Raising children in today's world

It's been a long time since I've blogged. To be exact, it's been since Gunner was born. Clearly, things have been busy since I became a mother!

Lots of wonderful (and hard) things have happened since then but I won't go into detail. My life as a mother is completely different, and I know it's totally cliche to say, but I wouldn't change it for anything.

But let's get to the reason for this post. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how our world seems to be getting scarier (for a lack of better words). We're currently at war with ISIS, we're fighting with other countries, and we see more and more bloodshed on our own US soil. People fight over politics, religion, race, gender, etc and it's become nasty.

How did we get here?

As a mother, I worry about raising children in a world like this. I've even questioned if it's smart to bring children into this world right now. Is it fair to them? Will I always be able to protect them?

Here's the thing - no, I will not always be able to protect them. BUT I do believe that they are here at this time for a reason. And my role as a mother is an intricate part in their lives.

I have a responsibility to raise these boys (yep, pregnant with boy #2) to be a resourceful part of society. It's my responsibility to raise them to be kind, loving, accepting, brave, loyal, hard-working, and godly men. This kind of man will be an asset to society, no matter how hard things may get. And our society needs men like that.

And prayer. Lots of prayer is needed :).

He's Arrived!

The last week has been a whirlwind....

But before I tell you about that, I'll update you on my most recent (and last) belly pictures.

My pregnancy was pretty easy up until about 37.5 weeks. That's when I started experiencing back pain. It was the kind of pain that was sharp and shooting and made me hobble because it hurt to walk. With that said, I'm thankful that's really the only issues I experienced during pregnancy.

So here are the last few belly pictures (I can't believe 39 weeks went by so fast)!

And yes, I'm wearing the same outfit in the last two - that's basically all I wore the last week :).

On Wednesday, May 11 I went to the doctor for a regular checkup. While there, they told me that my blood pressure was too high and sent me to the hospital for monitoring. My blood pressure had been perfect the entire pregnancy. As soon as we started the monitoring, my blood pressure was perfectly normal. But my  platelet levels were low - low enough that my doctor wanted me to come in the next morning to check them again. We came prepared to have a baby that morning because we knew there was a possibility.

My platelet levels were even lower that morning, which concerned the doctor. The nurse came in and told us we would be having a baby that day! It was exciting and scary at the same time. I didn't want to have my water broken, but I knew that was the safest option. The doctor came in at 11:30, broke my water and the process began :).

My doula showed up around 5pm when my contractions started to get to the point where they were fairly painful. I definitely could not have gone through that pain without Josh and her by my side helping me through each one. I'm also thankful that my doctor let me labor as naturally as possible. He said I didn't have to get pitocin because I was moving along quick enough. At the very end, he also let me spend some time through my "pushing" contractions before he came in and said it was time to really push.

It's such an amazing experience but incredibly hard. Our baby boy's heart rate was dropping so my doctor wanted me to get him out as soon as possible. I was exhausted and have never put so much effort into something before. At 11:14pm, Gunner Jameson Bone arrived. He didn't come out crying and just laid on the bed. Once again, I'm thankful for our doctor and nurses. They worked fast to clear his lungs and get out that first cry. There is so much that I could say about that day and the days following, but I'll keep this short. Josh and I are just overwhelmed my God's grace and love through this little boy. We've been praying for him for years - he definitely is our little miracle.

It's the final countdown

I'm officially 36 weeks. Where did time go? We're so ready to meet Gunner, but need him to stay put for at least one more week :).

We've started looking for signs of dropping or anything else that will give us hope that he's getting into position and ready to roll.

We made a weekend trip to Destin at 34 weeks for my birthday. It was fun and good to get some relaxation in before this baby turns our world upside down (in a good way).

I've been so blessed with a good pregnancy. I still feel great. Yes, I do get swollen feet here and there and I do have to pee all the time. Breathing isn't as easy and getting in and out of bed is harder, but honestly, it's all way easier than I thought it would be. Here's to hoping I can say the same thing about my delivery! I'm still exercising regularly (5 times a week). Unfortunately all the stares I get at the gym are not because I'm sexy and strutting my stuff. It's because I have a basketball I'm carrying around under my shirt and I guess this isn't normal at the gym??

Anyway, here are some recent pictures.

Next month!

I can officially say that our baby is due next month!!! AH!

We seriously can't wait to meet Gunner. We love watching him move in my belly and talking to him. I'm really not sure what's normal at this stage, but he seems like a very active baby. There's just something so special about being woken up in the middle of the night because of baby kicks and movements.

