Reality Check

34 weeks, 2 days. It equals out to about 8 months pregnant.

Last night and this morning's conversation with Travis gave me a huge reality check. This week is my last week of work and my boss brought me a thank you present filled with bath stuff from bath and body works. Then she surprised me with things she got for little Kylee. She and I always exchange puppy stories about our dogs and when she saw booties that looked like puppies, she bought them. They're precious. She also got her a little easter bunny beanie, some pajamas, some Johnson and Johnson bath stuff and the sweetest little dress with purple lace on it. I love it all :) When I got home and showed Travis, he began listing off on his fingers what we have left to do, i.e., pack my hospital bag, figure out what Kylee will wear for her coming home outfit, etc. Then this morning, during our conversation, he asked, "how far along are you again?" My response, "34 weeks, 2 days." He did the math and I'm now 8 months pregnant. When did THAT happen? I hung up the phone and sat down for a second just thinking...

In a little over a month, Kylee will be here. Kylee. Will be. Here. As in, in my arms. That's so crazy to think about! I feel like yesterday we gave the news to our family and here I am, one month away from having her. It's a happy and terrifying feeling at the same time. Travis asked me the other night if I am scared. Scared of not being a good mom. In a way, I am. This is something that I have wanted for a long time. Just to be a mom. It sounds silly, being only 23 and saying that but that's what I've wanted. I feel like that's what will make me the happiest. And now, a month away from that role, I have no clue what to do. You hear that the maternal instinct kicks in, sure, but it doesn't take away the fear I have that I have no idea what I am doing.

I am also so unprepared. I've been working full time for the last few months so things around the house have been neglected. Her room is finished with furniture set up but I have clothes to wash and things to put away and we havent even had our showers yet. I have to wait until after those are done to do the things I need to do (or at least I tell myself that). I know it will all get done and I'm sure once my serious nesting hits, it will be more than satisfying for me.

Tonight is Bible study with Beth Moore. I really enjoy this day of the week every week. I had never heard her speak before I joined in on this Bible study thanks to a friend asking me and I definitely have missed out on a lot before! She is fantastic and knows how to really present the Word in a way that captivates every single heart in the room. The host church for this Bible study is our home church, First Baptist Houston, and seats 3,000 people in the sanctuary. The doors open at 6 and usually people are FLOODING in the doors then. By 6:15, the sanctuary is packed and they have had to open the chapel and random rooms for overflow. Unfortunately, that means the parking lot is full by 5:30 and there is no hope of getting a parking space or let alone a seat if you're any later than that. Being 8 months pregnant, having to park off site and walk that distance is not fun but thankfully I have a grandmother who lives next door to the church (literally) and I am able to park at her place and walk the short distance to the church if there are no more spots left. Tuesdays really are the highlight of my week. Never a doubt in my mind that it will be a great night!

Back to work I go but just wanted to type out those thoughts really quickly, get them off my mind.

A+

I woke up yesterday morning, in bed, snuggled up to 3 dogs, and no husband. Poor Travis has been so sick and has opted to sleeping on the couch so I don't catch what he has. He skipped out on work yesterday because of how crummy he felt and this morning wasn't much better. He has had a fever and sore throat, congestion, and watery eyes. Not sure if it's just the weather messing with him or if he has come down with something. Regardless, he said he felt well enough after a morning shower to head off to work today. Hopefully he didn't make it worse.


When I woke up yesterday, I went to start getting ready for my morning appointment at the doctor. I flipped practically every light switch in the house before realizing we had no power. I blame it on pregnancy brain. I kept grumbling to myself about why no lights were coming on. Hello, Laura! To my saving grace, the lights came back on 30 minutes before I had to leave and I managed to look presentable for the rest of the day.


I was 15 minutes late to my doctors appointment thanks to that power outage and frankly, on the drive there, I didn't get it. Why there was a rolling blackout, I will never understand. It was 30 degrees out and the sun was shining beautifully. I would have given anything to stay home from work yesterday to play with the dogs outside. It was a gorgeous day.


