31 weeks, or is it 33 weeks?

Last week I went for my 30 week checkup. After checking my blood pressure, the doctor was a little concerned that it was getting higher each check up. So, she had me do a 24 hour test to see if I had Preeclimpsia. Preeclimpsia (or Pre-eclimpsia) describes a group of symptoms that occur only during pregnancy or shortly after delivery. Some of the books I have interchange Preeclimpsia and Pregnancy-induced hypertension. It's basically high blood pressure, swelling (more than normal), protein in the urine, and some other symptoms. Apparently (or from what I've read) the only cure for Preeclimpsia is delivery. If I had it, I would have been put on strict bed rest. And if my blood pressure didn't improve on that, then they would have to induce. Thankfully I don't have it. But, my doctors are still concerned about my high blood pressure, which is called Gestational Hypertension (which some books also call it pregnancy-induced hypertension). Long of the short is, I had to stop working at the restaurant, and I'm only going into the office one day a week, then working from home the rest of the week. I'm also not allowed to do anything that will raise my blood pressure, so I had to stop working out. I guess you could say that I'm on light bed rest. I just have to take it easy and rest a lot during the day. Oh and try not to stress.

Which brings us to today. Last week at one of my appointments (I went Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday!) one of my doctors said she wanted to do an ultrasound to check Veronica's growth. So Matt and I went for our 4th (if you don't count the very first one at 7 weeks) Ultrasound this morning. We didn't get any pictures, so none to post (sorry). But we did learn some interesting things.

In one of my books, it says that at 31 weeks, your baby weighs about 3 1/2 pounds. The ultrasound tech measured Veronica weighing around 4 pounds 15 ounces. OH and she also said that she has me measured at 32 weeks 6 days (almost 2 weeks ahead of my due date!) In the same book, it says that at 33 weeks, your baby weighs about 4 1/2 pounds. So either way, Veronica's already a big baby!! And who knows when she'll arrive! The good news is that she is no longer breech.

So, what does all this mean? I don't know. But what I do know is that Veronica is growing healthy, her heartbeat is excellent, she's moving around and is very active, my weight gain has been minimal (which makes me happy), and I feel great. Normally I would be going to the doctor every 2 weeks, but because of my high blood pressure they want me to go every week (now I'm even more pleased that we changed doctors!) The doctor suggested that I cut out all liquid sugar; so juices, sweet teas, milk. What!!! Milk?!!?! This can't be! I literally almost started crying when she said to only have a small glass of milk a day. I go through a Gallon of Milk every 2 to 3 days lately! So, guess we won't be buying milk every 3 days now :( We're not changing my due date, and we're not sure if we'll have another ultrasound later on.

Matt has finals tomorrow then he'll be on break from school for 3 weeks. Unfortunately he will still have to work and do things around the house on his break though. But don't worry, he's still got plenty of golf trips planned for his break.

Our 4 legged kids are all doing well. We've taken all 3 cats to the vet and they all got a clean bill of health. Black Cat (yea we still haven't changed his name) weighs around 4 pounds, Meredith weighs around 7 pounds, and Frank weighs a woppin 13, almost 14 pounds (now you know why we call him Frank The Tank!!!) We haven't taken the dogs to the vet yet, but plan to do that before Veronica gets here.

The weeks are counting down quicker and quicker!!!!!!!! But we absolutely cannot wait to meet Veronica!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost Week 30!

Can you believe I'm almost 30 weeks?!! Matt and I sure can't! I'm in the third and final trimester! To start off, I feel great! There are still times and days that I forget that I'm pregnant! Veronica's been moving around for quite some time and her kicks, punches, and movement has gotten stronger. I'm still working out (of course some weeks more than others), I have 5 personal training sessions left then I'll put my membership on hold until after Veronica's here.

