26 Weeks

Me at 26 weeks preggo! My belly button is a full-on "outie" now.

It's insane that we are already 6.5 months along! Will we seriously be in our 3rd trimester in just 5 days? This whole process is passing by far too quickly. We have been so blessed to have a pretty easy pregnancy so far and we grow more excited each week to meet our darling daughter. We already love her more than we ever thought possible. At 26 weeks her ears are pretty developed and can supposedly hear all of our conversations. She's doing practice breathing, inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, to develop her lungs. She's putting on more baby fat, weighing around 1 and 2/3 lbs and is about 14 inches head to heel, the size of a cucumber.

Well, other people can finally see her move now!. My mother also got to see her and feel her move this last week. It usually doesn't take this long for people to be able to feel baby move but, apparently, the position of my placenta sort-of  "pads" her movements. I won't complain as she has yet to keep me awake at night. There is nothing in this world that brings me more joy than feeling her move! 

I said our pregnancy has been pretty easy so far. The only thing I am having issues with lately is my feet swelling a bit. I know I need to stay off of them more and prop them up but I am just not the kind of person who can just sit around. I have to keep busy. I'm trying to be a good patient, and the swelling does go down when I take it easy. 

Thankfully, I passed my Gestational Diabetes test the first time at our last appointment! Score! I was convinced I was going to fail as I am a sugar-aholic. However, I ate only eggs for breakfast and my test wasn't until 2:30 so I just drank water all day up until 2 hours before. Then to take my mind off of hunger/thirst, I went shopping (well, more like window shopping). When I got to the appointment, I drank the little drink (mine was "fruit punch" flavored) first. I just chugged it down because the one time I pulled it away from my mouth, it had an aftertaste of medicine. Other than that, it wasn't that bad. Not as terrible, or even as sweet, as some people made it out to be. The only thing I thought was odd was that I had to drink it in the lobby of the OB's office with all those people watching me. I suppose they have to make sure you get it down somehow, an insurance requirement I assume.

Then, I waited for an hour chatting with another 24-weeker who had just finished drinking her drink. When it was time to draw blood, to my dismay, it was not a blood draw from the arm, it was a finger stick. As much as I hate needles and blood being drawn from my arm, I dislike finger sticks more. That horrible "click" noise the needle makes causes me to jump out of my skin and it definitely stings more and for much longer. When the OB came in and said "Well, you passed by a long shot. 20 points under," I could have fainted, and not from the lack of nourishment. I was SO excited I could have kissed him. (If you fail the first GB test you have to come back, drink the drink again, and sit in the waiting room for 3 HOURS and they take blood every hour on the hour. Um, no thanks.) So, now I am DONE with tests and blood draws.Sigh of relief. Thank you to everyone who prayed for me that day, I know they were heard. I also, of course, got to listen to her sweet heart beat again. That's my favorite part of the appointments (other than when we have ultrasounds). It was beating mighty fast this time, I'm sure mommy's nerves and that sugary drink were to blame.

At our next appointment we will be seeing our baby girl in 4-D! I cannot tell you how excited I am for this. We will be almost 29 weeks at that point so we might get a pretty good idea as to what/who she will look like. I wonder about this all of the time.

Her nursery is coming along slowly but surely. I am hoping we  will have all of our part of the painting done by the middle of this coming week so then we can begin to get quotes for the complicated part (yes, I am being complicated, would you expect anything else?) and decide on that by the end of the week. Then, the next week get that knocked out, so that painting will be DONE and we can being moving her furniture in, which came in this week. I cannot wait to see it all set up! I promise many photographs soon.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know we did. A ton of food, fun, and family time with much to be thankful for and an Auburn Iron Bowl victory to boot! God has blessed us all so richly and far more than any of us deserve. I hope we all take the time to reflect on that, and not just on Thanksgiving day, but every day. What are we most thankful for in our household this year? Leighton Elizabeth McGhee, of course. 

Our First "Children"

Today's post is going to be a little different but no worries, I will do an update, like I always do, at the end. :)

Though Leighton Elizabeth is our first baby, our family actually began about 3.5 years ago. This was when we added our first member, Baron McGhee. He is our brilliant, sweet, and hyper-active Rat Terrier. (Cousin to the Jack Russell)

He was born the day after Valentines day in 2007. We welcomed him in to our family in late March that same year. I picked him out specifically because he had a slight, natural mohawk on the top of his little head. He still has it. Baron is the smartest dog in the whole world, and I'm not just saying that because he's ours. He was potty trained in a mere two weeks, and does every trick in the book. We call him our "circus dog." He sits, lays, stays, jumps, dances, high-fives, shakes, etc. And he does most of these by hand signals that we came up with, kind of like sign language for dogs. His favorite things in the world are: chasing the red dot from the laser pointer, eating, playing fetch, his brother, treats for being a "good boy," his toys, people in general. Most dogs, believe it or not, are not attached to their owners like most people think. Baron is very sweet and loves just lounging with us but he is also very hyper and loves chasing, playing, etc. He does tend to jump on new people (a habit we have tried sooo hard to break, failing miserably) but he is harmless. He will turn 4 just before Leighton is due.

