A LIGHT AT THE END OF A VEY LONG TUNNEL

FINALLY!!!! pregnancy is coming to an end!!!! while i love feeling my little girl move inside me, this has definitely put a tole on my body.
lets see...
3 visits to the hospital...
feeling like an oven....
stretch marks..........
nausea...
motion sickness (literally any long car drives and planes)....
and now high blood pressure and bed rest....

the only upside to this last side effect is that i now have an induction date. Jan. 13th!!!! wooooot woooot!!! there is a light at the end of the tunnel!!!! i cant wait. sean and i are so excited to meet our little girl and hold her our my arms. It seems like our pregnancy has been a lifetime, and that everyone else has had their baby. it is so nice to know that we will have here here with us Wednesday and that the beginning of the rest of our lives will start.

Not a happy camper!!!!

so as I make it to the end of this pregnancy, I haven't been the happiest camper!
i've been sore and tired and all around crummy.

Luckily for me Sean has really stepped up his A-game.
For the past few days he has been there to take care of me and has thought of what i might want before i even realize it.

He has cleaned, made dinner, been a handy man, and just really been attentive.
I feel truly blessed to have him around through these last few miserable days....


needless to say, since i've been miserable every one has given us suggestions to induce labor.

1. eat eggplant
2. eat spicy food
3. walk
4. hot baths
5. sex

Now i wont go into details but i am a science teacher, so i decided to put these to the test. I have concluded that all of these but #1 are wives tales and not a proven method (i'm not a fan of eggplant so i cant vouch for that). All i did cause was more soreness, indigestion,or general discomfort. I've decided i'm going to call my dr tomorrow and try to convince her again that she needs to either induce me or put me on bed rest. I've been so cranky!!!! i feel horrible for my students.

sean..... i think this is it!!!!

So december 26th i woke up at 6:15 am to a very interesting feeling!!!
Ashley: I think my water just broke!
Sean: are you sure?
Ashley: i think so, but the dr told me to lie down and wait 30 mins if i wasnt sure. Then sand again and see if the water begins to flow again
Sean: ok good then i have 30 more mins to sleep (yes he realy said that)

..... 30 mins and 2 potty breaks later....

ashley: ok, pretty sure my water broke.
sean: ok i'll call the dr

we get up and begin to get dressed. we get a voicemail that the dr will meet us at the hospital (since my stupid phone didn't ring)

on the way to the hospital we call both of the moms to let them know that Lani is coming!!!!

we arrive at the hospital a little before 7. My parents, sisters, and cousins autumn and shay arrived shortly after. Because there is no more fluid, the nurse has to "Check" to see if my water really broke! This was by far one of the most painful experiences of my life. for those of you who have had this check you know why I was traumatized. For those of you who haven't just take my word for it. i literally didn't speak to anyone else for a good 10 mins. i did however inform the nurse that he owed me dinner and a movie!

Well after all that, she still wasn't sure if my water broke, and went forth to test me again. She then decided that the doctor would need to test me! after a while the dr showed up gave the exam. At first she said my water didn't break, but after a few minutes she said that maybe my water had broke, and had to check AGAIN!!!!.

Time she decided that the baby was pressing on my bladder, and along with some other wonderful pre-pregnancy stuff, it just seemed like my water had broken or was leaking. and that i should rest assure that my water had not broken, but she could feel lani's head!!!
(no consolation to me: the dr said had it been a week later she would have just induced)

After all that i became very upset and emotional. after a good 10-15 minutes of balling, and reassuring by the nurse that "this happens at least 3-4 times a day" i gathered my composure and we went home.

We had another dr's appointment monday. i was sure to ask dr. bankston what labor would actually feel like, so not to be fooled again. Sean also asked when we should expect the baby and she predicted thiw week or next week. So lets keep our fingers crossed. (after all tonight and tomorrow are a full moon!!!!)

Langston's Room

So despite the dresser fiasco, Lani's room is amost done!
I thought you may want to see some pics!!!

As soon as the dresser is ready, there will be more!!!

Stay tuned!!!

37 weeks.... GET OUTTA MY BELLY!!!!

THATS WHAT I'M TELLING LANGSTON EVERYDAY!!!!!

"please get out of mommy's belly!!!! i've loved having you as a guest for the last 9 months, but you've officially overstayed your welcome (as far as the belly is concerned). "

this is the convo i've been having with my belly for the last few days!

for those of you who haven't reached this point! it's no longer fun or cute!

now maybe some of you will be lucky and have this miraculous 10 months of pregnancy.

But for me the end has been a couple of weeks from hell!!!!

luckily for me we have had a few sure signs that she is digging her way out.

(slowly but still digging)

i feel inspired to read her the "little engine that could."

maybe she might find it inspirational.

i tried having a similar talk with my OB about getting her out early,

and she basically laughed at me........ sooooooooo........... so much for that idea!!!

what else is up???

the nursery is almost done. we are just waiting for a piece that was missing for her dresser.

The rest of the bedding should be delivered this week!

the nesting has kicked in, in full force. for some reason it goes into effect around 5am and all i want to do is put things together. so far i put together the playpen, highchair, changed out the light bulbs (not sure why, but it was bugging me; cleaned the toilets at least 3 times, organized the pots and pans, allowed sean to empty out the freezer (he claims that i am a food hoarder) and mopping, cleaning the guest bath tub, and the organizing the pantry will be added to the list tomorrow.

i've been keeping up with the bump's to do list. the only thing i have left to do is get a baby monitor and finish hanging a few things on the wall. this list was such a help in getting prepared.

it helped me decide on what to pack in our hospital bags and even gave me a list to of things to include for sean (magazines, snack, etc)!

now it's just a waiting game!!!

Long Time No Blog

i know it's been such a long time but both of our computers are fried!!!
as soon as we get our new hard drive in the mail i will add some more info!

Showered with love (30 weeks)

What an exciting weekend we had last week!!!
Not only did I turn 27, but we also had our family baby shower.
It was so amazing!!! My mom and sisters did an incredible job!
My Cousin Natasha in georgia also did alot of behind the scences help. I truly felt like we were in an episode of Platinum Babies (WE channel).

We were also very blessed to have Sean's Mom and brother in town!!! Due to a recent death in the family, we didn't think they would be able to make it. Here are a few pics!