40 weeks and still no baby...

Well, my due date has come and gone...again. Why oh why do I even bother having a due date? My kids never come early or on time. Oh well, what's a few more days, right?!

Since yesterday morning (7/15) I've been having contractions every 10 minutes on the dot. It's been over 36 hours and I'm still having them every 10 minutes--all day, all night. Hoping it means she's coming VERY soon. I'm tired. I didn't sleep last night at all because the contractions were strong enough to wake me and keep me awake...it's been a long day!

Yesterday I went grocery shopping "one more time" hoping it would help my contractions pick up and since I haven't driven in a while I noticed I had to scoot my driver's seat back so much so that I could now barely touch the pedals because my stomach kept hitting the steering wheel when I tried to turn. Ahhh...I'm big and so ready to be done and trying so hard not to complain, but not doing a very good job at that.

40 week picture. Right before bed. ahhh....I look tired and very chubby (probably because I am both). I have put on 32 lbs but really starting to feel the weight catch up with me. Oh well, I'll lose it eventually!



Come on baby, we want to meet you!!

Maternity Photo Shoot

This past weekend, I had a wonderful maternity shoot with Betsy Wright who who is a very talented photographer. It was HOT out (at least 90 degrees) but I had a wonderful time going around our little town with her and photographing my BIG belly and the beautiful scenery. I thought they turned out great (except that I really need a tan) and I'm looking forward to her shooting newborn/sibling pictures when the baby is born!

CLICK HERE to view her website and enter the password "baby", to view the album.

If you're in the Charleston area and need pictures taken, definitely get ahold of her!

36 weeks

36 week appt. was today. Things are still going well except that I'm exhausted because I cannot sleep (and Lincoln has woken up at 5am for the past 2 weeks). We had another ultrasound and it shows that I have about 25 cm of amniotic fluid and the doc said average at 36 weeks is between 7-10 cm. He's not too concerned because the baby looks fine, he just wants to see it level off and stop increasing (which it didn't since last week). Baby is measuring over 7 lbs. and I'm measuring about 40-40.5 weeks. The doc and his wife (my other doc--they are in a practice together) are going to be out of town July 1-5 so he said not to have her then. Knowing my luck I'll have her early and they'll both be out of town...but, lets hope not. Another u/s and appt. next week.

34 Weeks (Updated)

Update: This afternoon (34 weeks, 6 days) I had another doctor's appt and ultrasound, we are now going every week. It's great getting to see our baby so often. She's definitely going to look like Ty...she has those eyes, you can really see them in the 4D scan. She was a very active peanut and her HR was in the 160s. We're having all these ultrasounds because they are watching how big she's getting and watching my fluid levels. After the ultrasound we met with the doctor. I had my Group B Strep test and he checked my cervix. We should know the results next week and he said my cervix is closed.

He is a little concerned about my fluid level because it is "increased" as he called it. There could be a number of reasons for this, but he's fairly confident it's just because the baby is big and bigger babies produce more urine, hence the increased fluid. Speaking of the baby's size she is measuring at about 7 lbs already (and I'm measuring 40 weeks). He said average size babies at 34 weeks is about 5 lbs (my little sister, McKenna, was born at 34 weeks and weighed 4 lbs. 10 oz). I am fully aware ultrasounds can be way off so I'm not too concerned about her size and neither is the doc. Both of the other kids were big, so I definitely wasn't expecting to have a little baby :)! Although, I am pretty sure if she keeps gaining like she is he'll want to induce because she'll be at least 10 lbs (if the ultrasound is accurate).

In a completely different direction, I am feeling decent but am tired of not sleeping. Riley and Lincoln have been waking up by 5am the past 5 days and I haven't been falling asleep until at least 1am because I have the worst pregnancy insomnia. We're also not getting out of the house as often as we usually do because 1. it's HOT down here and 2. it's getting so much more difficult for me to take both kids out. As much I love being pregnant (I really do, even if I complain about it sometimes) I don't like these last few weeks because I am gigantic (even my doctor said I was :))!
We have another appt. next week and another ultrasound...we'll probably have an ultrasound every week until I deliver her. Thank goodness for good health insurance!!

