I've been having more and more Braxton Hicks contractions lately.  No, I don't think I'm going into labor or anything, but I probably should be keeping better track of them.  I think I might write down when I have them.  Then I can see if there are any patterns or if I'm having more than 6 an hour.  I don't think I am but if I am, that's a bad thing and I need to drink a large glass of water, lay on my left side for an hour and keep my bladder empty (contradict much?) and if they don't lessen or go away then I'm to call the doctor.  I've had 3 since lunch (around 1pm) so that's 3 in 2 hours.  That's definitely in the OK range. 

I went and visited Michelle today in the hospital.  I got to see pictures of Brianna too.  Brianna looks like a normal baby - cute, plump, pink - until you put her next to somebody - then she looks absolutely miniature!  She is breathing on her own though and is doing fabulously.  Michelle is doing great as well.  She's up and moving around and said her incision wasn't giving her too much grief.  Yay for good news! 

Today marks 35 weeks for us!  Only 2 more weeks and the baby will be full term.  That means that anytime after then, I could go into labor and they wouldn't try to stop it.  I guess I better get those last minute items at home taken care of (birth plan written, hospital bag packed, crib bedding washed, etc.)   At least the pre-registration form for the hopsital has been mailed. 

My friend Michelle (who I link to over on the right) had her baby girl this morning!  Yes, she's premature.  Brianna Marie Adair was born this morning at 28 weeks 3 days gestation.  The good news is Brianna is breathing on her own.  Mom is doing well too.  Please keep both in your thoughts and prayers.  Brianna is going to be in the hospital for a while.  I'm hoping to be able to visit them tomorrow but that will depend on how Michelle is feeling. 

Couple of updates:

- Saturday we had our 3rd childbirth class.  It was once again informative although we didn't learn a ton of new stuff.  They did pass around all the instruments that could be used during childbirth (catheter, forceps, epidural equipment, etc.).  That was pretty interesting.  They also had us get into different birthing positions and practice pushing!  I felt silly doing that but, eh, what are ya going to do?  Our last class is this Saturday.

- Well, I think my belly button is officially an outie now!  Does that mean this turkey is done or what? :)

- I set up a baby pool for you all to play!  Go to www.expectnet.com and you can guess the date, time, gender, height and weight you think our baby will be.  The game name is BabyBilbo (case sensitive).  Have fun guessing!  There's a link to the right if you want to access it that way instead.

I think that's it.  Now I'm going to crawl into bed and read a bit before drifting off to la-la land.

I uploaded 3 new pictures this morning.  One was taken of me at Pampered Chef's national conference on Tuesday, July 13th.  I was almost 33 weeks at that time.  The sign I'm standing by is outside of the Career Club Luncheon.  It was my first time being invited.  You have to have $50,000 or more in career sales and I did that this year!  Anyway, it's up there for belly comparison purposes.  Then, I also took 2 34 week pictures this morning.  So, does anyone agree with Lisa?  Do you think I've dropped at all?  (To see pictures, click on bunny above.)

Two more things:

1 - The doctor this morning thought the baby was head down.  Yay!  When they check at 36 weeks, if the baby is not head down or if they can't tell, they may do an ultrasound to be sure.  If she is breech at that time, they may try to manually turn her and if that doesn't work, we may need to discuss a scheduled cesarean.  Depending on what type of breech she is (there are like 5 types) a cesarean may be necessary.  Some breech babies can be born vaginally but not all.  So, keep your fingers crossed that she stays head down.

2 - Lisa told me today that she thinks I may have dropped or at least started dropping.  I have needed to use the restroom more often lately which can be a sign you've dropped but I didn't think I had.  I definitely need to take a picture now to compare with the 30 week picture!  Usually babies don't drop until 2-4 weeks before delivery for first time moms.  With repeat pregnancies, the baby sometimes won't drop until you're almost ready to deliver.  So, I would be a bit early in dropping now since we're still 6 weeks (ok, maybe 5) from the due date.  But wouldn't that be great if she was born sometime between 37 and 40 weeks!

