(almost) 37 week update

Well I just couldn’t wait until Saturday for the 37 week update, so you get it a few days early. As of Saturday, the baby will be considered full term! This is obviously a good thing because it means that if he arrives now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though the due date is still three weeks away.

I had a doctor appointment this morning and will continue to have one once a week until he arrives. The doctor felt my tummy to see how the baby is positioned and estimate how big he probably is. She said he’s definitely not small, but probably average sized to large and estimated he’s around 7lbs right now. So given that they gain about 1/2lb a week, I’m looking at about an 8 1/2lb boy! Some other exciting (and startling) news is that I’m aready 1 1/2 – 2cm dilated and 80% effaced. This is no indication of how soon he’ll be ready to come, as I could walk around dilated for weeks, but its a good sign that my hormones are starting to get things ready. On the other hand it also means that I should be ready to go at any time now.

Luckily, we have most things at the house ready for the baby’s arrival. His crib and nursery are all set up, all his blankets are washed, although I still have a bunch of clothes to clean, we have diapers and breastfeeding supplies and we have his carseat. However, we still need to pack the bags and have the seat bases installed in the cars. There are also about 50 other small things I’d like to get done before the big arrival, but at least I can relax knowing that all the basics are covered.

surprise shower!

Yesterday my wonderful coworkers decided to surprise me with a baby shower! I’ve always been a hard one to surprise because I like to be in control and I’m a bit nosy and I usually end up poking around until I’ve ruined all my own fun. Well not this time. Apparently when I’m working, I’m oblivious to everything around me and its easy to pull one over. Either that or I’ve totally developed baby brain and I’m just oblivious in general. I found out later that they had been planning it for months – they even had some secret meetings about it!

So here is how yesterday went. I emailed my friend Kristie because we made tentative lunch plans and she said that she had a bunch of work come up and couldn’t get away. Well it seemed that nobody else at work really planned much for lunch either, so I resigned myself to eating a can of soup at my desk – so boring. Other than everyone skipping lunch, everything seemed pretty normal including the afternoon meeting my boss had scheduled with me in his office. As the meeting approached, I remember that everyone was at their desks and I slightly recall a bunch of movement and footsteps coming from upstairs (we have noisy floors). I met with my boss and he closed the door to his office, which was a little unusual, but still didn’t tip me off. When we were done he asked me to come with him to discuss the project with an account exec who’s office was upstairs. As we exited his office I remember wondering where everyone went, because it was eerily quiet and nobody was at their desks anymore.

Well, the office we were heading to is in the same area as our bar and lounge, so as we approached, I could see down the hall and that there was a huge spread of food on the bar and a table of wrapped gifts. It took a minute for it to sink in, but once I realized what was happening, I turned and muttered something to him about being really tricky. He made me walk into the bar area ahead of him where all my coworkers were waiting and yelled “surprise”…and clapped…and clapped some more…and I was just standing there and they kept smiling and clapping. That’s the worst part of a surprise – what do you do after they yell surprise?! Thankfully my friend Kristie, who had earlier ditched me for lunch, was in the front taking pictures and she walked up to save me from the spotlight.

After the initial shock I had a wonderful time talking with everyone, eating delicious food, admiring all the baby decorations and hearing about all the scheming and planning that went into the surprise. Everyone was so sweet to do this for me and it was a very fun afternoon. They also invited my husband and parents to the shower which was especially nice so they could see where I worked and meet all the great people I work with. They had a wonderful time as well and Tim even survived when I mad him sit right next to me while opening gifts.

Check out pictures of the shower below and more right here.

welcome baby cash!

My friends Lynn and Shawn recently welcomed their adorable new son, Cash Walker into the world. Lynn and I were so excited to discover that we were both pregnant and due within a week of each other. We were especially thrilled to learn that we were both having boys and we plan that they will be great buddies.  Well it seems Cash was a bit anxious to meet everyone and he decided to come 5 weeks early!

His birth weight was 5lbs 14 oz and was 19″ long. He is healthy and his parents hope he will be coming home with them next week once he starts feeding regularly.

Congrats Lynn and Shawn on your adorable little baby boy!

35 week update

Wow, it looks like I haven’t given a baby update in 5 weeks!  Today is exactly 1 month before the due date – which is amazing to me!  At 35 weeks our little man is roughly 18 inches long and around 5 1/2 pounds – similar in size to a honeydew melon. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he’ll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

You may be interested to know that my uterus now reaches up under my rib cage and is crowding my other internal organs, which is why people frequently see me clutching my side and wincing. Since my uterus is all the way up there, it has given the little guy easy access to kick me in the ribs. It also means that my stomach is squished up behind my breastbone and feels like it has about half its normal capacity. This gives me the strange sensation of being both hungry and feeling full at the same time.

So other than the rib pain, swollen feet and lack of sleep, I’ve been feeling great! No really – I do mean that. I’ve really enjoyed pregnancy and have not had too many terrible symptoms. I love feeling the baby move and I am still mezmerized by the site of my belly moving and shifting as he somersaults around inside. I’m still not at the stage where I’d like to be done with being pregnant, but at the same time I’m so excited that we will get to look into his eyes very soon.

Also, the nursery is nearly complete! I just have a shelf and a piece of artwork to hang on the wall and then finish washing all the baby clothes and blankets. I’ll take some pictures and post those very soon.