Pumpkin Pie

I went to look up how big AJ is this week and found out he's the size of a pumpkin!  And now I want pumpkin pie! 

I went to the doctor today and things are about the same!  My uterus is "irritated" and they are picking up contractions on the NST, but my cervix is still long and he's very high, so she didn't fully check for dilation, but I assume I'm not making a lot of progress.  He was hanging out on my right side today, which isn't the norm, but he's still head down and she said she couldn't see his face because he was facing down, so at least he's going the right direction.  I don't think he's really dropped at all though!

Being off work has helped my pain a lot.  This morning was the first time I started fretting about work--I woke up at some point last night and starting thinking about something I needed to call my boss about.  Trouble is, I don't remember what it was now! 

So I'm measuring 41 weeks--whew!  They didn't estimate the baby's size this week, so we'll have to wait until next week for an update on that.  Aside from that, we're getting some things done around the house--not that I'm helping much!  All the baby clothes have finally been washed and we moved Tyler's playhouse to the garage to make room for the pack n play.  Hopefully the baby's room will be pretty much done and set up by the end of next weekend!  My bag is partially packed and outfits have been bought for coming home from the hospital. 

Another purchase, thanks to my big sister, AJ's Halloween Costume!!

HOW CUTE IS THIS?!

That's about it for updates...Just sitting around waiting for things to start happening!  Oh, one last thing, if I could ask for some prayers--one of the dear friends I mentioned in my last blog got bad news regarding her pregnancy today....it's not viable.  I'm absolutely heartbroken for her...she's been through way too much, most of it in the course of the last 12 months.  Sometimes life is so unfair...if any of my readers could say a little prayer or send her some good thoughts, I'd really appreciate it. My heart breaks for her. :(

Until next week, unless I have anything exciting to report until then! :)

Something to celebrate!

37 weeks and we have officially made it to term!  Baby is as long as a stalk of swiss chard.  Sunday my mom and sisters threw me a baby shower to celebrate.  We had a lot of fun!  We took on some ambitious projects--we love these, but so often they don't come out right. This time I was thrilled with the results!  Take a look:

Fruit cradle!!!  SOOOOO YUMMY!

Baby cupcakes

Gotta have chocolate cake!

Having fun!

It was a fun party and it was nice to celebrate AJ's coming arrival!  I got some adorable things too!  His room is shaping up!

A gift from big brother!! Tyler painted this!  I love it!

Friendly monster from Aunt G!

Love these sparkly letters from Aunt Patty!

Monster decals!

This adorable blanket is super soft and matches the set we picked out for his room. Thanks Auntie Roxy for sending it!

Frame, monster book and toy!

I also got a huge surprise at work!  My coworkers pitched in and gave us a great new glider for the baby's room!  We had just agreed that we were going to have to make due without a second glider because we just didn't have the extra money right now.  I was so surprised I cried!

LOVE IT!

Tuesday I had my OB appointment.  AJ was lazier during the NST this week, but they got what they needed and he aced the u/s.  He's estimated at 7 lbs 10 oz and measuring about 40 weeks already!  Apparently some contractions were showing up on the NST so that give me hope that my body will do what it's supposed to!  My belly measures 38 weeks and my blood pressure and everything looks fine.  However, my OB decided that it is time I slow down and stay close to home, so I am officially on maternity leave.  It was hard to go to work and set everything up and know I wasn't going to come back until after the baby is born!  It was harder than I thought to let it go and leave!  I'll miss my coworkers, but staying home has already improved the pain I've been having and it's nice to be able to get some extra rest while I can!  Tyler is enjoying having me home and he likes to come in and "visit" me!

I can't believe how close we're getting to AJ's arrival!  I feel so lucky!  The last couple of weeks has brought some great news to several of my wonderful online friends that have had terrible struggles with infertility and pregnancy loss.  Four friends that have have had devastating losses are expecting again.  One has had a ton of miscarriages and the terrible loss of her son who was born at 23 weeks.  Another gave birth to her son early in the second trimester.  A third has had too many miscarriages to count and the fourth had an ectopic, two chemical pregnancies, and then a horrific loss of her baby daughter at around 20 weeks, who had a severe heart defect and chromosomal problems.  These ladies are true survivors, but they have been through hell and I am praying my hardest that these pregnancies will result in healthy babies for them.  My rainbow baby will be here soon and I hope they will get this same this time.  It really reminds me just how lucky I am!