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Finally found my camera so I could post these. Here's my 34 week picture and no judging on what I look like right after I wake up :)! I'll update this post after my u/s on Wednesday!

WHOA MAMA: 32 Weeks!

UPDATE: This morning I had my 32 week appt (I'm 32.5 weeks) and baby looks nice and healthy. Her HR was in the 150's and I'm measuring just over 36 weeks! We'll be having another ultrasound in 2 weeks because doc says that if she doesn't slow down she's on track to be 10 or more pounds and he really wants to keep an eye on how big she's getting! YIKES. I know they always say each baby gets bigger, but I truly didn't think this baby could be bigger than Lincoln (he was 9 lbs 6 oz), but it looks like if I go until my due date she could be! I'm glad their keeping a good eye on her (and I LOVE all of the ultrasounds) and will be surprised if they let me go past my due date or even to it...I guess we'll have to wait and see. You never know she could just be going through a growth spurt right now and will slow down anytime!

Oh man, are you ready for this? I think baby had a growth spurt the past couple of weeks. Here I am at 32 weeks and getting really uncomfortable:

Literally none of my maternity clothes (except for my dresses) fit anymore and it's kind of depressing since I still have 8 weeks to go. My belly literally hangs out of the bottom of every shirt! I need clothes that mom's of multiples wear, I think...even though I'm not having multiples! Oh and at 30 weeks I had my waist measured and it measured at 42 in :)!

Just for fun, here are comparison pictures of when I was 32 weeks pregnant with Riley, Lincoln and baby #3 (in that order): I wore the same shirt so you can tell if I'm bigger or not...I'll let you be the judge!

Lincoln's 2nd Birthday Party

This year was quite a bit different than the previous years, as far as having a "party" for the little guy. It was bitter sweet, definitely. I really missed having a big party with all of our families, a theme and lots of food. We did, however, still have a party--just the four of us. I made a cake and we had dinner and opened gifts. His favorite gift was the trampoline (although, I think it is Riley's favorite gift too). Here are a few pictures of my two year old.

28 Weeks!!

I had my 28 week appt. this morning and there is not much new to report. I had my glucose testing which I wasn't thrilled about taking both kids to considering it's an hour wait then I had an appt. afterwards but my good friend, Stacey, watched Lincoln (THANKS STACEY!!) which was a HUGE help. Riley does fine at my appts, but Lincoln gets very antsy! Got my blood drawn and now my arm is bruised and it hurts to straighten it, oh well.

The baby looks great still which I am so thankful for. Her heart rate was in the 140s. She's such an active peanut, I'm not sure she ever sleeps...lets just hope she doesn't keep that up when she's here!!! I've put on 22 pounds so far. Not too bad, but I know with the heat still to come I'll be puffy and swollen in no time! We start going to the doc every two weeks now, I cannot believe how quickly time is passing me by!!

Reasons I LOVE summer...

Just a couple of the reason I LOVE summer:

1. Pop-sickles. In this picture Lincoln hit his pop sickle against Riley's and said "Cheers" :). I love having a cool treat on a hot day and so do the kids. AND

2. Nakedness. Is nakedness even a word? When it is hot out and we're home with nothing to do, I'll admit my children are almost never clothed. I just let them run around in their diaper/underwear (and bow, of course). Why not, right?!

3. SWIMMING! Okay, not exactly my kind of swimming, but the kids LOVED it. I often feel guilty that we don't have a big backyard for the kids to play in but I know this is just the time of our life right now. However, if I can make up for it I will try. We have a small deck out our slider so we bought the kids a pool and they don't even notice they're on a deck instead of in a big backyard!! I am sure we will be spending a lot of time "swimming" this summer. (Thanks to Ty's Gma, we used the kids' Easter $$ to buy them a fun toy we'll be enjoying often!)

4. Milkshakes. I LOVE chocolate milkshakes and love not having a reason to make one. The kids love their "shakes" too...they just don't know that mine is a chocolate shake and theirs is a strawberry, banana, kiwi smoothie that Daddy made :). They think it's the greatest treat in the whole world. Am I so mean that I make my kids eat healthy :)!!??

