32 weeks!

So I know I said I would be better at updating the blog more often, clearly that has not been the case. The last month has been very very busy for us and there is no slowing down in sight. Between the holidays and getting ready for Peyton’s arrival we have something to do every weekend until after New Years and then I will be full term! Since the last post we have had two more baby showers, one thrown by the wonderful ladies at Jordan’s work and another one back home thrown by my Momma and Sister. We have seriously been so overwhelmed by the love, support and generosity that people have treated us to. We try very hard to let everyone know how appreciative we are but I really don’t think we could ever do a good enough job because we are seriously so grateful.

Since the last post my glucose results came back and was negative and all of my other stats have been perfect! We have one more doctor visit until he starts checking my cervix, holy moly! I can’t say I’m really looking forward to that visit. So far I have gained 12-13 pounds which is pretty good, I think I will be able to stay under 20 lbs by the time she arrives which was the goal. Throughout this entire pregnancy I have felt absolutely wonderful and have had very minimal side effects which is still the case. I have started to have some back pain but that is to be expected. I still sleep like a champ, Jordan says I snore more but I don’t notice lol. At my appointment yesterday my doctor said she was head down, which I was very worried about. He says that since this is my first pregnancy he didn’t expect her to change positions before delivery! I was so relieved to hear this because I had been seriously stressing out about this.

We had a hospital tour yesterday and we were so pleasantly surprised by everything we saw and learned. The hospital is literally 3-5 minutes from our house and is brand new, their L&D department just opened up over the summer. I was so relieved to hear how natural birth friendly they are, as this is the goal. I thought they may be a bit behind the times with kangaroo care, rooming in etc. but that was not the case at all! We have our birthing classes this weekend and were instructed to bring a couple of pillows. I have a feeling this is going to get very interesting. Between our reassuring hospital tour and this upcoming birthing class I think we’ll be ready to have this baby!

Peyton’s nursery is pretty much totally done. There are a few things left that need to be hung on her walls to soften the room a bit but we are very pleased with how everything turned out. Currently it’s a complete disaster because I’m still working on how to get everything organized and I still have lots of washing to do. The tree is my absolute favorite decoration, luckily it’s wooden so it will be easy to take with us wherever we end up moving to next.

Panorama view

This photo was taken when we were back home for Thanksgiving at 31 weeks.

I really hope this video loads correctly. This is her rolling around and being very active. She does this just about every night. You can kinda see how that ugly little line down my stomach is starting to show up.

28 Weeks

The third trimester has started! On one hand I can’t believe we are already this far along and on the other, I’m like OMG another 3 months! I am very thankful that the home stretch of this pregnancy will be filled with many visits back home and lots of holiday fun. I’m hoping that those things will make Peyton’s due date arrive quickly.  We had a wonderful visit back home a few weeks ago. Sally threw an awesome shower for us and we got some much needed items. We are so grateful for everyone that came to celebrate with us and their extreme generosity. We received some really cute girly stuff which is super fun! I’ll post some pictures at the bottom.  Jordan put together the jogging stroller that we got from his parents. He said that doing this made having a baby a little bit more real for him and he felt very much like a dad! I told him by the time Peyton gets here he should really be feeling like a dad because there will be lots more “assembly required” baby gadgets.

I have a routine doctor’s appointment this week and then we start having appointments every two weeks. Having appointments every two weeks also makes me feel like her due date is very close.  I did my blood glucose test on Friday, so hopefully I’ll get those results at my appointment or sooner and they will be negative.  My belly keeps growing and growing and my wardrobe options continue to shrink and shrink. This has caused me to venture over to Jordan’s side of the closet and wear a lot of his t-shirts when I’m around the house. He was folding laundry yesterday (yes I know he’s awesome) and made the comment that he wasn't quite sure whose closet to put some of the clothes away in. I seriously cannot imagine how large I am going to be in another twelve weeks, it’s really quite difficult to fathom.

