The countdown has begun... 10 days or LESS ... wow!

Well it's official... Baby London will be here in 10 days or less!!

For the last 2 weeks I have only been at 50% effaced with no contractions, no dialation and the baby is still high.... so... Dr. B has scheduled an induction for 7pm, Sunday Sept. 28th (at Baptist Hospital in Nashville), if she doesn't come on her own. I really didn’t want to have to be induced, but the hospital books up 2 weeks in advance and Dr B was pretty adamant that it’s not good to go beyond 1 week past the due date… given my Dad will be on vacation later that week anyway, it just made sense to go ahead and schedule something. I still really hope she comes on her own, but it’s also nice to know there’s a definite end in sight! Their plan is to start with some pseudo natural methods first to see if that kicks labor off on it’s own, if not then they will do pitocin. I really hope I don’t need pitocin, but all that matters is she gets here safely. But her b-day will most likely be Sept. 29th if she doesn’t come on her own, since labor will probably be longer if I'm induced. I will probably regret saying this next weekend... but what's another couple of hours when I've been preggo for 10 months??!!! :-) As much as I really really wanted to have the whole element of surprise and have her come on her own (which of course she still could), it also feels amazing to know that by the 29th she will be here! AND all that really matters is that she gets here safely. I am so excited to meet London!!

38 week belly picture

Here are some maternity pictures that Ian and I had done at 36 weeks...

beware... there's a big ole belly below :-)

36 Weeks... wow it's almost time!!!

It's been a while since I've updated my site, so I thought I would catch things up today. We're now just a few weeks away from the due date and I can hardly believe it's almost time to meet our little girl. I find myself spending so much time throughout the day (and night) just in anticipation of the big day. I know we will have our hands fulls when it does come, so that helps remind me to enjoy these last few days/weeks of life with just the two of us. On the other hand, I look down at my belly and see my little girl moving around and sticking her back and butt up in the air and I just can help but want to hold her asap too. I wonder if she will have Ian's beautiful curls and my dark hair and eyes or if she'll be blonde like Ian and I once were when we were younger. (Oh my goodness... my husband is in the other room screaming at the top of his lungs at the TV while watching his Formula 1 race... London, are you ready for this!? :) ... anyway... So my Dr doesn't think there's any reason to believe she will come early and I have to say that I feel the same way... though I am really ready to be a mom anyday now! More updates to come... as I have weekly Dr. appts now!

36 week belly picture... and my Birthday... and first UT game of the season (too bad that part didn't turn out so good)

34 Week belly pictures...

32 weeks... wow!

I can't believe we're at 32 weeks already. London is getting big in there! Dr. B. says she's about 4 lbs. now and should be 4 1/2 by our next visit in 2 weeks. She gets the hiccups about 5 times a day. I feel so bad for her... every time I eat and every time I have a lot of water to drink, she gets them. Most of the time it doesn't seem to bother her, but sometimes by dinner she's had enough of them and starts getting wrestless. I don't blame her. She's still head down and really only moves around trying to get comfortable. I could watch her for hours though. She makes my belly bulge out in all these weird configurations when she moves. It's facinating.

I'm on a plan to have the nursery completely ready by my birthday, Sept. 1st. We've bought most of the big items we didn't get from the shower (with some help from Dad and Barbara - Thank you guys!! :) and just have to put things away and get a few little things here and there. Our Sunday school class is having a diaper shower for us on the 24th. That will be great to stock up on some much needed diapers before Miss London arrives.

I'm still planning to work right up until the end. Ian hasn't had any luck with a job yet, so we're still praying something comes through soon. He's working hard on it and it's really in God's hands right now. I have been blessed with an amazing job, boss and coworkers, so it makes working a lot more enjoyable with all the recent stress.

I'm attaching some pictures below from 30 weeks and 32 weeks. I'm getting big!

32 Week Belly...

30 Week Belly...

28 week update!! Lots of Pictures... :)

Hola! So we've made it to another big milestone... 28 weeks! I managed to sweet talk my way into a 28 week ultrasound (I wasn't supposed to have another one) so I could see my precious little girl again. She's doing great. Her heartbeat is strong in the 140s and she weighs approximately 2lbs 14oz. I'm measuring in the 28-29 week range, which is exactly where I should be. YAY. I managed to get a couple of 3D pictures of baby girl... see below. The uterine wall and umbilical cord are a little in the way on the left side of her face, so disregard that part. You can see a good view of her nose and mouth though.

