Introducing...

Hunter Kristian-- Born-12/30/11 4:51pm 7lbs 12ozs ***I promise to post pics and more info later but trying to post from my iPad and it's not cooperating!

40 Weeks- Last Update!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 40 Weeks!!!! Fully Baked! 

**Christmas morning- Holy cow I'm HUGE!**

Last week I posted a bare belly shot which was taken 1 week before delivery, here is a side by side comparison picture of me with my mom one week before I was born. We were basically the same size pre-pregnancy and the same age. 

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is the size of a small pumpkin...yeah an 8+ pound pumpkin!

It's hard to say for sure how big your baby will be, but the average newborn weighs about 7 1/2 pounds and is about 20 inches long. His skull bones are not yet fused, which allows them to overlap a bit if it's a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. This so-called "molding" is the reason your baby's noggin may look a little conehead-ish after birth. Rest assured — it's normal and temporary.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Looks like I'm going to end this in the 35 pound gain category which is good considering I started off very small and seem to be having a good size baby. I actually didn't gain any weight this week despite all the eating I did for the holiday.

Maternity Clothes: Now that I'm working from home until he comes I'm just wearing leggings and Kristian's shirts

Gender: BOY!

Movement: Still feel him throughout the day though I think he sleeps more, probably saving his energy for the big moment. My in-laws were able to feel a few kicks during Christmas which was fun. 

What I miss: not constantly wondering if every feeling/twitch/pain I'm having is labor starting.

Sleep: Still sucks though last night I decided to sleep on the couch since my constant getting up, tossing and turning have been keeping Kristian up as well and surprisingly I slept great. I might try sleeping on the couch again tonight. 

Symptoms: Contractions and cramping though nothing consistent or regular enough to go to the hospital for yet. Also, feeling a lot more nauseous which is the worst. 

Cravings: Sweet Tea from McDonalds. Drinking it right now in fact. 

Doctor's Appointment: I had my last official doctor's appointment yesterday and I made Kristian go with me so that he could meet the doctor that will be doing the induction and ask any questions he may have. It appears I've gone from a fingertip to 1cm dilated in a week and I'm 80% effaced. The doctor was even able to feel the baby's head!! Since I was finally dilated he was able to do a Membrane Sweep to try to kick start labor...FYI it hurts! So far it's just made me feel very crampy but I'm hoping I might be more dilated.

The plan right now assuming he doesn't come prior, is to go into the hospital tomorrow night to get a prostaglandin gel applied to hopefully help me start to dilate and contract more. They will monitor me for a while and depending on what happens I may get sent home for the night and then will go back in Friday morning to start the Pitocin.

Best Moment this week: Getting to spend Christmas with our families rather than in the hospital which has been my fear for the past 9 months. I can't believe next Christmas I'll have an almost 1 year old son!

What I am looking forward to: Getting labor over with and holding my sweet baby boy this weekend!!!


*I'm not sure if I will be posting again before the baby arrives so any thoughts and prayers you want to send my way would be greatly appreciated*

D-Day

Today is my official due date and so far this kid continues to be quite happy where he is. We made it through the holiday weekend, including 3 family gatherings, lots of presents and even more food all baby free. We saw Kristian's extended family last night, most of whom I haven't seen since I've been pregnant. Everyone got a kick out of seeing and rubbing my big belly.

Now the countdown is in full effect. I have until Friday to try to get this baby moving on my own and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that at my last doctor's appointment which is scheduled for tomorrow there will have been some progress made.

Come on baby boy, we can't wait to meet you!!!!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from my family to yours.



39 Weeks- Still pregnant

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 39 Weeks (1 week or less!)

Since this could be my last update before the baby comes I thought I would finally show a bare belly shot. Enjoy! haha

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is the size of a mini watermelon! Mini my ass, this kid is huge!

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds (my doctor is predicting bigger)  (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +35 pounds approximately. I haven't gained any weight since last week which is good.

Maternity Clothes: All maternity and those are running small. I have very little options nowadays.

Gender: BOY!

Movement: Still movement though he seems to move mostly at night now rather than all day long like before. When he does kick it hurts. I predict this kid has huge feet like his father.

What I miss: feeling normal.

Sleep: Sleep? What's that? I actually hate bedtime because it's just frustrating for me at this point.

Symptoms: If it's a pregnancy symptom I pretty much have it. I feel like crap 24/7 and I'm just over it, pregnancy was cool but I'm done. As scared as I am of labor, it's inevitable so let's just get this thing over with already.