This week we picked out a newborn photographer who we love! She doesn’t have her own studio so she comes to your house and sets up there.  I personally love this! Now I don’t have to worry about being prepared to leave the house with a newborn and have everyone ready and looking good for pictures. She’s a retired labor and delivery nurse so she’s very familiar with infant care. She takes care of everything while she is here and even changes diapers. She has been thinking about getting into birth photography and asked if we would be interested in letting her photograph Peyton’s birth for free. This certainly wasn't an offer we jumped right on but after thinking about it we decided to be wild and crazy and be her guinea pigs. I don’t think this decision will be regretted, some of those moments are priceless. I LOVE pictures of mom and dad’s meeting their sweet babies for the first time. I usually always end up crying looking at these pictures, nothing new there really. Not to mention Jordan did not want to be responsible for taking any pictures, mainly because he’s terrible at remembering to do so. 

I think the dogs have finally figured something is up. Both of them sniff my belly often and use their nose to poke at it. This is a picture of me laying on my side in bed and Sofie using the baby bump as her pillow. 

 Super Cute girly onsies! 

This super cute dog and ornament is from Aunt Shapell. The dog you can put in the microwave and it heats up and can keep baby warm. It is also filled with lavender and chamomile and all kinds of other awesome herbs that are supposed to help calm baby and help with colic. We may be very thankful for this in the future if we have a fussy baby. 

Long overdue post ... 25 Weeks!

Well I have been a terrible blogger in recent weeks and I think it’s mainly because I have been having some unexpected emotions/feelings that I wasn’t quite ready to address. It is now finally real that we are having a baby in just a few short months (I know about time right?). With this realization there have been some reality checks that I wasn’t quite ready for. Reality check #1 We live in Alabama … well duh right? But thinking about bringing a child into this world while living in Alabama totally sucks. I realized that while we have wonderful support in Kentucky, that won’t be available to us here when Peyton is born. This also means that there won’t be many visitors at the hospital or even after we come home. Family and friends being able to meet Peyton for the first time will be delayed until we can make a trip to Kentucky. While keeping all of this in mind I have to remind myself of the reasons we moved to Alabama. It was God’s plan for our life at the time and it was important that Jordan could be home every night. Him being able to be home and see me and his little girl and his puppies was worth the move. I just have to keep reminding myself this!  

Reality check #2 …. Being home with a baby all the time may drive me crazy sometimes. I always pictured being a mostly stay at home mom as wonderful and nothing but. Well I can see after doing some research, that it probably won’t always be wonderful. I’ll be tired and hormonal and lonely and in much need of adult interaction. I’m hoping that this will get easier with time and we will figure out a way to manage.

Reality check #3 … these pregnancy hormones are no joke. Thus far I have pretty much enjoyed every aspect of being pregnant … accept the hormones. As most of you know I’m not a crier and well of course that is no longer the case. Often times when I’m upset I have to stop myself and look at the facts and realize there is no reason to be upset. Or if I’m just cranky or moody, remove myself from the situation and not inflict myself upon others or take a walk. Needless to say I’m ready for that part to be over and I’m sure it won’t be right after Peyton arrives … yayyy.

So with these reality checks in mind I’m trying to more accurately prepare myself for life after Peyton which I’m sure will be wonderful and exhausting all at the same time. Last week we had our 24 week checkup and all was well. Her heart beat was 142 and I have done a good job of managing my weight ... 4lbs gained so far. Not that you could tell this by looking at the pictures below.

Jordan and I have been making major progress in getting the nursery ready. I've been pretty pleased so far considering I'm a terrible decorator. We decided to paint the walls gray and all of her furniture is white and the bedding and accents are purple We’re hanging the curtains this week and have ordered a big white wooden tree to put on the wall. I’ll post a picture as soon as it is all done. I'm hoping with the help of my wonderful sister we can make our own wooden letters for her name. I love all of the ideas Etsy provides!

