37 weeks 3 days

Just for fun again -

Doctors appointment: Today at 10am.

Questions asked: When do I call in for labor? (when you start having painful regular contractions) Can I go to McCall for the long weekend? (No)

Progress: 2cm dilated, 70% effaced. Yep, less effaced than last week - this is due to it being my doctor checking, not a different doctor. See how up to interpretation this stuff is? But hey, 1 more cm in 6 days - not too shabby!

Other: He swept my membranes (which is the same as stripping, apparently) and let me tell you - OUCH!!

Presentation: Head down, face toward my back, just how he should be.

Names: Still none.

Things left to get before he comes: Diaper sprayer, garbage can, another diaper liner, rocking chair, DSLR camera.

Readiness factor: Ready not to be pregnant, not ready to be a parent, ready with the right things in the right places, not ready for labor.

Excitement factor: Very high.

Nervous factor: Very high.

Bouncing forward and gender confusion

Hi All!

I have definitely been slacking when it comes to blogging lately. Sorry.

If you look to the right, you will notice that my ticker bounced forward by 3 days. Yep, my due date is now September 18th rather than the 21st! Hurray! Although we all know that this means little for when baby actually decides to come. What I do know is that all of my mom's pregnancies were over due, all of Nick's mom's were and my sister's were too...so I am just expecting to go over.

I got the opportunity to go up and have a professor at my best friend Amanda's sonography school scan me for their class to showcase a baby. It was so much fun to see the little bean move and turn and twist. A few things we learned during the scan - baby loves to have hands by it's face, baby loves to cross legs and make gender viewing difficult and finally, that baby looked healthy (although at a scan like this, they would not have told me that baby had issued because it was not under a doctor and was not diagnostic) Amanda also got the opportunity to scan me for a while and we got some amazing photo's of the little guy!

I learned that this ultrasound, after a lot of prodding, that it was a GIRL! 


After telling Nick the result, I gleefully set out to send the mass text to announce the gender. Let's be honest, I really didn't care about the gender, all I wanted was healthy. It took a few days to settle in that we would be having a little girl. After several days, I began looking online at clothes for her and checking out gear. While I knew that it was pretty dumb to buy a pink colored car seat, I fell in love with one and had my mind set on it. 


Back to the clothes - oh the clothes!!! The baby industry is completely one sided toward girls. If you walk into baby gap, 70-80% of all the clothes are for little girls. They are pink, green, yellow, white, every color you can imagine. They come in prints, flowers, plaid, frills! There are very few cheesy sayings...which btw, I don't particularly like, so hurrah! Cute clothes that don't have cheesy sayings all over them! 


For some reason, I didn't buy anything - I still had my 20 week scan on 5/5/11 so I had planned a shopping trip with my mother in law following the appointment. I did purchase a green fleece on sale at REI and I was gifted by my AMAZING girlfriends a Coach diaper bag (oh this bag is BEAUTIFUL!) my first designer bag EVER!


So, 5/5 finally arrived! I went in for my scan. She started at the heart, I love watching that little thing work away, so fast a furious! I told her that we wanted to confirm the gender, that I had a scan last week and it was a girl but she could feel free to confirm. She continued scanning the heart, then said "ok, I just really need to clear up this gender thing" so she went straight for the goods. Once in position I think I said "isn't that..." and she confirmed..."yea, you're having a boy" and my mother in law jumped out of her seat, Nick was speachless and I just kept asking, are you sure? 


So after a week of telling everyone "we're having a girl" and getting used to looking at girl things and making a list of names for girls, I was now having to switch to "we're having a boy" and thinking about boy clothes and boy things and names for boys. Oh BOY!! What a change, an exciting change  but a change none-the-less!


First and most important - our baby boy is HEALTHY!!! Everything looks great and measures great! And second most important is that the gender really doesn't matter. 


But I do have a bone to pick now that I am not in the girl section of stores anymore...


Back to the clothing industry. Hello? In major need of cute boy clothes??? Why is it that they are under the impression that mothers want to adorn their baby boys in cheesy sayings? "Daddy's little monster" and Daddy's tough guy" and "Rock star in training" and on and on and on. Call me crazy, but I really don't like these these!


Then there are the colors. Poo brown onsies with some print of a monster truck. Barf. Grey, yellow, blue and green shirts covered in monster trucks! or trains! or monsters! sigh. It's like if you want to find something cute, you have to search far and wide. 


I went to baby gap and had to work hard to stay in my little corner and not glance at the HUGE girl section which by the way was full of color! The boy section was blue, kaki, and green, seriously devoid of color. Camouflage! Motorcycles! Old man sweaters! double sigh. 


Don't get me wrong, I am SOO excited for my little boy!!! I am so happy he is healthy and so thrilled to be able to have a baby. My beef is with the clothing makers-who seriously need to take another look at who is buying clothes for a 6 month old. I mean, I get it, when they are older, they love all these boy things - cars, trucks, motorcycles, trains - but when they are little, the cuteness of the clothes is for the mom and I am seriously pleading with you designers to realize that baby boys need cuteness too!!! 


In other baby news - at my 11 week scan I was told that my placenta was in the back which meant I could expect to feel baby move early! Hurray! 19 weeks rolled around and other people who were close to me in pregnancy weeks had long ago been feeling baby's kicks and jabs. Still nothing. When I went for the scan at the school, they said my placenta was on the front...hm. That explains things! And the 5/5 scan confirmed this. All that worrying, why can't I feel baby move because I was told the placenta was in the wrong place. Oh well! At this point, I think I feel things every once in a while...but maybe they are just muscle twitches?

