27 Weeks

It has been forever.....I know! The heat has taken its toll on this pregnant lady. Otherwise there has been no real different news in the last few weeks.


My quality of sleep really stinks...I spend most nights aching with leg cramps, peeing, and being woke up by a kicking baby... I wouldn't change the kicking part for the world!!! The rest of it, I just keep telling myself we are getting a little bit closer everyday!


Baby Southern is VERY active!! Not only can you feel him move...anytime he moves you can see it, because my whole belly moves. I have been talking to people and suddenly my belly starts jerking around and they are like WHOA, was that your baby?! So he doesn't seem to be bashful!


I feel him mostly when I am still. When I am up and about I think I am too distracted to pay attention. And I especially feel him when I get hungry, he kicks me too death!


My feet occasionally swell when I am out in the heat or on them longer than normal, unless I am wearing tennis shoes.


It's getting a little harder to maneuver this belly. My sweet sweet Mama painted my toe nails for me this past weekend because it's hard for me to get to my toes. =)


We finally got all of the baby furniture put together! Actually, my husband and my daddy did! Thank God for them!


We bought a TON of clothes from a girl at work, Sara, and Baby Southern is now clothed for the first year of his life! I hardly have room to store all of the clothes. We also bought a nice car seat and stroller from Darrell's cousins Kevin and Margaret. Everything is slowly coming together. We even have a small list of names that we are deciding on.


Cameron loves the baby right now. He constantly lays, sniffs, and licks my belly. He's not used to Mama having this big ole belly, so I'm not so sure he's got it all figured out yet. Hopefully he won't have too much trouble adjusting when the baby comes...


It's hard to believe that we are already at the 7 month mark...this pregnancy is flying by...our little bundle of joy will be here before we know it...thank you so much for all of the prayers and continue to pray for us!!

Weeks 22 & 23

These last two weeks have been my favorite 2 by far!

There has been so much movement from the baby!  It is so amazing to watch my stomach bulge when he moves and he moves A LOT!  The most special part was that Darrell was finally able to feel the baby too!  We had a check up 3 weeks ago and I asked the Dr. when  Darrell would be able to feel the baby too, he seemed to think it would be another month.  Then 2 days later I was laying in bed reading and the baby was moving like he was doing flips!  I got Darrell to feel and of course he stops and then suddenly WHAM, he kicked us both!  Darrell was so cute!  He couldn't believe that I get to feel this all the time.  And, it was SO nice to be able to share it with him because it's harder for the Dad to relate since his body isn't going through any changes.

Since then, he moves all the time!  But if you try to catch him doing it, and feel it yourself, he will of course stop.  The minute you take your hand off of my belly, he goes right back at it.  He's already sneaky.  =)

I have felt the best the last 2 weeks that I have the whole pregnancy.  My dad even came over and spent the whole Saturday with Darrell unloading the spare room and turning into a nursery.  It is still a work in progress, but here is a before and after.  We have one more dresser to put together.

And as promised, here is an ultrasound picture.  One of our favorites.  Little guy decided to put his finger up over his face - I am hoping that is not his middle finger!  SO CUTE!

Heres a picture from this week.  Can't believe we are already 6 months along.  Where has the time went?
Thank you for all of your prayers!

Weeks 20 & 21

I don't know why I find it hard to find time to write in the blog lately.  I even have an app on my phone so I can do it anywhere and any time, but I never find the time.  AND, I just realized this week that I never blogged about the ultra sound appointment when we found out we were having a baby BOY!


Darrell's mom and my parents accompanied us on the appt. for the ultrasound.  It was very sweet to be able to share it with everyone.  Darrell and I found out by ourselves first and then brought the parents in to share the news.


I was surprised how quickly the technician knew it was a boy!  As soon as she placed her little wand on my belly, she knew.  Darrell let out a loud "YEAH!" while I cried sweet tears of joy.  Boy or Girl, it honestly did not matter to us.  We got to see him move his hand up by his head and even pointed a finger up to his mouth.  It was absolutely precious.  I am going to post the photos of the ultrasound, as soon as I find time to scan them into my computer.


Last weekend Darrell and I spent Memorial Day picking out Lil Man's baby furniture and registering for baby gifts.  I don't think I have ever felt so overwhelmed when we registered.  We started on one aisle and went down each and every aisle until we made it to the end.  By the end of that day, Mommy was EXHAUSTED.  No more sleeping through the night though.  I sleep for about an hour at a time then I have to pee or switch sides, because my hips are throbbing.


The last two weeks I have noticed a major increase in my appetite!  I can't get enough food!  That is honestly the only change I have felt, besides the hip pain, and a growing belly and the flutters!  I get to feel our sweet boy move around all day.  He usually moves right after I eat, or if I have been sitting straight up for a little while, he moves around. Every night, Darrell and I get into bed and read and he always moves around then.  Hopefully he will be a reader like Mommy.  I have always wondered what it would feel like to feel your baby moving inside of you, and I have no words to describe it!  It is surreal - every woman should be able to experience it!