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This picture will not be staying up very long because it's disgusting, but here's proof for those of you who don't think I'm absolutely huge! Good thing no neighbors came outside :)! Only 14 weeks to go!

24 weeks

24 weeks baby! Feeling good still, nothing new to report yet. My next appt. is April 5th so I'll update this post afterwards...I just knew you all were dying to see my picture :)!

UPDATE: Baby looks great! Her heart rate was in the 158 range. This week I met Dr. Lao and I really liked him. I had to take both kids with me to the appointment by myself as Ty had a last minute meeting he couldn't get out of! It's the first appt. he's missed with any of our babies! Next month I will have my glucose testing and another appt. then after that we'll probably be going every 2 weeks! WOW. I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is going. Baby is moving a TON. This pregnancy reminds me so much of when I was pregnant with Riley--VERY sick in the beginning and now an extremely active baby. Lincoln was much more mellow. It's just how their personalities are today too! I can't wait to see how this new baby fits in to our family--I'm sure once she's here I'll forget what it was like to have only two little ones!

Things on my mind...

This will most likely be a long, very random post about a bunch of different things so bare with me.

First of all, I'm SO excited to announce that Kasey and Corey had their baby boy, Micah Corey Kugle, on Feb. 19th at 4:24 am. He weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz and is 21 inches long! Sounds like it was a rough labor, but totally worth it. She's sent me some pictures (but if you want to see them you'll have to check out her blog in the next few days!) and I can't wait to get my hands on my new little nephew! I am thankful that both Kasey and baby are home and doing well!

Ty is gone almost all week, which I'm not thrilled about. He's in Houston, TX for work. He left this morning at 3am to catch his 5:25 am flight. His flight doesn't get in until 1am Friday morning, then has to be to work at 8am! YIKES! I swear Lincoln senses when he's gone because whenever he is, Lincoln doesn't sleep well at all. He was up this morning at 5:20am and hasn't been up before 7:15 in over a month! What the heck!?

We have our ultrasound on Friday morning which I'm thrilled about. The baby is moving a ton and I love it. Riley likes to put her head on my belly and "listen to the baby's heart beat". The other day the baby kicked and it hit her right in the cheek. She looked up at me and said "Mommy, the baby kicked me...give her a time out"! Priceless. I am also excited to (hopefully) find out what we're having. I'm still guessing girl. I am fairly confident I even spent a good deal of money at BabyGap last week buying up baby girl clothes and nothing for a baby boy. I got rid of ALL of Riley's baby clothes thinking we wouldn't have another baby until those clothes were out of style...oh how I love God's timing! Here I am at 19 weeks (and Lincoln at 20 months saying "up, up":)):

Lincoln talks like crazy and can say almost anything you tell him to say. He loves his sister more than anything and instead of calling her "Riley" he calls her "Buddy". All day I hear "Paaay Buddy" (Play Buddy). "Help Budddddy". "love u Buddy". He's so sweet.

Making Valentines! I told them they had to change into something that didn't matter if they got paint on it, so Riley wanted her heart jammies on since it was V-day and Lincoln picked out his skeleton Halloween ones :)!

Fishing

Just woke up and are happy as can be--don't worry not every morning is so peaceful!

When I was sick with morning sickness I slept on the couch most nights. It was closer to the toilet (for throwing up), I didn't wake Ty or the kids up when I'd get up in the middle of the night and it was just plain more comfortable. Now that I'm feeling better I'm back in our own bed. However, during those few weeks Ty decided it would be a wonderful idea to let Riley sleep in our bed if she came into our room. Well, fast forward a few weeks and now she's no longer sleeping through the night because she's coming into our room thinking she's going to sleep with us...oh HECK NO. I refuse to let her sleep with us because I won't sleep. I sleep horribly as it is and I really wouldn't sleep if she were in our room. So, now I'm dealing with a 3 year old getting up 2-3 times a night crying because she wants to sleep with Daddy. Good one Ty! I've told him I'm not getting up to put her back in bed because he started this mess. However, now that he's gone all week I have to. I am not a happy camper. I need my sleep and am crabby when I don't get it. But, we'll get her back on track. I'm just annoyed and was hoping that at least before the baby comes I could get a good night of sleep.

