26 Weeks

How far along? 26 Weeks

Total weight gain: 16 lbs (I am sure it is more but won’t know until next week.) 
Maternity clothes? Bella Band on my normal pants, lots of dresses with maternity leggings, still wearing my heels and boots!  AND I still really love my yoga pants.
Stretch marks? nope
Sleep: more crazy dreams…starting to have scary dreams about the impending c-section but these are mixed with happy dreams of introducing my little Tristan to our little angel girl.
Best moment this week: Tristan counting to 14 without any prompting at all!  I don’t know when kids normally start doing this but I was impressed!
Miss Anything?  sleeping on my stomach!  and being able to fully complete a power sculpt class….planks and all!
Movement: ALL THE TIME!  she loves to remind me she is in there and i love it too.  best feeling in the world!
Food cravings: milk, oranges, cottage cheese, CHOCOLATE!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  not too much this week.
Gender: princess
Labor Signs: nope but i felt the braxton hicks contractions yesterday for the first time ever….never felt them with little Tristan.  they feel like a leg cramp but in my stomach, without any pain….strong tightening sensations on and off for a long time yesterday morning.
Symptoms: heartburn, braxton hicks
Belly Button in or out? in but starting to come out a little
Wedding rings on or off? on
Happy or Moody most of the time: happy!
Looking forward to: THE WEEKEND!  Doing more for our registry, shopping for crib, dresser, etc.  Oh, and VALENTINE’S DAY NEXT WEEK!  Can’t wait for my yearly huge box of Godiva chocolates from my Daddy!  I also can’t wait for the dr’s appt on Valentine’s Day…how cute is that?!?  I get to hear my little love bug’s heartbeat on V-Day.  Love. 

25 Weeks

How far along? 25 Weeks

Total weight gain: 16 lbs
Maternity clothes? Bella Band on my normal pants, lots of dresses with maternity leggings, still wearing my heels and boots!  I really wish I could live in comfy pants though.  My yoga pants and couch are calling me right now…..
Stretch marks? nope
Sleep: pretty good but i am starting to have crazy dreams that wake me up a lot.
Best moment this week: getting the 1 hour glucose test over with! i drank the orange stuff in record time and scored 117 which is apparently awesome – no gestational diabetes or pre-diabetes in my future.
Miss Anything?  wearing my normal work pants.
Movement: TONS – she loves when i work out – especially zumba class – can’t wait to go today…come on 11:15!
Food cravings: chocolate milk!  and regular milk!  still on an orange kick – i eat at least one a day!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  heat, certain smells (my sense of smell is super heightened again!)
Gender: princess
Labor Signs: nope
Symptoms: heartburn has returned – hello zantac!
Belly Button in or out? in but starting to come out a little
Wedding rings on or off? on
Happy or Moody most of the time: happy!
Looking forward to: Ordering the letters for my angel’s nursery and picking out her crib this weekend at my favorite store in the world – the new babies r us/toys r us at cumberland – that store just makes me happy as can be!    oh, and having top spice thai for lunch on saturday – mmmmmmm, coconut soup…..

22 Weeks

How far along? 22 Weeks

Total weight gain: 14 lbs
Maternity clothes? Bella Band on my normal pants, lots of dresses with maternity leggings, still wearing my heels and boots!
Stretch marks? nope
Sleep: sleeping great besides being woken up a lot by our sweet little angel – she loves to kick!
Best moment this week: pre-planning peanut #2′s baby shower that aunt jenna is throwing. 
Miss Anything? margaritas with my chips and salsa and wine with my cheese and crackers!
Movement: LOTS of kicks, wiggles and dancing
Food cravings: milk!  and oranges!
Anything making you queasy or sick: heat
Gender: baby girl!!!!
Labor Signs: nope
Symptoms: occasional heartburn but not as bad as with tristan
Belly Button in or out? in
Wedding rings on or off? on
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Starting on the nursery…hopefully this weekend!  It is currently my ‘craft’ room which is really just a room for all of my girly craft stuff and junk…..soooooooooooooo, i need to sort through all of it and move everything into the new ‘craft’ room which is the upstairs living room/play room.

Baby Alford #2

Baby Alford #2 is on her way, yes, i said HER!!!!!  We are blessed with a baby girl this time around and WOW is this pregnancy different!  Let’s see….morning sickness every day for the first trimester and into the second a little, WAY more cravings, WAY more movement early on (although that might be because I know the feeling now) and I am getting bigger WAAYYY faster!  I am 22 weeks this week…only 18 more to go!  Baby girl is the size of a spaghetti squash this week and kicking like crazy all the time.  It is the most amazing feeling in the world and I am thoroughly enjoying it this time around.  Every movement makes my heart so happy.  I am already totally in love with her.  She seems to love when I do my Zumba classes at the gym…how can she not?  Awesome music & dancing!!!!  And me laughing at how ridiculous I am starting to look in the mirror!

We are set on the name but haven’t announced it yet – working on baby girl’s middle name and we are starting to work on her room now that the holidays are over.  Tristan knows there is a baby in my tummy and I talk to him all the time about it but I don’t think he is going to get it until she arrives.  He does enjoy bouncing on his little sister which is quite funny!  I will try to update this blog as much as I can but honestly I forgot about it until today – oh yeah, my memory is WAY worse this time too…pregnancy brain has totally set in.  I left Tristan’s ‘baby’ and his pacifier in the pantry yesterday when I was getting out cheerios for him and it took me FOREVER to find them.  I also lose my keys on a daily basis and find them in bizarre places.

