Well hello due date! 40 weeks

If you would have told me I would still be posting a belly shot at 4o weeks, I would have told you that you were crazy! Only because the entire pregnancy I thought for sure she was going to come early. I guess she has other plans though! I don't think she wants to be an October baby. Or maybe she's just holding out for Halloween? Either way.. I am beyond ready and over being pregnant! I think she's still content in there as I haven't really had any signs that she's ready to come on her own. At least we know she will be here in 4 days if she isn't out on her own!

Here's 2 belly shots from today. I feel like I'm stretched to the max at this point!

Nothing too new to report this week! Just keeping our fingers crossed she comes very soon. (Preferably on Tuesday - 11/1/11 would be quite the cool birthday!). I'll be back to post updates! At least by the end of the week. :)

39w appt. update!

Eh, still 2cm and 50% effaced. I thought for sure some progress was made since I've been having contractions here and there. Guess she's just pretty snug in there!

My doctor did mention she won't let me go past 40w4d so I'm scheduled for an induction next Thursday (11/3) so if she isn't here by then then she will be here one way or another!

Come on Lucy... please don't make me have to be pregnant for 9 more days! There's a lot of people anxious to meet you!

39 weeks! Lots of new updates...

39 weeks today! I have lots of new updates to fill you in on since I posted last week. When I went and saw my doc for my 38 week check-up, I was 2cm and 50% effaced. Pretty good for 38 weeks but something I could definitely still walk around at for awhile if the baby just wasn't ready. At least I know my body was progressing and doing something though! So Mark was with me and started to explain to her his fears that Lucy will decide to come the ONE day that she absolutely can't (this Thursday, the 27th) due to his *big* test. She sympathized with him because she said her ex-husband actually sat for his professional engineering license when she was pregnant with her daughter so she totally understood. She told me she would accommodate us and would go ahead and induce on Friday (10/21). At first I was thinking "heck yea!" but then instantly started worrying and something just didn't feel right about it, especially with me still only being 39 weeks. But then I figured I obviously know my doctor wouldn't put us in a horrible situation if she didn't feel like she, or me, was ready and in all honesty, it would be perfect timing with Mark's test and all.

So fast forward to this past Friday... we get up bright and early, dog is at the kennel, bags are completely packed and we head to the hospital at 7am. They finally started me on Pitocin at 8:30 and after 5 hours of Pitocin and upping it every 30 min. and with normal 2-3 min. apart contractions, I was STILL at 2cm and 50% effaced. Talk about a stubborn baby! My doctor was willing to break my water for me but I had to make that decision whether I wanted her to or not because if she went ahead and broke my water then I was there to stay and definitely having this baby that day one way or another. The selfish part of me was telling myself to just go ahead and break my water and let's have her but my head and gut were telling me to leave and give it some time. If she isn't ready, she just isn't ready! I was so scared that if she broke my water that I still wouldn't progress past 2cm and would have to end up with a c-section. As much as I don't want a c-section, I've come to terms that if I go into labor on my own and something happens were it's necessary or demanded, then so be it, but if I end up with a c-section because of me being anxious and trying to force this baby out, I would always kick myself.

Anyway, so we ended up leaving the hospital around 2pm. My doctor suggested I could come back on Sunday (today) and get some gel that will help "ripen me up" and then we could try again for an induction on Monday morning. Mark and I thought long and hard about it and decided to still go in on Sunday and talk to my doctor about it. So after a long talk with my doctor this morning, we decided to pass on the gel and the induction. As much as we are both ready for her, we want her to come when she's ready and let nature take it's course. I just feel like it would be bad karma if I forced it and something happened. I would always blame myself! So basically my baby girl is just not ready to meet everyone yet.. which is fine! I'll let her pick her own birthday and let her decide when she is ready. :) (Side note: This morning I was STILL 2cm, 50% effaced!)

So basically that's everything going on with us. Her due date is exactly one week from today so it's getting closer. We're hoping something will happen soon (well at any time except Thursday!) because we sure are ready. This week will just include lots of long walks! I'm having little contractions here and there but mainly I'm just getting the pelvic pain and the tailbone pain (this is a new one but supposedly a sign of early labor).

So that's it! We're just anxiously waiting for something to happen and killing time in the meantime. Sorry I don't have a pic this week. My camera is still packed up in the car from the hospital and I'm way too lazy to get it and post pics, haha. If anything does happen before next Sunday I will definitely get my last belly shot before having her! Well if anything else changes in the meantime I'll be back. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!!

