40 weeks...still cooking...

Well, unfortunately I will be posting another bump pic this week instead of a baby pic. I had my 40 week appointment this morning and then doctor said I was still dilated to 1cm and my cervix was still nice and soft. She even said I had an ideal cervix for an induction...which leads me to share that an induction date is set! Wednesday morning I will be getting some pitocin to get this kid out of me! Bruce and I were actually told to be at the hospital on Tuesday evening at 8p to do the prep stuff for induction. Really...the worst part I heard from the nurse on the phone was "make sure you are done eating by 7p on Tuesday night, then it is ice chips and water until he is born." UGH!

The doctor felt around on my stomach and shared some concerns that the baby might be kind of big. With that concern, she also scheduled me for a sonogram on Monday afternoon to get an approximate guess of the weight. Any stories I have heard related to sonograms and weight guesses...seem to be fairly off...so I am wondering why we are even bothering! Oh well...she is the doc.

So, unless this baby works his way out of me before Tuesday night, he will be forced out! Last night around 2a I started feeling some intense cramping. Again, some stories I have read (and friends I have talked to) have said that cramping is the start of contractions! Im hopeful that means good things are coming soon. Prayers please!

Here is the week 40 bump pic!

39 weeks

I had my 38 week appointment this time last week. The doctor did her first cervix check, and told me exactly what I DIDN'T want to hear...everything was still sealed up in there. SHOOT! Since that was the case, at least I knew I would be able to attend my Masters graduation that weekend!

Friday night Bruce and I went out to celebrate my 30th birthday! Definitely not the way I thought I would be celebrating, but I wouldn't have changed it one bit. We went to Johnny's for some dinner, and then to Dairy Queen for some ice cream! We were home by 7:30p and I was in bed by 8p. I sure am getting tired more easily these days.

Saturday was graduation day!!! After two years of classes, I was finally graduating and I told myself I wanted to walk because I was VERY excited about completing this chapter in my life. Tom and Carol met up with me and Bruce and we headed to Emporia Saturday morning. Ken and Betty made the drive from Little River to watch me walk too! I am so blessed to have in-laws who not only helped me through this process, but they also want to be there to celebrate!! Below is a picture of me and Bruce before the ceremony with the ESU mascot, Corky. It was a fun day!

On Sunday, the teachers at my school hosted a baby shower for me! I am so lucky to have such generous people around me! We went out to Zio's around 4:30p, had some dinner, and opened some gifts. They organized a collection of money and bought some of the bigger gifts on our registry...one being the stroller/carseat combo that we registered for!! What a huge weight off of our shoulders! We also got some smaller items that were on my "must buy" list so I was glad to see those and cross them off the list! Here are a few pictures of the shower. You never realize truly how LARGE you are...until you see pictures of yourself...YIKES! But it is ALL worth it! :)

This week at school has been completely crazy! Monday was middle school field day, yearbook signing, and the teacher/8th grade kickball game. I tried to step up to the plate and kick. It felt...a little awkward, since I haven't tried kicking a ball in a good 6 months. Needless to say I was a little sore after that. Really my biggest hope was that kicking would help move things along with Baby K...no luck yet. 

Tuesday was the graduation mass in the morning, a day of dealing with the 7th graders, and then back to school that night for the graduation dinner. I didn't get home until after 9p and I was so beat! These days, my bedtime has been around 8:30p so I was ready to crash!

Today is lower grade field day. The 8th graders are not here, and the 6th/7th graders run field day for the lower grades. My coworkers have been very nice and told me to stay inside all day away from the kids, and just relax! I will leave school here soon to run home and shower, then head to my 39 week appointment (pray for some dilation!!!), then head to dinner with the other middle school teachers (a tradition to get together for dinner before the graduation ceremony) and finally finishing up the night with the graduation ceremony. IF I can make it through this day, I will consider it a success and Baby K has my 100% permission to make his way OUT! It will be another later evening, but I won't hesitate to pull the pregnancy card tomorrow if need be, to keep me sane! 

