32 Week Appointment

We are now in the 33rd week which means only 7 weeks until the baby is due! At 33 weeks, most babies are between 4.5 and 5 pounds. We had an appointment this morning. First was the sonogram and then we met with the doctor. Everything is looking normal in terms of growth so that is excellent. During the sonogram the baby appeared to be touching his/her feet and maybe playing with them. We were also surprised to find out that the baby has managed to change position and is now head-down which is the correct position! That means that I may not be having a c-section after all. I will have another sonogram in 4 weeks so we will be able to tell at that time if the baby is still head-down. Brett and I were happy to hear everything is progressing so normally. It is a little more difficult though not knowing what is going to happen. With a c-section, we knew that we would probably just go in when we were scheduled and have a baby fairly quickly (although the following weeks would be extra difficult). Now we are more in the dark in terms of when this is going to happen and how it will all play out. But the end result should be the same and that's all that really matters!

Showers

We have been showered (and that is an understatement) with gifts and support over the past few days. Friday at work my co-workers surprised me with a shower. It was complete with a delicious and cute cake, punch, and gifts. Then on Saturday I had a shower at my aunt Janel's home in Overland Park. My mom's sister Shelly made most of the arrangements with the help of other family members. Family from my side and Brett's were there along with bunches of friends.

My Mom (Grandma Debbie) and I

 The amount of gifts we received was overwhelming. One of my favorite things was that this was a shower where everyone brought a book (in place of a card) and most people wrote a little message in the book for us and the baby. Shockingly, we did not get any duplicates of books and a lot of them were very popular childrens books. I can't wait to start reading them to the baby!

Another highlight was a poem that my Grandma Rita wrote on the inside of her book. This is her first great-grandchild and the shower also happened to be on her birthday. Here is what she wrote:

Although we do not know yet what this little angel is to be,

Whether it be a he or a she.

We do know this little one will have a great mom and dad.

The most special parents any child could have had.

This being my first Great Grandchild, whether a girl or boy,

It will certainly bring me great moments of joy.

If in time we see this little child riding on a scooter,

Who knows it may well be another little "Pooter."

Thanks to the showers and all the gifts, the nursery is well on its way now. We got a lot accomplished this weekend. The bed and night stand are set up and most things are put away. We still need to buy a dresser and a glider but then the room should be almost complete (except for the baby!). Brett is also going to order the carseat/stroller this week. He has a highly rated and safe one all picked out.

Empty Nursery

I know this does not look like progress but after a full weekend of work, I can assure you that it is! We I finally got the "nursery" cleared out this past weekend and it is now ready to start accumulating baby things. Here are a couple of shots of our empty nursery. Not to be empty for long though... the shower is on Saturday and we are going to get furniture and whatever else we need in the upcoming weeks. We are obviously not quite set up so hopefully Vegas Baby doesn't surprise us too soon!

30 Week Appointment

We had another appointment today. This one was just a quick check-up with the doctor. We did not have an ultrasound but the doctor did measure my belly and listen to the baby's heartbeat. Everything was measuring fine. She commented that my belly was lopsided and that she didn't think the baby had changed position since my last ultrasound. She could tell that it was mostly sitting on the right. I agreed that I didn't think the position had changed - I am still feeling movements in the same places as during the last scan. So the baby is still lying sideways instead of head down.

The doctor is skeptical that the baby will change position to head down so I will more than likely be having a c-section. We will wait until my 36-week appointment and ultrasound to schedule the c-section in case the baby does change position. The delivery will be scheduled sometime during my last week of pregnancy (so probably between May 17 and 21). Nine weeks to go!

30 Weeks - Shower Invitations, Hiccups

Only 10 weeks to go! That seems kind of crazy. Are we really ready for our lives to change? Well, they are going to whether we are ready or not.

Not a lot to update on at the moment but I did want to show off my baby shower invitations. They are soooo cute! My very talented aunt Sandy designed and made them. Check out her website here. Thanks Sandy!!!

There is a small insert that looks like a book which requests guests to bring a book rather than a card and write a small inscription or sign inside the cover of the book. I think this is a super cute idea and I am excited to see what books we get. I was a total book worm when I was younger (and still would be if I had the time). The invitation itself is designed to be a bookmark. So creative!

Shower Invitation

In other news, the baby now has regular bouts of the hiccups. I notice them at least twice, sometimes three times each day. I have also recently found out that he or she does get startled by loud noises. The Big XII basketball tournament has been going on this week. We went to a couple of games the other night and the little tyke would stir around when the crowd would get noisy. The same thing happened last night when the Jayhawks went ahead and we happened to be in probably the most crowded KU bar in Missouri.

We had our second (and final) birthing class this morning. It was somewhat informative and the videos we had to watch today were much less graphic than the previous class. We had to bring pillows and a blanket to class so we thought that it would be the typical breathing exercises you see on TV. Not the case - at the end of class we just did a really weird relaxation exercise. It was definitely not our thing. We were supposed to imagine we were in the uterus and our breaths were bright lights. Then we were lying on a beach having contractions. It was quite amusing and needless to say, I got nothing out of that (nor do I think I will be using that technique during contractions).

We have a check-up with the doctor on Monday but no ultrasound so it will probably be pretty quick and routine. Other than that... I am just working through busy season and we have been watching a lot of basketball. Neither of these things is helping get the nursery ready. Oh well, I guess we should be enjoying this free time while we have it, right?

