38 Weeks - Only 2 more til her due date!

Only 14 more days...and really it could be any day now! Brad and I are so excited, yet a little anxious and nervous too. Everynight we go to bed thinking maybe tomorrow will be the big day, the day we get to meet our daughter! It really is a crazy feeling and hard to put in words.

We had our 38 week appointment this morning and again everything looks good. We don't have any new news though cause my Dr. didn't do an internal exam, but they will do one next week. So we don't know if I am dilated yet or thinning anymore, but we do know that she is still head down, kicking around, and has a strong heartbeat. Our Dr. said at this point it is just a waiting game and we just have to sit back and wait til Baby Spins decides it's time. Easier said than done.

Amazingly, I am still feeling pretty good. Since she dropped (which was somewhere around 36 weeks) my ribs have been feeling so much better. For a good 2 weeks there (34 and 35) they were really sore from her constantly kicking me up there. Now they feel great! I also am still sleeping through the night for the most part. I usually have to get up around once a night now to go to the bathroom but usually that is it. A new thing that just started this week is that my belly is really itchy. It's not dry skin I think it is just stretched to the max. It might have something to do with the heat. The past few days have been really hot and humid and it is supposed to stay that way for awhile. It's not good for my poor ankles and toes. By the time I get home from work they are pretty swollen - not too pretty. At least I get to come home and relax in the air conditioning. People keep asking me if I have experienced any Braxton Hicks yet and I still haven't. I thought maybe I would be this point. I asked my Dr. about it today and she said that not everyone has them so maybe that's my case. She said my first contractions that I might feel could be the real things...we'll see.

Well, Brad and I are going to enjoy some ice cream now and then get to bed. We've got to get our rest while we can. Here's my pics from today.

Check out how far my belly and belly button stick out!

37 Weeks!

I know I didn't get a chance to take any 36 week pictures but we did take some 37 week pics. Week 36 just went by so fast! My family (Mom, Dad, Grandma Sally, Ben, and Bailey) came down on Thursday and stayed til Tuesday. We had such a great time with them! We did so much - we went downtown, had a picnic, went to an Indians baseball game, watched fireworks, went to the pool a few times, did lots of shopping, the guys went golfing, grilled out, went out to dinner, had a bonfire (with smores of course), played mini-golf (and my Grandma got 2 hole in ones-crazy!), went out for icecream, and even though we did all of that we still managed to find some relaxing time to just hang out on the screened porch. As you can see we had a lot of fun and we hated to see them leave. We'll see my mom again soon because she is planning on coming down whenever the baby is born. If I have this baby girl early my dad will come down too but he starts football season on August 13th so if it is around or after that time he won't be able to make it. I am hoping she comes early (a week early would be good).

Unfortunately while my family was down here, my mom and I were not good with our cameras. We forgot to bring our camera with us anywhere. We needed Ness! I'll have to get better at that once the baby comes. Anyways, here are a few pics of me from Week 37. I kind of have a baggier shirt on (so it doesn't quite show the size of my belly), it's just what I had on before we went to a friends house - at least it's something though.

36 Weeks and counting!

We are officially less than a month away from the due date now (27 days to go)! Pretty crazy! We had our 36 week Dr.'s appointment on Monday. The Dr. said things look good and everything is just as it should be - which is great to hear. My measurements are continuing to increase so she is still growing, actually putting more chub on now at this point. My belly length (pubic bone to top of uterus) is at 36 cm and I have gained 29 lbs! The nurse took me out of the room to weigh me and when I came back in I told Brad what my weight was. I could see in his eyes that he was thinking back to what I had started at and doing the calculations in his head. Then he let out a big "Wow!". The nurse and I started laughing but the nurse did yell at him and told him that that was the wrong response and to never do that again. It was actually pretty funny cause I was thinking the same thing. So don't feel bad if you just said "wow" too. The Dr. did do an internal exam and said that her head is definitely down there, I am 50% effaced, and I am not dilated yet. She said the fact that I am not dilated yet doesn't mean too much yet. I could start dilating any day or I could stay this way for awhile...you just never know. She did feel my belly and made a guess that Baby Spins would be in the mid 7's. Then once I told her how big I was (9 lbs, 1 oz.) and that my mom had all big babies she said, ok so maybe high 7's. Either way it sounds good to me! Her heartbeat was a little higher this time but she was kicking and moving all around so the Dr. said it was a good sign that her heartbeat was faster since she was so active. Lately she has been very active during the days, especially when I am driving around in the car - I don't think she likes me to sit cause then she is more scrunched in there. The good thing is I think she settles down at night cause she is still letting me get a good night's rest. Now if we could only keep it that way after she is born as well.

The last few weeks we finished up all of our classes at the hospital. We took a newborn care (1 Sat. morning), breastfeeding basics (1 Sat. morning) and also Childbirth prep/Lamaze class (4 Monday evenings). We thought for the most part the classes were all very helpful, especially the Lamaze class. We had a great instructor! She didn't make us watch a lot of boring movies or spend a lot of time on breathing. Instead she focused on our (both mom and dad's) state of mind for the whole labor process. She wanted the guys to feel like they could be involved and not just a stand-by watcher. So in order to help us relax, she taught them all sorts of massaging techniques. It was awesome! They had to practice giving us massages at every class and learned how to massage everything. I think the guys were a little surprised but the girls sure did love it!

