37 Weeks Today!!

I'm 37 weeks pregnant today... know what that means?? I'm technically full term. Full term is considered anywhere between 37 and 42 weeks pregnant. Under 37 weeks is pre-term and over 42 weeks is post-term. 40 weeks is just an average. So, that means if I have the baby today, he or she should be just fine. It's also a reminder that I could go into labor at any moment although unlikely.

I had an appointment this past Wednesday and the baby was head down so as long as nothing changes, we're good to go for a natural birth! I wasn't dilated at all (that's a good thing since I'd like to wait until at least 39 weeks to give baby a chance to fatten up) and my blood pressure was 104/62 which means I'm not showing any signs of pre-eclampsia! All good news. From here on out it's the waiting game mixed with the guessing game. Don't forget to submit your guesses on expectnet.com (search for game: rexsarrival) of when you think the baby is coming and how big/long, what time, etc. We've got 16 people guessing so far. It's about half and half on the boy/girl competition but only 5 people think this baby is coming before the due date... c'mon guys, give me a break! And yes, there will be a prize at the end. Don't forget to spread the word so everyone gets a chance to guess, even those who don't read the blog or my Facebook. I will be closing the poll a week from today.

Well, I've got to go wash some baby clothes and make sure everything is in my hospital bag. Hopefully I'll be using it sooner than later!!

Hi all, I've been gone a while, I know. I suck at this whole blogging thing. I guess it sounded like a good idea but I hate sitting in the computer room to type all this out. It's uncomfortable (although what isn't at this point!) and it's cold in here. But alas, dad asked me to update so I will. Let's see, it's been over 10 weeks since my last post. I'm 36 weeks, 1 day as of today. That means I have one week until I'm considered full term (37 weeks), 4 weeks from my due date, and likely 5 weeks or so from the actual birth... since first babies are often latecomers.

We've had both of our baby showers and received everything we needed (Thanks everyone!). We just finished up with our birthing class this week. We've taken the newborn care class. All that's left is the breastfeeding class at the end of April. We've started packing the hospital bag, mostly everything is at least purchased, just not necessarily packed in a bag yet. I think we're ready. Except for the baby's room. It seems so close now. It could be any day even though I'm assuming it wont be. I can't believe it's already been 8 months! The beginning went by so slow, I thought I'd never get to this point and now here we are... having a baby any day. Our lives will be forever changed... in a good way (aside from the sleepless nights maybe). I'm excited to find out what we're having, I can't wait to see who the baby looks like, and I can't wait to experience that first meeting with my little one. Everyone says it's the best moment in life and cannot be described and the wait is killing me. I feel so close to this baby already and can't even imagine how it will feel to meet him/her at birth. This little human being kicking and rolling inside me, even hiccuping, will soon look at me and love on me and it's just an amazing thing thinking about it.

Well anyway, as I mentioned, we had both baby showers. You should be able to view the pictures here: http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=823111271038421200/l=7912734007/g=56592906/otsc=sye/otsi=saer

There was one in Santa Maria (Nipomo technically) and one in Sacramento (Citrus Heights technically). The one in Nipomo was awesome, thanks to Pam and Christine for planning it all out and thanks to Dad for cooking the best BBQ ever (always). The one in Sacramento was just as great, thrown by three friends, Sharte, Nichoel, and Karen. They did a great job doing it up Dr. Seuss style. We had a ton of people at both showers and we really made out with all of the gifts.

Thanks everyone at both showers, for coming and all the great gifts! I can't believe how much we ended up with... at the first one it was too much to even fit in our car to take home! (Don't worry, dad brought it up to us this weekend)

Unfortunately, all of the stuff is sitting in the living room still. We still don't have a nursery! It's okay though, the baby will likely be in our room until it outgrows the bassinet anyway so the room would mostly be for storage and cuteness he he. But incase you're wondering what the deal is... we have an appointment this Wednesday for a guy to come out and texture the bathroom and while he's here he's going to texture the ceiling in the nursery (we took down the popcorn a while back). Once that's done, Brian and I will paint (if I can, it's getting harder to move, lol) and then his dad is supposed to come up and put in the new floor which should be arriving any day now (we ordered it through Lowe's last week). Once it's textured, painted, and re-floored (<-- not sure if that's really a term) then we will set it all up... I can't wait!! It's killing me to have all this stuff in boxes and I can't open anything, put anything together or start playing with stuff. Plus, I'm not nesting yet but I can tell I'm getting there. I've already organized the piles of stuff in the living room twice. I don't however feel the urge to clean anything else... hmmmm. Poor Brian. In my defense I have been creating human life for 8 months and this last one has been pretty tiring.

Well, the last little bit of info is that I have an appointment Wednesday (I haven't had one since the beginning of March!) and I'm going to assume they'll do a cervical check or something since it's getting close... or at least check which way the baby is facing. That's my newest obsession. I would love to know if this kiddo is head first or not. I need all the time I can get to obsess over old wive's tales of how to turn the baby if it's necessary. And of course, if the baby is head down (fingers crossed!) then I can start obsessing over old wives tale's of how to start labor! Feel free to email me your ideas!

