Heat Wave, Local Tragedy, and Baby Name Revealed!

The past two weeks have been interesting, to say the least.

I found out that I do NOT have gestational diabetes!!! I was so relieved. The only part of the 3 hour test that was close to elevated was the first hour and even that was 10 points from the cut off. I celebrated with a bowl of ice cream. 

Charlee and I have begun to enjoy summer with daily trips to the pool. She made some little friends there and enjoyed swimming with them. I even took her to the beach for the day, just the two of us. She stayed all day and had a blast while I was able to relax with my feet in the water. 

The weather changed significantly last week with a heat wave. Temperatures have been 99-102 with the heat index around 102-112. Which means it's too hot for outdoor play. So I've been keeping myself busy getting ready for the jelly bean. The only exception was spending the day outdoors for Kip's 4th birthday. Luckily the yard was shaded and the kids had a water slide and pools to play in. 

Tuesday morning was my first "every two weeks" appointment. The jelly bean was doing very well with a heart rate of 150. The doctor said we're doing wonderfully. My blood pressure was 120/80 and I only gained one pound in the two weeks. I've already gained 29lbs (yikes!) thanks to all of the added weight I put on when we were on vacation, so now my goal is to eat healthy, stay active, and gain as few extra pounds as I can (which is doctor approved).

Wednesday I took Charlee to her first movie. During the summer the movie theater has kids movies for $1 per ticket on Tuesday and Wednesday. We went to see Paddington. Charlee did better than I expected and made it almost the entire movie. The jelly bean was kicking away and seemed entertained. I asked Charlee what her favorite part of the movie was. Her response: "the popcorn". 

Thursday morning Charlee and I had dentist appointments. We both just got cleanings and she did great with the hygienist, but bit the dentist. He wasn't as patient with her and I think she got scared. Luckily it wasn't a hard bite and he laughed it off! 

I'm making progress on the nursery. I have the crib skirt ready and the crib sheet should be finished tonight! Now to get Eric to put the crib together...There's still so much to do!

Even though I've been busy getting ready for baby, things pretty much stopped around town on Wednesday evening. A 21 year old man went to bible study at Emanuel AME church in downtown Charleston, sat with the group members for almost an hour, and then proceeded to complete one of the most horrific mass murders in our history. He killed 9 people, including the pastor, leaving only a couple survivors. His actions were fueled by hate, racism, and ignorance towards a house of God. It shook the local community to its core. Since then thousands of people from all over the country have been visiting the church and leaving flowers for the victims and peacefully asking people to come together to prevent hate crimes like this in the future. Yesterday thousands of people stood next to each other from Mount Pleasant to downtown across the Ravenel bridge in a unity chain. It was moving and beautiful and a testament to how the people of Charleston come together in times of grief and tragedy. I wanted to go, but I am way too pregnant to be out in that heat for that long. But watching it from home and via social media definitely reminded me just how pregnant I am since I was crying like a baby! 

And one final announcement that you may have been waiting for! We decided on the jelly bean's name before we even knew the gender (we had a girl and a boy name), but wanted to wait until we were 100% settled on it, and we are! Both first and middle names are family names on Eric's side. Baby boy will be named:

Beck Finley Widener

As of Friday I am 29 weeks pregnant! Beck is 15.29 inches (about the size of a butternut squash) and 2.5lbs. I am feeling great and craving strawberries, ice cream, bacon, and cheddar cheese. 

Hello Third Trimester!

It's finally here: my third trimester! I'm in the final stretch towards meeting my baby boy! And I still have so much to do...

The last couple of weeks have been pretty low key. After we went to Disney I spent most of the week recovering and doing laundry. That weekend we went to visit Eric's family. His cousin had graduated from Clemson and is heading off to vet school, so we went to a party in her honor. Charlee had a blast playing with Kip and Kimber in a kiddie pool and the bounce house. I got to see Case and Hallie and be reminded about how exciting it will be to have a small baby again. Get togethers will be getting more chaotic soon when we have 6 mobile little ones running around! 

Sunday was a more relaxing day at Eric's parents house. We had burgers and sat in the shade while the kids played in the yard. We went home that night so that we could all get some rest. The ride home felt especially long and reminded me just how pregnant I am. I think it's time to cut back on the long car rides. 

Since then I've been keeping Charlee busy with trips to the pool on sunny days and working on the other dresser for the master bedroom. Mackenzie and Malory came over last weekend for an afternoon at the pool and Charlee had a blast. I, on the other hand, feel like a hippopotamus when I get into my bathing suit and walk into the pool. I also had a girls night with Malory. It's amazing how different a successful girls night is nowadays. We hung out at her house, made tacos, and watched a comedian on Netflix while wearing yoga pants. It was wonderful! 

This week has been interesting. I had my 1 hour gestational diabetes test on Tuesday. I was so certain that I would pass. I passed with no problem with Charlee and feel even better this time around. But I was wrong. I did get the exact same score as I did with Charlee, but my doctors office changed the cut off  and I was told to go take the 3 hour. 

I was pretty upset and decided to distract myself on Wednesday. It was raining all day, so I took Charlee to Monkey Joes. I wish I had taken her there before school had let out because she loved it, but it was PACKED! She loved bouncing, climbing, and sliding, and she really loved the arcade games. It was a pretty great day for only $6 admission and $5 on her arcade card. It was hard to keep up with her since I've entered the waddling phase of my pregnancy though. At one point she managed to go from walking right in front of me to disappearing and I had 15 seconds of pure terror before I found her again. There were already about 80 kids in there and when another party of about 30 more big kids showed up, I decided it was time to go. 

I went to take the 3 hour glucose tolerance test yesterday. I had to wake up early and had been fasting for 12 hours. Needless to say, I was not in a good mood. I had to wait about 30 minutes before the first blood draw and I was pretty irritated because that meant more time before I could eat again. The glucola is so disgusting. It's thick like syrup and ridiculously sweet. I almost threw up and am so glad I didn't because I wouldn've had to come back another day. The nurse sent me back to a private waiting room with a recliner, TV, and bathroom. After a few minutes I started sweating profusely and shaking pretty badly, so I went to get her. "Is this normal?" I asked. "Oh no dear! Go sit down and we will check on you every 5 minutes," she responded. Great. 

After 20 minutes or so I felt better. I spent the majority of the 3 hours knitting a blanket for the jelly bean and playing on Facebook. It went by pretty quickly and I practically ran out of there after the last draw. I had a sandwich waiting on me and I was starving! 

I felt pretty sick after I finally ate again. My stomach hurt and I had a headache (probably a sugar crash). Luckily Eric was working from home so I went upstairs and slept for about 4 hours. When I woke up I finally felt normal again. I really hope I don't have Gestational Diabetes because if I do I will have to take that test annually to check for Type II Diabetes that could possibly develop (it's a small percentage, but it's still a possibility), not to mention the possible risks to the baby. I find out Monday and I'm really nervous. 

In the meantime I am focusing on keeping myself busy. Eric is starting to build new nightstands for our bedroom, I'm going to go through all of Charlee's baby clothes and stuff so that I can finally consign a bunch of it and go shopping for the jelly bean, and I am planning to take Charlee to the beach after church tomorrow. I've got to get all of this running around done now while I still can! 

At this point the jelly bean is 14.5 inches, about 2 lbs, and approximately the size of califlower. The baby looks like a thinner version of what he will look like at birth. Time for him to start fattening up and practice breathing amniotic fluid for his grand arrival! 

Current cravings: strawberries, ice cream, cheddar cheese.