Week 38: Not long now!

This week we met with our Faith Group from church which includes 4 other married couples who have become dear friends to us. It was great to see them especially because one of the couples has a baby almost 8 months old and another couple is expecting their first baby just over a month after Tom and I. It's been really great to share and swap stories with them and just have someone else who "gets it" and knows what you're going through. The group also gave us a really sweet gift including a child's Bible. We look forward to many nights reading from it!

Also this week Baby G is approaching 7 pounds and 20 inches long! He's producing more of something called surfactant which is a substance that prevents air sacs in his lungs from sticking to one another when he starts to breathe-I like the sound of that :)

This week the nesting instinct continues as we have been stocking up on items like shampoo, paper towels, etc. so we won't have to go shopping for those things for awhile.

At our weekly doctor appointment the nurse practitioner we see alternately with my doctor gave us great reassurance that Baby G is still dropping lower in my stomach even though I'm not dilated at all. I'm not anticipating him coming early, but I won't lie in saying that it sure would be nice if he did! I'm ever more uncomfortable walking around and sleeping is more and more difficult as my hips pretty much ache constantly while I sleep. But complaining aside, it's so nice to know we're almost to the end of the pregnancy road and can start enjoying our next road as parents!

We also celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary this week! It kind of snuck up on us this year as we've been so preoccupied getting things ready for the baby. But regardless of that we went out for a lovely dinner and celebrated 4 wonderful years. I know I am definitely blessed with the best husband I could ever ask for :)

Here's the baby bump pic from week 38:

Week 37: He's Full Term!

It's hard to believe but this week Baby G is considered full term. It definitely feels like a milestone to have gotten this far. We had a doctor appointment again this week and my doctor said she thinks it'll still be a couple weeks still until he makes his appearance. She did guesstimate by measuring and feeling my stomach that the baby is about 6 pounds this week so if he continues to gain the average 1/2 pound a week he'll be about 7 1/2 pounds at birth. This makes me happy because I certainly don't want to have to push out a 10 pound baby! He's also dropped lower in my belly which I'm definitely feeling, but happy he's moving in the right direction. He remains head down which is also great news.

This week Tom also left for his last work trip before Baby G arrives. He's gone 3 nights to Los Angelas and I felt a lot better about it after having this doctor appointment, because I was slightly worried that I'd go into labor without him here. But luckily we seem to be in the clear for that.

My parents have come over a couple times as well to help us with some house projects and mowed our lawn for us since Tom is still recuperating from surgery and it's been much too hot for me to broach the task of mowing the lawn. That has been a huge help! It's also nice because I notice that I get wiped out and exhausted very easily lately and have to make sure to take breaks periodically or I pay for it later with back and foot pain. Tom is great at reminding me to slow it down because I typically like to be a busy body on the move a lot. This week we also put the finishing touches on our nursery (which is completely done now!) by putting together our glider and ottoman.

It's hard to believe the countdown to the end is getting so close but I think Tom and I are both ready and definitely excited for the next phase in the adventure: parenthood!

Week 36: Feeling hot hot hot!

Well here in Minnesota we're having a HEAT WAVE! No I'm not kidding, it is possible in this normally chilly state. All week long it's been in the 90's with heat indexes near 100. Needless to say, this extremely pregnant lady is feeling the effects of the heat. I basically feel like a big puffy ball with how swollen the heat is making my feet, hands, face, etc. The good news, though, is air conditioning! We have been cranking ours and thank goodness for it. Because of the heat intolerance I've found with pregnancy, I really don't feel like I've been able to enjoy summer as much as I normally do. Ordinarily, I LOVE the heat and am really tolerant of it, even going for runs on days like this. But lately I've been doing a lot of hibernating so I'm looking forward to Fall, which will be doubly fun as we'll have a baby and cooler weather!

This week for Baby Boy G he's about SIX POUNDS-wow! And 20 inches in length. His bones and cartilage are still soft to help make his exit into the world a smoother one. Today we started our now weekly prenatal doctor visits and this was an eventful one. First, they did a Strep B test which is routine for all pregnant ladies as if you do have Strep B you have to get antibiotics during labor to prevent passing it to baby. I'll find out next visit the results of this. Second, they do an exam to see how things are progressing. What they found was that I'm not dilated at all but Baby G is falling lower in my pelvis than he has been. We also had another ultrasound to make sure he's head down and hooray, he is! We were told that it's unlikely he would turn now as it's getting pretty tight in there for him. And they said that if he did move, I would almost positively notice it because it would be quite the disruption in my stomach if he flipped that much. But he does continue to kick like crazy and I can often see my belly move when he kicks.

