day!! It was beautiful that day, not to hot and not a cloud in the sky!! Today it's not to hot but there are thunderstorms in the area. We miss Paige and Theron too, they are also two of the best friends Travis and I have. Hope you guys have a good day whether you do anything special or not!!

Love you all!!!

Oh yea I forgot

Last night wasn't the first night I experienced this but last night was the worst. I woke up with my left hand numb and swollen, I thought maybe I was sleeping on it and rolled over on my other side to see if it would get better. It didn't, so I got up to go pee and when I was coming back to bed I fought my rings off my finger and put them in my jewelry box. This morning I pulled out Jessica's wedding present to me.....A really pretty locket.....And added my engagement and wedding ring to the chain.

So there they are. I feel sad that I can't wear them on my finger...The swelling has gone down, and I do still think it was because I was lying on my side....But it's not the same around your neck oh well.

9 month belly shots, Lake Mayer, most recent doctors visit

Yesterday, Travis and I took a break from nesting to get some lunch (Mmmm Moes) then we went to Lake Mayer to take a few belly shots. When we got there it was a super bright sunny day. After we crossed the bridge, we heard what sounded like giant mosquito's buzzing around and went to investigate.

Turns out there was a group of people having an RC race. It was pretty neat to watch, they had a neat track set up with lots of hills for the little cars to jump. They really flew over those hills too, really kicked up the dust.
After watching the race for a little bit in the sun we decided to take the pictures and go.

We started walking back to the bridge and noticed a huge thunderhead and heard rumblings of thunder. We took a few pictures and watched the little ducks and not so little geese waddling and swimming around. There was one group of geese with a gaggle of goslings, they were soooo cute!!!

There was also four ducks swimming around in the lake near where we were, unfortunately we didn't get pictures of them.....One of them was red or kind of pinkish there was a blue one, an orange one and a green one. We guess someone dyed them those colors for Easter.....These weren't natural duck colors.....Unless they were hatched under the Easter bunny, in a brightly colored woven basket filled with plastic green grass.

It started sprinkling and we made our way back to the car. It's a good thing Travis is experiencing the nesting instinct, because I certainly don't feel it. I feel like I should be cleaning but I'm just to tired to do it. He's the one that's done most of the cleaning, we set up our Pack and Play together and then moved into the bedroom.

While Travis went through our junk in the closet, I sat on the bed and folded more Jack clothes and put them into drawers. When I finished with that I decided to set up our Baby Einstein rocker chair. It's probably been the most difficult thing to put together but I did it!!

Today we went for our doctors visit and had our second to last ultrasound. We don't have any pictures because Jack in in position to be born....All we got to see that we could recognize was his hand and a foot. The Sonographer told us Jack is measuring at a very healthy 5 lbs 13oz, he's got enough amniotic fluid and he's looking very very healthy.

Then we went in to see the doctor and he did a Group B Strep test, then an internal exam. Dr Jackson informed Travis and I that I am 1 centimeter dilated. That doesn't mean that I'm in labor it just means that it can be anytime now really!!! It's very exciting....I know it's only one centimeter and I could be there for a couple weeks but I'm only just nine months (Wednesday). The doctor didn't say what station Jack was either but I'll ask next time....

That's it for now!!

8 month belly shots...Matt and Jess Wedding pics

Last month was exciting and full!!! The biggest thing that happened, our sister Jessica got married to our friend Matt. Travis and I were both in the wedding; I was Jess' matron of honor and Travis was one of Matts' groomsmen. Since we were both in the wedding we weren't able to get pictures....But you can see some here:
http://imageevent.com/thegentrys/2006/jessicaandmattcolemanwedding/thewedding

Travis and I were very happy to show Granny and Aunt Karen around the day before the wedding. Neither had ever been to Savannah, so we took them to Bonaventure Cemetery and then to Riverstreet. We stopped off at one of the shops on River street and poked around, Travis found a super awesome Pirate ship for Jacks room (which is our room too but it's a super awesome Pirate ship!)

Then we went down to Savannah's Candy Kitchen, where it all began!!! We met a few old friends there and chatted with them a while. Granny and Karen walked around and looked at all the goodies. We got free samples of Pralines and I got a caramel gopher.

That was quite a bit of walking around and we were all pretty tired after that. We took Granny and Karen back to their hotel, and we got ready for the rehearsal dinner later that night. It was really fun taking them around and only wished we had more time to show them more of Savannah....

You guys gotta come back sometime soon!!!

So there aren't any special belly shots, but you can see how big I've gotten in the pictures I've posted. Also you can see what pretty pregnant matron of Honor I made.....Didn't hold a candle to the Bride but that's the way it's supposed to be.

The wedding was beautiful, Jessica was stunning ( but she always is isn't she?) Matt looked like he couldn't smile enough. It was great fun!!!
I'm so glad we could be a part of such a happy day!

Lil Trav is just a bit bigger today!!

That's right folks!! For those of you who don't know Lil Trav, is the son of my friends Lisa and Kevin. He's 2 years and a couple months old. He's been making the motions of going potty for a while now, and finally yesterday he was found to be sitting on the toilet tinkling!!!

All by himself!!!

I'm so proud!!!