40 Weeks

Today is officially my due date and I am still pregnant as can be! This last week has been a long one for me simply because I am anxious for Mason to join our family. I had my doctor appointment on Monday and had a feeling that nothing had changed - I was right. I am still dilated to 3cm and 75% effaced. Mason's head is another centimeter lower and his heartbeat sounded fantastic! I was kind of hoping that my blood pressure would be shooting through the roof so they would have to induce me, but it was still totally normal and I had lost a pound since last week. After my doctor checked me he told me things were looking good, but stripping my membranes probably didn't do anything because I am already at a 3...he also said that he expects to see me on Monday at my next appointment. After he left the room I had to try so hard to keep it together. I said I was going to be just fine waiting for Mason, but I think I have reached the end of my rope. I made it just outside the hospital before I had a complete breakdown and called my mom (Brad was at work and I was not about to call and bawl like a baby while he couldn't really talk). I'm not sure if my mom understood anything I said because of how hard I was crying, but it was nice to just be able to let it all out. I sincerely hope that I don't make it to my next appointment on Monday because at that point I might seriously punch someone in the face, or just cry again.

I have never felt so ready for something in my life - people keep telling me to enjoy my time without having a child, but in all honesty it is what I can't wait for! I have wanted to be a mom my whole life and I realize that things will NEVER be the same once Mason is here, but I can't wait and welcome the change. His room is ready, bags are packed and both mine and Brad's patience is wearing thin...we are ready to meet our little Mason and hope he decides to come join our family soon! Bring on the dirty diapers, the blowouts, the sleepless nights and all the snuggling with a baby I could ever hope for! I can't wait to finally have my baby boy here and in my arms - the official countdown is over, we are now on Mason's time.

(40 week belly in all it's glory - toothbrush and all!)

P.S. I won't be posting again until I can post pictures of my little man!!

39 Weeks

39 Weeks...I didn't want to make it to this point, I'd rather be changing poopy diapers right now.

Yesterday I went to my doctor appointment and all went well. I still haven't gained any weight, blood pressure is normal and Mason's heartbeat sounded so good! Mason's head is in the -1 position, I am 75% effaced, but still only dilated to 3cm. He stripped my membranes and said that usually within 24 to 48 hours labor will kick in...well, it has officially been 24 hours and I've just had the same old contractions. Last night my mom and I went on a long walk to try and help things along and then this morning I woke up at 6am because the contractions were hurting pretty bad, but they were about 10 minutes apart for a couple of hours and then stopped.

I now have two options: 1. Be completely miserable and wish this baby was here already or 2. Realize that Mason will come when he is ready and simply enjoy my last few moments of a quiet home. I choose option #2, but I'm still hoping that Mason will make his appearance sooner rather than later! Here's to hoping I don't make it to my next appointment on Monday!
39 Week Belly
(Don't mind the crappy picture, I just got done swimming)

38 Weeks

I think my body is done being pregnant just as much as I am mentally done! I have been having contractions since last Friday, they haven't been consistent so I know it isn't actual labor, but they do NOT feel good. It hurts to laugh, sneeze, cough, stand up, sit down, roll over...well these days being comfortable doesn't really exist. I went to the doctor on Tuesday and found out that my contractions have at least done something! I am now dilated to 3cm, 50% effaced and Mason's head is even lower (if that is possible). I still haven't gained any weight (whoo hoo!), I am measuring 36.5cm (still small) and Mason's heartbeat sounded so strong and healthy! Thankfully my doctor told me that if I am still pregnant on Tuesday that he will strip my membranes to get things moving along. Hopefully my body will just go into labor before then! 

Today is my last day at work because I can't function anymore during all of these contractions! I will miss some of the people I work with, but it will be nice to be able to focus on having this baby.

Hopefully next time I post I won't be pregnant anymore and instead I will be happily snuggling with my little Mason. I have done everything in my power to induce my own labor and nothing has worked (go figure). I know that Mason will come when he is ready, but I am still going to do my best to get things going! As much as it hurts I am going to be going on a lot of long walks, swimming, squatting, etc. to encourage him to come out! Wish me luck...

37 Weeks

FULL TERM! I am so happy that I am finally full term - if I go into labor today there wouldn't be a problem! WHOO HOOOOO!

