38 Week Progress Report and Growth U/S

Well here I am 38 weeks 3 days pregnant and back from another weekly OB appointment. I will say that I am so glad that I stayed pregnant through Christmas though, but now I am ready!

Here are this weeks stats:

-Up 1 pound from last week for a total weight gain of 28 pounds. I have completely lost my appetite the last 2-3 weeks and I think its because I feel so full all time and just have no room for food.

-Cervix is now 3 cm dilated (up from 2 cm last week) and still 50% effaced.

I also had my growth ultra sound today and little lady is not big!! YAY! She was measuring exactly 7 pounds today and everything looked perfect. They said she could gain anywhere from 6-10oz. between now and birth (depending on when I deliver) and I feel comfortable with that. No more fears of a c-section! Man I swear the C word has been chasing me the last 2 months but it cant catch me : P

So now we wait.

I am really really really hoping that she comes this week, because Kay goes back to school on Monday. It would be nice to have a few days to bond as a family and not have to worry about who's going to get her to school, pick her up, etc.

So send that labor dust my way : )

Merry Christmas

To all of my wonderful readers out there, I hope each and every one of you have a very Merry Christmas! Peace and Love-

A Change In Tradition

For the first time ever, we will be hosting Christmas Eve dinner tonight at our house! Every year of my entire life we have had an italian feast at my grandparents house on Christmas Eve. Not this year and for a few different reasons...

First, my grandmother and mom both work for a major airline and with all the cancelled flights and bad weather on the east coast, they have been on mandated over time and working non stop. So they have to work...which means no ones there to cook!

Secondly, I am on the verge of popping! Instead of loading up all the gifts and going there, and then loading up all the gifts and heading home they figured they would make it easy and come to me. Which is how it always should be in my opinion ; ) Usually on the way home, we are literally stuffed in the car like sardines with all of Kay's gifts bursting at the seems. I mean you can barely find the kid with all the toys and gifts in the car!

Take this photo from Christmas Eve circa 2007 when my parents bought Kay a HUGE talking, singing Dora doll. We had to make room for another passenger!

Oh and then she wanted to sleep with gigantic Dora when we got home that night...

(Okay lets pause for a second and talk about how scary this doll actually is. I mean this thing has scared the shit out of me for the past 2 years. Every time I walk into Kay's room I get startled thinking there was someone else in the room with her. Then if she starts singing when you walk by...forget about it!! I mean, this doll is around 4 feet tall with more hair on her head than me. Finally a few months ago, I put that monstrosity away in the closet!!)

So that means tonight 9 of my crazy family members will be heading to my house to feast, exchange our secret Santa gifts, and let Kay open they're gifts for her. Its going to be different, but I am excited to host our first Christmas dinner at my house!

Oh and P.S.

If your thinking well hosting and cooking for that many people is just as hard...I took some help and I am doing things super simple. This years menu is as follows:

For appetizers I have:

-Stuffed mushrooms and stuffed shrimp that my dad is making

-A veggie tray from the grocery store

-My friend Mya's super yummy and super easy cheese dip

And for the main course:

- Roasted turkey breast stuffed with cranberry stuffing topped with an orange glaze from Costco (this is where I took help)!

- Corn on the cob

-Sweet baby peas

-Mashed potatoes and gravy

-One of my big beautiful salads with baby greens, avocado, red onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes

And for dessert (all from the grocery store or Costco):

-A glazed cranberry cream cheese loaf

-Apple strussel

-Pumpkin pie

37 Week Progress Report

I'm back from another lovely appointment with the OB, getting pretty comfortable there now since I go weekly.

- I lost 3 pounds, so the freak out over gaining 4 pounds in a week at my last appointment was for nothing.

-No progress with the cervix, still 2cm dilated and 50% effaced.

BUT

Baby is now measuring at 40 weeks, so 3 weeks ahead. My Dr. decided that at my next appointment they will do a growth u/s to determine her size, and schedule an induction at 39 weeks (if she doenst come sooner). Depending on her size, we may schedule a c-section being that Kay was only 7lbs. 3oz. and I pushed for 3 hours to get her out. And I mean I barely got her out!! I don't think my body could handle a baby much bigger that that.

So hopefully she isn't too big because like I have said before I would really like to avoid having a c-section.

I'll know more next week! That is unless of course she decides she wants to come on her own before then ; )

37 Weeks!! Full Term!!

How far along? 37 weeks, 1 day

Total wight gain/loss? Up 29 pounds at my last OB appt.

Maternity cloths? Yes, and they are getting too small.