We also accomplished a huge step in the past few weeks - we found a Daycare (and we love it)! I did research and had a list of around 25 places to call here in Fishers. I started calling and no one had an opening for an infant this fall. A few places did but I either crossed them off just by talking to them on the phone or right after the interview with them. It was so stressful! I felt like we were never going to find a place good enough for our little girl, a place where we would actually feel comfortable leaving her during the day. When we had the interview with the place we chose, Kid's Corner, we knew right away that this was the place. It is a home daycare - Miss Jaime does it out of her house, and she watches 16 kids (only 3 infants total) but has 2 assistants. She is so great and you could tell right away she was real and really cares for the kids she watches. She has the next 3 months planned out with different themes every week (ex. sports week, luau week, art week, etc.) She is very organized and has a daily routine and emphasized how important it was for our infant to get on a routine (and how much it will help us in the evenings). She follows the High Reach program for the young ones and the Mother Goose curriculum for the 2 year old's and up. I know that doesn't matter for us right away (more for down the road) but it shows us how professional (and not lazy) she is. Another plus is her house is really nice, plenty of space, and she keeps everything spic and span. We are so happy that we found her! What a huge relief off of our shoulders! Oh, and we also met with a few pediatricians this week and chose one that we really liked too. She is in the same network that my Ob-Gyn is in (St. Vincents, where we are having our baby). Her office is right here in Fishers, half way between home and both of our offices so you can't beat the location. And her practice came highly recommended from many people. So as you can see, things are starting to take shape and fall together.

I don't have any pictures to post today and Brad's out golfing so I can't even take a few quick ones. You'll all just have to take my word for it that I am bigger than I ever imagined! My parents, Grandma Sally, Ben, and Bailey are coming down tomorrow for a long weekend. I am so excited to have them down one more time before the baby comes. I'll take some pictures with them this weekend and I'll post those as my 36/37 week pics.

Tomorrow is mine and Brad's 4th wedding anniversary and we are also under 4 weeks away from having a baby girl...my how things change and time flies!

34 Weeks

My friend Abby told me we should put pictures and updates up more often now since we are getting closer and I'm growing like crazy. So here's a 34 week update instead of waiting til 36 weeks (pics are from last week). I'll start off by saying I sure feel like I have gotten a lot bigger these last 2 weeks. Check out the big belly!

She's sticking out a lot farther now and some people say I look like I am carrying her lower now too. I am not too sure about the lower thing though cause I still feel her all the time up high (in my right ribs). I had to go up another bra size (circumference) because my darn ribs are always so sore that all my bras hurt. I just bought a new one that's bigger and has no wires so hopefully it helps. Other than my ribs being uncomfortable I still feel pretty good. I am still sleeping through the whole night (trying to get 8 hours of sleep while I can) and don't seem to be to tired during the day either. I am pretty happy about that! We are still working on the nursery - waiting for a few things to come in like our glider and our hutch. Brad painted the chair rail this weekend and plans on putting that up this week. I think that will look really nice. I did so many loads of laundry the past 2 weeks for her and now have her closet and dresser all organized. It was fun folding all the cute tiny clothes and sorting through everything. She sure does have a lot of clothes! We were very lucky to recieve a lot of hand-me downs, clothes from baby showers, and of course all mine and my mom's great finds from garage sales. Here's her closet full of clothes (all organized by size of course).

We also had our 34 week Dr.'s appointment this past week. It was a pretty short one again. Her heartbeat looks good and she is still head down. I measured right on at 34 cm. Our next appointment (36 weeks) is a longer appointment where they do the strep test and an exam. I wasn't too happy leaving this appointment though. This was the second Dr. we've seen in the last 2 weeks and we asked her and the other Dr. if we could travel to Minnesota this weekend for my cousin Aaron's wedding. They both gave us a big NO. Because of the "issues" I have had with this pregnancy they don't consider it a "normal" pregnancy and didn't want me to take any risks by being in a car for 9 hours straight and not knowing where the closest hospital is at all times. I guess I understand but it was very hard for me because I wanted to be at the wedding so bad! All of my cousins, aunts, and uncles were there and it would have been so nice to see everyone. I know Aaron and Marissa and the rest of the fam understood why we couldn't make it but it still didn't help the fact that I missed seeing everyone. My parents talked to me about how as a parent there will be many sacrifices you make for your children and I guess we've learned that already. I did get to talk to Aaron at the reception though and it sounded like him and everyone there were having a great time! I was so glad he called and I want to send out a big CONGRATULATIONS to Aaron and Marissa! We are so happy for them!

So instead of traveling this weekend we just did a lot of relaxing and hanging out with friends. After work, Brad and I relax on our screened in porch together or else I sit in there while he fishes in our pond. Here's some pics of our typical evenings during the week: me lounging and Brad fishing. Everyone tells us to relax and enjoy our down time while it lasts cause it won't last too much longer...so that's exactly what we are doing.

Brad and his big fish from our pond. Now that he knows that there are big ones back there he could be back there all the time. He's already talking about teaching our little girl to fish with him on our pond.

Happy 1st Birthday Maddy!

I know this is late but I am just now getting a chance to catch up on the last few weeks...better late than never. We went to Jaclynn and Jason's house a few weeks ago to celebrate Maddy's 1st Birthday and Jason's 30th (surprise) birthday. We had such a great time! Jac went all out with the party - it was very impressive. Maddy seemed to really enjoy herself, she loved her orange birthday cake. It was so cute! Here are a few pics of her digging in to her cake.

A lot of Jac's family made the trip down for the party so it was nice to see all of them again as well. We had fun playing with all of her nieces and nephews. The girls really liked Brad. Here's a pic of them dressing him up with a sticker mask, sticker lipstick, and necklaces.

Doesn't he look pretty!

It was great to see the Kreider's again (twice in June) but now I am not sure if we will see them again til after the baby gets here. So here's a picture of the 5 of us (not the best picture but oh well) and next time it will probably be the 6 of us!