I also had my baby shower this week. The girls did an amazing job! (Thank you so much Amy, Erin & Serena!!!) The shower went great and we got lots of cool stuff. London is going to be very well dressed! We got TONS of clothes and some other thoughtful items too. We're still missing some of our bigger items, but I have a work shower later this week and hope to get some then. Here are some pictures from the shower, including my 28 week belly picture.

Girl's who threw the shower for me: Serena, Erin, (me), Amy

Ian and Erin were in town this week and Erin helped me paint London's nursery... SO cute! I still need to get some things (like the changing thing for the changing table, rocking chair and some storage items). I also need to hang some things on the wall, but here's what we've got so far... I think it turned out great. I love it!

24 Week Update

Everything is going great! I passed my glucose test with flying colors! Yay! London is just active enough. She doesn't move around too much, but just enough to let me know she's still there. Here's some pictures of my 24 week belly....

It's a .... GIRL!!! London Maggie is due Sept. 28!!

Wow... according to my unofficial poll on this site, only 36% of you all guessed right! The rest of you need to stay away from Vegas!

Besides the obvious joy of being able to call the baby by a name, it's just so nice to finally know if it's a boy or girl. In some ways though I was a little sad to know it wasn't a boy. I guess for 5 months I've been planning in my mind all the cool things the next several years would bring about each gender... and now that's cut in half. But don't get me wrong, I am beyond overjoyed that we're having a girl. I was overcome by emotion when the technician told us. I really thought it would be a boy, mostly because I wanted a girl so badly. Over the last couple of weeks I did start noticing the difference in bellies from my co-workers who are carrying boys and how my belly looked. I had started to wonder if I had a girl on board.... guess my observations were correct! Check out the latest belly shots below.

So for those of you who haven't heard our ultrasound story (or seen the VHS video)... I'll bore you with my version of it.... For those who haven't had an ultrasound, in the 2nd trimester you have to drink a boatload of water 30 mins before. So right about the time the technician starts the u/s, you're ready to excuse yourself to the bathroom... but of course you can't b/c that would defeat the purpose. (this part will make sense later... read on) The technician first asked Ian and I for our last predictions on gender. We both said boy, though I did mention some hesitation that lately I had thought it could be a girl. Ian said I was just covering my bases, so maybe I was, but I really did think there could be a possibility... I mean see my paragraph above.... so anyhoo she starts the u/s and says that she's going to make sure the baby is healthy and do all those checks and then she'll check the gender. So she's pressing all over my belly measuring various parts of the baby. She starts trying to measure the head, but apparently this kid is super low and the head is almost out of the u/s zone. The technician decides to move on to gender and hope the baby moves and allows us a better shot at the head. So she's zooming on the gender region... and it all looks like a grey blur on the screen to be, but miraculously she's able to tell it's a GIRL! I asked her are you sure?? She laughed and said yes. I cried, I guess overjoyed to know and "tickled pink" it was a girl. She went back to the head issue... at this point the baby now has a name since we knew it was a girl... so London's head was still very low. The technician started pressing on my lower abdomen rapidly to try to make her move... it wasn't happening. Apparently London gets her stubborness from one of her parents! ;) So this goes on for several minutes with no resolve. Suddenly the technician laughs and says, your baby just pee'd. And sure enough... there was a little stream of something on the screen. She turned the thermo-sensor-whatever-thing on to see a red little trail off to the side. I thought it was particularly humorous since I myself wanted to pee on the lady for pressing on my belly like that. In any case, I thought it was kinda cute in a weird way.

Other than the obvious stress of Ian losing his job, we're doing great. London isn't real active. I feel her in there, but she's quite nice to her mom and only moves slightly every now and then to let me know she's there without kickboxing my innerds (is that a word?). I'm sure that could change later on, but for now it's great. I feel pretty good most of the time. I get a little tired in the evening and I lose my breath pretty regularly... like talking on the phone, walking and talking, walking up the stairs, public speaking - which really shouldn't be allowed from now on - that was a disaster!

Anyway, check out the latest pics below....

Mother's Day with the Drake's

20 Week Belly Picture

Mount Juliet Antique Car Show - 19 week belly

16 week update

Wow 16 weeks already! We had our 16 week Dr appointment today. Everything seems to be going well. Heartbeat is strong around 150-ish. Our next appointment is our big gender ultrasound! I can't wait! Next appointment is may 9th at 9am. I just can't wait to see the little one again.

I've been feeling great lately and actually feel better now than I have since being pregnant. I'm still pretty tired, but I don't see that part going away any time soon :)

Check out the next belly picture...