38 Weeks

1. How far along? 38 weeks today.

2. How big is baby? Probably about 6.5 lbs. We'll get a more accurate guess at our final ultrasound on Thursday.

3. We're officially to the point now where instead of "just stay in there a little longer baby" it's now "ok kid, anytime you want, bring it on." I don't think anything is happening yet, and I'm now convinced it's entirely possible that I'll go all the way to (or beyond) my due date. But it's exciting to know that that could change at any moment and suddenly it'll be "go time." To say that Lee is ready for her to come is an understatement. So the next two weeks are going to be an exercise in patience for us.

4. We had an awesome weekend of getting lots of things done, mostly errands and shopping. Since it was my first weekend being able to get out of the house since bedrest I of course drug Lee all over the county. One highlight is that we won a $120 Britax baby carrier from Smart Momma, a baby store here in Raleigh. They were having a one-day sale and "baby shower" this weekend with raffle prizes. We stopped in to pick out and buy a baby carrier since we didn't have one and then found out on Sunday that we won the exact carrier that we picked out and bought! (Don't worry, they'll give us our money back for the one we bought.)

5. I'm finally ready to call the nursery finished! I'm going to do my best to take pictures this afternoon (although it's been gloomy and overcast so far today) and post the nursery reveal tomorrow.

6. And just so I'll have a record of it, here's what my belly is looking like these days:



Yikes! She's getting so big (or maybe it's just me?). And yes, we have a bassinet in our bedroom now. Scary stuff!

36 & 37 Weeks

37 weeks! Full term! We made it!

I'm so proud of her (ok, and me).

I went back to work today, thank goodness. I'm not sure how much more Price is Right and DIY Network I could take before going stir-crazy. Although I didn't mind my daily 2:00 naptime with Sugar, and I sure wouldn't have minded one this afternoon. All in all it was a great first day back and it was so great to see everyone.

Since I didn't post a weekly update last week, I figured I'd give you the whole she-bang this week:

1. How far along? 37 weeks today, which is officially full term. Because of how my pregnancy has been going and my history of high blood pressure (which has thankfully continued to be super-controlled so far), my doctor doesn't want me to go much beyond my due date, so it's a little crazy to think that no matter what she'll be here in about 3 weeks or less!

2. How big is baby? We had an ultrasound on Thursday and she was estimated to be 5 lbs, 14 oz, which is in the 32nd percentile. I was a little disappointed because she was about 5 lbs when we had our ultrasound in the hospital, so I was expecting her to have grown a bit more 3 full weeks later. But my doctor said everything else looked great and she was not concerned, so I'm trying not to worry either. If she goes to 40 weeks, she's on track to be 7-something lbs, so I'm trying to just be happy that she's not going to be HUGE.

3. Weight gain? About 18 lbs, which I'm ok with. My goal was 20 lbs or less, so hopefully I can stick pretty closely to that.

4. Stretch marks? It's a sad state of affairs guys. They're on the front of my belly (on both sides now) and they are not pretty. But I'm trying to take comfort in the fact that they're limited to my stomach and no other body parts.

5. Maternity clothes? Umm, yes. And even those are getting uncomfortable. Putting on "real" clothes after 3+ weeks of bed rest soft clothes and night gowns wasn't the greatest. I might have to stick to my flowy dresses for the next 3 weeks.

6. Sleep? I have to get up at least 2 or 3 times now each night to pee, but other than that I can't complain too much. 

7. Best moment last week? Getting out of the house! We went to our last childbirth class last night. There were five total sessions and we had to miss two while I was on bedrest, but it was nice to be able to go back and show everyone that I was ok -- I kind of felt like a celebrity! Also, we've made a lot of good progress in the nursery (thank goodness for online shopping!). I CANNOT WAIT to show you guys. I'm so excited with how it's turning out. I have a few things I need to get out and shop for this weekend and then hopefully I'll be able to put the finishing touches on everything and do a big reveal!