Cravings: Nothing. Anytime I eat I feel sick and if I don't eat I feel sick. It's like the first trimester all over again with about 30 other symptoms now thrown in the mix.

Doctor's Appointment: As of Monday at my 39 week appointment there had been no change or progress. Still only a fingertip dilated which is basically nothing. He did offer to induce me this week so that I could be home by Christmas but after hearing I still wasn't dilated I decided to hold off. I really don't want to be induced and if they try to before I even start dilating it's a longer process that I fear will likely end with a C-section. As much as it sucks I'm going to try to wait it out and continue to hope my body at least starts the process before my induction date to help things move quicker. The doctor is also predicting this kid is in the 8-8 1/2 pound range! Just a reminder I'm 5 feet tall and weighed 105 pounds pre-pregnancy so yeah that huge for me. If I can make it through the weekend I'm going to really ramp up the home induction techniques Monday (i.e. spicy food, walking, sex etc.)

Best Moment this week: Finally finishing Christmas shopping (though we still need to wrap everything) and being days away from having my little guy.

What I am looking forward to: Meeting my son at some point in the next week!

Still

Still pregnant.

Still uncomfortable.

I think little man is planning to stick this out until the bitter end which would be ironic considering basically everybody, including myself, was convinced he would come early.

I have my 39 week appointment this afternoon so we'll see if any progress has been made. I'm not too optimistic and at this point I'm hoping he'll hold off until after Christmas this weekend anyway.

This past weekend I really did a whole lot of nothing. We went out to dinner Friday night for what is probably our last date night for a while and were in bed by 8:30pm. Yeah we're party animals huh?

Other than that I laid around the house and tried to enjoy my last weekend of pure laziness. Assuming he doesn't come in the next few days we'll be pretty busy this weekend with family celebrating Christmas.

**Funny story from dinner on Friday-- I went to the bathroom (I basically live in the bathroom nowadays) and there was a woman in there with her young son and daughter. I estimate the son to be around 4 years old. After I went into the stall I heard the little boy ask his mom "Mommy why is that lady so fat?" and her response "She's not fat, she has a baby in her belly". So yeah. That's where I'm at right now, out of the mouths of babes!

38 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 38 Weeks (2 weeks or less!)

 

 

 

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the length of a leek.

Your baby has really plumped up. He weighs about 6.8 pounds and he's over 19 1/2 inches long.  He has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold his hand for the first time! His organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. (Yay!!)

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If he's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If he's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time he's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after he's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +35 pounds approximately. My doc is estimating that the baby is around 7 1/2 pounds at this point. He's definitely chunking up because this weight gain isn't from over-eating, I really don't eat much nowadays.

Maternity Clothes: All maternity and even those clothes are getting small, if this kid doesn't come soon I'll just have to wrap a sheet around my body. 

 

Gender: BOY!

 

Movement: Still feel movements all day long though not quite as active as before, I can tell he's running out of room in there.

What I miss: same stuff as before, mainly just not feeling so much discomfort ALL THE TIME.

Sleep: Let's put it this way, I would pay BIG money for one good night's sleep. I just hope I have enough energy for labor.

Symptoms: same as before-a lot of BH contractions, cramping, nausea, minor swelling, round ligament pain yada yada yada.

Cravings: No foods just liquids especially chocolate milk and sweet tea.

 

Doctor's Appointment: As I mentioned yesterday I'm only a fingertip dilated but my cervix is soft and thinned out, so according to him things are looking "favorable" just moving slow. I try not to put too much stock into the whole dilation thing because you can walk around for weeks being dilated and still not go into labor or you could not be dilated at all and suddenly have your water break in a Chipotle (true story, happened to my friend).  

Best Moment this week: Finishing the nursery and scheduling an induction date. He will be here sometime in the next two weeks no matter what!!

What I am looking forward to: Starting 2012 with a beautiful baby boy!

Eviction Notice

Well baby boy better start packing his bags because unless he decides to come on his own (please God!) he will be officially evicted from the womb on December 30th!!!!! At some point in the next 2 weeks and 2 days this child will be making his grand entrance into the world whether he likes it or not.

At my doctor's appointment yesterday (where I was only a fingertip dilated. Sigh.) he asked me my feelings towards being induced at some point, bearing in mind that no matter what they won't let me go more than 2 weeks past my due date. He said it was up to me how long I wanted to go before doing an induction though I could go as early as next week if I chose.