I'm sorry that I haven't updated lately, no excuse other than laziness. Much has happened with Veronica since I last updated. We had a tiny scare about a month and a half ago but thankfully it was nothing (besides a sore shoulder for a while). I slipped outside on our wet carport and landed on my left side. Thankfully Veronica continued with her moving around and kicking that night and hasn't stopped since!! We've been to the doctor a couple times since the last update and her development is going great!! At 25 weeks, she weighed close to 2 lbs - which according to the Ultrasound doctor, her weight is a couple days ahead of schedule. So, this means she's going to be a big baby, she's going to be early, OR she'll be both!!! Matt thinks she'll be a week early. If she's like her mother, she'll be late.

We've switched Hospitals - from Northside to DeKalb. I wanted to go to DeKalb to begin with but my doctor - who both Matt and I LOVE is at Northside. I didn't realize that there was a chance that she wouldn't deliver our baby, so after much consideration, we switched to the hospital I wanted to go to in the beginning. Driving 10 minutes in traffic for our doctor's visits is so much better than driving the 30 minutes with no traffic to a hospital I didn't want to go to. This Wednesday will be our 3rd visit with our new doctors and we couldn't be happier!

We've painted the nursery and put the crib together.

Alice is painting a mural on the "changing table" for us. I say "changing table" because it's not your typical changing table. It's actually the piece of furniture that Mom used as my changing table. And it's actually a Hoosier Kitchen Cabinet. Here's a picture of the before - keep in mind that this piece of furniture has been in Mom and Dad's basement since we moved to GA in 1986, and it was painted shortly before 1979. Mom and I did a lot of work to get it to where it is now...

BEFORE! The top part:

BEFORE! The bottom part:

We cannot wait to see the finished product!! Which of course I'll post pictures. It's a Latte Color now. And yes, the strawberries are gone.

We still have lots to do in the nursery - like move the furniture to it's spot in the room. I keep telling myself that it will all be ready by the time she gets here.

We have a new addition to our 4 legged kids. Matt got me a cute little black kitten. We haven't come up with a name for him yet, so we're just calling him Black Cat right now. Thankfully he's still pretty small, weighs about 3 lbs, because he loves to walk all over my belly. He's a handful, and super sweet when he's sleeping. Other times he's a pain in the butt, especially to Meredith (our grey cat). They have a love hate relationship. With the addition of Black Cat, that brings our 4 legged kids up to 3 cats and 2 dogs. We'll be stopping there, this house is going to be pretty full come November!

Sorry again for being so slack on the updates! I'll try to do better. Since Wednesday marks Week 30, I'll start going to the doctor every 2 weeks. Around the beginning of October I'll start going once a week till our daughter arrives!! Cannot wait!!!!

Here are a few pictures for you.

2009-07-22 (25 weeks) this was taken at our last ultrasound. She weighs an ounce shy of 2 lbs (the baby book says "your baby now weighs about 1 1/2 pounds" But then clarifies by saying that this is an average weight - I'd say!!!)

By now, her eyes can open and close and react to light!

2009-08-12 (28 weeks) At the Vet with Meredith and Black Cat - not sure what BC will do when the belly goes away...

Much to some peoples scare tactics, the Vet did not tell me that our cats (or dogs for that matter) will kill Veronica - either by mauling her or suffocating her because they smell milk on her breath. Trust me, the cats haven't tried to suffocate me with all the milk I drink!

I'll try to do better with the updates!! Thanks for following us!

Katie, Matt, Veronica, Sam, Lash, Frank, Meredith, and Black Cat Monroe (that's a mouth full!!!)

some pictures from the ultrasound

I remembered I took pictures of the ultrasound on my phone. We've got some other good ones that I'll post after I get the folder back from Mom and Dad.

SHE'S SOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Veronica's feet: Veronica's hands:

We shall call her Veronica!!!!!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post on here. I took the road trip out to Arizona last week, so I'm getting caught up on everything this week. We've had our Ultrasound and we've told the Grandparents what we're having, so it's now officially public!!!!!

WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've picked the name Veronica Emily for our daughter!!!

The way we told our family:

I got a blank inside baby card and wrote:

"CONGRATULATIONS!!!! IT'S A . . ."

"We couldn't be happier!!!!!"

"Love, Matt and Katie"

I also had a Brown and Blue (reusable!) small bag with white tissue paper wrapped around a pink onesie.