8. Cravings? I don't think I've really had any specific cravings. I just crave food, all of the time.

9. Symptoms? A little bit of swelling in the hands and feet, getting out of breath more easily, a belly that's constantly getting in the way -- you know, the normal stuff.

10. Exercise? Yeah, no. I cancelled my Y membership when I was on bedrest (hopefully I can reactivate it soon after the baby is born). At this point I'm doing good to be up off the couch and going about my daily activities. Although if she doesn't make her appearance in the next week or two Lee says he's going to make me start doing laps around the neighborhood (he's ready to meet her!).

11. Gender? Girl.

12. Movement? Still consistent and strong. Sometimes uncomfortable. Lots of hiccups. 

13. Belly button? Very shallow but still not poking out. I don't think I'll ever get to that point (whew!), although Lee is convinced that she'll be "done" when it pops out like a turkey timer.

14. What I miss? Sleeping and lying on my back and stomach. Getting up from the couch without grunting and struggling. And I'm finally starting to hanker for a nice glass of wine or cocktail!

15. What I'm looking forward to? Hopefully wrapping up some final shopping this weekend and finishing the nursery.

Work Baby Shower

We made it to 36 weeks! I'm going to wait and do my 36 week post on Thursday though, after my doctor's appointment, so hopefully I'll have more to update you on.

Instead I want to share the beautiful shower that my work friends Melissa and Carmen threw for me a few weeks ago.

First there was the adorable invitation:



Then the gorgeous spread:













Favors:



We decorated onesies:





Check out the dark-headed babies!



And of course my coworkers were way too generous. Personalized basket of goodies from Aubrey and London:



Thanks to Melissa and Carmen for the beautiful shower and to all of my coworkers who came and celebrated Ava and I. I'm so blessed to work with such a fabulous group of ladies!

Maternity Pictures

Even though I'm on bed rest, I decided I still wanted to have some maternity pictures taken. I had already booked the talented Holly of Holly Dwan Photography to come and take some newborn pictures of Ava, so I reached back out to see if she'd be willing to come to our house and take some maternity shots.

Luckily, she agreed. And I'm so happy we'll have these to look back on (since I haven't been very good at taking weekly shots of myself).













I love the shots, but if I had to do it over again I would've done them a month earlier. One, so I wouldn't have been on bed rest and we could've maybe done a location shoot and two, because I'm starting to have that I'm-as-big-as-a-house feeling and I feel like a month ago I was looking much cuter and less house-ish. But again, I'm so glad we have these.

Holly is great -- easy to work with, very reasonably priced (you get digital files with her packages, when some photographers are charging outrageous amounts these days for the rights to digital files) and my favorite -- she's fast! Our shoot was on Friday and the pictures were edited and online for us to view on Saturday. Because waiting around forever to see your pictures is torture! So check her out at http://hollydwanphotography.com/.

35 Weeks and a Bed Rest Update

We made it to 35 weeks!

For some reason 35 weeks seems like a comfortable number. 34 weeks was the milestone, but 35 weeks is even better. All of my weekly emails tell me that she's weighing about 5 1/2 lbs and that all of her major development is already done, she's just adding fat from this point on. I'm still hoping she'll hang in there until at least 37 weeks (maybe 39?) but feel much better knowing we've made it this far instead of the much scarier 33 weeks.

I've officially been on bed rest for a week and a half now. Here's a little brain dump about how it's going:

1. Once I reached 34 weeks, I got a few more privileges in that I can be up a bit more often, go upstairs to the baby's nursery once a day, etc. But I can tell if I try to do too much that I start to feel bad, so I have to spread things out. Take a shower, rest, fix lunch, rest, unload the dishwasher, rest. And by rest I mean at least an hour or so of lying down on my side. If I try to do two (or three) things at once my belly starts to feel tight and crampy. It may just be in my head, but I'm definitely not chancing it.

