my due date is 16 days away!

See, I told you I was a terrible blogger! I was like "I will post again later today or tomorrow morning with pictures of some the baby preparations that have been going on my latest belly picture!" ...now 5 DAYS LATER I am finally posting. Sheesh!

Ok, so here we go. We will start with baby stuff!

My mom finished Xander's rag quilt! I helped pick out the fabric. I think it turned out fabulous! I can't wait to take pictures of him with it. If you can't tell from the picture, it's a red, white, and blue nautical theme! So cute!

I was worried that I was going to go into labor and the car seat wouldn't be unpacked and put together, but thankfully my sister came over and helped get the travel system all set up. I love it even more out of the box! I think it's adorable AND I don't think I could have found a stroller that folds up more easily than this one does. This is obviously our first stroller, but I remember fighting with other strollers in my baby sitting days. Ours has one, easy to grab lever and it just folds right up! Perfect!

AND Now I can rest easy, knowing that if I go into labor we have a car seat to bring the baby home in.

While Jessica was over, she also helped to assemble the bouncy seat. We don't have batteries for it yet- but other than that, it's all ready to put a baby in! Cuteness!

A couple weeks ago I got bored on a Sunday and decided to put the swing together. I did all by myself! I am so proud! (I don't feel like I can do much with my giant belly these days.)  Just like the travel system, I am even more in love with the swing out of the box! I love the swaying motion, I love the sounds it makes, I love that I can plug it into the wall so we don't go through a gzillion batteries, I love that it has a timer on it...It's just perfect! I was so tempted to call people I know and ask them to bring their babies over to try out my awesome new swing.

Around the same time I put the swing together, I also put all the bedding on the crib- FINALLY! I have been waiting 3 YEARS to use this bedding. It's been killing me having to wait- but we didn't have the waterproof crib liners yet, so I couldn't do anything until we got them! I went on a giant Target shopping spree to get all my nursing bras and other postpartum stuff and picked up the crib liners while I was there. The very next day I set up the crib.

I did encounter a small problem while I was trying to get the bedding all situated. The crib is kinda close to the dresser, and I kept needing to squeeze between the two- and for some reason my pregnant brain kept forgetting that turning to the side no longer makes me skinnier. I was continually squishing and scraping my belly on the crib. 

We don't have a toy box or anything yet, so for now we are keeping all the stuffed animals on this adorable little safari themed bench that Nathan found on craigslist. 

So, the nursery is pretty much done- we are just waiting on a rocking chair! Once we have that I will post pictures of the nursery as a whole.

I found some pics on my phone that I never posted on here.

This is me in my maternity swimsuit:

And this is a picture of puffy preggo hippo feet/legs- and believe it or not, this is not even the worst my swelling has been!

And this is my view when I look down these days:

One thing that has been getting me down is everyone's comments on how huge I am.

 I think it's because I don't feel abnormally large for a pregnant person- maybe I just see something different when I look in the mirror than what the people around me see; maybe it's just because I am used to it.... I don't know. I am measuring bigger than normal for as far along as I am- it's just weird to me that so many people- most of which I don't even know- comment so freely on my size. I've even had people ask if I am having twins or triplets- I do my best to laugh it off, but in my head I'm like "Screw you."' I know that's not nice, I just don't think they are being very considerate making comments like that- in fact, I think it's pretty rude.

Anyway, here are so brand spanking new pictures of pregnant me. Please excuse my hair and my complete disregard for my appearance in general. I had only been awake for about an hour when I took these, and obviously hadn't gotten ready for the day yet. Also, try not to stare too much at swollen feet and cankles.

THIS is what I look like straight on:

 Then I turn to the side and it's like BAM! Preggo.

And here is a view from the other side! 

I did my best to look happy in the pictures, because in general I really am pretty happy most of the time, and I don't know if that really comes across in my blog and facebook posts. 

I am definitely feeling "ready" for this baby to come out though. They aren't lying when they say the last few weeks are the toughest. 

My doctor's appointment yesterday was pretty routine. My blood pressure looked good, the baby's heart rate was good, and I found out that I'm about a fingertip dilated but that the baby's head isn't really anywhere near where he needs to be for delivery. I have another appointment scheduled for next Tuesday, but my doctor is going to be out of town this weekend, so the way this pregnancy has been so far I am pretty sure that is when I am going to go into labor. HA!

