Last doc appointment & only 7 days to go...

So Monday we had another doctor's appointment ... my very last one. We almost didn't get to see the doctor, since she got rushed to a delivery. But, the OB that was on call made it to the hospital in time to take over and she came back to the office ... thankfully we didn't have to wait too long. She checked my cervix again and I was dilated to 2cm, 80% effaced, and she said I was looking really good. She also stripped my membranes at the appointment since she knows I want to go into labor naturally and would love to avoid getting induced next Wednesday. If you don't know what stripping membranes is, and would like to know, I just googled and found this really interesting article about it (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/703499), however, be prepared for a possible "too much information" moment. ;) I didn't realize that the procedure caused contractions. After my appointment we went to dinner and I was definitely having mild contractions all through it and we decided to walk around Target to maybe help everything progress, but as soon as we were home, it all stopped. That kind of discouraged me at the time, but now after knowing a little more about the procedure I had done, it makes me feel better. I am a firm believer that confidence comes from having as much information as possible in situations like this.

Source: cassiesclosetinc.com via Jessica on Pinterest

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Source: meganphoto.com via Hope on Pinterest

For almost my whole pregnancy, I was bummed that I was due within a week of Christmas, because I didn't want my baby to have to share a birthday with such a major holiday. It's funny how your perspective changes during pregnancy. I know that it would be a challenge to make Conner feel special every year if his birthday is on Christmas, but I know that Jason and I are up to the challenge and will make it work no matter what. At this point, I just want to meet him and kiss him and snuggle his sweet little self. I've been trying to make sure to get plenty of sleep lately because every day could be THE day that we head to the hospital and I endure the amazingly difficult task of birthing a baby ... so I need all the rest I can get to prepare me for that. As anxious and scared as I am, I'm so excited and can't wait.

10 days ...

This week was an interesting one. Jason went on a business trip from Wednesday through Friday and with me being 38 weeks pregnant this made us nervous. Of course, he would have been able to change his flight at the hint of any contractions I might have had, but it was still something that made us uneasy. Of course I was instructed to lay low, which I did. Lots of relaxing and hanging with friends and family.

Wednesday my little brother came over and we had Chipotle for lunch ... then we came back to my house and watched Star Wars Episode V. We watched those movies a ton as kids, so it was fun to watch one of them again together. It was definitely a fun way to spend my first relaxing day.

Thursday Jessica came over and we watched Four Christmases to get in the holiday spirit, and ate delicious cookies that she brought over. It was fun to hang out one last time before Conner is here. Then for dinner I met my mom at Cafe Brazil and it was good to hear about how her week was going right before her Christmas break. She is going to take off the first week of January and help us out while we adjust to our new family of 3. So, she's got 3 weeks off starting yesterday. :)

Jason made it home safely Friday morning and then we headed to our ultrasound where we got to see our big boy! She estimated that he is about 8 lbs, 5 oz ... which is pretty much right on track with what we've all been expecting. I mean, let's face it ... Jason and I are not small people, so what makes anyone think we'll have a petite baby? ;)  We've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow where we'll get to hopefully see if I've progressed any in terms of dilation and effacement. I really hope so. I'm really starting to feel like he'll come this week sometime, possibly that's mostly due to my wishful thinking that I want it to happen naturally and want to avoid getting induced. Baby will come when he's ready and Jason's been praying that my labor will start naturally and when we are together (like, not when he's at work), because he really wants to be there for the excitement of it all and wants to help me time contractions. How sweet is my husband?! Love him.

So now that Jason's home for good, we are trying to get the baby out! I even bowled yesterday ... of course, I regretted it a little last night when it felt like my hips were supported by rebar ... I keep saying it feels like a steel rod is between my legs. I've heard women say it feels like there is a bowling ball between their legs. But, I think it's more like a metal rod. To each his own. I always love spicy food, so I won't have trouble with eating the spicy stuff ... and I've been walking more, although it makes my back hurt, so that stinks. I made the mistake to tell Jason early in pregnancy that there are pressure points in feet that could cause labor to begin ... and he hasn't touched my feet until Friday night! But Friday night was awesome because he rubbed my tootsies for like an hour. It was amazing.

So today is the 18th and we're scheduled to get induced the 28th ... so that's only 10 more days at the most because hopefully he'll come before then. Ah! So exciting. :)

37 and a half weeks...

Here we are at 37 and a half weeks ... can't believe we've got just a little over 2 weeks before we meet our little baby!

Leftovers and freezer cooking...

We actually ate them this week! It was amazing. We seriously have been so bad lately about eating out and letting leftovers go bad in our refrigerator. I think being pregnant may have a little something to do with that, but it's really no excuse. Cooking isn't that hard. This last week was different, though. We had leftover taco soup, thanksgiving food leftover from our Smithschobeysgiving this past Saturday, pumpkin bread, and cornbread. We finished the majority of the leftovers last night and now we have just a few Rosa's tortillas and some butternut squash left.