2. We found in the hospital when my contractions were pretty regular when lying on my back, that if I switched to lying on my side they were all but killed. So I've been doing LOTS of side lying. I had visions of getting so much blogging, computer work, writing thank you notes, etc done while on bed rest. But minimizing the time I'm sitting upright has made that difficult. Pretty much the only things you can do while laying on your side are read, watch TV or sleep.

3. The first week I watched entirely too much HGTV. Now I'm watching entirely too much Olympics coverage. When I go to bed at night I try to count the number of sports I've watched that day and the count is usually around 10-12 (canoeing anyone?!).

4. It's sad when you've watched so much TV that you actually get excited when a new commercial comes on (even if it's a bad one), because you're so sick of seeing the same ones over and over. (It's been a long time since I've watched this much non-DVR'ed TV).

5. All of this side-lying has meant lots of pain in my hips and sometimes knees. And my elbows are chafed from propping myself up constantly to read or watch TV. Gross, huh? And lots of heartburn too. Eating a meal and then immediately lying down afterwards will do that to you.

6. My mom and sister came up for the weekend and it was so great to have them here. I would have been mortified for anyone else to see my house in the state it's in, but my mom stepped right in in doing some tidying and deep cleaning. They also washed about 6 loads of Ava's clothes, blankets and sheets and helped organize the nursery some, so I feel a lot better about the state of things in there.

7. The nursery still has a ways to go on the decor front though. I've been doing some online browsing and shopping of course, but I just can't seem to make up my mind on some things. And there are a lot of things I just can't make progress on until I can get out of the house and look around for myself. So while I had planned to have her nursery completely done before she comes (and of course a big blog reveal), I've come to terms with the fact that that just might not happen. I may still be finishing things up weeks after she's here and that's ok. But I promise, there will eventually be a big reveal!

Overall, I'm in pretty good spirits. It hasn't been easy, and sometimes another two weeks of this seems so daunting, but I'm thankful that it's been uneventful so far. And Lee has been great, doing all of the shopping, cooking and cleaning. (Ok, let's be honest he's always done all of the cooking, so that's not much different.) And Sugar has been keeping me company too -- she's a very good napping partner!

Here's to another two weeks of boring bed rest and watching obscure Olympics coverage!

Friends Shower

I was lucky enough to have an amazing weekend with two wonderful showers before all of this pre-term labor craziness started. First up: a shower with my friends back home thrown by my sister, cousin and two best friends.

They started off with a super-cute invitation:



And pretty pink decor:







We played a celebrity baby name game and baby Price is Right:







Then it was time for gifts, and boy were Ava and I spoiled. Just some of the wonderful loot we got:



Cutest little monogrammed outfit from her Aunt Erin:



Monogrammed brush and comb set from Sara:



Crocheted baby blanket made by Caitie:



Personalized stroller blanket from Caitie and Brandon:



"Ava" hanger from Hannah (wow, that face!):



And custom baby quilt from Chrissy (with input from Mike and Mrs. Sue). By far one of the most thoughtful gifts anyone has ever given me.



Me with the hostesses:



So glad Chrissy could fly in from Tampa. Love these ladies:



With Mom and Erin:



Our circle of friends is being blessed with lots of babies this year! All of the pregnant ladies:



And just because I thought they were pretty, I wanted to share the hostess gifts that I put together for the ladies:





The buckets with chalkboard paint were a Target dollar spot find.

Thank you so much to Erin, Britt, Chrissy and Sara for putting together a wonderful shower, and to everyone who came and made it so special. I truly am blessed and know this baby is so loved already :)

33 Week Scare

It started Tuesday on my way home from work. I was feeling some pressure and cramping in my belly. I thought my skirt was too tight and was making me uncomfortable.

I went to the gym and walked around the track, hoping it would make me feel better, but I was still getting cramps every few minutes.