Stretch marks? Unfortunately, yes : ( Still just the 2 small ones on the underside of my belly. If you look closely on my bare belly pic, you can see the one.

Sleep? Pshhhh....I wish! I am waking at least 3 times a night to pee, and one of those times I am up for 1-2 hours because I cant fall back asleep.

Best moment last week? Finally feeling completely "ready" for the baby to come.

Movement? She has been a little rock star in there the last 2 days, but she has definite sleep/wake pattern.

Food cravings? Orange juice, despite my daily HORRIFIC heartburn!

Gender? Girl

Labor signs? Nothing new

Belly button in/out? All the way out

What I miss? Sleep...but I guess I can kiss that goodbye now.

What I am looking forward to? Seeing/meeting this little person that has been growing inside me for the last 9 months!

Milestones? Making it to full term status! Bring on the baby! The hospital bag is now packed and ready to go!

Oh and in bad milestone news...I haven't been sick in over a year, and of course I come down with a cold now : ( I am thankful its just a cold, and hope it goes away before I go into labor. I simply can not imagine being sick and going through labor. Cross your fingers for me please!!

My # 1

These were the pictures of Kay that we used for our Christmas cards this year, now that they are all out I can share : )

I LOVE her!

The Nursery!!

So many of you for so long have been asking me to post the nursery pics...well here they are! Better late than never right? I don't want to say that the room is "done" because there are a few more finishing touches that need to get done, but for the most part it is complete!

Lets start with the before pics. It was a small guest room with light celery green walls. Believe it or not we had a queen size bed in this room!

We decided to do a complete overhaul and replace the fixtures, touch up the dry wall, replace the carpet, and re paint. Here we are (well Kay and our house helper) trying to decide on which gray to use.

And the afters! View from the entry door:

The crib:

View of the wall on your right when you walk in:

Dresser/changer combo with a cute vintage lamp I found at a antique shop:

The built in wall shelving (the lights still need to be replaced with white fixtures):

The pink chandelier, that I love!!:

I still need to hang all the wall art, and the 2 white shelves I bought for her room. The picture of the little girl is titled "A Little Bit Independent" and was in my room as a little girl, so it is very special. I am going to re finish and paint the frame white and the pink mirror is another antique find:

I also need to hang curtains in her room. I found these at Target which match the room perfectly, but they only had 1 panel in stock in the store, so I will have to order them. And I plan on adding another wall decal of her name.

And in case anyone is curious...

Crib & Dresser: Munire Essex Collection

Bedding: Dwell Studio Blossom Garden

Tree Decal: Neu Tree Wall Decal Sticker (purchased from modernwallgraphics.com)

Paint: Behr's Graceful Gray in 1/2 the color concentration. The original Graceful Gray was too dark, but it was the perfect hue so they lightened it by half and it was perfect!

Glider & Ottoman (even though you cant really see it in any of the pictures): Chanderic by Shermag in pink and white (purchased from csnbaby.com)

Hope you like it!

36 Week Progress Report

I went to the Dr. again today and here are the stats:

- Weight gain: 4 POUNDS!! Since last week!! How on earth is that possible? I have even been eating less because I haven't had a big appetite. I guess it was catch up time since I did not gain any the last 2 appointments.

- 2 cm dilated now (was 1 cm last week)

-50% effaced (no effacement last week)

So we are making some progress!

36 Weeks! And More Updates

At almost 6 pounds and still packing on the pounds at a rate of about an ounce a day, she is comparable to a crenshaw melon and more than 18 1/2 inches in size.

How far along? 36 weeks
Total weight gain/loss? No weight gain at my last appt. so I think I am at 25 pounds total.
Maternity cloths? Yes, and am outgrowing those. Even my maternity shirts are getting too short. I only have about 3-4 shirts I can wear.
Stretch marks? If you remember me saying last week that I *thought* that I might be getting 2 small ones on the under side of my belly, well I was right. They are stretch marks. BUT they are not big, red, purple, or ugly (yet). PRAYING they don't get worse.
Sleep? Not great, but that can be expected at this point.
Best moment last week? Finishing the nursery!! (Yes, pics...I know, I will take some tomorrow I promise!)
Movement? Slowing down. I can tell she is running out of room because its a lot of rolling type movements, or a knee/elbow/ankle sticking out rather that fierce movement.
Food cravings? None really, still cold milk.
Gender? Girl
Labor signs? Oh yes, or I can at least tell my body is getting closer to labor. My BH contractions are getting painful and I am getting A LOT more of them. I am pretty sure I have lost my mucus plug too (more on that below) So not really "labor" signs, just my body preparing for labor.
Belly button in/out? I don't think it can get more out.
What I miss? Normal cloths.
What I am looking forward to? Meeting my baby!!
Milestones? Her turning and getting head down!

