Luke's room is ready and waiting

We finished up the nursery today - I just love it! There are a ton of pictures and if you're still wanting to see more there is a video at the end. :)

Shhh ... baby dreaming


The dresser and crib


Up close of the dresser. The truck, tractor, and train on top were Jason's when he was little.




The toy box under the window was mine when I was little


Humphrey the elephant is sitting in the glider.






Up close of the adorable elephant pictures that we got at our "baby party" last night from everyone at TechDyn.






This is a growth chart that I'll finish after Luke gets here. The white measurement line will be down the middle, but I want it to start with the height that he is when he's born.


And in case you haven't seen enough, here is a video of it all!

36 weeks - getting closer!

"Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of his first bowel movement. At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely he's in a head-down position."

Here is a pretty accurate picture of how he is right now. He loves to shove those feet up in my ribs - I swear this week he's actually been hitting bone. Ow!

This picture was taken on Friday - so pretty close to 36 weeks. A couple of people have commented that they think he's dropped. I don't know if he officially has, but he's definitely moving lower. I can breath easier and there is more pressure down low.



I had my 36 week appointment today and all went well! I'm measuring at 37 weeks, which is just fine. She said if I continue to measure further ahead we may do an ultrasound in a week or two to check his size. The cervix is softened (thank you braxton hicks!) but no dilation yet. (Also, right what we expected for this week.) I switch from lovenox to heparin today and got to talk to Dr. B about it for awhile. (Ok, so I actually cried about it - it's just nerve wracking!) I take it every 12 hours and the hope is that by the time I want an epidural it will have been 12 hours since my last shot. We'll know more as things progress, but if I think I'm going into labor and it's time for a shot, then I'll skip that one. They also don't want to let me really go past 40 weeks so someone is supposed to be calling to schedule an induction for then, just to have it on the books.

I feel like I've been losing my mind lately - Luke is sucking up all of my brain cells. Some examples: I wore a shirt to work inside out and didn't realize it for about 2 hours, I shut off the light in my boss's office - right as he was walking into it, I put a put holder away in our telephone book drawer, I tried to put sour cream away in the pantry, and today as I was trying to ship something via fedex, I put the fedex label in the inside of the envelope. Oops.

We found out this week that Jason won't have to use vacation time for his week off - he gets a week of paternity leave! Thank you Chase bank!

And to finish off this post - here is a picture of my snack today. A piece of nestle crunch, dipped straight into the peanut butter jar. Can I continue to eat snacks like this when I'm not pregnant? :) (And in my defense, my main snack today was pineapple - I didn't completely fill up on this!)

35/35!

This week (Monday to be exact) marked the big 35/35 .... 35 weeks pregnant and 35 days to go!!


"Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon.) Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight."

Not much to report this week! I've had some pretty emotional moments, I get tired so easily, and braxton hicks have started back up. The exhaustion is a little ridiculous - I run one errand and I'm ready for a 2 hour nap. :) I've become a little obsessed with making lists - errands to run, things to buy, things to make, things to pack, things to clean, etc. I've also been cooking up things to freeze for later meals, cleaning out cabinets ..... nesting anyone? :)

And to show you just how ridiculous the emotional break downs are: I was on the phone with Anna, mentioning that I'd been looking at the prices of diapers. She happened to mention something about the kind of travel wipes that she likes. I realized that in all of my lists - I never wrote down that I should buy travel wipes for the diaper bag. I hadn't even made a "what to pack in diaper bag" list. Suddenly I felt like I knew absolutely nothing and that Jason and I had no business bringing a baby home. So I completely broke down and cried for awhile. I have since calmed down, but I think I will forever have nightmares about travel wipes.

On a happier note, I've also hit some great sales - including one at Old Navy. Their clearance items were an additional 50% off, plus I had another 25% off coupon. Of course my favorite outfit wasn't one of the clearance ones. I bought Luke's Easter outfit! Seriously, how cute is this?!?

34 weeks!

"Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. His fat layers — which will help regulate his body temperature once he's born — are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies."

I had my 34 week appt today and all went well! I'm measuring right on track. His head is still down, although has moved more to the center - which explains some of the sharp jabbing pains I get. I think his head is hitting a nerve - since there are some guy readers I won't tell you the message board lingo for this wonderful feeling. He also seems to be getting a little lower - I can breathe better now and there is different more pressure in the lower belly. I tend to want to walk around with my hands under my stomach now, not sitting on top.

And when I say "walk around" I really mean waddle. I'm pretty sure I'm waddling now.

I also found out that this lingering cold that I've had for several weeks is actually now an ear infection and possible sinus infection. It makes me feel better to know that at least some of the exhaustion is because I'm sick - not all pregnancy related. (Although according to one of my websites, "By this week, fatigue has probably set in again, though maybe not with the same coma-like intensity of your first trimester. Your tiredness is perfectly understandable, given the physical strain you're under and the restless nights of frequent pee breaks and tossing and turning, while trying to get comfortable. Now's the time to slow down and save up your energy for labor day (and beyond).") So no wonder I've been tired!

We're making a lot of headway on the nursery and at this point have the basics - we could bring him home tomorrow and he won't have to sleep in a dresser drawer. Once we get a little more done I'll get some pictures posted.

We're looking forward to (finally!) starting our Childbirth Education classes this week. The snow last week caused it to be canceled. Tomorrow night we have our breastfeeding class and then Thursday night is the first childbirth/newborn education class. Can't wait to be overwhelmed with all of the information!

Luke's song

I don't think that I've mentioned it before, but Luke and I have a song. For a long time it's really seemed that he likes music - specifically Michael Buble music. (Which is fitting since his mommy and daddy love it as well - our first dance at our wedding was to his version of "For Once in My Life.") There has been one particular song that he likes to jam to - Just Haven't Met You Yet. I think it's the loud horns in it.

It just happens that the lyrics are so very fitting and really seem to describe a lot of our journey to get to this point. We listen to it almost every morning on the way to work. I'm not going to lie and say that he moves every time, but I like to think of it as our song. (And not to make it seem like it's just a Luke/mommy thing - Jason also listens to it and refers to it as "Luke's song.") :)

And now for the lyrics. The verse that I bolded is the one that makes me tear up almost every time. We just can't wait to finally meet our little boy!

I'm Not Surprised
Not Everything Lasts
I've Broken My Heart So Many Times,
I Stop Keeping Track.
Talk Myself In
I Talk Myself Out
I Get All Worked Up
And Then I Let Myself Down.

I Tried So Very Hard Not To Loose It
I Came Up With A Million Excuses
I Thought I Thought Of Every Possibility

And I Know Someday That It'll All Turn Out
You'll Make Me Work So We Can Work To Work It Out
And I Promise You Kid That I'll Give So Much More Than I Get
I Just Haven't Met You Yet

Mmmmm ....

I Might Have To Wait
I'll Never Give Up
I Guess It's Half Timing
And The Other Half's Luck
Wherever You Are
Whenever It's Right
You Come Out Of Nowhere And Into My Life

And I Know That We Can Be So Amazing
And Baby Your Love Is Gonna Change Me
And Now I Can See Every Possibility

Mmmmm ......

And Somehow I Know That It Will All Turn Out
And You'll Make Me Work So We Can Work To Work It Out
And I Promise You Kid I'll Give So Much More Than I Get
I Just Haven't Met You Yet

C is for Cookie ....

I had another wonderful shower this weekend - it was such a great time with some of the best friends a girl could ask for. The theme was a "milk and cookies" shower. Seriously, how can you go wrong with lots of cookies?

The colors were red and a blue/turquoise color - so pretty!




There were several different kinds of milk - 2%, whole, skim, strawberry, chocolate ... There were also bags for everyone to take home some cookies.