Dog versus Ram

14 weeks and the official end to trimester 1

**Written on 3/24 


Dear Baby,

This past week has been very interesting. Headaches, stuffy nose, mommy threw up on the kitchen floor (you heard that right, even mommies don't always do it where they should) but don't worry, your silly doggy was there trying to help clean up. I know, that's what I said, eew yuck!  When I sneeze, I have to find the right position to do it in, otherwise it is painful and makes me worry that I just squeezed you a little too tight! I hope you are enjoying yourself and all that room you have in there! Keep enjoying hash-browns and mashed potato's, mommy really likes to eat those. Oh, and try to stay away from the sweets. Usually mommy doesn't have a sweet tooth but right now, I can't get enough! Just remember that sweets will ruin your teeth little bear, and we definitely don't want that!

xoxo
Mommy

Is 13 weeks the end of trimester 1?

**Written on 3/16

Dear Baby,

You have been kind to mommy the last 2 days! Could this be the end of the dreaded first trimester? I sure hope so. I have continued to obsess over what gender you will be! It is fun to guess and wonder about you. I still wonder if there is really someone growing in my belly. I wish I could knock on my belly and have you give a little "I'm here!" knock back. I cannot wait to feel you kick and move so that I can assure myself that you are really there! When we saw you on the ultrasound two weeks ago, you were moving all over the place, I wonder if you are moving all over right now. I hope you are warm and comfortable, and I hope that you continue to give me a break from feeling sick and getting headaches. I hope you have a good day and enjoy the turkey cranberry sandwich I plan to eat later today!

XOXO
Mommy

One Third Complete! (written on 3/9/11)

**I wrote this on 3/9 and kept it as a draft until I was ready to share the news on the blog. I borrowed this idea from Joyful Abode and I loved the idea, so I have been doing it weekly. I will post the other two weeks in the next few days. I know I need to take pictures. I don't have a camera, my husband does, so it makes it really difficult to keep up on pictures. I need to just go to Costco and get a point and shoot. We want to get a nicer DSLR camera (probably a lower model Canon Rebel) before the baby comes. Anyway, I will take pictures like Joyful Abode did at some point. And yes, I have to either wear yoga pants, elastic or maternity pants-even though I am tall, I am all legs and no torso so it makes sense that my compacted torso would show much earlier. I'm pretty much ok with anything that happens. Besides, when you carb-load like I have over the last 8 weeks because other food just doesn't taste very good, it makes sense that I would put on a ponch!


Without further procrastination, here is the dear baby I wrote at 12 weeks pregnant. 

Dear Baby:

You have been growing for 10 weeks (even though I am 12 weeks pregnant, silly doctors!) Your Daddy and I got to peek in at you when you were 11 weeks 2 days old (I am counting like those silly doctors) and you were busy getting a workout in! On the menu were crunches, arm curls and leg kicks (the better to kick me with when you are a little bigger). You are making it more difficult for me to wear my normal clothes and I had to buy skirts with elastic for your first trip to Hawaii in 2.5 weeks (don't worry, we will take you there when you can enjoy the sunshine). You have made my life very interesting over the past 6 weeks making me feel nauseous, getting headaches, eating tons of carbs, losing my dinner and making me very sleepy but it has all been worth it knowing that this will likely result in you being healthy which is all your Daddy and I wish for you, that you be happy and healthy. You must really love Hash-brown's because I can't get enough of them!  We cannot wait to feel you move and kick which should come in the next 6 weeks or less. Keep growing little bear!

xoxo
Mommy

Surprise-some great news!

We are just thrilled to share that we are PREGNANT! We are due September 21 which means I am in the second trimester and moving right along through this pregnancy. The picture above was from 11 weeks 2 days and it was an absolute joy to see baby Bear moving, kicking, waving and doing crunches in there.

I wish I could report that the pregnancy has been a breeze but I have not been that lucky. I have been nauseous (mostly at night), lost my dinner, had headaches, been exhausted and gagged a whole lot when around food that doesn't smell quite right. I am definitely not going to complain because I am just thrilled to be at this point in my pregnancy and thrilled that things are working out this go around!

I had all kinds of ideas to share the wonderful news but I was just so thrilled that the stick said pregnant that I called Nick and blurted it out. I called my parents, told friends, announced to Nick's parents all without any kind of specialness. The first go around (last May), I didn't tell anyone and I regretted that because I had to share bad news at the same time I was sharing that I was pregnant. This time, I told anyone that I would have told if I had problems, that way they could support me no matter what the outcome.

I think about this little bear all the time. I debate the sex, I think about what it will look like, I wonder about how it will feel when I can feel it move, I think about how we want to raise it, I pretty much just wonder about everything all the time. I am excited beyond words to be this far along! I never wanted to be in the third trimester during the summer, but I don't even care. I didn't want to be huge for my 10 year reunion but again, I don't care. All I care about is that I am growing a little life and that we will have the pleasure of meeting this little person in late September or early October.

Here is me as a baby:

And Nick as a baby (he is a little older in his photo than I was in mine!):

I bet our baby will be born with dark hair...I am excited to share this journey with you.