~Masquerade~

A couple of fun pictures from Friday night. Our friend Phil graduated from Northwest University, and his wife threw him a Masquerade. Even at almost 29 weeks pregnant I got out on the dance floor! I miss dancing!

~End Stretch~

We are officially (in my mind) on the home stretch!!! Less than 90 days and this girl SHOULD be here!!! I'm 1/2 tempted to make one of those chains out of construction paper we all made when we were little... you know the ones to countdown the days until Christmas?? I'm thinking it might be fun! Though, I can see that being ridiculously frustrating if I hit the last chain only to NOT have Emerson.... ah well.

~Physical Therapy~

So I started Physical Therapy a couple weeks ago, and I am happy to report that I got a "gold star" today! For the first time, I was able to do all but one of the exercises without pain. I had to go out last weekend and buy a maternity belt, because of the relaxin in my system, my left hip actually pops like it's coming out of socket, and between that and these little exercises Susan has me doing, I can ALMOST function like a human being!!!

Funny story.
So I'm not allowed to wear heels for the remainder of my pregnancy. My hips are off kilter on a normal day, and the baby isn't helping. I wore heels to work on Tuesday, just to see if after the physical therapy and maternity belt, my body could handle it. It could NOT. Definitely a painful Tuesday night and Wednesday. On Wednesday, I was talking to Alise, one of the great girls I work with, and I was telling her how I didn't know what I was going to do on Sunday, because my heels hurt my hips SO badly, and I have to wear them with my dress. She looked at me strangely, and said... "Why don't you get a cute pair of flats? Those would be comfortable and you'd be cute!" NEVER DAWNED ON ME TO BUY FLATS. I've not purchased dress shoes in anything other than HIGH heels in like 15 years. Seriously?? It's like Alise opened this WHOLE new world to me! Classic. Thankfully she is fully aware of the fact that I am NOT a moron! Haha!

~Owen and His Cousin~

Sunday evening I went over to my mom's house to visit. Michelle and Owen came over to hang out. Owen asked me to lift my shirts so he could see my "owie" from my surgery. I showed him and we were talking about it, and I asked him if he wanted to feel Eme move in my tummy. He started rolling around on the floor totally not sure if he wanted to. My mom told him to watch as Grammy felt Emerson move. After mom told Owen each time she felt Eme, he decided he could do it, and we put his hand on my stomach. He put his head down on the chair, like he was concentrating, it was precious! And Emerson kicked him pretty well. He giggled and was so excited to have felt her! He kept saying "Baby Emerson kicked me hard, she likes me!" It was so precious. He's getting so excited to have a cousin, and now a baby brother or sister! He's going to be so good with the babies, I can't wait to see him with them!

~Surgery Follow-up~

Went back to the Dr today. Dr Majors is VERY happy with my healing. I get to start using Mederma on my incision without worry, and I'm allowed to start making short trips in the car! I CAN DRIVE AGAIN!!! Emerson is still perfect, kicking the nurse while she listened to her heartbeat! I go back to work next week during the week days, and start back at weekend services Easter weekend. I won't be able to set up or tear down or anything like that (can't do that being pregnant anyway), however, I'll be able to be there for my team, which I'm really happy about.

I start physical therapy next week. I carry Emerson SO low, that it reeks havoc on my hips and lower back. Thankfully between that and massages, I should feel human for the rest of the pregnancy! No more tumor (they ran pathology on it to be safe, and it was completely benign), therapy for my hips, and prayerfully nothing more crazy going on for the next 16 weeks! I think we've had enough fun this pregnancy! I'm starting to psych myself up NOW to have another baby!

~One Guilty Mama~

Ok, so I'm not normally one to be all emotional and drama-esk on here, but I'm having a really hard time today. My steri-strips came off of my incision last night and this morning, and I got a real look at what the scar is looking like right now, and I lost it. I don't have "scars"... I have a bit of one on my right knee from when I was around 4 years old. That's it. I know it's ridiculous, and I must sound pathetic and vain, but I've not had anything tragic happen to my body, and I've been so genuinely thankful for that. And this, this scar is ABOVE my bikini line. I know I could very well get stretch marks, and this would have probably been an issue at one point in the pregnancy, but I'm just heart broken. I know I'm not perfect... I don't try to pretend I am. I've just never been "here" before, and I'm completely thrown off guard with how I feel. I know Emerson is worth it. Everything about this little squirmy girl is worth it. But I don't think you realize what can actually go on with your body during pregnancy when you're on the outside. I feel like the worst mother in the world even sitting here writing this...because she is the most incredible being I've ever been exposed to, and I've not even gotten to meet her yet, and yet I'm breaking about what my body is going through to get her here.

~Anatomy Ultrasound~

This morning we had our 2nd anatomy ultrasound. We had one a few weeks ago, but our OBYGN was VERY displeased with how they took pictures, so he had it rescheduled. It was so fun to get to see her again!

Josh took this picture right before we left the house.... I can't believe we're 6 months already!

I was so excited to see that upper lip! When I smile mine disappears and I've been praying that our sweet girl gets Josh's mouth... and it's looking like she did!

Emerson does not curl up like most babies in utero do. She tends to actually keep her arms above her head! Haha! She's got all the room in the world in my long torso, and she appears to be taking advantage of it.

When the tech got this picture we all giggled. This girl has big feet! She comes by it honestly though... they run on both sides of the family!

This afternoon I had an echocardiogram. My cardiologist checks my heart each trimester to make sure it's handling the pregnancy well, and there were no changes from last time, which is great news! If i can psych myself into getting pregnant again, at least I know my heart will handle it well!

I have my follow up appointment next Thursday for my surgery last week, and though I get drained SUPER easy right now, I'm feeling so much better. And my Dr was PHENOMENAL with the incision... even now, there's no color on the scar! It's barely noticeable!