39 weeks - almost there!

We're almost there - one more week until Baby Girl's due date! Things are progressing well and hopefully we'll have a baby before her due date, but if not, the absolute latest she will be born is April 9, as the doctor said he won't let the pregnancy go more than a week past the due date. We pretty much have everything ready and we're just waiting for the big day now. The hospital bags are pretty much packed, the car seat is installed, and we even requested absentee ballets from the county for the April 6 election in the event we will be too preoccupied to get out of the house and vote that day.

Fipsy loves the bassinet play pen in our bedroom - he thinks the storage area is a chinchilla seat, since it's just the right size for his furry butt!

Baby's Room

Baby Girl's Crib with her musical giraffe that daddy picked out

Flower and butterfly decals above the closet and window, and a butterfly growth chart on the wall. The baby bouncer is in her room right now, but I'm sure it won't stay there once she's here!

Baby girl's dresser/changing table with matching lap, ipod/ihome and the butterfly mobile I made.

I painted the wooden butterfly and flower shapes to match the decor we decorated her room with.

The rocker won't be in until right around her due date, but it will go next to the crib/lamp beside the door.

Maternity Pics

I just wanted to share a few maternity pics that my friend Elizabeth took of Tom and I last week...

Chili always has a way of getting into the middle of things...

no hints on her name - you'll have to wait until she's born!

Fipsy and the Baby Swing

Baby Shower

We got all kinds of goodies at the baby shower - clothes, blankets, a baby bouncer, a baby bathtub, bottles, toys, and more. Check out more pictures!

Guessing Game #2: Baby's weight and length

How much do you think baby girl will weigh - and how long will she be?

Mom was 7 lbs, 6 oz and 19 inches long
Dad was 8 lbs, 8 oz and 20.5 inches long

Get your votes in - she could come any day (or 3 weeks from now)!

Weeks 36-37

Sorry I didn't update last week - so much to do and so little time! Baby Girl is full term now (as of 37 weeks) and could come any time, but "they" say that babies born to first time mothers usually hold out until close to their due date or even after.

We almost have everything we need for Baby Girl - my baby shower was a couple weeks ago and we got all kinds of cool things, and I picked up the remaining items at super discounts used from folks on craigslist (think $145 baby swing for $30!).

A couple days ago Baby Girl started a new game - previously whenever she was kicking and you rubbed the spot she was kicking, she'd move so you couldn't feel her anymore. Now she kicks back at you when you rub her!

Hopefully I'll get some more pictures posted soon of her room, my belly and the baby shower, but this is all the updates I have time for right now!

Guessing Game #1: Baby's birthdate and time of birth

It's the game you've all been waiting for - when do you think baby girl will be born. Her due date is April 2, but only 5% of babies are born on their due dates...most are born sometime within the 2 weeks before to one week after their due date.

What day and time do you think she'll make her arrival into the world?

Week 35

Baby Girl's room is finally done! All we have left to do is decorate it, and find a rocker/glider for her room. Pictures below...

 

  

  

 

Week 34

We had our 34 week doctor appointment on Thursday - he confirmed that she is head down (which I was pretty sure of already). He got out the portable ultrasound to "make sure" he was right, and he was, we saw her little fists and her head - at this size, you can't see very much on the ultrasound because she's taking up all the room in there! Everything else was fine, we go back in 2 weeks and after that it's every week until she's born. When the doctor went to listen to her heartbeat with the fetal doppler she kept kicking it so hard we could hardly hear the heart beating - but obviously she's doing fine with all her moving around! In fact, right now she is kicking me pretty hard, trying to tell me that it's time to go to bed so I'm stretched out on my side and she has more room to move around (every night when I lay down she wiggles around to get in just the right comfy position).

Monday night was our first "prepared childbirth" class (it's a 2 hour class once a week for 4 weeks). They had us watch a video showing 3 women going thru labor and when it was over Tom grabs my arm and says "I had no idea labor was so painful!"

We celebrated Tom's birthday tonight with his parents and his mom brought out his baby milestone book and some things she saved from when he was a baby. We spent a couple hours reading aloud from the book and hearing stories (some more embarrassing than others) from his parents and grandma. For example, his dad taught him all kind of important skill during his first year of life - like how to stick out his tongue. Among the milestones noted was when they started feeding him solid foods - which was at 4 weeks. They now say to wait until 6 month to introduce solids. It's interesting how things change.

