Thirty-eight Weeks

Today, is May 1st.

You know what that means?

There are 11 more days until my due date.

There are 12 more days until my 30th birthday.

There are also 12 more days until Mothers day.

There are 25 more days until my parents come to visit us in Houston.

May is going to be a busy month.

We had our 38 week checkup today and you know what they say - no news is good news. Nothing has really changed over the last couple of weeks which means they don't think the baby will be showing up early (thank goodness). If she can at least wait until next Monday then we will be happy campers. She can show up a few days early if she wants :)

What we do know is that the Dr won't really go past a week over the due date. So the longest we will have to wait to meet this little one is 18 more days!!

Oh - and we FINALLY finished the nursery!! Check back later this week for photos!

Thirty-seven Weeks

It's official - the baby is now full term! She can make her debut any day now and the doctor would be happy to deliver her. We would be happy to see her too, but I'm hoping she bakes for a little while longer.

We had our weekly checkup today and the doctor said there hasn't been any change from last week, other than I am measuring slightly smaller and lost a pound. The smaller measurement is due to the baby dropping and the weight loss is probably due to the fact that I have cut back on the number of cupcakes/cookies/ice cream I have everyday (unlike last week, oops). I could tell the baby dropped over the weekend as I can feel her movements much lower in my pelvis. She has been as active as ever - no rest for this little one! Because of her lower position her movements are downright painful sometimes. It doesn't really look like it from the outside but I swear she is lower!

Today is the day that I pack my hospital bag (I swear!) and tomorrow we are getting the car seat installed. And by that I mean I am going to attempt to buckle it in myself and then in going to have the fire department double check it for me. Never can be too sure :)

The last of the baby stuff arrived this week so now we are all ready for her arrival! It's comforting to know that she will definitely be here within the next month - whether she likes it or not! I wonder what day she will come...any guesses??

Make sure you sign up to receive the blog via email for updates when she is born (you can do this on the right hand toolbar) and you can also follow me on twitter!

The Luckiest Little Girl

I - or better yet, Baby C - is incredibly lucky to have such loving and caring family and friends. We were blessed with not one but three baby showers!  She is already surrounded with people who love her and can't wait to meet her - she's a lucky little girl. And I am a lucky woman. I want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who organized, came and shared in all of my baby showers over the last couple of months. Each one was special to me and I will always remember it!

The first shower was thrown by my awesome friends in London. It was a small get together at a friends house and was such a perfect afternoon. We had a chance to talk and catch up, eat some amazing food and open lots of presents for Baby C. As happy as I am to be back in the USA I sure do miss my London friends. Luckily one of the gifts we received was a London double decker bus rattle - something to always remember them by! THANK YOU girls for such a special afternoon!

The second shower was thrown by my mother-in-law last month. She had some help from some wonderful friends setting up and it was a great party. I got to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen since our wedding (almost two years ago - eek!) as well as some of my close girlfriends. We played games, had a tea party and consumed way too many cupcakes (or was that just me). I also got to see myself made out of fondant - not too bad if you ask me! It was a super busy day and man was I exhausted by the end of it, but it was so much fun - I wish it lasted longer so I had more time to visit with everyone!  THANK YOU to Brian's mom for throwing me such a wonderful shower!

It was back to back shower weekends while I was in NY last month and the final shower was thrown by my mom and sister.  They invited over all of my family and our family friends and I had such a great time seeing everyone. By this point Baby C was so spoiled in how much attention she was getting! Usually she just has to deal with me talking to her all day long, but by the end of the trip she got to meet so many wonderful people.  I had a great time catching up with everyone and my mom and sister did an awesome just putting together a Spring themed shower with a delicious spread - I'm allowed to have Beer Bread during pregnancy, right?? And there were more mouthwatering cupcakes...I'm starting to notice a pattern! Wonder how they figured out I like cupcakes.... ;)

A big THANK YOU goes out to my mom and sis for putting my shower together - it was perfect!

And last but not least a big THANK YOU to everyone who attended each one of the baby showers. I know we are all super busy these days and it really meant a lot to me (and to Baby C) that you could all come and help us celebrate. Having your first child only happens once and it means the world to me that you were all able to share in the special occasion with me. I can't wait to tell her about each and every one of you and how special you all are to us! She is the luckiest little girl to be surrounded by so much love (and so are we).

Thirty-six Weeks

Thirty-six weeks and three days. That's what they told me at the doctors office today. I did a quick calculation in my head (I'm a math whizz in case you didn't know) and that leaves us with 25 days until our baby girls due date. I'm not sure which is less scary to say - three and a half weeks or 25 days.

I've started seeing my doctor once a week now and today's check-up went very well. The baby is in the right position - which explains the recent kicks to the ribs I've been getting - and pretty much ready to go. Over the last week my hips have been starting to hurt a lot as well as my back (the joys of pregnancy). I have been stretching, doing light yoga and even walking to try and relieve the pain but nothing has seemed to help. When I asked my doctor about the pain she said that it's probably due to the fact that my pelvis has started expanding to get ready for the baby.

WHAT?! Already?? Oh right, twenty-five days...