Here is the week 39 bump shot. Ugh...I'm huge!

38 weeks

As I looked at my side-tummy picture this morning I thought "Sheesh I LOOK huge...but I don't feel THAT big." Yikes!

I started off week 37 with my weekly visit to the doctor. Again, all of my numbers are right on track and she is happy with how things are progressing. I have another appointment today where she said she will not only check my bp, how my belly is measuring and my weight, but also if I am dilated at all. It may seem weird but I am SUPER excited to see if she thinks I am dilating. I haven't had any of the "classic signs" of impending labor, so I am guessing she will say things are still...shut.

Saturday evening I met my parents and brother for weekend mass, and then we went out to dinner at Jack Stack to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom! It was a tasty meal and I enjoyed spending time with the fam. Bruce was out at the FIRST night race at the Kansas Speedway. I knew there was no way I could handle all of that walking in "my condition" so he took a buddy with him and everything worked out!

Sunday was a relaxing day. I spent most of the day up in my scrapbooking room sewing this little number together! I found the directions on Pinterest and figured I would give it a shot. I had always wondered why I would need a carseat cover for my child in the middle of summer (I thought it was primarily used in the winter to help protect from the cold) but then I read a blog post from a friend about how she didn't have a cover, and was caught in a torrential downpour with just a muslin swaddle blanket. Long story short, she lost hold of the blanket covering the carseat so it went flying across the parking lot while she had a screaming baby in the carseat trying to keep him dry. Ugh. It sounded TERRIBLE! With that said, I made the executive decision to make this cover so I could hopefully avoid that myself...

It's reversible!! And velcros to the handle! I am pretty proud of myself...just dont look too closely at the seams. Those are probably a quilters worst nightmare...but it will get the job done!

This is the last academic week of school and it could not come soon enough! I have been so impatient with wanting to meet this little man, that I have wanted the end of school to come quickly so I can wrap up the year without having the headache of preparing lesson plans...I would say that I am close enough, that lesson plans would not be necessary. Whew! We did fetal pig dissection in 8th grade and we have been watching The Lion King in the 7th grade because it goes so well with Ecology, food webs, consumers/producers, etc. 

Last night, Bruce and I went to the Royal's game. I was worried that I might not be up for it because of all the walking, but Bruce got a parking pass with the tickets from work, so we parked one row away from the entrance of the stadium! And our seats were on the first base side close to where we parked, so I hardly had to walk too much. I dont mind the walking and my body can handle it fairly well, but I just dont want to overdo it and I really overdid it at the last Sporting game...so I wanted to be cautious this time. I certainly didnt want to send myself into labor too soon! Here is a picture of where our seats were! They were very close (8 rows back) and we were in prime foul ball territory. Luckily, no foul balls headed our way.

This weekend will be full of excitement with my birthday on Friday, my Masters graduation on Saturday and my last baby shower on Sunday! Let the fun begin! Here is my week 38 bump pic!

Until next week!

MB

37 weeks!! Full term!

Everyone says that 37 weeks is full term, so technically this baby could come at anytime and be totally healthy...although I am not ready for him to come just yet! ;)

This last week has been an interesting one. I have definitely noticed this little guy growing...lots of kicking, rolling over, and some punches here and there. Some times they are so intense that I find myself saying "ouch!" outloud and then Bruce says, "Are you ok?!" It is always some snide comment like, "Your son just keeps kicking me a little harder than normal!"

I began my one week appointments last week. I was tested for Group B Strep and had a negative result come back! Basically, that means I wont need to start antibiotics the second I step into the hospital to give birth. I had to meet with a midwife for my last visit because my normal MD was out delivering a baby! It is all very exciting stuff! My numbers are still on point with where they should be, so I am feeling good about that. My biggest concern as we got closer to the due date was that my blood pressure would skyrocket, but luckily it is holding steady. A little higher than normal but nothing too out of control.

