"You're Still Pregnant?"

That's exactly what my doctor said when he came into the examination room to find me sitting on the "look-see" table with a paper sheet wrapped around my waist.

"I was so disappointed when I woke up this morning and discovered that I was still pregnant, doc," I told him. I was joking. Just a little.

Whether or not he was going to mention it, I wanted an internal, so I went ahead and assumed the position to make it easier for everyone. As of Tuesday I'm a little better than one centimeter dilated but not quite to two yet and "really soft and thinned." If you don't know what all that means, look it up. Or don't; it's kinda gross. I was happy to be one centimeter because it means that we are at least getting somewhere, but I can't help but be a little flustered. His ultrasound measurements show that he has surpassed fully developed and measures at eight pounds, seven ounces. A real whopper! Now don't get me wrong; I love the fact that's probably going to be a big baby, but I asked the obvious: why hasn't this little nugget made his appearance already?! I am so anxious!! My doctor said that Vaught will come (duh) and that he probably just likes his cozy little home. "Some babies just like to overstay their welcome, but let's not forget that you're not yet forty weeks!" Even still, with Vaught measuring to be quite the little fattie, my doctor said that if I'm still pregnant this Monday (39 weeks and 4 days) we can talk about an induction date for the next week. The word induction scares me a little, but I'm not going to dwell on it. I still believe that Vaught will come before then, though little boys can be so stubborn! Regardless of how we get him here, I'm so excited to see him.

Movement/Contractions
I had sporadic contractions throughout the day yesterday (Friday) and it took me a little while to figure out that they were contractions; I just thought I was having stomach cramps or something. After each one ended Vaught wiggled around a lot. His feet are all over my ribs now. Luckily, it's not painful, but it sure is surprising sometimes!

Swelling
Lots of random swelling in the past week or so, despite not being on my feet too much. Tendinitis makes my hands swell for a few hours in the morning, so I've put  my rings in my lockbox at work until after the baby comes. I don't really like wearing a lot of jewelry anyway :)

Highlights
My family baby shower was two weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it! Vaught got lots of nice gifts, and I loved spending time with my family since we probably won't get to visit for a while once he's here. One of Eric's favorite gifts from the day was the blue Bumbo seat... I have no idea why, but he thinks it's the cutest/goofiest thing ever. He says Vaught's gonna sit in it and watch football in front of Eric's recliner in a couple months. I'm just like Okay, baby. Whatever you say.

L-R: Aunt Wanda, Baby Mama, Aunt Neicey, Godmother Sally

I MADE IT TO THE FIRST OLE MISS GAME!!!!! And I was totally going to do a blog about how to survive at a sporting event at 38 weeks pregnant but never got around to it. We parked about a mile away, so I ended up walking two miles that day and was definitely feeling it the next morning... ouch! The weather was perfect: cloudy and cool enough for me to wear my sweater the entire game. The Rebels delivered a royal ass-beatin' on the Cajuns: 56-15! Overall, it was a wonderful day, and I couldn't be happier to have been able to go! Ole Miss football is my favorite pastime!!!!

My birthday was Thursday of this week. For 23 years my birthday was alllll about  me; I spent weeks planning the perfect day/weekend/party and was a total diva about my special day. This year I hardly thought about it in the weeks leading up to the 18th. I've been too focused on getting this baby here, which is a good sign that I'm not as selfish as I once thought I was! Anyway, my mother had me leave work with her at three on Wednesday, and I thought I was going to Tupelo to help her find some flowers for our church. But we ended up shopping, getting a dozen cupcakes from Gigi's (I'd not had them in at least two years), and meeting my cousin, two of my aunts, my godmother, and grandmother at Outback Steakhouse. She had planned this surprise party for me the previous day, and I never even knew! It's funny that somehow this year, my 24th, was the best birthday I think I've ever had. There's just too much to look forward to on top of being another year older (and more fabulous).

So I didn't get to eat all of these by myself.... But they tasted better with family and friends :)

Bump Pics
Sorry there's only one... and I recently discovered that my Ole Miss tank has been taken over by my husband who is wearing it to his extremely grueling powerlifting workouts, so it probably needs to be steamed and sanitized at this point.. Ew.