Week 33

Quite a busy week here are some quick recaps!

• I managed to catch a head cold this week, and have been congested with my nose running non-stop since Wednesday. Hopefully it doesn't last much longer... 
• I discovered early in the week that if I rub the lower part of my stomach, it will wake up the baby and she'll start moving around. Tom tried it last night for the first time and got a kick out of interacting with the baby for the first time.
• First "craving" of chocolate hostess cupcakes (Tom thinks there must be some kind of conspiracy going on b/c his mom craved twinkies, also made by hostess)
• I spoke with the priest at the church near our house this week and got permission to have Baby Girl baptized at St. Ann in Normandy (where we got married). We have to attend the "Baptism Preparation Class" next month and then after she's born we'll pick a date for the baptism ceremony.
• We had 3 chinchilla "accidents" this week - which is unusual because they usually wait until they are back in their cages to relieve themselves of #1. I'm not sure what the deal is with that - we started decreasing their playtime this week so prepare them for less attention when the baby comes, so I wonder if it had to do with that.
• We got her bedroom mostly painted - the first paint that we bought was too light on the walls (even after 2 coats) so yesterday we picked out a darker green color and I think we're both really happy with how it looks on the walls. It just needs some touch-ups and the walls will be done.

Baby Girl's room in green!

Week 32

32 weeks down, 8 to go...

Everything is still going well, blood pressure is low, baby's heart rate is good, and she's still measuring 1 week bigger than she is (33 cm, this is week 32, but again, +/- 2 cm is considered normal).

Her room is coming along, we have everything primed, the closet is painted (white so that if we repaint the room, we won't have to repaint the inside of the closet), and the ceiling is almost done. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we'll have some of the green on the walls.

The room looks a lot different in white

31 weeks - elbows!

Baby girl discovered her elbows this week...I woke up Thursday morning with something hard and pointy sticking out of my side, after rubbing it for a minute she moved away from the spot. She still moves a lot, but since she has less room in there, her kicks aren't as hard.

This afternoon Chili heard a baby crying on tv and got scared and took off from daddy and went running around the house - here's to hoping this isn't a sign of things to come!

 

We went shopping for carpet for her room today and found a couple carpet remnants at Becky's carpet that are very cheap (less than $1/sq ft!) and are nice and soft. I think we're leaning toward the carpet remnant on the right...the pics were taken with my camera phone though so the color isn't as accurate as seeing it in person.

Week 30

Just 10 more weeks until baby girl is here! At the doctor yesterday, my belly measured 31 cm, which corresponds to "31 weeks," so she's still measuring big (but plus or minus 2 cm from the week you are at is considered the normal range).  The glucose tolerance test and anemia blood work from the last appointment were both normal, and I'm now 8.5 lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight (but add in the 16 that I lost and gained back for the total pregnancy weight gain so far).

My prenatal swimming class is going well, but sleeping not so much. I have to get up every 2 hours to use the bathroom through the night, and acid reflux/heart burn makes it difficult to find a comfortable position - and once I find a position that works for that, my back or hips start hurting. And to top it off, the random, vivid dreams I have when I actually do fall asleep keep me from sleeping very restfully.

We've made a little progress on baby girl's room, one wall and the closet are now primed...hopefully the whole room will be primed by the end of the weekend...pictures below...

 

Your only hint about her name...

This is the only hint you're getting, and it's only because I spent the weekend painting and decorating the letters in her name to hang in her room and I'm so happy with how they came out I had to share one with you. The letters are 8 inches tall. And no I'm not telling you whether it's the first, last or a letter in the middle of her name (but you can safely rule out MY name as a possibility - ha).

Baby's Room - Before

As of this past weekend, the baby girl's room is cleared out and ready to be worked on. Schmoopy seems to be doing pretty good in her new digs (right next to my desk in my office!), and has already learned that she gets more treats being right next to me all day.

Below are the "before" pictures.

View from the door, looking at the closet, which will be getting new
6 panel doors to match those in the rest of the house

This corner will have her rocking chair.

Looking from the closet out toward the door to the hallway.

This is the corner where her crib and dresser will go.
(Tom couldn't wait and put her light switch plate up already...)

