Any time now! 38 Weeks!

Well I officially hit the "full-term" benchmark this past week. It is crazy to think that the little grain of sand I had inside me when I found out I was pregnant, has grown into an actual little girl that's almost ready to come out and join us. We've been pretty busy getting ready for her arrival. We had the baby shower a few weeks ago. It was a really great time! Vero and Carol did an excellent job planning it and making it fun for all our friends. We got lots of stuff from our registry that we needed. Our friends were way too generous! We had our maternity pictures taken. Some of them turned out really well. I can't wait to have the photographer come back out when our little one arrives.

I've been fighting a cold for the last week or so. I can't seem to get rid of it. This weakened immune system is a pain right now. Being unable to take much medicine has made it tough some days. We also need to go and do a tour at Labor and Delivery, but I don't want to do that until I've kicked this. We are probably going to try to do that this week or next weekend. We have another doctor's appointment on Friday, so we'll be pre-registering at the hospital, too. I can't believe we are at this point already. It is very exciting.

We washed a bunch of the baby clothes and set up a lot of the gifts we got. Now the nursery is starting to look like a nursery. It still isn't finished, but if she came today, it would be okay. We have a pack n' play set up, so she can sleep in our room for the first few weeks. We've been reading a bunch of baby books to get ready. We got our car seat installed and inspected. It is really strange having a car seat set up in the back of our car. We also have our stroller set up and it is just sitting in our hallway. Even Roxy can tell something is getting ready to change. We leave the baby room open, so she can go in there to check everything out. She checks it out almost every time she comes up the stairs. I know she is going to be jealous, but we are trying to make the transition as easy as possible for her.

I wonder if this will be the last post before her arrival. I doubt it. I don't feel like I'm getting too close. We'll see what the doctor says this week.

Almost 34 Weeks! 6 left!

Wow, time really is going by pretty fast! It seems the last few months have just been flying by. There are so many things I want to do before our little one arrives. I've finally started an actual list, so now I can just start checking things off and adding stuff when I think of new things. We got maternity pictures taken yesterday. We have been trying to get them done for awhile now, but the weather has prevented the photographer from making it to our house. Germany has really gotten a lot of snow this year. Most of it melted last week though, so we didn't have a problem this time.

I finally got all the baby bedding washed and put it on the crib. It is so cute. I like to go in the room and look at it. Of course, that is the only thing in the nursery that is actually ready. I still need to get Shaun to move some furniture out of there, so we only have baby stuff in there. We won't do too much decorating in there because we are going to move back to the states a few months after she arrives, so we don't want to paint twice. We do want a peaceful little room for her though.

I had another checkup this week and everything looks great still. I asked about having another ultrasound, but it doesn't look like we'll have one unless something doesn't look right. My appointments are starting to get more frequent though. The next one is the 23rd and then I'll go again two weeks after that and then weekly.

It is amazing the challenges that being pregnant can put on a body. All the simple tasks that used to be easy, now are really tough. Sitting, standing, putting on shoes, pants, carrying stuff...all these little things that I used to take for granted. Walking through small spaces now causes me to bump my belly on stuff. If I couldn't laugh at it all, it would be sad.

I'll be working right up until the baby comes. We joke about roles in the office if I start to go into labor there, but the other day we actually talked out what would need to happen, just in case. I went TDY to Turkey last week and Turkish Airlines gave me quite the experience while I was trying to fly home. They were convinced I was too pregnant and made me get off my direct flight home and go see the doctor in the airport and then they put me on another flight. Then they insisted on wheeling me through the airport in a wheelchair to get me to my flights. It was exhausting, but I won't be flying anymore until after the baby comes. I probably won't fly again until our flight back to the states in October (at least I hope not).

Our baby shower is this weekend! I'm excited! I think it is going to be a lot of fun. Vero and Carol are working pretty hard to put it together and they won't let me do anything. I hate that because I love planning parties and this one is at my house. Oh well, I'm sure I'll enjoy it anyway.

Well I think that is pretty much everything since the last post. I'll post the maternity pics when I get them back.

29 Weeks - Finally in the 3rd Trimester!!

It has been a busy few weeks. We just got back from celebrating Christmas and New Year's in New Mexico. It was great to see the family - especially our little nephews. While we were there, we looked through some of Shaun's baby pictures. He was such a cute little baby with really big brown eyes. It will be fun to see how similar the baby looks to both of us. The long flights there and back weren't as uncomfortable as I expected them to be. I'm pretty uncomfortable all the time now, so I expected it to be a lot worse.