Final Month!

36 weeks pregnant and we're into the final month (hopefully) of this pregnancy!!!  In some ways I can't believe how fast it's gone and yet 4 more weeks seems like a lot!  AJ should be the size of a crenshaw melon this week, whatever that is.  My guess is that he's already closing in on the watermelon sized full term baby!  No weight estimate this week, but odds are he's about 1/2 lb more than this time last week, so he's probably 7 lbs 4 oz by now.  Just 1 lbs, 3 oz more than his big brother weighted at birth!  If he puts on weight at the rate of 1/2 lb per week (and if he's born around his actual due date) he might weight around 9 lbs 4 oz!  WHEW!  We'll see!

My body is still taking quite a beating at this point.  The hip and pelvic pain has gotten really bad, especially when I first get up from sitting or lying down.  I'm walking around work fighting a grimace a lot of the time!  Also on Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 am with a horrible charlie horse in my left calf, followed by waking up at 7:00 am with an identical one in my right calf!  The muscles are still really sore!  Ah, late pregnancy :)

This week I met the second of three OB doctors at the office I go to.  They like to schedule each patient with an appointment with the other two doctors during the last month of your pregnancy so that you are comfortable with whoever happens to be on call during your labor. She was nice, but I felt a little rushed, so I didn't really get the chance to ask questions.  She didn't even mention what I was measuring.  I was at the OB's office almost 3.5 hours today, but my NST and BPPs went great and AJ looks good and is still head down, though not engaged yet.

So we're plugging along!  AJ does lots of rolls and I feel him high and low--he's really stretching out in there and running out of room!  He gets the hiccups a lot too!  I even think sometimes I can see him practicing breathing as my tummy rises and falls--it's too quick to be my pulse, too slow to be his, so I'm guessing it's his little chest rising and falling!  Sunday my mom and sisters are throwing me a small baby shower, so I'm excited about that.  I'm getting very anxious to meet my new little man!!!

Two miscellaneous things I wanted to mention...Though I'm reaching the end of my pregnancy and obviously pretty removed from my infertility struggle, I have not forgotten what it was like.  Although it was more documented in my countdowntopregnancy.com blog, it was mentioned here and I have shared some of that journey.  That struggle has opened me up to an huge online community of forums and blogs.  I am an avid reader of at least a dozen blogs of woman who are or have struggled with infertility.  One of those dear women suffered a devastating loss last week. So here's a tiny shout out to Sometimes.  My thoughts and prayers are with her.

Finally, I can't post on this particular date without acknowledging it.  Eleven years ago the world changed forever.  That day and in the days since, our country and the world lost thousands of innocent people.  Today my heart goes out again to the people effected by the events of that day and the war that has ensued.  For my "where were you" post, go here.  God Bless America. I will never forget.

Lwaddling

This week AJ should be the size of a coconut.  According to our ultrasound this morning, he weights around 6 lbs 12 oz.  He aced his NST and BPP and was really active after a quiet weekend!  My belly measures 37 weeks and I had group b strep test.  The nurse also checked my cervix but it’s still long and thick, so AJ should be staying put awhile longer.

I'm feeling okay, but I am having a lot more pain and discomfort this time around!  My hips, back and pelvis are really sore all the time.  Today in particular I'm having trouble walking.  I'm  limping AND I'm waddling.  I'm Lwaddling.  I imagine it's comical to watch!

We finally made some progress on AJ's bedroom! We finished clearing everything out and cleaning and yesterday we painted the walls and ceiling.  We are doing a theme called “Peek A Boo Monsters” and we will be stamping and painting accents on the walls later to go with some decals we are going to get.  The background is basically white with a tiny tinge of blue (called Ice Castles).  I am so glad we finally made some progress!  Adam was a trooper, spending hours taking down the one wall of wall paper and painting the ceiling and my mom and twin did a ton of painting too.  Tyler and I helped as well before succumbing to naptime!  Still left on the to-do list is putting up a chair rail and adding our stamps and accents, plus cleaning the floors and bringing in furniture.  My mom also came up with the idea to let Tyler paint his own picture on a canvas to put in the baby’s room, a present for his brother!  I’m really excited about that!

5 more weeks!