This weekend we are looking forward to a trip home for our first baby shower! My wonderful brother and sister-in-law are throwing a shower with my bonus family (the Satterwhite’s) and friends. We are very excited about this because we do not get to see all of these wonderful people nearly enough since we have moved.

I’m going to try to be a lot better about checking in more frequently the closer Peyton’s due date approaches. We are so excited to meet our little girl.

24 weeks along!

This is the tree we ordered!

We also got some of the cute owl's and birds pictured above to be painted to match the nursery.

On the move!

Well we have been very busy the last few weeks! We successfully moved into our new house which we could not have done without my wonderful parents who are such helpful moving buddies. We seriously could not have moved without them. We also got someone to rent out our other house which was a huge blessing and weight lifted off our shoulders. The weekend after we moved we come back to Kentucky for Labor day weekend and got to spend some much needed time with our families and friends. We came back on Monday and are headed back this Friday because Jordan has to do some work in Cincinnati. So thus far we have spent very little time at the new house, but that’s okay.

Since we got the other house rented out and knew we would not be making double payments this month Jordan gave me the go ahead to start buying stuff for the nursery. Although the ultrasound wasn’t 100% positive that Peyton is a girl we are both confident that she is so I went ahead and ordered her bedding. I’m thinking that I’m going to paint her room a neutral color like light grey so we don’t have to paint it again when we leave. 

Over the Labor Day weekend while we were home I started feeling little movements! I thought I had felt her a few times before but wasn’t really positive it was her or some other weird pregnancy symptom. She primarily stays on my left side and that is always where I have felt her move/kick. She is most active in the morning and right when I am about to go to bed. I could sit in the quiet and feel her move all day long, I absolutely love it. I can’t wait until Jordan is able to feel her move too.

I had to go to the doctor last week because I thought I had a UTI, at the time they told me that I did not and that my urethra was just irritated which is why I was in some pain. A week later they called me back and told me I do have a UTI and now I’m taking an anti-biotic. I will be so happy to get some relief, finally.

Our anatomy scan is next Friday and I am so looking forward to this. Unfortunately because Jordan’s work schedule has changed he may not be able to attend. We’re hoping we can get a video so he can watch it later. It will be a very hectic next few weeks as Jordan has to travel a lot. Between his travel and the trips home and the holidays I am hoping the next few months go very quickly so we can meet our sweet little girl! 

The Verdict is in ... Sorta

On Friday we were able to get an ultrasound done hoping to find out the gender of baby Peyton. We did the drano test a few weeks ago and the verdict was a girl. So come Friday I was anxious to hopefully get conclusive evidence of that finding. Jordan and my momma were in attendance at the ultrasound which was wonderful. I absolutely loved this ultrasound. It is amazing to see how much Peyton has grown and how much movement there is that I cannot even feel. We were able to get some wonderful views of Peyton and got to take home a precious picture of a foot. I made sure I drank some caffeine before my appointment, which worked because Peyton was moving quite a bit. However, his/her legs kept crossing and uncrossing so it was kind of difficult to get a clear view. The ultrasound tech was able to get a few glimpses and felt like Peyton was probably a GIRL! Jordan of course always has something funny (embarrassing) to say at our appointments. He wasn’t too convinced that Peyton is a girl since she was being so proper, crossing her ankles and all, because that is nothing like her momma. The tech made sure to tell us not to go out and decorate the nursery yet because there is a small chance that the next ultrasound could show something different. I’m feeling pretty confident that it is a girl through. I distinctly remember shortly after we found out we were pregnant, Jordan and I were making the bed and talking about baby Peyton. We looked at each other and both agreed that Peyton was going to be a girl … looks like we were right.

