Showered with Love

Playing with one of Chase's toys....hope he'll enjoy it as much as I do!

Sporting my "Mother to Be" Crown and Corsage

Holding up one of the many adorable outfits that Chase will be wearing....my neighbors Brooke and Macy are in the background.


Everyone listening to Dawn for instructions on how to play one of the games at the shower


My first baby shower cake...it's long gone now! I think I ate at least 25% of it all by myself!

My mother-in-law actually made these milk chocolate and white chocolate sea critters for the shower in Hopewell!

Are these decorations cute or what?

The Dessert Table.....SWEEET! You can see a glimpse of the cake that Patti Allen made for me....her cakes are always a work of art and they taste as good as they look!

More Beautiful Table Decorations

Here I am in my last month of pregnancy! My dear friend Kristina Cotten is standing next to me sporting her 6-month baby bump! We're both having boys!

This is the awesome "cupcake cake" that was devoured at my shower today....yum!

Here are the sweet girls from my Sunday School class who master-minded today's shower (Left to Right: Katie Byers holding her son Gavin, Debi Warren, Me, Heather Brady)

Wow....just one more month to go (unless Chase arrives early)! Over the past few weeks, I've been showered with love and lots of wonderful gifts for Chase. I've enjoyed every moment of the pre-Chase stage, but I'm looking forward to his arrival within the next few weeks. The above pictures are just a glimpse of how beautiful and fun all of the baby showers have been. I have TONS more pictures, but decided to just post a few here on the blog. I explained the first shower pretty well in the last blog posting, so I guess I should elaborate on the last two showers a little.....

Amber threw me a shower in Hopewell last Saturday and it was wonderful! As you can see in some of the pictures, the decorations were nautical and "fishy".....so cute! Several of Tim's neighbors, friends, and family members made it to the shower to help us celebrate! Dawn and Laurie tagged along with me too, and I was so thankful to have their help and support. The food was great at the shower....Amber and Pam went all out! We received a lot of great gifts, including a personalized wishing well with all kinds of practical items.

My Sunday School class threw me a baby shower/brunch today at Debi Warren's house in Newport News. Once again, the decorations were adorable (mostly "Finding Nemo" stuff) and the food was out of this world! I guess I get a little too excited over food these days, ha, ha! Anyhow, it was great getting to celebrate this time with the girls from my Sunday School class. My friend Kristina Cotten even drove all the way from Maryland for the shower! I'm so blessed to have such great friends!

One final shower to go next Saturday from my girlfriends at work....I don't know hardly any details of this shower, so it will be a surprise! Can't wait!

Chase is already one spoiled little man! Thanks to all of you for sharing these special moments with us whether it's been through showers or other occasions! We love you!

My First Baby Shower

My sisters threw me my first baby shower on February 28th, and it was absolutely wonderful! The decorations, food, cake, guests, and games were all fabulous! I was in awe at all that my sisters had done for me. The theme of the shower consisted of little yellow duckies and the motto "Anxiously Awaiting Chase." I'm so blessed to have such wonderful sisters. When we were younger, we often fought like cats and dogs; but, now that we're older, we're the best of friends. I had so many loving guests at the shower, and they all gave me such nice gifts! Since the shower was held at my house, I didn't have to worry about lugging gifts around. I'm already well-stocked on baby clothes. I spent the two days after the shower washing baby clothes and putting them away in the dresser/changing table in the nursery. Fortunately, one of those days was a snow day where Tim and I got to stay home from work and organize baby things.

In contrast to the snow day that occurred just a week ago, I spent last weekend sitting outside at the patio table in 75-degree weather putting together my baby scrapbook. I had over 100 pictures from the shower and several other "growing belly" pictures that I've been keeping track of month to month. Hard to believe I'm already at 34 weeks now! It's funny to look back at the pictures to see how much I've grown. I remember thinking I was big over Christmas, but looking at my profile now dwarfs what I looked like over the holidays!

