Happy Fall, Ya'll!

It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to write about how things are progressing in this pregnancy and life. Since the end of August, I have not had a single free weekend due to insanely busy activities and therefore the blogging has decreased. Over the past few months,  we have had multiple weddings in various locations, an anatomy scan, a baby shower in Lewisburg, a lot of growth in the stomach, a birthday party in Charleston, the purchasing of maternity clothes, a day fishing trip, the creation of baby registries and even a Bachlorette weekend. Richard and I are counting down the next 2 weeks in anticipation of when we will gain our weekends back until the baby arrives (although his next rotation will mean that he works weekends once again). 

The Anatomy Scan was on August 26th and it was amazing to see the growth/development from our initial ultrasound to this particular scan. Everything looked textbook on the baby and although he or she did NOT want to be disturbed, we were still able to see how perfect our little miracle is already. We remained strong and both turned our heads when the tech looked at the gender. We are so excited for the big moment in January when we find out Boy or Girl! From the moment I found out that I was pregnant, I thought that it was girl. After seeing the 3D ultrasound picture,  my opinion changed to boy.  Today, months after the ultrasound, I am back to thinking girl.  Whenever Richard and I talk gender he never has thoughts or opinions. Regardless of the baby being a boy or girl, the one thing that we care about is the health of the baby. We want a healthy baby. Please continue to have good thoughts and pray for everything to remain healthy.

Our Nursery is still a work in progress... All of the painting is done and as of recently, the crib is put together.  Richard was so excited to be able to put the crib together that the day it arrived, he put it together. We are attempting a travel/world theme for the nursery and are excited to see how it progresses over the final months of the pregnancy.

At the beginning of October, I flew to Lewisburg for a wonderful baby shower. It was a small group of  women and included some of the most important people in my life. Brooke &  Justin flew up from New Orleans to surprise me, Jerri, Liz and Mel came from Buffalo/NYC and my Aunt Jan and Uncle Bob drove up from TN. It was wonderful to celebrate Baby O'Neal with so many important people I was overwhelmed by the the amount of love and support given by everyone towards Baby O'Neal (and us).  All the people who traveled far for the shower, everyone who came the shower and brought gifts for the baby touched my heart in ways I will never be able to express. Our house is filling up with baby items and I love that each gift comes from such wonderful people.  Soon we will have another one in Rock Hill surrounded by Richard's family and friends. It will be a beautiful event and I am positive that once again, the outpour of love will be amazing.

For the first work free weekend in Richard's schedule for a while, we attended my best friends wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and an awesome reception.  I loved being able to stand next to her as she married her soul mate. Additionally, it was so nice to have Richard at my side looking extremely handsome. When we left the reception, we headed up to TN for our "babymoon" day excursion. We went fishing on the Watauga with a guide and had a blast. The trout weren't biting very much, but spending a whole day with Richard was wonderful. I can't begin to tell you the last time we did that.

At my bffs wedding

Sometimes I think back to the days of our long distance relationship and I see numerous parallels to that time and our current life in residency.  The parallels in both phases of our relationship are these: Weekends together are sacred and rare, there is no way every task you have to accomplish will get finished, get used to independence because often we are both off doing separate activities in different cities and keeping your phone charged is essential because texting/phone conversations sometimes is the only way we get to check in with one another.

Being married to a resident and starting a family with one is no easy task. For example, while most women have their husbands along for each prenatal doctors visit, Richard has only been able to attend 2.  Richard will only have 1 week off (including Labor & Delivery) before he returns to work. Should the baby come late, the days in which he'll have "normal"  work hours will diminish (rotations change early February and again he'll be working 90 hrs a week).  I am mentally trying to prepare myself for the challenges associated with adjusting to life with new baby but  also how life with a resident husband and a new baby will be. I will admit that the future terrifies me and I pray everyday that I have the strength inside to do a lot of solo parenting while Richard finishes his training. I know so many women have done this before and are currently do this, but these future hurdles more than anything related to pregnancy or childbirth gives me anxiety.

Luka loving on the baby while the baby kicks him

Being in the 3rd trimester, we are now in the home stretch! Baby moves constantly these days and loves to have dance parties all night long. I am struggling to find a sleeping position that keeps the both of us comfortable. I can tell you that already, this baby is demanding and likes to makes him or herself known (especially at 2 am). We're anxious for January, but also hoping time slows down a little but so that we can finish everything in preparation for the baby. I am now seeing my OBGYN every 2 weeks and eventually I'll be going weekly. By the time the holidays get here, my travel will be restricted so that "in-case" something happens that I will be near the hospital.  It is hard to believe that January is just around the corner and soon we will be able to love on this little one.

