Preggers I: 37 Weeks

... A few days late due to my birthday...

How far along?  37 weeks

How I am feeling?  More and more prepared... Hubby and I spent a lot of time this weekend finalizing the main floor of our house and making sure we're not just ready for the baby, but we're ready for the company that will follow the baby.  Our main floor is officially ready... and this weekend we will make our basement ready... and then, we're officially good to go.  I also have periods of feeling nervous about what's to come, which means I've been spending more and more time in prayer each day.

How big is baby?  The size of a winter melon...18.9-20.9 inches, and 6.2-9.2 pounds.

Sleep:  I realized the other day that I have no idea how many times each night that I get up to use the restroom.  I think its a minimum of three and probably a maximum of six.  If I had to guess, I would say I average four times a night getting up.  I do sleep well though.

Boy/Girl Prediction:  I predict I will be very excited to find out if we have a son or daughter.

Baby Nicknames:  Baby, Nugget, or Little One.

Best moment this week:  Feeling as though we're more and more prepared for the baby's arrival.  The diapers, the clothes, the blankets, the hospital bag, the guest room, and more are ready.

Food cravings:  Nothing really... and some days nothing really sounds good.  I'm hungry but nothing sounds good to eat.

Missing:  Not having numb fingers.  I've started to get some pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel in my right hand, and sometimes the numbness is pretty intense.  My doctor says this is very normal and should subside in the weeks following delivery.

 

Movements:  Yes, the baby definitely moves these days, and its crazy how big the baby is... I will feel kicks up by my ribs, and then down by my hips at the same time.  That didn't happen when the baby was smaller.  Some of the kicks are a little uncomfortable at times.

Labor Signs:  I've have had some minor Braxton Hicks contractions when I've been on my feet for awhile, but nothing that's become active labor.

General Attitude:  Grateful for each day that I'm able to do what needs to be done -- whether its work, or homemaking, or cleaning, or cooking.  Also, Hubby and I are specifically praying for which doctor will be on call when I go into labor.  My doctor is in an OBGYN practice of four women, and whichever one is on call when the time comes for me to deliver will be my doctor.  We know that God knows exactly who will be there and when and what time the baby will arrive, and we are praying for His perfect timing and provision in everything.

What I am looking forward to this week:  This weekend is Hubby and my last weekend just the two of us before family descends for the next month.  My parents and brother and his family arrives January 23, and then Chris' family will be coming when the baby arrives, and my parents don't leave until the middle of February... so this weekend is our last hurrah just the two of us.

Milestones:  Much of my reading says that I am now "Full Term" -- although my doctor says I'm not full term until 39 weeks.  Either way, our understanding is that anytime the baby arrives, the baby will be (Lord Willing) ready for life outside the womb.

Great Start to a Decade

When I turned 25, my mom told me that I was about to embark of five of the most exciting years of my life.  She told me that when she was 25, she had met my dad, but they were not dating, and by the time she turned 30, she and my dad were married (and had been married for 2-and-a-half-years) and she was pregnant with me, her first child.

With those words, I sincerely looked forward to what those 5 years would hold with great hope and expectation for ages 25-30.

Today, as I look back on those five years, my mom's words were prophetic.

When I turned 25, I had not met Chris, and by the time I turned 30 (yesterday), we have been married two-and-a-half years, and I am (very) pregnant with our first little one.

What an amazingly blessed five years this has been... and I know the decade to come is going to be every bit as exciting, blessed, challenging, and joyful.

Yesterday, my new decade started with a wonderful birthday...

5:30am homemade breakfast by my wonderful Hubby

My Christmas present, a satellite radio hooked up and programed to use in my car for the first time

surprise flowers from my cousin

gifts and cards from family and friends

a delicious dinner out with my wonderful Hubby

... and... incredibly fitting and symbolic of what I hope and believe this next decade will entail...

a brand new rocking chair from Hubby and his parents, for me, as the expectant mother.  My mother-in-law says that every new mother needs a rocking chair.

*Picture to come... when its safely assembled...*

This decade is off to a great, wonderful state!

Not Any More!

She was 29...
Yesterday!

Yes, my beautiful, loving, caring, wise, funny, and amazingly young looking wife has now joined the 30-something club!

She has soaked up all she could in her twenties.
Brooke has studied abroad,

graduated from Washington and Lee University,

completed TWO graduated degrees from Vanderbilt University,

moved to and lived in her dream location, Vail, Colorado,

skied a lot,

met an amazing guy,

   

then met an even more amazing soon-to-be husband after she dumped the other guy,
(he was a little too old fashioned)
(This is really what I looked like when she met me)

 had that same guy kneel down and ask her to marry him on the same ski run that her parents were engaged on just 30 years earlier,

married that guy in one of the most beautiful weddings in history,

and you can probably finish the lyrics to the song...

first comes love,
then comes marriage...