38 weeks... come on Lucy!

I'm officially 38 weeks. Come on Lucy.. you can ANY time now!! Mommy & daddy are all ready for you! So now it's just a waiting game! We are really hoping for an October baby so we're ready to take her any day now. :)

Here's a belly shot from today. (Sidenote: I swear, I don't live in sweats and pj's. I just so happen to always take my weekly pics when I first wake up on the weekends!)

Overall I'm feeling ok. I wouldn't say "good" since I'm more uncomfortable than anything. I'm definitely feeling quite a bit of pelvic pressure still and I get contractions quite a bit as well. I would be quite surprised if there wasn't any progress from last week.

Mark and I had our last dinner date as a family of 2 last night. (Ok, 3.. sorry Silas!) We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and had such a nice night. It's been quite some time since we've had a date like that. Mark's schedule has been awfully crazy lately with work, going to the library every night to study, spending the weekends getting last-minute projects tied up, etc. that it's so hard to ever spend quality time together. Our world's about to change so I thought it was important to have one last date before our baby girl arrives. :) Not to mention, I was craving some pumpkin cheesecake!

Yesterday afternoon I did a fall photo shoot for our good friend's baby, Brody. Lainie wanted to get a few good one's of him before his baby sister is due to arrive in just a couple of weeks! Here are a few of my favorite one's from the shoot. Isn't he just the handsomest?!

Doing this shoot made me realize how much I love taking pictures! I cannot wait to practice even more on Lucy. That girl is going to have a LOT of photo shoots in her near future!

So today, October 16th, is a very important date for our family as it was Mark's grandma Eunice's birthday. We miss her everyday that she isn't with us but we both know she is always looking down at us and has a lot to do with our wonderful blessings. She will always be our guardian angel and I know she will always look after Lucy for us too! We are going to dinner tonight with the family in her honor at one of her favorite restaurants, Carraba's. Mark and I were absolutely hoping Lucy would grace us with her presence on this special day but in reality I think Grandma deserves to have her own special day every year!

Us with Grandma on our wedding day

Ok so I've been on this computer for far too long this morning so I'm going to actually go and be productive for the rest of the day. I'll be back Tuesday with a doc appt. check-up status! Have a great rest of the weekend!

 

37 week check-up update

Eh, so not too much progress from last week! I totally was expecting that since I haven't felt any different since last week at all. I'm still 1 cm dilated and 30% effaced. (Which I was 0% last week so glad there was some kind of progress from last week!) Lucy is still head down, very low, and a good position. I just think she's content and snug in there for the time being. :)

My doctor mentioned she was going out of town this weekend to visit her daughter. It would be my luck I have her this weekend since she'll be out of town. My sister-in-law (who had the same doctor) had my niece at 38 weeks and just so happened to have her on a weekend our doc went to visit her daughter. How weird would that be if it happened to me too!?

Anyway, everything is good. I'll be back if anything changes!

Full term! 37 weeks

I'm officially considered full term now.. and it feels good. :) It's so weird to think that my baby girl will be here in just a matter of a few weeks. Or days! Who knows at this point. I never thought October would get here and now that it has I'm finding myself looking back wondering where the past 9 months have gone!? Funny how that happens!

I'm still hanging in there and feeling pretty good for the most part. I'm definitely getting more and more uncomfortable. Mark and I have been out running errands all day and I found it so much harder to keep up. I don't know what it is but my feet just ache! I feel like I've been wearing 5in. stilleto's for hours. (Which is clearly not the case, haha) I'm so glad everything is done and now I can just sit and relax with my feet up for the rest of the night. I'm awfully tired lately too! I can fall asleep anywhere at anytime. Guess I better get used to it, huh? Here's my 37 week belly shot...

Last night my girlfriends (and their boyfriends) as well as my twin brother, David, and his girlfriend, Marina, went to Coconut Joe's for a belated birthday dinner. I love getting my girlfriends all together. Wasn't too crazy about the food but I really liked the restaurant/bar itself. I can't wait to go back with my girlfriends when I'm able to have a little more fun. :) Here's some pics:

Vicky, Lisa, Me, Heather, Marina, & Jen

Soon-to-be mommy & daddy :)

Heather, me, & Vicky (I love these girls!)

Soon-to-be Aunt Jen & Uncle Brian!

