It's The Final Countdown

For all you Arrested Development fans, I hope you are singing along with me. I wake up singing this song every morning recently as we are counting down the days until Jackson's arrival. We are so excited to meet him and are enjoying our last few days of quiet time (and no poopy diapers, as Aunt Karen reminded me). 

I had my 39 week appointment on Tuesday which started out with an ultrasound. We aren't sure why they wanted one this late and neither was the US tech but we went through with it anyways. Who doesn't want to see their little baby one last time before he is born? It was nearly impossible to get any good pictures of Jackson, whose head is shoved down in position and whose body is too big to be captured well with the ultrasound head.  According to the tech, he was measuring 39 weeks and 1 day (I was 39 w and 3 days that morning) and her best guess is 8lb 3oz! This was quite the shock after my MD predicted 6lb the week before! Yikes! However, the up side of things is that there is a 1lb measurement error for ultrasound ...so we could have a 7lb3oz baby (let's not talk about having the +1lb measurement error!).  Everything looked great during this appointment and the doctor said that it could be any day now. However, if little Jackson decided he is too comfortable to budge, they will induce me next Saturday the 29th.  So for all of you who guessed Halloween or even November 7th as the due date (mom, do you want me to birth an 11lb baby?!), I am sorry to say that you will not win the baby pool.  

I just finished up my last week of work on Thursday which feels amazing! As much as I love my job, I am way more excited about what's to come.  This week was emotionally difficult to be at work. Each day, I was greeted by my coworkers and patients who would say, 

"Oh, you're still here?"

"I thought you would have had your baby already"

"So, no baby yet" (to that I want to reply...yes, I had my baby yesterday and came back to work today)

"Wow, are you having twins?"

"You look ready to pop"

"My wife's labor was the most awful thing ever. She was in so much pain for 36 hours!"

"Having a baby is terrible"

"Things are so gross....I never want to have a baby or watch it happen ever again...please just sedate me".

And then some compliments about how I looked 

"glowing"

"ready to be a mom"

"so excited"

One of my patients was even bribed to say, "Oh my goodness, you look so skinny!" when I came out to get her. I turned around and looked for someone else behind me!  

I have treasured those comments. Thank you for all of your positivity!

I have made a great new friend who is due 2 weeks after me and she and I have been walking all over Norfolk with our baby bellies!  If walking doesn't make Jackson come, at least I will get to enjoy great company and the amazing fall weather we are having here.  Following the walk, I downed a serving of buffalo chicken pasta (with approximately 1/2 the large bottle of texas pete) and proceeded to clean my house.  Some things are very important for when a new baby comes home....no spider webs on the porch, clean remotes, clean baseboards (yes, I did them AGAIN), no dirty laundry and organized gift bags in the closet. Plus, I am eagerly anticipating my pre-pregnancy body and have started to wash and fold maternity clothes to return to everyone (thanks Val, Aunt Karen, Blair, Bonnie).  

Jonathan is super excited to meet Jackson, or Yackson/Yack as he is calling him. Jonathan is going to make an amazing father and I have loved watching him grow during the past 9 months of pregnancy. He has been so supportive of me when I have been tired, grumpy, in need of a foot rub, grumpy, lazy, grumpy :)  I am excited that He will finally get to be closer to Jackson when he is born instead of waiting for him to kickbox in my belly.  

And I guess I'll end this long post with something that doesn't seem to end recently...going to the bathroom! Oh my goodness, I had no idea it would be like this!!! Throughout the pregnancy I woke up mostly 1 time per night and was like a normal person during daytime hours, but recently I have had to use the restroom every 30 minutes.  Not kidding.  This makes working with patients very awkward. Thank goodness they are all very understanding. Dear Jackson, please come soon so I may have my normal bladder function back. Love, your adoring mother.

Here are some pictures from the rest of the photo shoot with Dave. Enjoy!

Maternity Pictures at VA Beach

We are so grateful to Dave Rathbone for taking maternity pictures for us at Virginia Beach last weekend, when I was 38 weeks pregnant.  Enjoy! 

ExpectNet.com

We have started a baby pool to make the 'waiting game' a little more interesting! (No betting, just for fun).  Feel free to join us at www.expectnet.com. The game name is "JacksonByrne" (no space).

This coming Tuesday, I go in for my 39 week appointment and ultrasound to see just how big this boy might be. My doctor thinks he is in the 6 pound range right now which is great with us! He has been wiggling like crazy which I still LOVE. I can't believe that we are almost able to hold him and that Jonathan will get to be closer to him too.

Assuming all goes well, we are welcoming visitors at the hospital (Sentara Leigh) and will be looking for some willing dog walkers in the first few weeks after Jackson's arrival!

Here are some pictures of the finished nursery. Now all we need is a baby!

Playing the waiting game

38 weeks and 3 days....and counting...no sign of Jackson yet!