29 Weeks - Birthing Classes

As of today, we have made it through 29 weeks of pregnancy. Our 30th week starts tomorrow which means only about 10 more weeks until the baby is due. It has gone pretty fast and I hope the remaining 10 weeks go somewhat quickly as well. I am ready for tax season to be over with so I am not working late or on the weekends. I am also ready for the weather to stay nice so we can do more things outside. We took the dogs to the dog park yesterday and it was great to get some fresh air. I can't wait to open up all the windows and turn the heat off. And I am most ready to meet this baby and find out if it is a boy or a girl! I'm sure once the time gets here and I am living off of no sleep I will wonder what I was thinking. But as of now, I am really ready for this baby. Well... I guess we aren't "really" ready yet since we have almost no baby stuff.

I think I have mentioned this before but Brett is not a big fan of the prego belly. He has always said that he thinks pregnant women are gross and doesn't like to look at them. He is not interested in touching my belly or feeling the baby. It just weirds him out. I have known all this for a long time so it doesn't really bother me and was not a shock after I got pregnant. Although I did think that if it was his own wife and baby he might not think it was so bad... not really the case though. :) When I asked if he was bonding with the baby - that's what all the books say about dads feeling the baby move - he said that's what all the ultrasounds are for. He also says he would rather just wait until the baby is born to be touching it. So needless to say it had been a while since he felt the baby kick or move - probably over a month. This morning we were lying next to one another and my stomach was touching him. Of course the active little guy or girl was kicking him and he couldn't believe it wasn't me hiccuping or something. Nope, it was just our powerful and growing baby!

We have had a more productive weekend in terms of getting ready for the baby this week. Saturday morning we started our birthing classes. I took notes on the best things to pack. We learned all about labor and delivery. We went over the different stages of labor and Brett took notes on what to expect and what his "job" would be. We also had to watch videos of labors and deliveries... let's just say it was way more graphic than the high school health class video. The worst part was that they showed the placenta being delivered. Yuck! Brett was glad he wore a hat so that he could shield his eyes from everything. Afterward he told me that it was a good thing we didn't take that class before I got pregnant or we would not be having a kid.

Last night we finally got the desk moved out of the nursery. Andy and Sarah came over and Andy was so nice to help move the desk even though he was under the weather. Thanks Uncle Andy! So now we can say that even though we haven't started on anything at least the room is not an office anymore. I think I am going to try to clear out the rest of the non-baby stuff from that room tonight. Then it is just getting the baby things and putting the room together. We will probably wait until after the shower to do much on that. Speaking of the shower, we also finalized the date and time. The baby shower is going to be May 27 at 2:30 here in the KC area. My amazing aunts and mom are getting everything in order which is greatly appreciated. Invitations will probably go out sometime this week. Let me know if you don't get one... my pregnant brain likes to forget things!

28 Week Update

Well, we are officially in the 3rd trimester now... and it shows! Mom and Dad came to town yesterday and apparently I have grown quite a bit in just a couple of weeks. The baby is also becoming very active in the last couple of days.

My doctor appointments that were monthly for the last two months are now going back to every other week. I think it is just sort of standard care (minus all the ultrasounds) for the 3rd trimester. The ultrasounds will still be monthly so we will probably just have two more before we see the real thing. At today's appointment we had an ultrasound to check the baby's growth. Everything was still normal - the baby is now around 2 pounds, 13 ounces and is in the 55th percentile. The only abnormal thing was that I was really lightheaded and seeing spots so I had to sit up a few times. This was probably just caused by being on my back too long. We were also able to tell what position the baby is in right now. Its back is against the bottom of my ribs (along the top of my belly) with the head, hands, and feet down lower. Not quite the ideal position but there is still plenty of time for it to move. I don't think I will bother posting pictures - they are really grainy and you can barely tell what anything is. The baby always has its hands and arms in front of the face so the technicians have a really hard time getting good face shots.

In other news, we finally got registered at Babies R Us. That place is massive and I think there is a lot of "stuff" that they try to sell that people really don't need. Hopefully we got the necessities. We still need to pick out the infant travel system (car seat and stroller set) but Brett is doing his research first. We also registered online for some things at Target that were either more reasonable or worked better. A lot of people have been asking how the nursery is coming along. Well, we are a little behind on that. It is still an office right now just gathering a few more baby things week by week. Maybe by the time the shower is over at the end of the month we will have enough stuff to where we will be motivated to find a home for everything. Me working on the weekends now is not speeding up the process. We are also starting our birthing classes this weekend. They will be the next two Saturday mornings for about 3 1/2 hours. Brett is definitely not pumped up for that but it's part of the job.

One thing I have accomplished is getting my cloth diapers ordered. I know - we are nuts! But I at least wanted to give it a try to save our landfills from about 3,796 disposable diapers that can each take hundreds of years to decompose. Besides, they are pretty cute (for now, until they are covered in poo).

And one thing we went backwards on is names. Brett has decided that he is not into "Kyler" for a boy. So we are back to square one. Boy names are tough! We are trying to find a name that is not in the top 100 for popularity but is also not way out there. We can't seem to agree on one. So if we have a boy, he may not have a name for a few days. The one name that we both like (but is really popular right now) is Gavin. Brett is still hung up on Jacoby but I just can't do it. He also came up with Sanders the other day - again, can't do it. So we bought a baby name book with over 100,000 names. Hopefully we can agree on one!