I also cleaned out our entire refrigerator and freezer and ended up buying stuff to freeze/store for crock pot meals later. Monday I had invited my family over for dinner and decided to make chili and cornbread. I looked in my pantry and realized I had 3 chili seasoning packets ... so I wrote out the ingredients needed to make all 3 of the full meals* on my grocery list. While I was looking at my seasoning packets in my pantry, I found 3 spaghetti sauce seasoning packets, and a chicken noodle soup seasoning packet. So since I'm interested in freezing meals for once Conner is here, I decided to go ahead and buy all the ingredients needed to make all of these meals. The majority of what I bought were canned veggies/beans, meat, and a few fresh veggies. The most expensive things were the meat, but even those weren't too bad. I ended up spending $58 to complete 8 full meals*. I think that's pretty darn good. Of course, there will be things I need to get at the store when we actually make these meals and plan to eat them (like side salads, or crackers {I forgot a couple of the nonperishable things}), but nothing major.

So I got home and immediately got to work chopping up the fresh veggies and separating out the meats to put in gallon freezer bags for each meal. I ended up with enough ingredients for 2 chicken noodle soups, so I'll need to pick up another seasoning packet at some point. I have 7 meals* in my freezer ready for us to make. This makes me so happy and relieved.

Tomorrow I have planned a "Freezer Cooking Day" and will be making double recipes of my lasagna and chicken spaghetti casseroles. So at the end of the day tomorrow, we'll have 11 meals* in our freezer. I can't wait to have that checked off my list of things to do.


*When I say "meals," I really mean recipes. Since it'll just be me and Jason and, at some points my mom, there will be plenty of leftovers to get us through at least a couple of nights a week if not a whole week. :)

Only 3 more weeks...

Yesterday we had our 37 week appointment and it was definitely a short one. At this point there's not a whole lot to talk about other than checking progress and asking questions. The doctor checked my cervix again (at my request), and I was 1cm dilated and 70% effaced, which is not much of a change. There are 3 different OBs at the practice, and we saw the only male doctor yesterday. He acted like he doesn't think my labor will come early and even joked that the 28th is a great day for a birthday (it's his birthday). I have to admit I kind of felt relieved! For the last two weeks I've been more anxious and had more feelings that time is running out ... that's not to say that we aren't prepared for Conner's arrival. We are so prepared! I just don't know that I'm quite ready for that major change in our lives quite yet. So now I'm thinking I have at least 2 more weeks if not the full 3 weeks until my induction. This gives me more time to cook a few more meals to freeze, read the books I've got on my list still (Boundaries, and The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer), finish addressing and sending out Christmas cards, learn how to use my Nikon D40, and spend some good quality time with my husband. I know that I will love having a baby and that our lives will change for the better and all of that, but I can't help but be sad to see this special time where it's been just Jason and me go.

Today I'm meeting up with a friend who I haven't seen in a while for coffee, and I'm so excited! It will be nice to catch up on what all has been going on with her and talk about what's been going on with us. And of course, enjoy a nice Starbucks drink. ;)

Well, hello there, pelvic pressure...

Holy pelvic pressure, Batman! This has been a new thing the last few days, and especially today. I think it's safe to say the baby has dropped. He has been using my bladder as a punching bag, too. Although I must say, as long as I'm sitting down, I don't feel the constant urge to pee. But the second I stand up I'm looking for the bathroom! Craziness. Today I'm 36 weeks, 1 day (36w1d), and I can't believe that in less than a month, I'll be a mom to a sweet little boy. Time is flying.

It's been a while since I've updated on how our doctor's appointments have been going and put some updated ultrasound photos on the blog. We had an ultrasound on the Monday before Thanksgiving to check his size since my uterus has been measuring big. My mom and brother were also able to come, so that was really cool. It was the first time Brady had ever seen an ultrasound which was pretty cool and my mom was just so excited to be there. I was so glad they came. Back to the ultrasound. We got some awesome pics and the ultrasound tech is seriously the nicest lady ever. She's very thorough and you can just tell she loves babies a ton. So sweet. The estimate she gave was that he was weighing in at 6 lbs, 3 oz, but she said that number could be off by up to half a pound. Still. That's a big baby. Especially since I was only 34w4d. So here are a few photos from the ultrasound.

 Picture of his face & arm.

 Another one of his face and arm. :)

My absolute favorite pic so far ... picture of his nose, lips, and chin. So sweet!

So the next day we had an appointment with the doctor and she agreed that the baby was on the bigger side. She said she wasn't worried though, since I'm so tall and have wide hips, which made me feel better. I've been pretty anxious about the fact that he's a big baby, even though I'm not surprised. She also said that hopefully I'll go into labor on my own at 37 or 38 weeks, which I talked about in my last post.

Yesterday I had another doctor's appointment and I am 1cm dilated (loose - meaning almost 2cm) and 60% effaced. She said that is right on track. It was good to hear that things are progressing. My next appointment is next Wednesday, so it will be interesting to see where I'm at in a week.

