When the hunter becomes the hunted.

TJ, Justin, and Heidi went hunting yesterday. Somehow, I think this is cheating. Heidi has a much keener sense of smell than either TJ or Justin. She can smell the deer coming. Of course deer have pretty good smell receptors too, which could work in their favor as TJ, Justin, and Heidi smell strongly. I suppose it isn't quite The Most Dangerous Game, but it does make it a little more of a fair fight. Here is the image I received from the hunters last night.

Guitar Hero/ Facebook Paw Paw

We had a great weekend. Mom, Dad, Evan, TJ, and I loaded up for Atlanta. We had a great lunch with Aunt Patty, Boomer, Granny, Alison, Adrienne, Sidney, and Barack...I mean Kerry. It was delicious. Then we had a rousing Guitar Hero contest (I lost badly), and then a baby shower for little Avery. All of the extended family from Dad's side made it over to Granny's for some food and catching up. We had not seen most of these relatives in years. They brought great presents for the baby! We got a Boppy, two baby monitors, lots of cute clothes, blankets, a swing, hats, and booties, as well as a Curious George book, and a frog wash cloth. We are so fortunate! Thank you all! Pictures of all of this to come! Grandma, Mom and I are going to wash all of Avery's clothes over the Christmas holidays. Apparently this is very important. All of the books harass you about washing with the right kind of detergent. I suppose it makes sense to wash out all the chemicals, but why are they using chemicals in baby clothing anyway?

As a side note, Big Greg is now on facebook. Won't Avery be proud to know her grandpa is an internet junkie? Ask him to be your friend.

7 weeks 4 days until the new due date. 6 weeks 2 days until her birthday...hopefully.

We went back to the doctor today. Everything is normal. Avery is doing great, and I am no longer on bed rest. TJ and I are looking forward to the weekend trip to Atlanta to spend some time with Big Greg's side of the family for Christmas! Glad I will be able to actually go. There was some debate that I might still be on "bed rest" and not be able to travel. That's the good news.
The bad news is my due date was officially pushed back to February 11th. Ugh. That is very frustrating. This whole time I have been planning around a Feb. 6th birthday. Maybe she will still come a few days early. I don't need any of you nay-sayers telling me how most first time moms have late deliveries rather than early. I know that already. I am now liking February 3rd. That is the best birthday I can think of, but not for any real good reason. I just like that day.

Stubborn, I am.

Maybe I am stubborn, but I have made it to work everyday this week so far. It does seem to make me more tired, but I would be pulling my hair out if I was at home. And I wouldn't be sitting or laying around if I was there anyway. I'd be frantically cleaning because my house is in a perpetual state of disarray. It is not dirty, but very cluttered right now. It is driving me crazy!

In other news I got my Christmas Card pictures finished and mailed out, and we did manage to get all the dogs in one place at one time, and some of them even smiled.

Bed Rest is Bad News

So sorry it has been so long. A very strange sequence of events lead to an early departure from work on Thursday. Here is how it went. Wednesday and continuing into Thursday, I was having some strange cramping very low in my abdomen. My feet had also swollen larger than I had ever thought possible. So I called the nurse at my OB's office thinking she would tell me what they tell everyone, "Get off of your feet, and drink as much water as you can down." However, I guess the combination of the two scared her a little and she sent me to OB Triage (the entrance level of the hospital for pregnant women) to get tested to make sure I wasn't in preterm labor. At this point, I kept my cool, but needless to say was pretty freaked out that I might be in early labor. They checked my blood pressure and urine to make sure I was having pre-eclampsia, which I was not, and then hooked me up to the fetal monitor which also checks for contractions. After about an hour, the nurse came in and said that I had one contraction while there, and that she thought I was probably just dehydrated. She gave me some water, and said she was going to bring me the discharge papers to go home. About another hour later, she came back in and said that I had four contractions since she had last been in there, and that gave her cause for concern. She gave me a shot of Brethine to stop the contractions, and then put me on modified bed rest until I could get in to see my OB. Then she checked to see if I was dilated, I wasn't, and I am not leaking amniotic fluid. So luckily, labor is not imminent. When I got home, I called to schedule an appointment, and the nurse who had originally sent me to Triage told me I needed to wait and see Dr. Miller on Friday. I am sure you can imagine my response. It was something like this, "Seriously? That's an awful long time to be on bed rest. I could see another doctor, you know. Fine. OK, I'll just stay in bed for 8 days." You probably know how long that lasted. I tried to stay in bed, I really did. But I just didn't feel that bad. I was having a few crampy waves here and there, but the swelling was gone by Saturday morning. I almost felt like I was faking it. Obviously I wasn't. I went to work this morning for a few hours, came home and took a 2 hour nap. Maybe bed rest isn't such a horrible idea after all. I think I will try again tomorrow, but did they really think I could stay in bed for 8 days?
I would like to think that Avery will hold off for at least another 5 weeks or so. That would put her at 37 weeks and full term. Say a prayer for that.

