Nursery Pictures!!

FINALLY!  The nursery is almost complete! :)  Even though it is not all the way done, it is complete enough for me to share some pictures :)  I'm too excited to wait!!!  It feels SO good to have her room pretty much done - I absolutely love looking in there every time I walk by, reminding myself of the best Christmas present we will be receiving in just a few weeks!  We really are blessed - and have so much to be thankful for this holiday season!!  

We LOVE how it turned out - we wish we could have painted all 4 walls, but since we are still in an apartment and hopefully will be moving into a house next summer, we decided just to paint one to lessen the amount we have to paint back when we move.  There are a few things we are missing - like you will notice we do not have a changing pad yet - that will be on the white dresser with either a cute pink polka dot or yellow changing pad cover :)  We also need to figure out decorations for on top of the bookcase and hang cute little hooks for her towel and robe on the wall by the dresser!

I have to give a lot of credit for how the nursery is "designed" to my husband.  He is the one that came up with some of my favorite parts of the nursery...the color combo being one of those things (the yellow wall and the gray/white additions to the room).  He also had the idea to get a gender-neutral gray and white crib skirt which we can use next time around even if we have a boy - genius idea Ben! :)  He also was the one to come up with the idea of putting the cute white flowers above the crib.  I'm sure there are other things I am forgetting...oh ya, like the beautifully refinished dresser that he did :)  I really got lucky that I have a husband with an eye for such things!  Must be that artsy, photographer brain of his :)

So please enjoy the pictures!! :)

 

 

Duncan LOVES to go sit in Annie's room - he can't wait for his little sister either :)

Weekly Ultrasounds & Induction Scheduled!

Despite the fact that I have to juggle still working full 40 hour weeks while going to two 2-3 hour appointments every week, we just love getting very frequent peaks of Annie on our weekly ultrasounds!!

Every week, we are getting a Biophysical Profile ultrasound (or BPP) - which basically means they are looking more at her movement, breathing, heartbeat, etc. during these ultrasounds.  There is no growth component to them (except for at 34 and 38 weeks when they add on a growth scan).

One of the best things about having so many ultrasounds is that it is easier to "share" these special appointments with family - my dad came to our ultrasound on November 1st and my mom came on the 12th!   I think it was really fun for them to see their granddaughter in "action" instead of just in pictures - she showed off a little bit too - she yawned a couple of times for them, moved her fingers, etc. :)  It was pretty special to share that with them!  I really wish that Ben's mom and dad lived closer so they could come to one too.

The November 6th ultrasound was especially fun for me (unfortunately Ben had to miss this one!).  We found out 2 major things - 1) Annie has HAIR!  She could clearly see hair on the screen...little fuzz coming off of her head :) and 2) Annie decided it would be fun to turn breech! :/  The funny thing was, we had just had an ultrasound on the 1st - so she went from being completely head down to head up in just 4 days!  Active little girl we have!! :)

The doctor said they don't worry about a baby being breech until about 36 weeks (I was 31 at the time).  Well, that is true that I shouldn't worry or start exercises to flip her quite yet because by the next U/S on the 12th, she was head down again!  Phew! :)  BUT - I swear over the last few days, she has been turning again and it would not shock me at all if we go to our ultrasound tomorrow afternoon and she is breech again.  I think I can tell when she is breech and when she is head down - so we'll see if my hunch is right that she is breech again!  I hope not of course, I would love it if she just stayed head down from here on out! :)

One of the positives of her being breech at the ultrasound on the 6th was that we could get some really great face pictures of her because she was staring right at the camera!  Here is the best face picture we got of her during that ultrasound:

Don't you just love those cheeks!?!?

Along with the ultrasounds, I also am really starting to enjoy the down-time I have at my appointments (never thought I would say that!).  I love getting the non-stress tests (especially when I have my favorite nurse, Donna) and then of course it's nice to meet with my doctor or Jessica, my nurse practitioner (who I love!), twice a week!  Ben usually just comes for the ultrasound but doesn't stick around for the NST or appointment...sometimes they can take an additional 1.5-2 hours.  Another reason I am loving my time at my appointments is because instead of bringing work work, I have my "baby bag" which is full of baby reading materials and books that I don't find time to read in the evenings.  It's nice to just take a few hours and focus on Annie and nothing else!