Back to the doctor...I know that at every appointment I am to start out by giving them a urine sample. So I walked in to the bathroom, peed, and walked out...without the urine sample! I just flushed it all away. I walked out so embarassed but the nurse said, "it happens all the time!" I was given water to start chugging right away so I didn't have to stick around for long after I saw the doctor to try again. I have now gained a total of 16 pounds (eek!!!) and my belly is growing :) Her heart beat was 153 and sounding great! The doctor visited with me for a short 5 minutes and said, "I give you an A+! You're doing great!" I feel her never ending movements all day long and wonder who she'll look like as the days pass. I read blogs and board posts about people having their baby and it just makes me that much more excited to meet her!


Since Travis is so sick, we have made zero plans for the Superbowl but I will not complain one bit if all we do is sit on the comfort of our couch and do nothing. I would love to get together with friends but don't want to risk getting any of them sick. The following weekend are our showers. I am so excited about them I can barely stand it! Travis and I are very blessed to have sweet friends that have offered to throw us showers and we are excited and very much looking forward to seeing everyone as we celebrate this time :)


I found out this week that my last day here (at the company I temp for) is earlier than was expected. Both good and bad. The girl I have been covering for has been on maternity leave herself and has decided to return on the 14th. My last day will also be the 14th so she can kind of see where I have left off with everything. The downfall is that we will be short that income when we weren't expecting for me to stop work until early March. Travis continues to look for a job in this hurting economy but so far nothing has come up. This is something y'all can pray about for us, especially with Kylee's arrival just a few short weeks away.


I am winding down with my 2 week appointments. My next one is on the 16th and then we start getting into my weekly appointments! I am shocked at how fast this is moving. I had no idea it would be like this. The first half of my pregnancy seemed to go by so slowly...maybe because I was so sick. Now I can't seem to slow it down at all.


Continue to pray for Kylee's development, the job search, and this terrible weather storm we are supposed to be getting! As of right now, I am told to still come in to work tomorrow which has me a little worried since people here don't know how to drive in this stuff. I had a vision of getting slammed by someone and being sent to the hospital and just hope this weather doesn't cause much damage!

Until next time!

Doctors, Progress & Matters of the Heart

Another 2 weeks has passed since my last doctor's appointment. No changes with Kylee! She is still an active, healthy little girl. My blood pressure is well within the normal range and Kylee's heart beat was at 146. My stomach measured 30 centimeters at 31 weeks and I have gained a whopping 13 pounds. With still 2 months to go (give or take) I am right on target with my weight gain. I sleep less and less now. I wake up anywhere from 2-5 times in the night and have difficulty sleeping in. I've never been one to sleep in past 9am but I would give anything to sleep past 7am now. All in preparation for our princess! The doctor tells me now is the time to start looking out for more than 4 painful contractions in an hour, if Kylee stops moving or moves less than she does (which I know will not be a problem for her), and a few other details I will happily leave out for your sake. Overall, this appointment went well. My next one is in 2 more weeks!

If you read my last post, you might recall that I talked about some breathing difficulties, which landed me in the hospital. At every appointment my doctor asks, "Is there anything that's worrying you or bothering you?" I discussed this particular thing with her. After describing what this felt like to me, she told me "things can happen to the heart during pregnancy and we want to get that checked out." She referred me to a cardiologist and my appointment is next week. She didn't seem too concerned which helps my nerves but I still don't know what that means. The only thing I can come up with is that my heart may just be having a hard time keeping up with the amount of blood it is having to pump all over my body. Maybe getting it all the way to my lungs is taking longer than normal or my heart is having to work extra hard just to get it there, which could contribute to the difficulties I have been having. We will hopefully know next Tuesday, the 25th! Prayers during that appointment are greatly appreciated.