28 weeks - "on the big side"

At our doctor appointment yesterday, the doctor said after measuring my belly that "if anything, she's measuring on the big side." Figures huh - especially since there's still more than 2 months left and my maternity clothes barely cover my belly anymore! I had the 1-hour glucose tolerance test at the doctor yesterday, which screens for gestational diabetes - fingers crossed that the test comes back negative.

Check out this awesome 3D ultrasound of a baby at 28 weeks. She's extremely active, always moving around and has started getting in some pretty strong kicks lately. Yesterday Tom was like "was that her?!" in response to one of her kicks. She also likes to stretch - I call that "baby yoga."

27 Weeks - We're in the 3rd Trimester!

Here we are at the beginning of the 3rd trimester! It's hard to believe that baby girl will be born sometime in the next 11-14 weeks (most babies within 2 weeks before their due date to 1 week after). Starting next week I'm taking a prenatal aquatic exercise class at the YMCA.

Still no cravings but I did have a couple instances of "pregnancy brain" the other day...first at breakfast, I filled a glass with milk, then went back to the fridge to get the butter out. Instead of getting the butter out though I filled another glass with milk and didn't even realize until I went to carry my plate into the dining room and I had 2 cups of milk and no butter on my english muffins. That same day for lunch I was making myself a quesadilla and after flipping the quesidilla I proceeded to put the used turner back in the drawer (realized only after searching the kitchen for the turner when I needed to flip again...).

2000-2009: The Decade in Pictures

2000: Senior year of highschool, homecoming dance
2001: High School graduation
2002: Chicago trip with roommate
2003: Got my first chinchilla (the Fipster)
2004: San Diego Trip with Tom
2005: College Graduation
2006: Wedding
2007: Yellowstone Trip
2008: Camp Pin Oak Reunion
2009: Pregnancy

It's beginning to look a lot like baby...

Chili trying out the new travel system while daddy watches closely

We have a crib in my office, a dresser in the dining room, the travel system in the entry hallway, and a pack and play full of the baby clothes and gear we've accumulated thus far in our master bedroom. The baby stuff is taking over the house! The baby bedroom is empty and ready for work to start. The walls need to be sanded and spackled (thanks to the previous owners horrible job of spackling in the past), and then painted and new carpet installed. In future weekly blog posts, I'll try to include pictures of the progress on the room.

Happy Holidays

Hope everyone had a great holiday! As we were taking the pictures for this year's card (and yes, the santa hats are on the chinchillas heads, no photoshopping here!) we were talking about how next year we'll have baby girl pictured on the card too (don't think the chins are going to be pushed aside).

25 Weeks

This week we really started cleaning out the baby's room and picked out a paint color which matches the decor we picked out nicely. It's the green swatch with the paper clip on it in the photo below.

We also picked out her crib and dresser at Treasure Rooms. The crib is a convertible crib which means that it is a crib, and then can be converted to a toddler bed and a full sized bed so she'll have the same bed growing up. Here is a link to a convertible crib picture - this isn't our crib but it gives you an idea of how a convertible crib works.

Paint swatch pictured with wall decals and switch plate

Crib (store display, this isn't the bedding we will use)

Dresser - the top has a removable changing pad, so it doubles as a changing table and once she's done with that part, it looks just like a regular dresser and matches the bed

24 weeks

Fipsy the chinchilla is the same size as baby girl is right now!

Yesterday was my 24 week checkup at the doctor - I am finally back to the weight I was before I got pregnant and then lost all the weight due to the morning sickness. Everything was fine at the doctor and we go back in 4 more weeks.

23 weeks

At 23 weeks, baby girl is quite active, especially when mommy plays New Super Mario Bros. Wii (or even just watches daddy play). This week marks the beginning of the 6th month of pregnancy, just 4 more months until she makes her big debut!

We've pretty much finalized our baby registries (Target and Babies R Us). For those that are asking, the theme of her room is butterflies and flowers, and going to have light green walls, pink bedding and chocolate brown furniture.

As for her name, we do have a name picked out, but you'll have to wait until she's born to find out what it is! This way, when we call (or text or email) you to let you know she's here, you'll have some element of surprise - since you already know she's a girl!

Week 22 - Happy Thanksgiving

Proud Daddy feeling baby move

Daddy got an awesome Thanksgiving gift yesterday from baby girl - he got to feel her kicking for the first time! Grandma and Grandpa Kyle also got to feel her kicks yesterday afternoon.

