38 weeks: 4lbs...

yeah... I gained 4lbs... IN ONE WEEK! no idea what happened here and really have no idea how that's even possible. I didn't eat anymore than normal. I was in a different room, which the doc said the scale might be a bit off, but even so I was quite surprised. my hands and feet have been a bit more swollen this week so that could be a part of it too. anyway, I have no control over this, but everything else looked good. not dialated yet although my cervix was soft... so we're getting there!

this week really has been uneventful. nursery is getting there, but waiting for that dresser to finally come in is a big part of it. once that's in the room we'll be able to put most of her clothes in there and set up the changing table part of it. I'm crossing my fingers we get that this next week.

I'm still feeling well. nothing to complain about here. clearly this bump looks HUGE, but doesn't feel that way. I mean yes it's big and I'd like to be able to fit in a normal shirt again, but I'm 9.5 months preggers so it's expected. I can't wait to be able to lay on my belly again. Oh the lil things in life...

so when will she get here? 14 days till d-day. will she come before or will I have to be induced? mark and I both think before. mark is thinking 9/6 and I'll say 9/7 because of lucky number 7. maybe i'll do jumping jacks that day :) hehe.

cravings: chocolate, fresh fruit
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
our baby has really plumped up. she weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). she has a firm grasp, which we'll soon be able to test when we hold her hand for the first time! her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

wondering what color our baby's eyes will be? we may not be able to tell right away. if she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. if she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. that's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

bubbly

i guess i'll just deal with the pain, can't wait to celebrate!

madi my design assistant

so comfy on my pregger pillow.

37 weeks: ding! this bun is done!

FULL-TERM!

yay! i'm so happy we made it this far and baby has been content to finish fully growing and developing her lungs and immune system. good job baby girl :) although, we're ready for her arrival my goal is for her to keep staying content till 39-weeks—september 3rd. not that I have any control over it but just want her to be as fully finished growing as possible.

today i've also started working from home. going to be great change of pace not commuting into the city and then walking a mile to the office... under regular circumstances i loved the walk, but lately i have to walk so slow to be comfortable that it was driving me crazy and worrying me. too many "what ifs" crossed my mind. being near the hospital if baby girl decides to come early gives me peace of mind, allows me to sleep and extra hour and helps avoid a 3-hr/day commute all together. at this point 3 extra hours a day is golden.

last week my upper abdomen, right below where my stomach is now was really sore. and with every baby kick I cringed at the sharp jabs. her kicks usually don't bother me—they make me smile most of the time, but for some reason I was sore and not a happy camper when she was active. deep breaths :)

grandpa wally is already spoiling his grand daughter :) went to carter's with me this weekend and had a bit of fun. love seeing my dad pick out cute lil girly outfits. love him so much.

no other changes at this point. I see the doc again tomorrow so maybe I'll be dialated?! i'll fill you in on my next update.

cravings: can't think of anything specific.
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
at week 37, pregnancy is considered full term, meaning baby is likely to thrive after birth. baby spends these last weeks in preparation for the outside world… meaning careful refinement of the blink, suck, inhale and exhale. meconium, which we’ll probably find in the first diaper, is accumulating in the intestines. if I worry about giving birth, I need to consider what it’s like for the little one. during the journey out of my womb, baby will produce more stress hormones than any other time in life.

this moment is life

36 weeks: baby daddy here

hello everyone. sorry I have been neglectful of my posting duties. so what is going on right now from my perspective? hmmm, well, we have a baby on the way—not sure if you all knew that. so I guess I will start with my thoughts on this topic and we can move on from there.

when we first realized we were pregnant, I was a little worried. so many thoughts cross your mind. how do we pay for a baby? do we start saving for college now or pay off our own college loans? how do we find a babysitter? how are we going to make room in our condo? basically every thought imaginable.

then everything settles in and I got a bit excited, but was still worried with all of the unanswered questions. everybody we see says, "oh how wonderful, congratulations", "you better get some sleep", "this is the end of your life as you know it" and so on. it gets crazy because you don't know what to think.

so this is what my current thoughts are now... I am extremely excited! the anticipation is a lot like our wedding last year, except now I just want the little baby girl to come because I am really tired of having to wait for her. we have had all of our showers so in my mind we basically have everything we need so that we are not horrible parents. I'm ready and sort of tired of waiting and just want to meet our lil girl! good news is that michele is ready too.

I don't really know what else to say, possibly why I do not contribute as often as michele does. next week we will talk about our fantasy football picks... get excited!!!

36 weeks: one month to go!

wow, last month...

we're ready for this lil girl to get here. mark put together her crib on saturday and stayed patient with the stroller :) that thing was crazy. we're slowly getting her nursery together—can't wait for her dresser to come in! it'll be helpful to put things in drawers once we get that. I got her bedding from potterybarn, but found it on clearance so I'm pretty proud of my find. it's the morgan collection and found really cute turtle sheets to put with it too :) other than that i've been slowly packing my hospital bag and making sure everything is set for when she decides to make her grand appearance!

had another check up today... gained 3 lbs. I am completely baffled on my body's ability to gain all the weight so fast—it's quite amazing I must say. dr. perlis checked me too and although I'm not dialated yet she said baby's head is pretty low (almost -1) so she's making her way down! we'll see if anything changes at next weeks appointment. :)

overall, baby's been kickering around and my belly really hurts from all the stretching. it feels almost like sore bruise. I have been feeling a bunch of braxton hicks contractions lately—and those aren't too fun. but if it helps my body prep then awesome. thankfully none of these have been as bad as pms cramps (sorry tmi) they hang around for a few minutes and go away which is nice. I wonder what a real real contraction will feel like though. I guess I'll find out soon!

that's all for now :)

cravings: hmmm. cereal and super cold milk really makes me happy.
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
our baby is still packing on the pounds—at the rate of about an ounce a day. she now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. she's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. our baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

at the end of this week, our baby will be considered full-term. (full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) she's in a head-down position right now.

love sea

35 weeks: waddle waddle

I feel like a lil penguin when I walk... waddling my way down the street. it's funny how much I sometimes need to use my arms to propel myself forward—makes me laugh. with all this waddling my hips have obviously loosened up—getting ready for baby. she's also been pressing more and more against my bladder, so especially when I'm up walking around I feel like I'm running to the bathroom every 15 mins. can't wait for this to get worse!

had my doc appointment tuesday. everything looked good again. gained 2 lbs, blood pressure 114/52, measured 34 weeks and her heartbeat sounded good. I go back in two weeks and then I'll be having weekly visits!

mark painted baby girls room saturday and it looks wonderful! we decided to go with benjamin moore's morning sky blue and we'll decorate with a pink, navy and light blue nautical theme. can't wait to get the crib and dresser delivered so we could arrange the room and start hanging things on the wall :) that'll be this week's project!

we also had our last baby shower and just want to thank all our family for the amazing and wonderful gifts. this lil girl is so loved already and we just can't wait for everyone to meet her—going to be such an amazing day! BIG thanks to my sister and poppa bear for organizing the shower and getting everything together! :)

overall, I feel good. just a lil more tired than usual—not sure if it's the disruption of sleep to run to the bathroom couple times a night or if I frankly just need to go to bed earlier. baby is definitely growing!

oh, mark and I celebrated our first anniversary together today too! can't believe a year has already flown by—love him more and more each day! <3

cravings: I wanted fried calamari on my birthday...
aversions: I thought the above was a good idea—yuck.

what's baby up to?
our baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. most of her basic physical development are now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

growing older

34 weeks: birthday, anniversary and showers... oh my!

it's going to be a great week—well at least a fun one :) baby momma is turning 27 wednesday... whoa. years are just flying by and this birthday just snuck up on me—must be because all I'm really thinking about is baby girl's birthday!

enough about just momma... mark and I's 1st anniversary is sunday. now that's a year that flew by! so much happened since last august, but overall I'm looking forward to celebrating with my wonderful husband and digging into delicious frozen 1-yr old cake... yum.

baby girl has been showered in love (and cute outfits) the past two weeks. mark walked into the closet last night and said she officially has more clothes than I do. :) he especially loves the tutus. thank you sue and carrie for the lovely shower last sunday and everyone else who came! also aubrey, tatum and amy for a fun girlfriends shower—always great getting everyone together! love all our family and friends so much for the advice, smiles and love. our girl is pretty lucky to have such wonderful people to grow up with. our last shower is this sunday and can't wait to see all my family :)

nursery update: painting didn't happen this weekend... but there was progress made. the room is at least cleared out now and prepped for painting. I would have loved for it to be done but won't complain since I'm not the one who has to take on the not fun job :) love you mark! mark plans on doing the ceiling tonight, walls another night and trim another night. then we should be all set to start putting her room together by the weekend. saturday we're celebrating our anniversary a day early (since the shower is sunday) so hopefully we'll be done by then so we could have a fun date together!

that's all for now! just trying to stay cool!

cravings: embarrassed to say this but t-bell... baja chicken chalupas to be exact. :)
aversions: —

what's baby up to?
our baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. her fat layers—which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born—are filling her out, making her rounder. her skin is also smoother than ever. her central nervous system is maturing and lungs are continuing to mature as well. good to know that preterm babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. they may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.