I made a quick business trip to Colorado Springs at 31 weeks. Thankfully, the trip (although long) was very easy. I made sure to stay hydrated and wore my sexy compression socks to avoid bad swelling. While I was there, the people in my office threw me a surprise baby shower! It was beautiful and made me feel so special. I also got to meet up with 5 of my best friends in Colorado for dinner after work. And guess what? They ALSO threw me a surprise baby shower! It was a full day but I felt so blessed to know such wonderful people.

This weekend Josh and I are headed to Destin for the weekend for a quick birthday trip. I'm looking forward to some relaxing and time on the beach. This may be our last trip before Gunner comes so I know we'll make the best of it.

As always, here's an update on the belly and some of the pictures from my trip to Colorado.

30 weeks...and counting

AH! I can't believe we only have 10 more weeks of this pregnancy. I've been so blessed to have had a fairly easy pregnancy. I've been dealing with siatica issues this last week, but it's not even that bad so I can't complain. I went on my Saturday 4 mile run and had to laugh at how slow I've become. I'm basically shuffling. But I'm so blessed that I'm still able to go out and run at 30 weeks.

We also had our baby shower yesterday. We have such wonderful friends here at Fort Rucker that went above and beyond to make this shower perfect. It was an adorable aviator theme with the cutest decorations. They also went way out of their way to provide a spread of food that was gluten and dairy free. Trust me, that's not easy! We got a ton of wonderful gifts and I believe we're stocked up on diapers for a while :).

Gunner is definitely growing. It's so weird to see how dramatically my belly can move while he's moving or how lopsided he can make it :). I can't wait to meet this adorable little stinker.

Here's some recent pictures from the shower and past weeks.

This week....third trimester!

I'll hit the third trimester on Thursday. How in the world did that happen so quickly!? 

This pregnancy journey has been so fun. I've honestly enjoyed every little bit of it. I love how active our baby boy is at night and in the morning. I'll often lay in bed for an extra 5-10 minutes after my alarm goes off just so I can feel him wiggle around. Sometimes Josh will wake up in the middle of the night and put his hand on my belly and feel our little boy moving around.

It's also amazing to me how much I've grown in the last few weeks. I'm finally looking pregnant (at least to the point where people aren't afraid to ask). Yesterday (at 26 weeks) was the first time a stranger has asked me if I'm pregnant. Josh and I were at a restaurant and the waitress said, "Is there a little person in there?" pointing at my belly. I said "yes" and she said, "I thought so but I was a little afraid to ask just in case I was wrong." I totally understand that feeling! I'm terrified to ask people if they're pregnant, even if they're noticeably about to pop!

I'm still exercising consistently. This morning I ran 4 miles. I'm really hoping I can continue running into month 7 and maybe even month 8. It always makes me feel 100% better. 

Josh and I found a doula. She seems great and I feel so much more at ease, just knowing she'll be around. We've been to a couple child birth classes. Sheesh! There's so much to having babies that no one ever tells you about. Should we circumcise? Should we not? Should we get this vaccine? Should we not? Should we cut the cord right away? Should we not?

Here's some of my most recent pictures. As you can see, the belly just keeps growing :).

Pregnancy and Exercise

So I always said that if I was to ever get pregnant, I wanted to exercise throughout the pregnancy. Obviously, I don't have complete control over this, but so far, I've been blessed to be able to work out 5 times a week. The first trimester was a struggle. I was ALWAYS tired and had no motivation to work out. It was also my first trimester that I ran a half marathon (at 9 weeks) so maybe that's why I was so tired. I was running up to 6 miles on week days and 10+ miles on weekends. After that half, I slowed my running down quite a bit. The further I get in this pregnancy, the slower I get. I NEVER push myself. I run where I'm completely comfortable and if I start to feel uncomfortable, I'll stop and walk for a bit. I was running about a 9 min/mile before the pregnancy. Now I'm at a 10:30/10:45 (so that gives you an idea how much slower I've become).

These days, I've been spending a lot more time on the elliptical and bike. I typically only work out for 30 minutes a day. Weekends I'll try to get one or two 4 mile runs in. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to run outside lately...not because I don't want to but because I have to deal with the pregnancy bladder issue! As soon as I start running, I automatically have to pee (even if I literally just went). Little boy bounces around on my bladder, making it extremely uncomfortable to run. So if I run 4 miles, I'm typically stopping at 2 miles to run to the bathroom.

I completely understand that exercising will become much harder the further in the pregnancy I get, but I'm hopeful that exercising can continue. It helps with any stress issues I might have and always makes me feel 100% better.

Here's an update on recent pictures. I feel like I popped right around 21 weeks.