This week end Jared went to work on Kate's room. Yes friends, in true Gowens fashion we could not wait to put everything together for our little girl. He painted the room a beautiful pink, hung her chandelier (complete with a dimmer, thanks for the great idea Mom!), put the cord cover on her chandelier, ironed and hung her curtains, and hung her letters on the wall. One of the projects that he did for Kate, means so much to me. We decided that we would use my grandmother's dresser as Kate's changing table. Over the space of 2 week ends Jared completely sanded the old finish off and stained the dresser a beautiful mahogany stain to match the crib. It is absolutely gorgeous, and to know all of the work that he put into it for his little girl makes it extra special. Kate is already being taken care of by her Daddy, and she won't even be here for another 4 months!!!
My Mom lives in Washington, DC and loves her job. The downside of living in Washington, DC is that she has had to hear everything about my pregnancy (including the announcement that I am pregnant) over the phone. We planned for her to come this past week end when we found out what the baby is. To keep from telling her one more important thing over the phone I told her I would keep the news from her until I picked her up at the airport.I told her that I would be wearing a blue shirt if we had found out the baby was a boy and a pink shirt if we found out the baby was a girl. It was killing my Mom! Especially on Thursday night when she knew that everyone knew. On Friday night at 7 I showed up with my pink shirt on. My Mom came through the doors looking around for me. When she caught sight of me walking towards her with my pink shirt...well there are no words to describe the look on her face. She exclaimed, "Are we really having a girl!?!??!? We are really having a Kate!??!?!" It was so priceless. The whole week end was priceless as my Mom and I got to share in the experience of picking out Kate's bedding and registering for all of the baby things. As my Mom said, "It was a once in a lifetime moment." Thank you Mom so much for sharing in all of this wonderful experience with me. I love you!
Our appointment was yesterday at 3:30. When our baby came on the screen it literally took my breath away. We got to see the heart (all 4 chambers), the spine (amazing how those little bones have formed in 18 weeks), the femur, the arms, little feet, the brain, the ribs, the elbow, little hands (I could go on and on!). The baby was moving all around. Flapping arms and kicking legs. Once we could determine that everything looked healthy the Dr. asked us the all important question, " Are we going to find out what this baby is?" Jared and I said in unison, "Yes!" He said," Well I'm 90% sure and I've checked 4 times." All I have to say is, "Look out world, here comes Kate Elizabeth!" It's a Girl!!!!
At my last appointment I took a blood test called the quad screen test. It screens for Down Syndrome and spina bifida as well as numerous other things. Thankfully I got the results back today and everything was normal. It just made me think about how God is protecting our little one even now as he/she grows inside of me.
Tomorrow Jared and I will be one week from finding out if our little one is a boy or girl. As you can imagine this is a much anticipated moment for us. We have been thinking about this and praying for this for so long. We went to our 3rd doctors appointment last Friday and got to hear that wonderful sound of the heartbeat again. This time much stronger and louder. I think I could fall asleep to that sound.
People that live out of town want to know if I am "showing" or not. Well that depends on who you talk to. I will have people tell me that I am showing on the same day that I will have people tell me that I am not showing at all. Hmmmmm..... However, this morning I went to put on my favorite black work pants and found it was very uncomfortable to button them up. Bella band to the rescue!!!!! For those of you who have not heard of this wonderful invention I will explain. Basically it is a tube top looking thing that lets you unbutton your pants and still be comfortable and discreet because it completely covers that part of your pants. Genius!!
Here's another thing about pregnancy. People will say the dumbest things! I actually had a lady at work tell me that she sees me gaining a lot of weight in my rear. Um... yeah ...thanks! And why did she think that would be helpful for me to know? I asked her if she would have told me that if I wasn't pregnant? She said "Of course not!" Then why!?!?!? Oh, forget it!
On that end I have been able to keep up a pretty decent fitness schedule since about 14 weeks. I am walking 2 miles a day and swimming 3 times a week. I am doing everything I can to keep in shape.
I continue to be amazed by the miracle of pregnancy. I am 17 weeks now and every time I get my weekly pregnancy updates I am in awe of how much our "little one" changes from week to week. God is truly amazing! Grow little baby grow! I can't wait to meet him/her. I keep thinking about what our baby will look like. What will their personality be? I can't wait to teach him/her about God and Jesus and how much they love him/her already. They knew about this little one before time began. God already has his/her whole life planned out! I feel so privileged that he has chosen us to be parents of this precious being. What a treasure he has entrusted us with!Would you please start praying for Jared and I and our journey as parents. We want to be the parents that God wants us to be. Thank you so much friends and family for your prayers in advance and for the prayers that you are covering us with now. I ran into sweet Elizabeth Miller last week at church we were both on the way to the bath room. She is due to give birth in 6 weeks. She told me that she prays for me everyday. What a confidence to know that Jared and I and our little one are covered in prayers everyday by wonderful christian friends and family.
I thought I would give all of you a mini update on the precious babies that you have been praying for. The little baby Bennett that I asked you to pray has been blessed with several miracles. He is getting better everyday. His parents got to hold him last night for the first time. Wonderful pictures of that special moment are on his web site. Please go there to read the journal (click on journal and then pictures) and you can see how God has worked miracles through so many prayers. His parents are such inspirations of true faith. http://www.totsites.com/tot/bennettmitchell
The little girl Ava that I told you about came through her surgery well. She was up and at 'em with in 48 hours. It was a very successful surgery. We had the privilege of seeing her at church and she looks wonderful.
The little boy Caden who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma stage IV is entering his 3rd round of chemo tomorrow. I am also going to give you the link to look at his website and read his journal and see his pictures. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/cadenledbetter
Please continue to pray for these precious ones.
Over the past year these girls and I have met at Starbucks on Monday nights. From left to right they are Gracie Reed, Me, Jodi Tuley (my fellow pregnant pal due February 1st) and on the top row Hope Bell. It is a great time for us to share the specifics of what is going in our lives. We offer up our prayer requests and reach out and receive support from one another. I love these girls dearly and consider them to be my true sisters. We share a lot of laughs!! All of these girls have been blessed with an amazing sense of humor and we definitely use that blessing at our group time. We start at 7 and have been know to wrap it up at around 10:30 or 11 although we try to be good to our hubbies and get home at a decent hour. What I love about these girls is that they all love their husbands and think the world of them. But most importantly they all love God and the advice and comfort they give is given from that perspective. Thank you God for blessing me with the most wonderful friends!!!!
