My doctor's appointments have finally gotten a little more interesting. No major complaints to report, but finally we are doing a little more than a urine sample and a blood pressure. My 35 week appointment was yesterday, and I had my Group B Beta Strep swab and my first cervical check! It probably wouldn't be such a big deal to any one else, but thanks to my background, it was pretty monumental. It means I am nearing the end! The only bad news is that my cervix is closed, thick, and very posterior. At my 33 week appointment, my doctor had said that we would start weekly appointments once I hit 36 weeks. Once she checked me, she kind of laughed a little and said, "I think we'll start the weekly appointments at 37 weeks." So basically, this baby isn't coming out anytime soon. Obviously, I don't want her to come before she's ready, but I certainly wouldn't mind if "ready" landed somewhere around 38 weeks... :) I do have good news--somewhere around 32 or 33 weeks, she decided to flip head down! So I won't be an automatic c-section, which is always good.

Last Thursday we had some maternity pictures done at the IMA. We haven't had professional pictures taken together since our wedding, so we decided that this was an equally appropriate occasion to document. It turned out to be a gorgeous afternoon, and the photographer did a great job! If anyone needs someone to do pictures of kids, etc., let me know, and I'll pass her name along.

Here are a few of my favorites.

A few newsy bits...

Jay's company shipped him off to Houston at the beginning of March to work on a fraud investigation. We knew it would be an intense project before he left, but we had no idea how bad it would really be. After his briefing on his first night there, he called me to say that it was his "worst nightmare." He ended up working 80-90 hours a week and, over the course of a month, only had a 48 hour stint at home. I sent him pictures of my belly each week partly so he didn't feel like he was missing out as much and partly so he would recognize me when he returned. He was able to finally come home last weekend and stayed home all of this past week. He may have to go back for a little while, but the director of the project has promised that he will be rolled off by the end of April due to my pregnancy. It has been so nice to have him around again. I didn't realize how much I would miss him until after he was gone. I learned that I could never be a military wife. I kept myself as busy as possible just so I didn't go crazy. It was only a month that he was gone, but it was really stressful.

In the past week or so, the baby has really started to visibly move. I have felt her movements for several months, but it's nothing like what I'm feeling right now. Little jabs and kicks and flutters have turned into large, rolling motions. (Mom actually got to feel her moving over the weekend for the first time!) She is still breech (has been from day 1), so she thinks that my ribcage makes a natural home for her head. It's all good and well, but I swear she's pushing the air right out of my lungs. I can't tell if it's a foot or a hand, but something keeps protruding out of my right side. It feels like she's trying to karate-kick her little way right out of my abdomen. I keep trying to tell her that my side is not the way out, but apparently, she gets her sense of direction from her father and maybe a little bit of a "thank you very much, but I'd rather do it my way" attitude from me. :) If I sit quietly for long enough, my belly will just start to gyrate. I wish my belly had a little flap that I could lift at will just to peek in and see what the heck she's trying to accomplish in there. She has also had the hiccups with increasing frequency. Those have been going on for a while, but I was a little slow at recognizing what they were. Every time Jay feels or sees her move, his whole face lights up. I think he's ready to have her here.

My doctor's appointments are all going well. I really don't have any complaints aside from normal pregnancy problems like heartburn. At my 27 and 29 week appointments, I was measuring 2-3 weeks big. I was hoping that I would keep measuring big so that we could get insurance to cover another ultrasound, but, alas, at my 31 week appointment I was only measuring 32 weeks. I guess my next chance for paid ultrasound is if she continues to be breech, although that comes with a whole new set of problems.

I found out at 28 weeks that I am a tidge anemic. Overall, it is a pretty common problem during pregnancy and an easy fix, but it really annoyed me because I felt like I was getting a fair amount of iron in my diet. So now, I have been taking iron supplements and eating more red meat. I also had a brief scare with gestational diabetes at the same time. Now that stressed me out. I thoroughly flunked my one-hour glucola test, so I had to go take a three-hour fasting glucola test. The one hour test was not horrible, but I cannot say the same for the three hour test. There is nothing like the feeling of your blood sugar plummeting and, worse, not being able to fix it. I walked out of that lab and went straight to get something to eat, after which, I felt like a new woman! Nothing a sandwich and chocolate chip cookie couldn't fix. Thank goodness, I passed the three-hour test!

My stress level is down a little bit. We finally got all of the baby furniture put together, so now I have a place to put clothes and such. "Uncle" Tommy was in town last weekend, so he helped Jay finish everything. We have not anchored the dresser to the wall yet, but I figure we have about 6-9 months after she's born before she starts crawling all over everything. My friend Sarah drove through Indy with her one-year-old over the weekend, and they stopped to visit for a little while. Watching him toddle around made me see my house in a whole new light. I started to realize how many breakables are within reach of curious little hands. I do not have the energy to think about baby-proofing the house right now. We'll have to deal with that later, too.

Well, I think that's all the news I can muster up at the moment. Will keep you updated!