37 weeks

Here is a picture of my cousin, Brittany, and myself taken today.  She had her first child, a daughter, Molly, in January of 2009.  Brittany is due the first part of April with twins.  Yes, you are reading this correctly!  Anyways, here is a 37 week picture of myself...height does have it's advantages!  I feel for Brittany already!

I have approximately 3 1/2 weeks (26 days) remaining of  Boote Baby #3 pregnancy.  Overall, things have been going fairly well, however, back on November 6th (ND deer season opener) in the morning I noticed that my legs felt a little achy and when I went to take a peek...my ankles and shins were swollen and black and blue, right foot worse than left.  After pondering this for a bit and calling and visiting with my doctor's nurse and explaining the situation, she visited with Dr. McMillan and called me back with, "We want you to come down so Dr. McMillan can see you."  Well, after a doctor's visit and an Ultrasound to make sure there was no blood clots, the orders were to "Keep your feet up as much as possible and to wear support hose!"...that is what I have been trying to do since then.  However, it is VERY hard with two very active kids, a job, a house to take care of and my difficulty with just "Sitting!".  Luckily, the kids and Alan have pitched in and it helps that I am lucky to have a very great friend "clean" for me every two weeks!  Yeah!!  The worse part of this whole "leg problem" is that our plans for a quick family trip to Iowa for Christmas have been dashed with Dr. McMillan giving me the "I really don't want you to go, unless you stop every hour and walk!" and "Is the risk of getting a blood clot really worth it?".  ;

So, I for sure will be staying home, however, I really think Alan and the kids should go...he is pondering this idea (reluctantly).  We will just see what happens this week with that idea!  I have posted a picture of my leg tonight to give you an idea...I know, can you say, UGLY!!

As for our readiness for Baby "J", we are getting there.  Jade painted a little bookshelf  this weekend that we found at the thrift store.  Alan cut the bottom of the door today so that it will swing (since the room did not have carpet in it before).  We still need to pick up some baby supplies but other than that, I think we are about ready.  Oh, and we still don't have any definite names picked out yet...this will come to us though!  It is just really difficult to get four people to agree ;-)!! 

The past couple weeks I have been training in a very "qualified" girl to be my replacement at work while I am gone.  She has done fantastic and I am lucky that she was available.  I have my computer set up at home so that I can work from home and still do payroll and the bills while I am away.  I still am not sure how much time I am going to take off, but one thing I do know for sure is that I am going to enjoy every day I am at home with this baby because the days go by quickly and they grow up so fast!