I decided that despite my discomfort I would rather he come on his own so I decided to wait until a few days past my due date, which is Dec. 26th, in the hopes he'll get his act together and decide to come on his own. I decided the 30th would be a good date otherwise. It gives a few days between his birthday and Christmas and it will still give me a two day window (in case I'm in labor for a long time) to get him out before the end of the year and therefore we can get the tax deduction (any little bit helps right?) It also happens to be the birthday of Kristian's favorite uncle so that would be kinda nice as well.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't need the induction, I've heard that typically it leads to more painful contractions and longer labors in general but in another two weeks I doubt I'll care anymore and will just want him out.

The countdown is now really, truly on!

The Nursery

**FYI this is going to be a long post.**

So our nursery is FINALLY finished...well at least it's as finished as it will get before our little one arrives. There are still some things we'll add after he gets here and I'm sure we'll move stuff around as needed but this is about as good as it's gonna get for now.

Just a quick reminder of what the room looked like before when it was a guest room. I never had much desire to do much with it since I had hoped we'd be turning it into a nursery sooner rather than later. Pretty boring eh?

 

Check out the transformation:

When you first open the door you see this chalkboard sign we made. We just took a regular white picture frame and used chalkboard spray paint on the glass. I thought it would be fun to be able to write little notes or even reminders like "buy more diapers" and then when he gets older he can use it to draw on.

Here's the view looking in from the door.

 

We got this crib from Costco. It was a gift from Kristian's grandmother and is a convertible crib that turns into a daybed and then later a full size bed. The bedding is from Target. I wanted something that would be easy to mix and match with other items as opposed to just sticking with a cartoon or sports theme and having everything match exactly. I get tired of bedding easily so I didn't want our whole room centered around bedding I might want to change in a few months. The little bear in the crib was Kristian's as a child.

The plan is to keep the baby in our room in a bassinet at first and then eventually transition him into his crib. When we do that we'll take out the bumpers, stuffed animal and not use the larger blanket. It's all just decorative for now.

Here is the focal point of the room. The tree! I knew I wanted a tree in the room and assumed we would just buy one of the many decals out there but Kristian thought it would be more meaningful to do it ourselves himself. He drew the outline of the tree in blue chalk on the wall first and then his mother came over and painted the tree, leaves and birds. It took her 3 trips to get it done and I LOVE IT! I'm going to be so sad whenever we eventually move or he gets older and doesn't want a tree on his wall anymore and we need to paint over it.

Here's a better close up. She added various birds to the tree and the detail is amazing on these birds. I truly hope my son gets his artistic side from his fathers side because I can't even draw stick figures.  I also love how the tree carries into the closet space.

I love the little nest of eggs and falling leaves over the crib. I think the boy will have a lot of fun looking up at this when he's in his crib.

Here's the view from the closet side of the room. I got the curtains at Burlington Coat Factory. They did not come with the bedding but I think they coordinate really well. We plan to get shades or blinds eventually but since it's winter and it gets dark so early I think we'll be okay without them for now. the curtains help block out a lot of the light.

Here's the dresser/changing table. The top part comes off and can be used as just a dresser so that way it can grow with the child. We also got this at Costco and it matches the crib. This was a gift from my in-laws. In the basket we have diapers, wipes, butt cream, hand sanitizer and I'm sure more will be added. The rug in front of it is a hand me down from my mother. We got the diaper champ from a neightbor. I've read mixed reviews on them but figured it can't hurt to try it out. I suspect nothing will really keep the stink out so we'll probably just have to empty this multiple times a day. The glider is from Target and was bought with a bunch of gift cards I had. I'll be honest, it wasn't my first choice but unfortunately we can't afford the $400 one from Babies R Us that I really wanted.

I've already decorated some wooden letters to spell out his name which will be hung above the dresser. Since we're keeping the name a surprise we won't hang them until after he's born and I'll post a picture of it at a later time. Above the chair I plan on either hanging some floating shelves to put odds and ends on or do a collage of his newborn pictures. Not sure yet. 

Here is the top drawer with all his little socks, booties and hats. Yes we even have a little Santa hat in case he comes early. On the left are his newborn and 0-3 months onesies and sleepers.

In the second drawer we have more onesies and sleepers going up to 6 months. We don't have many clothes past 6 months, mainly for storage purposes and because I don't know how quickly he'll grow or what season he'll end up needing certain sizes in. I figure there's plenty of time to shop for larger sizes later on. No need to have every outfit he'll need for the first year right now.

The bottom drawer right now is sort of a miscellanous drawer, we have some swaddlers, sweaters and extra hangers in there for now. You can see the letters for his name peeking out a bit in the back. I painted the letters brown and then affixed them to square wooden backers that I decorated with scrapbook paper. Also, you can see my belly in the picture, just some proof I can no longer see my feet.