Of course Jordan and I are thrilled with either gender but I had always pictured myself as a mom to boys. It took a little time to adjust my thinking, but not much! I could not be more excited to have a little girl and Jordan is just as excited. I absolutely love knowing a little bit more about this little person inside of me! I will be looking forward to our anatomy scan which will occur at our next apt.  so we can see our sweet little girl again! The last several weeks have been very busy. We have been showing our current house many times a week and are getting ready to move into our new house next weekend. I’m excited to get into our new house so I can start planning the nursery. I’m happy to report there has been virtually no crying since my last post. I have also had a much better appetite with few food aversions. I have to say the second trimester is treating me very well!

It seems that recently lots of mine and Jordan’s conversations revolve around parenting and which parenting styles we like. When I think about the type of person I would like Peyton to grow up to be, I think about the type of parenting that is required to achieve that. Let me tell you what, there is no better motivation to curb unattractive behaviors in myself than thinking how those would be instilled in Peyton. My dream for her is to be a kind, generous, giving, confident person who knows and loves Jesus. When I realize that it is mine and Jordan’s responsibility to lead her in a strong Christian faith that is when I feel the weight of being a parent the most. Luckily this is not entirely my task because Peyton has a wonderful father and grandparents and aunts and uncles to help instill these vales in her. We have 5 more months until Peyton arrives and needless to say we will be using every moment to get ready for her arrival. It can’t come soon enough! 

1st Trimester Comes to a Close!

Overall my pregnancy has been wonderful! I have had very minimal nausea and have never gotten sick. The only uncomfortable symptom I have experienced is heartburn which only started at around week 14. Thus far I have lost a total of 7 pounds, however, my pants do not reflect this weight loss. I have a few pairs of maternity pants that I wear every now and then but I feel that they make me look bigger than I actually am. I can still wear my regular pants with a belly band. I think if people didn’t know that I was pregnant they would just think I was a little pudgy around the belly (well pudgier than normal). 

I have definitely been much more emotional than usual. Anyone that knows me knows I’m not a crier … that was until I got pregnant. Also, pregnancy brain is a very real symptom. In a single hour I had a terrible pregnancy brain moment and was bawling. I was talking on the phone and pumping gas when I realized that I came very very close to putting diesel in my car … that’s a big no-no. Then when I was leaving this person tried to run me off the road at which time I of course yelled and hollered and then promptly began hysterically crying.

The last time I was at the doctor I asked him if it was his practice to do the anatomy scan at 20 weeks. He said yes they do the anatomy scan at 20 weeks but if we want to find out the gender he would not mind at all to do an ultrasound at my next appointment to see if the gender can be identified.  So fingers crossed we’ll find out if Peyton is a girl or a boy on August 17^th.

We have been very busy around the Satterwhite household lately! When we moved to Alabama we happened to pick a house that is smack dab in tornado alley. Every tornado that comes through Huntsville inevitably comes very close to our house. We signed a one year lease which ends a few weeks before my due date. We definitely want to move before Peyton arrives but knew that it would be very difficult with timing to move in December or January. Jordan asked our landlord if there was any way to get out of our lease early and they were very generous and said that if we can find a tenant they would let us out of our lease. So we found a house that is out of the path of tornados and have been showing our house to try to get in rented out. Our target move date is Sept 1^st at which time I will be 18 weeks pregnant which is much better than 36-38 weeks along. We’re still not really comfortable buying a house here especially since we still have our house in Kentucky.

So sorry, this blog was full of all kinds of random information. I guess it’s a reflection of how my brain is working these days! 

1st Appointment

So of course the day I finally got a positive test, I excitedly called my OB/GYN. I wasn’t really sure what the next step would be but I was pretty anxious to find out. When I called they made an appointment for four weeks out. FOUR WEEKS! Four weeks felt like absolutely forever away! Luckily the next four weeks were going to be very busy for us. We had a trip to Hilton Head planned and a couple of trips back to Kentucky planned. So the weeks came and went and FINALLY it was time to see the doctor!

