I've been thinking

Not that this is something new, but I've been thinking about my mom a lot. I just can't help but wonder what advice she would have given me at this point; how she would feel right now on the verge of seeing her baby have a baby; what would her face look like as she held my daughter, her 20th grandchild. It's harder than I ever could have known to not have her here, particularly right now. This feeling of loss doesn't get any better or any easier. I still shake my head at least once a day because I really just can't believe she isn't here and that she won't be here when my little girl arrives.

I love you Mom and I miss you so much.

34 Week Picture

Ok, so I'm still a little behind on posting my belly pictures. With less than a month to go things are really starting to get busy. So here I am at 34 weeks. As you can see Willa is just thrilled about the baby! I went to the OB yesterday and I'm now officially on the once a week plan until I deliver. Everything still looks good. She is really active, although it's a different kind of movement now that she is getting bigger. I feel a lot of rolling, or a foot sliding across my belly. My belly changes shapes on an hourly basis! It's really just amazing to me that in a few short weeks she'll be here! There will be an actual baby in this house. For so long now it has felt like this idea just floating out there and now it's getting more real every day.

Yesterday I also met with the Birth Advisor at the hospital where I will deliver. She was very nice and put my mind at ease about a lot of things. Overall I feel well prepared for the delivery - mostly because I know I can't control what happens. It's all about managing my expectations. I'm just ready to meet our daughter!

Look at That Little Face!

So Erin went for her ultrasound last week, and we got some great pictures.

I think the first picture is the coolest, I don't know how it will translate to the web, but you can totally see her little face (in this picture it looks like shes lying on her left).

In the second picture you can see how much hair she has already. As she is floating in fluid, the hair is sticking straight up. I'm sure shes going to cost me a fortune at the salon ...just like her mother.

33 Week Picture

Sorry, no 32 weeks picture. We got busy and missed our window of opportunity, but here I am at 33 weeks. Yikes - I'm really getting big! Believe me I definitely feel it. Way back when I was in the 20's I thought I was starting to get uncomfortable, but that was nothing! I laugh at myself. Now, I'm lucky if I can find a comfortable position to sleep in, but even when I do I have to get up at least 2 times a night to go to the bathroom. Not that I'm complaining. I have had a relatively easy pregnancy and I know I'm lucky. For the most part I feel good and I still like being pregnant.

Something I was expecting to happen during pregnancy that hasn't happened too much is all the unsolicited help your supposed to get from strangers. I haven't really had a lot of experience with that. I've seen some people look at me like they should help, but they usually just keep going. Twice I've loaded a 20lb bag of dog food in my car while a male PetSmart employee looked on yet offered no help. Maybe I just look exceptionally fit and capable or maybe it's because people in this area don't really care. Who knows? The good news is I've managed just fine so far. Thankfully John does all the heavy lifting when he's around - including going up the stairs to the kitchen to get me a Popsicle. Mmmmm, I like popsicles!

It's Definitely a Girl!

I went to the OB yesterday for my 34 week check up and ultrasound. I'm now going every two weeks and after my next visit it will be weekly. Everything looks great. She is growing at a good rate and currently weighs about 5lbs 2oz. She's moving around a lot, although she doesn't really have the room to do a lot of big karate kicks anymore. I mostly feel her rolling around and moving her arms and legs. The best news from yesterday is that her head is down and it doesn't look likely that she will move from that position - yay! It was really good to see her - it's been about 14 weeks and I liked checking in on her. I got to see her opening and closing her mouth and sticking her tongue out (she's being fresh already). Her room is almost ready. We've got all the furniture set-up, bedding is washed and on the mattress, and now we just need to put on some finishing touches. I'll post pictures later in the week of both the ultrasound and the progress on the nursery.

Is it possible for this to be going so fast and so slow all at the same time?

31 Week Picture

I'm starting to get behind again on posting my belly pics, but here I am at 31 weeks. At this point the baby weighs over 3 pounds, can turn her head from side to side and is gaining weight every week.

In other updates - I went back to Labor and Delivery over the weekend. It was just as a precaution, but I'm glad I went. On Friday night I starting have a mild cramping feeling low in my belly and to be on the safe side I called the on-call doctor. He suggested that the only way to be sure of what was going on was to go into L&D and get checked out. Great, so much for having a wild Friday night. I did as I was told and again was put on monitors, given some water (although the nurse said I looked very well hydrated), and examined. They did a test looking for a protein that is released when labor is likely to start in the next two weeks. Thankfully that test came back negative, which means that they can tell me with 95% certainty that I will NOT go into labor in the next two weeks. But I was having contractions (not the real kind), so they gave me a pill to stop them and sent me home with a prescription for that medication in case this happens again. Again, the good news is that the baby looks great and these little episodes don't indicate that there is any reason I will go into labor early.

So, that was our fun Friday night - wooo hooo! This little girl is already causing trouble - she is going to be a handful! Any advice Lynne :)

Grammy's Day

Tomorrow at St. Rose of Lima school in Cicero, NY, my niece Michaella's school, will host a "dress down" day in honor of Grammy. Everyone has been asked to wear blue, at Michaella's request, because it was Grammy's favorite color. So please, help Michaella and her school celebrate her Grammy and wear your blue tomorrow!

I love you mom and I miss you!