Any time, now!

I'll be 39 weeks on Tuesday, so this baby can come at any time! I was considered full term at 37 weeks, so the baby could have come by now! If he isn't out by about a week after my due date, I'll get induced. So I think it's safe to say that three weeks from now I will for sure be home with the little guy! Hopefully he'll come on his own before that, without having to be induced, though. :)

Things have still been going well with everything. Other than getting rescheduled and having to wait at the doctor's a lot, I can't really complain too much. One doctor's appt was rescheduled due to the doctor being sick. Another time the doctor was the "hospital doctor" for the day, so when she came in my room she warned me that she had a patient at the hospital dilated to a 9, so she could get paged at any second to go deliver. Of course 2 minutes later she did. So that was a super fast appt! Then this past Friday I was scheduled to have the hospital doctor again. When I arrived at my appt I was told that she was in the middle of a C-section and then would be delivering another baby. I ended up seeing a nurse practitioner, which was fine. This coming Friday I made sure my appt is not with the hospital doctor for the day! Hopefully nothing will be rescheduled and I won't have to wait or switch doctors at the last minute.

Besides that drama, the appointments have gone well. I'm showing some signs of labor, which is exciting. I don't really feel the need to post what exactly I'm dilated/effaced/what station the baby's head is at though. You could walk around dilated to a 4 for weeks and not go into labor or you could not be dilated at all and go into labor, so it really doesn't matter what you're dilated to.

Jason and I have been busy buying last minute things for the baby and getting the nursery ready! It is almost all set up - except for the CRIB! It still hasn't come yet. The company we bought it from is based out of New Jersey and said our crib is in the truck ready to go, but the truck isn't full yet and they're not going to send it out here until it is full. HOPEFULLY that will be soon! The baby won't be using the crib right away so it's not vital that we have it before he comes, but I want the nursery to be ready! I will take pictures and post them on here when the nursery is all done.

This baby is going to have a tough decision to make in the future - Gustavus or St. John's! (Jason and I actually decided that whatever college he ends up at is fine, as long as it isn't St. Olaf or St. Thomas (our rivals)). Sorry, Christine! :)

I've had three baby showers now, which all have been wonderful! We've been blessed to get many wonderful things for the baby. I feel lucky to have such caring family and friends. My first shower was hosted by Jason's Aunt Joni and his mom, Colleen, and had women (and many kids!) from both sides of his family there. My second shower was hosted by my friends Alicia and Callie and had a bunch of my coworkers there. My third shower was hosted by Natalie, Christine, and Elsa and had a bunch of my friends there! They were all different types of baby showers, and all of them were very fun! Thank you to all those who hosted a shower and those who came! :)
Other than that, the bags are packed and we're pretty ready! I'm just hoping my water doesn't break while I'm teaching... :)

35 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks

38 weeks

Getting closer and closer...

The last three weeks have been very busy! From Jason's birthday, to re-siding the garage, to my 5 year reunion from Gustavus, Jason and I have been on the go! Luckily I've been feeling pretty well this trimester and the baby has been growing and moving around a lot.

At my 32 week appointment everything went well. The doctor I had for that visit asked if I had any concerns, so I told her how big Jason was at birth (9 lb 5 oz, 23 in) and that I'm worried this baby will be really big. She couldn't believe how big he was at birth and asked about how tall he is now. She said that it was too early to tell if the baby is getting really big, since the average weight of the baby at 32 weeks is about 4 lbs, but they will keep an eye on it as things progress.

I also told this doctor about how ITCHY my stomach has been! She asked if I have a rash or stretch marks, which are common causes for itchiness. I don't have either, and when she was measuring me she noted that I don't have the type of skin that will get stretch marks. That was awesome to hear; I hope she is right! Since I didn't have a rash she told me to try oral Benadryl at night and Claratin during the day. The baby was measuring right on at 32 weeks and his heartbeat was great, so I was told to come back in two more weeks.

Over the next couple of weeks I tried the oral Benadryl at night (my stomach doesn't itch nearly as much during the day) and it didn't help much. At all. So I looked on my practice's website for the list of medications that my doctors say are fine to take and tried Cortaid cream, which is helping. I've been using that for the nights when the itching is really bad. Nurse Gail (my mom) thinks that the itching maybe is hormonal.

I had my 34 week appointment this past Friday and everything is still going well (knock on wood)! I was 34.5 weeks at the appointment and I was measuring right between 34 and 35 cm, which is exactly where I should be. The heartbeat sounded great, too. The doctor I had this time (the one male in the practice) read in my last appointment's notes that I am nervous about the baby's size. He also commented on what a big baby Jason was! He felt the baby and guessed that he is about 5 lbs right now. So we'll see in the weeks to come how much he gains! I was told to come back in two weeks and they will start checking for signs of labor. From that appointment on I will go in every week to check for signs of labor.

It's hard to believe how fast this last part of pregnancy is going! Jason and I have a goal to get the nursery painted this week. We have our dresser and rocking chair. Our changing table should arrive sometime this week and our crib should arrive sometime in the next couple weeks. Then everything should come together nicely! I am getting anxious, being almost 35 weeks, to get everything ready.

Jason's mom, Colleen, is making us a crib skirt and curtains for the nursery. When the men were all working on the garage, Colleen, my mom and I went to the fabric store and picked out a solid orange fabric for the crib skirt and a green fabric that has tiny, tiny multi-color polka dots for the curtains. The crib skirt fabric matches the deep orange of the polka dots in the crib sheet and the green curtain fabric is a darker shade of the green of the rocking chair. I'm excited to see the finished products! It's awesome that Colleen is making them for us.

The teacher I am job sharing with, Michelle, is lending me her fetal heart rate monitor. It's not as loud or as clear as the monitors that the doctors use, but you can definitely hear the little guy's heartbeat. It sounds like horses galloping. Jason has fun listening to it; he hadn't heard the heartbeat since our 20 week ultrasound. We also put the heaphones on Keegan's ears. It was really funny - he just froze in place and listened for about 10 seconds and then freaked out. I wonder what he was thinking!

Hopefully everything will keep going well with my pregnancy and hopefully we get the nursery put together (soon)! I will be posting pictures of the nursery as we get working.

Here are the last three weeks of pictures (oops for wearing the same shirt for weeks 32 and 34. Jason doesn't think it's a big deal, but it annoys me).

  Week 32

 Week 33

Week 34