Counting the days (27 more)....Prayer Request

Alex and I went to the doctor on Monday of this week and had what should be my last ultrasound to check the cervix and to measure the baby. The cervix has held it's own and the baby is measuring right on track. The baby now weighs 5 lbs 11 ozs. It was moving around like crazy and as it has done everytime we have had ultrasounds the arms were right in the face. The baby is hiding, not really wanting us to see what it looks like I guess. It was grabbing onto its feet too. After some pushing around on my belly a little bit by the ultrsound tech, we were able to get one halfway decent profile picture. The baby looks so chubby. I am sure it is just the 3D image though. I gained another 2.5 lbs for a total so far of 16 lbs. I go back for a follow-up in two weeks at which time I get a good ole strep test done. That doesn't really sound like fun to me. Unfortunately, I have been experiencing more frequent trips to the bathroom especially in the middle of the night. Not getting much sleep. I also still have lots of swelling and now pains in my left hip (it was just my right..now both) along with lower back pains. I went to the chiropractic today and they made me feel good for a while, but the achiness is back. I do much better if I don't walk. I keep telling myself that all of these aches and pains will be well worth it when I can hold this little baby in my arms. 27 more days!!

Prayer Request.....
I just recently found out that some friends of mine who were due to have their first child May 5th ended up delivering their son March 19th. Mason Ryan was born 7 weeks early weighing 3 lbs 1 oz. He is currently in the NICU, but appears to be progressing well. He is now 4 1/2 lbs and has moved to a crib in the NICU. I just ask that you keep my friends Ryan and Carrie as well as little Mason in your prayers. We know God works in miraculous ways. We pray that Mason will be able to go home with his parents very soon. God Bless Ryan, Carrie and little Mason.


Baby Zehr at 34 weeks, 4 days

The Nursery

Back in February, on Valentine's weekend, Alex surprised me with many wonderful things. One of those surprises involved the baby nursery. Prior to that weekend the only thing in the nursery was a crib and white walls. We had many conversations about the nursery and ideas of what we wanted to do but wanted to wait until after the baby shower to really do anything. My baby shower was held that Saturday. Alex and I were spending the weekend at the West Baden Springs Hotel (another surprise). So after the shower, Alex and Dustin had taken all of the gifts to our house while the rest of us went ahead to French Lick as we were all having dinner together. After dinner we toured the West Baden Hotel and then they all headed out. I was extremely exhausted and so was my family so they headed out semi-early. I had made plans with my family to go to Home Depot on Sunday to pick out paint for the nursery. I wanted their opinions since they were in town and I now had the crib bedding to match to. Alex was going to paint soon so I could start getting things organized. We decided to come back to our house first and eat pizza together and then while the guys were watching IU basketball the women would head into Jasper to Home Depot. Little did I know that Alex still had surprises for me. Someone had asked me what all I got at the shower, so I went to the nursery where all of the gifts were taken on Saturday. The door was closed and as I opened the door there was Dustin standing there with a camera. I thought he was taking pictures of some of the gifts and I didn't want to interrupt him so I closed the door back but not all of the way. As I looked back through the cracked door I noticed the walls were yellow. I couldn't beleive it. I was completely surprised!! Friday night of that weekend, Alex had made arrangements with my dad to come to our house and paint the walls 2 shades of yellow. He had worked with my sister Tammy to determine the best colors that would go with the bedding that I had picked out. Then on Saturday, while I was at my baby shower, the guys came to our house and hung the wall border. Little did I know that my family had left 'early' Saturday evening to head to our house to put my nursery together. They had worked for a couple of hours that evening, unpackaging everything I had gotten at the baby shower earlier that day, putting things together and organizing my nursery. It brought tears to my eyes to know how wonderful my husband was in organizing a surprise such as this. He did such a wonderful job!!! I was also quite relieved to know that a big chunk of my nursery was complete. Over the past month and a half, we have purchased a few more items, hung things on the wall, and washed all of the clothes, sheets, towels, and blankets. The final touch was going to be placed this past weekend but unfortunately it did not go as planned. My sister Melanie had given me an Uppercase Living saying for Christmas for the nursery to be hung on the wall above the crib. Needless to say, we had difficulties with the saying not coming off of the paper to put on the wall and were unable to hang it. Such a bummer! I will have to come up with another alternative for that wall. I am thinking about putting the babies name there once it is known. I am now happy to share with all of you pictures of our nursery. We are pleased with how it all turned out. Now we just wait for the arrival of the baby. Enjoy!!!


I was surprised!!


My family trying to add the final touch. An Uppercase Living saying 'A wee bit of heaven, drifted down from above, a handful of happiness, a heart full of love'


The crib with bedding and accessories


The bedding set - My First ABC by Kidsline


The mobile


The hamper from the My First ABC collection


The glider where I will spend lots of time feeding. The yellow afghan on the back of the glider was made by my Aunt Pam and the green one was made by Alex's Aunt Arline.


This shelf displays items we received during our difficult month of September 2006 when we lost our first child and I had open heart surgery.


We will display this afghan given to us by co-workers at Kimball Electronics to remember our daughter in heaven that we lost September 7, 2006.


Willow Tree Figurines given to me during this pregnancy. These are wonderful additions to my current Willow Tree collection.


The changing table and wall art that goes with the My First ABC collection.


The drawers are stocked with some neutral clothes to get me started since we don't know the sex of the baby.

33 week update...belly shots

I went to the doctor again this week on Monday. Everything is still looking good. My feet are still pretty swollen. Doc just told me to try to keep them elevated and wear support hose. I have some T.E.D. hose from my open heart surgery so I wore those yesterday. Needless to say they don't work the greatest if you don't have your feet elevated while you are wearing them. My feet/ankles were huge by the time I got home from work. In prior weeks I was experiencing a lot of pain in my lower abdomen since it appeared I was carrying the baby rather low. Over the past week or so, the pain has diminished down low and now is more in my lower back. I think the baby has moved up a little bit relieving the pain in front but adding to the pain in my back. I gained 4 lbs in the last two weeks. I should start gaining a pound a week now. When I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks they will do growth measurements on the baby again and see how much it weighs. Doc's not going to let the baby get too big. The baby is still moving around like crazy....we love just watching my belly move. The baby also enjoyed the Chris Tomlin concert we went to last Friday night in Indy. It was dancing around in there a lot, so I think it really enjoyed the music. We are still on target for our May 15th C-Section.