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I was pretty nervous! I knew that God would not have blessed us with a child without having a greater plan in place for us. I also knew that we had to trust in His plan and that my worrying would not benefit, Jordan, myself or the baby. Still … I was nervous. The only evidence I had thus far that I was pregnant was a positive test. Also, I hadn’t had many symptoms at all and honestly had been feeling pretty great.

When the nurse brought me back and checked my vitals, my blood pressure was through the roof. So I tried to breathe deep and calm myself down and that helped a bit. I was so happy that the very next thing on the to-do list was an ultrasound. So finally we were about to get some other confirmation that a baby was growing inside of me! The tech immediately confirmed that there was indeed a healthy growing baby in my belly! The heartbeat was strong and steady at 171 bpm. We were able to confirm the due date of Jan 28^th. I was kind of surprised that we weren’t able to hear the heartbeat, we were just able to see it on the sonogram machine. I was told that we could hear the heartbeat at our next appointment.

The doctor informed us that because everything looked so good that the chance of miscarriage was less than 1%. I was surprised that the percentage wasn’t higher but man did this information put me at ease! When we moved to Huntsville I didn’t know which doctor to see and didn’t really know anyone to get a recommendation from. So I ended up just picking an OB/GYN from the local hospital. We totally lucked out picking him, he is absolutely wonderful. Since starting to see him I have met several people that also see him and have nothing but wonderful things to say.

So four more weeks to wait until our next appointment … but many exciting events in the meantime. 

Sharing The Good News -- Part 2

So after a week long fabulous vacation with my family it was time to go back to Alabama. This was made much easier by knowing that we still had our good news to share with the other people we love! So the weekend after vacation we made a trip back to Lexington to tell Jordan’s family. First we told Jeremy and Sally because they were not able to come to dinner that night. So Jordan went fishing with Jeremy and told him the way guys share news about a baby I guess. Meanwhile I went to hang out with Sally and the kids. While Sally was away for a moment I was able to tell Jack and Anna. They are both very familiar with what having a baby in your belly means because they have two other aunts that are pregnant as well. So luckily for me, no further explanation was necessary. So when Sally returned the kids yelled “Shellain has a baby in her belly”. Of course lots of hugs and smiles ensued.

We wanted to share the news with each individual family separately so we had time to see each reaction and talk to them about it afterwards. So when Jordan’s parents came home from work and before Justin and Nichole came over, we wanted to tell them. Jeremy and Sally ended up coming over for a bit so they could take pictures of Rick and Brenda’s reaction.  When Brenda came in from work Ms. Anna was so excited to not only see Grandma but she also had a secret to keep! Well that secret was just too much for her to keep in because she was so excited about it! So when She talked to Grandma for a minute she let the news slip! It was just so cute, that she was so happy for her Aunt Shellain and Uncle Jordan. Needless to say we didn’t get any pictures but it was still very memorable!

Next up to tell was Justin and Nichole! When they came over with the kids we stuck to our original plan. While we were on vacation Steven took fabulous pictures for us. So we stuck our announcement pictures in with other vacation pictures. While they were flipping through other vacation pictures they would stumble upon our announcement pictures. Of course there was more excitement and hugs to come our way! I can’t explain how much fun it is to share such wonderful news about our family with everyone who cares about us!

One thing I have noticed while telling little kids that there is a baby in my belly is their eyes go directly to my stomach. Of course it looks nowhere close to having a baby in it this early but it is so cute to see the puzzlement on their faces.

I have attached the pictures that we used to share the news with Jordan’s family. Steven did such an awesome job with these! He really should consider changing careers. 

Spreading The Good News -- Part 1.

