34 Weeks!!

Yay, we made it! 34 weeks is a big milestone for us. 11 weeks ago we weren’t for sure we would make it this far in our pregnancy and now we are here. Today officially ends my modified bed rest and I am now able to do normal activities and go back to work. I am anxious to see what the week will bring and how I will handle it. I am hopeful that things will go well and that I can go a couple more weeks before the baby comes. This past week was my last week on bed rest but my doctor told me to slowly increase my activity so that it wouldn’t be all at once. So I did some things around the house and with the baby’s room. Tuesday I had lunch with friends; which was nice because who knows how long it will be before I get a chance to do that again. Then on Thursday I went up to Frankfort with Jonathan for the whole day. I wanted to see if I could stay up that long and I did. While he went to work I went to visit my Grandmother. Then I had lunch with some co-workers and after lunch visited with others that didn’t go to lunch. After lunch Jonathan’s work had a baby shower for us. It was so nice of them to do and we really enjoyed it. It was nice for the attention to be on Jonathan for a change (even if most of it was still on the mommy-to-be at least the daddy-to-be got some as well). We got some nice gifts and of course had cake and punch, yum. Later that night was our last child care class. This class was at Central Baptist and was a basic child care class. We were only taking it at CB because it was free there; however, we left in the middle of the class because it wasn’t very helpful, the class was too big to learn anything. Friday was our 5 year anniversary. I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since we got married. We didn’t do a whole lot that day but we did go see the Hangover. Jonathan had really wanted to see it and he did enjoy it (I didn’t think it was as funny as he did but it had its moments). Then we enjoyed a nice dinner at home together. On Saturday we had our maternity photo shot. That was a lot of fun and the photographer will hopefully have the proofs online within a week. I will post as soon as they are ready. I’m hoping we get some really good shots. After our photo shot we went to dinner and shopped a little bit. It was nice to spend the afternoon out together, something we hadn’t been able to do in awhile. Today (Sunday) we went to Sunday School and church and are now relaxing before my big day back at work. This coming week will be very busy with me back at work along with family coming to visit, I am looking forward to it!

Here is a picture of me at 34 weeks. I think this will probably be the last time I wear this shirt. It has gotten too tight and is a bit short now (crazy that a shirt is too short for me, who do they think would wear it, lol.).

33 Weeks

Well, it's been 10 weeks since we first started having problems with our pregnancy. 10 long weeks off work, extra doctor's appointments, worrying and bed rest. We weren't for sure if we would make it to this point and are so thankful to God that we did. Our baby is growing and developing every day and these past 10 weeks have been such a help for him. At my doctor's appointment this past Thursday my doctor told me that I could start increasing my activity and go back to normal activity and work next Monday. Bed rest will be officially over on Sunday at our 34 week mark! I am excited and nervous at the same time. I'm excited that I get to go back to work and try to resume some what of a normal life. But also nervous because I know my body is going to be weak and I will get exhausted very easily (not just from being on bed rest for 11 weeks but also being big and pregnant). We will have to see how it goes. Hopefully we can make it several weeks at work before Ryan decides to make his appearance.

This week we finished our 4 week child birthing class. We really enjoyed it and learned quit a bit. I'm not for sure how much of it will actually be used while in labor but I hope I can remember some of it to use to keep me relaxed. Either way, I am glad we did the classes because I prefer to be educated as much as possible. We also had a breast feeding class on Wednesday that was helpful and will come in handy when Ryan gets here. This coming Thursday we have one last class, a child care class. Jonathan is really looking forward to this one so he can learn how to give a baby a bath.

Besides that we have been busy trying to get all the final items for Ryan's arrival and put some final touches on the nursery. I think we have just about everything we need for at least the first couple of months except for the monitor; which we are picking up this weekend. Although I am sure we will continue to buy things because we are already spoiling him. We have our delivery bag packed (one of the requirements for our last birthing class was to take it with us). We want to be prepared because we don't know what will happen once I return to work. Now we just have to wait for our baby to get here. While I feel miserable because I'm getting so big I still don't want Ryan to come too early.

