The Final Countdown

Not long after I wrote the last post, I hit the point where I could no longer wear my rings. I was pretty proud of myself for making all the way to 30 weeks though! A couple weeks went by and I noticed that my shoes were feeling a bit different. By week 33 I was full blown swollen ankles and feet within an hour of getting out of bed in the morning. Flip-flops have been my only option since then, with the exception of tennis shoes if we go for a walk very first thing in the morning. I am thankful that I work at a place that is understanding and didn't mind that I broke dress code on a daily basis.

On the medical side, things are going great. Baby is healthy and has a strong heart beat at every visit. I am hanging in there as life gets more uncomfortable with each passing day. We are crossing things off the list and getting ready for T-Day. Birth classes - check; hospital tour - check; bags packed - check (mostly!); car seat base installed - check; clothes, blankets, anything touching baby, washed and put away- check. One final decoration project to be completed this week and we will be as ready as any first time parents can be. I had my last day at work on Friday and it was a little strange. It has been a very long time since I have not worked for a long stretch of time and part of me is going to miss it. On the other hand, I am so excited to be able to spend some time at home with Nugget when she arrives.

We are just playing a waiting game at this point. Now that I am off work, and we are past 37 weeks, she is in charge and can decide when to make her grand entrance. I have had some braxton hicks but nothing too major yet. Now we just wait.

I thought I was pretty big at this point. Little did I know!

What do you mean I still have more than a month to go!

Almost there!!

Summertime in the 503

Clearly I am less than stellar at posting regularly (sorry grandmas!!), so I have a lot to catch-up on now.

I somehow skipped taking a picture of week 24, but did manage to get one of week 25 before heading out to Utah for a quick weekend visit and the baby shower for Jess and I.

I was very much looking forward to seeing my two aunts on my mom's side, as it had been way too long! We made it a family affair to go pick Jess up from the airport because just the day before she had learned the gender of her little one and was going to reveal it by wearing pink or blue. As you can see, she is also having a girl!! So excited for the cousins! This picture also demonstrates how every pregnancy is different, as I look like I have a basketball under my shirt and Jess is just starting her bump.

The shower turned out SUPER cute thanks to the hard work of my older sister, sister-in-law, mom and other mother. It was great to see some friends that we haven't seen since Christmas and spend time with family. Thanks again to everyone who came to see us, we love and miss all of you!

After the shower, mom, Jess, and I headed down to Day Break where a friend was generous enough to take some maternity pics with the three of us. It is not everyday that sisters are pregnant at the same time, so we definitely wanted to document it. The pictures turned out great, but that will have to be another post.

The next week it was 4th of July and we were invited to a Brew & Pie fest at a friend's house down in Albany. It was a lot of fun - good food, lawn games and a few crazy games of badminton. For some reason, 4th of July is the holiday I feel most compelled to dress in appropriate colors and this year was no exception.

At our appointment this month everything is still right on track. Hearing the heart beat is still awesome every time! This time around I got to do the glucose test, which turned out to be totally hyped up and was not bad at all.

Mom came to visit earlier this month to drop off a bunch of boxes of my kid stuff that was still hanging out in her basement. T won't need the doll house or stuffed animals for a while, but it was a good excuse to come visit. :) As you can tell I am on a fairly short rotation of clothes that still fit at this point! Hooray for elastic waist skirts!

Week 29 was celebrated with another ultrasound visit. This time they treated us to 3D pictures which was quite impressive. Crazy what they can do with technology these days. Even though she is still inside, she wanted to make sure we didn't forget that she is number 1. Already a little sassy!

Before I knew it we were at week 30!! Only 10 weeks to go if she stays on track. Still plenty to do around here to get ready, but we are certainly getting excited to meet our little one and officially become a family of three. As I am typing this she is moving around reminding me frequently of her presence.

30 already!?

Nugget Update

The weeks seem to be going by even quicker now with no sign of slowing down. At our last appointment our little nugget was still right on track. Strong heartbeat and growing as she should be. Movement has definitely become more frequent and obvious. Last week Jake was able to feel her for the first time and it was so awesome to see his face when she kicked his hand. Now anytime I sit down at home and she starts to move I tell him to come feel. I get to feel it all day long, so I love that he can finally enjoy it a little as well.

Now that the heartburn is under control our next step was to do something about this damn pinched nerve in my leg. It was getting worse so Jake did a little research and found a physical therapy technique that has been used on pregnant women to help with this type of condition. A little more searching and we found two chiropractors that use this treatment and thankfully one of them is not too far away. I had my first appointment this past week and I can already tell it is making a difference. The hyper-sensitivity will take some time to fade as the nerve regenerates and starts working again, but being able to go for a walk and not notice my leg is a huge improvement!

I am super excited to be going back to Utah in a couple weeks for a shower with my family and some friends. It is double exciting because my sister is pregnant too!! She is about 5 weeks behind me, due in mid-November. It has been fun to go through this "together", as much as that is possible a thousand miles apart! Plus it will be so fun to have a cousin the same age.

In nursery news, we have all of the big furniture purchased -crib, dresser, changing table, glider; and we picked out colors. Now the projects begin as we want to paint the changing table and the dresser as well as get other decorations up.

