Four am... Feeding?

Today is the day we head to the doctor to start the whole labor and delivery process. Understandably, I'm a bit strung up about this. I'm excited, nervous, overjoyed, and terrified all at the same time. It's difficult for one person to have so many feelings at once.

This morning I woke up at 3 am. This isn't out of the ordinary, I typically wake up at that time of day to visit the facilities. This morning is different though, as I find myself completely incapable of falling back to sleep. I tossed and turned for about an hour, until I decided that I was too awake and too hungry to sleep. Apparently Zoee was feeling the same way, so the two of us got up and headed to the kitchen. A little bit of breakfast, and I couldn't help but realize that in just a few days, I'm going to be awake to feed some other little one - not just myself and my puppy dog.

Wow - It's pretty overwhelming.

Big news!

Over the past weekend we experienced a number of new things, including what are known of as Braxton-Hicks contractions. They went on for while, and when they were still persistant this morning, E advised that I call the doctor, just to be sure everything was a-ok. The doctor's office wanted us to come in for a visit today instead of our regular time of Wednesday. After checking me and baby N out (everything's super - no worries!), my doctor advised that they'd like to induce soon and had gone ahead and scheduled me for next Tuesday - May 12. We'll be 38 weeks, 6 days at that point, so everything should be good to go.

We head in on Monday at 11 am to check everything out, and depending on how that appointment goes, we'll check in to the hospital sometime between next Monday night and next Tuesday morning.

So here's hoping for the best in all these things. I think the news is still sinking in for both E and myself. It's amazing - this time next week we'll be in full-on baby prep mode. Keep us in your thoughts - it's going to be a big week.

Baby shower numero dos!

This past weekend some very good friends of mine threw me a baby shower. Everything was fantastic and I had a blast getting to see everyone! N got a ton of super gifts that I know he's going to use a lot. I'm thankful for everything we received and can't wait to show N when he gets here in a few weeks.

E was grateful for the diaper bags - one of the two is "manly". Interestingly enough, our friends E and M have the same diaper bag - apparently for the same reason. M didn't want to carry around anything too "froofy". It's funny, I seem to remember having the same conversation with E when we picked his out.

Pictures to come. Thanks to everyone who made it out... Can't wait to show pictures from the whole thing.

Full term day!

Today marks our 37th week of pregnancy. That means that N is full term and could arrive today without any difficulty, even though our due date is still 3 full weeks from now. (Okay, I actually expect a lot of difficulty in getting him here, but I'm quite certain it will be worth it.) We're very excited to meet our little man, but I do hope he keeps hanging out as-is for another week or two. He'll be here before we know it.

I hope Zoee likes him! I know we will.

Just in time

I know we ordered our baby furniture back in February, and thankfully it finally arrived (only 12 weeks later). We spent a good portion of the day putting together things for the nursery and getting everything organized. Even though E isn't feeling fantastic, he went ahead and put together the crib anyway. We've got N's room all ready - now we just need to wait the 3.5 weeks until he's due to arrive. (Any guesses on when the actual day will be? Hopefully not until at least after next weekend!)
Here's E with the crib after getting it fully assembled. Looks fantastic! I'm impressed with the letters on the wall too - E said that was much more difficult than putting together furniture.
Zoee and I were resting in our gifted chair and ottoman. Check out the belly! Impressive, no? Our neighbors up the street P & L ended up giving us their old glider and ottoman - what a great gift!
Here's the dresser/changing table and the shelf that holds all the diapers. I still can't believe that the 92 diapers in that diaper holder will be gone in a week, but apparently that's the case. I think we need to stock up on wipes too.
Here's one last shot of his crib. I think he's going to like it a lot. Hopefully he enjoys puppies - they're everywhere!

Measuring 4 days big...

Today I had a sonogram to determine (approximately) how big baby H is right now. This is to give the doctor some idea how big he'll be at birth. Currently we're 35 weeks and 2 days, but apparently he measures at 35 weeks and 6 days. He's weighing in at a whopping 6 pounds, 1 ounce and is about 18 inches long. Seems crazy to me, but it just means he's getting ready to meet the world. He's head down and dropping, so it looks like it could be sooner than later.

The baby shower for my nephew is this weekend in the big LJ, and I asked the doctor if everything looked good for me to go down there. She said that everything looked pretty good - but that it was a bad idea for me to drive myself that far. Fortunately, my husband is coming with. Unfortunately, he is currently stuck in the Denver airport waiting for a weather window to catch his flight home from his training class. Apparently his flight has only been delayed a few hours, but with him already not getting home until midnight... It's going to be a long day for him tomorrow. I hope he gets home though. Aside from really wanting to go to the shower, I just miss him. It will be good to see him whenever it is he walks through the door.

Wonder if he'll think the baby has grown...

Baby shower!

This weekend some friends and family of ours threw us a fantastic baby shower. It was a great time and we're so thankful to everyone for everything! Here are a few pictures from the party. Welcome to Nate! I'm sure he's going to love everything!

Oh, they also had E and I race at diapering baby dolls. Turns out, I'm faster. He's going to say they cheated, but as I was blindfolded I can't necessarily vouch for that. (He mentions that in the picture below my friend J is holding what he's supposed to be diapering with, but I think that's besides the point.)
His diaper cake definitely matches his room...