Let's see, I've heard to eat spicy foods, go on long walks, eat Mountain Mikes Pizza (a friend of a friend knew someone who went into labor twice after eating there!), have sex, drink castor oil (NOT trying that!), or some sort of aroma therapy with red tea leaf??

Well, we shall see what happens. I'll try to keep everyone in the loop but I'll be sort of distracted. We have our list of people to contact. I will likely be putting the burden of information movement in the hands of family members. For instance, we'll tell my dad and grandma and the two of them can tell the rest of the family. My mom will be there and can call her side of the family. I'll tell Sharte and she can share with all of Lowes. You get the idea. Our list of people to call is small. So make sure you keep in touch with someone on the list!

25 Weeks

Well, it's been a while since I've posted on here. As you may have guessed, I've been busy. With holidays, work, and planning all this baby stuff, I have sort of put the blog on a back burner.

Anyway, I've got a few minutes so I'll catch up with everyone here. I'm 25 weeks now. I look pregnant and not fat so that's pretty exciting. The baby is kicking like a soccer player now. If kicking means baby likes something, that means this baby likes York Peppermint Patties... cuz those things get the baby moving! Other than that the movement seems pretty random... haven't linked it to any other foods, sounds, or anything. It's a really amazing feeling knowing these little kicks, punches and rolls are a human trying to get comfortable in my abdomen. WEIRD! It's also fun when I cross my arms atop my belly and the baby kicks me like s/he's saying "Hey, you're squishing me down here! Lay off!"

Also as of late, Brian has been reading to the baby every night. We went out to Target and bought a bunch of Dr. Seuss books along with some others that we remembered from our childhood. I got a copy of Goodnight Moon for Christmas so that's on our list too. Let's see, so far he's read "The Monster at the End of this Book," "Green Eggs and Ham," "Are You My Mother," "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." The best one was the first time he read to the baby... it was Brian's favorite book, "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss. The best part was that at the time, Brian hadn't been able to feel the baby because if I felt a kick, he'd put his hand on my belly and the kicking would stop! I was so bummed for him! But literally, right after he read the line, "Feet, feet, feet" the baby kicked and kicked and they were hard kicks too! For a few minutes we just stared at my belly in amazement... as my midwife said, "It was better than reality TV!" We watched my belly turn into this moving lump of bumps! It was his first experience feeling the baby! It was the most magical and amazing time of the pregnancy so far.

So that's where I am now...

Oh yeah, I had my "big" ultrasound last month (we still don't know the sex, thank goodness, so don't ask) and the due date hasn't changed. The tech said the baby measured exactly the right size. The ultrasound looked perfect. Here's a link to a small clip of the ultrasound... it's all we could get:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SABrIplnw3E
The lady performing the ultrasound was ready for lunch so we kind of got shafted. First she said she'd get the shots she needed then she'd show us the baby but the baby wouldn't cooperate for the last shot so it took forever... she had me rolling on my side, pushing hecka hard and still nothing. Finally when she gave up and turned the screen the baby started cooperating and she turned the screen back to her. Go figure. The pictures we got weren't great either and we only got four, but I guess that's normal. Oh well, baby's healthy and that was exciting to hear.

We're going to Western Career College for a free ultrasound again tomorrow and we're planning on videotaping the whole thing... those ones are more exciting because the techs (students) like to show off the baby and really have fun getting pictures for you. We're also planning on one more (3D/4D) ultrasound before the end... maybe around 30-34 weeks?

At my last appointment (January 14th) the midwife said she deemed me "perfect" because the baby's heartbeat sounded great, my uterus was measuring right on, my blood pressure is fine, and my urine is good. I have to do some standard bloodwork coming up in a couple weeks (to see if I'm anemic) and also... the dreaded glucose test... it's the one where you drink the sugary crap and wait an hour to do bloodwork. Cross your fingers I don't have gestational diabetes!

Anyway, that's what's up lately. I'll try to post a little more often. As soon as I figure out how, I'll post the video from tomorrow too. Hopefully we don't accidentally find out the sex!

Oh, I'd like to quickly mention that there are quite a few of you out there that are disappointed, even mad, that we aren't finding out the sex... Well, I wanted to tell you that you are the main motivation as of late to keep the secret. I want to know but I also love the fact that it's going to be such a cool surprise in May but now that everyone is going crazy, I just like not knowing to irritate everyone! HA HA!

Well, ta-ta for now!

Baby Poll

So, I was goofin around on the internet looking at baby stuff (what else) and thought it would be fun to start a poll of when the baby will be born along with gender, weight, and length. Here's how it works: Click on the link below and fill in your guess. Once the baby is born, we'll fill out the actual information and the winner will be chosen based on the least amount of penalty points, which are calculated as such:

Wrong gender: 400 penalty points
Date/Time: 5 penalty points per hour
Weight: 5 penalty points per ounce
Length: 10 points per inch

Make sure to pass this on to everyone who doesn't know about the blog and to anyone who I might not have an email for!



