Our Grapefruit-Craving, Large Cantaloupe

Dear loved ones,

Yay, it's Friday! And I just got home from the dr's office. Oddly enough, I love going to the doctor. The staff is amazing, Dr. Philpott is a joy to work with and they are kind in these last few weeks as "pregnancy brain" has really kicked in. To embarrassing proportions, might I add. I went in last Friday thinking I had a 3:15 appointment. Nope! Had it confused with today, bless my heart. Then today the nurse asked me to step on the scale...never a favorite. I took off my boots and climbed on. "Oh, you should definitely put your boots down! That's defeating the whole purpose!," says the nurse. I was holding them in my hands. She saved me an extra pound. What is my problem?! And yes, they continue to let me work at the office and seem to trust what I am doing. Oy. David will be handling our taxes for sure.

Baby Morgan is officially due in 2 weeks and 2 days. Wowsa! And according to my pregnancy app, he is about the size of a large cantaloupe. I'm feeling it! This sweet baby loves to push his bottom into his mom's right ribcage. He also craves grapefruit, oranges, chocolate and 2% milk. Oh, and Starburst. And Starburst jelly beans.

Great progress so far. My blood pressure is normal, his heartbeat is strong and he has remained in the head-down position. For those of you who don't know, God answered our prayers. This baby turned the day before we were scheduled to get the external version (i.e. the baby-turning procedure that hurts!). I was a delighted mess during that ultrasound and the sweet ultrasound tech just celebrated right along with me, the shrieking, crazy mama. Woo hoo! And thank you so much for praying!

I'm not dilated yet and I've only had a few random contractions. So my stress level about getting the car seat installed has slowed a bit.

 Here's the bump from about two weeks ago. I'll send another one soon. Popular comments include a sweet "Wow, he's really dropped!" to my favorite blunder, "Goodness, you've really gotten fat...I mean, all of a sudden you just really popped out." I got a really good laugh out of that second one! To my credit, I was wearing a light-colored dress...

David has his rock climbing competition tomorrow and we are both pretty pumped about it. Stay tuned - I'll take pictures and provide a recap. I know he really enjoys the people that climb there and the competitive atmosphere. I haven't seen him climb in about a year and can't wait to see how much he's progressed. Fun! We are also strongly considering a movie over the weekend. Any recommendations?

Other than that, we don't have much else happening. Unless you count a basement and master bath reno two weeks before our first baby is due as "much." Yes, we are insane. I keep my eyes focused on the end result. And we are both incredibly thankful for the help from family!

I'm going to go rest this belly on the couch with a snack. We love all of you! And we pray for you.

Hugs,
Missy, David and Baby Morgan (recently referred to as Braxton Hicks Morgan)

Our Sweet, Upside-Down Little Pineapple!

Dear loved ones,

I'm quite embarrassed that I haven't written since November! Life feels like a fast sprint most of the time. I've noticed with Baby Morgan on the way that our sprint has become a faster, crazier one.

Two weeks ago the doc told us that our little guy weighed about 5 pounds, which sets him on the trajectory to weigh about 7.5 pounds at birth. We are at week 35 this week and my pregnancy app tells us that he is now the size of a pineapple! I even have one of these sitting on our counter for a Super Bowl fruit salad. Cute, huh? Thankful we don't birth pineapples.

We decided to tackle refinishing the basement, the master bath and the nursery. Yes, we're crazy. I am happy to report that we are making progress! David put together the crib, which really turned out beautiful. This dad-to-be is both electronically gifted AND quite handy. Do you see the crinkle of focus in his handsome brow? I sat in my new glider, provided words of encouragement and was tickled pink when it was finished.

And since it's been awhile since I sent a bump photo, here are a few. First me and Baby Morgan at week 29...

And here is the most recent one from this past Monday, week 33. Yes, I wore short sleeves in January in St. Louis. And I was perfectly comfortable.

This was taken after we got home from our appointment with Dr. Philpott two Mondays ago. He broke the news that our sweet baby was in the transverse position, or sideways. I'm normally prepared with questions, my Google Keep app for notes and mental clarity for next steps. I wasn't expecting to be concerned about position quite yet, not to mention a sideways baby. We all discussed a lot of percentages...he has this % chance of turning at this point, start considering an external version (where you go to the hospital and the doctor attempts to turn the baby externally) vs. going straight to c-section if he doesn't turn, they recommend an epidural during version because the pain is so intense. Here I had been preparing myself for childbirth, long laboring and the nursery. We can never plan to perfection. I should know this by now!

So we went on with our lives to wait and see. David and I attended our childbirth/newborn care full-day class at the hospital. It was awesome. I had always been a bit befuddled when people would ask me if I would use a birthing ball, which is nothing less than an exercise ball, during labor. I still think it's a weird question, but my answer before was always that I thought it was a bit strange and I wasn't sure what I would do with it. We changed our minds.

I'll spare everyone the details, but this class was so informative about everything from your first contractions to when the baby appears and you panic because people like us have no clue what to do with babies. They also had orange juice available all day, my obsession since week 6, and about 80 handouts to take with you. I have a lot of reading to do in between our fixer upper schtuff. We are not bored!

I went back to the doc on Friday and he took a quick look at Baby Morgan on the ultrasound. His little heart is beating beautifully! And he is now officially in a breech position, bless his heart. Feet first. The doc is very organized and therefore suggested that while David and I consider our options over the weekend amidst much prayer, we should go ahead and schedule the external version now as he has 5 days of travel and he doesn't want us to miss the best time window if we want it. So we are officially scheduled for another ultrasound on Monday, February 15th, President's Day. If he's still breech, we are scheduled for an external version on Tuesday, February 16th at 7:00 a.m.

We would love your prayers for him to turn around on his own! I'll keep you posted as to what we decide to do.

Big picture. Baby Morgan was long-prayed-for, a gift from God that we were told likely would not happen and one out of thousands of ways that I see God's graciousness and kindness. If this kiddo is going to be pulled out from a sideways position via c-section or flipped around by a doctor while his mother thanks the Lord for epidurals, we are just beyond excited to see him make his appearance and meet him face-to-face for the first time.

Reminds me of these verses that gave me so much peace while we waited and had some heartbreak thinking this pregnancy wasn't going to happen:

Psalm 27:13-14
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

I am off to rest a bit before David gets home from church. I slightly overdid it this past week and decided to stay home and stream our church service from this very couch. I need to keep reminding myself that one cannot maintain the same level of activity at 35 weeks pregnant as they did a year ago. So glad David mops, cleans, bakes cookies, cooks, cleans bathrooms and puts schtuff together. Otherwise I might be in a sleep coma.

Eat wings and cheese dip and be merry on this Super Bowl Sunday! We love you all so much. Do you know how much we love you and thank God for you? It really is special to call you friends and family.

Hugs,
Morgan Minor Parents-To-Be