I cannot thank those of you who regularly check in with me enough. It is so encouraging to get a message or email that asks how I'm doing or how baby is doing.  It truly means the world that people think about me and this adventure enough to reach out. As always, thank you for your support, your encouragement and your well wishes. Time is flying by and January will be here in just a few months. Until then we are awaiting the arrival of our niece or nephew who is due in the next few weeks, Richard will begin Critical Care (one of the hardest rotations during residency),  we are trying to finish all baby related projects and still enjoy some time with one another. Hopefully it won't be so long before the next update, but who knows. As always, thanks for reading and supporting us on this adventure!

O'Neal Summer

It’s hard to believe that August is here. Where did the past 3 months go?   Richard and I have had a fairly busy summer in addition to our big news. We’ve done some traveling and had a great time in all of the places we’ve been.

May

May was pretty busy for both of us with work. Richard’s schedule was jam packed and at my office we had a lot of admissions plus more home patients.  We attended a wedding of a sorority sister and went to Disney World with my family.  The wedding was beautiful with lots of familiar faces. Disney (as always) was a blast. Our first night there, we had dinner plans at one of our favorite restaurants. It was there that we told my family about our big news. My dad had a birthday coming up, in addition to father’s day so we brought him a birthday gift. My sister is expecting a baby as well, so on the very top of the bag,  we gave him a mickey mouse onesie. We said that is for “baby Blankenheim” and they thought it was adorable. My Dad commented on there being other things in the bag and I told him to read the card first. The card was for “Grandparents-to-be” and inside we had written “surprise…when it rains, it pours”.  Below that card was an additional onesie for a newborn.  He held up both of the outfits and everyone was very excited. People in the restaurant had been watching us through the windows and one girl asked me if we were having twins! It was a perfect spot (one that means a lot to my family) for us to share such exciting news with them. Absolutely this was one for Bruce family history books. It was a wonderful trip and the parks weren’t crowded yet.  The only struggle was that as an “expectant mother” your rides are limited. I made friends with quite a few moms-to-be in little sitting areas while we all waited for our family members who were on the rides.  We ate so much good food and rode almost everything we wanted to (minus the Rockin Roller-Coaster which was shut down). It's hard to believe that on our next trip to Disney, there there will be 2 little Bruce grandchildren in tow. 

June

June was not as busy as the majority of things that we had scheduled had to be cancelled due to the awful 1st trimester fatigue. I didn’t move from the couch most weekends in June as even little things exhausted me. Richard did a great job taking over dinners and encouraging me to sleep as much as I felt that I needed. In very early June, we were able to tell Richard’s parents about our big news. As a little boy, Richard had a Mickey Mouse fishing rod, so we bought Richard’s Dad a Mickey Mouse fishing rod and give it to him. We told lots of Richard’s family within the same 24 hours as everyone lives in Rock Hill and we wanted to be able to tell as many people in person as possible. We were so happy that we had that opportunity to tell everyone in person and share in the excitement with them.

July

Over the 4^th of July weekend, we had some very close family friends visit for the weekend. Noah (the son) was the ring bearer in our wedding and since 2012 has grown so much. Dylan (his sister) is also so big and they loved the idea of us having a baby...or as she said it “a little cousin”. They brought sweet baby gifts that they had taken time to pick out with purpose and they were so excited for us to open them. It really warmed my heart.  The following weekend, my best friend got married. It was extremely hot in Charleston for the wedding week/weekend but that didn’t bother anyone associated with the group. Seeing her in her wedding dress with a huge smile on her face brought me so much joy. Brooke is someone that I have known for over 20 years and consider a sister. I loved being there to witness her beautiful marriage to an awesome guy.

Finally, we ended the month by going to Lewisburg for a very quick weekend (Drove ½ way Thursday, arrived Friday and drove home Sunday).  A dear friend from middle and high school got married. The groom is Irish and his family came from Ireland for the week. It was so fun to finally meet the groom, to meet his sweet family, to see a real Irish blessing (in Gaelic), see the bride marry her special guy and to visit with friends from high school that I have not seen in forever.  It was the first time in about 2 years that we had gotten to visit Lewisburg and it was great to be able to spend time walking around my parent’s property and seeing the sights of the small town. Luka absolutely loved running around such a big property and having free reign of the farm. It confirmed with us that someday we’d love to get a nice piece of property that our family and animals can run around on.

Upon arrival home, Richard and I quickly went to bed because his alarm was set to go off at 430 am. The relaxing elective month had come to an end and the busy hospital month was beginning. Richard became an upper-level resident in July and on his new rotation is responsible for teaching and looking after the interns who began July 1.  We enjoyed our busy summer months and loved getting the chance to celebrate so many great things with our friends and family.