On Saturday, Bruce and I got up to head out to Gardner for some garage sales! I was super excited, but I could tell he wasn't THAT thrilled. We stayed out for about an hour and got around 30 pieces of clothing for Baby K. It was good to have Bruce there with me because he was my voice of reason telling me "no clothes smaller than 9 months!" We got some larger pieces which is truly what we needed. We even got a coat! It is the perfect size for when the winter rolls around.

Saturday night we went out to Bristol for a nice dinner. Most people who are expecting go on trips called a "Babymoon" which is similar to a honeymoon, but just before the arrival of a baby. I didn't want to spend that kind of money on a vacation right before the baby came, but I did tell Bruce I would like one more nice dinner out before he comes. Bristol is a nice restaurant in town that we have only been to a few times, and they are a fish based restaurant...so you know I was in heaven! We had some tasty crab cakes and I had mahi mahi while Bruce at scallops. Of course, we swung by the Cheesecake Factory following dinner, to grab a slice of cheesecake for later that evening!

Sunday we met up with some friends of ours, Erin and Justin, and their little boy, Easton! He is about 8 months old and so CUTE!! We went to lunch together at the Yard House in the Legends then went to the Sporting KC game. It was a great game! They won 2-0 and the weather was near perfect for a soccer game! I will be honest though, when I got home that night (Bruce went to the casino to watch a buddy play in a tournament) I was FEELING IT from the day. All that walking and such...I was NOT comfortable. I changed into some stretchy shorts and tried laying down but just couldn't get comfy. Needless to say, it was an early night to bed for me. I was still feeling rather uncomfortable on Monday during school. Good thing I planned group projects work time for Monday. I spent a lot of the day in my chair...which was very needed! After feeling the way I felt on Monday, I started to hit a little bit of panic mode and created a list of items to pack in my hospital bag. I have also spent a little time in the baby's room to ensure things are starting to be put in their place. Yikes! It is almost time!

I feel like the baby is dropping a little more each day in my stomach. I mainly feel this way because I am feeling increased pressure in the pelvic region. This kind of makes me a little nervous because I wonder if he will try to make his debut a little early...but I am hopeful his descent is slow and steady...and he doesn't drop real fast one day in the next few weeks. I received my graduation cap and gown in the mail yesterday so now I just need to make it another week and a half and I will feel good!

Below is a picture of me and Bruce at the Sporting KC game.

Here is the picture I took this morning at the start of week 37!!! 

Getting close!

MB

36 weeks

I am starting to get a little nervous because the baby could literally come any day now! I am hoping he stays in there to cook a little while longer, but I know people can have their babies up to one month early and that still be considered "normal" time. Yikes!

This last week has been full of some very exciting events! Thursday evening, Bruce and I went to a consignment sale out at the Trade Center in Overland Park. The huge room was full of gently used baby supplies and Bruce and I were anxious to get some good deals! We got some clothes, a Pack-N-Play and a vibrating swing! The P-n-P and swing were about 60% off of retail price! Talk about a deal! The clothes we got were pretty darn cute! Here is a KU onsie that Bruce found in the racks. LOVE it!!

Friday was a day off of school for me due to our school auction. I woke up nice and early, cleaned the house in preparation for our guests (Bruce's mom, sister and niece were coming in town) and then headed out the door to hit up some neighborhood garage sales. I was really looking for some clothes for the little man to wear, because while we might still receive some outfits, I want to have TOO many...instead of not enough. I got some GREAT deals on outfits ranging from 0-3 all the way up to 1 year. I plan on doing some more shopping in the upcoming weekends if I can find some garage sales while I am out and about. We could really use more 3-6 month clothes and 6-9 months clothes. Again, I would rather have too many than not enough.