I have been busy writing thank you notes for the fabulous things we have received for Jackson, shopping for the last minute things we need and furiously cleaning the house (you can eat off of my baseboards). That stuff all gets squeeze in between working full time, taking care of Lincoln (who has much more energy now that it's cool outside) and trying to see Jonathan when he is not working (21 ten hour shifts in a row in October!).

Last week I got to see my good friend Elizabeth and her 1 month old, Knox. What a precious little boy and amazing mom and dad :)

Lincoln getting in some quality time with Jonathan before Jackson takes over!!!

This is Lincoln, after I turned on the baby swing for the first time. He stared at it for 3-4 minutes watching it swing and make noise. Then he looked as me as if to say, "Are we going to keep this?"  I'm pretty sure that is what I said when mom and dad brought Matt home from the hospital.  Wait till Link sees what is in store for him!!!

Our friend Dave took some great maternity shots of us at VA beach last weekend and I will post those as soon as we get them. Thanks Dave!!

Will keep everyone posted on when Mr. Jackson decides to make an appearance.  So far we are both still very healthy. Thanks for continuing to keep us in your prayers as we await his arrival!!

September Showers

Not only has it been showering in the sense of nonstop rain in Norfolk, but Jackson has been showered with love from so many of our friends in the last two weeks.

On September 18th, I had a shower in Springfield hosted by mom's best friends, Mrs. Dutton, Mrs. Hallah, Mrs. Chenoweth and Mrs. Chapin.  It was filled with special details, like an amazing diaper cake, delicious homemade food and rubber duckies in the blue punch.  I am so grateful for how these women have loved me during my time at First Baptist in Springfield, how they love mom now and how they already love Jackson so much! Jackson got a ton of books, which we are so grateful for! We can't wait to read to our little guy and to use all of the practice and cute things we received at this shower. Thanks mostly for the prayers for the three of us.

 Diaper cake from Mrs. Chenoweth

 Mom, Nana and me at the shower

The hostesses, Mrs. Dutton, Mrs. Chapin and Mrs. Hallah (not pictured: Mrs. Chenoweth)

Then, on September 24th I had a great shower from all the ladies at work, hosted by Michelle in Virginia Beach.  Jackson got some great onesies, sheets and the most precious North Face winter outfit so we can pound the pavement as soon as my doctor allows us to! Jen Paet amazed us again with her homemade cake that was cute and delicious.  Michelle organized games that I had never seen at a shower before. One was drawing a picture of Jackson on a plate that was placed on top of your head....we had some ugly looking babies!  :) Next, we played 'guess the baby food'....bananas, plums with brown rice, and peas....gross! Luckily, I got a great cookbook from Shannon about making homemade baby food!

 Work baby shower

 Cake courtesy of Jen, she is super talented

 All the ladies from work

Thanks to everyone who has surrounded us with support as we get ready to officially welcome Jackson into the world sometime in the next month!

There's an old saying that...

pregnant ladies who stretch in front of the tv deserve to be photographed and have said photographs posted on the internet.

I (JB) haven't posted in a while for a few reasons: 1) life has been busy as usual- I suppose those are the joys of residency and pregnancy all combined into one    2)  Heather has been doing a great job of updating the blog   3)  it seems like things have reached a new status quo here in the Byrne household- pregnancy seems to be our new norm.  Part of me is convinced that there is actually no baby coming and Heather will just remain pregnant indefinitely because it seems like it has been so long since we found out we were expecting.  Heather has adjusted really well to working while growing a baby and life has seems to be going on (mostly) as usual.  Something tells me though that over the next 6 or 7 weeks things are going to change...

We've pretty much finished Mr. Jackson's room.  We ordered curtains this weekend which should be coming soon.  We ended up repainting the green for another less frightening green (see H's previous post on "The Chicken Roaster") which should allow lil' Jackson Shaconstance Byrne to sleep in peace.

Well, that's about all I have at the moment- one final thought: what baby's room would be complete without a wall decal?  Ignore the period, that was just an extra piece of decal that I stuck up there, but it seems a fitting end to this blog about

The Dreaded Black Line!

Bummer. I tried to fight against it. I tried to stop it. But alas, I got the linea nigra, in my mind the dreaded black line of pregnancy! So, instead of hiding it I've just decided to be a belly-baring-beach-goer for the rest of the summer and really enjoy the last 7-ish weeks of having this baby belly! Plus I would love a little summer glow on this growing belly of mine before Dave Rathbone takes some maternity pictures for us (Thanks!!!)  This is the day after Hurricane Irene in Virginia Beach (wearing running shorts as we were unprepared for such a gorgeous day!)

Other body joys of pregnancy....people pointing out my new outie, which one of my baby books calls "The Proud Badge of Pregnancy".  I thought about covering it with tape or a band-aid and then realized that was so much work and why do I need to care about having a temporary (at least I hope it's temporary!) outie? I will embrace it as a way of reminding me that I have the blessed role of growing our little boy, Jackson and that he is just BURSTING to get out into this world, as evidenced by my stretching abs, bulging umbilicus and little black line.