Up Next:
Umm... hopefully this baby?!

And Then There Were Two...

This is the part of the blog I've dreaded writing, for I know it's just going to induce tears all over again, and my crazy pregnancy hormones don't help at all. As you probably know, we've been a family of 6 and 1/2 for a little while... Me, Eric, Baby Pace, and four dogs: Ginger, Chance, Lola, and Anabelle. A few weeks ago we began thinking that with a baby coming, it might be best to try and find another home for two of our lot so that it's not as crazy in our house once Vaught gets here. Don't get me wrong, it's not totally crazy in our house, but three of our dogs are pitbulls (mixes) and they can be super hyper and extremely active dogs. They're also attention hogs, and we worried that the focus on them would be cut wayyyyy short once Vaught got here. Actuallly, we knew it would be cut short. Anyway, we decided that since Chance and Anabelle were our newest, we would try to find other homes for them either together or separately...

Chance was adopted from Olive Branch Animal Shelter in March 2013 less than a month from his date to be euthanized. He was an amazing dog from the beginning: housebroken and trained to not just up on the furniture, though we quickly taught him that he could. He was so calm and mellow from the beginning but could be playful anytime you brought out a squeaky toy or ball. He was the sweetest dog I think I've ever been around. Loved people and loved being around a lot of people.

Anabelle was about to be taken to the animal shelter, as she was the runt of an accidental litter and the family didn't want to keep her. I picked her up and took her home with me at just five weeks old. Less than a month prior, I'd experienced a miscarriage and was still attempting to heal from that. Anabelle was my "angel baby" that I cared for and raised, and the joy of having her took some of the pain of suffering such a heartbreaking loss away. Not all of it--but she was definitely an enormous help, and I'll always be grateful that she came into my life when she did.

After a few phone calls to some of our best pitbull-supporter friends, we couldn't find anyone, so we resorted to what we knew would be our last option: Craigslist. I wrote out these way too long, way too detailed descriptions of both dogs and put them on the website. Within an hour, we were getting phone calls about both of them. By the end of the day, we had secured both dogs a new home, and I never imagined that we'd feel so comfortable with it. It really is a small world after all because Chance was found by a couple from the area I grew up in. They are a newly married couple who were looking for a large dog to have in the home, and they'd been thinking that they wanted to adopt a pitbull. We met them with Chance last Sunday, and there was an instant connection. It's like Chance knew what was going on and he was actually excited. His tail was wagging as they loved on him and put a new leash on him. He jumped right in the truck and didn't even pay us any attention as we drove away. Of course I bawled my eyes out the whole way home. Even still, I knew we were doing the right thing; I never thought I would feel good about giving two of our dogs away, but I could tell this was a good fit. They sent me this picture the next morning of Chance in their living room. Look at him smiling!!

A family of four from Batesville came Monday night to pick up Anabelle. Somehow, it was much harder to let go of her than it was Chance. She was an extremely special little pup to me. Her new family has two children, ages one and three. She's such a hyper little dog that I knew she would love some kids to play with! Her new mommy sent me this photo of her a few days later and informed me that she was fitting right in with her new siblings. Anabelle loves everyone, so it didn't surprise me at all!

She is such a cuddle-bug! I can never explain how hard it was to let these dogs go; I spent about two days crying, and that's part of why I've neglected the blog all week. I knew I would have to write about this, and it was so so hard to do. I've got a few tears coming now, but they're mostly happy tears. It's a really bittersweet thing. I know that Chance and Anabelle are in amazing homes and probably haven't given us a second thought, but at the same time I feel that no one could ever take better care of my dogs than I can. I'm so happy we did this for them, but they will always be my precious babies. Lola and Ginger seemed a little lost without them for the first few days!

Chance and Anabelle :)

Well, it is 8:30am now, and my husband just called to tell me breakfast is almost ready. I'm at Starbucks this morning because I just couldn't focus from home. I've had two contractions in the past two hours I've been sitting here working on this, so maybe today is the day? Maybe not. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

HAPPY SATURDAY!