28 weeks, 7 days

Can you believe that we are almost there.  I literally have 11 weeks to go.  I remember when I was 11 weeks along and it felt like I would forever be pregnant.  The second half of the pregnancy seems to just fly by.  Craziness I tell you.
Things that are happening as of lately:
-I can no longer wear my wedding rings in fear that I won't be able to get them off or worse have to get them cut off!
-I'm starting to feel really low pressure all the time and he loves to snuggle up down low and not use all this floaty space that he has.  Only a couple times a day will he stretch out and wiggle around.
- I'm just not sleeping.  My hip pain has tripled and they are now going numb at night waking me up probably every half an hour to flip over, which is also becoming quite difficult.  lol.  Oh gosh....just your typical preggy stuff.
- I'm noticing Luke is starting to have sleep patterns.  I can tell when he's sleeping or awake.
- I"m getting anxious....I mean really anxious.  I can't wait to meet him and see what life is going to be like.  I just want to hold him.  I know Justin is feeling the same way.  We are just so in love with him already.

My gestational diabetes is going well.  I'm able to keep my blood sugars in check with my diet.  Morning for some reason is the worst where my numbers get all weird and high sometimes.  The rest of the day I'm pretty good.  The Dr. was very pleased with my progress for the first two weeks.  I think timing of when you eat and when you check are huge factors in this game.  I've been a little lax in the morning of testing first thing and I need to get my eating breakfast on time as well.  So far so good though!

Some things that we are going to ask you all for prayer for:

We just found out last Friday, that Justin was put on permanent disability with restrictions.  This means that his pay shoots down to about a little more than 1/3 than what we were getting paid.  This is pretty hard on us right now.  His options are either going back to work, which they are working on finding him a job, or he has to find a different job.  We have no clue now when we will be able to move out of my mom's.  It's all up in the air as of now.  OUR plans of paying our last little bits off are hugely effecting things as well.  We won't have our first month's rent saved, nor can we even afford what our monthly rent would be at this point.  So we are trusting God.  We know He has a perfect plan, and it's definitely no OUR plan but His is so much greater.  When things are up in the air, they aren't secure and that feeling isn't a good one.  I definitely believe that it is all our attitude.   No, our situation isn't ideal, but we are safe and secure and we have that.  It gets a little crazy at times, but we have two people who are loving us and supporting us through this and have been for a while.   They are patient, and loving, and that's all we can ask for.  They are letting us in their space.  We are both giving up our personal space and that is huge.  We are thankful and grateful to my parents for what they have done so far.

Justin is also dealing with some depression issues from all of this workers comp mess.  Pray that God would just over come in his life and speak truth.  I normally wouldn't talk about Justin's personal life on here, but he needs prayer so desperately.  We both do.  We appreciate you all and we love you and feel those prayers.


Here's a picture we took last night at 28 weeks and 6 days.

It's a little hard to see the definition because I'm wearing a lighter shirt, but he is growing.  For sure.  We are so thankful for this little guy.  He just needs to be here already!

Thank you for the prayers, the thoughts and the love you all give.  Thanks for being open to hearing about our journey and walking it with us.  We couldn't do it without you all.   We share, so life is a little more tolerable, not because we like to air out our dirty laundry.  It definitely takes a village.

It's a BOY!

I can't believe I forgot to blog almost 2 weeks ago to let you all know we are having a BOY!
Sorry for the delay! I know most of you are friends with me on FB, so you already know.  I have this blog to basically document everything that is going on.  It was super special, we had our ultrasound at 8:45 in the morning and my parents as well as Justin's mom were able to be there! We also had a surprise guest come in at the end which was super special to me and it was perfect that she was there.  Our dear friend Marianne.

I was the only one allowed in the room while the tech was doing all the babies measurements.  It took about 15 to 20 minutes of getting all the pictures they needed.  He was so squirmy, but she did a great job! Then she went to get the family.  She then started showing them his head, arms, legs, and all that good stuff.  She then asked if we were ready! She showed us his "goods" and sure enough, it was a boy! He was not shy!
We had already had a name picked out, and it was so special to be able to call him something, not just the baby.  His name will be Luke Matthew Gerhart.  We all were just so excited! I had forgotten to ask what he was measuring, so at our appt this week (almost 2 weeks later), my midwife had said he was measuring 19 weeks 2 days instead of 18 weeks 6 days.  So we will see if this progression goes further and he is going to be a big boy.

18 weeks 6 days

At my Dr. appt this week(20w/6d), everything went really good.  I've only gained 8 lbs at this point which is so good because of where I was at weight wise to start.  They seem to be really pleased with where I'm at.  All in all, everything is great!

My back is the only thing that is really bothering me at all.   I went to the Chiropractor yesterday and he said from here on out, it is probably going to get worse because of all the movement and changes.  He said just to keep coming in and getting adjusted.  I am currently sitting with a heating pad on my lower back at work, which helping immensely!  He even commented on how well I'm doing with everything.

Luke is kicking up a storm! Usually every other day he is super active and then the other days he is somewhat active but more calm and resting.  Today is a super active day! We can't wait for him to get here and hold him and touch his face.  He is our little miracle baby.

Thanks again for being on this journey with us!