Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from The Lewis Family!

Love, Brian, Heather, & Baby Boy Lewis!

Non-Stress Test

I had a nonstress last week to check the baby's movement, etc. I had noticed decreased fetal movement & wanted to be sure everything okay. They strapped a couple of monitors to my belly & monitored the baby's heartbeats and movements for awhile.

Not very attractive, I'm afraid! I got some video during the non-stress test. The best audio came from a video aimed at the machine. They said that everything looked & sounded great with Baby Boy Lewis.

Also, my gestational diabetes appears to be under control, but I'm craving carbs & chocolate more than ever! I'm meeting with a pediatrician this week & have another ob appt on Thursday. The nursery is pretty much done, except for some finishing touches. Now, I just have to get through Christmas. I'll have some nursery pics to post soon!

2009-The Year of the Stork

The stork will be busy next year! Our bundle of joy is due in late January! As if that wasn't exciting enough, my sis-in-law is expecting twins in May! Congrats Wendy & John! And good luck to you!

Showers Galore!

I am so blessed to have such great friends & family! Overall, I've had 4 baby showers & have received countless wonderful items. My first shower was given by my home church, North Conway Baptist, which I wrote about earlier. Then, Aunt Wendy & Granna gave us a shower over Thanksgiving weekend with the Hardwick & Lewis familes. Then, my work (Modulant) threw us a shower. Then, Brian's work (Hibben Ferry) gave us a shower this past weekend. I'm so thankful to everyone! Below is a link to my shutterfly page where you can see pics from each shower. There are also some pictures of the dresser & changing table assembly!
Enjoy!
http://heatherbrianandbabymakes3.shutterfly.com/

Pipe Down!

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving Brian & I got quite a surprise (& it wasn't a good one)! The toilet supply line in the guest bathroom burst & we came home to find 2-3 inches of water throughout the front half of our apartment. Luckily, it doesn't look like we had any real damage, but it was a big hassle to clean up!

The furniture had to be moved all to one side of the room so that the water could be extracted from the carpet. Then, the furniture was all moved to the other side of the room. You can see my foot in the corner. I was supervising all the furniture moving.

Brian was a quick thinker & immediately took care of the dining room table & chairs before he took care of the big screen TV. Luckily, we don't seem to have any damage.

So, the water was sucked up & fans were placed around the apartment to help dry the carpet and padding. We left town Wednesday evening for Thanksgiving & returned Sunday to a 93 degree apartment. Someone was supposed to come turn the fans off or take them away on Friday, but that didn't happen. The fan motors caused it to heat up in the apartment, so it was quite warm. On the plus side, though, the carpet is REALLY dry.

Hopefully, a carpet cleaning is all that's left to remedy the problem!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was great! I had a free pass on checking my blood on Thursday, so I carbed out! Now, I'm trying to get back on track.

Also, my mother-in-law & sister-in-law threw me a great shower over the weekend. More details on that later!

Shower & Nursery Updates

My hometown church threw me a shower a couple of weekends ago.

It was very nice & I got lots of great things!

Brian came at the end to help load up all our goodies!

The next weekend my in-laws came to help paint the nursery.

It turned out really cute.

These decals will go around the room in intervals once we get the rest of the furniture in there.

Brian's family is throwing me a shower Thanksgiving weekend. We're so blessed to have such great people around to help us prepare for our little one! I'll have more pictures to share soon!

Merry Christmas (in early November)!

Christmas seems to come earlier & earlier every year! This past week I've hummed along to Christmas carols as I shopped in Wal-mart. Last weekend I went home to Conway where I encountered this evidence in the downtown area that Christmas has definitely come too early this year!

Here you can see that the Christmas wreaths have already been attached to the streetlights downtown right next to the scarecrows & Halloween decorations outside of Town Hall. Also, flags still line the street from Election Day!

What gives!

Carbs are No Longer My Friend...

I found out this week that I have gestational diabetes. This means that I have to cut back on my carbs & check my blood sugar 4 times a day by pricking my finger. It's not too bad; just requires more planning at meal times.
On a happier note, we're heading home this weekend where my home church in Conway is giving me a baby shower. I'm really about it! I'll get to see lots of people I haven't seen in awhile & hopefully get some much needed baby things.

I'll have pictures from the shower to share next week. More updates soon!

