Just Sittin' and Waitin'

So, I thought my last blog post would be the last before baby arrived, but since we're just sitting around waiting for our little girl to get here, I thought I'd send another quick update.

Ben and I had a great mini babymoon last weekend.  We went to Brian Voltaggio's restaurant Volt in Frederick, MD last Thursday night and then stayed overnight in MD.  The food was great, and it was so relaxing to stay in a hotel for the night and sleep in on Friday.  Then on Friday, we went for my final ultrasound.  Everything looked great. "Helen" is head down and her projected weight at 37 weeks was 6 lbs 10oz.  I am so happy she is a good healthy size, but even though I don't feel huge, I think if I go all the way to my due date, she might be about 8 lbs, which would be a big baby for me!  The ultrasound could be a little off though...I think she's going to be somewhere between 7 and 8 lbs.  One thing I hope they're not wrong about is the sex!  At this last ultrasound, she was wide open again showing off her lady parts as she loves to do, so we're pretty confident she is a girl.  People on the street are always telling me I look like I'm having a boy though, and I know that doesn't mean anything but it's a little disconcerting to hear it over and over.  People on the street also have been telling me I look like I'm about to have the baby any minute now...people really are opinionated!

Anyway, to cap off our little babymoon last weekend, I got a prenatal massage...it was the best thing I've ever done!!  The woman was great and it was so relaxing, I was like mush for the rest of the day.

Then this week, I had a little false alarm on wednesday.  I really thought wednesday was going to be the day.  I had several early labor symptoms on wednesday morning but then started feeling better and got in the car to go to work.  But, then on my way to work I started having some stronger contractions than I've had before with some back pressure.  I ended up turning around and going back home instead of going to work, but once I got home and laid down, everything subsided.  I worked from home the rest of the day and woke up thursday feeling back to normal, so it was just a false alarm!  I went to my weekly dr appt thursday and she said "Helen's" head is not way down in my pelvis yet, but I am 50% effaced and was just a little bit dilated, but less than 1 cm...but at least it's a start!

This weekend we've just been relaxing and waiting.  We still have 11 days until my due date but I still think this might happen a little sooner.  We've gone to a baseball game this weekend, went to the movies twice, had some friends over, and I went to yoga...just trying to keep busy and cool! Luckily, I am not too swollen even in all this heat, but I did have to take my wedding rings off about a month ago.

So, we will continue to keep everyone updated.  I'm not going into the office anymore and will be working from home probably until she gets here.  I go to the dr again on thursday and we'll see if there's been anymore progress.  I've still been having a fair amount of contractions though...more today again kind of like on wednesday (don't jump on a plane just yet though, Mom!)...so who knows??  It's so weird to me that things can be completely normal one day just sitting here waiting for the baby and then without warning the next day she could be here!  What day will that be??!!  We will let you know...soon enough :-)

Love,

Tara, Ben and "Helen"

Here is a picture of me today in my sweet jorts I made from some cheap maternity jeans, ha!

Weeks 28-36

Wow!  I can't believe I haven't updated my blog in two months!  Time has really been flying by with only 26 days left until the due date and just 5 days until I'm full term!  April was super busy with a baby shower in RI, a baby shower in Ohio and a trip to Penn State for Easter.  The baby showers were both so amazing and our family and friends have been so generous...we are so lucky!!  My thank you cards will be going out very soon!!  In May, we have been working very hard to get our house ready to sell and it just went on the market this weekend!  It's been a lot of work getting it ready, although I have to say Ben has done way, way more work than I have...but it's also great to clean and declutter the house before the baby comes.

So, we have been so busy, the last couple months have really just flown by and we can't believe it's almost time!  The nursery is ready to go and Andrea was here this weekend and we washed and organized all the clothes, linens and blankets.  It was a lot of fun...this is going to be one well dressed little girl, for real!!  I can't wait to see her in those cute little outfits.  The car seat is in the new Volvo, all safe and secure.  We've been to breastfeeding class.  We just have a few last minute things left to do...I have started packing the hospital bag (and I bought some new pj's to bring) but we need to finish packing the bag this week.  We need to have our email distribution set up so Ben can email all of you with the details soon after she's born and we also need to work on a labor playlist.  But other than that, I think we're pretty ready to go!

"Helen" is supposedly the size of a watermelon right now!  I haven't had an ultrasound since I was 30 weeks, but at that time about 6 and a half weeks ago, she was 3 lbs 7 ozs and still in the 58th percentile for her size (the exact same percentile as the ultrasound before) so she seems to be just above average.  By now she's probably about 6.5 lbs but I have one more ultrasound scheduled for this coming Friday so we'll have a better idea then.  She is head down though and ready to go!  She is very active still, but she doesn't keep me up at night, which is great.  Most of the time I'm sleeping through the night still, which I think is pretty unusual at this stage, so I'm very grateful for that!  I think the fact that I'm staying active and busy helps me sleep.  I do for sure have my moments or days of discomfort or just pure exhaustion though.  My belly is getting heavier by the day, I'm having mild contractions more and more, the heartburn is still there, I have to pee every 5 seconds, I still get leg or foot cramps here and there, and I have a pretty good waddle going on...but for the most part I still feel really good!  I'm not really at the point yet where I'm just dying to get this baby out of me...although I am getting increasingly nervous about that part, but I'm counting on my yoga breathing and Ben's support to get me through!

This will probably be the last time I update this blog before out little girl is here, so next time I update, I will be updating with pictures of her on the outside!  The general consensus seems to be that I'm going to be a little early, even though I think that's a little unusual for a first baby, but I have to say I think I agree.  I don't really know why, it's just a feeling...we'll see.  Even though I'm not huge (I think I just have an average belly for a late third trimester pregnant woman), I get comments all the time from women at work and random strangers on the street that I look like I'm about to pop.  I guess I'm carrying pretty low so that's why, but who knows??  She'll come out when she's good and ready.

We will update you all after she makes her grand entrance into the world!!  Wish me luck!!

Love,
Tara
xo

Here is a good profile pic from my last ultrasound and her seemingly huge foot!  I won't put on here the freaky looking 3D picture we got too!  

Here is a recent picture of me just yesterday.

And here are a couple pics of the nursery all ready to go!

Facebook has lots of good pics from both baby showers too!  xo