Well the time had finally come when I was able to Jordan our joyous news! Turns out he had a very rough and long day at work and the only thing he was concerned about when he got home was getting some food in his belly. I had already decided how I was going to tell him but I needed it to be the right time. So we ate dinner while the entire time I had to keep quite which was no easy feat. Jordan knew I was acting kind of weird but he thought that I was going to try to convince him to go home that weekend. I had originally told him that we would find out if the Clomid worked on Friday but I took the test one day early, so he was not expecting any kinda baby news on this day, which was Thursday. After we had dinner I took the dogs back into our room. I had made them handkerchiefs to wrap around their neck which said, “I’m gonna be a big sister!”. So after I finally got these on the dogs I let them loose into the kitchen which is where Jordan was. At first he didn’t notice so I told him that the girls had something they wanted to tell him.

He finally looked at Sofie first and looked very confused, then he looked at Lola. After about 60 seconds he finally figured it out and the look on his face was priceless. I so wish I could have taken a video of this whole scene, I will remember it forever. After many hugs and kisses later he promptly informed me that I had tricked him because he wasn’t thinking about anything baby related until Friday. For the rest of the evening we talked about what kind of parents we hoped to be, what gender the baby would be, how the dogs would react to a baby and so on. I think the only decisive decision we came up with was a name! Boy or girl baby Satterwhites’ name will be Peyton.

For the next week we tried to come up with ways to tell our families. We decided we would tell my mom, dad and sister the following week because we were going to be on vacation in Hilton Head with them and there was no way I could keep a secret for any longer than I already had. So Shapell and Steven ended up coming down on Friday afternoon so they could ride to Hilton Head with us. So we ended up telling them on Friday night and told my mom and dad on Saturday when we first got to the beach house. See the pictures below on how we ended up telling them! 

 This is the pictures I put into the picture frame with the names Peyton would call them! 

 I think this face says it all. 

Big News!!!

Well turns out The Satterwhite household is expecting some big changes in January 2013. Jordan and I will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first child (hopefully, of many).  Now I have to be honest, I was very hesitant about this whole blog thing. But you see I have this sister-in-law who insisted this was necessary. Also since we have so many friends and family back in Kentucky that we don’t speak to nearly enough, I thought this would be a good way to keep everyone up to date.  I feel as though I must warn you that I tend to not use much discretion, so you may get more information than you bargained for. So back to the point ….

In October 2011 Jordan and I found out that we would be relocating from our beloved Lexington, KY to the very unknown Huntsville, AL. Over the last few years Jordan and I had many discussions about when to start a family but there was always one reason or another to postpone this next adventure. Once we found out that Jordan would be home every day with his new position, as opposed to being gone throughout the week with his previous position, we began more discussions. So after many prayers and more discussion we decided to take the plunge, in November of 2011 we began trying to start a family. At the very beginning of January 2012 we made the move to Alabama. The adjustments began and we started getting settled into a normal routine in this new “home”.

But after months of trying to conceive and many a books being read and many many negative pregnancy tests later I began to wonder … was something wrong? Jordan and I prayed daily about the plan God had for us and if a child was in that plan. We tried not to get discouraged though and knew that there was a plan for us, weather that included a child of our own or not, we had no idea! We have always been very open to adoption and still plan on pursing this in the future. After having a few negative experiences with some doctors here I finally found a fabulous doctor! This doctor did some blood work and figured out that I was not ovulating, which of course means … no baby. In May my doctor went ahead and prescribed me Clomid even though we had not been trying to conceive for a whole year. Well some blood work revealed that I had indeed ovulated which was awesome news but still didn’t know if we were pregnant. 10 very long days later, I was finally able to take a test and for the very first time after many many tests it was POSITIVE!!!!

Well you can imagine my elation of this news! I immediately began to cry, which I don’t do. This I would find out later was going to be a very common theme during my pregnancy.  I couldn’t believe that Clomid had worked the first time. I was so confused with everything I was feeling, I went and mowed the yard which always helps me sort things out. For the rest of the day I planned on how I would tell Jordan, which was so exciting. I kept imagining how he would react and the things I couldn’t wait to talk to him about. 

Well I’m out of time for today but check back soon to see how I ended up sharing the news with my beloved husband!