Chase continues to be quite the wiggle worm. He does his daily gymnastics on my bladder and makes me have to pee every half and hour or so, but it's totally worth the joy of knowing that I have a healthy, active little miracle growing inside of me! We went for my 34 week check-up this past Monday and everything is still going smoothly. My next appointment is on March 25th. Following that appointment, I'll start going for check-ups every week. We're on the final stretch!

There's still lots of fellowship to look forward to that revolves around Chase. My sister-in-law is throwing a shower for me on behalf of Tim's side of the family this Saturday. The ladies in my Sunday School class are throwing a shower for me the Saturday after this one. Finally, I get to spend the last Saturday in March enjoying my last shower that a close friend from work has organized. That's a total of four baby showers!!! A part of me feels guilty for having so many showers. On the other hand, it makes me so thankful to have such a loving family and group of friends to support me during this time. God has definitely blessed me so much during this pregnancy. I'm oftentimes brought to tears just thinking of how blessed I am to carry Chase and to be surrounded by so many loved ones during this time.

32 Week Ultrasound

Hello! Just had my 32-week ultrasound yesterday. The reason behind me having the ultrasound was to determine if the marginal placenta previa had cleared; and praise God it has and everything looks normal! Chase is a healthy boy and quite a whopper....he already weighs approximately 4 pounds and 13 ounces! I was a little concerned with him being so big and me still having ~8 weeks to go, but the doc reassured me that it's normal for babies to hit growth spurts and then go a week or two without much change in size. In other words, just because Chase is measuring almost 5 pounds already doesn't mean that he will end up being a 10 pound baby (God help me if he does end up that big! HA, HA!).

All other aspects of yesterday's appointment went well too: same good stats as far as belly measurements, weight, blood pressure, etc. are concerned. We got several ultrasound snapshots from the appointment, mostly close-ups of Chase's face. Tim and I even got to see a video of Chase in motion....incredible! Chase is quite a wiggle-worm, and like most babies, he likes to keep his arms and hands around his face. From what we've seen so far, we think he will look like a miniature Tim. I love his little pouty lips and chubby cheeks! Can't wait to see him in person!

7 Months

Tim and I right before my friend's wedding....don't I look huge?!!!

7 Months of Baby!

The 7-Month Prego-Bridesmaid


Here I am 7 months along now! We only have 9 weeks to go! Praise God; I passed the second round of glucose testing after failing the first round a few weeks ago. Thanks for all of your prayers. Chase and I are still doing well. Fortunately, I still feel great other than heartburn; no swelling or sleepless nights yet! My last doctor’s appointment went well with Dr. O’Connell. Belly measurements, blood pressure, and weight are still in excellent standing. Much to my surprise, the doc said I had only gained a pound a half in the last month, so I’m actually slightly under the average for weight gain as of now—although I’m sure you’re thinking that I don’t look it according to the pictures I posted!

Now that I’ve made it through the glucose screening hurdle, the next challenge will be to see if my marginal placenta previa has cleared. I have an ultrasound scheduled for next Wednesday. Tim and I are so excited because we haven’t had an ultrasound since I was 18 weeks. I’m sure Chase looks like a completely different baby by now since he has grown leaps and bounds in the past few months.

I’m still feeling lots of movement from Chase everyday….such an awesome feeling! Things are moving right along. The mural is complete; we have some nursery furniture; baby showers are right around the corner. The excitement is definitely setting in as time passes! And time has definitely been flying, especially since I’ve been so busy with work. My boss has me working overtime right now. Fortunately, the overtime should end soon and I’ll go back to regular workdays. I’m just thankful that I’ve been feeling well enough to work the extra hours without it paying a toll on me. Moreover, I’m thankful to have a job right now! At least I have an office job where I’m off my feet for most of the day. I’m going to hang in there with work as long as I can, but I already have my paperwork in order for requesting maternity leave….I’m so looking forward to it!

