Here We Go!

My last blog as a Mother-To-Be. No baby yet. But! By this time tomorrow, it should be a different story.

We check into the hospital tonite and will be induced tomorrow morning. My cervix just isn't moving along like it should, so the Doc wants to give me something tonite that will help move the process along and possibly give me a chance to go into labor on my own. If not, we are scheduled to induce in the morning.

At least we don't have to worry about not making it to the hospital on time. And I will have access to pain meds right away...etc.

Excitement, fear, anxiety, wonder and lots and lots of prayer for a healthy and smooth deilvery.

I gotta just breathe. Oh Boy!

Stay tuned, we will see you on the other side!

"D" Day

So today is/was the elusive Due Date. With 1.5 hours left of this day, I think its safe to say it came and went with not a sign of the Little Bean. It is painfully clear she is NOT ready to face the world. Can't say I blame her.

We had a storm move in this weekend that we thought for sure would stir things up. Nope, not a peep. Next up, full moon this week. Lots of babies are born on a full moon, surely that would get her squirming? Nope, apparantly not. In fact, just the opposite. Last night, we spent two anxious hours between 2-4am trying to get her to move since she hadn't moved much all day.

No, I think this girl is hanging on for dear life.

Our weekly check-up confirmed that there isn't much progress. If there is no progress by next week, Doc wants to induce on March 19. Sorry, my lovely little Bean. It is time we finally meet.

The plan between now and then? Walk, walk, walk...

Economic Stimulus/Update

Gabe and I figured before we enter into parenthood, maybe we should do our part to stimulate the economy and spend a sickening amount of money on one last splurge for ourselves. And with the killer deals out right now, who are we to say no?

So, off we went to Best Buy last Sunday to just "look". After 4 hours (this purchase took longer than buying our new van!), we have now joined the HD revolution and then some. Not only do we now own a stupid big HDTV, we also now have a PS3 with Rock Band 2. Yahoo!!

After a couple of days of buyer's remorse, we are LOVING our new setup. It's beautiful. And, since we figured we can no longer afford to do anything, we can entertain ourselves for years off of this.

So here's to you Obama. We did our part to stimulate the economy over the last three months. It's all up to you now.

Baby Update - Week 39:

No baby yet. But could be any day. Due date is officially next Thursday (March 12). The phone calls from our parents have increased wondering if there are any signs of labor yet. The process has begun, but progress is slow.

The last few weeks has been fairly slow (hence the lack of blogs). Trying to adjust to my newfound freedom. I got a nice surprise visit from my BFF, Kristi, last weekend. It was great to spend time with her again. It has been a long time. We had fun sorting out baby clothes and working on the nursery. Poor girl joined us on our shopping spree. Sorry Kristi!

My mom is here now. I think she is quite bored so far since I don't/can't do much. I don't think she is quite understands why I want to take a nap three hours after I get up. Or why I am exhausted after a trip to Walmart. Or have to sit down after standing for 5 minutes. She is worried it isn't normal. I guess it has been 34 years since she went through this. :) In the meantime, she and I are sticking around the house making last minute preparations for the arrival.

So the waiting game continues. There is a full moon next week, wonder if that will be the deciding factor? Stay tuned....

Domesticity

37 weeks down, three more to go. Not that due dates mean anything anyway, right? But the date is looming nonetheless, and our humble little household is busy preparing for the major change coming our way.



As of last Friday, I am officially a housewife/stay-at-home mom-to-be. A strange feeling. I have my moments of panic, wondering what I have done. I mean, I voluntarily quit a solid, stable job in this economy!?!?!? What were we thinking!?!? In those moments I have to force myself to step back and remember the reasons we made the decision. To raise our kids the best we can. Putting family first. Then I take a deep breath and try to focus on the excitement.



Now the fun begins...


This last weekend, my Dad and Step mom, Linda, (with Gabe's help) surprised me with an impromptu visit. I was so happy to see them. We spent the weekend eating, shopping, more eating, and doing other baby stuff. I think being here, seeing my big belly, watching the baby move..etc rekindled their excitement about their new granddaughter.



Linda helped me start the monumental task of getting the nursery prepared. The first step of that was to empty the closet and start going through all the clothes and gifts. All I can say is: Wow. Gabe and I are very lucky people.


This basket was overflowing with baby clothes...by the way, notice we finally got a glider! yea!
We separated them out into piles according to size. In this pic you see the newborn stack, the stack of blankets to the left of it and a big stack of bibs in the front. These pics do not do these piles justice. I washed the pile of blankets yesterday and it barely all fit into my washer. And I have an extra large capacity washer!
Linus had a good time with pulling things out of the toy box. Here he is playing with one of the beanie caps.

Close up view of the pile of 0-3 month clothes. Linda counted 50 outfits in this sucker. And keep in mind some outfits have 3-5 pieces to them! crazy!


No task is complete without Brody lurking around.

Everyone tells me that I will use every bit of this stuff since babies tend to go through so many onsies, blankets, etc...every day. I hope so. Its all so darn cute and I want to use it all!
The nursery is now a disaster, but I am going through it little by little. My mother comes here in a couple of weeks and she will be a big help with the last minute preparations. In the meantime, this is where you will find me most days. In my pj's, playing in the nursery.


Bean update: As I mentioned, we are now in Week 37. That means three more weeks until the due date. Nothing much is happening. Although, she is very active and obviously running out of room in there. I am starting to get very uncomfortable as she kicks around in my ribs and settles down on top of my diaphragm so I can't breathe. Doc believes she is head down which is a good thing. We are keeping our fingers crossed that she doesn't decided to turn around. She has not dropped yet and my cervix is tightly closed, so labor is a ways away. But one never knows when the process will begin or how fast it will move. We have an ultrasound scheduled for March 3rd to estimate the her weight. I am trying to keep calm and not get too freaked out about delivery. Stay tuned...

Priceless

This is how I watched the Superbowl.. And I mean the whole superbowl....

Isn't life grand?