On Saturday, my friend Emily hosted a shower for my close friends and friends of my mom. It was a beautiful day and we got some amazing gifts! I went home feeling like we could truly have this baby and not have to freak out about missing necessities! We got all kinds of good stuff. Below are a few pictures from the shower.

This is a picture of the food table with some fun decorations in the background!

Me and Emily at the shower! She was a GREAT hostess!!

This is the dessert table! Kinsley made tasty cakepops and cupcakes!!! I ate way too many cake pops...

Bruce's mom, sister and niece came in town for the baby shower so we had a fun time hanging out with them all weekend! Below is a picture of me, Bruce and Simone by one of the fountains on the Plaza after our Sunday lunch at PF Changs. 

Tuesday at school was a fun day. I have some GREAT room mothers and they offered to throw me a baby shower with all of the students! They collected money and purchased some super cute onsies, little toys and put the rest of the money on giftcards! We got a giftcard with a large value on it and it will be so helpful when picking up those last minute items before baby arrives! Below is a picture of a "milk chugging" game the students played! They really had a good time.

Here is my 36 week picture. I have officially hit the one week visits to the doctor! I have a check up tomorrow so I am anxious to see what she thinks of my weight gain and how my stats are looking. I am hoping to still measure "on time."

MB

35 weeks

5 weeks left. FIVE. WEEKS.

I have started feeling more uncomfortable throughout this last week. Sitting on the couch has become more of a chore than anything else. Last Thursday I had the 34 week check up and the doctor said all of my numbers were right on target. I had gained 4 pounds since my last appointment, but the doctor said I am still under the desired weight gain. Whew. I am feeling like a whale but if the doc says I am good...then I will take it! My belly is measuring on schedule and the heartbeat still sounds good and strong.

Bruce and I took the dogs to the vet on Saturday to get their shots updated. I have already called Woofs (the doggie play place) to ask them if I am free to drop the dogs off "unannounced" while we are on the way to the hospital. Assuming everything is going smooth enough, that will be our game plan. Either way, their shots needed to be updated so that is taken care of!

Easter was very nice and relaxing. Bruce and I went over to my parents house, and enjoyed some brats with cold pasta salads. We stayed for about two hours, then headed home and laid on the couch all afternoon.

We have another baby shower this weekend so I am excited for that! We are slowly but surely getting the baby's room together!!

Bump picture below! The start of 35 weeks.

34 Weeks

Only 6 more weeks left to go! I keep having "feelings" that this baby is not going to make his debut by the close of the month of May...and I am guessing he will have a June birthday. We will see how it all plays out, but that is just the feeling I am getting. 

This last week has come with some new struggles. Nothing too terribly bad but I am definitely noticing some more intense kicking, as well as a little more trouble breathing. Right now, I feel like this baby is pushing all the way up to my neck, and I wish he would drop JUST A LITTLE...I don't know if I am ready for the lower pelvic pressure everyone says comes with "dropping" but I sure could use a little more room around my lungs. Standing seems to be the most comfortable but then of course I get tired from standing for too long. 

Bruce and I went to the hospital last week Thursday to complete our Maternity Navigator visit. During this visit, they got my medical history information, and made notes of my expectations of labor and delivery. I didn't request too much. I think the lady was expecting me to roll out a large scroll of Birth Plan requirements but I simply told her "I am hoping to go medicine free, but am open to an epidural, I would like to be in a room with a tub to labor in, and do whatever you can in your power to make sure I have a healthy baby!" She smiled at the last one and said they always do their best! I also wanted to know what I could drink or chew on during labor and delivery. She said clear liquids and ice chips...so I have told Bruce to make sure he knows where the ice machine is...because chewing on ice will hopefully help keep my mind off of the impending pain...

I have been sleeping really well at night, although I do sleep very lightly. Any small noise tends to wake me up, but I fall back asleep pretty quick. My body feels very well rested after a nights sleep so I am thankful I am not one of those pregnant ladies who struggles to sleep. 

Below is my 34 week picture!