Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving! I am proud to say that I managed to make a fairly traditional thanksgiving meal! My dad, Kris and I ate around lunch time and enjoyed marinated turkey breast (thank you Oprah!), stuffing, baked sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls and Kris' awesome apple pie! Not bad for the first thanksgiving I was fully responsible for! Other than that, we have a fairly busy weekend. We are going to visit Kris' sister and family in Tampa tomorrow and Kris is running in his 5th marathon in Cocoa Beach on Sunday. Maybe we'll try to get a little "good deal" Christmas  shopping in this weekend, which doubles as exercise for me :)! 

We hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving weekend - don't eat too much and don't shop too much either!! 

Day of Drama

Before I go into details of my 37 week doctor check up, I have to share a funny story. 

Going into work this morning, I decided to park closer to the elevators of the parking garage because I knew I had to leave in an hour to get to my doctor's appointment. So, since I got to work early, there were plenty of spaces available close, and because of the holiday, I figured it wouldn't be crowded, so I parked and went into work. Keep in mind, that in a parking garage, people usually park in approximately the same place everyday, and even I get frustrated if someone beat me to my "usual" spot. I should have known better! An hour went by and I got to my car, and sure enough, both cars on each side of me parked so close that I could not get my doors open, let alone hardly fit between the cars. How the other people got OUT of their cars, I have no idea, but there was NO way a 9 month pregnant woman was getting in the car. So, I seriously had to open the back of my car and climb through to the front!!! I think out of frustration and concern about being late, somehow I climbed my way into the drivers seat and cursed those inconsiderate people the whole way out of the garage!!! I'm sure anyone who saw the scene was wondering what the hell what going on. So, next time you park too close to someones car, please reconsider and think of the pregnant woman!!!

Okay, quick update on the rest of the drama...I saw Dr Wilson today and he checked everything out and determined that I was measuring small (believe it or not!) so he wanted to do a quick sonogram to check things out. So, he did, but was not able to get good images of the chest and lungs and the weight estimate was about 6 lbs, which still fell at the 20th percentile for 37 weeks. So, he wanted a second opinion and scheduled an appointment with a specialist for this afternoon. So I followed doctor's orders and went to get a second sonogram and met another doctor, who come to find out specializes in high-risk pregnancies and his practice specializes in imaging and sonograms. So, after the technician poked and prodded the baby for about 20 minutes, and then the doctor came and did the same thing, it was determined that all the organs in the chest are fine, but indeed the baby is still only in the 20th percentile. But, over all no worries since all the organs looked good and were working properly. Thank goodness! Needless to say, its been a rough day of poking and prodding and I am sore. Other updates...heartbeat was strong and at 140. And the head is indeed down and I am about 1 cm dilated. Still a long way to go!! So that's the latest!

On the Homestretch

I thought I would publish this photo of me today, not because it marks a week mile stone, but just because I feel huge and have officially seen stretchmarks on my belly. The baby likes to lay lop-sided and the right side of my belly tends to pop-out much further and therefore since it is growing, it is pushing and creating stretchmarks. I am not very pleased with this action, but what am I going to do about it? It is quite amusing when you watch the movement and see it stick out, though. So I will continue to lather on the Burt's Bee's Momma Bee belly butter and wish for the best. 

This week has been a challenge keeping up the pace at work and at home. I have had a busy week at work, with meetings almost all day on site and at City Hall and my body is speaking to me to take a break. Thank goodness next week is a short three day week, otherwise, I think I would need to take tomorrow off. But, with today's meetings over, and not too much scheduled for tomorrow, I think I can handle it - TGIF!! 

Kris and I finally listened to the Lamaze CD tonight to "practice" breathing techniques for the different type of contractions. It was quite technical, and in no way do I expect Kris to "coach" me with all the lingo and counting, though it was helpful to get an idea of the breathing patterns for early labor up to when you push. I actually think that my Yoga breathing will be more helpful, but we shall see. So now I just need to actually pack a bag and put a pillow in the car - because I know we will forget one, and check a few more things off the list. 

