The Wait!

August 7th - 38 weeks

 

We started anticipating the arrival of Wyatt a wee bit early.  I predicted he would come on August 11th (10 days before his due-date).  This prediction was based on some loose logic and some major wishful thinking! This logic (or lack-there-of) was that he moved all the time in the womb.  He kicked, turned and wiggled more than he stayed still.  So I thought this meant he was eager and unafraid to move on down the birth canal and out to the world.  Also, my sisters and I were all born two weeks early so I thought I was likely to follow my mom's pattern and deliver early.  WRONG - he was a late little bugger and because we started anticipating him too early, the wait felt like forever... but it was so fun nonetheless!!!

 

Here are a few pics of me and Will at 38 weeks - Tuesday August 7th.  Based on my prediction, Wyatt would be arriving a mere 4 days later haha - NOT!  I guess Will felt left out so I took his 38 week photo too - haha. 



 

 

 39 weeks & 2 days - Thursday August 16th

My last day of work was Wednesday August 15th and I started maternity leave on the 16th!  I originally thought I'd work up to my delivery date but, I didn't realize how anxious and tired I would get as my due-date drew closer and closer.  I work a LONG way away from my house and from the hospital so every afternoon I'd play out the scenario in my head of going into labor while in rush-hour traffic... I was literally doing breathing techniques to calm myself down as I inched SO slowly down the interstate.  Plus... every time I got out of my chair at work, I'd get achy and out of breathe.  So, I decided the 15th was a good time to leave work and do a little more 'nesting'.  My mom flew down on the 16th for the wait!  I was so relieved when she got here - we were both spending a lot of time worrying she wouldn't get here in time - in retrospect, she got here in plenty of time!  Plenty of time to scrub my base boards and front porch, wash my curtains, read two books, shop and eat eat eat... we had a great time.  Here's a photo of me & Will on my first day of maternity leave...

Me & mom hanging out the day she flew in.  As soon as she got here, we went shopping - Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross, Kroger.  We bought a few new rugs for my house and loaded up on some groceries. 



 

On Friday morning, mom, Will and I went to my 39 week checkup.  We were hoping for some progress since my 38 week appointment, where I was dialated barely one centimeter and effaced about 60%.  The doctor confirmed I had made 'some' progress - I was somewhere between 1 and 2 centimeters dialated... and we got really excited about that news despite the fact that many women sit at 2 centimeters for weeks before going into labor (but, we ignored that fact and chose to celebrate the progression).  After the appointment, Will went to work and mom and I continued our shopping escapades.  I by no means felt like shopping for myself but, I was eager to stay busy and active in hopes that Wyatt would be motivated to travel south.  So, we headed to the mall where we scored some good purchases for mom.  :)

 

On Saturday, mom and I headed out one more time for some home goods shopping and Will went (??) somewhere to run errands and whatnot.  The day came and went and I felt great; I had one small contraction on Saturday morning but otherwise, no cramping or labor-like pains at all.  I was starting to feel the pressure for labor to start happening.  Will and mom consistently asked 'how I was feeling'; April and Dad were calling to ask if anything was happening and I received several text messages from friends asking what my status was.  I certainly appreciated all the inquries but it made me more eager for Wyatt's arrival... we definitely didn't think it would be another full week before Wyatt would come.  haha. 

 

We went to Kevin & Hana's wedding shower on Saturday night.  Although I was happy to have made it to their shower, I had hoped to be in the hospital during it.  No such luck - here's a pic of us heading out...

 







 

 



I don't have any pictures of all the cleaning efforts but, on Sunday mom and I got our buckets and scrub brushes out and started cleaning base boards.  They were gross... amazing how dirty a house gets when you live with a big black lab.  Mom instructed me that I need to have a cleaning 'schedule' to make sure deep cleaning (like scrubbing base boards) doesn't go undone for a year(s).  Ugh... domestication sucks sometimes.  Let me tell you - scrubbing base boards 9 months pregnant sucked!  Mom got three times as much work done as I did.  I was a bit slow.  The deep cleaning went on into Monday and Tuesday and I think we finally quit on Wednesday.  We cleaned base boards, bleached curtains, scrubbed the front porch, got cobwebs out of hard-to-reach places, dusted every piece of furniture and decor in the house, vacuumed and mopped (even got under the furniture)... and we FINALLY got rid of the Buddha wall art that hung in our living room and found some new decor to take its place.  It's on craig's list if anyone wants it.