OH!  And how could I forget!!!  Last week Dr. Fulfer scheduled my induction!  Eeks!  Of course I hope we don't have to use it and I go into labor naturally, but it's kind of weird that we are close enough to actually be "on the books" for my induction!  So...if I haven't gone into labor before, the plan is to go in on the evening of December 27th to start the process!  But, if "things" look favorable before, then we will just go in the morning of the 28th.  Ben and I really need to start brainstorming something fun to do during the day on the 27th....that is going to be a long day waiting and anticipating 8pm to come around for us to go in! :)  Eeks!  Can't WAIT though! :)

31 Week Update!

It's hard to believe that I am past the 30 week mark...it really seems like time has flown by after about 20 weeks or so!  And, since I know I'll be induced at 39 weeks (if I haven't gone into labor before), then it is just a little bit less than 8 weeks at this point!!!  Ahh!  Kind of crazy.  It really hit me the other day when my dad said "it's hard to believe you will have a baby next month" - that was the first time I thought of it that way, but YES, we will have a baby next month!

We are getting so excited.  And I am a little bit surprised how ready we feel - neither of us are too nervous.  Now, we aren't physically ready, because the nursery is no where near ready and we don't have everything that we need, but at least both of us feel prepared to be parents!  I think part of the reason we feel "prepared" is because we have both accepted that we know we will not know everything and we'll learn as we go!  Now, will I still be saying this 6 weeks from now when the birth is right around the corner!?  We'll see :) 

We started our Prepared Childbirth Classes at the hospital 2 weeks ago.  It has been really nice to start actually thinking about the labor & delivery part of pregnancy - something we haven't really heard much about!  We still have 2 more classes left and I am really excited for the last week when we actually get to tour the labor & delivery floor at Carle.  It's been fun to learn about what to expect and also different coping/relaxation techniques, etc.  I must say, I am really hoping that I can go into labor naturally instead of being induced...but it is what it is and the most important thing is that everything goes smoothly and she is healthy!!  Besides the Prepared Childbirth class, we still have a few other classes - breastfeeding, infant CPR, Ben has a dad's only class, and a newborn care class. 

I've been feeling really good lately too!  My biggest "complaint" at this point would have to be the hip pain that I've been having from sleeping on my side.  And, I have been a little surprised how much harder it is to do things - like walking - I didn't expect to have issues with this type of simple activity until I was closer to the end of my pregnancy (especially because that difficulty started several weeks ago!).  I've learned I really cannot walk fast or I will get horrible ligament pain on my right side!  And not to mention, the bladder issue of course :)  That is FUN!

This week is the start of having appointments 2 times a week at the hospital until the baby is here - boy oh boy should that be fun!  I really don't mind the extra check-ups (ultrasound every week, non-stress test every appointment - who can complain!!), but each appointment is really long (2-3 hours) - and they are all during the day, meaning I have to miss that time at work.  I am also hoping to make up that lost time every week too so I don't have to use any sick/vacation time.  So, I'm sure I have some really long work days ahead of me before I have the baby!  I'm trying to spin the time I'll spend waiting at the doctor's office positively though - it's time for me to read my baby books that I never seem to have time for in the evenings.

We had an ultrasound on November 1st and it was really fun because my dad got to come with us - I figured we have so many ultrasounds, why not share a few :)  They estimate that she is just about 3 pounds, 13 ounces right now - which is in the 51% percentile.  We were SO happy to hear that she is right on track for size since I have been trying so hard to control my blood sugars with diet and insulin to prevent her from growing too large (i.e. decrease the chance of having to have a c-section and other issues related to gestational diabetes and a big baby).  This ultrasound was also fun because this was the first time we thought she actually looked like a baby - not quite as skeletal as in past ultrasounds.  We could see some chubby cheeks developing already! And at one point, we got to see her open her mouth and yawn!  That was SO cool!  Here are some pictures:

 

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Front view!  This is when she opened her mouth!  I can't believe you can see all of her facial features so clearly - eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth!

We actually have another ultrasound on Tuesday - can't wait to see her again :) :)  I'll be updating soon (I promise) about the baby shower, pregnancy photos, and progress on the nursery! :)