And so you don't get too worried, you'll be able to change your guess until I "lock" the game which I'm thinking I'll do after the next ultrasound when the Dr. might change the due date.

Scheduled the big ultrasound...

So I finally called to schedule the "big" ultrasound... usually it's the one where they tell you the sex. As most of you know, we aren't finding out so for us it's the "big" ultrasound because it's the first one where it will actually look like a baby and it's the only remaining ultrasound in Kaiser's prenatal plans unless something goes wrong (knock on wood). We have ultrasound appts scheduled at a local career college that are for fun and picture purposes only though. I'm excited for this Kaiser one though because they'll be pointing out the chambers of the heart, all the muscles, brain, etc... it will be so much cooler than seeing our little gummy bear when it barely had arms and legs! Anyway, the appointment is Dec. 18th... I'll be 19w, 6d (half way to the end!!!)

15 Weeks and Dad's Visit

So Dad and Pam came to visit this weekend. It was fun! I got a ton of maternity clothes on Friday... and we had a good time faking out grandma with the fake belly they let you wear... I put on the belly labeled 7 months and Pam sent grandma a text with the picture... she thought it was my real belly! Ha! I'm only 3 1/2 months! She was sure I was having twins... at that size I should be having sextuplets! We told her it was the fake belly... I guess she's never heard of such a thing... but it sure was fun to mess with her !




That same day I took them to look at the nursery furniture we picked out... Dad took a better picture than the web ones I added below... And he's going to buy it for us! WOO HOO! And now we're getting the tall dresser too! I'm so excited to finally start working on the nursery! My goal is to get the room cleared out by the end of the week (we'll see!), then paint, and then start ripping out the carpet next week and clean the concrete slab real nice. I think we're going to have to buy a piece of the bedding set (like the wall hangings) so I can make sure the colors match. I'm thinking of doing a two-tone room... very cliche or "traditional" if you will. Possibly yellow on top and green on bottom with a chair rail inbetween. I love working at Lowe's! We're looking at the flooring this week too. I brought home some sample pieces, just waiting on Brian to take a look. He closes for three nights in a row so it might be a while before we can discuss it together. (I hate it when he closes.)



Anyway, that was the most exciting part of the weekend... but on Saturday we went to Apple Hill. It's a group of farms up near Placerville in a city called Camino. A lot of the larger farms have little stores and people come set up craft fair booths and sell stuff and I think Dad's favorite part was getting upset that no one caught a fish at the little pond at one of the farms... oh yeah, there's apples everywhere. Can you believe NO ONE got a slice of apple pie??? I would've if they didn't have stupid gluten in them. At least Brian got a hot apple cider. That was a fun trip but towards the end Pam and Dad were just excited to stop and wine taste on the way back, lol... big surprise!


For dinner we went to Mary's Pizza Shack since they serve gluten free pizza. Brian and I had been there once before but it was 4th of July when we went and the place was dead. We weren't so lucky this past Saturday. They were pretty busy and not very quick... and then... they served me glutenous pizza! After I started scarfing down half a slice the server ran up to us and said, "Don't eat that! It's not the right pizza!" Uhh... too late! So, since I'm full of hormones I got all upset and started crying because I had been SO good about not eating gluten for the health of my baby and he ruined it. But while I was crying in the bathroom Brian made the guy feel really bad about it. I almost felt sorry for the guy! They did honestly feel very sorry and apologized up and down and we got our entire dinner for free.... at the expense of my comfort for the next two days. YES, I only ate one half of a piece of pizza and I felt like crap for 36 hours or so. Ick. But I ended up getting my gluten free pizza and continued to eat. In the end I guess it wasn't SO bad. Could've lived withtout that snag in the plans though.


But, all in all it was great weekend. Brian and I ended it by finishing up the first trimester in the baby book and looking at baby names. Don't ask, we're not telling. (Plus we can't find names we like!)

First Day of Second Trimester!!!!

Woo Hoo! We made it past the first trimester!! Happy second trimester to me, happy second trimester to me, happy SECOND TRIMESTER, Happy second trimester, TO ME!

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system... here's how were celebrating...
Today I am going to Burlington Coat Factory to...

BUY OUR CRIB!!
(sort of)

Brian has a couple deals going on at work making the nursery furniture slightly more affordable so we're "buying" today for the deals but putting it on layaway (90 days) so we can pay it off little by little.

Here's a bigger photo but converted into a toddler bed.

Also, we think we've decided on a bedding set. It's called Snug as a Bug and features little bugs sucking their thumbs! Super cute but very baby. We probably wont buy the bed set as we don't need the bumper or comforter but we like all of the accessories (diaper holder, mobile, wall hangings, etc).

We had originally thought jungle theme but they all look too boyish and we love the idea of Disney but can't find anything that's not Pooh and Pooh is so overdone. The only other Disney is way to generic looking or sports themed. And we have considered the option of doing a frog theme but they tend to look very cheap or very boy. Nothing cute AND neutral. Again, we haven't made the FINAL decision but wanted to post it to see what you all thought!