A Second Look: Part II

"For you created BABY G's inmost being; you knit him together in MY womb. I praise you because BABY G is fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalms 139: 13-14 (liberties taken :-))

Hmph! I have read Psalms 139 many times and while it always blesses my soul, it came to life so clearly for me recently. "Fearfully and Wonderfully made" - these were the only words that I heard in my head day in and day out after seeing my son for the second time. They are the only words that I have been able to use to describe this overwhelming feeling of carrying another human being.

I saw his face. On last Tuesday, I went for a second ultrasound expecting it to be the routine black and white images. I was excited nonetheless because I would get to see him again and even though the images are black and white, it IS 3-D and I can actually see him moving as well. He yawned, blew air bubbles (or amniotic fluid bubbles LOL) and moved around alot as usual.

At first my US tech wasn't very chatty. I guess they like to concentrate on what they are doing and make sure they get it right. But it's just so darn quiet in there and you know me.. I like to talk. So I started to make small talk with her - babies, work, what she was looking at, etc. When near the end, she told me that she would do a 4-D ultrasound for me. 4-D??? I didn't expect that. I had seen 4-D on the internet and in books and thought it would be neat to experience it but figured I'd better stick with what they give me. But she flipped a switch (I guess) and there he was - in the literal flesh. At first I couldn't make him out. She was trying to point out the nose and the mouth and it all just looked like a bunch of flesh to me. She keep moving the machine and then there he was... a magnificent picture of his FACE - up close and personal. GASP!! Yes, I literally gasped and she laughed a bit. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW I said - over and over again. He looks just like... well I won't tell you... I've got to keep you wondering about some things right??? :-)

But that sweet face was absolutely beautiful to me. It was as if seeing him in the way made him even more real than he already is. And then it came to me "Fearfully and wonderfully made". And so that is what I think of every time I see his face - which is posted up in my bedroom for me to look at often (she was kind enough to give me a printout).

From that moment on, emotions ran the gamut. I was humbled. The Lord had chosen me to carry this person that He loves so much already. Would I be a good mom? Am I ready (too late now.. LOL). Three more months and life as I know it today is a WRAP. :-) God.. what were you thinking???? Are you sure about this??? You might be laughing and I did too, after I came to my senses.

But even in the midst of these emotions, I heard the words ever so sweetly whispered "fearfully and wonderfully made" And I tell you friends, my thoughts turn in to words of Thanksgiving! Thanking the Lord for allowing me to experience ALL of this process. Thanking Him for knowing all about Baby G well before he made it to my womb because I will definitely need some help in figuring him out. :-) Thanking Him for giving me a glimpse of the "knitting" process. I could go on and on but I'd run out of space. :-) But you are welcome to continue. I know how it can be when you think about the Lord's goodness. So with that, I will end this post but not the praise - "Your works are wonderful... I know that full well"


Until next time
Marcia

A Second Look

Baby G makes an appearance for the second time

I made it! It's still Sunday right? :-) This will be short and sweet - not much has happened this week. Baby G is very active and we have enjoyed watching the show. Yes, you can actually see him moving from the outside now! A-MAZING! We have given him a personality already and we like to say what we think he is doing and thinking when he is moving around. It can be pretty funny! Baby G will surely be a happy baby because we DEFINITELY love to laugh around here. :-)

So this week I will get to see him again - if he would be still. :-) I go for another ultrasound on Tuesday morning. The last time he moved around a LOT, even standing on his head once (I've got it on dvd to prove it). But, I am looking forward to seeing him.

Besides the photo op, it should be a quiet week. I'll update you on his progression next Sunday. Until then, Baby G and I hope you all have a GREAT week!

Until next time....
Marcia

It's about TIME

Timing is everything for this expectant mom

Hey there! I know I know, I am off the schedule. Well I have a very valid reason as to why I am officially 2 Sundays late. Are you ready? Well as we used to say as kids in a good game of Hide and Seek "Ready or Not - Here it comes" :-).....

So what has been the hold up? I will tell you what.. Time. It hasn't bowed down to me lately and and we haven't been in agreement. It keeps going and I haven't been keeping up with it very well. These last couple of weeks have been busy. As you all know, I celebrated my birthday Friday before last. - August 6th. I had a great day and night. Thanks to all who sent B-day wishes my way! I went to a Drive-In movie for the first time ever (WAY COOL). The weather was quite cooperative with a nice breezy summer night. The movie itself was ok but the whole experience was great! It was a double feature but by the end of the first I was nearly falling asleep and we still had about 45 minute trip back home. But for those in Nashville, I highly recommend Stardust Drive-In in Watertown, TN.