I also registered for our childbirth class and the infant care class that the hospital offers this week, and we've almost finished the baby registries. The decor for her room is all planned and picked out but I have no motivation to start cleaning out all the junk that has accumulated over the years in that bedroom which will have to happen before we can start painting and decorating!

Bring on the Pink!

It's a GIRL!

In addition to the sex of the baby, the technician checked out many baby's organs and everything is growing just as expected. Apparently all babies grow at about the same rate until 29 weeks when family traits start to kick in, making the baby bigger or smaller than it's peers.

19 Weeks - back on the Zofran

We're almost to 20 weeks (2 days until this pregnancy is half done!) but there were a couple things from week 19 that I really wanted to update before tomorrow's *hopefully* big announcement (if this baby even has it's legs crossed...).

About a week and a half ago I felt the baby for the first time (that I *knew* was the baby) while we were watching Daddy try on a new suit for my cousin's wedding this past weekend. I think I'd felt the baby before that but wasn't sure and without really knowing I couldn't count it. Anyway, ever since then the baby seems to be moving a little more each day.

I'd been avoiding starting to take the Zofran again (anti-nausea drug), but after throwing up 4 times this week, Tom insisted that I start to take it again...can't blame him I guess...the first was in the car Sunday afternoon on the way back from my cousin's wedding in Chicago - mostly my fault though, I waited too long to stop for lunch, holding out for a Hardees. At least we had the "puke bucket" in the car with us. Then on Monday baby did not care for my snack of popcorn and orange soda and I proceeded to throw up 3 times within just a couple hours - including on the side of the road "I think you're going to have to pull over honey" (we were in his car) and at Chipotle. Still I'd much rather have this random throwing up at this stage in the game than the constant nausea and throwing up and being confined to the house/bed that was weeks 6-16.

Boy or Girl - a look at 12 wives tales

Just a few more days until we find out the answer to the question everyone's been asking - is baby a boy or a girl? I thought it might be fun to guess based on the wives tales...

1. Chinese Gender Chart - said to be over 90% accurate: boy
   
   
2. Where are you carrying extra weight - in front like a basketball (boy) or all around like a watermelon (girl)? girl
   
   
3. Are you carrying the baby high (girl) or low (boy)? neither - I seem to be in the middle
   
   
4. Do you refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread (girl), or prefer the heel (boy)? girl
   
   
5. Morning Sickness early in pregnancy - yes (girl) or no (boy)? girl
   
   
6. Mayan Legend: Age at conception plus the number of the month of conception - odd (girl) or even (boy)? 26+7=33 is odd which equals girl
   
   
7. Have you been craving sweets (girl) or salty or sour food (boy)? girl (don't ask Tom about the 4 lb bag of skittles...)
   
   
8. Have you been craving meats and cheese (boy) or fruit (girl)? girl (to be fair, I've had a lot of cheese too...)
   
   
9. If someone asks you to show them your hands, you show them palm up (girl) or palm down (boy)? girl
   
   
10. How do you pick up a mug - handle (boy) or body of the mug (girl)? boy
    
    
11. Tie your wedding ring to a string. Hang it over your belly and see if it swings in a circle (boy) or if it goes back and forth (girl). both (it went back and forth first and then started going in a circle...)
    
    
12. The husband's family history - in each of the last few generations, only one girl has been born. As of right now, there are no girls in his family in our generation. So I am calling this wives tale a girl (but Tom thinks this one should be marked boy since more boys are born.)

And the verdict is...based on the wives tales...girl

But we have to wait for Thursday to find out for sure! Feel free to add any more wives tales to the comments section - I know there are lots more out there that I didn't weigh in on above.

New Pics

Baby Belly - 18 weeks


Halloween Costume

17-18 weeks

Sorry I didn't update last week...not much going on to report. I went two weeks without throwing up, but this week baby decided I needed a reminder that s/he is still there and I threw up 3 times.

Two weeks until the big ultrasound - I can't wait. We'll be starting our baby registry once we find out if it's a boy or a girl, so I've been looking at baby gear and trying to pick out what we think we'll need...travel system or just a stroller? Do you really get much use out of a bouncer before the baby grows out of it?

So mom's...what do/did you use a lot and what just took up space?