I slept fitfully that night, so I decided to work from home the next day. I debated whether to call the doctor, but kept putting it off. Finally, the nurse called ME to remind me of my appointment next week and I told her what had been going on, fully expecting her to brush it off as growing pains or round ligament pain or Braxton Hicks contractions. Instead she told me I was welcome to come in and get checked out, it was up to me.

I decided to go in and didn't even tell Lee, assuming I'd be able to call him and say "Went to the doctor just to be sure, everything's fine." The doctor walked in and said "How far apart are these contractions?" Oh, we're calling them contractions? I thought. I hadn't been classifying them as "contractions" in my mind (probably because I've never been pregnant before and had no idea what a contraction feels like).

She did an exam -- I wasn't dilated at all and everything looked fine. In fact, she let me know that baby was now head-down, so no more breech baby! But when she asked, how many contractions would you say you've had in the past hour? and my answer was "maybe 6 or 7?", evidently that was the wrong answer and she told me she was sending me over to Labor and Delivery to be monitored.

I got registered (pre-registering with the hospital wasn't on my To Do list for another two weeks) and was shown to a room (our hospital tour was scheduled for next week's childbirth class -- so much for that) and Lee arrived.

They put me on the contraction monitor and a monitor on the baby. Baby was doing great. I, on the other hand, was having mild contractions every 2-5 minutes. At first they thought I was dehydrated and maybe that was triggering the contractions, so they had me drink lots of water and started me on IV fluid.

Lee and I were still naive enough to think at that point that we'd be going home that night. We hadn't even called our families because we didn't want to worry them and instead wanted to be able to say "we had a little scare, went to the hospital, everything is fine."

The fluids did nothing to ease the contractions, so when my doctor made rounds that night she let me know she wanted to be aggressive in treating this. She was starting me on magnesium to treat pre-term labor and giving me steroid shots to mature the baby's lungs in case she was intent on coming early. I was 33 weeks and 1 day, and the goal was to get me to 34 weeks, which is a milestone for the baby.

All in all, we were in the hospital for 3 nights, from Wednesday afternoon to Saturday morning. The magnesium made me feel like a crazy person. I had terrible double vision and my body felt like jell-o. As soon as they weaned me off the magnesium, I felt much better but started having some contractions again. They were sporadic and mild enough though that my doctor still felt comfortable sending me home on bedrest, with an oral medication that's supposed to ease contractions. My cervix is still nice and long, which makes her confident that I can still carry this baby until 37 weeks.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Ava has looked amazing. Strong heartbeat, strong fetal movement, and everything looked great (growth, fluid, position) on her ultrasound. Now if she'll just cooperate with mama and stay put...

We got home yesterday morning and Lee has been taking good care of me. The first goal is to get to Tuesday, when I'll be 34 weeks. After that, we'll set a new goal of 35 weeks and then 36 weeks and then 37 weeks, when she'll be full term.

I'll be on bedrest until 37 weeks, which of course is disappointing. This is not how I envisioned this pregnancy going. But I'll do whatever it takes to keep her in there, growing big and strong for as long as possible.

I was supposed to have a baby shower today with Lee's side of the family. They're still going to have the shower, and he and I will Skype in from Holly Springs to say hello. Then his mom and sister will make the two-hour trek up here to bring us our gifts and visit with us. Each day and week will bring adjustments like these, but we'll make it through because we have an awesome support system.

It's still scary that the contractions could start back/get stronger at any minute. You know I'm a worrier anyway, so every hour is a battle with myself to get my mind off of it and assure myself everything is fine. In 48 hours I'll be 34 weeks and I'm counting down every hour. Hopefully after that point I'll be able to relax a bit more and let things fall where they may (after 34 weeks they will no longer treat me for pre-term labor, if I go into actual labor then I'm having this baby). But that's not going to happen. I'm hoping for a nice, long, painfully boring and uneventful 3 weeks of bedrest.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. And maybe recommend a good book or two? :)