28 Weeks

Less than 3 months to go now! This week was a busy one! Tim and I bought a crib and dresser/changing table off of Craigslist last night (will post pictures as soon as we assemble the furniture). We touched up on our registries from Target and Babies R Us earlier this week too.

Just had a doctor's appointment today: weight, blood pressure, belly measurement, and fetal heartbeat were all in excellent standing. I had to partially fast this morning for a glucose test (testing for gestational diabetes)....should know the results of that some time next week. They also drew blood for testing for Vitamin D deficiency. Did you know that about half of pregnant women end up having Vitamin D deficiencies?....wow! The positive side to this is that even if one does have a Vitamin D deficiency, it can easily be supplemented with an extra vitamin a day. Anyhow, I won't know the Vit. D. results for another 2-3 weeks.

I have another routine check-up scheduled for Feb. 12th and a 32-week ultrasound appointment on Feb. 25th. Back in November, EVMS noticed that I had a marginal case of placenta previa. Fortunately, this condition usually fixes itself as the placenta typically moves up and away from the cervix as the baby grows. If for some reason the placenta does not move out of the way, a C-section will be required. I'm anxious to see how much Chase has grown when we have the ultrasound done. I'm not too concerned with the marginal placenta previa issue....it's in God's hands.....and, statistics are in my favor since only 10% of the cases of marginal placenta previa don't clear by the third trimester.

Our child-prep class went great on Saturday! Tim and I both learned so many valuable tid-bits of information from our instructor, Tara Kramer. I also got to learn quite a bit about breastfeeding. That's something I definitely want to do...just hoping and praying that it will work out smoothly for me, especially since I'll be pumping once I return to work. I already bought a pump that was on sale at Babies R Us! I'm highly motivated to give it my best shot, but I know that some women struggle with it more than others and a lot of it depends on how well the baby latches on at first....and, some women also struggle with producing a sufficient milk supply. We'll see how it goes! The pump is something I wanted to have of my own versus renting or borrowing one...if things don't work out with nursing this baby, I'll try again with the second one (I know that's thinking way into the future since the first one still isn't here).

Pictures to be posted soon.....stay tuned!

Things Falling into Place

(This paragraph was also posted on Facebook.) We have a babysitter! I confirmed that my mom is cutting back her hours at her night-shift nursing job (as an RN) so that she can take care of Chase full time during the workweek. My older sis Dawn will be taking care of Chase for an hour or so on the mornings when there is an overlap time between when my mom will get off from her nursing job to when she can arrive at my sister's house. Dawn doesn't have to be at her job until about 8 or 9, so Chase will thankfully be covered during those early morning hours. Our plan is to drop Chase off at Dawn's house around 7:00 AM in Newport News before work and pick him up there around 4:30 PM in the afternoon. This is a huge answer to our prayers because there is nobody we can trust more to take care of Chase than our own family! Plus, my sister's house is only a half hour from our house and it's only about 15 minutes from work....not too far of a drive for us, which is awesome! A special thanks to my mom and sister for their willingness to take care of our little one! Another bonus to this situation is that Chase will get to grow up with his cousins (Dawn's girls/my nieces), because my mom will be taking care of all of her grandchildren together during the workweek. Praise God!

Tim and I took the hospital tour at Riverside Hospital on January 8th, so we're registered there and know what to expect when the big day comes. On the other hand, most of the child preparation classes at Riverside were filled up and they required a rather pricey fee; but, Dawn hooked us up with one of her co-workers who is certified to teach such classes. As a result, we're having a one-on-one session with the instructor this Saturday here at our house (for free too!). The instructor will be going over childbirth and baby basics.

The nursery is falling into place one step at a time. As you saw in my last post, the mural is almost done. Tim is working on installing ceiling fans in the nursery and our other spare bedroom now. I've started cleaning out all of the closets and bagging things to go up in the attic so that we'll have room for baby things.

We've registered at Babies R Us and Target. I'm still not done with the Target registry since I started it online and haven't actually been to the store yet. However, I feel relieved that things are gradually falling into place.

