37 week picture

This picture was taken last night before we went on our tour of the Labor & Delivery unit at our hospital. I said in the last post that I didn't think my belly had grown, I'm still not sure that it has grown but it is certainly a bit more "pointy". I love this gap sweater, I wish I would have ordered it in non maternity for next year as well!

The tour went awesome! Was a scary reality check as well looking at the bed and all the equipment and realizing that any day now I will be laying there! Our hospital is strictly a women and newborn hospital, which I love since there will be no sick or crazy people walking around! It also has the highest rated and largest NICU on the west coast. They even put "baby LoJack" monitors on the babies ankles that have alarms that sound if the baby is taken near a staircase or elevator. Scary to think that it is needed, but better safe than sorry.

No big New Years plans for us since Anthony works tonight. We are planning on having a date night this Saturday since this will more than likely be our last opportunity to go on one. I am so looking forward to yummy dinner.

......I'm baaaack

Holy cow I haven't blogged in forever! My poor poor blog has been so mistreated ;-(

So lets get caught up:

1: This picture was taken at 35 weeks. I don't feel like I have grown all the much in the past 2 weeks, especially since Connor has dropped a bit lower. I will post an updated picture in the next few days though so we can compare! I now laugh when I look back on my 17 week picture when I thought I was SOOOO big! Please....

2: This is the "accent" wall in Connor's nursery. Anthony worked very hard on these stripes and did a pretty amazing job! They match the colors in the bedding that we are using and the curtains. I'll be posting more pictures of the nursery tonight or tomorrow. The crib and changing table are in there and put together, we just have to get some of the boxes out of the room so it looks better :-)

3: Christmas Eve was AWESOME! We had such a great Christmas! Anthony had to work on Christmas day so we celebrated the night before. I baked a ham and made the best mashed potatoes ever along with green bean cass and whiskey glazed carrots. It was an awesome meal to enjoy with a few friends over. After dinner Anthony, Taz and I drove around Christmas light looking then came home and opened our gifts. My parents got us a Flip Video Camera that we were really wanting before Connor gets here so we can get all those cute moments on video and post them to an email or this blog. I love the camera so far and am still learning how to use it. Anthony got me a Sony Reader which has already come in handy between my long day in the ER to sitting in the waiting room at my doctors. It was an awesome Christmas and so crazy to think that next year all those gifts under our tree with be for a tiny little boy.

4: Anthony tried out for (and made) the SRT team on base. SRT is the Special Reaction Team which is basically the military version of a SWAT team. He is really excited about this and should be making the transition over to this unit right around the time that Connor is born. We will still be at the same base so there really wont be any major changes. His schedule will be changing though. Instead of working 15 days a month like he does now he will work Mon-Fri and will be home around dinner time every night. Of course this doesn't include training days which will be longer (and some weekends) and because of the job he will be on call all of the time. Its a great opportunity and will look really good on his resume for when he starts submitting applications for police departments.

5: I have been sick as a dog! I have had a persistent cough that I feel like I picked up as soon as I became pregnant and it has just gotten worse and worse. It was to the point last week that I was barely getting 2 hours of sleep a night from coughing so much and it was causing me to throw up several times a day. Christmas day I finally gave in and went to the ER. After 5 hours at ER and then Labor and Delivery it was determined that I have a severe case of Bronchitis. They gave me 2 inhalers and a cough syrup with codeine in it to help me sleep. I still have a cough, but feel 1000X better than I did a week ago. I'm hoping that within the next week the cough is completely gone.

6: We are pretty much ready for this little guy to get here. We have taken our breastfeeding class as well as our hands on baby care basics class. We are also planning on taking a baby and dog class as soon as a spot opens up. That one is hard to get into since there are only 8 spots and they only hold it once a month. We stopped by the fire station last night and had our car seat installed and had a little "class" about the safety features and everything for it. I was really happy that we decided to do this since they say that 85% of people install the car seat incorrectly. My hospital bag is about 1/2 way packed, but the other half will be done as we walk out the door on our way there.

7: I had my 37 week appointment this morning and am 1cm dilated and not completely "thinned out".

33W Growth Ultrasound

My Dr. scheduled us for an ultrasound this afternoon since I have been measuring ahead the last few appointments. So for the past few weeks we have been thinking we are going to have a large baby boy. WRONG! Connor is measuring right on track in the 55th percentile and weighing in at 4.5 pounds! I completely forgot to ask how long he is measuring. He also has hair on his head! I was completely bald at birth (and for a while after), but Anthony had hair. He claims it was the first and only time in his life he had a full head of hair. We pray that Connor gets the LeFevre/Schrader hair so he doesn't start balding at 17!

Below I have posted a few pictures from today and also put little arrows pointing to what things are since I know that it can be very difficult to tell at times. Look at those chubby cheeks!

We are scheduled for our breast feeding class, newborn/infant care class and hospital tour all within the next 3 weeks. I was also told that I should not be traveling more than an hour or so away from my hospital once I hit the 36 week mark. Thats only 2 weeks away!

My pack and play arrived this afternoon in the mail. So now I am waiting on the delivery guy to drop off my Moby Wrap and the car seat and we will be set to go! We are planning on going and picking out paint this weekend and getting started on painting the nursery and putting everything together.

Ill also be posting pictures of the new house once we settled in and have the christmas tree up!

