32 weeks

So what have we been up to the past few weeks? A lot actually. As I mentioned in my last blog, our offer was accepted on our house the last week in February. I've been on "light duty" after a few higher blood pressure readings at my doctor's appointments. That means I work from home 2 days a week and in the office 3 days. It surprisingly has been a good arrangement so far. I'm so thankful I have an understanding boss and a flexible company that I work for. God is good!

Randy went home to Odessa a few weekends ago for Vito and Monique's wedding. I didn't make the trip. Didn't think I needed the extra stress of a 5-6 hour drive both ways at 31 weeks. :) But Tiffany came down and we packed up all (well almost all, I found more this weekend) of our books and pictures from our apartment. We also did a little bargain shopping for Avery's room. It's going to be cute!

Last week was spring break for Randy, so he was at home all week. I think he enjoyed the break, though by the time I got home each day he usually was stir-crazy and wanted to get out of the house. Thankfully, he had a few projects to work on and got to help some friends of ours move - so that released some of all the extra energy. Oh and on Thursday Daniel and April came down to visit us - which was so much fun and good for us to catch up. Saturday we went to Christine and Michael's wedding in Frisco. Who would have thought that we would have frigid temps in Texas on a March 20th wedding day?! Brr! It was cold, but the wedding was beautiful.



I don't know if this photo is as funny to anyone else, but Daniel never ever has his eyes open in 2 back to back photos. Somehow he managed in these! Guess he is practicing for the wedding.

I had my 32 week appointment on Monday and they did a sonogram to see how big Avery is and if my fluid levels were ok. Everything was good! Avery is measuring at about 4 lbs, and 16.75 inches long. The doctor estimated 7 lbs by the time she is born, but we'll see about that. I have heard those estimates can be way off. Mom came down and went to the appointment with me, so she got to see the sonogram too. My bp was still high at the appt but has been low at home, so the doctor said we would keep doing what we are doing, and take things a week at a time. I'm getting way too familiar with the doctor's office, but I'm not on bedrest so that is a blessing. I can handle light duty since it means a healthy Avery.



Mom and I this morning before she left.

Mom stayed through today and helped me around the apartment - packing and cleaning. We also did a little shopping and found Avery a dress for her Uncle Daniel and Aunt April's wedding. Isn't this adorable?



And here are the ones you all wanted to see (maybe, anyways!) My 30 and 32 weeks pics. Somehow I think I looked bigger in the 30 week one, but I really think it is the angle of the camera. Avery is definitely growing and my belly is showing it. If you look closely you can see my belly button sticking out at times. Randy gets the biggest kick out of it. Apparently when I laugh it pokes out more so he is constantly trying to make me laugh just so he can see it.

30 weeks down and only 70 days left!

We are 30 weeks today. 30 weeks down and only 10 to go. I am a little sad when I look at that last sentence. I am ready to meet Avery, but time has gone by so fast. I am really trying to savor every moment I have left of being pregnant with her. It has helped this week that I've been on light duty. At my monthly appointment last week, my blood pressure was high for me. My doctor wanted to run some more tests and such to make sure nothing else was going on. So I did the tests and went back on Friday to check my blood pressure again. Well, it was the same on Friday. Everything else in this pregnancy so far has been pretty normal, so the doctor said as long as I could work from home he wouldn't put me on bedrest. I just had to go back in one week and monitor my bp from home for a week.

Then on my way home from the doctor and headed to buy a bp monitor, Randy calls. He says, "You'll never guess what happened this morning?" I said, "Please tell me we got the house." All the while, having a very emotional moment. :) "Rachel, I'm at school, how would I know if we got the house?" "Well, I really need some good news right about now." At that point Randy realized something wasn't right. After I told him about my bp results, he apologized for leading me on and told me our offer had been accepted! He had taken a "bathroom break" to answer his phone during class and had found out our offer had been accepted. We were so excited! That evening we met with our realtor and signed our part of the contract. Ahhhh!!!

And this is where I'm a little more real in this post. The last 6 months have been quite a journey in looking for the right house for us. When we started looking in August, we never imagined it would take this long. We've looked at so many houses, we can now drive by a house and almost tell you what it will look like inside. After finding several houses we liked, placing offers on them, having the offers rejected or coming in 2nd, we were really at the point where we didn't know what our next step was supposed to be. We knew God had something in store for us, it just didn't seem like we were moving anywhere in that direction. Our lease was up in January, so we knew we would have to go month-to-month or find another place to stay. We have room for a baby here in our current apartment, we would just need to seriously downsize our stuff. We took a break from house hunting around Thanksgiving and Christmas just to breathe for a while. House hunting is tiring! Then after the first of the year, we found a new realtor (thanks Brad!) and started the search again. There was a little more urgency this time as baby girl only had 4.5 months until her arrival and our lease was up at the end of January. We put in an offer on one house we thought would be perfect, but it wasn't accepted. Then we found another one and the day we went to put in an offer, they accepted another one. I'll be honest, at that point I didn't know what God was up to. I was frustrated and tired. But God was working! He always is. :) I just had to let go and trust him. Then the house that God had for us came along. We saw it and loved it. It is a foreclosure, but extremely clean. Like so clean it only needs carpet cleaning and a few paint touchups. Trust me - foreclosures like this one are RARE! No closing date yet, but hopefully soon! God is good - and always has the best for us if we just wait.

Ok, back to the baby info. I went back to the doctor today and my bp was still a little high, but lower than last week. The doctor wants me to keep monitoring my bp and to continue taking it easy. Baby Avery is doing great and growing on track. My 30 week email said she weighs about 3 lbs and will gain 0.5 lbs a week from here until week 37. No new symptoms. I still have my appettite! I did finish my pillow so sleeping is hopefully getting better. Stay tuned for pictures later. Haven't had time to take them yet today. :)