Baby Lok's Room

The baby's room is nearing completion. The crib and dresser are painted and assembled, the bedding is complete and the curtains are hung. Thanks to my dear husband for his handy work and patience!! A few more details and we will be ready. Below are the pictures of the progress. Click on them to view larger.

37 Week update - Only 3(ish) more to go!

Derek and I went this morning for our 37 week checkup and everything continues to move along relatively smoothly. She has a strong heartbeat, is turned head down, and based on measuring my belly her size is right on track for this stage. Mitra, the midwife we met with this morning, said that since my blood pressure is normal I don’t need to be concerned with the swelling of my feet and ankles. Cause for concern would be if the swelling moves above the knees or if I notice puffiness in my face/eyes. She said overall I am doing very well for being 37 weeks pregnant in the middle of the summer in Atlanta.

As far as when they will induce, she said that if she has not come by 40 weeks they will then do an ultrasound. This, along with how dilated/effaced I am, will help them determine if I should wait it out another week or if they need to induce then to avoid putting stress on the baby. So that means she may just arrive while Suz is taking the bar exam on the 28th and 29th, but keep your fingers crossed that we don’t go that far past the 20th!

We don’t really have any indications that she might come early, but Derek has installed the car seat base in one car and is going to do the other one this weekend. I am going to pack my bag this weekend just to be on the safe side. Other than those last few things I think we are pretty much prepared for this baby to arrive. Now we just need to decide on a name!!!

Surprise!

Let me start by saying that my coworkers are great people. We have weathered a lot together since the departure of a few members of our group last December, but we have all leaned on each other for support over the last few months and have become better friends as a result.



In any case, last Friday I was scheduled to have a lunch meeting with my department head and an underwriter to discuss an account renewal. Around 11:30 another member of my team came by to let me know that the underwriter had arrived and was waiting for me in the conference room. So we walked down there together and opened the door, but in place of the underwriter stood all the members of my practice group. Surprise!!! I looked around the room at all the smiling faces and balloons, and I suddenly realized that I had been duped—there was no lunch meeting, and instead they had brought lunch into the office and were throwing me a surprise baby shower! What fun!!! Needless to say I was stunned. I couldn’t believe how sneaky they were. We had a great time eating pizza and cupcakes together as a team, as it had been a while since we had lunch all together. Below are some pictures of our little shindig.

Still in shock!

Cute cupcakes!

You can never have too many gas drops!

33 Week Bump

Only 7 weeks to go!!!!

30 Weeks: Heart Burn and...Morning Sickness?

This past Monday marked 30 weeks of pregnancy. Woo hoo! So far everything has been moving along relatively smoothly with the exception of a touch of mild heart burn that I developed around week 27. There is an easy solution for that though--TUMS, my new best friend.

So as I said earlier, I'm sailing right along through week 30. Wednesday morning I wake at my usual time, eat my usual breakfast, gulp down a large glass of water with my prenatal vitamin and proceed to the bathroom to take my shower. About 5 minutes later I am racing to turn off the water and fighting to open the shower curtain just in time to see aforementioned breakfast exit my stomach. After 30 weeks of pregnancy with no sickness I finally got to experience what so many of my fellow pregnant friends went through during their first trimesters...and I do not envy them one bit! After a quick call to the doc to make sure there was no need for concern I went on my merry way and haven't looked back.

Next on the agenda: Little Girl Lok goes to Athens for her Aunt Suzannah's law school graduation and then on to the beach for a week. Hopefully we will take some pictures worth sharing and I will post them when we return on Memorial Day weekend.

24 Week Bump

This past Wednesday I had my 24-week checkup. This was the one where I had the "privilege" of chugging a bottle of super-concentrated orange-flavored sugar water so that they can evaluate my body's reaction. I haven't received the results yet, but hopefully they will determine that I am not at risk for gestational diabetes. While we wait, here are some pictures of the growing belly taken today. Enjoy!

HICCUPS!

Early on Sunday morning around 5:00am I felt our little girl truly moving around for the first time! I have been feeling little bitty movements for the last few weeks (which were easily confused with indigestion!) but what woke me up Sunday morning was totally different. As a matter of fact it felt like our baby had a case of the hiccups! For about 2 minutes I felt regular little "jumps" inside my belly. A strange sensation for sure, but very sweet and exciting at the same time.

It's Nursery Time!

Now that we know we will be welcoming a little girl into our lives come late July it is time to start decorating the baby's room. I am really excited about this part of the process (much more fun than putting on clothes to find they no longer fit!) but as most of you know I can be quite the procrastinator, as well as a "tad" indecisive when it comes to decorating. So I have once again enlisted the discerning eye of my sister-in-law Randall. She has played a large part in getting our house where it is now, so I am excited that she is also on board with the baby's room. Below is a sample of the fabric that I am going to use for the crib skirt and a few other accent pieces. I bought paint samples yesterday so my goal for the weekend is to get those up on the wall and make a decision. I think having a set goal date is the key to motivating me to get it done!

Baby Bump

At last, here is a picture of Little Lok.

21 weeks pregnant, or just over 5 months.

(Ignore the weird expressions on my face.)

Telling the Family

After Derek and I had dinner together our families (including some special guests from CT) came over to the house for cocktails and cupcakes so we could tell them the big news in person. I think they would have been happy with either a boy or girl, but they were definitely surprised to hear we are going to bring a little girl into the world. Below are a few pics from the evening.

The Big Announcement

The Grandmas The Grandpas

Al & Mom

The Fam

Words of Wisdom