This week has been a rough one...I am so uncomfortable and ready to be done. My back hurts constantly (especially since I sit in an office chair 8 hours a day), my feet swell if I stand up to make dinner (not joking, I looked like Shrek from the calf down the other day) and I am still having Braxton Hicks contractions all day long. Mason has definitely dropped because I feel SO much pressure down low. Every time he pushes his little foot against my side I can feel his head pushing down on me. NOT comfortable. Sleeping is dang near impossible simply because I can't turn from side to side without a big "heave ho" and then I realize I have to pee...again. LOL Besides that, things are peachy!

I went to the doctor yesterday and found out that I am dilated 1cm and 20% effaced. My doctor was also quite surprised at how far down Mason's head was. He said chances of me going into labor this week are slim, but never say never! My belly is measuring 35cm (2cm small), but he told me not to expect my belly to get much bigger. I was told to take it easy so my feet don't keep swelling, but since my blood pressure is still so low he isn't too worried. I didn't gain any weight in these last two weeks either so I was thrilled! I still love listening to Mason's heartbeat and he always pushes back against the doppler - such the little mover! All in all, a great appointment!

We are ready to meet Mason...so so ready. I just want to hold him and snuggle him instead of feeling him do headstands on my bladder. Hopefully my brother Bob is right...his guess for Mason's arrival is July 6th. I wouldn't mind that at all! :)

21 days to go!!
37 Week Belly

Mason's Nursery

So Mason's nursery has been pretty much done since back in March but I haven't posted pictures because we hadn't revealed his name yet. I am excited to finally post them! We decided on a Classic Winnie the Pooh themed nursery because it could be used for a boy or a girl (we decided on the theme before we knew we were having a boy). I am glad I went with Classic Pooh because it turned out so cute, and not overdone.

His crib bedding (all of it) was made by my mom. His quilt (hanging on the back of the crib) has bumblebees and honey pots embroidered on it. His name above the bed is one of my favorite things in the nursery. I bought a curtain rod to hang the letters from and then glued cute blue and brown scrapbook paper to them. My mom painted the bumblebee line above the name and the bee itself is made from the same fabric as his bedding. It turned out so cute!! The pictures don't really do it justice!

 Here is his little bookshelf with lots of decorations from Grandma and my "Aunt Mernea." I love that he already has lots of storybooks too!

 Here is Mason's huge walk-in closet. We truly are prepared as far as diapers go...the other side of the closet (behind the door) is also lined with boxes of diapers. All sized and in order. He has lots of clothes too! I washed and folded everything that would go in his drawers up to size 3 months so there wasn't nearly as much left hanging!

 His dresser and changing table. All of the pictures above his dresser are from Grandma! Bradly sanded down each frame and painted them blue to match his room. Such a good daddy he is! :)

 Here is my version of a rocking chair! Grandma and Grandpa Bowles (Mason's Great Grandparents) gave us this chair about a month before we found out we were expecting. Little did they know we would be using it to rock their Great Grandbaby! We hung chinese lanterns above it and it turned out so good! Again, thank you Bradly for doing this!!

 Opposite the crib and rocking chair we have a twin bed set up. I wanted to leave it set up for the nights that Mason decides to be a stinker and keep me up all night. That way I won't keep Brad awake all night too. Above that bed is a shelf with Classic Pooh shaped story books on it - again, all from Grandma! His cradle is currently in his nursery but we will move that into our room soon!

 Here is the view of the entire room all put together. I love it and I can't wait to rock my sweet baby boy to sleep in there every night!

Family Baby Shower

First of all, we finally revealed our baby's name today at the shower! Mason Bradly Bowles!

Today was my big family baby shower - and by big, I mean 40 people all in the same room! I decided since I only have a few family members in Utah that it would be fun to do a big combined shower with my side of the family and Brad's side as well. It turned out great! My amazing mom threw the shower with the help of Brad's Aunt Sugar (best Aunt ever) and cousin Rachyl (best cousin ever)! My mom and I worked hard this last week to get everything ready and it turned out so cute! The theme was rubber duckies and I loved it! We decided to reveal our baby's name at the shower because Brooklynn would have spilled the beans anyway - she has been calling him by name for months! I made a cute banner (thank you Pinterest for the idea) to hang in the kitchen and we also made rice krispies treats kabobs that said his name. It took quite awhile to cut letters out of rice krispies treats, but it turned out so cute! They were blue with yellow sprinkles and had darker blue frosting drizzled over the top of them. We made lots so everyone got to take one home.