We had our monthly check up this week. The baby's heartbeat was really fast - 160bpm! The doctor said that was normal since she was moving around a lot while we were listening. She moves around almost all the time now. It seems she is up almost all night. That makes sleeping interesting. The doctor said my glucose test went well and all my blood levels were great. That was good news. She also gave us reality check when she told us we should be "baby ready" by 36 weeks. We have sooo much to do before then and it is only 7 weeks away. We also started our childbirth classes tonight. We'll continue those for the next 3 weeks. Now we need to get busy setting up the nursery and getting some more necessary items.

My friend, Veronica, is planning my shower for February 13th. I'm getting pretty excited about that. It will be lots of fun. We are inviting the guys and having some fun with with it. Vero is the best for doing it for me! She found the cutest Queen of the Jungle theme (http://www.partypail.com/queen-of-the-jungle-baby-shower.html) to follow, which matches the nursery we have planned perfectly and she didn't even know it!

I'm getting HUGE! I say I'm as big as a house, but my wonderful sis-in-law says I'm just a small condo and that I still have room to grow into the house. It's good to have a seasoned pro around to keep it in perspective :) Here is a picture of the small condo this week.

24 Weeks and Belly Pics

We had our 24 week appointment this week. Everything is looking good. We went over all my test results and the doc said everything looked "perfect!" including the ultrasound. She measured my stomach and checked the heartbeat and said "perfect!" again! It was very exciting!

Shaun's been able to feel the baby move now. Of course, he only feels small movements. She is very active and she's starting to develop a schedule. She wakes me up almost every morning at 4. We've been really busy lately (as usual, I guess). Last night, we had Shaun's work Christmas Party. It seems we have a little dancer. She really liked the music. Next week, we have my work Christmas party. Then after that, we are heading to New Mexico on the 21st.

I finally got some belly pictures. Here they are:

Here I was at 20 Weeks.

Here I am at 24 weeks:

20 Week Ultrasound - You'll have to turn up the volume to hear what she is saying.

23 Weeks - Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for this year. It was great to spend the day with our friends here in Germany.

We've had a busy few weeks. We bought a crib and changing table. I picked out the crib linens and ordered them (Here is the nursery design: Our crib looks similar to this as well.
http://www.lonestarbaby.com/6-pc-set-jacana-by-cocalo.html). We decided how to reorganize the house to make room for a baby room. We have been collecting so many baby items from friends that we had just started piling it up in our guest room. We figured it was time to start really finding a place for all of it. I started a baby registry on Babies R Us. Only 16 weeks or so left!! Wow...that seems so soon.

The baby is moving around a lot now. She's started to develop a schedule. She wakes me up every morning at 4am and starts jumping around. It is a little awkward when I'm in meetings at work and she starts moving around. I have to try to stay focused. Shaun has been able to feel her move a little. Roxy gets really jealous when that starts though. It is going to be really interesting to see how she adjusts when the baby is born.

Our camera is giving us problems lately, so I only have a belly picture from week 20. We are going to replace it soon, so we can post them. I feel like I'm getting HUGE! We have our next doctor appointment on Tuesday. Shaun will be TDY, so it will be the first one he will miss. In a few weeks, we are heading to New Mexico for Christmas. It will be interesting to fly with my big belly :)

20 Weeks

Now that I'm about half way through this pregnancy, I figure it is time to start sharing some of what has been going on.

We had our ultrasound this week. I was so excited, I could hardly sleep or concentrate for a few days before. The lady that did the ultrasound told me up front that she was going to look around and do her measurements and then would go back through and point everything out to me. I could hardly sit still waiting for her to finish her part. I was mentally doing a checklist in my head. When she came to the heart, I counted 4 chambers, she came to the left hand and then the right, the left kidney and then the right. Everything seems to be there and looked pretty good. It is amazing how much growth and development has happened since our 10 week pictures.

Leading up the the ultrasound we weren't sure if we were going to find out the sex. Everyone was telling me we should, but it was really not something I felt I needed to know right now. I just wanted to know everything was okay. Shaun really wanted to know though, so we decided to find out. Of course, we had envisioned something really dramatic for the announcement, but when it came down to it, the lady just said "it's a girl" out of the blue. We were shocked, but it was pretty exciting!! Of course, I really would have been excited either way.

Now we have to start planning names and nursery patterns and all of that stuff. I guess now is when the fun stuff begins...the shopping :)

I'm definitely growing. My belly has really popped out in the last week or so. I've gained 9 or 10 lbs. I'm in maternity clothes all the time now. I'm really liking stretchy pants :) Belly pictures will come soon. I was going to take some this week, but my camera is giving me problems. We'll get that worked out and then take some.