Thank you so much for all the prayers!!!

Weeks 18 & 19

These 2 weeks have brought with it the pregnancy belly...there is absolutely no denying that we are having a baby now! I look like I am carrying around a basketball...Hopefully that is some indication of the mad basketball skills I hope our little boy has.


The hardest thing for us right now is picking out a name... Not so much picking it out but finding time to sit down and talk about a name...for all of you who are eagerly waiting, I can promise you that we will have a name before Oct 8th. That's the best I can do =)


Besides that this week I woke up to round ligament pains. They are not fun and pretty painful. The only positive thing I can say about them is that thankfully I only have them after I sleep and when I cough or sneeze. And they do mean that my body is preparing for a growing baby!


I made my first baby purchase today. I went to Carter's to pick up some onesies, I really wanted one that said I love mommy, and was about to check out when I seen an I love dad one in Duke blue, so I had to get it... Baby boy stuff is always baby blue so I considered this to be one heck of a find. I put the mommy one back and surprised Darrell with the daddy one when he got home from work. I must say, I am really impressed that it took me over 4 months to make a baby purchase though.


Pictures below, and please continue to pray!

Weeks 16 & 17

Weeks 16 & 17 have proved to be much harder!


Last week, I started getting sick...some sort of cough/cold/chest congestion.  Of course, being pregnant, as if you don't have enough to worry about, this scared me to death.  I called my doctor 3 times last week and they advised me to continue taking Mucinex and wait 7 days to see if it went away.  On the 8th day, they agreed to see me, only because I sounded so awful, they were worried about my lungs.  Once I got to the doctor they checked my temperature and my oxygen level and said I was fine...I was miserable.  They said to wait 7 more days and if it didn't go away they would give me some medication.  That same day my sweet Mama came over to clean and cook for me.  That seemed to be the best medication of all!  I started getting better after that.  Amazing what Mama's can do!  =)

Week 16

Other than that, my pregnancy has been so good.  Once I got out of my first trimester I started sleeping SO much better.  I have a renewed energy.  I even told my doctor, that I probably shouldn't complain, but I don't even feel pregnant.  She told me..."Just wait..." haha!  I am sure I will start to feel very pregnant, but I have been so so so so so very blessed.  I am sure it has to do with all the prayers you guys are putting up for me.  The main difference in my sleep is that I no longer get up 10-12 times to pee pee.  Now, it's more like 1-2 times, but the pee pees last FOREVER.  Sometimes, I fall asleep on the toilet!  I haven't really had any cravings, besides fruit and veggies, which is good for Mommy and Baby.  

Week 17

Continue to pray for us, Lord knows we need it!

Week 15

This week has been exciting!  I have craved nothing but fruit and
vegetables this week!  Specifically, I love the little cherry
tomatoes.  I can eat them like I am eating potato chips!  My parents
even planted some for their grandbaby to enjoy one day! (Did I
mention, this baby is going to be SO spoiled, between all the
grandparents!?)

I feel my stomach getting bigger...literally.  Sometimes my stomach
will be sore to touch or just sore in general.  This is when I know I
am growing.  I just rub oil on it and pray for no stretch marks.  How
awesome it is to have this experience though....even a stretch mark
wouldn't matter.  =)

I feel like my biggest accomplishment is sleeping so GOOD at night!
For a while I was waking up at 3 am every single night without being
able to go back to sleep.  My doctor told me I could take some
benedryl to help me sleep.  I took the benedryl and it helped me sleep
until 4am.  I decided for 1 hour it wasn't worth taking medication.
Then suddenly, this week I am sleeping like a rock.  I barely remember
all the times I have to get up and pee.  Thank the Lord!

In other news this week, Cameron's woman friend had some puppies!
Dixie gave birth to 3 full blooded registered poodles.  They will be
for sale before long, so email me at jdpsouthern@gmail.com if you are
interested!
Pictures below!

Week 14

This past week has been a great week!  I have slept better and had no real complaints. 
I had a check up appointment yesterday and everything was great!  My blood tests were great, my weight gain was great and the baby's heart beat was great!  159 beats per minute.  It is so reassuring to go to a check up appointment and be reassured that everything is going just fine!  Thank you all so much for the prayers!  On May 9th, pending the cooperation from the baby, we will get to find out the sex and I cannot wait!

On a side note, our condo officially went under contract this week, so exciting things have been happening at our household.  With much thanks to our realtor, Amanda Tucker, for all of her hard work and dedication.  Now, to find somewhere to live! 

Continue to pray for us!  So many exciting things happening!