We had dinner with Pat, Jason, and Carrie the evening we found out the sex. Pat couldn't wait till everyone had arrived before she found out. To add more suspense, we gave her the card only first. She read it and said: It's a boy!!!!!! Because of the 3 dots. Then we gave her the bag and here was her reaction:

Needless to say, she was VERY excited!!! She was jumping up and down on the booth and was sooooo happy to be having a little granddaughter!!!! And of course, she cried with tears of joy!!!

The following Sunday, we told Mom, Dad, Jamie (who already knew), Alice, Kyle, Kim, Caitlin, and JT (Joseph was sleeping, and I'm sure he could have cared less and wondered why all these people were screaming and crying with excitement in his house). Before we told, we took a vote. It was (I believe) 4 for a boy (Dad, Alice, Kim, and JT) and 3 for a girl (Mom, Kyle, and Caitlin). We told everyone the same way we told Pat, Jason, and Carrie.

We gave Mom and Dad the card first. Mom started bawling and would not look at the card!! She kept saying "I can't look!! I can't look!!" So Dad read the card out loud to everyone. On the inside of their card, I wrote the same thing but added: "Love, Matt, Katie, and V.E." Alice immediately knew it was a girl then because of V.E.
After reading the card, I gave them the Brown and Blue bag. Mom had already started crying and needed tissue so she could see what was in the bag. We weren't fast enough to get her a Kleenex so she used the wrapping tissue - which worked just as well!!!! Once they saw the pink onesie, Mom jumped up and down and said: IT'S A GIRL!!!!!! Poor Dad, hopefully one day he'll get a little boy in the family :) Needless to say, they were both VERY excited as well!!!!!!

I'm so glad we told our families this way!!! It was such an amazing experience! I'll have to post pictures from the ultrasound later - we left our folder with all the pictures in it at Kyle and Kim's.

We're going to start registering this week since we now know the sex of our little one!!!

It's very hard to believe little Veronica will be here in about 4 months!!!!! Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be awesome this year!!!!!

This past Wednesday was the 5 month mark. It's so cool to notice the slight growth in my belly, it's now 40 inches! I still look tiny, but I'm sure that's all going to change very soon!

Matt and I are so glad to be able to share this event with our family and friends!! We thank you all for your love and support thoughout this life changing event!!! It means so much to us both!!!

What an amazing journey it's been so far!

Someone, Jason, spilled the beans - sort of

Well, Matt and I had the big day yesterday!!!!!!!! Of course I cried (with excitement!) when the doctor told us! Both Matt and I are thrilled with the news! The Ultrasound Nurse gave us some great and not so great pictures of our little one but I'll wait to put them up. After the appointment we went to the mall so I could return some shirts I got and we bought our first onsie!!!! I can't wait to show it off on our little one!! I knew it was exciting to shop for friends' babies, but never imagined how overwhelming and exciting it would be to shop for ours! Everything looked so cute!!! Definitely going to have to watch this and not let it get out of control!!

After we left the mall we were going to go to the Braves Game. But after being out in the sun for about 5 minutes, we decided not to go to a hot afternoon game and went to a movie. We finally saw Star Trek! It was awesome! I cannot wait (and I hope!) that there will be more to come!!!!

After the movie, we met Pat, Jason, and Carrie up for dinner to tell them the exciting news. Thankfully out of all of our busy schedules we were able to get this night planned because who knows when the next free night we'll all have will be! Pat was very, very excited!!!!! She's still trying to come up with what she wants our little one to call her. Jason was obviously very excited as well because when Matt and I got home he had posted it up on Facebook! Thankfully, and hopefully, only one other person saw it before he deleted the comment. I told Jason that we won't be telling him any more secrets :) (Don't try and look, all the evidence is gone)

Sunday will be the big day of reveling!!! After the Corriher's (and Soto's) find out, everyone else will know!!! So, keep waiting just a little bit longer!

Matt and I can't wait to share with you all that we're having a little..............

Picture from today

Matt and I played golf today and took some pictures. Here's one of me for those of you who have been asking for current baby bump pictures - not sure why there aren't many more!!! Enjoy it! Oh and I should clarify, I ONLY put the clubs on for the picture. We had a cart for the 18 holes.