These are the lovely hostessess. Check out that cake. It totally matches baby N's room!

32 weeks and all's well

As an update to the baby growth - here are some recent pictures of me and the bump. Only a bit to go now, so there's no surprise that he's really out there!
It's incredible - you can actually SEE him move from the outside now. This isn't all feel and touch anymore. All you have to do is look to see him squirming around. Just ask E - in church this morning he was going to town. Maybe he likes hymns? Below I'm checking out his movements for myself.

Handsome puppy

This weekend we received our nursery bedding as a gift from E's parents. We ended up going with a pattern completely different than we expected, but hey, we like it. It's Kenneth Brown's Handsome Puppy, and since we fully expect our kiddo to love dogs, it fits perfectly. Hope he likes it too!

* This isn't our crib, but it hasn't arrived yet, so when we get it and it's all put together I promise to post that.

Baby bump

E and I have tried to do a good job preparing for our little guy. One thing that we've done is document my ever-growing belly in a series of pictures. To get you up to date, we're in our 27th week, and here are some snapshots...

6 weeks along - we had just found out, so really there isn't much to this.

26 weeks along - He's really starting to stick out there!

The chocolate stain matches his chocolate stripes

Today we purchased our baby crib (with rail to convert to toddler bed!) and dresser/changing table. We didn't get the tall dresser, but we can always go back and get it later if we so desire, along with the bed rails that turn the crib into a twin-sized bed. This kiddo's set for life! We really liked the dark stain on the wood and E likes the scoop in the front of the crib. It's the Pali Wendy collection, if you're interested. We like it! It should be here in 8-10 weeks, but maybe sooner, at which point I'll post a picture of the actual furniture, instead of this shot from the magazine.

Good news!

The placenta previa I wrote about a few weeks ago has completely resolved itself. I'm off of all the no lifting no running business, which is great. We're super excited. Okay, I'm excited. E still wants me to take it easy. Regardless, it's a positive thing for me and the baby, so we're all happy about it.

The unveiling...

Before E and I left for the holidays we had one last visit to the doctor. We had an ultrasound, and check out our little guy now! He's weighing in at 8 oz. (at least he was on the 19th) and he's looking healthy and (apparently) happy. And that's right - I'm saying he. Check out picture number 2 for the nitty gritty there - the sonographer even circled the goods for us!
Otherwise things look good and he looks healthy. All his organs are developing as expected. They are concerned that my placenta is too low, so they've put me on reduced duty - no running, no heavy lifting, no straining. Oh, and that means FULL pelvic rest too. We've got another appointment on the 6th and hopefully things have shifted around at that point and I'll be able to resume... Jogging.

Enjoy the pictures!

Booked the babymoon

There's a trend (apparently) among expecting couples to take a babymoon, which apparently one last hurrah before the baby comes. Supposedly this is like a honeymoon, but seeing as how our honeymoon consisted of bikinis, champagne, tequila, and lots and lots of lounging on tropical beaches, I just don't see that as a fitting thing to do whilst preggers.

Instead, we're going to visit our friends in Denver! I know I've mentioned this before, but we actually booked tickets now. (What an amazing deal. Southwest, what did I do without you? Oh yeah, enjoy my flight more but pay more than twice as much for it.) We'll be in Denver from January 22nd until January 25th, which is, I realize, one of the coldest times of year to visit Denver. Maybe it will make me appreciate my Texas humidity more. I know it will give me a chance to appreciate my friends more. That, and visit all the resturants we miss so terribly since we've moved. You know, lots of our travel revolves around food...

Plus, this is right after our anniversary, so we're trying to bill it as a anniversary present to ourselves. Seems to be working.

Equatorial expansion...

There are things that change when you're pregnant. Lots of things. This is only natural. I can't expect to carry a baby to term and at the same time retain the same figure I've had for as long as I can remember. Case in point - the holiday party we attended on Saturday night. This event, which is held every year by the company we both work for, is a semi-formal affair filled with adults dressing either as if they were going to a cocktail party (the majority), as if they were going to prom (a minority), or as if they were going to a regular day at work (for shame). I typically try to avoid looking as if I were ready for prom and aim for the cocktail dress. I have a number of beautiful ones, and the one I wore to last year's holiday party seemed perfect. After all, we've moved states - we won't see anyone from last year. This dress is empire waisted - surely the small amount my stomach has grown will look like nothing. Right?

Er, maybe, if I didn't know what the dress looked like last year. I'll be the first to admit that my selfish desire to look fantastic in this dress makes me feel like a terrible mom-to-be. However, when I put on the dress and realized that I no longer can look directly at all of my feet, I turned into a self-conscious mess. I think when I look more like I'm expecting a child and less like I've just let myself go I'll feel a lot better about the whole thing. Right now it just looks like I have a new and fantastic appreciation for pie. And cake. And Blue Bell. And pretty much all Mexican food, especially those smothered with cheese.

E, who loves me very much and grows more excited about our child with every single centimeter of growth in my mid-section, tried to reassure, but let's face it, there was no denying that things had changed. I tried to take solace in knowing that at 17 weeks of pregnancy I can't fully expect to look the way I did before. And hey, those pregnancy pants are starting to look mighty comfy. This big belly thing might have it's perks after all. That, and I get a baby when it's all finished. You can't argue with a baby. They're too dang cute.