Full Term, So Guess My Due Date!

Okay everybody, it's here, FULL TERM.  The baby can come healthily at any time.  What seemed SO INCREDIBLY far off in the future for so long is now here: 37 weeks.

So, when will the baby come?  Who's got a guess?  There's some watermelon Nuun in it for the winner!  Let's do a winner for who guesses the closest weight and height as well!  This is not the Price is Right people, so the winner will be the closest date (and time in cases where multiple people guess the same date) or height / weight whether you went over or under (so no "$1 Bob" answers!).

Let me give you ALL of the information I have though, which isn't much:

TMI, but I have extremely long and irregular cycles, which is why I was so surprised to find myself pregnant so quickly.  But this means that based on my last monthly period my due date should have been June 19.  Clearly, that's not right.

Based on my very first ultrasound in December (and they say the first estimate is supposed to be the most accurate), my due date was originally July 28.

My 13/14 week ultrasound, however, showed I was measuring quite a bit ahead of that, and they moved my due date up to July 18.  Based on this, the longest they would let me go would be 42 weeks, which would be August 1. 

My 20 week ultrasound showed the baby in the 75th percentile for size and an estimated due date of July 12.  The farther you are along, however, the more growth rates differ from baby to baby and the less accurate these estimates are, so my due date was not changed.

If I had my way (and assuming of course that everything was healthy!), I would LOVE the baby to come on July 4.

And finally, at my 36 week appointment last week my cervix was closed (no dilation) but 80% effaced.

So... what do you think?  What's your best guess?  Enter and win!!!  Make sure to give a date AND time!  And - who wants to guess the weight / length as well??

Any good advice for me on how you evicted your baby???? 

The Transformation of a Mess to a Nursery, Part 2

You might recall the "nursery" used to look a little something like this...

But then we "transformed" it into a blank slate of a nursery:

Which we then very painstakingly painted with stripes.  JMan was not pleased with the task.

Then we slowly but surely acquired some furniture.  We added a dresser (to be used as a changing table also) that was in our room:

As well as a rocking chair we already had and a crib we got on super sale at Wal-Mart:

Then somewhere along the way, I became obsessed with owls.  That led to the pick-up of that owl puppet at IKEA and the creation (with major help from Lisa!) of the owl mobile:

And then between everyone being amazing, my frugal thrift shopping ways, and a very lovely baby shower, the room slowly started to come together!

Those three canvases are awaiting the babies three initials.  First name still to be determined.

My Grandma made the owl wall hanging on the far left and I am OBSESSED with it!  Have you ever seen anything so adorable?!

And it's finally feeling pretty well done - the finished product of a complete MESS transformed into a nursery!

All done on a pretty small budget as well.  Anyone else have any nursery / budget tips to add? 

A Very Lovely Baby Shower

Last weekend I had a VERY lovely baby shower in Oregon.  I think there was 25+ people there and I felt VERY loved and VERY surrounded by VERY generous friends and family.  Overwhelmed by their generosity might be a better word for it.  Thank you thank you THANK YOU to absolutely everyone who is so wonderful. 

We kind of failed at taking a good group photo though.  

 Rachael made a freaking ADORABLE owl cupcake cake that I'm in love with. 

I've been bugging her for forever to start her own bakery, because her stuff is the BOMB.  I swear the frosting on these puppies had straight crack in it.  I may or may not have eaten SEVERAL tops of the cupcakes (i.e., the frosting alone!) after everyone left.  I'm not proud about it...

 Seriously - how adorable are these?

My Mom did an amazing job of running the games - she even had my all time favorite - the diaper candy bar game!  I consider myself quite the candy bar connoisseur, so I'm pretty sure I would have won this game had I played.  :-)  Though she did throw in some wild cards like Idaho Spud (ever had that?) and Rocky Road (my new favorite candy bar!). 

My friend Kasey who's in a race to the finish with me (though she'll probably win - she's due two weeks ahead of me) even made it out.  We enjoyed holding each other's bellies like idiots.  :-)

There were a TON of gifts and I went from feeling like we had NOTHING to feeling like we have TOO  MUCH.  We certainly have WAY too many clothes for newborn and 3 month olds, and way too many adorable socks / hats / bibs.  I'm excited to repay all the favors soon with my two friends that are pregnant but far enough behind me to reap the benefits of hand-me-downs (one is having a boy for sure, one doesn't know yet but I hope it's a boy!).

Four generations all together!

It was definitely a lovely day, and we're definitely also all idiots.  :-)

And I look HUGE in this picture.  It's so weird because sometimes I don't feel that big and then when I see a picture or catch myself in the mirror I'm kind of SHOCKED at how big I am.  Is that really what I look like?  Is that scale number really right?  Don't even get me started on that....

Next up - an organized nursery!