Here are some pictures of the updates we have made to the nursery this week. This is our new bedding set. We switched and bought the Fisher Price Precious Planet bedding set, it's much better. The colors are so bright and the animals are adorable.

The crib sheet and bumper pad.

The mobile we bought. This is so cute! It plays music, nature sounds and a heartbeat. However, the best thing about it is that it has a projector on it. At first it will project animal images on to the canopy of the mobile and then once the baby gets big enough to sit up you take the canopy off and it will project on to the ceiling.

The comforter from the set. We decided to hang it on the wall while Ryan is little and can't use it.

A picture of the wall the crib is on. We have added a border to the top of the walls and an elephant and monkey wall hang.

We hung letters spelling Ryan above the dresser/changer and added the changing pad.

We hung a picture frame above the bookcase with three ultra sound pictures from each trimester. Along with a basket filled with teethers, rattles, etc.

And here is a picture of me at 33 weeks. I'm going to try to remember to take a picture every week now that we are approaching the end.

32 Weeks

Well, I have made it to 32 weeks in my pregnancy; a big mile stone. Now the baby has a much better chance of survival if for some reason he was born early (some research shows a percentage as high as 90%!). However, everything seems to be going very well. The modified bed rest seems to be working and doing its job of keeping the baby in. The doctors have been very happy with my progress and don't seem to have many worries any more. I get to go back to work in two weeks, at 34 weeks. At that point they will go ahead and let me have the baby if I go into labor again but I am hoping to make it a couple of weeks back at work before that happens. I can tell he is growing like crazy inside and he is active. I have another doctor's appointment on Thursday and then will have to see both my doctors again in two weeks after I have been back at work for a couple of days so they can measure my progress. We will have a better idea at that point of how I am doing back at work and if it seems like I will go into labor early.

We had a nice relaxing weekend and our church Sunday school class had a baby shower for me yesterday after church. It was so nice of them to throw me a shower and it was great to see everyone and have a bit of girl time. Getting together with everyone reminds me of how much I miss being active and seeing people. I want to say thanks to everyone who helped out with the shower and got us gifts. We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful church family. I have included a few pictures from the shower.

Here is a picture of the beautiful cake Erin made for me. She did such a great job!

Beginning to open presents.

A picture of me holding up the sweater Krista made for baby Ryan. There is also a matching hat. Krista has made it a new tradition to make each baby in our class a sweater, she does a great job on them.

Yay, our Diaper Gene! Hopefully we can eliminate some of the foul smells with this.

Here is a picture of some of the ladies that got to come to my baby shower. A few are missing since they had to leave before we took the picture.

And here is a picture of me at 32 weeks!

Trip to Frankfort

This week has been a slow week, except for Thursday. Thursday I went up to Frankfort with Jonathan. While he worked I went and visited with the daycare we are going to use. I sat in the nursery and watched the workers interact with the children. The children seemed to really like them so that was a good sign. Everyone was really nice and things seemed very clean. I just still worry about putting my baby in a daycare. I am trying to accept that he won’t get the personal attention that I would be able to give him plus it’s someone else taking care of him and not me. But for at least now, I have to go back to work. Maybe one day I can stay home; which is something I never thought I would want to do. After that I had lunch with a friend from work. It was really nice to catch up with her; it feels like it’s been forever since I have seen anyone. And of course after lunch I visited everyone I work with. It doesn’t seem like much has changed and everyone is ready for me to come back to help out with the busy chaos. Following that I was able to stop by and see my Grandmother for a little while and then Jonathan and I went to another child birthing class. I over did it that day and could defiantly feel it Friday and still today. Wednesday we have a breast feeding class to go to. I am really interested in this class and hope to learn a lot. We also have one more child birthing class Thursday night. I only have two more weeks before I can go back to work. Counting down the days! We bought our travel system (stroller and car seat combo) and our swing this week. And we also returned the bedding set we had. I had enough of Wal-mart being out of stock of the accessories that matched the bedding. They could never tell me if anything was going to be re-ordered or if they were discontinuing the line. Plus, Jonathan really liked the other one better. We got the new bedding set in yesterday and I am really happy with it. It’s the Fisher Price Precious Planet set. The colors are so vibrant and there are tons of accessories that go with the set. Well, that’s it for now. Tomorrow my church Sunday school class is throwing me a baby shower and I am really looking forward to getting to see everyone.

