33w + 1d (48 days to go...)

33 week appointment was today and it went really well. My mom went with me because Sam had a work meeting that he couldn't get out of. So that was a lot of fun to have my mom there, she got to hear Ava's heartbeat (144), and she got to meet our doctor.

GOOD NEWS! At this point, she said she does not think that Ava is breech. she felt around and felt her head down and all her limbs up more towards the top. so that made me happy, even though I know anything can happen and still a chance she can move out of whack, but hopefully she'll get comfortable how she is and stay put.

We have been seeing the doctor every two weeks now, and we have one more two week check-up, then it's every week that we go! It's getting so close now!!!

My mom also started painting our nursery so we can get it all set up and ready for Ava's arrival. pictures will come soon...

33 weeks = 7 to go!

yesterday was an exciting day for a couple of friends of ours...
Mike & Stacy Scott had their beautiful baby girl and named her Keira Scott! {see their beautiful bundle of joy below}

6lb 11oz and I think they said 18 inches long. She has the most gorgeous eyelashes ever!

and, while I was walking into the hospital to visit them I saw my friends Jackie & Chuck checking in so she could be induced either last night or this morning, one of the two. so hopefully they will have their bundle of joy, also known as Ben, today!!!

Ava needs to wait a little longer to meet her new friends, but it won't be too long!

She should be about 4 1/2 lbs & 19 or so inches long, obviously give or take. Apparently, with the exception of crying, she can do everything that a newborn can do! {she's so advanced for her age...} :)

Sam & I are starting to get to know her and her routine better, and she is quite the night owl still! Every night around 9:30pm she just starts dancing or sprinting or whatever you may call it, but she just goes nuts!! I will be laying in our chair {my bed for the next few weeks for comfort needs} and Sam can see my belly move all over the place from across the room! Occasionally he will put his hand on her while she's movin and grovin and his jaw just drops at how active she is. It doesn't really keep me awake, it's more of an internal massage feeling so I like it. but she sure is goofy!!

10 things I will do...

My sister-in-law sent me the below information from this link of a mom who said basically 'shoulda, woulda, coulda'...and it seems to make sense. so, if any of you offer any of the below, since I'm getting advice in advance, don't be surprised if I take you up on it :)

here's the link

I have two kids. They are 12 and 5 now. But you would think by the time the second one arrived I would know what to do, well I was wrong. Here is my list of the things I should have done…
1) When people came to my door I should have accepted the food. I should have pretended my stitches hurt really bad so I could have got cupcakes.
2) When people offered to clean my house, I should have accepted. I never liked cleaning the bathroom anyways.
3) When people offered to babysit so I could sleep, I should have accepted. There’s nothing like sleeping the afternoon away.
4) When my husband offered to feed the baby during the night, I should have accepted. Then he could hear me snoring while he’s up with the baby.
5) When people offered to change the baby for me, I should have accepted. Why not, that will be one less poopy diaper on my grand total of the million I would have changed in the years ahead.
6) I should have never used the change table. They are useless. You can’t keep them unsupervised for one second. That’s what they made floors for…and they are free.
7) I should have let my baby use the pacifier. There is nothing like waiting in a Boxing Day line only to have to leave it because your baby will only nurse.
8 ) I should have bought more than one bouncy chair. Those chairs are multi-purpose. If the baby is fussy you can throw him in it. If he’s hungry, throw him in there and feed him. If you want to watch Ellen, throw him in there and let him watch too.
9) I should have taught my dog to babysit. There’s nothing like making your dog watch the baby. Teach him to bark when he thinks something wrong. That way you will be able to get in that time to email your friend.
10) The thing that I should have listened to is…”Sleep when your baby sleeps.” They say this for a reason. Mom’s aren’t supposed to be awake for 24 hours. We are not doctors. We need sleep. I need sleep. I should have relaxed more and did that. The housework will be there tomorrow, but will your sanity be?

thanks for the info Katie!!!

32w + 5d

Below is a link of pictures from the great baby shower that my sisters-in-law threw for me last saturday, 10/4. Thank you to everyone who was there, and to everyone who even though they couldn't make it still sent a sweet something for Ava Mae. We truly appreciate it!

here are the photos from the fun day!
and here is a better photo of the Pooh Quilt that my mom made for Ava. It gives a much clearer picture of the detail and work that went into making this. thanks mom!

Also--this photo of my mom and I where she is holding a green yarn -- we played ONE game {thank you guys for limiting it to one :)} where each person cut a piece of yarn to guess how big around my belly is. My mom was the closest, only over-shooting the size by a few inches! Becky came in a close second. and I think about everyone else thinks I'm a house :) but that's okay. no hard feelings -- I'm big and I'll own it! I do officially out-weigh my husband now...