35 Weeks Already?? HOW?!?!

I wrote this post freaking FIVE weeks ago and never finished it.  I'm ridiculous.  I promise to do a current pregnancy post next week (before it's freaking over already!) and hopefully weekly until Rudiger comes... but I better post this while I still can!

Wow, it's hard to believe I've hit 30 35 weeks already.  How is that freakin' possible?   Time is going both too fast and too slow. 

On the one hand, I can't believe how incredibly long I've been pregnant.  When I think back to that day when I walked down the stairs in a state of complete shock and disbelief and held that little stick with two blue lines up for JMan to see (there were no words!) - I can't believe HOW LONG ago that was!  It feels like I've been pregnant FOREVER!  It's like the longest marathon training schedule ever and man am I burnt out.  

 

I'm definitely ready for a margarita, a delicious Subway roast beef sandwich, and...  I'm MORE than ready to not feel like my thighs are expanding each and every week and to feel a bit less fat.  I'm ready to run without stabbing pain and calf cramps - okay okay - I'm just ready to run at all!  And I'm certainly ready to not here people telling me not to lift things at work or how "cute my chubby cheeks are".  Seriously people?  Chubby cheeks are NOT a compliment.  You pretty much just told me I'm showing my pregnancy poorly - in my face.  Thaaaannnnkkkksss for prefacing it with saying it was cute though!  

BUT.  But.  Despite all that.  On the other hand, I'm pretty much having a major freak out that THE END IS NEAR.  I have a short 10 5!!! weeks to go (maybe more like most first time moms, but maybe LESS?!) until a REAL LIVE BABY is here.  Only TWO FREAKIN' WEEKS until I'm considered "full term".  What do I do with it?  How do I take care of it?  What will breast feeding be like?  How do I swaddle a baby?  How do I keep it from getting flat head?  How do I keep it alive?  

And let's not even talk about labor and childbirth.  I've read books, I've been to class, but I'm still TERRIFIED.  Nothing I can do about it though, so I'm just letting that one go.  

In conclusion, we're talking panic mode.  

But let's check-in, using Jess' (CONGRATS Sfun questions:

How am I feeling?  Good!  Some days I feel great, other days I feel crappy.  Some days I feel huge, then I go to childbirth class and I feel thankful for still being so mobile and able to run / walk, weed for hours, mow the lawn, do everyday stuff.  That was my 30 week answer, in case you couldn't tell.  Rib pain and ab pain took over from 30-34 weeks.  It was NOT pretty.  

Baby stats:  At 35 weeks, the baby is the size of a large cantaloupe, about 19-22 inches and 5.5 pounds!  Wowsers!

Exercise:
I still try to exercise every single day.  I ran 4 miles last Saturday, but running is pretty sporadic these days, like only once or twice a week if that.  I DO try to walk every day, and I've been swimming a few times - which felt FABULOUS.  My current state isn't exactly what I want to be flaunting in a bathing suit though...

Movement:
It's weird when it feels like there's an alien inside of you trying to claw it's way out.  

Sleep:
Two nights ago I had the trifecta: 3 times up to pee, 2 calf cramps, and 1 hour of insomnia.  Then last night, I slept GREAT and didn't get up once.  It's a crap-shoot. 

What Do I Miss?
With the weather being so amazing I definitely am craving an icy margarita.  I had a virgin version the other day and it was okay.  I also want deli meat SO BAD.  I begged JMan to get me an Arby's roast beef the other day and he wouldn't cave, and then of course for Teacher Appreciation Week we've had all kinds of meat, cheese, and cracker platters and I WANT SOME SO BAD!

Wedding Rings On?
My wedding band is still on.  I took the engagement ring off about 5 weeks ago when I had a scare with swollen fingers and I got freaked they would have to cut it off.  I'd much rather they cut the band off than the ring!  But I haven't really had much swelling since then and as of now, it comes off easily. 

Belly Button In or Out?
I think I'm in denial about this.  I like to say it's "flat", and it's just the scar from having it pierced so long ago that's "out".  But it's probably actually an outie now!

Stretch marks?
Not yet.  Please don't let me get any!

Baby Name?
We're the worst.  Naming a baby is like the hardest decision IN THE WORLD.  We had a rough time naming Cooper, and in fact it "came to us" after we'd had him for a week.  I guess we're going with the same philosophy this time around, and just hoping it "comes to us" before he's 6 months old.  Or else we're just going to name him Cooper Junior. 

To do list:
We've finished our 4-week childbirth series and taken a breastfeeding class.  My co-workers threw me a lovely shower and then I had a big shower in Oregon over the weekend - and we have a TON of generous friends and family.  I spent all week putting stuff away / washing / organizing!  I still have a decent amount of cleaning / organizing the general house I want to get done and I want to get the carpets cleaned.  

Hopefully it doesn't take me five more weeks to get you another update!  EEK!

I need advice people!  How do I care for an infant?  What do I need to know?  What do you wish you had known but you didn't?  HELP!