Then, in May of 2009 we added another member to our growing family. 

Barlow McGhee, our Miniature Dachshund, was given to me on my birthday, May 27th. He was born April 3rd. Barlow, well, he's our pretty dog. He is dumb as rocks but my goodness one look at his sweet "please pet me" face and you're hooked. He is the happiest, sweetest dog in the universe and his being dumb is a great source of entertainment for us; there is never a dull moment. It's almost impossible to have a bad day in our household because of him. Baron didn't particularly like his brother at first but now they love each other. They love playing together and only get jealous on occasion. Barlow was a much more difficult dog to train. It took an entire year to potty train this poor thing and there were so many times I'd want to give up and give him away and then he'd crawl in to my lap, turn over on his belly and give me the saddest face you've ever seen. Naturally, I could never do it. Barlow's favorites are; his mommy, his toys, his brother, food, treats, being outside, people in general, and being loved on. Barlow will turn two about a month after his little sister is due.



We love our dogs. We treat them as family members, but not as people. We are a little concerned as to how they will react when Leighton gets here. We have done all the research and gotten tips like "bring home blankets from the hospital with her scent on it before you bring her home" and "before she comes, play crying baby sounds for them often so they will be used to it." We want to know what worked for you? How did you get your dogs used to the idea of a new member? How did you handle jealousy issues? Safety issues? We only have dogs, no other pets, so any advice is welcomed and we thank you in advance.

Now, for the regularly scheduled update. We are 24 weeks pregnant as of Friday! Baby girl is now more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound, about as much as an ear of corn. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that her increasingly developing ears pick up are preparing her for when she gets here. Supposedly, loud noises that become familiar to her now probably won't bother her when she hears them after she's born.  She has a tiny figure now, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

I feel her little kicks a lot more recently and I can now see them. 

I have begun to get a little swelling  in my feet when I am on them for too long so I try to rest a little during the day and the back pain before bed is no fun either but luckily once I fall asleep it seems to disappear, it's just the falling asleep part that is uncomfortable.

Gestational Diabetes test tomorrow afternoon! I would appreciate anyone who will say a little prayer for me for this delightful occasion.

I think that's all I have for now, hopefully I'll have nursery progress pictures posted soon. We are working on it right now! 

Baby's First Vacation

Well, the past 2 weeks have gone by so fast! I was always told that after the first half, your pregnancy seems to go by much slower. Not for us! At 22 weeks gestation our baby girl now weighs 1 whole pound (ohmygosh that makes me tear up a little bit... silly pregnancy hormones), and is around 11 inches long, about the size of a squash. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises don't have a colored part yet. Inside her tummy, her pancreas is developing.

Leighton has officially taken her first vacation, which was also her first time out of the country! We went on a cruise to the Bahamas and Key West (one of my favorite places in the Continental US). It was an absolute blast.

While on the trip, I ate so much that baby Leighton may actually weigh more than one pound! ;) I've only had a couple of headaches so that made me happy and I never broke down and took any meds. I don't know why I have been so against taking anything, it just never felt "right." But, I appreciate all of the advice everyone gave me as to how to get rid of them. While on the cruise I read "Baby Wise." It all sounded great and I'm hoping it all works as fabulously as everyone says in the reviews. I would love any advice about it from you parents who have followed it.


I have been feeling her move a lot more recently which is my absolute favorite thing in the world! I have been having some minor back pain that is a little frustrating when I am trying to sleep but it could probably be much worse, so I am not going to complain. 

I 100% understand pregnant brain. I forget everything unless I write it down immediately and that is so not like me, and it seems it gets worse the further along we get. I have so many reminders in my crackberry now, that it's alerting me like every 5 minutes!


Nursery preperation is underway! All of her bedding is in (except for a few minor things) so we are just waiting on the furniture! We have started moving everything that is currently in her room out of there so that we can begin the painting process. It's going to be pretty complicated so I am hoping to begin later this week. This is the most exciting part so far, aside from finding out the sex, of course! 


Also, in just a couple of weeks I go in for the dreaded gestational diabetes test. Any advice for that would be much appreciated as well!

I have had the craziest dreams during this pregnancy. I'll either have the most terrifying nightmares or dreams that are so weird that I'd kind of be embarrassed to share.  

Lastly, here is a picture of me at 22 weeks pregnant! A couple people mentioned they want to see a pic of my actual belly. Well, your wish is my command. Enjoy!