This week my main priority is to get the babies room as finished as possible. We have all of the furniture built and today I washed approximately 8374935792819848 onesies/blankets/sheets. I'm just waiting for a few more items to arrive and then we should be ready to go!

We started taking our Lamaze Class (turns out there's more to it than he-he-ho) over the weekend. While the classes are a bit long, there has been a lot of really good information and even a few of those lovely birthing videos. We have one more class this Saturday and then we are ready to go! Or...something like that. We also had a hospital tour which was amazing. We are having our baby at the Texas Children's Hospital Pavilion for Women. The Pavilion is brand new - only been delivering babies for about a month now. The entire facility is brand new and absolutely gorgeous. I never thought I would say that about a hospital but it's true! All of the rooms are private and there is a one-to-one nurse to patient ratio during labor and delivery. Since its attached to the Children's Hospital if there are any emergencies or problems during delivery (or after) there is a full neonatal and pediatric team ready to go. We couldn't ask for a better place to have our first baby (and we are SO glad it's in network for our insurance) ;)

Thirty-five Weeks

We decided to take a semi-last minute mini vacation over the long Easter weekend. A "baby-moon" if you will - our last vacation before this family of two becomes a family of three.

Man was that a good idea.

On Saturday I turned Thirty-five Weeks and I felt every single day of it. I am getting to the point now where I am starting to feel pretty uncomfortable most of the time. It is hard to sit/stand/walk/sleep for long (heck, even short) periods of time. That being said, I am still incredibly grateful to have only gained a minimal amount of weight and to not have to carry this baby through the heat of a Houston summer.

We headed west to Lake Austin Spa for our weekend trip - only a few hours away by car so I felt comfortable leaving the area. The spa was amazing (more on that this week over on The Traveling Cupcake) and while we were there I indulged in their Mama-to-be massage. It did wonders for my lower back and shoulder pain - I think I need one of these every day! As the only (heavily) pregnant woman at the resort we were quite a popular couple. Everyone was super nice and we received many well wishes. I can't get over how nice people are when you are pregnant! If people were this nice to each other ALL the time this world would be a different place, I'm telling you. Although I can't help wonder how nice the same people would be in a few months when I'm carrying around a screaming baby...hmmm....

Along with feeling like a balloon ready to pop I have been having quite a few Braxton Hicks contractions. I usually have a few a day and didn't even realize what they were until a week or so ago. They aren't really that painful yet, mostly just uncomfortable. I had my 35 week check up today and baby girl is doing great! The Dr. said that I am measuring perfectly and have so far put on around 22 lbs. With only about four and a half weeks to go that puts me right on target for a very healthy and normal total weight gain (does that mean I can start indulging in a pint of ice cream every night??) I had been measuring the circumference of my belly once a week but during the chaos of the move I have lost my measuring tape. I'm interested to see how many inches I have put on since the last time I measured it over a month ago!

Starting next week I am going to see the Dr weekly - which is a sure sign that this thing is coming to an end soon! We start our Birthing classes this weekend and have a tour of the hospital as well. I'm excited for both - the hospital is brand new (my Dr delivered the first newborn to be born there a couple weeks ago) and I can't wait to see the facilities. On the agenda this week - Project Babies Room! We really need to get moving on setting up her room (just in case she decides to get here early) and now that we have most of the furniture here in the house we are ready to start assembling! Hopefully in the next week or two I will have some photos of her room to show you :)

Thirty-four (and a half) Weeks

Here I go, posting so late in the week again! I'm still using the excuse that I'm super busy unpacking...which isn't entirely untrue. In case you missed the news over on my other blog, I'm starting my own photography business, and have been busy this week putting the final touches on my website.

But now, on to the belly shot! 

For the next five and half weeks or so (YIKES!) the baby will mostly be putting on fat and getting nice and plump for her arrival. She should be about 5 lbs or so right now and is gaining about a half a pound a week. If, for some reason, she decided to show up SUPER early to the party, as long as there weren't any pre-existing conditions, she should be just fine. Not that we want her to show up early, but it's a relief to know that in case something did happen she would be pretty safe and well developed.

I'm finding it harder and harder to go about my day as I normally would. Along with the typical third trimester fatigue I also find it hard to be on my feet for more than a couple hours at a time. Which makes unpacking a house kind of difficult. One way to get around this is to wear my running sneakers all the time (shoes with little to no support are now stashed at the back of my closet) which is extra attractive on a pregnant lady. I'm also finding it harder to bend down to pick things up, and it's even worse trying to get back up! I regulated myself to a two hours on/one hour off schedule this week and it seems to be working a lot better. I've noticed that I'm even starting to outgrow some of my maternity clothes!! Shirts and tanks are getting shorter and there is no way I'm going to sport a crop top this late into my pregnancy. I don't really want to invest in a lot more clothes since I'll only be wearing them for a few more weeks, but I think I'm going to have to break down and get a couple more items (hopefully ones that I can continue to wear after Baby C arrives) to get me through the final weeks.

We are going away for a little (but VERY much needed) vacation this weekend - a "baby-moon" I think people call it these days. We are headed out west (but not too far, don't worry) and I see a lake, sunny weather and a spa in our immediate future. Have a wonderful Easter and Passover weekend!