It's sort of hard to tell in the pictures, but all of the cookies had the cutest little labels/nametags in front of them, that were in the red/blue colors.




A lot of great friends mingling in the kitchen ...


There were quilt squares for everyone to paint/decorate. Later they are going to sew them together for a quilt for Luke.


Finished squares ...


My friend Annie (who has the fabulous food blog - Annie's Eats!) also brought some sugar cookies and showed everyone how to decorate with royal icing. (Something that I've struggled with recently!)




Then a lot of us tried our hand at it:


And it wouldn't be a shower post without a goofy picture of me opening presents. We are so thankful for everything and can't wait for Luke to use it all!


Me with the two hostesses - Anne and Anna:


And just to prove that we are dorks:


And to finish up, here are the gifts that I made. The coasters were for Jen (who brought some wonderful appetizers!) and Annie. The magazine bins were for Anne and Anna. I loved how they all turned out!

33 weeks

"This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood."

We went to Kentucky this weekend for my cousin's wedding. We had a great time, but it was rough on me. On top of feeling huge, being on my feet so much caused a lot of swelling. The dressy black boots I wore didn't help either - my legs looked like sausages. Still, I was very glad that we were able to go! Luke enjoyed the ceremony and reception - specifically the music. He was jamming away in there. It was also probably pretty entertaining for everyone else to watch the pregnant woman dance. :)

The worst part was that while we were there I started to have a pain in my abdomen, just to the right of center, about halfway between the belly button and breasts. It sort of felt like a bruise just under the skin at first and now feels like a muscle is torn. It hurts to touch, the top of the skin sort of hurt, and as the day went on it became painful when I moved or just sat there. If I felt full from eating/drinking it hurt. Anytime Luke moves and presses in that area it hurts, and if I sneeze or cough I feel like someone is trying to rip my insides open. As it was getting worse, not better they checked it out yesterday to make sure it wasn't anything with the placenta or galbladder. We're confident that it is just the rectus abdominus muscle. In pregnancy it sometimes can split (called diastasis reci) and while I don't think it's typically painful, for whatever reason it's awful for me. It doesn't help that it's exactly where his butt is, and anytime he shifts (I swear, the kid just cannot get comfortable) it irritates it ever more. Basically by the end of the day I'm near tears. Laying down is the only thing that really helps - in fact, by morning it doesn't hurt at all! So anyways, I'm just hoping it starts to feel better soon. I don't put this on here to complain, but more so that I remember. This blog has become my journal of the pregnancy and this seemed worth mentioning.

So that this isn't a completely downer post - here is a picture of his foot from the appt (toes at the top, heel at the bottom.)

Also, in case anyone is wondering, his head is down on the right, with his back curved around to the left and his butt sort of in the middle where it's painful, and then his legs/feet tend to move. Sometimes they are curved around enough to be in front of his face. Other times he somehow stretches to have some part of his legs/feet poking up in the ribs

How far along: 33 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +26.8
Maternity clothes: yes, although I felt like such a cow this weekend in them.
Stretch marks: I still don't see them, but my mom saw my belly the other day and said they are there.
Sleep: Yes please
Best moment this week: Feeling Luke jam along to the music at the wedding reception.
Movement: He doesn't so much kick/punch anymore - it's more of a roll as he adjusts his position. He specifically likes to stick his butt out.
Food cravings: Um, anything sweet?
Gender: Boy!!!
Labor Signs: Nada
Belly Button in or out: Outie
What I miss: Wearing my wedding badn
What I am looking forward to: Several things! Our first baby class is on Thursday evening and then I have another baby shower on Saturday!

And I'll leave you with a funny thing that Jason said. He was emailing back and forth with an old coworker, talking about the joys of being a parent. She was telling Jason to just wait, he'll get to experience all sorts of "fun" things too. Jason's response? "Luke will be the perfect angel baby who will never do anything but smile and fart rainbows. Don't you bad mouth my baby!" I thought it was so funny and snorted out my hot chocolate when I read that.