Well, if I do, I'm ready. We are pre-registered at the hospital, the car seat is ready to go, and my hospital bag is all packed and sitting next to the door.

full term!

We've made it to full term! Hooray!

It's hard to believe that it has only been a week since I last blogged-- SO much stuff has happened I feel like I'm way behind, so let's see if I can get all caught up.

I mentioned in my last post that I had "bonus" doctor's appointment the next day. Well, I didn't think it was going to be any big deal. I assumed they were going to make me pee into a cup and probably run some labs and that was all- so I told Nathan not to worry about taking time off work and asked my mom to drive me to the doctor that morning. I figured it would be like a 10-15 minute thing and then we would be out the door and I could head over to my sister's house to swim!

So, Thursday morning my mom brought me a Jamba Juice and drive me over to my appointment. They took my blood pressure and it was high, then they took it again while I was laying down and it was fine. Then they check the baby's heart beat and it was all good. Then they had me pee in a cup to check for protein in my urine (which would be an indicator for preeclampsia.) THEN, to my surprise they had me undress from the waist down so they could do the strep B test- which I thought wasn't going to happen until Monday. That swabbing or whatever HURT! Holy Moses. Next, Dr. Tutt checked my cervix, which I am pretty sure I mentioned before is pretty uncomfortable. Cervix was all closed up like last time- so no signs that the baby would be coming out on his own any time soon. Then they did a measurement ultra sound- which was another thing I wasn't expecting to happen until Monday. This is when I found out I was carrying a giant monster baby!! At the exact 36 week marker, Xander was measuring at 6.5-7 lbs! The doc said that if I make it to my due date he could be a 10 lb baby! I did find out that he was head down though- which is good.

After all the baby measuring was done, Dr. Tutt checked out the placenta and I got the not so good news. Apparently, the placenta is aging/deteriorating faster than it should. It started detaching from the uterus a bit and has some calcification on it.This usually doesn't happen until around/after 40 weeks. So because of this news and because of my high blood pressure, I was sent over to the hospital- to labor and delivery triage to be monitored and to have labs run. (I learned that if I get the labs done at the doctor's office, it takes a day take to get the results back, but at the hospital it takes only about 20 minutes.)

So we drove a mile up the road to the hospital. I got all "pre-registered" and signed all the paper work- which I guess will help streamline things for the next time I go in. Then they put me in triage room #1 and asked for another urine sample. I just peed at the doctor! I did manage to squeeze a little out though- and it freakin' burned because of the strep test or whatever they did at the office. Next, I changed into a hospital gown and they strapped me all up to the bed so they could monitor the baby, and they put a blood pressure cuff on me to continuously monitor my blood pressure. Then they asked me a bunch questions, like family history, and if I would be willing to take blood in an emergency situation, and if we were planning to have the baby circumcised and all that. But my favorite question of all was "Can you feel those contractions you are having right now?" I was like "Uh, no." My mind was a little blown; how could I be having contractions and not know it?! Well, apparently I had been having contractions all along, I just wasn't really aware that, that is was they were. I thought they tightening I had been feeling in my belly was just the baby moving. So I watched the monitor and became more aware of what was happening in my body when a contraction was going on. It was kind of cool. They weren't worried about the contractions since I wasn't dilated at all- they did tell me to make sure that I drank plenty of water to stay hydrated to keep the contractions at bay though.

After being there for like a half hour- 45 minutes they got all my labs back and everything looked normal for me and for the baby. They told me to keep my Monday appointment with Dr. Tutt and I was sent on my way. From what I had learned about the placenta, I thought that maybe at my Monday appointment, Dr. Tutt might schedule an induction for the safety of the baby. So fast forward to Monday afternoon's appointment- my blood pressure was better, baby's heart rate is good, I had to give another urine sample- ya know, the usual. Then the ever dreaded cervical check; still not dilated- but it had softened a bit, so there was a little bit of progress there. They checked the placenta again on the ultra sound and it looked the same- not any better, not any worse- so they scheduled my next appointment for one week out. So, as of now, there is no scheduled induction or c-section planned. The only way this baby is coming before Monday is if he decides to do so on his own.

Now that I know what a contraction feels like, I am noticing them more and more. The nurse at the doctor said that I shouldn't worry about them too much until they start getting painful- I've only had 1 or 2 that were particularly uncomfortable.

So that's what has been happening on the medical side of my pregnancy. I will post again later today or tomorrow morning with pictures of some the baby preparations that have been going on my latest belly picture!