31 Weeks and a baby shower!

31 weeks already! I'm feeling it too!! Sleep is nearly impossible as my hips feel as though I have been hit by a car and it feels as if my pelvic bone is broken every time I roll over (and step into the bathtub or car...putting pants on is PAINFUL). Sounds fun huh?!? Its all worth it though :-)

I don't feel nearly as many kicks as I used to, now I feel tumbles and stretching. Its weird watching my belly "roll" and look all lopsided since he much prefers the right side.

I had my regular appointment yesterday and I am happy to say that I actually lost .3 pounds in the past 2 weeks! I was quite worried about it from my trip to Vegas this past weekend and eating yummy Cafe Rio and Buffalo Wild Wings. I guess my mom and me did enough shopping and walking around to burn it off though! I have been continually measuring ahead for the past 3 appointments. It started out at 2 weeks ahead but yesterday I was measuring right around 3 weeks ahead. Dr. Binno isn't too worried about it yet but is having me go in for a growth ultrasound at my next appointment in 2 weeks. I'm hoping that Connor isnt going to measure big and maybe he is just stretching and taking advantage of the room in there! I sure am looking forward to seeing him in there and how big he has gotten! We haven't seen him since the big ultrasound so its long overdue!

Kendra and I drove down to Las Vegas this past weekend for my baby shower. It turned out GREAT! Gerri did an awesome job of planning it and I am so very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Anthony, Connor and I received the majority of the items that we needed. I was shocked at how generous everyone was and truly appreciate it! Connor is a lucky boy and has lots of women in his life that quilt so we were given several homemade quilts to add to the few that his grandma had already made for him! There is only one "big" item that Anthony and I have left to buy, then just some small items like binkies, wipes & diapers and some plain white onesies and burp clothes. We will slowly take care of all these items in the next month and a half. Below I posted a few pictures from the shower as well as a picture of the stroller that my mom bought us a few months ago as an early shower gift.

We are moving into our townhouse on the 30th and I cant wait! It couldn't come sooner too since I have had a run-in or two with our stairs lately due to my shifting balance! I cant wait to move in and FINALLY start the nursery! Packing is no fun though....

Registry Confusion

When you pull my Babies R Us registry up online it is quite confusing! It appears that 99% of the items I registered for are "online only" and that you cant buy them in the store. This is SO not the case. I even went today and double checked! The reason that it lists it under Online Only, is because there is an offer for a free Rattle Worm that comes with the item if purchased online.

I think this is stupid considering that their own employees cant explain this to their customers.... but when I talked to the head person there I was told that there is nothing that can be done to change the way that it shows up online. So we are SOL. Hopefully it works for you in the stores though!

30 Weeks down....8-10 to go!

Your baby's lungs and digestive tract are almost fully developed. Your baby's growth in terms of her length will soon slow down, but she will continue to gain weight until she's born.

This week your baby continues to open and shut her eyes. She can probably see what's going on inside your uterus (womb), distinguish light from dark and even track a light source. If you shine a light on your stomach, your baby may move her head to follow the light or even reach out to touch the moving glow.

Some researchers think baring your stomach to light stimulates visual development. But don't expect 20/20 vision when your baby is born – newborns can see a distance of only between 20cm and 30cm. Children with normal vision don't reach 20/20 vision until the age of about seven or nine. To complete the picture, your baby now has eyebrows and eyelashes.

About a litre of amniotic fluid now surrounds your baby, but that volume decreases as she gets bigger and has less room in your uterus. As you and your baby continues to grow, don't be alarmed if you feel breathless, as if you can't get enough air. It's just your uterus pressing against your diaphragm.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. At about 34 weeks (or just before birth, if this is your second or third pregnancy), your baby's head will move down into your pelvis as she gets into the right position for birth. That will make breathing and eating a lot easier.

There will be no pictures with this post, I'm far to sick to motivate myself to get dressed let alone do something with my hair. I REALLY REALLY want NyQuil and its killing me that I cant take it. Tylenol just is not cutting it at all.

My last appointment went really well, I had only gained about 2 pounds in the past 3 weeks which is much better than I did the prior appointment. I start my 2 week appointments now and go back next Tuesday. She told me to write down questions that I may have regarding pain relief during labor, but I'm not exactly sure what to ask. I want every possible pain medication that they are willing to give me, as soon as they are willing to give it to me. I in no way feel like I am missing out on some special experience by not going natural. I also have no plans to make an outlined birth plan that seems to be so popular these days. I feel like they do nothing but set me up for stress and disappointment. My birth plan: Give me drugs and get the baby out the safest way possible. That's it....

Photo Post!

I'm 30 Weeks today! Ill post an update on the pregnancy later on today after I fully wake up and take some more cold pills. Anthony feels great now after his cold......but thats because he gave it to me!

Last Night was the Marine Corps Birthday Ball and we had a blast! I had asked my doctor earlier on this week if I could have a glass of champagne for the toasting and such and she said yes (YAY), so imagine my disappointment when they didn't serve champagne this year...

The ceremony includes a TON of sitting and standing (imagine a Catholic service....) so my feet were sore by the end of the night to say the least.

Here are the pictures that I had on my phone. There are others on our friends camera that I will post when I get them, but here are what I have. We don't get the pro pictures for about 3 weeks.