32w + 4d (52 days in counting...)

Though the walls are not painted yet...use your imagination. And hopefully this coming Thursday/Friday I will have updated photos of the nursery with the walls in color: something similar to this color specifically.

The bumper pads & quilt (not seen too clearly but OH SO COOL) were made by my mom for Ava and given to us at the last shower. The stuffed animals in the corner Sam & I bought for her when the Disney store @ the Center went out of business, so we got a great deal on them! We got Pooh, Piglet, Tigger & Eeyore. And the mobile is from my cousins Karen & Dave. I love our nursery :)

Here is a wider view of the crib, swing, rug, etc. You can't see it, but to the left of the crib is a sweet night stand. I will get a picture of that as well because it is too cute. and the crib mess...we originally got our crib a week and 1/2 ago but the headboard was busted. We got the run-around from Babies R Us but finally got it taken care of on Sunday and they had one in stock that we could exchange it for, thankfully!

Baby Ava update: she should weigh nearly 4lb and be 18-19 inches long. This picture amazes me. And though this is a picture of a boy, not our sweet Ava, it just shows how scrunched up they get inside their mommies!We got to the dr again on Friday for our 33 week check-up. I know babies move so much, but I really want to know if she is still breech or not. A long time ago (@ 19 weeks) she was, but she's moved so much, and I've heard that babies continue to move & flip even up until delivery. So I guess it doesn't really matter. But I'm still curious to find out which parts of her body are where.

31w + 1d...less than 9w to go!

{I don't know what's wrong with me but I can't even seem to keep this thing updated on a weekly basis!}

Ava, according to my trusty website for her weekly updates, should be about 3.5 lb & 18" long from head to toe. The dr measured my belly in centimeters on Wednesday and she said the # of centimeters should match the # of weeks along I am in my pregnancy. My belly is
32 centimeters. The dr thinks I am 31 weeks pregnant. so we're thinking one of two things here: I am really 32 weeks along...or...the more plausable answer is that I'm a little bigger than I'm supposed to be...either way I'm not too upset by it. I can own it that I'm big.
My mom has been doing such an awesome job painting our house...but I don't have any updated pictures yet. I will though. Soon.

WE FINALLY GOT OUR CRIB & MATTRESS! Our baby girl WILL have a place to sleep after all!!! Here is what the crib looks like, but we will have different bedding, Winnie the Pooh to be exact.

I love the white color, the wide panels, and the arched back. I just love it. It wasn't the original one we registered for, but those were sold out {for good reason: they were adorable also!}.

Sunday, 9/28 marked a sad day for me. My fingers are officially too swolen to wear my wedding ring. Lucky for us Sam has a spare {thanks to our cat who hid the first from us for about 6 months...we got impatient & bought him a new one...} so that's my wedding ring until my fingers slim back down again. hopefully that day will come...

week 29

Friday, 9/12 was our 29 week check-up at the doc's office. Everything seems well, I took the gestational diabetes test and the nurse said if she doesn't call me on Monday then that's good news...and no call...so YAY!!

My dr did say though that she {Ava} must not be a huge fan of sweets. In fact, they seem to make her act almost comotose. Usually the baby's heartrate is 160-ish after drinking the gloucose drink for the diabetes test, and her's was at 135. The dr said this just means she's not a big sugar fan, and if I'm needing her to get moving for anything, she's going to take some poking & proding, not just a snickers bar to get her going. I blame my non-dessert-loving husband for that. but, it will only be better for her later on in life, so I can't complain. And you gotta know that he reminds me about every other day if I'm in the mood for something sweet that Ava probably won't like it...so this is probably for the best.

one of the nurses tried to encourage me to have the 'plaster belly' done...for those of you who don't know, click here for plenty of examples that are NOT me. I mentioned it to Sam after we left...his resonse...'yeah, that's just weird.' so, no offense to anyone who chooses to partake in that adventure, but we will pass. I don't even know what you would do with such an object after it's done. coffee table art? wall hanging? yeah, not really our style.

We are, however, having pregnancy pictures taken before delivery. My cousin is a fantastic photographer in the Independence area, owner of The Portrait Gallery. She will be taking pictures of Sam & I {hopefully in the near future since I'm continuously blooming...} and I can't wait!!! Sam is less than enthused, but he's a good sport and the best husband!

so--an update on our daughter:

• she is appx 16.7" from head to toe and weighing in at around 2.7 lbs
• statistically the average birth weight is 7 - 7.5 lbs...we can only hope and pray she is that small! I was 9lb 10 1/2 oz. Sam was smaller than that, I think between 7 - 8 lbs. so HOPEFULLY she has more of his genes come delivery time!
• this is incredible: she is still opening/closing her eyes, and can even see silhouettes and people in the right light!
• supposedly her size right now is about equal to that of a butternut squash, so that's fun
• we love you Ava Mae!

(playing catch-up...) week 28

• Ava's approximate size: 15" {head to toe} and 2.4 lbs.
• interesting fun fact: blood/nutrients/etc. travels thru the umbilical cord at nearly 4 mph!
• brain is still developing, making the folds & grooves of a fully developed brain.
• her hair is getting longer {we're hoping for a full head of dark brown hair :) }
• lots of things I've been reading about are very encouraging to do the kick-count; babies should move about 10 times w/in the hour {includes hiccups, kicks, etc.} and if she doens't move 10 times then to drink some juice, move around, lay down, just do something to get her going. so I'm trying to get better about that.

Her most active times are right before bed, around 9pm {which, I'm sad to say I had a terrible night sleep on Sunday night and was awake until about 1:30am -- I never knew she was such a night owl! she was moving like crazy!! that MUST stop when she's out of the womb} and she's usually active in the mornings around 9am, and then sometimes after lunch or around 2pm. we like to play together -- she pokes at me and I poke back. it's fun. I sure can't wait to meet her!

27w + 2d

Friday 9/5 I think I felt Ava have the hicups for the first time! I'm sure she's had them before, but this is the first time I've consciously noticed them. I was at work just sitting at my desk at the computer and felt this little pulsating feeling in my lower left part of my abdomen. It was pretty rhythmic, it felt like a pulse every 3 seconds or so, taking longer sometimes than others. It was really cool.

Sam & I had our labor and delivery class today at St. Lukes! It was sort of long, we opted for the all day class rather than the 6 or 8 week classes. There were 7 other couples with us. One couple had twin girls on the way...we're just thankful for the one girl we have coming :) The nurse talked about the hospital, about laboring at home and when you need to come to the hospital with this handy trick to remember: 5-1-1. 5 minutes apart - 1 minute long - 1 hour stright of contractions. and then always the general rule of thumb that if my water breaks to go in then no matter what. I do feel more prepared and more confident about several things...I just hope now I can remember them for 3 more months!! {that's what Sam is for though...he's my "coach"}
we practiced 3 different breathing techniques-calming, rythmic, and pattern {my favorite is just the long, slow, steady calming breathing - reminds me of yoga, which always seems peaceful}. They had the coaches participate in the breathing too, so they get used to what they're supposed to remind us to be doing once the big day gets here! Sam did very well and I am very confident we'll make a great team!

St Lukes participates in a program called BABY FIRST. this is where once the baby is delivered, they give mom, dad & baby 1 solid hour together without any visitors (assuming everything goes well with mom & baby and no medical intervention is needed right away). This gives them both a chance to bond with their new baby, a time for breast-feeding, and just in general a time for both parents to spend together with their new kiddo. They say the studies they've done with this show a lot of pro's for both the parents bonding as well as the baby's development, how quickly they latch on, how quickly they are able to stabilize their own body temperature, etc. So I'm really looking forward to that as well.

27 weeks = 3rd Trimester!

I can't believe that the 3rd trimester is already here!

here is a picture from a website I visit very frequently that I just think is adorable. though not my own baby, still precious none-the-less.

her length is now going to be measured from head to toe, not head to rump any longer...and she is over 15" long and weighing in around 2lb 3oz. I just can't wait to meet her. I am so excited and I know these next couple of months are going to fly.

I really have enjoyed being pregnant for the most part. and though it is getting increasingly more uncomfortable, it makes me almost sad that it's nearly over. I love feeling her move inside of me, punching and kicking and twirlling.

one side affect that I have NOT enjoyed however is this new onset of leg cramps in the middle of the night. For about a week solid my right calf will cramp up. Usually it's not too bad, it wakes me up enough to straighten out my foot, or pull it up to make the cramp go away. but 2 nites ago it was unbareable and I could not move! I had to wake Sam up and frantically ask him to please un-cramp my leg by quickly pulling my toes toward my knee...he did so with no complaints or arguing (I think he might have even been asleep thru the whole thing) and after some stretching it finally went away. but it continues to happen just about every night and I'm about done with the leg cramps.

and so far thru-out this whole pregnancy, I haven't had too many CRAVINGS, but I have noticed that I LOVE fruit. Just about any kind of fruit. I could eat it all day long. peaches, kiwi, apples, grapes, cantelope, pineapple, plums, you name it, I'll probably eat it.