36 weeks pregnant

Here I am beginning the final month of this journey. It's hard to believe there are only 4 weeks to go. In a way I'm ready to be done being pregnant and finally be able to hold our little guy. But, there are a lot of anxieties too. I've wanted to be pregnant for so long that I don't want to wish it away too quickly.

In the past couple weeks I've really started to feel "big" and can feel my pelvis loosen. It takes me longer to get around and Curtis is always having to slow down so I can keep up with him. :) I had my 36 week OB appointment yesterday. My cervix is starting to soften, but no effacement or dilation yet. Everything continues to check out perfect. The baby continues to be head down with his bottom on my right side and hands/feet on my left. He's quite the wiggly one so I could figure that out myself. She's predicting him to be in the high 6 pound range or low 7 pound range. This is based on my ultrasound a month ago which is pretty accurate. I now go to the Dr. every week until the end. I asked what the liklihood is that Dr. Fenoughty (my OB) would delivery him. She said that unless she is out of town, she delivers all her patients whether she is on call or not. That made me feel good. :) The only time she plans to be out of town in the near future is in 2 weeks when she goes to Florida to run a mini-marathon. I knew I liked her. :)

We finished our labor and delivery classes a couple weeks ago. Supposedly we know what we need to know now. I don't think you can ever quite fully prepare. I'm a little anxious about the whole thing. . . . about how much pain I can handle. I'm planning on an epidural, but also waiting as long as I can before getting it so my labor doesn't slow down. I'll keep you all posted and will try to post to my blog weekly now to give updates until our little guy makes his arrival.

4D ultrasound- Live video!

Here is the video from the ultrasound yesterday. It take a couple times of watching it to make out the details, but you can see him open and close his mouth and pucker his lips. It's so awesome to see our little boy in such detail.

Also here is a pic of me at 32 weeks. It's getting more and more real each day! We love it!

32 weeks- 3D ultrasound

Today I wasn't able to see my OB because she ended up going home sick, but we were still able to keep the appointment for the ultrasound. The ultrasound tech spent at least 20 minutes with us taking all his measurements with the regular 2D ultrasound and then we just "played" with the 3D ultrasound for a while watching him move and blow kisses. . . it was so cute. We have a video as well which I will try to post later. The middle 3D pic his lips are puckered almost like he is making a kissy face. It was so precious to see him and his little face. He has such a cute round nose and pudgy cheeks! We can't wait to meet him in person!!! Seeing his little face makes it more and more real!!!

Also, this morning we had professional maternity pics taken. It was so fun and we look forward to getting those back. The rest of the day we spent together and shopping for baby stuff. We spent our Target gift cards on the stroller/carseat combo and went to Babies R Us to get the mattress. So, most of the BIG things, we are set on. It's so fun preparing for the new little guy in our lives!!! Well, I've gotta run. I'll write more later! All our love. . . .

30 Weeks- wow!

(This picture was taken at 28 weeks) It's hard to believe I've reached 30 weeks already. This pregnancy seemed to drag at first, just waiting on the next test/ultrasound. But the more "safe" everything became the quicker it's gone. I had an OB appt. yesterday. Everything continues to check out well. My belly is now measuring at 32 weeks, although my Dr. assures me that I'll likely be having an average size baby. She thinks he is probably just stretching out right now. In 2 weeks I'll have a 4D ultrasound to measure how big he is and also to see what he looks like! That will be so amazing! We're really looking forward to it. We're also having maternity pictures taken in 2 weeks with Curtis and I and baby belly. I think it will be fun. Who knows if I'll ever have the opportunity to be pregnant again so we may as well enjoy it and document it while we can.

I've had 3 amazing baby showers so far. Two with family and friends backhome and one last weekend with local friends/family. They've been SOOO fun and such a blessing! We're so blessed to have so many supportive friends and family members who have shared this journey with us. We continue to feel so blessed to have the opportunity to have a baby and can't say enough how much we've appreciated all of you and your continuous prayers though it all.

The further along I get the more anxious I get to meet this little guy. What will he look like?What will his personality be like? Will we be able to figure out the whole scheduling thing? Will I be able to nurse successfully? All these questions. . . We're just eager to see how it goes.

26 weeks

This past week I had another OB appointment. Everything is going so well, it's almost strange how easy it's been after getting past the initial fertility struggles. My blood pressure is good, weight is good, no concerns, the baby is growing on track with a perfect heartbeat. :) We couldn't ask for more! I am starting to feel him more and more. Not just kicks, but movement in general. I can feel him turn or roll at times. Recently I feel him move to one side or the other and it creates a hard lump in my belly. Then, looking down, my belly is assymetrical. It's crazy! It's so amazing. This pregnancy thing has been great on my body. Too bad it took such an ordeal to get here.

Tonight we picked up the new dresser/changing table at Babies 'R Us. We're anxious to get the nursery all together. Right now it's all painted and the crib is put together. Curtis just needs some help getting the dresser up the stairs. Now we need a small bookcase and some kind of chair. It's all so fun! It's hard to believe I'm almost into the 3rd trimester. We are so grateful for God's graciousness to us through all of this. He is So Good! :)

Getting bigger and better- 24 weeks

My belly keeps getting bigger and this little one keep getting more active. It's so awesome to feel him move and so often. He is quite the little dancer sometimes. :) We've narrowed down the names to probably 2. I doubt we'll decide for sure until we see him face to face.

Today we had the nursery painted. It looks really good! It's blue on 3 walls and brown on one wall to match the bedding. So far we have the crib and last weekend ordered the dresser/changing table combo. It's all coming together. :) We currently have several showers planned. Two will be the weekend of Nov 8th and 9th with one on Saturday with Curtis' family and the other on Sunday with my family/family friends. Then one here in Indy on Nov 15th for Indy friends etc. And then one more with work on Dec 1st. It's all so fun! I love parties. . . Hopefully all of you have received invitations to at least one shower. If not, let me know.

Overall I'm still feeling good. I do tire quickly. Last week I tried to clean my whole house and kind of overdid myself and had a little back pain for a couple days. I guess I'll have to pace myself a little better.

21 Weeks

Here are my belly pics from 20 weeks. I keep getting bigger every day, it seems. I'm still feeling great. I did start feeling him move as of Sept 1st. It started out as little gas bubble feelings that was hard to distinguish as a baby moving. With each week I'm feeling him stronger and stronger. Now it's no doubt that I'm feeling little kicks in there. He seems to be most active after I've eaten a meal and then sit or lie down. Curtis was even able to feel him move this past weekend. It's pretty amazing!!!!

We're starting to get more into the planning mode now that we know this is a little boy. We've got a few names that we keep coming back to, but still nothing for sure yet. I went to register with my sister's help a couple weekends ago. A lot of those little things, I have no idea what I need so it's nice to have someone who's been there and can offer some practical advice. We registered at Baby's R Us and Target. I also got a book called Baby Bargains which is helpful to tell you what you need, what you don't and what brands are good.

We both are sort of in "nesting" mode. I think more so it's realizing all the home improvements we want to get done before we have less money and less time. So, we're having an electrician come in to do some work this weekend so we can put up a light in our dining room and ceiling fans in the upstairs bedrooms. And, we'll be having someone come in to paint----which we've been putting off for a while. And probably will have him do the baby's room as well. I think we've decided on a "theme"- not of characters, but colors using light blue and chocolate brown.

It's all so exciting!!!!