She did almost everything in her twenties.

Happy 30th Birthday Brooke.
May your thirties bring you even more adventure, fun, laughter, and joy.

I know they will include one thing, a lot more love because you get to spend ALL of your thirties with me!
You are the luckiest girl in the world!

Still 29

Last night Hubby and I had a very memorable dinner experience at The 10th Restaurant on Vail Mountain to celebrate my 30th birthday.  That being said, I am still 29 until tomorrow.

This very upscale restaurant opened on Vail Mountain about two years ago, and Hubby and I have been wanting to try it, but we have wanted it to be a special occasion when we do.  For over a year, we have planned to eat dinner there on my 30th birthday.

The 10th is a special restaurant because you actually have to take a gondola up the mountain to Mid-Vail, after all the lifts and the entire mountain are closed to eat at the restaurant.  Then, there was a UTV to drive us the 100 feet from the gondola to the front door of the 10th.

Dinner was very pricy, but it was the fanciest meal we have ever had together.  In addition to our appetizer, entree, and dessert, our dinner included a pre-muse, an amuse bouche, sorbet to cleanse our palet, and fudge to end our meal.

It was a very memorable meal, and a great way to begin the end of my twenties.

The 10th is a beautiful, very unique restaurant.

The amuse bouche - pear and blue cheese

Our baked bre and filo dough appetizer -- A-MAZING!

Watermelon sorbet before our entrees

I forgot to take pictures of our entrees before we dug in...
I had elk tenderloin,

and hubby had halibut and lobster risotto.
Yum!

They surprised me with a DELICIOUS, fancy, birthday dessert...

Look at this!!!  They even wrote my name on the plate!

Hubby enjoyed a berry cobbler dessert

The 10th is opened during ski hours, and provides warm slippers for patrons to wear instead of their ski boots.  I was SOOO excited about these slippers, and I wore snow boots in anticipation of the slippers.  It turns out, the slippers aren't usually available after ski hours... but the staff was so sweet, and they found me a pair of slippers so I didn't have to wear my boots all night.

The mountain was so beautiful, peaceful, and serene at night, with the moon and stars and no skiers.  It was also our baby's first time on the mountain (I skied all last season, but I didn't become pregnant until May -- after ski season ended).  It was a very special night.

A lot of lights are on the trees in Vail Village in the winter... it is such a beautiful place.

But, let the record show... I am still 29.

Lately...

I haven't really had much to say on this blog recently because, to be honest, there is SO much on my mind.  And, its not like my life has been in the past where "so much on my mind" means company coming, or work reports due, or a national certification exam on the horizon... that is a kind of stress I am used to.  I have had nearly 25 years of practice with that kind of stress.

On my mind these days is the magnitude of what's about to happen in our lives.
And the fact that I don't know when its going to happen.
And the fact that some days I am ready for it, and some days I am terrified.

Chris and I are about to be PARENTS.

Just the birth alone is full of decisions...

• natural birth or medication
• home birth or hospital birth
• obstetrician or midwife
• pediatrician or family practitioner
• spontaneous delivery or scheduled inducing
• vaginal birth or cesarean

 

... Then, the decisions are only just beginning...

• breast-feeding or bottle feeding
• breast milk or formula
•  bassinet or co-bedding
• cloth diapers or disposable diapers
• circumcision or not
• vaccinations or not
• swaddling or ... is there an alternative to swaddling?
• baby carrier or baby wearing

... and that is the smallest, simplest drop in the bucket or our decisions ahead...

Then, to add a huge dose of seriousness to this tremendous life event, childbirth is a dangerous business.  Women give birth to healthy babies every day... and I am thinking positively about how our birth and delivery will go... but tragedies happen during labor and delivery as well.  Giving birth is serious business, and is not without serious risks to both mother and baby.

Lately, I've had a lot on my mind that I'm lifting up in prayer.

If you think of me in the coming days and weeks, please pray for all the decisions ahead, all the things on my mind, the labor and delivery ahead, and the safety of our baby and me through it all.

On Fear...

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
- Isaiah 41:10

I Think She Knows...

I Think She Knows...

By the way her eating habits have changed,
By the way she doesn't run to the door when I get home,
I think she knows.

By the way she wants attention on her terms without warning,
By the way she squirms when I pick her up,
I think she knows.

Suddenly,
When I'm alone in the house,
She decides she wants to cuddle.
Her hind paws on my round stomach,
Her front paws and head draped over my shoulder.

There she will stay for an hour,
Not purring, but resting,
On her terms
Occasionally licking my cheek,
Resting her head.

She, poking my abdomen from the outside
The baby poking my abdomen from the inside.
I think she knows.