Next week I'll be 20 weeks. Can't believe we have about 4 months and 1 week left!!!!!!! Time's gonna fly by!! Guess we should start working on the nursery...

Quick update (I'm 4 1/2 months now)

Here's a quick update on what's going on with Matt and I, and the baby!

Matt's almost finished with another quarter of school. His last final is next Tuesday, the 9th, he'll be off for two weeks and then he'll start his next quarter. He's doing exceptionally well in school!! Couldn't be more proud of him! He studies all the time, I mean all the time! If he's not working (and provided our internet is working) he's studying - or playing golf. Matt's rocking waiting tables up at Shorty's - in fact he got a nice shout out in this months newsletter! The idea was that he would work less but make more, but he's loving it (or the money part of it) so he's working a little bit more than he was when he cooking.

I've been doing well. The baby is growing a little bit each day and week. On Monday, May 25th my belly grew 1/2 an inch. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it was very noticeable to me! I've gone from waiting tables to only hosting up at Tijuana Garage (yes they changed their name back to Tijuana Garage from Sabroso...) It's not so bad and I'm hoping that I can continue to host up until the very last minute. It is nice to be able to sit down in between seating people (even though that's a no, no, I still do it) The mornings for me are the most difficult lately. It's been very hard for me to wake up some mornings for some reason, so I've been working at home a good bit lately, which is nice that I'm able to do this. Plus it's saving us money and wear and tear on my car - every little bit helps right?!

Baby Monroe is doing well. Went to the doctor this past Monday on the 1st and heard the heartbeat again. Apparently "he" was moving around a lot! I haven't felt any movement yet, but hopefully I will soon! We go next Thursday, June 11th to get our second ultrasound and find out the sex! This will certainly help with nursery decorating, baby naming, and shopping/registering!

On Sunday, June 14th, the Corriher crew is heading over to the Soto's for a cookout. It's been forever since we've seen Kyle, Kim, Caitlin, JT, and Joseph - even though they live so close to us! Because all of our schedules are so busy we had to schedule this gathering about a month in advance! Then I made the appointment for our June 11th Ultrasound. So, it was perfect that this would be the day we revealed the sex to the family. The original plan was to have the doctor put the sex in an envelope then we would open it at the Soto's on the 14th. BUT because I know that Matt and I will want to see the Ultrasound, we've decided to still keep it a secret until Sunday, but Matt and I will know. Then we'll buy something boy or girl related and have the grandparents open it to reveal the sex! Hopefully it will be as exciting as it is in my head!!! We still have to schedule a dinner with Matt's mom, Jason, and Carrie to tell them. I know everyone is eagerly waiting to find out! I know we are!!!!

Up Coming Trips:
On Monday, June 15th, I'm heading to Phoenix, AZ with Katy Wilson Ross. We'll be driving out there with her two pups so that they don't have to fly. It will be bitter sweet since she's moving out there. I'm very excited about the trip because I've never been out to AZ, or to pretty much all the states we'll be driving through. I'm not too excited about the heat, but the company (and the pools) will certainly help things out!!!! I'll be gone for that week, then I'll fly back on Sunday the 21st.

July 4th weekend the Corriher clan will be heading up to Faith, NC for their 4th of July celebration! Needless to say I'm so excited about this for several reasons!!!
1. Matt's never been and it's quite an experience,
2. It's been forever since I've been to the parade and the celebration!
3. Cheerwine Slushy
4. Incredibly Awesome BBQ sandwiches
5. FAMILY!!!
6. Fun rides - that Matt, Jamie, and Alice will be riding and I'll be watching, with a HUGE grin on my face!!!!!!!
7. Memories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8. Cheerwine Slushy
9. Candy at the parade! (those kids better not get in my way...)

I'd like to think that Matt and my crazy busy schedule will be over soon, but I know it won't be. And I also know that November will be here before we know it!

So this wasn't as quick as I hoped it would be but that's ok! Keep your eye open for an update on the sex of Baby Monroe!

Love you all!!
Katie