I had my 34 week doctor appointment this morning.  Everything is going really well.   The doctor must have said 4 times at least that I'm doing really well.  So nice to hear that!  My weight was okay.  My blood pressure was actually the lowest it's been all pregnancy.  There was a trace of protein in my urine but nothing they were concerned about and there was no glucose in my urine.  We listened to the heartbeat.  It was a strong (doctor's words, not mine) 156 beats per minute.  The doctor said they usually start talking induction with their patients 1-2 weeks post due date.  I told her that I think my due date is actually a week earlier than what we have been going on.  I told her why (ovulated early, both ultrasounds measured 1 week ahead, belly has been measuring 2 weeks ahead).  She checked her records and sure enough, the screening ultrasound put my due date at August 26th, 2004; exactly one week ahead of September 2nd.  She then measured my belly and yep, still measuring 2 weeks ahead or 36 weeks.  I told her I might want to discuss induction on my due date (September 2nd) instead of waiting a week or two after that if my true due date is really a week earlier.  There can be complications if a baby stays in utero longer than 2 weeks past due.  The first complication I would worry about is the placenta.  It usually starts breaking down at 42 weeks which can harm the baby.  The second thing I would worry about is the baby getting too big to fit through my pelvis and ending up with an emergency cesarean.  I'd really like to avoid these two things if possible.  The doctor had no problem talking induction on my due date since all these factors line up with an earlier due date.  We can continue to discuss this at my upcoming appointments.

Other than that, all is well.  I'm still feeling great - sleeping well, no heartburn, swelling or other miserable pregnancy side effects.  I feel incredibly lucky to be 34 weeks and be having such an easy time of it.  I hope this bodes well for labor too! :)

Yesterday was our 2nd wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary Honey!  It was a pretty low-key event.  We went and ordered a stroller and pack-'n-play and then went out for dinner.  Yep, we're very exciting people.  :) 

I also made appointments yesterday to get the car seat(s) inspected.  We have two bases and the bucket style seat so we can use whatever car we want and not have to switch car seats.  We have an appt on August 4th for my truck and on August 18th for Kris's car.  It feels good to be able to check that task off the list. 

I'll update again tomorrow after my doctor's appointment.

It is so hot and humid here in Minnesota!  Darn 10,000 lakes!  :)  Good thing work, my truck and our house all have air conditioning!  Now if I could just get Kris to stop giving me dirty looks every time I turn the air conditioner up! :)
 
We had our second childbirth class last weekend.  The only new thing we learned was different breathing and relaxation techniques.  We need to start practicing those so they become second nature.  We also saw a natural birth video.  Amazing!  I'm not sure what's planned for this Saturday, our third class, but our fourth class, the Saturday after that (the 31st) we have the hosptial tour and cover cesarean births along with a cesarean video. 
 
We also had two baby showers this past weekend.  Saturday Kris's family threw us one and on Sunday my friends did.  They were both so much fun!  Our family and friends are so generous!  I was overwhelmed with the amount of presents and thoughtfulness at both showers!  We and this baby are so blessed. 
 
Not much else is new.  My belly is quite big.  I'll try to remember to take a picture this week so you can see.  Baby moves quite a bit and her hiccups are cute unless she hiccups too long and then they can become annoying.  :)  It's like someone is poking me from the inside continuously.  I'm sure I'll miss those though when she's out here with us.  

Major milestone passed today.  I had to officially turn in my smock at work for a bigger size. :)  I had to go from a large to an extra large.  I have a good four inches room though in this smock now so hopefully I can stay in this one until the end.  OK, so this isn't a major milestone, but the guys at work had fun teasing me about it.

Hey all! How are ya? Everything is going well over here. Baby is still quite active even though her space is diminishing. My trip to Chicago for the Pampered Chef National Convention was uneventful except for some minor swelling of my right ankle. I think there was too much sitting in one spot. I'm going to start working on getting some late pregnancy items accomplished - hospital pre-registration, hospital bag packing, buying a car seat and getting it inspected, etc. I'd like to have most of this done in the next couple weeks so that when I do hit full term, I don't have to worry about it and if this baby does decide to come before 40 weeks, all will be okay. We have two baby showers this weekend and I'm so excited!

Two things:
1 - I felt the baby have the hiccups for the first time today! It was so strange. It felt like tiny little pokes but it was so rhythmic that it just had to be hiccups.

