Now that my due date is only 8 days away, I want to know what you think! Give me a guess on when you think Noah will be here.
Again, I'm due the 30th, but I don't think my midwife won't induce until 2 weeks past. (haven't actually confirmed that, though.) Rebekah came 6 days early. Let me know!
On Saturday evening, our small group girls got together for a Chocolate Contest at my sweet friend Lori's house. Each person was to make and bring a chocolate dessert of their choice and we voted as a group on who's deserved to win. 
This spread isn't even everything that was there. I can't believe it, but I didn't get a picture of all the chocolate dishes! But in addition to this, there was a yummy oreo cake, cupcakes, lots of fruit w/chocolate dip, and cookies. 
I put together the grand prizes and door prizes. The two grand prizes were Starbucks' milk chocolate bars paired with Land O' lakes hot chocolate mix; and the others were sticky note pads with a Bible verse printed on them, and notecards paired with matching notepads.
Although the turnout was sort of small, it was SO much fun and just a relaxing time of fellowship and great conversation with friends. Taylor (far left) and Lori(4th from the left) won the two grand prizes, and Shannon and Julie got to pick from the basket of goodies too for bringing their dishes. Everything tasted wonderful! (Thank you ladies for coming and participating and for NOT disappointing with what you brought!)
Lori had it all taken care of for Rebekah, too! She had dress up clothes, toys, and a doll house ready for her to dig into and play with. Now I know why her nieces love her so much. And Lori shared her snacks, too. So Bekah pretty much made a new best friend for the night and thoroughly enjoyed herself. Really though, everyone really helped me with Bekah, and I am so grateful for being able to just relax and let them love on her and entertain her!
Thursday afternoon, Jason and I were blessed enough to get a date together (thanks to my wonderful sister who offered to watch Rebekah)! And not just a regular date for us where we go out to eat and that's it, but we actually went to the movies! Now, this is pretty monumental for us for those of you who don't know us that well. Jason is not big on movies pretty much at all so for me to get him to take me was huge. (Although it helped that it was a Christian movie that we were going to support so he wasn't completely opposed to going.)
In fact, it's been so long that when we went to pay for our tickets, we thought we were getting ripped off because I just knew that the matinee could not be $7.25 per person!! (Regular admission is over $9!) And (it gets better) when we went to the concession line, we were starved because we didn't have time to stop for lunch before the movie, so we thought that the #3 combo that came with 2 large drinks and a large popcorn sounded good. So we ask how much and the guy says $17.50! Good grief! We settled on splitting a medium (refillable) drink and a medium popcorn for $11.25. Now, I know we probably sound tight, but really - we get more for our money when we eat at On the Border!
Anyway, enough griping. =) The movie we saw was Fireproof. It's a Christian film about a couple who struggles in their marriage. The whole movie is basically about them finding out what makes a marriage and about them trying to save theirs. There is a great parallel drawn about how our relationship with Christ should be as well. So, if you are married (or even if you're not) and you haven't seen this movie, please go out and see it! It was so awesome and had such an amazing message, and I'm pretty sure I was brought to tears throughout the whole movie(which to me, makes it a good movie =). This was probably one of the best dates J and I have had in such a long time. I'm so glad we were able to reconnect and get some more face time in with each other before our baby boy gets here!
***Just to warn you, this is a long post. I really wanted to document my experiences with doctors lately, and I write how I talk (which can be excessive) so if you don't want to read through it all, feel free to skip to the rest of the post with the pictures and shorter stories! =)***
These past few weeks have been pretty crazy for us. I haven't been feeling too great, due to my asthma and allergies flaring up. When this happens my eczema follows too, which is just not fun to say the least. This whole pregnancy I've done really well without taking any medicines at all (from Tylenol to allergy medicine), so I didn't want to give in this time either. However, I started to feel worse about a week ago. I was getting up in the middle of the night to take breathing treatments about every 3-4 hours apart. Because I've had a really bad cough, it stirs up the asthma and I was gasping for air after a coughing fit. I've even dreaded going to sleep at night because that's when it gets worse. So, last Wednesday, I finally decided to make an appt. to see my primary care doctor to get some relief. (I knew from past experience that if I go too long untreated, I usually end up in the ER.) When I called, I couldn't get in to see him, so I settled with the first available doctor in the office instead. I guess you could say that it was a mistake to settle. She was just not the friendliest doctor, and it made things worse when I finally admitted to her that I didn't want to be on anything long term - I just needed relief now. She kept asking why I wasn't taking a particular inhaled steriod medication, and I told her that I've gone a really long time without having to take anything and I thought she'd appreciate where I was coming from. Instead, I think I made things worse. I asked her about getting a shot of steroids instead of the inhaler (because I've done this before), and she said it was much safer to go with the inhaler, and she seemed so annoyed with me. She told me to call my OBGYN and ask him to reassure me that she was right on this. She just had an attitude with me. Ugh! So I walked out of there with very little to go on and I was really frustrated because of her approach to talking to me and not really explaining things to me the way I'm used to. Fast forward to a few nights ago. I was taking treatments every two hours at night and about every 3 hours during the day. Even after taking them, I could still hear myself wheezing. Jason could hear me across the room. So again, I decided that I needed to do something. I contemplated going to my primary care to let him know my frustration with the last dr. and to see what he would recommend. But then I remembered the allergy specialist I've seen off and on, and thought I'd have a better shot at getting somewhere with him instead. Again, when I called Monday morning, I had to see the other doctor in the office, but I was miserable so at this point, I didn't care who I saw. The difference was night and day. I walked into the office and when I went to sign in, the receptionist could tell right away that I was short of breath. She gave me some paperwork to fill out, but told me it could wait and that she'd have me in a room as soon as she could. True to her word, I waited less than 5 minutes and they got me into a room, started me right away on a breathing treatment, and had a movie started for Rebekah to enjoy. When the doctor came in, he explained what he was going to do (did not waste any time with asking me questions about why I haven't taken anything or grilling me about anything else). He gave me a shot of steroids, plus the oral ones to take home. When I asked him why the other dr. wouldn't do that for me, he let me know that most primary care dr.s aren't as used to seeing what he sees every day since he is a specialist. He said that there was a slight risk with the medications, but since I'm so far along and that I am having trouble breathing that the good outweighs the bad. He went on to explain that not getting enough oxygen could send me into labor early, and that getting better would mean a better labor and delivery in a few weeks. He was SO gracious to answer all my questions and to set my mind at ease about what he was giving me. He even told me that he wouldn't make me stay on everything unless I absolutely need it. The appointment was at 11am and by 4 or 5 that night, I felt like a new person! I could breathe without wheezing and my skin was already clearing up! My midwife and chiropractor say that once I have the baby we are going to work on what I can do to stay away from the harsher medicines like the steroids, etc. But for now, I am so grateful that there is something I can take and for the relief I feel!
So after that whole long story, here are pictures of Rebekah being a cutie at the doctor's office. She was really enjoying herself!
Here are some pictures of our pumpkin brushing those toofies! We always brush them for her, but in order for her to open her mouth wide enough we have to get her to say "ahh!" We love it. And when she sees us brushing ours, she says "ahh!" for us to make sure we're doing it right. The other night I let her get some practice in on her own after I finished the real work. =) And might I add that she's gotten lots of new teeth in recently, too.