Cravings List So Far – MILK, MILK & MORE MILK!!!!  I am addicted to milk!  Oranges, cottage cheese, steak-n-cheese sandwiches from subway with tons of pickles and olives, the beach club sandwich from jimmy john’s, BLIMPIE!  Oh, and OLIVES on everything!  The usual things too like dark chocolate, cheese and mexican food but that is just me….not sure if pregnancy has anything to do with it!

The Arrival of Tristan Cole

Tristan Cole Alford arrived on March 23rd, 2010 at 5:21 PM – 7 lbs, 8.8 oz, 20 inches via C-Section.

I went into a routine visit at 3:20 that day and was taken over to labor and delivery because I started bleeding after Dr. Kleiss had checked my cervix. They hooked me up to a ton of machines and decided to go ahead with the C-Section because I was full term…just a week early from my due date. Unfortunately, everyone was in traffic trying to get to the hospital. They wouldn’t let Brian see me until after they had given me the epidural….I was SOOOOOOOOO freaking scared. It was all happening so fast. Brian came into the operating room and held my hand during the surgery. It only seemed like a few minutes before I heard Tristan’s first cries…..THE most amazing sound I have heard in my entire life. They cleaned him, let us rub faces and took him away so they could finish with me….that took another 25 minutes or so and then it was off to recovery. I had to wait for about an hour before going to my room but they did bring our little man to me in there…and Brian was there with me the whole time. Those moments were so very special although I was still in shock that everything had happened so quickly. I was sure I was going to over the due date and be induced.

Dr. Kleiss told me that the problem had been the partial previa they had noticed earlier in my pregnancy. The last ultrasound they did showed it had gone away but apparently it was hiding….so no matter what, Tristan was going to be born by a C-Section. Thank goodness it happened the way it did because I would have had a full on panic attack if that had happened anywhere else. I still haven’t felt a contraction or a labor pain and I guess I never will because I am assuming I will have a C-Section for all of my other pregnancies….

We came home from the hospital the following Thursday afternoon. We are all doing great. Tristan is the most precious thing in the whole wide world….and being a Mom is everything I had imagined and more.

Nursery Update

The nursery is pretty much complete!!!!!!! Nothing like finishing it last minute. LOL!!!! The pack-n-play, swing and bouncer will not stay in the nursery obviously…they are just waiting for baby T to get here…..we don’t want our kitties making homes in them…yet. Hahaha.

We are waiting on the glider and wooden letters that will spell out Tristan in baby blue with Chocolate Brown/White Polka Dot Sheer Ribbon to hang them. We also have 4 adorable safari nursery prints on the way to hang somewhere.

But, here is the nursery so far with me and Lord Wadsworth Pepperbottoms III (Tristan’s first teddy bear). These pictures are of me from this past Sunday so at 38 weeks!

38 Week Update

I am almost 2 centimeters dialated and 50% effaced!!!! They went ahead and did an ultrasound yesterday because my doctor said she feels a ‘whole lotta baby’ in my tummy. They are estimating Tristan weighs a little over 7 pounds now. He is in the 80th percentile on size and the 95th percentile on the size of his head. That sounds fun to push out. LOL. Dad is giving me until the end of the week next week. Everyone seems to think my bump has dropped also although I haven’t noticed any significant changes. He has been kicking MUCH MORE FORCEFULLY though. He kicked me 2 days ago harder than he ever has up into my ribs. Here are some recent pictures of me…..

35/36 Weeks Pictures

We are in the home stretch!!! I am 36 weeks!!!! Here are some recent pictures…..I am really exploding in the last week. It is CRAZY!

29 Week Doctors Appointment

We had our 29 week doctors appointment today which included an ultrasound they normally don’t do to be sure the partial previa was gone and it was….thank goodness! So, everything is normal and little Tristan is a happy boy.

The ultrasound technician said “Wow…I hope I told you he was a boy last time bc he DEFINITELY is a boy”. This prompted me to ask why has she acted like that twice and the lady at Stork Vision said the same thing. She said he is rather well endowed and he is a showman apparently. Brian is so proud. Hahaha. She said his lungs and breathing are perfect…..the signs of a very ‘happy, unstressed’ baby she said. She also commented on his excessive movement and playfulness saying…’you are going to have fun with this one’. I laughed but was thinking….goodness, do we have a little terror on our hands? But, he likes to play for sure and is super super active which provides me with a lot of entertainment and cool feelings in my tummy. As I was leaving the ultrasound, the tech gave me the pictures and said ‘here is your porn star’. At least we know if all else fails, he will have a career there.

I start going to the Doctor every 2 weeks now and soon it will be every week. He already weighs 3 lbs, 6 ounces and is in the 67th percentile. Tristan will be here before we know it!!!!!!!

4D Ultrasound at Stork Vision

We had our 4D Ultrasound yesterday at Stork Vision in Buckhead. It was absolutely amazing to see our little boy on a big screen. I am working on getting the DVD up on YouTube to share it and will post it here once I do that.  He is EXTREMELY active and I can definitely feel it! He moves and kicks all the time now. Brian hasn’t been able to feel him yet but it should be coming soon……