As excited as I am for the baby to be here, I am also a little sad to think that all the experiences from the last 38 weeks are about to end. I know with the baby here and a million other things to worry about in the future, I will miss this phase. I hope this blog helps me remember all the fun moments and learning experiences I've had in the process. Plus, Kris and I have done some cool things since the baby was conceived - everything from visiting AZ for baseball spring training to New York and Boston, to Sarah & Charlie's wedding in July and Carrie and Matt's wedding in September. As they say, life will never be the same, but it changes for the better! Only 25 +/- days to go!! 

Land Owners!

Well, its official! We closed on our new piece of land on Friday! We now own approximately 7000 s.f. of actual dirt and two trees! Kris and I are thrilled that we have a future place for a new home. Now comes the hard part of figuring out what to build on it. As I think I mentioned before, you might think it would an easy task for two architects, but it is not. I have been a lot more focused on getting prepared for the baby than designing a new house! Kris has been frustrated with me because of that, but first things first!! Though, we do hope to have something to break ground with in the next 6 months. I'll try to remember to take pictures this week and post as soon as possible. 

Other than that, we managed to purchace the car seat this weekend (check that off the list) and Kris also started to assemble the basinett that will mostly be in our room in the beginning. So more progress has been made. I spent most of the weekend at City Hall trying to catch up on the work load that has hit our team the past couple of weeks. I am trying to keep up, but also prepare for when I am gone. Though I only plan on being away for 6 full weeks and 12 weeks of half time, the holidays are included, so hopefully it won't be to busy while I am out. I also managed to grocery shop and fix some delicious enchiladas (from the Oprah show) for dinner! Now its time to kick my feet up and watch the 60 minutes interview with our new president!!

Upside down!

Today I had my 35 week visit to the Doctor. I have indeed reached the 30 lb. mark and everything else was fine. The heartbeat was 140 and strong. The doc checked me out and verified that the head was indeed low an directed down. Funny thing is that where Kris and I thought was the head, was actually the butt, so Kris has been talking to the baby's butt for the last couple weeks! Oh well!

My next appointment will be in two weeks, and then I'll be seeing them once a week from there on out. Time is seeming to go by FAST.

Above are a few photos of the awesome shower at my office last week. As you can see I was truely surprised! It was a great time and we got lots of really nice gifts for the nursery and baby. 

Kris and I also visited one of the downtown daycares this afternoon. It is a great facility and though it is a little pricey (what daycare isn't-right?) it definitly has all the attributes that we are looking for - especially the emphasis on education and care. We are on the waiting list, so hopefully we get in when we need to. We hope to visit one or two more downtown as a backup plan, but this one I think is our first choice. 

That's the latest update...time to put my feet up for the evening! 

Update at 35 weeks

So its only been 3 weeks since my last photo, and I'll probably do this on a weekly basis until the baby comes, but as you can tell, beside my hair needing to be cut, my face is fuller, and my pants are a little tighter, too! I visit the doctor on Tuesday, and I am guessing that i may hit the 30 lb. mark!! Its been harder to get around and the pain just under my belly is making standing up and stitting down more and more uncomfortable. So needless to say, I haven't done much lately. I actually got up early this morning because probably for the first time in my life, I was uncomfortable in my bed! For those of you that know me well, you are probably shocked - I was too! 

This weekend was all about baby! It started out Friday at work when my wonderfully supportive coworkers threw me a suprize baby shower! They planned it well because I was shocked when I thought I was going into a meeting and opened the door with the whole office and more there!! It was a great time and I will post the photos as soon as I can to share with everyone. 

