37 week update - I'm full term!

Well I'm officially full term! What a milestone! This means my official due date is just 3 weeks away.... however.... the doc doesn't believe there's any chance I'll make it that long.

I've progressed very nicely in the last week and am up to 3 cm dilated, 90% effaced and baby is sitting at nearly 0 station. This means his head is at the neutral position and any lower and he'll be poking out. :) She was pretty impressed that as a first time mom that I've made such great progress. I have my mom to thank for that as she, too, went early and fast.

When I asked how long I had, I got the canned "it's hard to say" response. But when Dave mentioned that we have a pool going at work, she immediately interrupted "well if that's the case, my money is on 4/4." That's right-- one week from today!

I'm definitely physically ready but am obviously still nervous about his arrival. We just can't wait to meet him! Hard to believe it's so close now!

Blankets!

This weekend my good friend Charity came over to help me finish up all the baby swaddling blankets (plus one fleece carseat blankie). It's a well known fact that I can't be trusted around sharp knives or scissors, so Charity graciously offered to do all my fabric cutting with her rotary tool.

While I did the sewing for all the swaddle flannel blankets, Charity prepped the fleece for cutting. Sequoia absolutely LOVES to play with Charity and just assumed that Charity had set up a new toy for her to integrate into her chase game. The result was pretty hilarious (albeit frustrating for Charity who had to eventually put Sequoia outside).

[I just love this dog!]

A quick update - 36 weeks

Just a quick update... whole family is sick (dogs included), so I need to get back to resting.

We are doing weekly doctor appointments now and we had our 36 week check-up today. They did the fun Strep B test (for which 25% of women are carriers-- results to come later this week) as well as checked my progress. Blood pressure was initially high (140+) but after they had me lie down for awhile, it went back down to mid 110s. Phew. Baby is doing great and I'm measuring right on track. AND, I'm progressing already. Currently almost 2 cm and 80% effaced and baby is at -1 station. Those who are recent moms or just have awesome memories will know what all that means. Basically we're shooting for 10 cm and 100% before baby can come out! Still no telling when he'll make his debut!

That's all for now...

Maternity Portraits by 211

Last week we had our maternity shoot with 211 Photography. It's the first of 5 sessions we'll do with him over the next year. There were so many great ones that it was hard to pick our favs! Here are a few samples:

Maternity Pictures by my amazing hubby!

My awesome hubby took me out to our neighborhood park this weekend to take a few maternity pictures. They say that 32-34 weeks is the best time and seeing as I'm days away from the 34 mark, it seemed like a good time!

Dave did a really nice job with our new lens. I thought they turned out pretty cute! Of course, Thumper makes every picture cute!

I think it's so neat that someday we'll be able to sit down with him and explain to him that he was inside mommy's belly.

It's amazing to see how much bigger I have gotten-- I've almost forgotten how small I was before I was pregnant. It's all for a good cause though right? :)

You can see more of the pictures on our Picasa site-- the link is off to the right under Bookmarks -or- you can just click on the Our Family picture on the right.

A New Toy?

Been awhile since I posted a "video of the week." Here's a cute one of Sequoia discovering one of Thumper's new toys (his bouncer):

Minor Scare

I've been lucky to this point in that I've had absolutely no signs of puffiness or swelling. Being 33 weeks, this is rather lucky I hear. After standing at a work meeting Weds for almost an hour (I got there late and surprisingly, no one offered me their seat), I had some sudden swelling. My shins were hurting like they did when I was a gymnast (shin splints) and my calves and ankles were seriously the size of grapefruits. I immediately elevated them and Dave massaged them. But after over 12 hours of elevation, the swelling still hadn't gone down a ton. I called the doctor the next day and they had me get my blood pressure checked. It had gone up to 126. This is considered normal for most, but with my pregnancy BPs typically falling in the low 110s, the doc wanted me to go on bed rest for the remainder of the day. [Their concern is preeclampsia]. I went home from work early and spent the rest of the day in bed. [Boring!]. Swelling went down quite a bit and seems to remain at a tolerable level when I've got my feet elevated. After running a few errands yesterday, the shin splints and swelling returned. So I'm to take it very easy until I go back to the doctor this coming Friday.

Ugh! Please pray that this is not the early signs of preeclampsia!

On a happier note, Thumper is doing great (even if mom is battling swelling, fatigue and sciatic nerve pain). He's still super active although his kicks and jabs are now more rolls and waves. Less room will do that I suppose. Here's a fun video of him:

Roadshow!

This is the 3rd year that MercyMe has hosted the Rock and Worship Roadshow in Colorado and we've attended all of them! This years featured some of our favorite bands: the Afters, Matt Maher, Jars of Clay, and MercyMe. Being 33 weeks pregnant wasn't going to stop us!

Colorado Springs has the closest Culvers to us and there happens to be one right next store to the World Arena, so naturally we had to go there for our pre-show dinner! It's my parents tradition to go there every Sunday (back in MN) and it was neat that we got to enjoy it "together" even if that meant via iPhone pictures 1000 miles away!

We really enjoyed the Afters and Matt Maher, but I had to leave the arena and do laps around the concourse during Thousand Foot Krutch (and probably should've during Lecrae too). They were just too loud and hard-core for this mom-to-be! Dave ended up walking out after a few songs when he could no longer make out a word they were saying from all the ringing in his ears. Perhaps we are just a bit too old for those types of bands?! Just so no one worries, I had a sweater and two coats draped over my tummy to muffle any possible high decibal sounds getting to baby (but this is a Christian concert we're talking about, not Metallica or anything). :)

MercyMe ended the night with an excellent set (as always!). They are great worship leaders. We had a great time even if we didn't make it home and to bed til after midnight. Ah, who needs to be on time for work on a Monday anyway?!