Anywho, April arrived on Wednesday.  She about killed herself trying to get here in time for baby's arrival.  She worked five 12 hour night shifts in a row (Friday-Tuesday) and flew out on Wednesday morning when she got off work - crazy determination. Even though she got here nearly a full week after mom, she too arrived in plenty of time.  Since all the cleaning was done when she arrived, we spent the next several days going out to lunch, shopping and relaxing at the house. Here are a few pics of us passing the time:

These were taken on Thursday at 'Front Page News' where we ate lunch and Morelli's where we had ice cream:

Reading on the couch after we ate lunch and had ice cream:

Getting ready to go on a walk with mom on Friday.  I was so over trying to look cute.  I was tired of wearing Will's shirts so I found this one large t-shirt of mine.  It was fitting since we were planning to cook out and watch the Nationwide race that evening - Go Biffle!  As we were huffing and puffing up the huge hill in my neighborhood mom said to me 'Girl, you sure don't look like a hip Atlanta girl right now' - haha nope... i decided on this slightly trashy look.

 

This is us on the couch watching the Nationwide race just a few short hours from going into labor.  I had been feeling really crampy all day on Friday.  I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up or have anyone getting prematurely excited so I only told Will how I was feeling.  I felt pretty confident that labor would start on either Saturday or Sunday.  Because I was telling April and mom that I felt 'fine' I think it was a total surprise when we woke them up middle of the night with the news... 

 



JULY

July was another great month!  Starting with the COMPLETION of the nursery! 

WE SHOPPED and WE SCORED!
The Monday after Father's day was a HUGE shopping success for the nursery.  We all (Mom, April, Cindy and I) spent quite a bit of time shopping online and at antique stores looking for the perfect 'rustic' furniture for the baby room.  Everything we found was either too rickity and old or too expensive or just not quite right.  I was so tired of not finding what I wanted, I got REALLY close to 'antiquing' my own furniture (even though I've never tried such a thing - could have been a disappointing outcome)...  So, on Monday morning (after Father's Day), Mom, April, Grandmother and I set out on a mission to find something good.  We headed to Pastimes in West End.  It's a huge consignment store with lots of good stuff.  We found a beige antiqued hutch-like dresser and a matching barn-red bookshelf for the room - great prices too (SCORE!)  We also came home with some perfect decor to add to the 'rustic' look I was going for.... it was a fun day.  After our success, I demanded we eat immediately so we went to Maxi's and I ate like a cow, which you're allowed to do when you're pregnant.  Then, mom and I headed to the new Hobby Lobby that opened in Pinehurst and I found a few plaques that were perfect for the room - one says 'Born to Ride' and has an old motorcycle on it and the other says 'This Ain't my First Rodeo', which I liked b/c Will often says that when I try to tell him how to do something.  Oh yea, I forgot to mention my Hobby Lobby purchases in Atlanta when mom and April were visiting in May... April found these awesome old-timey-looking pistol book-ends and I had to get them.  So I did and Will loved them.  Here are some pics of us setting out for the shopping day:

Grandmother and Mom in the back seat

Me and Ape in the front

MOM & DAD BRING OUR GIFTS and FURNITURE AND the NURSERY IS FINALIZED!
When Will and I left Pinehurst and headed to our babymoon after the baby shower weekend, we were in my Honda Accord with Onyx in the back seat... so we had very little room to bring hardly ANY of our shower gifts with us... and my newly purchased furniture was definitely not going to fit... and that made me so sad.  I was so excited about all my new stuff - I so wanted to be able to get home from my babymoon and have all my new things there to wash/organize/decorate.  We left mom and dad's with a tentative plan to come back for a weekend or to meet mom and dad half way to get the stuff - But we didn't have to do any of that b/c Mom and Dad decided to pack up all our things and come for the weekend following our babymoon!  It was AWESOME.  I not only got uninterrupted selfish one-on-one time with mom and dad [rarity when we're in NC] but, with Dad's help, we got some major handy-man work done that probably wouldn't have happened if Will and I had to try ourselves... a new light in the closet, a new overhead light attached to the fan, a new shelf in the closet... good stuff.  And, I learned a lot about all the different lighting/shelving options when I was with Dad at Home Depot...

The weekend was stress-free, fun and fulfilling.  I LOVED having my parents here and everyone was excited to be helping with the room.  Dad and Will worked hard getting the new installations done while mom and I found the perfect placement for all the furniture and decor.

I love his room.  It's perfect and exactly what I wanted.  And I love that so many people played a role in the room... Cindy helped me find the art work; April made the 'BABY TUCKER' letters; the rug used to be in Emily's room; the rocking chair is Will's Grandmother's; Grandmother Smith made the bedskirt and mom found the fabric; mom and April made the curtains; Dad's deer antlers are hung above the changing table; Will inspired a lot of the cowboy/rustic decor; handmade blankets from Cindy and Jill are draped around the room; and mom handmade the sweet 'hootie-pie Owl' in the pics below.  I love this little guy and the fact mom made him... I can't imagine this room any other way.  Our son belongs in this room!  :)

Changing table

Mom's handmade "Hootie-pie Owl"

the back says "Owl Love you Forever"

GREENSBORO BABY SHOWER
We spent the following weekend in Greensboro, GA where Cindy's friend, Stephanie hosted a baby shower for me and Jenni and the little Tucker babies.  It was a a great shower; I really enjoyed talking to and getting to know Cindy's girlfriends a little better.  They're all really sweet.  I thought it was really nice of them to all come together to celebrate the Tucker babies; they were all excited for me and Jenni.  And Will was super excited that we got our 'crossbones/skull' diaper bag... it might be the only thing he truly wanted off the registry. 