So I just realized that I never updated you all after my OB appointment last week. So here goes.

I got my first internal, and let me tell you my cervix must have been in my throat because her hand was way up there!! Needless to say I was 1 cm dilated, but my cervix was still "thick". She is pretty sure she is head down down now, and that makes sense because everyone has been telling me this last week that I look like she dropped. It also makes me very very happy! No scheduled c-section! I had my group b strep test too (which came back negative)!

**TMI ALERT**

Later after my appt. I went to the bathroom and was pretty sure that I lost some of my mucus plug...my Dr. must have really shakin things up in there! Then yesterday I lost more of it. I am pretty sure that's was it. Totally different that my experience with Kay, it came out all at once with her in the toilet about 2 weeks before she was born and I knew exactly what it was. This time, since it came out in pieces I was kind of thrown for a loop.

Also, my BH contractions had me thinking I might be in labor one night this week. They were really strong and painful and lasted an hour and a half before they finally stopped. The only thing was there there was not a consistent pattern. I would get 3 within 10 min. then none for 10, the 1 every 5 min., etc. so I just waited it out. I knew that if it was real labor they would have never gone away. Again, SO different than my last pregnancy. I told a friend that if I was a first time mom this time around I would be at the hospital 3 times a week thinking I was in labor because these contractions are strong and painful now, and I get them a lot.

So I am going to weekly Dr appointments now. I will posting my progress as the end nears!!

A Little Vanity Never Killed Anybody

Soooooo, my mom thinks I am crazy because I still get my brazilian wax every 4 weeks on the dot, even though I am this pregnant. Okay mom (and anyone else who thinks I am crazy ), just because I am pregnant doesn't mean I have to let myself go! I am already as big as a house, and I cant really control that. But there are things I can control...like maintaining myself in other ways to make me feel like my "normal" self.

Throughout my entire pregnancy I have continued to get my brazilian wax every 4 weeks, my cut/color/and highlight every 5 weeks, and a pedicure about every 6 weeks. I have forgone getting my nails done, just because they are so thick and beautiful while I am pregnant, they don't really need to be done.

I admit, I'm a little high maintenance. Okay...maybe a lot high maintenance to some, but that's me! And these are the things that make me feel good.

So in preparation for the birth of my little lady, I have scheduled all my "finals".

My final brazilian wax (done), my final hair cut/color/highlight (appt. in the am), my final pedicure (going sun. morning), before she is born. I am not sure how hectic life is going to be the first few weeks at home, so I want everything to be in tact ; )

**I am adding a poll to my side bar, so VOTE! I am curious to see what you all think! Only 29 days until my due date people!!**

35/35!

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant, and it also means that I have 35 days until my due date!! Can you believe that?! Its just crazy! Seems like just yesterday I posted this, but there are other moments (mostly the uncomfortable ones) that I cant believe I have about a month to go.

Instead of the usual weekly update with a vegetable/fruit picture, I will grace you with some 35 week belly pics. But because I know you are just DYING to know....baby this week is the size of a honeydew melon weighing in around 5 1/4 pounds, and over 18 inches long.

In other pregnancy/baby related news:

- I have a OB appt. Monday, I am anxious to see if she is still breech. She still was at my last appt...she doesn't have much longer to turn at this point, so hopefully she has been listening to her mommy and is getting into position!

- In light of my buttering up like a Thanksgiving turkey twice a day for the last 8 months, I *think* I have 2 little stretchmarks on my belly now : ( I only notice them in a certain light, and they are not red or purple...hence my uncertainty. But its not looking too good.

-She still has no middle name.

-Last night DH put together the rest of her things (pack n play, swing, and stroller!).

-I finished washing all of her cloths, blankets, etc. and put those all away. Just to finishing organizing the rest of her nursery and we are DONE!

So we are now officially ready for her arrival!!

Great GREAT News!

We took our hospital tour yesterday and found out that Kay WILL BE able to come meet her baby sister at the hospital as long as she is not sick!!

This makes me feel so much better...because I know what an important bonding experience that will be for her and us as a family!!

34 Week Belly Pictures

My husband took this interesting photo of me last night. I got out of bed to get a drink of water, and he yells "HONEY...stay right there!" Anyways, it turned out to be kind of a neat picture of the bump.

And here is another view from the top. You can see how high up she is sitting! Its like she is all balled up at the top to the right. About 4 people now have asked me if I am sure I am not having a boy because "I am carrying so high". Torpedo belly for sure : )