I am so incredibly tired. I know it is normal, but that doesn't make it any easier. I can't sleep because my hips and back ache. My desk chair is no longer comfortable. My feet and ankles are swelling to enormous proportions. I am hot, easily aggravated, and I am ready to pull Avery out myself if I have to. But that's enough complaining for one day. I will be thankful that I haven't had indigestion, and that I have slept pretty well until this point. TJ has been such a help. He is constantly trying to make me feel better. He massages my aches and lies through his teeth as he tells me I look great. Here is a photo of the Dad to be, and then one of the whole Williford clan at Thanksgiving. Even Avery made the shot (see the TV in background).

Once again, please excuse how awful I look. Its like my face won't hold makeup anymore. By 10AM, whatever foundation and eyeliner I put on is mysteriously gone. I am going to try and blame the fluorescent bulb elves, but I am sure you will see right through that.

Several weeks ago, Allison and I were given a baby shower by the ladies that we work with. Unbeknownst to me, there were pictures taken at this shower. I am pirating some of them off of Allison's blog and posting them here. We had a great time, everyone else consuming Margaritas, and Allison and I taking down some phenomenal non-alcoholic beer. And Carolyn, well, she decided milk was a good idea at a Mexican Restaurant. (Insert your own vomit sound here.) I am so fortunate to have such a caring group of women to work with! They were so thoughtful and gave us a Baby Einstein Bouncer!

My final entry for today is some pictures of very precious babies who were born over the past two weeks. Katie and Brigg, Allison and Michael, and TJ and were all expecting babies within about 2 months of each other. We are the last ones now, waiting on little Avery, but this is such an exciting preview of what is to come! Meet Hails and Riley, the newest eligible bachelors on the block.

Mr. Phillip Hails born on November 27th. 5 lbs, 6 ounces.

Mr. Riley Earl born on December 6th. 7 lbs, 6 ounces.

Just the six of us.

Sorry for my extended absence on the blog. I had another rousing week of Grand Jury duty. While I think that everyone should have to serve on Grand Jury, I am hopeful that I will never have to do it again. I would like to tell you what has been going on with me and little Avery the past couple weeks. We have been back to the doctor, and given the thumbs up that everything is normal, and then the swift "get out of here you low risk pregnant woman, before someone with complications knocks you down." No one actually said that to me, but sure does feel like it in that factory of an OBGYN office. Regardless, I would still rather be low risk, and am thankful to be considered such.

An interesting article I read recently pointed out the fact that the majority of my single and or non-mommy friends would really only want to talk to me right now to find out how much weight I have gained. Somewhere in the back of my mind I already knew this, and just to oblige you all who don't see me on a regular basis should know that over the last two weeks I have absolutely exploded. Here is a picture taken from the week before Turkey Day of Allison, me, and Carolyn at work (in various stages of pregnancy). Please disregard the incredibly un-cute face I am sporting.

However, since that time, I have grown more, so add an inch or two to the belly, and I will surprise you with a newer picture another day.

In other news around our house, Heidi decided she would be Santa instead of Humphrey this year. As I am sure you can guess that really peeved him, but what could he do, she has already beaten him up once, and since he has no thumbs he couldn't very well lock her out of the house. Plus he is at Mike and Beverly's for bad behavior, and wont be out on bail for a while. Here is the pic of Heidi.