Skooter Watch (or Lack Thereof)

Hey everyone! Just a quick update to let you all know that I'm still here, still preggers...due date is Monday and I have a very strong feeling we're going to blow past 1/3/11! It's so funny because I was so worried about going into labor right before my girlfriend's wedding the weekend before xmas. And then I was so worried about going into labor on xmas. Not that either of these would be terrible scenarios, and don't get me wrong I'm dying to meet Skooter. But in a perfect world I just wanted to hold out until closer til my due date.

Well careful what you wish for, because dr. appt on Tuesday showed absolutely no progress. Next appt is this Tuesday after my due date, where they'll give me an u/s to check on the amount of amniotic fluid...something they do for anyone past their due date. I haven't had any contractions, or even braxton hicks for that matter. I have this feeling I'll be one of those girls who just never goes into labor naturally...hopefully I'm wrong but that's my hunch. The dr. said after the u/s they'll determine how long they'll let me go...usually a week or week and a half!?!?

And to top it all off I caught the flu on Monday night, actually hubs and I both did. It was literally the worst night of my life, throwing up with a huge belly is NOT fun. Again I was so worried we were going to go into labor, of course the night that both of us were at our worst (obviously didn't need to worry too much, hah). I keep telling people that if a night of puking doesn't get Skooter wanting to come out, nothing will! So tomorrow I start operation naturally induce labor! I'm not going to go too overboard, but there will be lots of spicy food, walking/dancing around, pressure point rubbing, red raspberry leaf tea, and hubby's personal favorite....lots of sex! Any other tips people?!?

Little Skooter just know...mommy loves having you in her belly, and I know I'll miss it so much when you're not there anymore. But mommy and daddy are just dying to meet you, we love you so much and I hate to rush you...but the time has come little baby! Mommy is determined, hah!

And just for fun here are a couple pics from the wedding, it was so beautiful and so so much fun...but at the same time I'm hoping I don't have to be the 9 month pregnant b-maid again any time soon! Hope everyone has a very happy New Year, and hopefully I'll be posting soon with a Skooter update! Fingers crossed!!!

Maternity Pics & 37 Week Appt

Well...actually just pic! But it's definitely one of our favs that my photographer just put up on face.book, so I could finally share one! Her gallery was the kind were you couldn't copy and paste, and we didn't buy the disk of digitals cause it wasn't cheap and lets be honest we're saving for the newborn shots! But we bought a bunch of pics, and they came last night and are so gorgeous! I can't wait to get into our new house and frame them. We're actually giving this pic to both of our moms for one of their xmas gifts!

And if any of you Chic.ago bloggies needs a photographer I would totally recommend her!

In other news I had my second internal yesterday, and no action down below. Baby is staying put for now, which is good news cause I'm standing up in one of my bestie's wedding this Saturday (wish me luck people, it's going to be a loooong day)...so I really appreciate Skooter not making an early arrival.

And somehow I managed to lose 2 lbs...which is crazy since I made a batch of my famous cut out frosted cookies on Saturday and have been eating about 4 a day since then. I'm at a total of 26 lbs...which puts me right on track for the 30lbs my i.phone app says I should gain. The dr. I saw yesterday guessed Skooter would be a high 6/low 7 lb baby. How they can tell this just by feeling around my stomach I'll never know, but his head is down so all around he's being a very good baby!!!

Still Here & Almost 37 Weeks!

Hey all! Wow, maybe my worst blogging dry spell yet. Anyone out there still reading, hah! The holidays have come and just completely knocked me on my ass along with major baby prep! Since my last post I have been one super busy girl but its all SUCH great stuff. Not to mention I'll be 37 weeks and FULL TERM on Monday...omg, how did that happen?!? I'm getting so excited to meet this baby I can hardly take it. I know these last few weeks (assuming I don't go early) will go by so quick, but at the same time I feel like time is standing still. As much as I LOVE Skooter in my tummy, and I know I'll miss having him with me all the time...I'm just dying to have him in my arms. I can tear up over the thought of hubby holding him for then first time...and its frickin killing me wondering if Skooter is a boy or girl!