Everything was going well the remainder of the weekend, until Saturday night. That's when Time and I started to become distant. We'd come home late from another evening out, only to find that the air conditioner in our residence had decided it had enough. The Nashville heat had knocked it out for the count. We managed to make it through the night but something had to be done on Sunday (whose weather wasn't too kind). After contacting out landlord, we spent most of the day copping free air from the mall only to find it even hotter in the house when we returned. Needless to say, we needed another place to stay because did I mention that I was pregnant and heat and pregnancy have NOTHING in common!! Thank GOD for family in the area which provided us a cool spot to lay our heads.

What we thought might be a small problem with the unit, turned in to a 4 day stint. We didn't return home until Wednesday, August 11th. Which (if you are keeping track) was our anniversary. For me, not being in my normal environment throws me off kilter a little bit. There was no schedule anymore, no rhyme or reason to anything, we were just making sure we stayed cool and had something to eat. I had to make several trips back and forth to the HOT house to get things that I needed and to let the people in to work on the unit. By the time, Wednesday evening rolled around - we were determined to do SOMETHING to celebrate. Although the air was fixed the house hadn't yet cooled. So we caught another movie.

Thursday - Saturday came and went with me trying to play catch up on what I didn't do the previous Sunday through Wednesday. Saturday, we stepped up our game a little and did a little in-town getaway for our anniversary. I am told you have to do these things before the baby comes because apparently some think that your relationship will cease to exist after that point. Not buying it though! LOL. But there you have it! Time slipped right through my fingers and the next thing I know it's Sunday again and after another event to attend there was no blogging. But I was determined to make it happen today!

All in All August has been a good month so far. Next week I get to see my little person again! He has been quite active these last few days (for which I am thankful). I am officially 24 weeks - which I believe is the start of 6 months (I think - wait a minute - YOU are supposed to be doing the math! :-)). Things are still going well and the days are coming quickly. Before we know it, it will be December and it will be time to welcome Baby G to the world. I'm so excited to see who he will look like - me or Ezra or a hodepodge of both. Hmmmmm... sounds like the makings of another wager to me :-)


Until next time....
Marcia

A Date To Remember

Upcoming milestones create exciting month for Expectant Mom

Since I just posted on Wednesday, this one will be short and sweet. Today is Sunday August 1st. I love it when a month starts on Sunday or Monday. For some reason, I feel like I can start over or begin something I need or want to do with a clean slate. But even more than that, August is my favorite month of the year!

This Friday, August 6th - I will turn 35! It's considered a semi-big birthday to some and just another day to others. But EVERY Birthday to me is GREAT! I love birthdays and really don't understand why some people don't like to celebrate them. I love my birthday and I love to celebrate others on their birthdays. I try to remember EVERYONE's birthday. I love to call them on their day and they have no clue how I remembered. I hope that makes them feel very special and that makes me happy! But back to MY day or my month should I say :-) August is not only my birth month but on August 11th I will celebrate my wedding anniversary as well. My mom's birthday is on the 13th. I have several friends who share August birthdays and anniversaries, so it's just a good month.

In addition to all those birthdays, I get to see my little bundle again. I go for another 3-D ultrasound on August 24th to get more pics of his nose and his face, just to insure that all is developing well. I am not worried about that. I am just excited to be able to see him again and he will be much bigger and stronger which will be so cool to see.

So as always, August is going to be an exciting month for me. Lots of things and people to celebrate and I am looking forward to it. I hope your month will be just as exciting and I know for some who follow this blog - it will be, with birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate as well!

Until next week.....
Marcia

Pregnancy has its privileges!

I'm late I know. :-) But where do I begin? In my last post, I revealed the gender of Baby G. In case you haven't kept track, I'll catch you up. We're having a boy! An already VERY active baby boy! If he is this active now, I can only imagine what he might be like when he gets of age to get into something :-) Thankfully I feel some sort of movement everyday. While it used to be just after I ate, on some days, he is busy ALL day long. What is he doing in there?? I wonder. And the stronger he gets it seems the more active he is - or maybe it is the fact that I am just able to feel him more. Who knows! :-).