Crib Assembly

The nursery is slowly coming together! We worked a lot in there Saturday & took quite a bit to storage. Now, all that's left in there is the guest bed & computer desk (which my parents are getting next weekend) and a file cabinet (which will probably move to our room). Also, we put the crib together Saturday night & it looks great!

There were a couple of big gashes in the box when we picked it up, so we were a little concerned that the crib might be damaged, but it was packed in there really well so no problems!

I tried to take more pictures, but Brian wasn't cooperating. There was once time when he was actually standing on his head screwing something in! I tried to be sneaky & take a pic, but he caught me & moved! Here are a few pics of the process & the finished product!

Even though a hammer wasn't really required for the crib assembly, Brian wanted to pose with it anyway.

Isn't it pretty?!

Maybe we'll get the crib mattress & some of the other large furniture next weekend when my family is here with the truck! Hooray!

Back from NY

Last weekend I went to upstate NY to visit my friend Jessica & help her celebrate her marriage! It was quite chilly there, but overall a great weekend. Here are a few pics from the reception I attended for Sarah & Jessica.



It was a really nice brunch reception & we had a great visit! Next time I see her will be in May when they come to Myrtle Beach for a vacation. They'll get to meet Baby Boy Lewis then who will be about 4 months old.

Belly shots! (not the kind you're thinking of though)

It's the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

My company had a fall luncheon last week & I decided to dress Halloween style. I'm shaped like a pumpkin, so why not dress like one? It also coincided with our 24th week, so Brian took a few pics.

I had a Halloween headband & Halloween toe socks to complete the ensemble, but decided to nix those for the pictures.

Here's another pic from a few days prior to the ones above.

6 months prego!

We've passed the 6 month mark & all is well.
We had another ultrasound appointment this past week & have more pictures to share! This will probably be the last ultrasound we have.

In case anyone had any lingering doubts, let me put those to rest.

Baby Lewis is still a boy!

Heartbeat is nice & strong, 155 bpm.

It appears he takes after his daddy in the big feet department.
They look pretty big to me for as little as he still is.

I tried to upload a video of this same view, but it wouldn't cooperate.
At first, we thought Baby Boy Lewis was scratching his head.
But in the video, he was perfectly still, so maybe he was sleeping. It's funny because sometimes Brian sleeps like that, with his hand on his forehead.

Progress!

We are 23 weeks along in our journey to meet Baby Boy Lewis & progress is being made..slowly, but surely. We've narrowed down a list of names, although still no clear winner yet. And the guest room is ever so slowly transforming into a nursery. We've sold a few things on craigslist & just need to pack up some items & take boxes over to the storage unit. Then, all that will remain is the guest bed, which will stay in place as long as possible before it moves to my parents' house to live.
Brian & I went to Babies R Us last night. We registered for a few items & bought a crib! And last weekend, Wendy helped me register for some things at Target. I've even come up with a tentative design plan for the nursery! Hooray!
Baby Boy Lewis has become more active in recent weeks. He moves around quite a bit now & can be felt by people other than me as well. Occasionally, I've had my hand on my belly & he kicks so hard that my hand visibly moves. It's so strange & exciting!
We have another (& probably our final) ultrasound next week, so I should have more pictures (& maybe a video) to share.
I think that's all the news to report for now! More info to come soon!

Baby Movements

It was the tiniest of flutterings! If I hadn't been laying perfectly still & quiet, I wouldn't have noticed it. I was reading in bed the other night when I felt a slight twitter in my stomach! I felt him again last night as I lay on the couch. It was like a gas bubble popped in my stomach. Baby Boy Lewis is making himself known! Hooray!

Labor Day Weekend & Recent News!

My in-laws came to town for Labor Day weekend. We packed a lot into the 2 days we had. We visited the Angel Oak Tree (twice), Patriots Point, Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter, & the market area downtown.
Alos, we found out yesterday that Baby Lewis will be Baby BOY Lewis! We're so excited! I've tried unsuccessfully to be able to insert a slideshow of pictures of Baby Lewis in here. In the mean time, you can see our photos here. Just click on the album name & you can view a slideshow from there! Enjoy!

The Sights & Sounds of My Uterus

We had another ultrasound today & this time I was prepared with my video camera. You can see & hear the heartbeat! It's awesome!
In this one you can see the heartbeat. The voice you hear is our fertility doctor, Dr. Schnorr.

In this one you can hear the heartbeat, so turn up your volume & get your tissues ready!