This is a little bookcase that Kristian built. Thanks to his job he has access to a lot of free wood so he used some cedar from work, built and stained it to match. He's quite handy! Right now it holds some maternity photos, a sonogram picture, the baby monitor and some books. My brother has our stash of the little Golden Books we had as children I just need to get them from him to add to the collection.

 Here is the view from the window side of the room into the closet. When we moved in there were some ugly sliding doors that I hated. We removed those and initially thought of adding some cute curtains but decided to leave it open because I think it makes the room feel bigger. And it forces us to keep the closet somewhat organized.

I decided to paint the wall of the closet a darker blue to add contrast. Also, the top two long shelves were already there but Kristian built, painted and installed the bottom shelves and wall divider. Told you he was handy :)

These are the prints that were done for me by Kristen who runs Little Laws Prints. I love them!

Here's a close up of the closet. I separated out all the tops and bottoms when hanging the clothes rather than keeping them together in the outfits they came in. This will help me mix and match his clothes easier. I also have them going in sizes from newborn up. 

In the top white baskets I have extra diapers and his pacifiers, rattles and other odds and ends. In the colored baskets I have all of his blankets, burp cloths and bibs separated out and organized.

On that middle shelf I have some shoes for him, aren't they cute! There is also a framed picture of Kristian when he was a little boy sleeping with some of the stuffed animals that are now in the nursery.

Whew! That was a lot!

We put a lot of time, energy and love into this room and it's by far my most favorite room in our house. I find it very calming and peaceful and I hope our little guy loves it as much as we do and has fun growing up in here.

Fears

As of today I am officially 38 weeks pregnant and my due date is exactly two weeks away. Of course, baby boy could come at any point between now and then. The nursery is finally finished (pictures to come), the house is decorated for Christmas, we've stocked up on toiletries and non perishable items so that we can just make some quick runs to the store initially, we're getting caught up on laundry, we've started Christmas shopping (if a few gifts end up coming late I suspect we'll be forgiven) so in the preparedness sense we're basically ready for his arrival.

In the mental and emotional sense I could use another few months. I'm not gonna lie I'm scared, anxious, terrified, having a panic attack daily at the thought of actually having this child. My primary fear at the moment is labor itself. I don't do pain. I don't do sickness. My tolerance for either is LOW. And I realize there are pain meds available (sign me up!) but typically you experience at least some pain prior to receiving those. The fact is this child needs to come out of my body, someway, somehow and none of the options for making that happen sound pleasant. I'm scared of going into labor while at work or even in the middle of night.  I'm scared of having the baby at home or in the car (both of which are unlikely I know). The thought of a scheduled C-section where I know the time it's going to happen and can skip most of the actual labor part sounds more and more appealing (though this won't happen unless there is medical cause for it). So much of my fear is the unknown aspect of everything. I'm a planner. I'm a bit of a control freak. This is basically the complete opposite of what I'm comfortable with.

I realize the pain part is temporary and results in the best, most incredible gift ever but then there are the fears that creep in about something going wrong. What if something happens to the baby or to me. I've had a pretty easy pregnancy to this point so there's no reason to think something will go wrong but you just don't know. It's terrifying to think of all the possible complications. This is where the Internet can be your worst enemy.

And finally there is the whole bringing the baby home and actually having to take care of him. Yeah I have no clue what I'm doing. People say so much of it is just instinct but what if I'm missing that gene?

Don't get me wrong I'm SO excited to meet this little guy growing inside me, to see his face and kiss the little feet that keep kicking me and see my husband hold him. It's going to be amazing, I know that and I try to focus on that but these other fears keep creeping in. I'm trying to enjoy these last couple weeks/days of being pregnant and having my son all to myself but I'm scared. I'm not gonna lie.

37 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 37 Weeks (FULL TERM!!)

 

Large and in Charge!

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the length of a Swiss Chard (??). I prefer The Bump's comparison which is now a Watermelon...yep that sounds right.

 

Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though. So if you're planning to have a repeat c-section, for example, your practitioner will schedule it for no earlier than 39 weeks unless there's a medical reason to intervene earlier.)

Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +32 pounds approximately. My legs and feet hurt so bad if I walk around too much, all this extra weight is really hard for me to carry.

Maternity Clothes: pretty much all maternity as well as Kristian's clothes for lounging around in. Even my shoes are tight so I wear the same 3 pairs all the time.

Gender: BOY!