Travis's dad and stepmom bought us a rocking recliner for Kylee's room so last week we picked it up! Travis got it home and put together quickly. It looks PERFECT! A huge thank you to them for that piece of furniture. It will make those late night feedings a little bit more comfortable ;-) WE LOVE IT! Nana finished the dust ruffle for her crib but wants to wait until all her bedding is finished to give it to me. She has worked very hard and put in lots of time and it is also greatly appreciated! I absolutely love knowing that I get to tell Kylee her Nana handmade her entire bedding. I don't know of many people that get to say that.

Poppy (my dad) is in Orlando this week and has found 2 onesies for Kylee so far. Both Minnie Mouse onesies which we LOVE! One has Minnie on the front and says "Adorable", the other has Minnie's body on it and when you put the onesie on, Kylee's head will be where Minnie's head will be. He told me last night he was headed to another Disney store to get her MORE stuff. This child is SPOILED ROTTEN! I enjoy having such loving parents that want to spoil her to no end. I can't wait for her to get here!

I have less than a month left of work and am ready to stop already. The house work seems never ending, my to-do list ever lengthening and things get put on the back burner because I am just tired. I am so thankful for work though and appreciate the time I have here so that house work and to-do list will just have to wait!

Please pray for:

• My doctor's appointment on Tuesday
• My breathing difficulties
• Kylee to continue developing strong and healthy
• Unspoken prayer request

Travis and I appreciate your prayers and support! Until next time...

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to everyone!

2011 brings about one of the greatest blessings for me and Travis. Little Kylee is due in 69 days. That is so crazy to think about. Since my last blog update, we have completely painted her room, complete with a metallic pink ceiling. Her furniture has been assembled and the bed awaits the handmade bedding her Nana is making for her. Nana tells me she has just the finishing touches to add and it will be complete! I am so looking forward to seeing it!

Before Christmas, I had my glucose test done (which I passed by the way, PTL). The following week, Travis had plans for a guy trip to Austin for a night and I had plans to see a comedian with some friends of mine here in Houston. Unfortunately, God had other plans in store for that day. Travis woke me up in the middle of the night telling me that I was breathing very heavily and it was keeping me up. I didn't think much of it until about 4pm that day. I got to work and had a very hard time catching my breath, had difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, etc. I shook it off knowing that I am in my third trimester and there is limited room in there. As the day went on, it seemed to get worse. I could not get comfortable. Finally, about 4pm, I received an email from a website I joined called babycenter.com. The email was titled: "21 Pregnancy symptoms you should never avoid." I clicked, out of curiosity and immediately found one about difficulty breathing. The article said it was an emergency situation and to go straight to the ER. So I picked up my phone and called my doctor's office. After speaking with the nurse briefly and describing the problems, she cut me off and told me "that is not normal, go straight to the hospital NOW". Poor Travis was 11 miles from Austin to hang out with his friends when he got the call that I was told to go to the hospital. He didn't hesitate and came right back home. I am so appreciative of that. I got to the hospital and was immediately hooked up to monitors for me and little Kylee. They monitored us for an hour and were concerned I was not getting enough oxygen, which of course means neither is she. Fortunately, my intake was 100%. Unfortunately, they could not figure out where the breathing problems came from. The only thing they could figure was that I was around someone that was sick, since I had a low grade fever and was probably currently getting over the sickness. They discharged me, sent me home, and my breathing improved over the next couple of days. Thankfully, it was absolutely nothing and Kylee and I are both fine. I couldn't have felt worse about Travis missing out on that much needed guy time and him driving over 2 hours to not see them at all and to have to come home. Luckily, the next day, he got to spend time with them when they were all in Houston for New Years.

For New Years Eve, we went to a friend's house and celebrated with a bunch of people until about 2am. It was really good to see everyone in one place again, especially since everyone is scattered in different cities and states. Below are some pictures of New Years Eve that Travis's friend took.

Travis & Chris smoking their New Year's cigars :)

Since I couldn't toast with champagne, I passed out the champagne.