At any rate, Baby G is doing well. We do have a name, though I am not quite ready to reveal it to the masses yet. I'll probably save it for a later post. If you ask me privately I'll tell you though. It's just some thing about putting it in print that I am not sure I am ready for just yet. But its coming. If you've talked to me personally since we found out the gender, then you probably already know the name. But I do plan to blog about it later on.

As for me, well I am definitely enjoying being pregnant. I told a friend on yesterday that if all pregnancies were all like this one (so far) I think I can handle it. :-) And being pregnant DEFINITELY has its privileges. I think after Baby G is born, I am going to get one of those pregnancy contraptions that the men can wear (so that they can identify.. yeah right) so that I can keep the perks coming! LOL. You might be laughing but if you've been pregnant, you know what I mean. Everyone wants to do EVERYTHING for you. What do you need? Here - I'll carry that. Would you like to go before me? Don't get up, I've got it. And it goes on and on and on and I LOVE IT - Who wouldn't??

I was traveling from IL back to Nashville a few weekends ago and the line for the ladies room at the gas station where we stopped was pretty long. Apparently there was some problem with another restroom that is usually operating. Well I had to "go", but it wasn't that bad. So I had moved up in the line until there was 1 before me to go and a stall had come available. "Would you like to go before me", the lady asked. "You look like you probably need to more than I do". At first I was taken aback thinking why would she think that?? And then I realized as I looked down at my arms folded over my little protruding belly. OHHH thats why! "Oh no thank you! I can wait. Thanks though!" I responded. Wow.. I thought - that was nice. When I got back in the car, I told my husband what happened and said "I could really get used to this!" LOL

But the one that I enjoyed the most recently was at Cracker Barrel on Sunday. I like CB alot and enjoy it as regularly as I can. :-) It's like home cooking without me doing it. But as we all know CB on a Sunday mid morning is CROWDED. And this was the SECOND one we went to (what can I say, I had a taste for Cracker Barrel). Ok so to set up the scene -it's about 11:00am and its HOT outside. So NO, I was not going to be rocking in nobody's rocking chair today. Apparently everyone had the same idea because the waiting area was packed. Which is not hard to do considering CB has filled every piece of empty space where a person doesn't stand with knicknacks and miscellaneous items to lure you in. But I digress. Anyway, the wait was only supposed to be 15 - 20 minutes so I figured we could wait and I could stand... in my low heels... so I thought. I was doing well, keeping myself preoccupied with people watching and strolls down memory lane (we were standing next to the 'old school' candy and soda stand), when I realized that 15 min had come and LONG gone and we were still waiting. I had just told Ezra that I was about to create a seat on the soda box that was beneath me (I had already checked for it's sturdiness - LOL). Then the Customer service manager came up to me and said "Would you like a seat?" "Well Yes ma'am! If you don't mind, I sure would" I responded. "That is no problem at all", she said. So she goes into the dining area and grabs a seat and brings it back to me, as everyone looks to see where the chair is going. "Thank you SOO much!!", I said. "Oh no problem at all. Would you like a biscuit also, maybe some water?? I know how it can be." A biscuit??? Some water??? Ooooo Lady, you are making this too good for me. But I declined. The seat was great and I would be eating soon enough. :-) So now I am sitting (thankfully) and Ezra had gone to check on the wait again. While he was gone, an elderly man came by and chatted me up about how crowed it was. We laughed a bit and he was off (he had already eaten). But then another older lady came by (I was starting to get nervous that these elderly people would be jocking for my seat - HAHA. I would have given it up. My mother taught me well). The lady though leaned down and whispered something to the effect of "It's nice being pregnant now, isn't it" I laughed heartily and said "yes it is!" Yes, it is.

Yes - Pregnancy has its privileges and great for me, I still have about 4 more months to enjoy these perks!! :-)

Until next time.....
Marcia

The Last Airbender

As promised, this is a special edition of the Baby G Chronicles! :-) If you have been following the posts, you already know Baby G's gender from the title! Yes, my friends, I lost the bet and we are having a BOY! :-)

I had originally written this up at about 11:00am - right after my appointment. But my computer died on me and I lost everything. So instead of the lengthy response I had before, you'll get the quick and dirty version.