This is very random but have any of you ever frozen those Pillsbury Grands Rolls in their package (like before they've been cooked)? I have like 30 packages in my fridge that I won't use before they expire! If not I'll just donate or give them away since I got them for free. I was just curious if you've done it before?!

We're still in the process of finding a new church around here. It is always a frustrating process for me because I always really like the one we come from and finding one that measures up is difficult. We've found a few that we like, but there is always something missing. I love the children's program at one church, at another I love the worship style and at another I really like the pastor. I just wish we could find one church that has all three together. We didn't go this past week because Ty and Lincoln have both been sick, but we'll keep searching until we find the one.

Yesterday it was 60 degrees here and it made me wish it were spring. Oh how I can't wait till it is warmer. It will be much easier getting the kids out because I won't have to get coats, hats and gloves on and off 10 times just to go one place.

We desperately need to take Lincoln's nipper (pacifier) away, but I'm dreading it. He sleeps so well with it. Should I take it away before or after baby #3 comes? I'm thinking before.

16 weeks

Here I am at 16 weeks...feeling great now! This is by far my favorite time in pregnancy. I am finally over morning sickness, finally have some of my energy back, and I still don't feel too big where I have a hard time doing things! I am definitely in maternity clothes now (and have been for weeks) and have put on a total of 4-5 pounds (at least that's what the scale at the dr's office said).

I am having a really hard time sleeping--the insomnia is awful and it's funny to remember all (at least many) of my dreams! I sleep on the couch most nights because frankly that's where I sleep the best. No kids coming into my room, if Lincoln wakes up Ty gets up with him :), it's great...and I appreciate that my husband doesn't mind! I already feel like I only get a couple of hours of sleep without the kids waking me up too!

We are so thankful that God has given us another baby to love on, we know how lucky we are!!

12 weeks

I am going to make it my mission to try and not "stiff" this baby by not recording the events of this pregnancy, so here we go again. I'll attempt to record all the fun aspects of pregnancy and also the parts I'm not a huge fan. A started this blog mainly to journal our lives so I wouldn't forget all the memories I'll hopefully be good at documenting this pregnancy too.

I am now 12.5 weeks along and, thank goodness, am starting to feel better. I found out I was preggo at the end of October and the day I found out the morning sickness began and didn't quit until a couple of days ago (although, I still I don't feel "normal" yet). I threw up at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, for about 8 weeks straight. I suppose the most difficult part was moving and unpacking and organizing while sick as a dog. Thankfully Ty, who is the hardest working man out there, was so understanding and while I lay sick on the couch he was busy unpacking our things. I literally did maybe 10% of the work while he did the rest!

Here's my belly picture at 12 weeks! Oh my goodness I am huge already, although I know how I get so I don't have much of a chance to stay too small...but seriously, most people woudln't even be showing yet! Crazy!


**not easy to take a self-portrait!

"Happy Due Date" to me...

Well my due date has come, and still has 4 more hours, but I think it's safe to say that I am overdue...again. I thought for sure we'd have our little guy home by now!! Oh well, if he's not here by Thursday we've got another dr. apt. then and hopefully he'll have some good news or he'll have us set a date to be induced. I'm so bummed, huge and exhausted though...

I told Ty that for our next baby (in like 10 years :)) I don't want the doc to tell me my due date because I get so excited and then my babies are always late...so next time I'll have no idea :)!

Anyways, here is a picture of me at 40 weeks exactly. (I just got out of the shower so I look disgusting, plus am getting really fat!) Oh well, it will all be worth it in the end...

One word...HUGE!

PS. Happy Birthday to my "little" bro, Kol! He's 21 today...

Dr. appointments...

This week has already been full of doctor appointments for both Riley and I. Riley had her 18 month well-baby appointment (even though she is 19 months old) and thankfully she was completely up-to-date with her shots so she didn' have to get any!! That made my life (and I'm sure her's as well) so much easier! She is now 22 lbs. (20th percentile) and 32 inches (40th percentile)...she must have had a growth spurt since her last appointment! I also had them look at her infection again and even though it is getting better each day they still prescribed more meds. to help it clear up quicker!