Vicky & John

Me & Lisa <3

Lisa & Josh

Heather & Joey

I'm so glad we decided to all get together for dinner since I know it'll be my last night out for quite some time! Well, that's all the new updates I have for the time being but I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday so I'll be back with an appointment update then! Hope everyone has a good week. :)

36 week check-up

So I went to the doctor today to get checked and the verdict is... I'm 1cm dilated! I know that's not much but I am glad there is at least some progress going on. I woke up this morning feeling so much pelvic pressure. I'm definitely waddling these days. I've had quite a bit of contractions too that are pretty painful to say the least. I literally feel like she's going to just fall out since she is sitting so low. My doctor said she has definitely dropped and is sitting so low now. Her head is against my cervix so looks like my Lucy girl is getting ready for her grand appearance!

I definitely want her to stay put at least another 2 weeks but the thought of having to deal with this pelvic pain until then is not my idea of fun!

I'll be back to make another update if anything changes. :)

36 weeks... 9 months!

It's official... I'm 9 months pregnant! I can finally say I am due this month. I felt like October would never come. Now I just hope it flies by!

Here's a belly shot from this morning. I don't think I've dropped at all. She still seems to be sitting up pretty high to me.

Friday around 1pm I started to get these really bad cramps, what felt like menstrual cramps. They wouldn't loosen up at all and I was so miserable. Around 4:30pm I called my doctor and talked to a doctor on call who basically just said I could come to L&D and get checked. I decided I would just wait it out. I came home and took Tums and drank a lot of water and laid on the couch for awhile. Nothing was stopping these cramps. So finally a little after 8 I decided I would take a walk around the block and if they were still there when I got back I would go into L&D to get checked. Thankfully after a walk around the block and drinking a ton of water, I was finally able to get some relief and felt sooo much better. I fell asleep right away after that and have been fine ever since. Now I'm just thinking I was dehydrated! As excited as I am to meet her, that really scared me beacuase I want her to continue baking for at least another 2 weeks so she's healthy and strong!

I have a doctor's appointment this week where I'll start to go in every week. This week she will check to see if I'm dilated and if there's any progress going on down there and she also mentioned some blood work. It's all getting so exciting!

As I mentioned in the post below, yesterday (10/1) was my birthday! 27, yikes. I am not one to care too much about getting older but I think this is a good age to stop having birthdays. :) I had a good day. Mark and I went out to breakfast and then came home and cleaned the whole house. I cooked/baked and then took a shower and went shopping with my mom and got some goodies for my birthday. I stopped by my Gram's afterwards and then came home and relaxed with my dog. It was definitely a very chill birthday but that's exactly what I wanted! Next Saturday night my girlfriends and I are all going out to dinner for a belated birthday dinner which I'm looking forward to!

Speaking of my baby.. when I first started this blog I thought I would talk about my dog way more than I ended up doing. Afterall, he is one of my all-time favorite things to talk about. So I decided I'll do a little update on him. He's defintiely starting to sense something is going on. He loves going into Lucy's room though and smelling around. As much as he wants to tear up her toys and rip open her stuffed animals, all I have to say is "No, that's Lucy's" and he'll just give me that "Aww, come on, Mom!" look and knows he isn't allowed to touch anything. He's been getting a lot of extra attention from mommy & daddy (as usual) since we know we won't be able to give him all the attention he gets now in a few weeks. Friday night was "Boog night" (If you don't already know by now, Boog is Silas's nickname that we call him probably 90% of the time. The other 10% that we use his real name is when he's at the vet, we're talking about him, or he's in trouble) so since I wasn't feeling good with those darn cramps, Mark ended up taking him to the dog park and he had a lot of fun! He also got to go to the dog store and get new food, treats, and a toy. Thanks to my wonderful husband, he got him a bouncy football that I've had to hide a few times b/c he's been going a little crazy with it. Everyone always says once you have a kid your dog will move down the totum pole and although I know it's probably going to be true, I really hope not. No one understands how much I love my dog. :)

Here's a pic of him from today, just being his cute self...

I meant to post this picture a couple of weeks ago (below) because it totally melts my heart. Sorry the quality is bad (I took with my cell phone and it was pretty dark in the room) but this was a Sunday morning at 10am (yes, 10am! Even my dog likes to sleep in on the weekends. To their defense, we didn't get home until really late from a wedding the night before!). Now if this isn't family bonding, I don't know what is :)

Well I'm going to start icing my banana cake that's cooling now. We're off to Jeff & Staci's in a little bit for a birthday celebration. I'll be back after my doctor's appointment this week to update you all. :) Cya then!