Yes Baby Boy G is ALL Boy! We saw proof :-) He moved around SO much that the Ultrasound Tech said "he thinks he must have somewhere to go". Every since I felt recognized his movement, I told Ezra that he was a "mover". Well today he was everywhere, flipping and all. She even showed us once where he was "standing" on this head. A busy body already!! He will definitely keep us young - chasing after him! :-)

But now that that part is over - I am relieved. I will have to use another post to tell you how I kinda knew deep down inside that it was a boy - just from some things that happened to me over the past few years, but I was still hoping for a girl. I am VERY happy though. Everything looked good and that was really all I needed to hear.

Until then, on to the next phase - SHOPPING!! Oh and I guess I need to check the local movie listings to find out the next showing of the Last Airbender. I am not a sore loser. I pay my dues.. Plus I get to eat movie popcorn which I love. So I guess this is a win-win for everyone. 1 Big Man, 2 Little men and me. Is this the "prequel" to my life's movie??? LOL

Later!
Marcia

Movement in the strangest places

The day was Thursday, July 8th and the time is around 12:00 noon. The day was a preparation day. I had just come back from Augusta on Monday and spent the next two days working through a laundry list of activities to complete before we headed out of town again on Friday. I was mostly done with my list. Thursday was going to be relatively light which I was happy about. I just needed to do a few more things - one of which was to get my hair cut for the trip. I like to keep it shaped up and looking nice - especially for a business trip. I had an appointment for 11:30am.

I was running a little late but I got there around 11:40am. No worries, because I knew I would have to wait a bit anyway. There was someone in the chair before me and another guy waiting. The guy waiting was holding the CUTEST little baby girl! She was a little "chunky" baby with a head FULL of curly black hair. She actually belonged to the guy who was already in the chair. She was a sweet as she can be. She didn't notice me until he was getting ready to go and was putting her back in the car seat. She had to be about 5 months old I guess. Her car seat was close to me and that is when she noticed me. She put on the sweetest smile. I thought "surely, I'm having a girl - after all this HAS to be a sign right???" LOL. The father noticed that I too was expecting an asked me when I was due and I told him. Even once he put the baby in the seat, she would look back up at me. See, she's staring at me - that's proof... LOL Anyway, her name was London - which I thought was very pretty and seemed to fit her. They packed up and were off.

I waited a little longer until my turn and when it was time, I was called to the barber chair. I took my sat and settled myself as my barber finished up his conversation with the last client. He had turned on some music and I sitting waiting patiently when I felt IT. THUMP! WOHHHHHH What was that??? Was that what I think it was??? BUMP! BUMP! EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK That IS what I think it is!!!! I finally feel it moving AND I AM IN THE BARBERSHOP!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? LOLOLOL.

I always thought when that magical moment happened, I would be at home or in my car, or just somewhere else actually. Never did I think, it would be the barbershop of all places. But I didn't let on that anything happened. I just sat there with a goofy smile on my face thinking - "I'm finally feeling my baby move.. HOW SUPER COOL!!!! :-)

So how did it feel to me??? . Butterflies - NO (Who has ever had actual butterflies in their stomach????) Popcorn popping - NO (I read this on BabyCenter.com and thought unless you are a bag of popcorn, how would you know how that felt????) No, it felt like it was supposed to feel - like there is something MOVING inside of you. I knew exactly what it was when I felt it and have loved feeling it every since!

It was SOOO very exciting though! A day I will never forget for various reasons - (location being one of them :-)) And I love feeling it every day which seems to be when I am sitting still, right after I eat AND when music is playing. I noticed that over the weekend. We don't play much music in the house and I mostly listen to Talk radio when I am in the car - so maybe it may have happened long ago - if I were playing the right tunes.. LOL. But from Thursday through the weekend- there seemed to have been a pattern that many times music was playing - he or she was getting their "groove on"in there. I don't know - maybe I am carrying the next great music star!!

Speaking of He or She - Don't forget Thursday, July 15th is the day we find out!! I might cheat a little and do the blog that day or maybe I will make you wait until Sunday :-). Ezra and I have a friendly wager going. If it's a girl ( my thought), he has to go see Toy Story 3. I figure its only preparing him for things to come. :-). If it's a boy (his thought), I have to go see The Last Airbender with him and my nephews. I guess this one is preparing ME. LOL

Until Thursday!
Marcia