Despite the few bumps along the road this pregnancy has been a good one (not that I have anything to compare to), but I am feeling good overall. Can't wait to meet our little girl!

Now, the real reason you come to our blog - pictures!

They say black is slimming, but I don't think that applies to baby bumps. No hiding this one.

Maternity dresses = best invention ever!

HEY! It's week 23!

The Big Reveal

The adventure of pregnancy continues! The last few weeks have brought a few new treats with them. Prior to being pregnant I never really had heart burn and can't even recall a time when I needed a Tums. Well that has all changed! It seems now that no food exists that won't give me heartburn. Thankfully I mentioned this to my doctor and she wrote down one word that has changed my life - Zantac! Seriously, it is a miracle worker. I curse myself on the days when I forget to throw one in my purse to take to work and end up eating Tums like they are candy. My leg has also taken a bit of a turn and progressed from just being numb, to showing me the whole spectrum of nerve related feelings - pain, stabbing, tingly, hot - at any given point in the day. I know it will all be worth it and after delivery I will probably look back and think "that wasn't so bad after all"!

We have also crossed a couple of pretty exciting milestones recently. We had the anatomy ultrasound and learned that we are adding a little girl to our family! She is doing well and measuring just as she should be at this point. We are both super excited, though I will admit I was convinced that it was a boy so I was definitely surprised to hear the technician say it was a girl. We also passed the 20 week mark which means we are now over halfway to meeting our little one! It has gone by quickly at this point.

The weather has been unusually warm lately which I have loved, but it is also making me wonder what the rest of the summer will be like if we were already in the 80's in early May. I am betting I will be glad we have air conditioning!

A little while ago I joined a Meet Up group for new and expecting moms and it has been great. We meet on Saturday's and go for a walk for an hour or so. When the weather was not as nice we went to the mall before it was open and did laps (that's right, I was a mall walker!) and now with the improved conditions we have gone to a couple parks to enjoy the sunshine. It has been nice to have other mom's and mom's to be to ask questions and compare notes with. What stroller do they like? What type of carrier? Do we really need a wipe warmer? All the things you don't really know until you have done it. Plus it will be great to have a group of friends with kids the same age in the future.

Jake has been so great through this process and I know that will continue to be the case. Whether I need something and just don't feel like getting up, or I break down in tears because I spilled a little salad dressing on the floor (thanks a lot of hormones!), he is there for me and I couldn't do this without him.

And of course no post is complete without pictures:

 

 

Little B Makes Three

It seems only appropriate that I am writing this blog before 7:00 in the morning on a Saturday because I couldn't get comfortable enough to fall back asleep.

We are so excited to have a little one on the way! I am currently 17 weeks and heading toward an October 2nd due date. So far my pregnancy has been pretty uneventful. I was lucky enough to not really have morning sickness. There were certainly days when I was not feeling 100% and went through a whole sleeve of Ritz crackers, but overall I was mostly just super tired. It turns out growing a person is hard work! Over the last few weeks I have definitely started getting my energy back which is so nice. Bed time is still about 9:00 (9:30 if I am lucky), but that is basically normal for me. The only complaint I have is the joy of a pinched nerve  near my right hip which has caused the majority of my right thigh to be numb for about a month now. Thankfully they say it should go away soon after delivery. As if having a baby weren't reason enough to look forward to my due date, now I am also looking forward to having feeling in my leg back!

This week we will find out the gender and I can't believe that we are already to this point. On one hand, late January when I took my home test seems like so long ago, but it also seems a bit crazy to think that in just a few weeks we will be half way there.

We are looking forward to getting the nursery started and narrowing down the seemingly endless options of things to buy for a baby to just the things it will actually need (and maybe a few extras just cause they are so cute!).

We have been good about taking weekly pictures, but I have been slacking on getting the blog done to go along with them. With less comfortable sleep in my future I am likely to be up more and might as well use that time to blog!

Nugget's first picture - 10 weeks

Getting harder to hide!

Jake wanted in on the weekly picture action too!

YAY for week 14!

Working the jazz hands for week 15.

Enjoying the stretchy pants at this point!

Moved

So this is long overdue, but figured for posterity sake I should probably post about it. We had actually started looking for houses back in April 2012, but when we didn't find anything quickly, the search was put on hold while Jake went to Chile for the summer. We picked it back up in September and by early October we found the one we had been looking for and put in an offer. After settling all the details and writing that big check, we finally received the key to our first home on November 17th. We were leaving town a few days later for Thanksgiving so we decided to just move after we returned. Thankfully it is only about 3 miles from our old apartment to the house, so the actual moving was not too bad.

I feel a little like we are still settling in. There are more rooms and many more walls here which means there are still empty spaces and decisions to be made about decorating. But slowly we are making it our own. It didn't take long to believe what everyone was always saying about owning a home - there is always something to do. From upgrades inside, to decorating, to yard maintenance it is certainly true. The yard will be the biggest surprise in the coming months. Since it was winter when we moved in, we don't know what to expect this spring when things start blooming and growing again.

More pictures will come as rooms get finished, but here is the view from the front, including one of the many fountains that we acquired with this purchase (craigslist here they come!)