The boys (Will, Wade, Teddy and Otho) spent the morning on a motorcycle ride to the gun range, where they spent a few hours. And on their way back home they stopped and had BBQ at some shack (Will called it a shit-hole shack with great BBQ...  the cook/owner actually killed the pig himself). Welp, not my kind of place, but they loved it. After everyone got home, we hung out by the pool with Teddy & Anna who were in town for the weekend.  Anna is also pregnant! So, there were three pregos hanging out in the pool... and I think we all ended up taking naps while our husbands played corn hole and drank beer.  Later that night Cindy cooked for everyone and we celebrated Jenni's birthday.  Cindy and Otho's gift for her was the umbrella stroller... poor snoop (Jenni & Wade's dog) was selected as the guinea pig to try it out.  He's such a chill dog and incredibly flexible, he didn't seem bothered at all to be strapped in there.  He just sat back and let Jenni push him around for a while.  It was SO cute and hilarious.

Me & Jenni with Stephanie

Jenni, Cindy, me & Jill

Wad & Jenni

Snoopie being a good sport

APRIL's VISIT - CHILDBIRTH ESSENTIALS - JENNI'S BABY SHOWER
April came back to visit me the last weekend in July.  She decided she wanted to see me one more time and spend one more weekend with me before I go into labor.  I was SO excited she decided to spend her weekend off work with me!

On Friday I decided to make a last minute doctor's appointment b/c I had been feeling an increasingly sharp pain in my upper abdomen.  It worked out great b/c April went with me and got to see the practice that has taken care of me and her soon-to-be nephew for 8+ months.  The issue turned out just to be the baby/my uterus putting pressure on a key nerve.  The discomfort and pain hasn't gone away but it doesn't bother me as much since I know it's no big threat to my health or the baby's.  Anyway, the doctor decided to do an ultrasound just to be sure there was nothing going on with my placenta or with the baby.  When he ordered the ultrasound a sense of excitment rushed through me b/c I hadn't seen him since my 20 week appointment and I was pumped that April was going to get to see him on the live monitor.  At the same time, I was upset Will was missing this... he was excited to see the pictures i sent him on my phone and was just glad nothing was wrong.  I would post the ultrasound pics but, I have lost my mind these days and cannot for the life of me remember where I put them.  They wern't very clear b/c he was moving so much and had his hand in front of his face.  Here's one of me getting the ultrasound though... April is so good at remembering to take pics; she rarely misses special moments... thanks April! 

After the doctor's appointment, April and I had a great lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then spent a few hours at the mall and then 2 hours at BabiesRUs.  I bought a maternity support band while I as there and it felt amazing from the moment i put it on.  We bought a bunch of other fun stuff too - you can imagine after being in there for hours.  It was fun. 

After Will got home from work, we all went to dinner in the Highlands, where I became so jealous of Will and April's beers.  I took a few swigs and it was delightful.

Me and April at Dinner

On Saturday morning Will and I went to a Childbirth Essentials course offered by our Doctor's office.  There were 8 couples there.  It was a good course; I'm glad we went to it.  It covered all sorts of topics but the overall takeaway was what signs to look for leading up to labor indicating that you are in fact about to go into labor and also what to expect once you get to the hospital and the different phases of labor.   Then we watched a video of an actual birth, which I was really skeptical of watching but I'm so glad I did b/c that baby came out very blue.  Turns out that is normal for most babies and they "pink-up" a few minutes after birth as they get more and more oxygen.  I didn't know that so I would have definitely panicked if my son came out that blue and I hadn't watched that video.  I feel as prepared as possible and if I'm not prepared, I wouldn't know it. 

After the Childbirth Essentials course, April and I headed to Jill's house for Jenni's baby shower.  It was a great baby shower.  The food was awesome and the decor was all handmade by Jill.  She had some really cute ideas.  And I was excited to meet all of Jenni's friends and family I had never met before.  It was great to finally put some names with faces.  Sweet people; everyone had lots of fun!

After the shower, April and I headed home and crashed on the couch for the rest of the night.  And on Sunday, April took some pictures of me doing "normal" stuff around the house.  She said those type of pics are the ones she loves to look back on of our mom when she was pregnant with us... Thanks April for coming to visit me.  I had an awesome weekend - I love my sister time!!

Whew - I've updated you now on the past 18 weeks.  Sorry it took me so long.  I had so many people getting on to me for not keeping this updated.  And most of you thought I would give it up.  Better late than never!  Hope you've enjoyed.  Two more weeks!  Keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming our way please. I'm pretty nervous about labor - :)

All about June

JUNE was a busy month.  A great month.  Productive yet relaxing. 

MATT's BIRTHDAY -
We kicked the month off at Reynolds (Cindy & Otho's) celebrating Matt's birthday.  We spent some time by the pool and out on the lake.  Matt & Jill's friends, Heath and Julie, came down to hang out for the weekend.  We all had a good time.  Just saying - the dinner conversations after a full day out on the lake [drinking] is always an entertaining experience.  Jenni and I have thoroughly enjoyed experiencing them sober. haha.  Here are some pics:

BABY SHOWER -
A few weekends later I traveled to Pinehurst for my baby shower!  April, Sarah, Megan T and Emily hosted the most amazing shower.  It was at Bonnie's restaurant, The Market Place, which made for the perfect venue.  I had a great time and was overwhelmed by the effort so many people made to be there for me and to celebrate little baby Tucker.  There were quite a few people who traveled a long distance just to be there for the day.  It was awesome to see so many friends and family members I hadn't seen in a while and I finally got to meet my cousin, Katherine's, twin babies, Brooks and Lily.  After the shower, we went back to mom and dad's where all my gifts were stacked up in the dining room - I felt almost stingy and was amazed by the HUGE piles.  Everyone was more than generous to me, Will and Baby Tucker.  I have to comment on how many hand-made gifts I got.  Grandmother Smith knit the sweetest little hooded sweater that zips up the back and a Baby Boy Bunny (I have the Baby Girl Bunny she made me when I was a little girl).  Cindy knit our little man a sweet green baby blanket with bunnies knitted into the fabric and Mrs. Bishop made him a precious toboggon.  And finally, Daddy made him a kid's sized little picnic table that's just so freaking cute and special.  Here are some pics from the shower:



Food Table - food was amazing!

Ella Grace sitting at the table my Dad made

Group shot of the girls

Katie, Syd, Megan Grier & Sarah

My Aunts!



Jogger from Mom & Dad - doubt I'll be in a dress and heels next time I'm pushing this thing :)

Best Hostesses

Me & Mama

Handmade sweater from Gmother Smith

Handmade Bunny from Gmother Smith

Handmade bunny blanket from Cindy :)

Me, Emily & April hanging out after the shower :)

FATHER'S DAY:
Father's day was the Sunday after my baby shower.  It was a beautiful day - we spent the afternoon at Grandmother's by the pool. Pics below...  Will wasn't able to travel with me that weekend so he spent his first (half) Father's Day alone.  But, I left him this sweet gift and a card from our soon to be son. 


'I Love Daddy' onesie and card for Will's 1st Father's Day

Sadie sitting at the table my dad made for Baby Tucker - so cute!

April took this - she is documenting my belly growth :) Thanks Ape!

Carter and Connor chatting it up over lunch - so funny!

BABYMOON -
I took the week following the baby shower/Father's Day off from work and hung out in Pinehurst visiting with the family (including Sarah who was in town from Chicago for the week!) until Wednesday.  Will flew into Raleigh on Tuesday night and we headed to the Isle of Palms, SC on Wednesday morning for our Babymoon.  It was a great vacation.  We parked the car on Wednesday when we got there and only used it once one night to go to dinner 1 mile away.  Isle of Palms basically has one small strip of hotels and restaurants so Will and I basically ate breakfast, lunch and dinner within steps of our hotel every day.  We stayed on the beach everyday for 6-8 hours.  I drank virgin daquris and milkshakes and Will enjoyed his cold beer.  We went on walks (well, I walked and Will ran :)  We rented bikes for a few hours one day and we played a few games of Bocce Ball.  For the first time (probably ever), I had to rent an umbrella and stayed covered for most of the trip.  Don't know what it was but, no matter how much SPF I put on, the sun was absolutely frying me... I did some 'What to Expect, Baby's First Year' reading and called out interesting info to Will when I came accross anything important.  We did a lot of people watching and realized we're getting old... I was completely annoyed by the college-aged "kids" in general, but specifically the way they were sharing their cigarette smoke with me... and a group of cute young college girls referred to me and Will as 'Mam' and 'Sir'.  I did a double-take, my eyes got wide and I said to Will 'did you just hear that, did that just happen?' haha.  I know I'm clearly pregnant and I was sitting under an umbrella (whereas they were spraying oil all over themselves) but, I'm only 28 years old so it was only natural for me to blame Will for the 'mam/sir' reference :)  Anyway, it was funny. Pics from the trip:

That's a wrap for June.  Read the July post for details on Mom & Dad's trip to Atlanta, the Reynolds baby shower and April's visit to Atlanta....