My mom made homemade cinnamon rolls (with blue frosting), fruit kabobs and mini muffins for everyone to munch on during the shower. So yummy! I found a fun idea for punch on Pinterest and she pulled that off too. It was blue punch (recipe here) with rubber duckies floating in the top. The carbonation on the sherbet made it look like a bubble bath! So cute.

I didn't take a picture of the front door, but my mom made a giant poster for everyone to sign in and guess Baby Bowles' arrival date. Only one person actually wrote on the ducky that was on the poster...my little brother. LOL

My mom also set out lots of cute scrapbooking supplies and everyone made an "Advice for Angelise" card so my mom could put them all in a binder for me. My favorite was my sister-in-law's advice...she is almost 10 and the card said the following: "Let Brad change the dippers. Love Maelynn  P.S. I think I spelled dippers wrong" I laughed so hard! Love that girl.

Here is the cute banner I made. Totally saving this!

 I wasn't kidding when I said a lot of people showed up today...my baby boy is sure loved!

 We received LOTS of baby wipes (much appreciated) and SO many cute outfits! I'm pretty sure I won't need to do any laundry until Mason is one.

 Brad's cousin Sarah has a brand new baby girl and her mom made her this cute little stocking type blanket to put her in. I LOVED it and thought it was the best idea because then their little feet never fall out and they stay cozy and warm! Well, she gave me a blue one for Mason and I am absolutely in love with it! It is so soft and I can't wait to snuggle him in it!

 Background story for this next picture: Brad is a HUGE Peter Pan fan. He has loved that movie since he was a kid. We even have a Peter Pan hat out on display in our office! Well Brad's sister Jenni gave Mason the Peter Pan movie and an entire Peter Pan outfit - bow and arrow and all! I can't wait for him to be able to dress up as his daddy's favorite disney character!!

 Payton gave Mason yet another gift and was so cute about it. He was quite shy around the crowd of girls, but still let me give him a kiss.

 Brooklynn also gave him another gift and then became my little helper. She had a system down. Hand me a present, open it, move the opened present to the middle of the room and then hand me the next gift. Quite organized for a 3 year old! :)

 There were so many pictures that I didn't post and so many adorable gifts! We are officially ready for Mason to arrive and I can't wait!!!

Thank you to everyone who came to the baby shower today, I couldn't have asked for a better day!

My biggest thank you has to go to my mom. She put in SO much hard work to make today perfect and every minute of it was just that! Mason is SO blessed to have her as his Grandma and I truly couldn't ask for a more loving mom. She has done SO much for Mason already and continues to outdo herself. I love my mom so very much and I hope I can be half as good of a mother to Mason as she is to me. I wouldn't feel nearly as prepared to become a mother if it wasn't for my mom because everything I've learned about being a mommy has come from her. She made today unforgettable and I can't say thank you enough! LOVE YOU MOM!

36 Weeks!

One more week and I will be considered full term! Hallelujah!!! I am ready to hold my baby boy and see what he looks like! I realize that this is my first baby so my chances of going into labor early, let alone on my due date, are rather slim, but hey, a girl can dream!

This last week hasn't been all too exciting - same old Braxton Hicks contractions. Brad and I went to the zoo last Saturday and I had to stop and sit down for a little bit because my stomach would not stop contracting! I still can't sleep either. My back constantly hurts and I wake up every two hours (like clockwork) because I have to pee. My feet swell if I stand too long, but not all that bad. My poor husband has been so sweet to rub my back or my feet EVERY SINGLE DAY! He has been so patient with me and I couldn't ask for a better man to be married to!!

FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK: I had a two hour meeting I had to go to first thing Tuesday morning at work. I left my phone on my desk and didn't think anything of it...well I should have. Every morning my mom and I talk on the phone for a little bit - it is just our daily routine and I also text Bradly to find out how is day at work is going. Well, my mom tried to call me and Brad tried texting me...and when I didn't respond they had a complete freak out! Between the two of them I had 15 missed calls (6 on my office phone and 9 on my cell phone) and 5 missed text messages. Seeing as how I am 36 weeks pregnant they were both convinced that something had happened! I felt so bad, but I had to laugh a little bit. It was just so funny how COMPLETELY freaked out they were that I didn't answer my phone. Brad gave me a new rule - from now on I am to go to anywhere without my cell phone. NOTE TO SELF: Bring cell phone everywhere or Bradly and mom will show up at my office freaking out! LOL

Anyway, I can't believe we only have 28 days left until my due date! This weekend will be my big family baby shower and I am so excited! I am so thankful that my mom, Sugar and Rachyl took the time to put it all together! I can't wait to have a fun day and celebrate my baby boy!!

36 Week Belly

35 Weeks

Thank goodness time is flying because I am ready to meet my little man! Only 5 weeks to go and we are ready (I hope)!

This last week has been good. I had my doctor appointment on Monday and all is well! Baby boy's heartbeat is 141 bpm and he was kicking the doppler the entire time. My blood pressure is still really low and I am now measuring 2 centimeters small. The nurse practitioner (who saw me because the doctor left for a C-Section) told me that because my belly isn't very big (compared to most) that she is almost positive my baby won't be more than 7 lbs. or so. Whoo hoo! I'll take it! I don't know if I have it in me to birth a baby as big as my hubby was...9 lb. 6 oz. 23" long! YIKES!

Baby boy has been stretching out a lot in my belly this week. His little bum will be sticking completely out on my left side and his foot will poke all the way out on my right side. I swear he is trying to make more room for himself now that it is getting cramped in there! He still gets the hiccups almost every day, but I love being able to feel him in there, gives me such peace of mind!

I have been having quite a few Braxton Hicks contractions this week and they are getting very uncomfortable, especially during work. It is harder than ever to sleep because it takes me so long to find a comfortable position to sleep in and as soon as I am comfortable my child decides it is time to bounce around on my bladder. (Can you tell I am ready to NOT be prego anymore?) I am still waiting for the day when I get my first stretch marks because it is more likely to happen than not, but as for now I am stretch mark free! Yay!

I have one more baby shower coming up at the end of June and I am so excited! After that I will go through and organize all of his outfits and get everything ready for his arrival. I don't quite have the diaper bag or my overnight bag packed, but we are getting there. Once I finish packing bags I think I'll become more anxious than ever!

35 Week Belly

34 Weeks

34 Week Belly!

I cannot believe I only have 6 weeks left until my baby boy will be here! This last week has been good, but I am ready to be all done being pregnant! I have had since last Thursday off of work (and don't go back until Monday) so it has been so nice to relax! I was able to go swimming at my mom's house and it took so much pressure off of my back! Also, I think not sitting in my office chair has helped diminish back pain as well.

Baby boy is still a little mover and I feel him all day long. It is funny now because other people can see my belly moving from across the room! He still constantly gets the hiccups and has them for long periods of time and he also loves to push his little foot out my side.

Not much else has gone on this week - pretty mellow, but I'm ok with that!



Ward Shower

On Saturday I went to my first baby shower and it was so much fun! One of my old young women leaders Sue, (on the left) and Grandma Ginger (on the right) went to a lot of work to throw me a shower and it was so sweet of them! The decorations were adorable, the food was so yummy and I loved seeing so many people from my old ward!

 Brooklynn was my little helper during the shower - helping me open gifts and bringing them all over to me. She couldn't quite lift this box of diapers so she pushed it over instead. Such Independence!

 She also gave me a present just from her. She decorated the bag all on her own with stickers and wrote all the letters she knows in her name. SO cute! She gave him a monkey stuffed animal!

 I love my mom and I am unbelievably thankful for her and all she has done for me and my little man. I honestly don't know what I would do without her! My little boy is so lucky to be able to call her Grandma!

 Katie was also able to be there and it was so fun to have my sister there with me! I was so worried that with her school and work schedule that she wouldn't be able to be at any baby showers, let alone be here when he is born, but she gets to be here!! She and her roommate gave us a bunch of Dr. Seuss story books and I couldn't be more excited! I almost bought them myself because I wanted them so badly for my little man.

 One of the decorations out front!

 Yummy food!

 Ginger and Sue really went all out and did such a wonderful job! I am so thankful to them for all of their hard work and for making Saturday so great!