The Sixth Month

While I'm now well on my way to being out of the sixth month and out of the second trimester....say what?!?  I still want to remember some of the major milestones during this pregnancy and how I felt about them. 

So the sixth month, how's it been?

Well, I feel like The Bump is here to stay.  I think by week 25 I could officially say I don't look pudgy I look pregnant.  The Bump is growing, it's round, it's extremely hard (how's it going to grow for 3 more months?!?!), and thankfully for now, I've been blessed with no stretchmarks.  She moves around all day throughout the day, but is especially active at night and early in the morning.  At this point, her movements aren't uncomfortable for me.  No jabs to the ribs just yet!  I can now see her move through the outside of my tummy sometimes and let me tell ya, that is pretty weird.  Josh finally got to feel her move too.

24 weeks

Just over 26 weeks

The doctor says  I continue to be healthy as a bird.  After my next appointment on Monday, I start going every two weeks. Things are getting R.E.A.L.  I just had my glucose tolerance test last week.  It definitely wasn't one of my favorite parts of pregnancy thus far, but I got through it.  It's not that I'm opposed to sugar in the morning (obsession with Nutella anyone?) but drinking warm, flat, extra syrupy, overly sweetened orange soda on an empty stomach at 8:30am really isn't my idea of a good time.

Speaking of food, I will pretty much not pass up the chance for an ice cold Dr. Pepper anytime I eat out.  Cereal, turkey sandwiches, and chicken salads seem to be my meals of choice.  And sweet treats are ALWAYS a good way to end the day.

I'm officially in maternity clothes about 100% of the time.  I can still wear many of my old shirts and sweats but feel much more comfortable (and attractive) in pants with a waistband, shirts with side ruching, and dresses with extra material in the ahem...bust area. :)

And I'm not the only one who's been benefitting from a new wardrobe!  Baby Girl Scurlock is already well on her way to having an entire closet full of clothes.

 It's just so very hard to resist buying one outfit here and one there.  Everything is SO MUCH CUTER when it's itty bitty AND when it's going to be worn by my itty bitty baby doll. :)  These are some of my favorites so far.  And for the record, I think Baby Gap was one of the greatest inventions of the world.

   And don't even get me started on baby headbands.  I die.

Have I mentioned yet that my bestest friend Julie is having a baby girl too?!?  Baby Girl Connolly is due in mid-August and the two of us are just having far to much fun shopping for clothes, nursery items, and all things baby girl.

What else?

I'm about 95% done registering for my baby shower.  And that may or may not have been my least favorite thing to do.  I don't know about other soon-to-be mamas out there, but I just felt ridiculously overwhelmed by it all.  Infant carseat, convertible carseat, travel system, jogger stroller, breast pumps, monitors, slow flow nipples, BPA safe....I mean seriously.  What does it all mean?!  Don't you just pick a couple of bottles, a carseat, and a stroller?   Ummmmm no.  I can assure you, you don't.  I don't even think I researched that much for my 10th grade research paper (sorry Mrs. Young).

The crib bedding has arrived and I'm in love and last night, Mom/Gramma Griffin ordered the crib!  Eeeeek! I can't wait to get it in.  There are still many projects to be done including refinishing the dresser, but things are coming together and I'm getting excited.

***

In other news, Josh finishes his six week pediatric rotation today which was, in a nutshell, a walk in the park compared to Internal Medicine and Surgery.  He begins six weeks of OBGYN on Monday.  I'm VERY interested to see how much he learns about delivering babies in the next month and a half.  I'm assuming he will be a pro by the time Baby Scurlock makes her debut in July.

Nursery Project #1

When I found out that we were going to have a baby, I immediately started envisioning my future nursery.  Of course, at the time, I didn't know if Baby Scurlock would be a boy or a girl but I planned to do white furniture regardless.  However, as many of my fellow SO medical wives know, student loans hardly cover regular expenses let alone baby expenses.

So, with the help of my Mom (soon to be Grandma) we have embarked on a number of DIY projects.  The biggest of which was finding and refinishing a changing table.  Mom and I went about 10 different antique stores looking for the perfect piece of furniture.  It took a little while, but we finally came across this gem.

It's an old buffet, but was the perfect length and height to become a changing table.  And, it was only $95.00!  We lugged it home and finally got to work on it last weekend.  First, we had to glue and clamp the large crack on the top of the changing table.

Followed by sanding.  LOTS of sanding. Some puttying.  And some hardware stripping.  Not my favorite part of the project, but as Mom says "the prep work is the most important."



Then we primed.

And painted. Three coats.  The finishing touches were adding some spectacular crystal drawer knobs from Lowes and reattaching the doors.  I am just in love with the finished product and can't wait to put it to use in Baby Girl's room.

 

What do you think?!?!

 

The total cost is probably somewhere around $150-175.00 after the inital furniture purchase, paint, primer, and knobs.  But considering that this is an all wood piece of furniture, it is MUCH nicer quality than anything I could have purchased at Babies R Us, Target, or Amazon for the same price.

 

Now we have to do the same thing to an old dresser!



Bring on the PINK!

After five million three tries, we FINALLY know what Baby Scurlock is!  It's a GIRL!  And we couldn't be more thrilled. 

She was just awfully shy those first two times at the doctor's office and then at the 20 week ultrasound so I had to resort to paying someone to tell me.  However, the first two tries Josh was unable to make it due to work, so I have a feeling she was just waiting around so her Daddy could be there when we found out.  I think she might be a Daddy's girl already.

Baby Girl Scurlock: 20 Weeks 4 Days

My intuition told me it was a girl from the beginning.  I just had a feeling and even let that carry over into buying a couple of things before we offically knew that were fairly girly.  Like this PINK shabby chic side table that was a super find at a local antique store for $35.00

And I fell in love with this Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag that I decided would have to do regardless of having a boy or girl, though I think it's definitely more girly.