Then, yesterday, Kris and I attended an all-day crash course for Lamas - which actually had nothing to do with the breathing, though we did get a CD to practice with at home. Instead, it was a class on the birthing process and everything to do with what could happen from the moment you go into labor to the moment you go home with child in arms. It was taught by a male nurse, Ron, who is the only male birthing nurse at Winnie Palmer. He was really great and I think Kris actually listened more closely since the information was coming from a man. Plus, Ron really emphasized the male role in the process (like massaging and doing anything I tell him to) which I greatly appreciated as well. So, it was well worth our time and money. It also emphasized a few things we still need to hurry up and take care of - like pack a bag and get a carseat!! We were the only ones in the class that hadn't purchased the carseat yet, and we were one of three couples that were the farthest along in the pregnancy! Needless to say, we'll be taking care of that this week! 

Finally, today, we pre-registered at Winter Park Hospital, where we will actually be having the baby, and attended a group tour of the facility to see where its all going to play out. My dad came along so he knew where to go when he got the call. I think he is getting excited too!

Well, after all that, I am ready to head to bed early tonight. More going on this week, so I'll try too keep the blog updated! 

History in the making

As Kris and I watched the election results on TV last night, I realized that the baby has actually had an eventful gestational period in the womb! The 2008 Olympics were in China this summer, the stock market fiasco occured, an interesting world series happend just a few weeks ago, and now we have elected Mr. Obama to the presidency! It has been a memorable 34 weeks in our nation's history! I hope I will remember all of the events, as well as our personal history from this pregnancy, which has also been quite eventful!

On another note, I have realized that I am getting to the point where people are starting to worry I might go into labor any day now - or at least I get that impression. Though with 6 weeks to go, I personally am not worried, nor have we even gone to lamaz class yet to even know what to do when it does happen! But other people, meaning mostly coworkers and people coming for meetings at work, have suprized me with their reactions on their face when they see me - or more like it - my belly - enter the room or come out of the elevator! Yes, I know my belly is growing - and it is supposed too!! But I sometime feel like a freak in the room becuase of some of the reactions. Another thing that is interesting, is that when I am at work, I try to be as professional as possible and focus on the projects, however, people (applicants and consultants ) always want to talk about when I am due, how life is going to change, how I am feeling, bla bla bla. On one hand, it is truely kind and endeering that people want to "comfort" me by giving their support and always a story on how wonderful parenthood is - and I truely do respect that and I really can't wait for my own experience to be able to say the same thing (or I wouldn't have wanted to get pregnant in the first place!) But on the other hand, the daily update is becoming more like a chore than small talk. I don't want to sound like I don't care, or that I am not always thinking about this little muchkin growing inside me, but there's more to me than just my belly! Anyway, with just a few weeks left, I'm sure I can tolerate it for just a little while longer.

Baby Space

Okay, so finally, the baby space is starting to look like a nursery! Here's a few pictures to give you an idea of what it will be in our current place. We (well, okay, Kris mostly) have been working hard today steam cleaning the carpet in both bedrooms and living room, and trying to clean up a bit. Most of my afternoon has been occupied with installing software for my new web camera so we can "SKYPE" with family and friends around the country (so if you are a skyper, let me know!!) Technology is awesome, I tell ya!! 

The weather has finally cooled off - at least into the 60-70's durning the morning and afternoons, so we enjoyed a long walk this morning running errands to the dry cleaners and the new Target at Sodo which is down the street from us. It is really convienient and I can't wait for the other shops and restaurants to open there. 

What else has been going on....oh, I voted finally yesterday at the downtown library (which is one of my favorite buildings, especially with the updated interiors, which my good friend Beverly designed when she worked with Kris!) BUT, it only took an hour in line, which I guess was pretty good from what I've heard. I figured on a Friday night, especially on Halloween, that the line would be short, but it was not -- which is a good thing because at least people are voting!! 

Also coming up this next week, we are going to be closing on our new piece of property!! Yippe!! I can't wait!! We are still working on many ideas for a house on the lot, which we would like to get figured out sooner than later, but nothing is clicking yet. We'll get there, though, eventually. 

Well, the baby is moving a lot right now, so I should probably get up and move around myself. Hope everyone has a good weekend!