So here's the rundown of my life over the last month:

Baby Showers:

I had two more lovely baby showers since my last post. The last one was the weekend of thanksgiving, so it was a super busy but fun weekend with the holiday and everything. All I can say is Skooter is one seriously lucky baby, he has SO much stuff and is pretty much set for the first year of life. The only thing he'll need is some pink or blue clothes (or in my case purple or green since i'm neither a pink or blue person). All I can say is Skooter better like little duckys, because that's what he'll be living in for the first month, ha!

(Me and my bestie, she's 4 weeks post baby and looking fab!)

Nesting:

Holy crap, it hit me hard after my last shower. I'm so that person who has more fun organizing xmas presents after I open them, than actually opening them if that make sense. I love putting everything away, stacking and restacking all my new fun things. Well, that's what I started doing with the baby stuff...pulling out the stuff that we needed asap, piling up the older age toys that could wait. Remember we're living with my parents, and while they're house has plenty of room...we personally are spread out all over the place. We're living in my bro's old room, we're setting up baby stuff in the guest room, my business is in the other guest room, we've taken up half the garage with miscellaneous boxes, and baby stuff has taken over the ping pong and pool tables in the basement!

Some days I think we're in good shape for the baby, but then I realize I could literally go any day now and start panicking about how much more we need to do. The big things are install the car seat base (which is happening this weekend), pack the hospital bag, set up the last few baby things we'll need in the beginning, swing, pack.n.play, etc. Things we've accomplished are setting up the bassinet, car seat, diaper genie, ordered diapers, wipes, got diaper rash cream/powder and stuff, washed all baby clothes, okay...why does this not sound like a lot??

Baby Updates:

Let's see...a few weeks ago I had a dr. appt where I got my last ultrasound just to confirm one last time the placenta had fully moved, which it had...YAY! They said Skooter is measuring a tad on the small side, 40% percentile so they're not expecting a huge baby...which should be easier for labor. Hubby is of course worried he's too small, which is absolutely not what they said...and he's obsessed with plumping me up which I explained to him will not necessarily fatten up the baby....just my ass!! Speaking of, at my first weekly appt this Tuesday I've now gained 24 lbs. My I.Phone app says 30 lbs will be average based on my starting weight, so I guess I'm pretty happy with that. I had my first internal check, and nothing to report yet...other than OUCH, I think she was elbow deep!

I was actually excited for my first internal, because I feel like it may give you some idea on whether you're getting closer to go time. However, everything I've heard/read says that you can be dilated 3 cm for weeks, or not be dilated at all and go that very same day...so apparently it's a crap shoot. I'm getting SO anxious just to know how its going to go down. I wish someone could just tell me...you're going to wake up one night with cramps and that's it, or you better keep a towel in your purse cause you're water is going to break at work and its going to be super embarrassing, hah! Or, don't get too excited for xmas dinner because you'll be spending it in the hospital with Skooter. I guess that's half the fun, only Skooter knows when he'll be ready to show...and all we can do is get ready!

House Updates:

So this fall we got so lucky with the weather in Chicago, and they were able to crank away. Then this week hit, right when we needed to start roofing/siding/masonry stuff...and Chicago became a frickin tundra. It's been in the 20s all week long, and next week the high on Monday is a whopping 13 degrees. They were able to install all the windows yesterday, so we're almost completely under roof...but I would like to keep trucking along at our super fast pace so we can be in by April. Here's a pic of the progress as of a couple of weeks ago:


So that's it. Sorry for the super loooong delay in catching everyone up! Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!

Baby Shower & Almost 33 weeks!

So technically I'm only 32w4d, but once I hit Friday I'm pretty much rounding up to the next week. I'm a cheater, but whateva!! So hard to believe, 33 weeks sounds close...7 weeks is crazy, I mean if I get real carried away I could almost justify rounding that down to 4 weeks...well that's a bit of stretch but still.

I am getting a little nervous about being ready. Being in between homes has been nice in some ways cause I haven't been stressing about the nursery, or finding the perfect gender neutral bedding (which I swear doesn't exist). But now I'm starting to feel a little panicky about how its all going to work without my perfect little nursery ready to go. I registered for a bassinet, which people tell me they use for the first few months anyways...and my pack.n.play comes with a changing table. I guess being a new mom is all about figuring it out, so I'm sure it will all be fine. But I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to our house being done, and moving our new little family into our own space finally!