Movement: Still lots of movement, I can't believe he still has any room in there to move but he's still doing body rolls on a regular basis.

What I miss: oh goodness this list is long- wearing my wedding/engagement ring (even my larger, fake diamond band I've been wearing is getting too tight), sleeping on my stomach, being able to walk around for more than 10 minutes without getting tired, not feeling uncomfortable 24/7, being skinny and feeling pretty (vain but true)

Sleep: Still sucks but I've given up on a good nights sleep at this point. I get up to pee all the time and I just can't get comfortable and have BH contractions throughout the night. I pretty much dread bedtime.

Symptoms: Still a lot of BH contractions, cramping, nausea and dizziness, minor swelling, round ligament pain. Basically if it's a pregnancy symptom I have it. 

Cravings: Liquids, I'm always thirsty.

Doctor's Appointment: I'm adding this since I'm now going every week. As of yesterday I'm still not dilated at all and the baby is still pretty far back but apparently I've started to "thin" out so I guess that's some progress. Little dude seems quite happy in there so maybe he won't come early after all. Also, the nurse is guessing he's around 7-7 1/2 pounds! Which would explain why I'm so uncomfortable. I also tested negative for the Group B Strep test which is good and means I won't need to get antibiotics during labor.

 

Best Moment this week: My prenatal massage last weekend. I wish I had done it even sooner. In fact I splurged to become a member which means I pay $50 a month and get either a massage or a facial (both usually cost $100) so now I'm forced to go and relax once a month which I think as a new mommy I'm gonna need. 

 

What I am looking forward to: Hopefully after this weekend the nursery will be more or less finished and I can post pictures finally. Also, meeting my little man of course!

Decking the Halls

Last week when I was still on bedrest Kristian took the reigns and got the house decorated and all festive for Christmas. I really want this done in case little man decides to come early, I want to bring him home to a decorated house. Plus I just love how much nicer it makes the house look in general.

I have to give Kristian credit, he not only got everything out but did a great job decorating. Since this is our first Christmas in this house we weren't quite sure where everything would go but I think he did a great job figuring it all out with very little input from my lazy ass. I did however put all the ornaments on the tree since that's my favorite part and something I've insisted on doing since I was little.

Now for the pictures!

Entry table.

Our dog has now learned to ring those little bells when she needs to go outside.

 

Our dining room. We put the tree in here because we really don't have space in the living room at the moment and once we get the pack n play set up for the baby we'll have even less space. We might change it up next year.



Next year we plan to invest in either a real tree or at least a bigger fake one. This one seems to shrink each year.

The view into the living room. I love all the lights and what he did with the banister separating the two rooms.

Gotta have some mistletoe!

Hopefully Santa can fit down our chimney.

 I love having a real fireplace and mantle at Christmas time.

My aunt made all three stockings. Mine is on the right and I've had it since I was a little girl. Kristian's is on the left and she made that after we got married, it's a fishing/hunting theme and our little guy's stocking is in the middle, it's a football shoe and sock in VA Tech colors.

View into the dining room.

Check out Halpert on the couch, that's his favorite spot to lay in the house.

I think I'm going to leave Kristian in charge of the Christmas decorating from now on, he did a great job and I was very happy to get this checked off our to-do list.

36 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 36 weeks (I'm in my 9th month!!)

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the size of a crenshaw melon (never heard of a crenshaw melon before but it must be quite large).

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds  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 her first bowel movement.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +30 pounds and I can feel every pound of it when I stand up or walk around.  Looks like I lost all the extra water weight I gained last week.

Maternity Clothes: 90% maternity, there are still a few non maternity things I can squeeze into but it ain't pretty.

Gender: BOY!

Movement: Yep he seems to enjoy kicking my ribs and head butting my vaj but it's still the best part of pregnancy and the one part I will really miss.

What I miss: a good night's sleep.

Sleep: Sucks. Plain and simple. I get up almost every hour at night to either pee or readjust. I really think I will get more sleep once he's here than I am now. I can't really get much less at this point.

Symptoms: Still a lot of BH contractions and a little cramping and some nausea. My back has actually been hurting a lot less which is good, guess maybe he has change positions or something.

 

Cravings: Popsicles.

 

Best Moment this week: No longer need to be on bed rest! My doc checked me yesterday and I'm still not dilated and at this point if I went into labor they wouldn't try to stop it so I can go back to normal activities. Also, decorating the house for Christmas and the Christmas bonus check I got at work yesterday!!

 

What I am looking forward to: Meeting my little dude this month!