Picture Day

So, I've always seen pictures of the beautiful blossoming woman in the white dress showing off the growing belly...and I decided I wanted to have some of those pics too. Plus, since it's spring, it seems pretty cool to me that I'll be bringing forth life (shortly we hope:)) while all of nature is coming alive again and so I wanted to portray that with pics of my blossoming belly and blossoming trees and flowers. That may seem cheezy...but whatever. My sister will thoroughly enjoy it, I'm sure:) So, here are some of the shots from picture day. Sandra Snyder came over and put her expertise to work in the nursery and outdoors and Danny tried his hand at a few outdoor shots as well. Since it is gorgeous here, these are all really cool! And I wanted to share with all the "devoted" readers:)

Baby Shower!

yay! heather had her baby shower at work today, and received much gifts and love :) Everything is going great at the moment, and we expect a baby any time now. Enjoy the pics

danny

Ramblings

So, the Midwife visit wasn't so informative yesterday. It was rather short and sweet. My "fundal height" (belly measurement while lying on my back) is a little over 37cm...which meant nothing to me, so I did some research. Apparently the measurement is supposed to be the same as your gestation week from 20 to 37 weeks...so now, the measurement really does nothing for me. Oh well. They also checked my iron and blood pressure which are both good...and they did my Group B Strep Culture...which I will receive the results for next week. The big thing is they told me that I am not considered pre-term any more so if I go into labor, we go with it and don't try to stop it. Good to know...although I seriously doubt that I will have the luxury of early labor :( That's okay, I'll have a great big healthy baby:) Danny keeps saying I'm going to have a 14 lb. boy and it will be a great natural childbirth story. Yes, I have left him alive for now...but if his prediction comes true, I do reserve the right to murder him.

In other news, we bought a carseat this weekend. Special thanks to Mikhail and Ted from Babies R Us for teaching us how to properly install the seat. We tried the model into both of our vehicles before purchasing it. So, now, it is in the back of the station wagon ready for Danny and Mom to install it in the hospital parking lot after the baby arrives. We have arranged that Mom will come over to drive us to the hospital so Danny can be dealing with me in the backseat...so we thought actually installing the carseat would be counterproductive at this point.

So, that's it for now. Any tips for the waiting game?

Promised Pics

I wanted to do a close up of the curtain so you can see the colors and pattern.The mobile plays the "lullaby song" that Joey's favorite animal played from when he was a baby.

The puzzle is Jesus with two children and two angels and a lamb.

So, I took some pictures of the nursery now that we have the crib. The hammock bed is back in our room on my side of the bed so I can get used to having it there. If I can manipulate around it with the kid inside me still...I should have no problems once the kid actually comes out:)

I've been having interesting dreams lately...and interesting sleeping arrangements. I've started sleeping for part of the night sometimes in the baby's room on the futon. The support on my back makes it much easier for me to fall asleep now. Naptime is coming more frequently and I'm doing that in the baby's room too. Somehow, it relaxes me to be in there. We actually had to leave church early today because I was nauseated (for the first time since the first trimester!) and exhausted. I passed out within ten minutes of walking in the door and slept for a good hour before I woke up hungry. I'm feeling like I'm on a newborn schedule already! Tomorrow is another midwife visit, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of updates when I finish with that. For now...enjoy the pics. I'm putting some on there of the puzzle that we are working on to hang up in Deather's room....and just the new cool lamby crib stuff that's in the room now:)

Fun from Tuesday

So, yesterday we got the crib delivered and set up! It is so beautiful and goes great with our room decor. That was really neat since it is a hand me down crib and we never saw it before choosing the other stuff...but it fits perfectly! Dad and Danny got it all set up in the room while Mom and I worked on the puzzle that we are putting together to hang up in Deather's room. I washed all the linens in my Dreft sample pack, so I'll be putting all the cute lamb stuff together and hanging the crib mobile when I get home today. If all goes well, there should be some pictures this week:)

Now...funny story. I was resting when Danny got home yesterday ... and I've been wearing his boxers lately because they just feel better than any underwear I've procured for this pregnancy. He was teasing me about stretching out the waist band, so I argued that they were made for 38-40 according to the tag. He said he thought I was definitely bigger than 40 ... so I of course had to measure the belly then. He was right...45.5" around!!! How scary is that!?!?! And I'm not done yet! That'll teach me to open my big mouth!

Hospital Tour

We took our hospital tour last night. It was AMAZING! The doula's who gave the tour were very knowledgable and calming. They answered all the remaining questions on our birthplan about hospital policies on things. They said almost all of the nurses in Labor and Delivery are doula trained so they handle things differently than a regular nurse. They are totally geared toward natural childbirth and will help in anyway they can to make that a reality for those who desire it. The C-section rate at Lexington is 23% (which is below the national average)...the C-section rate with a doula is 9%! :) Very encouraging. They are completely supportive of breastfeeding and instead of you having to specify NOT giving the baby a bottle or pacifier...you have to have written instructions if you want them to give that to the baby...it's not something they just routinely do. It was just a wonderful experience and has completely put me at ease about having a hospital birth. I am not worried about it anymore, I feel like I will be in good hands, and I think Danny has been able to relax too. One thing they said was to make sure they had a copy of our birthplan because then they could remind the doctor of things that were on it if the doctor forgot. That means that Danny doesn't have to worry so much about making sure that we aren't set up for failure...because it seems like everyone on our birth team is completely about setting us up for a successful natural childbirth. So, now...this baby can come whenever it wants to:) I'm calm, I'm cool and collected....for now:)

Midwife Visit

So, I had an appointment today with one of the other midwives in the practice...LOVED HER! It was a really great appointment. I still have GREAT blood pressure (104/70....and that was after dealing with having to air up the donut and go 50mph on the interstate!). She said the baby is very low into my pelvis and settled which is highly unusual for "this early" in my pregnancy. That could be good news and mean I'm farther along and will deliver before April 14th...or ... it could just be because I'm a munchkin and where the heck else is the baby going to go? :) Either way, baby is doing well....moving constantly and has a good strong heart rate in the 130s-140s. Apparently Deather is spine to spine with me, which explains some of my low back pain...and is not surprising considering my desk job. I better get to walking the stairs and doing my pelvic rocks more if I want to get him/her to flip around and be face down when it's time! But, if not, I'm told that I am allowed to give birth in whatever position I want. She said, "We can catch them however they come out. We prefer that you are on the bed instead of the floor...but whatever position is going to be easiest for you to birth in is completely up to you." Great news since Deather is face up...it's good to know hands and knees to get that pressure off my spine is actually an encouraged option! Jaime, Holly and Teresa...Have I mentioned how grateful I am to you guys for helping me ask questions and find a good place that will actually work with us to have the birth experience we want? You guys are awesome and I'm so glad you pointed me in this direction. I like knowing that I have full support for natural childbirth, with the security of a hospital in case complications do arise. It truly feels like the best of both worlds.