In other news I had my first shower this last weekend! My mom threw this for my family and girlfriends. It was a good "starter" shower, to get me back into the shower swing of things. Opening gifts in front of people, super awkward...and when its quiet and you feel 20 sets of eyes on you waiting to see how you react to wait for it....yep another set of bibs (while adorable and I registered for them, it goes get hard to really get reved up with the same enthusiasm as the first 4 sets)!! And I'm a sweater, I get nervous and I start pitting....sorry gross but true! But at the end of the day, it was a super fun shower and Skooter got some amazing stuff, including my crib from my college friends!!!

We also had our labor class the day before. A friend had mentioned it was sort of a waste of time, but I totally disagree. The day did start off a little rocky when the girl sitting in the chair next to me had a seizure within 15 minutes of class starting, SO scary but we got word she and baby were doing just fine an hour or so later. We got to go on a tour of the hospital and see all 3 rooms that would be part of the delivery process. The nurse was great and gave us a bunch of great advice about labor. Some of the highlights I got were:

- If you're not sure whether you're in labor or just braxton.hicks....take a long shower. If you get out of the shower and the contractions are gone, they were just braxton...but if they're more intense time to call the dr.

- She said if there's nothing else you remember it's to try not to tense up during contractions. Try as hard as possible to relax, tensing will only make it worse.

- We watched a labor video which was pretty graphic, and afterwards she noted these were all obviously natural labors. She said an epidural video would be pretty boring...which I plan to do, so that made me happy. Boring labor sounds like happy labor to me, hah!

- She said do not wear a bra when you change into your gown, especially not a sports bra. She said if you do need a c-section in the end, they are a huge pain to get off with all the other things hooked up to you. Random but I thought it was a good piece of info!

- She had a fake pair of hip bones, and told us how it really doesn't matter how big you are on the outside...it all depends on the size of the whole between your hips. This woman was teeny tiny, like 100 lbs, and said she had 9 lbs babies. I have pretty narrow hips, so here's hoping I have one huge gaping hip hole, ha!

- Do not buy new pajamas for the hospital post delivery, or if you do get some cheapy nightgownish type thing that you can pull up for cleaning up down below (she warned you will bleed on whatever you're wearing), and its easier for breastfeeding.

So while the idea of labor got a lot more real (holy crap in 7 short weeks I WILL have to push this baby out of me), it did make me feel more prepared which is always a good thing! And here's a pic of hubs and I post-shower!!

Back to Reality

So we're back from our babymoon in AZ. It was a short but sweet, and worth every penny. I realized while we there, that this would be hubby and my last trip pre-Skooter. Which is not to say we won't travel alone once he gets here, but it will be our last trip where its just us two. I'm guessing all future vacays in the back of our minds we'll be missing/worrying/excited to get back to our baby. It made me also realize how much I'm going to soak up these last couple months of just hubby and me time, before Skooter is welcomed to our little family! Don't get me wrong, I'm literally counting the minutes to his/her arrival...but change is change, and I think it was just a reminder to soak up my quality time with hubby these next two months.

In any case, the vacay was great! The hotel was amazing, the spa even better...I had a prenatal and facial. It was SO weird to lay on my stomach on the little bump pillow they had on the table. I must say normally I hate when the masseuse is like okay, time to flip over....cause you know the good part of the massage is over. But this time, I was more than ready to get on my back...I felt like I was crushing poor little Skooter!! It probably also didn't help I had just eaten lunch and Skooter was moving like crazy the whole time.

We laid by the pool, ate tons of good food (i'm a little nervous for my next weigh in at the dr, hah), and drank lots of fun drinks poolside. Again, I don't think the virgin pina coladas I was downing were doing much for my waistline...but dang they were good, even without the booze! We talked a LOT about Skooter, mostly going back and forth if Skooter is a boy or a girl. We have names officially ironed out. To be honest we've known them since this summer, but we went through the options one last time and have agreed on both...which we won't be sharing with anyone until Skooter is here, no matter how much our mom's beg us!

So in other news now that we're back and now that November is here its officially baby month for us! This Sunday marks the first of three baby showers I'm having, all in November. And Saturday we're heading downtown all day for our baby class at the hospital where we're delivering. I'm super excited to get a lay of the land, and see exactly where Skooter is going to make his/her arrival. Hope everyone is having a good week, time for some major blog catch up!

30 Years & 30 Weeks!!!

So yesterday was the big 3-0 so I'm officially old now, hah! No, it was actually the best birthday ever...thanks to my hubby and awesome friends and family. Its so funny because I remember back when I was like 25 thinking how it was so great that my 30th fell on a Sunday because we could have a big blow out bash Saturday night. So funny how things change! And while we technically didn't have a party I seriously couldn't have had a better birthday weekend!

Saturday I went downtown for a haircut/blowdry in preparation for the maternity shoot. When I got home from the appointment I came home to this, and it was such a fun surprise!

Hubby went and got 30 balloons to fill our room with!

Gorgeous flowers, taffy apples (my FAV), and Reese's...YUM!

Please excuse the shot glass collection in the background, remember we're staying at my parents house in my bro's old room, hah! And hubby killed it with gifts this year, we're trying to keep it low key since Arizona is really the big gift. But he did get me my diaper bag (which I had hinted I wanted) and an adorable picture frame that almost brought me to tears, and this super cute travel changing kit!

So I was praying the whole day the rain would hold off long enough to get our shoot in, and luckily the weather ended up being perfect. We went to the Bot.anic Gar.dens and it was so much fun and gorgeous! I can't wait to post some pics as soon as I get them. Then hubby and I headed downtown to this super cute fondue restaurant, and had the best dinner ever! It was so the perfect day!

Yesterday I had one of my best friends wedding showers, which was actually super fun to get to see all my friends on my bday! And then last night was dinner with the family and some more gifts, again most having to do with baby...it was definitely the recurring theme with was just fine with me!

Last week we were actually at my in-laws celebrating my bday and they mentioned this would be the last year Ryan sings happy bday Andrea, and going forward from here it will be happy bday mommy. The thought totally melted my heart, thinking next year at this time little Skooter will be a part of our lives. I feel totally lucky to have such amazing people in my life, and little Skooter in my tummy. And on top of my amazing 30th I woke up today and am now 30 weeks preggo. Now the countdown to AZ begins!!

29 Weeks & Catching Up

First off today i'm 29 weeks, YAY!! I can hardly believe it, it some ways I feel like I've been preggo for so long and in others I can't believe I'm almost to the 10 week countdown! The last few weeks have been busy and hectic...and I think hubby and I are finally past the hump. And right now where I'm sitting there are just so many things to be excited about including:

• House Demo - Getting all the paperwork and permits needed to tear a house down in a huge pain in the ass. But now the house is down and from here on out the progress is in the hands of our builder, and we can just do our daily drive bys to check on progress! These pics are from last week, this week they're getting ready to pour the new foundation!

Hubby in the pit!

• Maternity Shoot - this Saturday hubby and I are doing our maternity shoot in the Botan.ic Gar.dens! To be honest I'm excited for the maternity shoot, but am using it more to get a couple cute pics of hubs and I...and the package for maternity/newborn wasn't that much more so I figured why not? Crossing my fingers for good weather!
• My bday - This Sunday I turn the big 3-0! Coincidentally, I'll be 30 weeks next Monday! Hubby and I are celebrating Saturday night after our shoot. Then Sunday we'll do family stuff and our annual bday celebration pumpkin carving and I'll def. be hitting DQ up for a pum.pkin pie bliz.zard...the best fall treat ever!!
• Babymoon - Halloween weekend hubby and I are heading to Scott.sdale for a long weekend for our babymoon/my 30th bday celebration. I'm am SO excited to lay by the pool for 3 days straight and hit up the spa!
• Baby Showers - I have 3 baby showers in November so its going to be a super fun busy month! Things have starting going on my registry and its so crazy to think that people are buying stuff for little Skooter (who at my 28 week appt last week measured in at 2.5lbs which does not seem so little)!
• Holidays - So in my mind as soon at t-giving hits this year baby Skooter's arrival will be right around the corner. I love love love the holidays, I'm def. the person that puts my tree up the day after t-giving and my car is tuned to xmas music on the radio 24/7! This year I can't even imagine how exciting it will be knowing our first baby will be making his/her appearance right around such an amazing time of year! I get goosebumps just thinking about it! I always said the holidays would be the worst time of year to have a baby, but now I can't think of anything better!