Now, I'm off to pack my hospital bags so I'm ready for Conner's arrival! Fun times. :)

Nursery Pics

Last Monday we had an ultrasound and found out that they are estimating Conner to be 6 pounds, 3 ounces ... he is going to be one big baby! Tuesday I had an appointment with the doctor and she said that hopefully I'll go into labor on my own at 37 or 38 weeks ... I'll be 37 weeks a week from tomorrow. I was excited because (1) I am so ready to meet our sweet baby boy, and (2) I am also ready to not be pregnant anymore ... everything is getting very squished in my belly, and I am getting more and more uncomfortable. And as excited as I was, I was also feeling more and more anxious about all the things we still needed to do in his room. So, the day after Thanksgiving Jason and I went to IKEA to pick up the last few pieces of furniture for Conner's room. We came home and put everything together and basically finished his room. It is such a great feeling to know that we are ready for him when we bring him home.

Next on my "to-do" list is to pack the bags for the hospital. Can't believe that it's time for that!

Maternity Pics

Here are some of my favorite shots from our maternity shoot on November 13 (33w3d). Natalie Pitts was amazing to work with and she did an amazing job on our photos. I highly recommend her for your next photo shoot!

Photo shoot ...

So our maternity portraits were so fun. A guy I used to be in the youth group praise band with married the sweetest girl who is also an amazing photographer! He and I are friends on Facebook, and so through him, I found his wife's website, and I contacted her for our maternity photos because all her stuff is so good. Here's a link to her website: http://blog.nataliepittsphotography.com/. I absolutely cannot wait for our sneak peek! She showed me a couple of the shots on her camera screen to show me the lighting ... and Oh.My.Goodness I seriously can't wait.

Here's a pic Jason snapped on his phone while we were at the shoot. It was so fun. :)

Showered with love...

This week was the week of my showers! Nothing makes a pregnancy more real than receiving gifts for your baby boy and knowing that he will be in your life before you know it. We are so blessed by great friends and family who contributed to all the great stuff we got to bring home for little Conner.

Thursday the ladies at my old job threw me a shower and I could not have been more excited! I haven't worked with them since May, and so it was truly so sweet that they wanted to share in the excitement of our growing family. My friend Debbie hosted at her house and we had really yummy food (coconut chicken, chicken quesadillas, and chicken salad with crackers) and drinks and a Nothing Bundt Cake for dessert! It was delicious! It was a great time catching up and chatting about what's going on at the office for those of us who have moved on to other jobs and me getting to talk about my pregnancy and how all of that is going. I opened a ton of gifts and was so blessed by the amazing generosity of my friends! It was a great time of laughing and talking and lots of fun girl time. I loved it and can't wait to bring Conner up to the office so he can meet all of my friends.

Friday night Jason insisted on a date night, which was a-okay in my book! We had both been craving pancakes so we went to IHOP for dinner. It was unbelievably good and we enjoyed just catching up with each other. Jason got to tell me all about how things are going for him at work and some of the things he's been thinking about regarding the pregnancy and Conner and being a soon-to-be dad. I was able to share with him some of the things I've been learning from the books I've been reading and just tell him how awesome he is and how thankful I am for him. After dinner we were going to go down to Coffee N Cream in Allen to listen to the live music on the patio ... but there wasn't anyone there! So we headed over to Saxby's and got Caramel Apple Ciders ... Oh.My.Goodness DELISH. We sat outside in the chilly evening air sipping our piping hot drinks and laughing and talking into the evening. It was such a good time to just reconnect after a long and busy week and we agreed that this will be a necessary thing for us to do on a weekly or bi-weekly basis once Conner is here.

Yesterday my friends threw me a shower and it was amazing! All the decorations were super cute and the food was awesome. There were meatballs, pinwheels, cream puffs, cookies, punch, and another Nothing Bundt Cake! I LOVE these cakes - they are so good. One of the hostesses made a diaper cake that was absolutely adorable! She did a great job. The shower was kind of a "worlds colliding" type event because I had friends from high school, friends from FBC, friends from Cottonwood, family, and my mom's friends from when I was a kid. It was so much fun to see everyone and get to celebrate and be excited for this new phase of life we're entering into. We played a game where we had to guess how many peanuts were in the jar (peanuts because if you know me well, you know I love elephants), which I highly overestimated. Ha! And then the other game we played was to write the word "elephant" down the side of the paper and then write down something baby related for each letter. I'm horrible at stuff like this, but  eventually thought of something for each letter. It was a fun game!

I opened a ton of great gifts and was so blessed by the generosity of my friends and family. I was so excited to receive one of my friend Beth's book boxes, and it could be more perfect for Conner's room. All the hostesses bought books for inside the box and it was such a fun gift to open. After the presents, we all sat and talked about my pregnancy and my plan for labor and it was fun to have more girl time. During the girl time, they had me read out loud the "Wishes for baby Conner" that each person had filled out. Talk about choking back the tears ... it was amazing to read the things my friends and family wish for my baby. And of course there were some really funny answers to make me laugh, too. It was such a great idea and I really want to put them in a scrapbook for Conner to read when he's much older. It was a wonderful shower and I feel even more prepared for my baby boy!

Today we have our maternity portraits and I couldn't be more excited for them! I can't wait to take some great pictures of me and Jason and the glow that we both have because we are both just so excited to become parents!