Apparently I wasn't the only one whose intuition was correct.  My sister-in-law Brooke already had a gift for me just KNOWING it was a girl!


Baby Scurlock's first clothes!

At almost 21 weeks and over half-way through this pregnancy, I'm finally starting to have a bump, though I'm anxious to be past the "is she pregnant or pudgy" stage.  I broke out my first pair of maternity jeans this week but am still able to wear a couple of pairs of pre-pregnancy jeans too.  I'm up 3-5 lbs depending on the day and what I've eaten and started feeling Baby Girl's love pokes around 19 weeks.  I feel pretty darn good overall and really don't have much to complain about other than some mild insomnia.

20 weeks 3 days



20 weeks 5 days

Mom and I have been refinishing some furniture for baby's room including a buffet turned changing table and dresser.  I've never sanded so much in my life and it's a sure fire way to wear a pregnant girl out.  Stay tuned to see the finished product soon!

Surgery

Well people, the 12 week surgery rotation is almost, ALMOST, over.  Almost as in Josh is taking his oral exam today and will take his shelf exam next week, but the countdown has officially begun. 

While we've never been exactly thrilled that Josh got lucky enough to have Surgery back to back with his Internal Medicine rotation, it is pretty relieving to know that the two hardest and longest 3rd year rotations are just about done.  I hope we are not silly in thinking we can breath a sigh of relief and welcome some easier rotations from here through the end of 3rd year in early August.

Why has surgery been tough? 

Well, let me just preface this post by saying that Josh has really enjoyed surgery as a whole.  He is pretty much convinced that he will be entering the match to do some kind of surgery.  General, Orthopedics, and Trauma surgery, all round out the top 3 choices at this point.  So, it does give us some peace of mind to know what direction he THINKS he will be heading into come residency application time (which is only a mere 7 months away). Eeek!

With that in mind though, we are both glad to have a break from the grueling surgical schedule.  The past six weeks, Josh has gotten up EVERY day at 3:30am.  He gets to the hospital by about 4:15am where he rounds/writes notes on patients until it's time for everyone elses day to begin. There are days in the clinic and many a day in surgery.  He's seen and assisted in all kinds of surgeries, sutured,  given injections, splinted patient's apendages, uh...removed patient's apendages (yuck), and many more things that I probably don't care to know/wouldn't understand anyway.

Most days, he arrives home between 5:00 and 6:00pm, which doesn't sound half bad until you consider he started the day with a 4 on the clock and so that makes for a 14ish hour day.  The evening consists of scarfing some dinner, studying up for the next days surgeries, a quick shower, and getting in bed by 8pm.

You do catch a bit of a break, unlike Internal Medicine, surgery doesn't have many call days.  I think in the past 6 weeks, Josh has only had four call nights. Thank. The. Lord.

Pediatrics is up next followed by OBGYN.  It'll be good practice for him. :) Bring on the babies!

Finding out the Big News

It was the day after my birthday party in October and it began like any other day, but when it was over, our world had changed forever.

There was the surprise of a postive test, some tears, a few hugs, and a call to Mom. 

Immediately followed by a movie date to see Pitch Perfect to allow the news to sink in.

P.S.  I don't think I fully appreciated the hilariousness of that movie until seeing it for the second time this past week.  Perhaps my mind was elsewhere the first time. :)


October 28, 2012

At almost 16 weeks along, the news is STILL sinking in.  No more morning sickness, no belly, no maternity clothes, no movement yet, and no gender reveal until 20 weeks, but it's getting more real every day.  And we are very excited.

A New Year

January 1, 2013.

It's hard to believe that it's already the start of another year.  I feel like every year just goes by even more quickly than the last and 2012 was no exception.

Planning for the future has become a "norm" in our household.  As a medical school family, it's hard not to look to the future.  We think in terms of school years and terms.  When we finish basic sciences, after the Step is over, once we get through 3rd year are phrases I hear and say all to often. 

Just last night, Josh and I spent a couple of hours planning his electives for 4th year including elective choices and dates because they had to be in at midnight to be at the top of the stack for next year. It's crazy to think that his last year of medical school is right around the corner, that in seven months we will be finishing up residency applications and by this time next year, we will only be a handful of months away from the end of medical school.  If all works according to plan, Josh will finish his rotations late March/early April of 2014 and graduate in May 2014.

It's all very exciting and yet I have to say that as much as I look forward to what God has in store for us in the years to come, I am quite enjoying living in the here and now.  I have made a serious effort to stop living in the past over the last fews months, but I don't want to live for the future either. I'm living in the present and I gotta tell you, there's lots of exciting things happening RIGHT NOW.

Like this for instance:

Baby Scurlock arriving July 2013!

So here is to 2013, may we enjoy every single moment, in the moment.

The Spirit of Giving

I posted quite some time ago about my involvement in a project called Operation Grenada Child.  Well, that project wrapped up last week as 80, yes I said 80 shoeboxes filled with Christmas gifts were handed out to the children of the Limes After School Program in Grenada, West Indies. 

I of course was not present for the gift distribution, but I was lucky enough to be in Grenada when all of the boxes arrived.  And am of course thrilled that so many pictures were taken by volunteers during the days festivities, specifically a saint of a man named James Forester who gave up his time to come photograph the day.  I cry happy tears every time I look through them.  The pictures fill me with the Christmas spirit more than Christmas trees, presents, stockings, and holiday lights ever could.

I KNOW that these children will remember this special Christmas for a long long time and I am so very honored that I had even a little part in the happiness that these gifts brought them. 

Here's a video of the days events, complete with games, reindeer puppet making, present opening, and a special lunch.

May it touch your heart just as it has touched mine. 

Merry Christmas.