39 Weeks!!!

Today is the day that I had picked, way back at the beginning of this pregnancy, for her to be born...mmm, I don't think that'll be happening. We had our 39 Week appointment today and my Dr. did an internal exam. I'm pretty much at the same place as I was at our 36 Week appointment. I am still 50% effaced but she did say this time I am dilated at 1/2 cm instead of nothing (I think she was just being nice). She also said she is around the -2 position (2 cm above what they call station 0). I still have not felt any Braxton Hicks either. So again, the Dr. reminded me that they'll give me about a week after the due date before they induce me. My Dr. also asked me about her movement. Yesterday and today I didn't think she had been quite as active as she usually is. So my Dr. put me on the fetal monitor for 15 minutes to record her heartbeat, movement, and the uterine activity. Her heartbeat was great and correlated with her movement. She moved around in there just like the Dr. wanted. But to my surprise, the Dr. also told me that I was having contractions. I didn't feel them but she showed me the recordings for the uterine activity and sure enough every once in awhile there was a spike which were contractions. I asked if they were Braxton Hicks and she said no that those would not show up how these did. So, she said to just let them know when I start feeling the contractions and they hurt. But we are still in the same boat...it could be any day or we may have to wait another 2 weeks until they induce me...you just never know! Maybe a whole week of it being around 100 degrees here will be enough to put me in labor. It sure is hot!

The Nursery

Our nursery has been done for a few weeks now so we thought we would post some pictures of it to share. There is nothing on the walls yet, but the shelves, pictures, etc. will come later. We are really happy with the way it turned out! The lighting doesn't show the colors the best but you can still get a good idea of what it looks like. Thanks again to my dad for doing the chair rail for us - it looks great.

View from the door

The glider, changing table and hutch - our glider is so comfortable, I love it!

Her bookcase full of all the books and stuffed animals from the showers.

Her crib

Empty crib waiting for Baby Spins arrival - any day now!

We also wanted to say congratulations to our cousins Derek and Amy Anderson and our friends Stacey and Colin Pomeroy who are both expecting babies in February! We are so happy for them! They both live in Green Bay so it looks like we will be taking a trip up to Green Bay this winter to see the babies. Stacey started a blog as well and you can check it out by clicking on Baby Pomeroy under our "Friends" blogs.

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!

32 Weeks

Time sure is flying by...I am 32 weeks along already! We had our 32 week Dr.'s appointment today and everything seems to be progressing the way it should be. Her heartbeat is strong and as of right now her head is in the down position. I kind of figured that because she is a very active little girl and I mostly feel her moving around on the top right side of my belly (right in the ribs). So I was right about it being her feet and knees that I feel nudging me all the time. As far my measurements go, my belly measured at 32 cm and I have put on 22.2 lbs. I do have to admit that so far I have been fairly lucky because most of my weight is all in my belly (and bust for that matter). But I have also noticed it in my cheeks, my ankles (yes, I officially have cankles now), and the weirdest spot of all...my armpits. I actually have chubby armpits! I was a little concerned about it so I asked my Dr. about it today and she said it can be normal. They are just getting ready for the whole breastmilk process. I was relieved for her to say that because I thought it was pretty weird myself. Overall, I am still feeling pretty good. It is has been a really hot summer here already but I think I have been handling the heat alright. Everywhere I go for work is air conditioned and I just blast the AC when I get back in my car. The heat and the extra lbs. have slowed me down a little bit but not too bad, I can deal with it. Over the past few weeks I have really noticed how big she is getting, especially when I am sitting down. Like I mentioned before, she kicks me a lot in the right ribs, so driving can get uncomfortable after awhile but as soon as I stand it feels better. Oh, and in the last few weeks my belly button has popped so I now have a little bit of an outy. She also has been great entertainment for Brad and I. At night we love to just sit and watch my belly move all around. Sometimes I will have something bony sticking out and sometimes she moves her whole body so much that my entire belly rolls around. It might not sound like that much fun to watch, but we sure do think it is.

We haven't done too much more to the nursery yet. Brad did build in some shelves and another rod to hang her clothes and it looks great. It is going to be so fun to organize everything and hang up all of her cute little outfits. Good thing she has a big closet because she sure does have a lot of clothes already. Our hutch for the changing table is in but we haven't had a chance to pick it up yet. We also ordered our glider/ottoman and that should be here in a few weeks. I will post some pictures of the nursery once everything starts coming together.

Here are some 32 week pics of me and my big belly! By the way, I really feel cheesy posing for these pictures but I know people enjoy watching us grow and it will be fun to have and look back at the progression over the months. In fact, I just went back and looked at my 16 and 20 week pics and it cracked me up that I said I had "popped" because I obviously didn't know how much I really was going to "pop"...now I do.

Back to lounging on our porch - one of my favorite spots

Shower on the Cul-de-sac

This weekend we had our third and final shower. This one was with 5 couples who live on our cul-de-sac. Actually 3 of us are pregnant and all due in August (within 2 weeks of each other). So the other 2 ladies are throwing 3 baby showers! We told them to have it all in one shot but they said the more parties the better...and we all agreed. Again, we had a great time! The food was delicious, the weather was beautiful, it was a fun group of people, and we got some wonderful gifts.

Baby Spins sure did get spoiled these last 3 weekends. We are so lucky to have such great family and friends! It was all such a huge help to us. Thank you!

Opening presents - someone made a comment that the bibs were for Brad so we were checking to see how they looked. A little small but otherwise not too bad.

Some of the neighbor girls - Kathy, Dana (due August 21st, having a girl), Mindi (due August 29th, not finding out the sex) and Lisa

Baby Shower in Indy!

This weekend my friends Jaclynn and Lesley had a baby shower for Brad and I here at our house. It was a couples shower and we had some of our friends from Indy, from High School and from College here. It was so nice to have everyone together. Everyone from out of town got here Friday night (some later than others due to being stuck on a runway in NYC for 3 hours - sorry Nic) and stayed til Sunday. It was such a great weekend! The weather was nice so the guys could play yard games while us girls played games and opened presents out on our screened in porch. Again, we got some wonderful presents for Baby Spins!

Thanks for the great presents everyone!

We had delicous food at the party too and plenty of it! Jaclynn and Lesley went crazy with the amount of food that they made - it sure was nice to have the leftovers Sunday morning though. We also had a house full of babies! We had Maddy (almost a year), Noah (3 1/2 months), Connor (7 weeks), and Beau ( 3 weeks). They are all so cute and it is great that Baby Spins will have so many friends around her age.

A pic of all the girls and babies!

Jaclynn, Nichole, Lesley, and Jenny - my girlfriends from out of town

Brad and I had a great time at the shower and want to thank everyone for coming (and traveling from all over). We also want to thank Jac and Les for all of their work they put into planning this shower for us. The shower was fantastic and we really appreciate it! Les, it was so nice to finally meet Noah! He sure is a cutie!

Noah and I, all set to head to our pool!