Chase seems to be healthy and kicking up a storm in my belly! I can't believe how much he's grown! I'm really starting to look and feel pregnant now.....never thought it would be difficult to shave my legs, put on my shoes, and paint my toenails until here recently!

My next posting will probably be in February (or as soon as I hear the results from the glucose test I'll have to take on Jan. 30th). These next few months are going to fly by with all of the doctors appointments, nesting, and baby showers!

6 Months and Lots of Pics

This is the incredible mural I've been talking about in previous blog postings. This is our soon-to-be nursery! In this picture, you can see a treasure chest, sea ray, and lots of neat coral that Tim's mom painted.

Tim's mom painting fish: the fish are the finishing touch to the mural....she's almost done!

Dolphins swimming around....can you imagine how intrigued Chase will be staring at all of the cool stuff painted in the mural?!!

More Colorful Coral

The mommy and daddy-to-be

The mommy-to-be looking rounder by the day!

Happy New Year to all of my fellow bloggers! Tim and I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. It was so nice to have a break from work, and we enjoyed spending time with family. We received so many nice gifts for Christmas—in fact, Chase got a lot of nice things too! In addition to Chase’s Christmas gifts, my neighbor who had a baby boy back in October has been giving us all of the baby clothes as her son is outgrowing them. We feel like we’re off to a good start on accumulating baby supplies, but there is still a lot left for us to buy. We registered at Babies R Us on Friday—had a good time scanning everything on our wish list! Our next big task is to get furniture. We have a few cribs and dressers in mind, but haven’t purchased anything yet. Tim’s mom came up with a great idea to use our hallway closet (which is huge—it was initially intended for a washer and dryer) as a changing station, so that would be a great way for us to save space in the nursery and keep the changing table and diapers stowed away elsewhere. The closet is right next to the nursery/bedroom door, so it’s conveniently located too. In order to implement Pam’s great idea, we have to make a home for all of the stuff that is currently in the closet. So much to do in the remaining three months!

Chase has definitely hit a growth spurt (and so have I). I went from only feeling a few flutters just a month ago to feeling strong kicks and punches now. It is such a blessing to feel those signs of life! Tim has been enjoying feeling his son move around too. Sometimes when I fall asleep on the couch or in bed while Tim is still awake, Tim will place his hand on my belly and feel Chase moving around even when I’m unaware of it. Too cool! I’m thankful to have a husband who is just as excited to have a baby as I am!

What a busy week! We went on the Riverside Hospital tour for expectant parents Thursday night. I’m all registered to deliver there and we’ve been prepped on what to expect when the big day comes. We also have a pediatrician squared away—Dr. Baust at Peninsula Pediatrics in Port Warwick. (Thanks for all of your great recommendations!) I had my 6-month check-up on Friday. Chase’s heartbeat is going strong and my blood pressure and weight are still doing great (with the exception of two extra pounds I gained from all of the holiday munching I did during the last month). My next OB visit on January 30th will entail glucose testing for gestational diabetes, so I’m hoping and praying everything will be normal. After Jan. 30th, I’ll start seeing my OB every two weeks, and I’ll have my next ultrasound at 32 weeks.

We still haven’t gotten the childcare situation completely ironed out, but I trust God will provide the perfect person to fill that important position. My grandmother opted out of babysitting all together (she was originally going to cover Tuesdays and Thursdays)—I think she is afraid to bite off more than she can chew since she is almost 83 years old. There is a possibility my mom will take care of Chase full-time (Mondays-Fridays) since she says she is cutting her night-shift nursing job back to part-time hours (versus the full-time hours she’s currently working). In doing so, she would also be taking care of my two nieces along with Chase—which would be great bonding time with her grandchildren, and it would be awesome for my sister and me since we know Mom would be such a great, trustworthy babysitter. So, we’ll see what happens there. In the meantime, I’m still searching for other potential babysitters just in case the situation with my mom falls through.

That’s enough of a novel for now. I’ll post again at seven months or sooner.