39 week pregnancy update and it feels like it will never end!!!

I went to my 39 week visit today and much to my disappointment, my body hasn't progressed since my last visit. I am still 1 cm dilated, 60% effaced, and the baby is at a -2 station. I was really hoping that things had started to change as my daughter was already born by this point. This baby seems to be really stubborn. Both the dr. and the nurse commented that the baby was still gaining weight as I not only gained 3 lbs. since last week but my fundal height went up 2 centimeters as well. Yikes! I hope this isn't going to be a really large baby! My dr. did say that if I make my next appointment that we will discuss what options I have for evicting this baby as he likes to try to get things going within 3 - 4 days after the due date. I just hope I don't have to wait that long... Everything else looks good, so come on baby, come on!

Sitting on Santa's Lap

At Kenny's suggestion, we headed to the mall to try to bring on some regular contractions, pick up a few last minute Christmas gifts, and take Nikki to see Santa. She wasn't afraid to sit on his lap this year and tell him that she wants "Doodle Doug" (a bug that draws), and rollerblades for Christmas. She also gave him a hug which was so cute, too bad Kenny didn't expect it so he missed catching it on film. Here are the pictures from her visit!

No baby yet!

So I woke up with a backache and irregular contractions this morning. I was uncomfortable enough not to be able to sleep until I layed on the heating pad for awhile. I have been uncomfortable all day, but no contractions, just the backache. Kenny suggested that we head to the mall and walk since that helped last time when I was pregnant with Nikki. So far no luck though! Please send me lots and lots of labor vibes as I am at the point that I want this baby to evict itself from my body!

The baby's room is finally complete!

Yesterday Kenny hung the shelf with hooks for me, which happened to be the last thing that needed to be done in the baby's room. Nothing like waiting to the last minute to finish stuff up. I think when you are having your first baby that you are stressed about having everything perfect and ready to go...but when you have your second, third, etc... you know everything will just fall into place when it needs to. So the hospital bags are basically packed, just waiting to throw in the stuff that I use daily and Ken still needs to put the car seat into the car, but he keeps reminding me that he will have two days while I am at the hospital to get it done! See, there still is time!

38 Week Pregnancy Update

Stressed! The shortest description of what I felt today at my Dr's appointment. I could tell right away when the nurse did the baby's heartrate that something wasn't right. She was able to find it right away, but then stood there listening for the longest time, and then had a funny look on her face when she commented to me that the heartrate was fast. I asked her how fast and she said in the 170's which is high and out of the normal range of 120's-160's. Of course I started thinking that a trip to the hospital might be in my near future!

When my Dr. came in, he assured me that it might be as simple as the baby moving in which case the heart rate should go up. So I had to take a Non-stress test, which is where they hook you up to a monitor which checks for contractions, monitors the baby's heartrate, and I had to push a button everytime I felt the baby move. It all gets recorded for about 20 minutes and then they evaluate it. Thank goodness the heartrate only went up when the baby moved, and then went right back down to around the 140's-150's in between. I felt so relieved that the baby was fine and not in any distress!

Everything else checked out good! No weight gain this week or change in uterus size which is very normal at this point. No major advancements regarding the baby coming; I am 1 cm dilated, 60% effaced, and the baby is still at a -2 station. Looks like it may want to stay in for the long haul!

37 Week Pregnancy Update

Not a whole lot of news this week. I believe this baby is going to be stubborn about coming into this world, especially since we were unable to find out the sex during all three ultrasounds! I am still 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced like last week. I did go from a -3 station to a -2 station, which means the baby has dropped a bit lower, but nothing really significant. As my dr. likes to remind me, the baby can still come at anytime!

I did find out that I tested positive for Group B strep which means I will have to have antibiotics during labor that will actually be for the baby. This was something that I didn't have to worry about last time when I had Nikki. It is fairly common, but scary to have any type of complication or concern!

I can say that the baby and my body did not care for the exam today. The baby has been very active and I have had lots of Braxton Hicks contractions as well as general pressure which has just made me feel uncomfortable all day long. Hopefully, I will sleep ok tonight and not continue to have contractions that could keep me awake all night!

I am excited to note that I only have 7 more actual work days before I go on my maternity leave! Yeah!

Halloween Fun

A few snapshots from a very busy day! Nikki had her Halloween Party with her class yesterday. I had a lot of fun helping out in her classroom and seeing all the kids dressed up in costumes. They did stations where a small group did a different activity for a certain period of time and then they switched. I helped one of the other parents with Pin the Tail on the Cat. How appropriate since I was dressed up like a kitty!

As we have done for the past four years, the Snyder's, our friends, came over for a night of pizza and fun. Katie and I took the kids out trick-or-treating while the hubby's stayed back and passed out candy. It was pretty cold out, so the kids only lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes, but still got plenty of loot!