My favorite picture of us, to date. Right after midnight :)

We had so much fun that night and are so happy and blessed to have friends like we have. :)


Last week, we left for Denver! Colorado has had a "weird" winter from what I understand and Denver has gotten an unusual amount of snow. Our trip to Denver was our babymoon, as people now call it. Also while we were there, Travis got to get in some snowboarding with Luke while sassy Cassie and I hit up the cute stores in and around Denver. I LOVE that place and hope it's not too long before we get to go back. Once I get pictures from Cassie, I will be sure to post them but for now, here are some taken our last day there when a snow storm hit Denver. There was talk of our flight being canceled and the possibility of spending an extra day or 2 there. Would have been nice!! Thankfully, our flight was only delayed an hour and the wait in the airport wasn't an uncomfortable one.

6 inches of snow and counting!

Right after lunch, the snow began to hit Denver really hard. In weather like this, you typically stay inside, catch a movie, etc. We went to the movies.

I miss Colorado, Cassie, Luke & Mara already. It was a short but fun and much needed vacation before our little one arrives. I would move there so fast if our family wasn't so close to us. We will be back!! Just don't know when haha!

Next week, I have another doctor's appointment. At my last appointment, my bump measured 29 centimeters at 29 weeks. I am still very small for how pregnant I am but the doctor says it is normal and everyone and their mother reminds me that I WILL explode. Thank y'all for that :) As I type, Kylee is moving. She started moving at about 10:30am and has not even sort of stopped or paused for a second. It is now 12:45pm. She is one active little girl and I love feeling her little kicks, turns, and karate chops. Not much longer now until we meet her!

2011 has some great things in store for us, starting with Kylee and we are ecstatic to have her in our lives. We hope and pray your 2011 is as great as we know ours will be :)

Boomerang

Apologies for not keeping up with this thing! Let's see if I can back track and update everyone on what's been going on since my last post...


We had our anatomy exam done and found out our little papoose is a little GIRL! We have settled on the name Kylee McKaig WalkingStick. We both just liked the name Kylee and had originally spelled her name K-Y-L-I-E. After talking some more, we realized how mean kids are. Travis's dad brought it to our attention that kids could take Kylie and turn it into Ky-lie. She already has WalkingStick to deal with. Why torture her anymore? lol! So a simple double e was a quick fix. McKaig is a family name on Travis's side. It's his dad and brother's middle name and his grandmothers maiden name. My middle name is Kay and I wanted something similar to mine. McKaig is the funky, unheard of name that we love so that's how we came up with those. As I was surfing the internet the other day, we discovered the meaning to her name. In Australia, her name means boomerang which is MORE than fitting for her. She moves so much!! The other day, I counted her movements for one hour. Within 30 minutes, she had moved 37 times. The doctor's say it's typical to feel her move a couple of times. People ask me if I really am pregnant due to my rather disappearing belly! I promise, if I didn't feel her move, I would never know I am pregnant but this child loves to move, just like her daddy. Other meanings to her name are beautiful and attractive. Well, duh! Look at us :)


Thanksgiving was relaxing, believe it or not. Usually we are out driving some place (lately it's been to my aunt and uncle's beautiful ranch). This year we were not able to attend and were able to stay home. At first I had a hard time with it but after spending Thanksgiving at home, I have to say, it was a nice change. My family's Thanksgiving is usually 50+ people and this year it was just my immediate family. While I missed everyone, I really enjoyed the quiet comfort of my mom's house, pajamas all day and indulging in everything! My mom and I made Christmas decorations and watched Edyn while Travis and my dad watched football, took a nap, then went to Home Depot to buy wood for our Christmas yard decorations that we made. I just recently finished them so once we have our house decorated with lights and the signs in the yard, I'll be sure to post a picture. We made a little penguin family and I LOVE them!!!