2 - And those hiccups happened during our 1st childbirth class this morning. Kris and I didn't learn much that we didn't already know. They covered lots of different things like preterm labor, toxemia symptoms, different labor terms (back labor, episiotomies, contractions, etc.). Apparently I've been keeping Kris well enough informed that not much of this was new to him either. The class is being taught by one of the labor & delivery nurses from the hospital I'll be delivering at. It will be nice to have a friendly face there already when we go in. She was an awesome instructor. She didn't beat around the bush on anything or sugarcoat anything which I appreciate. It was also good to find out some more things about our hospital. Like we found out they have jacuzzi tubs that you can use to labor in. That will be nice for when I'm not at the pushing stage yet as the warm water and jets can help relieve tired, tense muscles. It was also nice to hear that they encourage vertical pushing (squatting) instead of the traditional on your back in stirrup method. All the information I've read says that vertical pushing is better as it's less painful (baby isn't sitting on your spin or tailbone), quicker (gravity helps) and you don't have to push the baby "uphill" at the very end to get them out. Anyway, we'll see what happens when the big day arrives, but all that we learned today was positive. Next week (we have class the next 3 weekends 9-noon) we learn breathing and relaxing techniques. The last class is when we go on the hospital tour. I can't wait for that!

Oh, one more thing - there's another Kristina in our class! I don't run into many of those - especially with the K spelling so that was neat!

We have names!! Yeah, I said nameS. We have two names that we can agree on but can't choose between. So, we're going to have to wait to see our little girl before deciding on her name. One thing we don't agree on is how to spell one of those names. It's okay though because either way will be fine.

I have to get some stuff done here in the next few weeks! We have to have our pre-registration forms for the hospital done by 36 weeks which is only 4 weeks away! I need to dig those out and get them filled out. I also need to turn in our "birth plan" at that time. Do I want medication? What kind? What kinds of intervention do I want or don't want. How do I want to labor? On my back? Vertically? In water? Hopefully the childbirth classes we'll be attending (starting tomorrow!) will help me find those answers. I'm pretty sure I know what I want but it will be nice to get some more information from trained professionals before making my final decisions and turning it in. Kris also has opinions on things like epidurals and such but knows that it's ultimately up to me and what I can handle and he will support me no matter what ends up happening. In the end, I just want a healthy baby in my arms and it won't matter how she got here.

Baby Update:
I had my 32 week doctor appointment this morning. All is well. My blood pressure, urine and weight all checked out okay. The heartbeat was nice and strong and accelerated when she moved and the doctor said that was good too. She was moving a lot too! She measured my belly but didn't tell me what the measurements were so I'm not sure if I'm still measuring big. When I go back in 2 weeks, I'll ask then. She felt around on my stomach to try to get a position on the baby. She's not sure but she thinks the baby might be breech (head up instead of head down). If she's still not sure at 36 weeks, then they'll order an ultrasound to get a peek. If she is breech at 36 weeks, they'll probably try to manually turn her. Of course, the baby could do numerous flips between now and 36 weeks so this might be a moot point by then. However at 36 weeks, they'd like her to be head down and staying that way.

Baby Room Update:
I think Kris is done painting the animals! He still has some spots to apply to the giraffe, but then I think he'll be all done. It looks so good and I can't wait to take pictures to share with all of you. The glider also is awesome. It's super comfy and matches well with the room. The only things I'd like to get now are 1 - a lamp (which is on my registry) 2 - a basket to put some toys in and 3 - a small table to set beside the glider.

Mommy Update:
I'm still doing great, no swelling, heartburn or other yucky pregnancy side effects. I'm still sleeping through the night mainly (maybe 1 potty break) and I'm not having any backaches or anything. Hopefully this lasts a bit longer!

Our glider is in! Yay! I'm going to pick it up this afternoon. Monday, Kris and I are going to work on the nursery. We're going to get the room set up in it's final configuration now that the glider is in and anchor the dressers to the walls. Kris is going to work on the last 3 animals and I'm going to work on decorating. Hopefully after that I can take pics of it to share with you.

I just found out that a friend at work is pregnant!!! She's 12 weeks now and saw the baby for the first time today on an ultrasound. She about killed me yesterday though. She was standing in the hallway talking with Lisa, Ying and Lee (other co-workers.) When I came around the corner, we made a pregnant lady sandwich out of her (Lisa and Ying are also pregnant - due in November). She almost blurted out - I already am pregnant! But didn't because her doctor appt was today. Hee! Sorry Brittan!! This is so cool!