A picture of our Precious Planet swing.

The travel system we bought.

And here is a picture of the comforter (I haven't gotten it washed and set up yet so this is a picture off the website, I will add pictures of it later once I get it set up).

30 weeks and counting

Sorry about the delay in updating our blog this week, our internet has been down but it's finally back up. Everything is going well. We have been busy preparing for our new addition. We started our child birthing classes last Thursday. There are only 4 other couples in the class which makes it nice to have a small class. Everyone seems really nice and we have learned a few things. Some of the stuff I might try to use some of it makes you really wonder "who does that". But I am glad we are taking it because I like to be educated. I had my family baby shower last Saturday. It was so nice to see everyone and we had lots of fun. Plus, getting all the new baby stuff was great. Many thanks to my friends Heather and Amanda and my sister-in-law Hillary for all their hard work in putting together and throwing my baby shower. Here are a few pictures.

The banner my friend Heather had made for me.

Playing one of the games.

Before I opened presents.

One of the outfits we got for Ryan.

More clothes and a diaper bag.

The three diaper cakes my friend Amanda made me.

I was pretty exhausted after the shower so Sunday and Monday I relaxed and took it easy. Tuesday I had to go to the doctor's office to have a three hour gestational diabetes test done. Every one has a glucose screening test done while pregnant; however, I had a high score on it so I had to take the longer test as well. You can not eat or drink anything for the three hour test from midnight the night before to the end of the test. It was miserable. They take your blood 4 different times; which didn't bother me, I just wanted something to drink really bad. The first hour or so I felt pretty sick after drinking the sugar drink and having nothing in my stomach. After that I was fine, just thirsty and hungry. And to top it off there were two ladies at the doctor's office eating Wendy's towards the end of my test when I was starting to get really hungry. I thought long and hard about stealing their fries but didn't want to have to take the test again. The nurse called me a couple hours after the test and of course I thought that meant bad news since they never call with good news but she told me I passed the test so I don't have gestational diabetes!! Yay! Wednesday was Jonathan's birthday but he had to work. I did make him a nice dinner though. Then Thursday we had another child birthing class. We learned a few more breathing techniques and had a tour of the hospital. But Jonathan and I already know our way around the hospital since I have had to go twice. It was funny having people in the class asking us questions though. Today I had another doctor's appointment. Just a regular check up. I have now gained a total of 24 pounds. My doctor is very happy with that and said that the bed rest has definitely helped me put weight on. She said I am measuring at 32 and 1/2 weeks even though I am only at 30 and 1/2 weeks. After I told her that Jonathan was over 9 pounds when he was born she laughed and said that explains it. Once again she said that I was going to get very big and warned me that I am going to start feeling huge and miserable. My comment to her was "You mean its going to get worse?!". I think this baby is going to be huge! That is about it for the last week and a half. I am counting down the time until I get to go back to work, only 3 and a half weeks left. I have mixed feelings about it. Part of me is very excited to be able to go back to work (yes, I actually enjoy working; I love accomplishing things) but part of me is nervous because I have been off for so long. I know I am going to be very tired and it will be very straining on my body. Hopefully I can make it a couple of weeks before the baby decides to come though. And of course, here is an updated picture of me at 30 weeks.