Since my anatomy appointment, I have had one other doctor's appointment. The doctor is very pleased with how well both the baby and I are doing. I have gained a total of 7 pounds and yet still have nothing to really show for it. No complaints from me though! My next appointment is December 23 where I will get my glucose test done. Please keep me in your prayers that day as this will be a difficult appointment for me. One thing I have learned throughout this pregnancy is that eating every so often will prevent me from vomiting. I HAVE to eat right after I wake up and again 2 hours later and again 2 hours after that and so on. If I don't, Kylee makes it well known that she is hungry and not happy with me for not feeding her. Unfortunately, this glucose test is not until 8:45 in the morning. I cannot eat anything after midnight and have to wait until after this appointment to eat. When I go in at 8:45, I have to wait to be seen by my doctor, then will be given a sugar drink to have. I will then have to wait an hour upon finishing that to have my blood drawn, be seen by a doctor again and then schedule my next appointment. By the time I get to eat, it will be my lunch time. I am very nervous about not getting to have any food until the middle of the day and feeling like I will be very sick. I pray the appointment passes by quickly and that I will not have any problems with nausea. I would greatly appreciate your prayers too.


This month brings about a million and one things to do. Trip to Austin, birthdays, Christmas, New Years, etc. Let's hope I can keep up with everything, including this.

Good News & False Hope

GREAT news! Travis and I, as of Monday night, were able to purchase a new mommy car for me! We had originally been looking for an explorer or something similar. We found one we liked online and headed to the dealership to take a look at it. It was an '07 Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer. Looked awesome in pictures but once we got to the dealership, we were pretty disappointed to say the least. However, we got them to work up an estimate on how much they would sell the vehicle and also how much they would give us for Travis's truck as a trade-in. While they were working on that, Travis felt it was too nice inside and wanted to just walk the lot. As we were walking I noticed a different vehicle. It was a 2005 Eddie Bauer Ford Expedition and had really low miles for being an '05. I immediately wanted to test drive it. We did and after climbing in the vehicle, we recognized all its many features since it was an Eddie Bauer. It is fully loaded, with leather seats, 3rd row seating, power everything, and of course, a TV and DVD player for our future little stick. To make a long story short, we were blessed to have the right pricing and opportunity fall in our lap and we are now the proud owner of this pretty new vehicle:

I love it!!!! Thank you, Lord for giving us a beautiful day and giving Travis the desire to walk that lot. He truly put us there for a reason.

• Hope. To look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence. To feel that something desired may happen.

I have hoped for the last 3 months that I would just feel NORMAL. I have hoped that what everyone was telling me was true--that nausea is only for the first trimester, that in the second trimester you feel the best you ever will in your life, that headaches would subside, and other symptoms would just plain go away. I have since learned that pregnant women will NEVER feel normal while they are pregnant. Some of you may be wondering why I ever thought I would feel normal...remember, I'm new at this, okay? But, I've accepted it and with the Lord's help I have been reminded of the blessing growing within my sweet little nothing of a stomach. That's right! Still not showing...and while, yes, I am frustrated, I have come to know that while I listened to everyone's advice and false hopes, it is Him who I should be trusting and listening to every step of the way. The second trimester is definitely different. I can tell there's been a decrease in the nausea and such but I was thinking I would be done as soon as I hit 14 weeks. Maybe soon I will feel complete relief. Until then, I am resting in Him knowing that I have been blessed with this child. And even though his/her movements are still concealed, I know that I have a healthy, growing, BEAUTIFUL baby coming our way very soon.

Trusting Him,

The WalkingSticks

Catching Up

I am trying not to be the blogger that never keeps up with this thing so excuse the lack of blogging in the last week.

For those that don't know this, our latest doctor's appointment (Monday, Sept. 20) was a big disappointment for us. Why? At our appointment at 11 weeks, we were able to see a baby that started to look like a baby. And we couldn't wait to come back for another ultrasound. Unfortunately for us, we were not told that after that appointment at 11 weeks, we would not be having another one until 20 weeks. Travis took off work and we went in with the expectation of having another ultrasound to see the little papoose growing inside my belly. They brought me back on the opposite side of where we usually go and I knew something was up right away. They informed me then that we were just getting the heart beat measurement. Don't get me wrong, that was AWESOME to hear. By the way, it was 153. However, the appointment was not something Travis should have taken off for, and we were both extremely disappointed that we had literally counted down every day until this appointment. I left crying, upset for the simple fact that I wasn't told that. After voicing that, a friend gave me encouragement and a different vantage point. She said that there are LOTS of people who have to have an ultrasound at every appointment not because they want to but because they're baby has "issues" that aren't what you want to experience in a pregnancy. That there are people who have to have them because their baby isn't healthy and they have to check the status every appointment. I had to stop and realize that my baby is healthy. How selfish was I for being that upset? I shouldn't have been and it doesn't change the fact that I still would have wanted to know beforehand but I am thankful that the Lord has blessed me with a child that is healthy and growing just as he/she should.

Monday-Wednesday I had a rather fun job (yes, seriously). I won't go into details about the job specifically but I met a girl I think I can be great friends with. She goes to my church and our husbands are pretty much the same person so this should be a relationship filled with lots of laughs. I had Thursday and Friday off so Thursday I did some massive cleaning in our house and Friday I did absolutely nothing. It was GREAT! Saturday, Travis and I woke up early and got to see our baby thanks to Michaela's sister! She is in school for this kind of stuff so she wanted to practice and who better to practice on than an actual pregnant chick?! We got TONS of photos. At first, our little papoose was sound asleep. Didn't move at all. After the sound waves woke him/her up, we spent a good 45 minutes just watching his/her movements. From hiccups, to stretches, to even an Aggie Gig 'em! We saw the brain, spinal cord, stomach, feet, hands, lips, nose, etc. I am amazed at what God has formed on and in our little papoose since the last ultrasound when I was 11 weeks. We have a hunch to the sex of the baby due to what we were able to see BUT the legs were crossed so we aren't too sure still. And no, I will not be telling what our hunch is. I won't even tell my family. My baby bump still hasn't appeared to everyone else. I know my stomach sticks out farther but right now it just looks like I have an extra layer of fat. Lovely. After our ultrasound, we headed up to Lake Conroe to hang out with some friends. Every time we leave from hanging out with them, we always say, "I really like them! Wish we lived closer." But I guess the occassional visits once a month will have to do. We had lunch on the lake, and Travis got to go tubing. It was hilarious! After leaving the lake, Travis and I went to a birthday party for a friend from our church. It was so great seeing them because we hadn't seen them in about 2 months. We chowed down on mexican food and had some yummy yellow cake with chocolate icing! By the time we left, we were sooooo full! Yesterday was spent watching football, as usual. The Texans lost which was a huge bummer but we watched it with my parents and my older brother which was fun! We made queso and ordered some pizza. Real healthy, right? haha!

This morning I woke up to something we don't normally experience in September. 60 degree weather!! YES! I immediately thought it was the perfect excuse to throw on my fall/winter boots that I was so worried I wouldn't get to wear due to a developing baby bump. Whether it gets up to 90 degrees today or not, I am sporting my fall clothes and boots. I am blessed to have received another call to have work today. So while everyone else complains about Monday, I am in an unusually happy mood. Why wouldn't I be? Great weather, fall clothing, work, and this afternoon we are checking out cars again! Man, people told me the second trimester you feel great (as in the sun shines, the birds chirp and nothing can get you down) but I didn't believe it! haha!

Things to come:

• We have our next appointment Oct. 18. Prayers are welcomed for that! We should know the sex of the baby at the following appointment either the week after or 2 weeks after that Oct. 18 appointment. We have to travel to the medical center for an anatomy exam where, hopefully, the baby will not have it's legs crossed. Mommy and daddy (as well as the entire family) are dying to know what we are having.


• Also please be in prayer that we can find a buyer for Travis's truck. We are trying to get me an SUV before the baby gets here but need to sell his truck first. We are trying to sell it on our own before getting the trade in value since it won't be the amount we should get for it. If anyone knows anyone interested, please let me know!

Here is one of the pictures from our ultrasound on Saturday. You Aggies will appreciate this:

Thanks & Gig 'em!

The WalkingSticks