Belly Progression

Holy moly this is crazy to see how much my belly has grown over the last 9 months and to see how white I got...geez

12 weeks

16 weeks

20 weeks

24 weeks

28 weeks

32 weeks

36 weeks

39 weeks (you see how much my belly has dropped here, wow so not cute)

Car Seat Check

I went to the hospital this morning to get our car seat checked for proper install. We were close but had a few things wrong. It was so helpful having someone very knowledgeable showing you how to properly install the car seat and how to properly secure your precious baby in their carrier. It took about 45 minutes and I'm so glad I did it and didn't just assume we had it correctly installed. There were 3 things we had wrong:
1. We had both the latches and the seat belt holding in the car seat, you should only have one or the other not both. The safety features are designed to allow a few inches of movement in the case of a car crash. With both the latch and seat belt secured, that movement is taken away and your baby takes more of an impact. Good to know
2. Car seat was installed too loosely. Although the car seat was balanced, it was too loose.
3. The seat belt strap was not fully secured down.

Car seat is all ready to go now!!

13th Doctor's Appointment

Brent and I had our 13th doctors appointment on Monday, Jan. 16th. I gained 2 pounds to weight in at 174 lbs. Dr. Grisham measured my belly and listened to Preston's heartbeat and everything appears to be right on target. Next week he will check my cervix to see what progress I am making if any. As of right now, I haven't had any contractions just the feeling of Preston dropping and him feeling really heavy.

I brought thank you gifts for the girls in the office and wrote Dr. Grisham a thank you note for taking such good care of us. The girls loved their bath gift and Dr. Grisham appreciated his card. He even read it in front of us which was a little strange but he appreciated that we recognized his efforts to take good care of us.

Here is the letter I wrote Dr. Grisham
Dear Dr. Grisham,

Brent and I would like to extend our most sincere gratitude to you and your staff for making our first journey as new parents so memorable and special. Throughout the entire process your patience has not gone unnoticed as you have answered our numerous questions, comforted our fears and allowed us to savor every precious moment that we will treasure for a lifetime. You and your staff have made us feel as if our story is one in a million and for that, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We have been beyond satisfied with the level of service we have received from your practice and we are looking forward to embarking on a new journey in a few days as we welcome our little boy Preston Jack Porter into our family. Thanks again for everything.

Sincerely,
Brent and Holly Porter

Its almost time....!!!

Over the weekend of Jan 14th, I feel like Preston has really made some progress by dropping pretty low. All weekend, I felt like I had to hold my belly up because he is getting soo big and heavy. My parents came over and helped me paint my memaw's dresser to use in our guest bedroom. Hopefully one day if I have a little girl, she can use this dresser as well. It was a 2 day process and I am very impressed with ourselves that we got it all done...hardware and all. Its getting really difficult to move and get around, up and down and rolling from side to side in bed. I feel like Preston can pop out at any moment. I'm working hard to get everything wrapped up at work so if I do go into labor, I won't have to worry too much about work and tying up any lose ends.

Brent rode his bike over the weekend and it made me so nervous to have him be an hour and a half away...what if I went into labor? To to make me feel better, he followed Mac in the camero to the dirt bike track just in case he needed to leave at a moments notice. He even checked his phone every 15 minutes and called in several times to make sure everything was all good. Luckily, Preston didn't come and he got back home with no major injuries. Brent can't wait to get Preston a little bike so they can go riding together. Hopefully, I get a bike too!!

Thats about it. We are still on standby...

Growing Belly

35 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks (this was a hard week...no looking so good here)

38 weeks

12th Doctors Appointment

Brent and I went for our 12th doctors appointment on Monday, January 9, 2012. I gained 2 pounds weighing in at 172. I was really excited about this appointment because I thought Dr. Grisham might check to see if I was dilating and we were also scheduled to have a sonogram!! After Millicent took my vitals, she sent Brent and I back to the sono room. We got to see our big'o boy and after taking his measurements, Dr. Grisham said he was weighting 6 pounds 11 oz. He said everything was looking good and normal. We are estimating if I go to my due date, Preston will be about a 7-7.5 pounder. If we induce on Jan 31st he might be closer to an 8 pounder. I'm just glad we hopefully don't have a 10 pounder on our hands!!

I asked Dr. Grisham if he would be checking to see if I was dilating and he said he normally doesn't check for that until the appointment before the due date. He said there wasn't much need to continually check unless I expressed I was feeling contractions. So maybe at our next appointment, we will see if any dilating has started.

I was also concerned that if I went into labor during none business hours, that the on-call doctor might be the one to deliver Preston. I asked Dr. Grisham and he jokingly said if I go into labor on Saturday, I would need to do some yoga poses and tie my legs together and try to keep him in until Monday. So funny...hahah. He ended up comforting my fears and said unless he was on his death bed or out of town, he would be the one to deliver. I was so relieved!!

To my surprise, Dr. Grisham informed us that I tested positive on my Group B screening. At first, I thought he was joking because up until now, I have passed all the test with flying colors and wasn't expecting this. He said it was really no big deal but they would put me on antibiotics when I went into labor to prevent any bacteria getting into Preston's bloodstream and causing potential serious issues. I think this took Brent by surprise too because when he heard him say positive, Brent started to ask all kinds of questions to make sure everything would be ok.

January 2012 - Preston's Birthday Month!!!!!

Well, we have finally come to January 2012...one of the biggest months of mine and Brent's life's. This month our little baby boy Preston Jack Porter will be born whether he decides to come on his own or if we have to induce on Jan 31st. Either way, he's coming this month and we are so ready for him to be here. This week I have been a bit under the weather with a sinus cold and not feeling too well. I stayed home from work for 2 days and hope to start feeling better soon. I just don't want to be sick when I go into labor, that would just not be fun at all.

We have everything ready to go. Preston's bag and my bag are packed and in the car, his nursery is all set up and ready for his arrival and I think I am finally mentally prepared for the big day. The family is so excited and my mom has already told her work that she is in stand-by mode, ready to go when she gets the call.

I thought I would have a feeling one way or the other as to when he would arrive but I'm not sure if he will come early, on his due date or come late. John is betting he will come on Jan 19th and mom thinks he will come Jan 16th, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Love you Preston and we can't wait to meet you shortly!!!