I had my weekly appointment on Monday and everything looks great...once you get to the bi-weekly and weekly appointments it kind of seems like they're all the same. I am now 38 weeks and I put on 1 lb. since last week but am finding that it's still way harder to get around. I'll try to post belly pictures later tonight, I am now off to clean the house and do laundry while Riley is taking a nap!

Ty says I look abnormally gigantic :)! Me at 38 weeks...

A big boy?? What do you think ;)!!?

I was scrubbing the floor the other morning and sweet little Riley had to help me off the floor because I was so exhausted and so huge...she's so funny because she'll pretend like she's helping me up and grab my hand to pull me up and then say "ugh..." when trying to help. It's really funny!

Oh yeah...I almost forgot to mention that I have officially grown out of almost all of my maternity clothes :)!

35 1/2 weeks preggo...

Updated belly pictures at 35 1/2 weeks: (I'm definitely getting uncomfortable).

We've got a doctor's appointment on Monday so I look forward to see what the doctor has to say. We also start going every week now--that's when you know it's getting so close!!

35 1/2 weeks

35 1/2 weeks

Don't mind Ty's sweats and the Lakeshore t-shirt from 4th grade that I've got on...it was late :)!

Just when you thought...

...I couldn't get any bigger!! I'm posting my new belly pictures and man, even I couldn't believe how huge my belly is. Is it really possible for this little guy (or my belly) to get any bigger?? Here I am at 32 weeks (almost):

It's also getting pretty bad when I've still got 8 weeks left and already growing out of my maternity clothes, which is starting to happen. Just in the belly though...thankfully. I don't feel like the rest of my body has ballooned yet...we'll see. Isn't it amazing how God designed our bodies to stretch and change in order to "house" a little baby?! It never ceases to amaze me...

I'm feeling well but tired and my feet are starting to hurt more and more. It's getting much more difficult to get out and about with Riley (without Ty) so thankfully we've found crafts and fun things to do on the days when I'm too tired to go anywhere. The baby is kicking like crazy (well more like pushing and rolling) still all day and all night. Most mornings I will roll next to Ty in bed and let the little one kick him and wake him up. I mean if he's keeping me up, Ty should have to be up too, right??? I don't think Ty agrees though :). But he does love feeling the baby move. I know that after I had Riley that was what we missed the most, so we try to take advantage of it now because soon it will be over!

27 Weeks...

Brace yourself...here are my updated belly pictures.

I am just over 27 week and I look like I'm about to burst and I still have 13 weeks left! YIKES! I'm not quite sure how or why I get so huge, all I know is that I do. So far I've put on 14 lbs. not too bad?!? I'm feeling great, the contractions have stopped (for the most part) thankfully and I have finally entered into the third trimester; the trimester of backaches, sleepless nights, sore feet, outgrowing maternity clothes, but most importantly the birth of our little one! I cannot believe how fast it has gone by and to be honest, I'm not quite sure I'm ready yet to have two babies running the Paulk Household!

As you probably have figured we're moved into our new place which is really nice, a lot of room, two bathrooms and huge closets and we thankfully have internet. We're not quite all unpacked yet but we're getting there; it's been difficult to get a ton done because it's pretty much Ty doing everything. I help but it's more like I work for 5 minutes and rest for 15, so I don't get much accomplished. Thankfully I have a very understanding and hard-working hubby!

PS. When we get all moved in and cleaned up I'll post new pictures of our apartment.

27 weeks

27 weeks

Belly Pictures: 23 Weeks and Counting!

Okay, as promised here are my updated belly pictures. I feel like my belly is getting huge even quicker than it did with Riley. You be the judge :)! I hope this little guy isn't bigger than Riley was!!

23 Weeks

Half way there!!

Tomorrow I will be 20 weeks along, half way there already! I can't believe it has gone by so quickly...definitely much quicker when you're chasing a 1 year old around and have other things to do than lay on the couch and feel the baby move all day long. (Although when Riley goes to sleep that's pretty much what I do the rest of the night :)!



Here I am at 19 1/2 weeks: