Pregnancy: Week 35

Time continues to fly by--we are now within a month of baby girl's due date!  Hard to believe.  This week she is the size of a large honeydew melon, weighing about 5 1/4 pounds and measuring over 18 inches long.  According to my emails, her kidneys are now fully developed and her liver is able to process some waste.  Her physical development is almost finished so she is focused on gaining weight, and doing well, although her lungs will still benefit from more time getting ready for the outside world.

I continue to feel good and while a few people at work said the baby is starting to drop, I am still feeling pretty comfortable and can't see a huge difference between this week and last.  We went to the doctor this Monday and will continue to go weekly from here to the end.  She said I continue to measure on target and everything continues to be smooth.  I am still working out although I have taken a few days off this week due to being tired.  My back pain from last week is mostly gone so I am still feeling well and happy that this pregnancy has been so easy.  It was a little cooler today so I got to break out this $5 thrift store maternity dress that I bought over the summer thinking that it will be nice for the fall and end of my pregnancy, not realizing that it wouldn't be cold enough to wear until the last 5 weeks. 

My friend at work who is two weeks ahead of me is now full term, so her little girl could come anytime technically...it's exciting and hard to believe.  There are now six total people pregnant in our office so there will be lots of new mamas to compare stories with in the next few months!  We are continuing to work on the nursery and last minute preparations and looking forward to meeting baby girl soon!

Who will baby girl look like?

In addition to doing practical things to get ready for our little one's arrival, we also amuse ourselves by looking at old baby pictures of ourselves when we were little and trying to think about what our little girl might look like.  In case you're interested, here are some of our favorites (these all originated as prints from 30+ years ago so the picture quality isn't perfect):

A very little baby Cathleen:

 A very little baby JP:

Slightly older baby Cathleen (yes, chewing on a carrot and wearing a headband--this is JP's favorite):

A slightly older baby JP:

A crawling baby Cathleen (with my dad in the background..that might be his same haircut :)):

Both of us on our respective first birthdays--look at the difference in how much hair we have!:

 A cute toddler JP, hard at work in the yard:

So I am convinced that she will be a cute baby no matter what, but it is fun to wonder about how much hair she will have and who she will end up looking like as she gets older...

Pregnancy: Week 34

This is technically a day late, as today is the beginning of week 35, and thus marks the 35 weeks down, 35 days to go landmark of pregnancy tracking.  We took the belly pic on Wednesday but I haven't gotten around to putting it up until today.

This week the baby grew to be the size of a canteloupe, about 4.75 lbs and 18 inches long.  She is obviously continuing to put on weight and her lungs and central nervous system are maturing as well.  She continues to be quite active and is getting ready for life on the outside.

I continue to feel good overall.  I am still trying to get a lot of rest and made it to the gym three times this week.  I broke down and bought one more maternity shirt at the thrift store ($6; pictured) as some of my non-maternity shirts are getting too short to cover the maternity panel in my pants.  The minor back aches that began last week have continued on and off and seem to show up if I sit in one place for too long, so I am trying to be aware of that. I have gotten used to it and it is pretty manageable so it hasn't really slowed me down.  I am starting to wrap some things up at work, which is making the maternity leave seem a little more real.

We are also spending a little time trying to get ready for baby's arrival on the assumption that the more ready we are, the more likely she is to stay put until around her due date.  This has meant continuing to work on the nursery decorations and setting up the pack and play in our room:

Baby girl will be sleeping in this bassinet set up for the first few months, although I am not sure this is going to be where the bassinet will live permanently, it is up and out of the way for now.  It is a daily visual reminder for us of--oh, look, a baby will be sleeping here soon!  Very exciting!

Pregnancy: Week 33

Week 33--all of a sudden the number of weeks left is getting remarkably small!  This week our baby girl hit the 4 pound mark and is more than 17 inches long, or the size of a pineapple.  That is quite a change from the little fruits we started out with!  This week baby girl is working on hardening her bones and putting on weight. 

I am continuing to feel pretty good although I am starting to have a little bit of lower back pain, which I am blaming on spending over 3 hours in the car doing visits on Tuesday.  I am hoping it will go away but it is pretty tolerable for now so it is nothing to worry about.  I am still working out and sleeping okay. 

We went to the doctor on Monday and everything looks good.  I am measuring on target and the baby's heartbeat sounds nice and strong.  The doctor said the baby feels like she weighs around 4 or 4 1/2 lbs so everything seems smooth.  After a week off next week we will go to weekly appointments...fun!

We plan to work on decorating the nursery this weekend and also got our last big purchase we needed to be ready for baby girl's arrival:

We were able to get our car seat off the registry using some gift cards from the showers and a discount coupon.  Next we will figure out how to actually install it in the car and have it inspected but it feels good to know that we have everything big that we need taken care of.  We are getting more and more excited to meet baby girl but hope she stays put long enough to get big and healthy (and to let me finish up my work)!

Pregnancy: Week 32

The weeks keep flying by!  I continue to feel good and our little peanut is now the size of a jicama!  This means that she is about 3.75 pounds and over 16 1/2 inches long.  She is gaining about half a pound a week and continues to plump up. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair, although my money is still on a bald baby.

Here I am yesterday morning--the high was only 64 so I was able to break out my one non-short sleeved maternity shirt.  It was a nice change but I am glad that it is going to be 74 today and back up into the high 80s by early next week..."fall" in tucson makes it easier on the maternity wardrobe!  I continue to feel good and get comments on how I don't look as far along as I am, I think because of my height, but I am thankful that I am still feeling comfortable.  I was able to get a few workouts in this week in the midst of everything else and I am still resting and working on my little projects for the nursery in the meantime.

We are getting excited to meet this little one but still want her to stay put for a while so we can finish getting ready for her arrival!

House tour

 It has been a while since I promised pics of the house once we put things on the walls, which was probably over a month ago...so better late than never, here is an updated tour of the house post-decoration.

The living room from the front door:

 Another angle:

The dining room:

The wall across from the dining room table:

 Kitchen from near the table:

 Guest room (from close to the front door):

 Guest room from the doorway:

 Master bedroom:

 The dresser with things on it..we will eventually put more things on these walls but haven't figured out what yet:

The nursery has made progress from this (right after moving in):

To this:

To this:

And after the shower it looks even better...more pictures to come as it gets closer to finished status...

Pregnancy: Week 31

Oops!  Another slightly belated post...but I have a good excuse this time!  We had a busy week last week (the official week 31, we are now several days into week 32) and spent Friday night getting ready to head to Phoenix for a birthday weekend with my Mom and Uncle that also featured a baby shower for me!  It was a really fun weekend but left us with less time around the house to do little things like blog updates...

Anyway, week 31 was another smooth week that saw me and the baby add about a pound total.  According to my weekly emails, baby girl topped 16 inches in height this week (although I think she is probably taller) and weighs 3.3 pounds.   The email helpfully tells me this is "about the size of 4 navel oranges", which I guess is not that hard to visualize...She is heading into a growth spurt and can now turn her head from side to side.

I am still feeling good and getting my workouts in.  We went to the doctor earlier in the week.  Everything still looks good, I am on target with my weight gain, measuring accurately for my due date, and the baby's heart rate is good.  I don't have gestational diabetes or anemia so my pregnancy continues to be boring on the medical front, which is exactly what you hope for! 

My baby shower on Saturday was full of love and laughter and I had a really good time.  Everyone was thoughtful and generous and we now have a great mix of practical, cute, and fun things for our peanut that make the whole thing feel a lot more real. It was exciting to come home and sort through everything and feel like we now have something to put in the dresser drawers and on the bookshelf.  Pictures to come...