37 Weeks!!!

37 weeks pregnant! I never thought I would make it this far!!!

If you never heard the story, my sweet SILs planned a baby shower for me on Saturday, April 5 at the Glenwood Tearoom. I attended the shower in all my ENORMOUS glory and then went into labor that night!!! (Bailey was due on April 25) That's why when my sweet friends called a few weeks ago and asked about throwing me a baby shower I said, let's do a Sip n See or something afterwards because I don't have very good luck with baby showers!

Here is a picture of me when I was 37 weeks with Bailey and in the same shirt (and way too-tight pants) with Max.

35 Weeks and Still Cookin

Another doctor's appointment today and I guess no news is good news. Still not dialted, but cervix is thinning and Mr. Man is very, very low (and they tell me this like I don't know!). My attitude is getting worse by the minute, but I know that every day that he stays in there is good, so I'm trying to be at peace with that. My doctor comes back in town (from what I told her was the longest vacation ever!!!) on Monday so that relieves me as well. So as for us, we're packed and ready and waiting. Any day now...

In other news, a few weeks ago before the bedrest, I got my trusty tripod out and revved up the self-timer to take some maternity photos of myself. It's pretty sad since I have lots of fabulous photographer friends who I know would have taken pictures for me. Maybe this is just part of my losing control of everything else in my life so I wanted to still feel like I could do something. Anyway... here's what I got. It definitely beats the 3 or so snapshots that I have of myself while I was pregnant with Bailey. I've tried much harder this time around!

From Ethiopia With Love

How excited was I for this weekend? First off, I was super-pumped to see "my girls!" These are friends from college who (although we've gone separate ways geographically) still remain close friends. We get together about twice a year and always pick up right where we left off. Although there are some of these girls that I only see a few times a year, I can always count on them for anything, anytime!

We've gone from celebrating graduations and weddings to now celebrating babies. And this weekend, we had a very special celebration, a Sip N See for my friend Lauren. Lauren and her husband Ben adopted a precious baby girl from Ethiopia and have a long, but wonderful story with a very happy ending!

The girls set me up a chaise lounge in the corner of the room (my fabulously funny friend Holly W said I was kind of like Weekend at Bernies) and I photographed the shower from there. Good thing I brought my zoom lens! Here are some pics!

The Hostesses with the Mostesses

Pom Pom Decorations

Fabric Flower nametags that could be turned into hair accessories for Miss Eden


The tablescape and adorable cake made by Mindy's SIL



Bath salt favors

And now for the guest of honor!!! I can't say enough wonderful things about this precious angel! First of all, who could resist those big brown eyes??? And her personality is a dream! Lauren and her husband Ben were warned about some of the adjustment issues involved in bringing a baby home from another country, but Eden has been a trooper. She absolutely loves people and will go to anyone- she even let me feed her a bottle! Of course her schedule was a little off since she was staying with Grandma for the weekend and so she didn't have a nap that day. But (unlike other children... Bailey), she was happy as a lark!

Here's Eden and my friend Elise's little girl playing!

Growing, Growing, Growing! (Doyal Family Update)

It seems like everything is growing around here lately (except my poor dead grass)!

Bailey is 3 years old now and is getting bigger by the day! I have been very nostalgic lately as I've been going through her baby things trying to prepare for Max's arrival. Bailey talks non-stop (not always in public, but ALWAYS at home!!!) and has developed quite a cute and loving personality. She is very compassionate and empathetic. She also has quite a silly sense of humor (like her Mama) and loves to make people laugh. Her favorite activities include reading books, playing dolls and Barbies, pretending she's a puppy dog, dancing around in tutus and princess outfits, and listening to music with Daddy. She will be going to the 3-year old class at Mother's Day Out next year and just "graduated" to Children's Church at our church. She is currently taking swimming lessons and will be starting some summer gymnastics lessons this week. Depending on the day, she's super-excited about being a Big Sister (which might change when she realizes we can't send Baby Max back) and LOVES to talk about what she'll do with him when he gets here. I'm pretty biased, but I think she's really smart: she can almost count to 20 and identify numbers to 12; she can identify most of the alphabet letters and all types of shapes and colors; she can generate rhyming words; and she can write the letter B (we're slowly working on the rest of the letters in her name!). I can't believe in just 3 short years how much she's grown and matured, she truly is a blessing in our lives!

Classic Bailey- All dressed up with nowhere to go!

Swimming Lessons with Miss Randi

First Sunday in "Big Church"- She LOVED it!

My Pretty Girl

As for little Max, he's doing great and growing too! He's somewhere around 16 1/2 inches long and weighs almost 3 pounds now! I'm very thankful to have FINALLY made it to the third trimester, and consider it a blessing each day that he stays in my belly a little longer. I wish I could give you a recent picture of him (I do have quite a large stash since I get ultrasounds every time I go), but he seems to only be concerned with showing us one thing (and it's something I'm not going to post on the internet!). My current "issues of the month" include never-ceasing contractions, which have caused me to stay on "limited activity," but have not become bad enough to warrant complete bedrest yet. I also have an umbilical hernia which will need operating on when I have my C-section, if not before. I go talk to the surgeon in a few weeks to decide if an operation before the baby is necessary (we're really hoping not). So for now, I have to wear this belly band thing (which I lovingly equate to about 5 layers of flannel Spanx) to make sure my insides don't fall out!!! People always ask me why I'm so candid and non-chalant about my pregnancy problems and I always reply the same way: What can I do? I've given this pregnancy over to God and He is in control. He's dealt with each problem as it has arisen and I know He will continue to keep me and little Max safe. So I ask for your prayers to continue for the next few months as we anxiously await his arrival!

Another Day, Another Doctor's Appointment

Another day, another doctor's appointment. That's the story of my life right now!

But today came with mostly good news, which was a very welcome change! I guess the good part of having so many appointments/ultrasounds is that you get to see your baby more. I could already fill up an entire scrapbook with just ultrasound pics! Max looked so cute and gave me some good profile and head shots- he's still a little alien looking, but I think he's adorable! And everything seems to be right on track with him.

I'm slowly coming around too. Patty the Placenta (thank you Anne for naming my body parts!) has moved her way up to the top of my uterus, so no more fears of placenta previa/accreta. I do have an umbilical hernia (which is very evident if you've seen me and my belly button that arrives 5 minutes before the rest of me!) that will have to be surgically repaired at the time of my C-section. I also was told to "take it easy" since I have started to have a lot of frequent Braxton Hicks contractions. Yeah, right- tell that to my 3 year old!!!

It's been a really eventful month to watch and feel Max moving around. David can now feel him and (if we're patient) we can spend endless amounts of time watching my belly move as Max gets his groove on in there!

So, here's the good stuff: some pics from today's ultrasound. Max was (as always) very wiggly, but cooperated enough to get some good shots.

Introducing....our new Baby BOY!!!

Max William Doyal- coming to a hospital near you in August (I hope)!

I have waited patiently (well maybe not so patiently) for today and we finally got to hear the words, "It's a boy!" Pardon the lack of ultrasound photos of his nether-regions here. I figure if I post those on the internet, someday he'll hate me for it! So here's a body pic and a hand pic instead.

Just like Bailey was at this appointment, Max was very still and didn't want to move much, which made getting good pictures a little tricky. He also had his hands up over his face so we couldn't see his sweet smile! But everything looked and sounded good with all of his tiny body parts!

Me, on the other hand, well I always bring the drama! I told the nurse about my still-lingering nausea/vomiting and back pain so she did a urinary analysis which told that I was very dehydrated- I know, bad pregnant lady needs to drink more water. Then I found out that I have a low lying placenta (which we're going to hope moves so it doesn't turn into placenta previa) and my placenta is right in the front of my uterus (which can cause problems during a c-section which I will have). If this turns into placenta previa or accreta I could have bleeding during the third trimester, be put on bedrest, hemorrhaging during delivery, premature delivery, have to have a hysterectomy after delivery, or my favorite: maternal death!!! WOW!

I do not list these things to be pessimistic or worry anyone, but to ask for your prayers once again for me and Baby Max. We had so much prayer support at the beginning of the pregnancy when we had the cyst fiasco- so I just ask that you please keep us in your prayers again!

Happy 3rd Birthday Bailey!!!

Three years ago, I laid woozily (if that's even a word) in a hospital bed and told all of my friends and family members that I had a precious little boy! Those were the drugs talking!

Three years later, I have the girliest girl I know and I love her to death! It's been so fun for David and me to watch her little personality develop. Bailey has turned into a funny, compassionate, strong-willed :) little lady.

The morning of her birthday, we started off with Pancake People- Bailey's favorite breakfast (thank you Holly W)!

Here's Bailey with her new favorite toy- her Dora four-wheeler.

Here are some pics from her birthday party. I've really been wanting to do a 50s themed party for a few years now, but decided to wait until Bailey was a little older so we could have her little friends come dressed in 50s attire too! You can check out my 365 photo blog for decorations that I made- I didn't really take any pictures of the decorations the day of the party.

http://mylifeinpictures365.blogspot.com/

Here's my happy b-day girl!

Bailey was SO excited to see all of her friends and family in one place! It was adorable watching her come up to each little friend and hug them as they arrived.

We had a pink convertible cutout for the kids to take their picture with. Of course, Bailey had to "jump in" the car with everybody!

If you know me well, you know I LOVE costumes!!! So I'm so glad a lot of the little ones dressed up. Here's Payton (Bailey's cousin) very convincingly playing the part!

Excited about presents!

This one's for you Lindsey Caroon! (My sweet friend Lindsey took pictures for me while I helped B open her gifts. Afterward, she commented on my many crazy facial expressions in most of the pictures.)

Cupcake time!

I'll be putting more pics on Facebook, so please check there to see more!