This week Tom and I also took a CPR class. We figured it wouldn't hurt to get certified as it's obviously something you want to know if you need it but hope you never need it. So we both feel good now, knowing not only how to do CPR and help someone who's choking on adults but also on infants.

Last weekend while Tom continued to recuperate after his gallbladder surgery, I did a little bit of shopping for some of the final things we still wanted for our nursery. So we got a diaper genie (a very nice to have item I've heard) and a glider and ottoman for what will inevitably be many nights up rocking Baby G to sleep. Tom and I have a little diapering station set up in the nursery and one night this week we decided to do a "run through" so we diapered an elephant stuffed animal to practice how it'll work with a real baby :)

Here are also a couple of sneak peaks at the photos from our pregnancy photo shoot and a look at our ultrasound to check Baby G's positioning. Thanks Alison Geier for your great work!

And here's our actual week 36 baby belly pic:

Week 35: A Roller Coaster Week

Well week 35 was a mixed bag for our household. Starting the week off we had a pregnancy photo shoot with photographer, Alison Geier. Check out her blog at http://www.alisonleaphotography.com/blog/, she's very talented! We got some really fun photos both outside and inside her studio and are excited to see how the photos turned out.

So that was the high point of the week and come this previous Sunday it went downhill pretty quickly. Tom got very ill and ended up needing emergency gallbladder surgery on Tuesday, August 3rd. Click on this link as Tom made a little video about the whole process. Luckily he's on the mend now and in significantly less pain which makes for a significantly less worried wife! Here's a pic of Tom's war wounds and really nice get well gifts he got while in the hospital:

On the brighter side, Baby G is now 5 1/2 pounds and about 20 inches long. I'm guessing that he's easing into the head down position because I feel almost all of his movement and kicks up by my ribs. I've also had a couple people comment that my belly is looking lower so hopefully he's getting into position and ready to come out in a couple weeks! It's pretty amazing to now be able to say that next month we'll have a baby!

Here's week 35's belly pic:

Week 34: Five Pounder!

Yay for Baby G packing on the pounds. This week he's supposed to be about 5 pounds and 20 inches long! Another interesting tidbit is that his fingernails have reached the ends of his fingertips and may need a trimming at birth. Neato! Kind of gross sounding is that the "vernix" or white coating that protects Baby G's skin is thickening. At least he'll be nice and warm and insulated with it.

This week we also took a little "baby moon" to Decorah, Iowa, where Tom and I both went to (and met at) Luther College. It was a great mini-getaway. There was beautiful weather which allowed us to walk around campus and reminisce about when we first met. We also got to attend Nordic Fest and see some friends from college there too. Here are some pics from the trip including a couple pictures from a trip to Dunning Springs and campus. As you can see Marty enjoyed the baby moon too :)

This week my back pain reached peak awful-ness so I treated myself to a pregnancy massage. It was heavenly! I went to Sanctuary Salon Spa in Eden Prairie (a suburb in the Twin Cities for you out-of-towners) and got pampered. It was fabulous because they had a cut-out in the table that allowed me to be able to lay on my stomach for part of the massage and for the massage therapist to really work over my back. I felt so much better afterwards so I'm really glad I got it done.

We also finished our 3 week child birth class series this week. Tom and I were really impressed with the classes and how informative they were. This final class discussed a lot about more "unexpected" birth options, including c-sections and the many potential reasons for one. I will admit that leaving these classes has filled me with quite a bit of anxiety as I can only anticipate the level of pain I'm about to go through in the next few weeks. I've told friends that the part I struggle with the most is just not having any similar experience to compare the level of pain too. I've run a marathon and could do my training long runs to get a flavor of the level of pain and mental exhaustion I'd experience during the marathon itself. But childbirth isn't quite the same since I've never felt a contraction and have no frame of reference for that type of pain. But like many things with pregnancy, I'll just have to wait and see what it'll be like. I'm lucky to have a great supportive spouse who will help me through it!

Here is also week 34's belly pic: