Calmness

These couple of weeks before the baby arrives have been, and will hopefully be, nice and calm. We planned it so that we would have all of our "baby to do's" done a couple of weeks early, both in case he comes early and so that we can relax a little before the sleepless nights begin. My friend, Erin, is due in 6 wks and she said last night that it's like trying to plan for a big event, but you don't know when the date of the event is...that is a great comparison! So, anyway, we're happy to have most of the planning out of the way.

The weather in Raleigh right now is so beautiful. Today it may get up to 70 degrees, the sky is blue, the flowers are blooming and the birds started chirping at 5am (we had the windows open).

I hope that Spring weather has arrived at your house too...

Tyson's Spring Photo Shoot

Maximizing Tyson's camera time before the baby....

Weekly Checkup - 39th Week of Pregnancy

Yesterday afternoon we had our checkup for this week. Baby Schrades continues to grow - my belly measured about 38cm. The doctor (midwife was delivering another baby) felt on my belly and said that we are having an average size baby, but that is just a guess. Besides, who wouldn't guess that Jeff and I are having an average size baby? My b/p was 117/80 and I gained about a pound from week to week. They didn't check my cervix for any progress, but said they probably will next Monday.

Our softball team had our first practice of the season last night. It's my first experience at being just a fan. It was fun because we were able to take Tyson to the field since I'm not playing. He enjoyed being outside, but whined the whole time Jeff was up to bat because he couldn't get to him through the fence. What a baby! We haven't been good at preparing him for a little less attention....

Belly Gallery - 38 Weeks

38 Weeks

36 Weeks

34 Weeks

Baby's First Video - Little Kicks

Baby Schrades is getting so big that when he kicks his little foot makes waves on my belly. Check out his first video. This is my view of my belly after eating pineapple...

The video is about 2 min long, but there is the most movement at :05 seconds and then again at 1:15 - 1:35 seconds. You can drag the arrow to the right to get to the 1:15 mark...


Video Sharing at DropShots.com

Nesting

I have been nesting for the past few weeks. Everyone wants their house clean, but the difference is that I look forward to cleaning it. Last weekend I started in one room of our house and cleaned the baseboards, dusted, vacuumed, etc. before moving to the next room. I figure if I deep clean each room once then it will be easy to maintain it for the next couple of weeks. Don't get jealous that we have a spotless house....we haven't gotten to every room yet.

Don't worry..no harsh chemicals being used...Jeff has it on his list to clean the shower with the hard core cleaners, but I'm just using soap and water.

In addition to the housework, the washing machine has been working overtime lately. There are so many things to wash that you don't think about at first....car seat fabric, swing fabric, bouncy seat fabric, baby bjorn, etc. And each one gets washed separately in fear that they will fade...

Bradley Birth - Last Class (#12)

We're ready! Well, we've finished all of our birthing classes at least. Last night's class was on breastfeeding and we had a lactation consultant come to class. It was very helpful since we didn't know much about it.

Our friends, Mark and Wendy, had their little boy, Charles, on Saturday. We stopped by the hospital for a few minutes before class last night to meet him. They were so happy they were glowing, and Charles was so cute. Holding the little baby in a room similar to what we'll be staying in in a few weeks from now made it seem so real and close.

Mark and Wendy go to the same OB as us and had only great things to say about how they were treated during their labor and delivery. Mark gave Jeff some tips on what to bring to the hospital, first diaper changes, etc.

So no more baby prep classes...now we are just waiting....

Full Term

We are now 37 weeks pregnant, which makes Baby Schrades a full term baby. All this means is that if I went into labor they wouldn't try to stall it. For all of those late guessers in the birthday competition, don't worry, I don't think he's coming anytime soon.

We just had our checkup for this week. We were sitting in the little room waiting on the midwife, when we saw her go running down the hall saying that she had to leave. The nurse came in and told us that she had 3 patients in labor and that we'd need to reschedule. Luckily Jeff asked if she could just spend 2 min listening to the h/b, so she grabbed one of the doctors that usually just does gynecology appointments to listen for us. Anyway, Baby Schrades is measuring on track...nothing new to report. My b/p was 116/60 and I have gained 3lbs since last week, or 31lbs total. I gained 3lbs three weeks ago, lost one two weeks ago, and gained 3 this week...maybe I need new scales.

Tonight is our last Bradley Class...

Mommy Training

I've been getting some good practice at getting up in the middle of the night - both not being able to sleep and Tyson. The not being able to sleep is pretty common and no big surprise. Tyson, however, is acting kind of weird. A couple of nights ago he jumped down from our bed and went to sleep by himself in the nursery. I got up in the middle of the night and brought him back to bed, but when I woke up in the morning he was back in the nursery. Last night I woke up about 3am to little wimpers out in the hallway. I think he just wanted a cookie, so we had a midnight snack together. He is usually a champion sleeper...maybe he was just stressed out because he spent yesterday at the spa. Here are pics of his new hairdo....

Posing for the camera

Helping mom and dad get some work done (IBM is lucky)

Catching some z's...

36.5 Weeks Checkup

We got to meet the other two midwives yesterday - Stephanie and Lucy. We like them both a lot. Tyson is on our birth plan as the "big brother", so the nurses were talking to us about that and showing us pictures of their dogs. One of the nurses told us that Dr. Mulvaney, who is African American, makes fun of them and tells them that only white people keep pictures of dogs on their desk :-)

The baby's h/b was about 150, my belly is measuring normal and my b/p was 117/78.

We also went on the the hospital tour last night. The rooms are nice and it's good to know where everything is now. We're happy, however, that we only have one birth class left and can just chill out for the next few weeks.

Bradley Birth - Class #11

There are nine couples in our Bradley class. As of last night, one couple that is due in 3wks was as the hospital due to high b/p, one couple was having mild contractions every 10 min (during class), and one couple is scheduled for a c-section this Thursday due to a breech baby. Thirty percent of our class going into labor makes us realize how close we are to meeting Baby Schrades.

We had a lady come to class last night and share her birth story with us and show us her birth video. It was interesting to see how she focused inwardly during the labor and almost seemed like a different person than the person we met last night. She was very focused and had a great birth experience.

After that we did a relaxation exercise where we held ice in our hand, or to our wrist for more pain, for 60 seconds. Since a contraction is about 60 seconds long, we practiced ways to reduce the pain that the ice was causing, in hopes that the same strategy will work during a contraction. While I held the ice, Jeff rubbed my shoulders and I breathed in through my nose, deep into my belly, and out through my mouth. The breathing really did work to relax me and take my mind off of the pain caused by the ice. For those that have had babies, I'm sure that a little piece of ice doesn't compare to labor pains, but it seems like a good practice technique.

I really liked one thing that Laura read to us last night: "If you could hold this baby in your arms today for one hour, get to know him, and them put him back inside, there is nothing you wouldn't do for that baby - no job too hard, no pain too intense. If you knew it was for the good of your baby...you could do anything."

Next week is our last class....so I guess we'll be ready!

Belly Gallery - 36 Weeks

36 Weeks

34 Weeks

32 Weeks

**Guess Baby's Birthday Contest: March 9th Post**

Weight Tracker: Down 1lb from last Monday

Guess the Baby's Birthday

In celebration of the beginning of the one month countdown (today is March 9th), let's play a game where you guess the baby's birthday. All you need to do is leave a comment on this site, or if you're a shy blogger, you can send me an email (shannas@hotmail.com).

Guess his birthday and his weight. We'll use the weight as a tie breaker in case anyone guesses the same birthday.

Here are some things that may play into your guess:

• Original due date was April 9th
• 18wk ultrasound showed due date as April 8th
• I was my mom's first baby and was born four days late (April 5th)

The WINNER gets a $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com!

35.5 Weeks Checkup

We had an appointment with the midwives late this afternoon. We continue to be so happy with the new practice. Everyone from the receptionist to the midwives are very friendly. We had to see Jill again today because we rescheduled our appointment to a day when only she was there. She did the standard drill...measured my belly, took my blood pressure (114/78), and listened to the baby's h/b. He was in the same "ready to go" position today (head down, anterior.)

After she did all of that she asked us if we had any questions about how to know when it's ready to call them or go to the hospital. We were both a little caught off guard because it doesn't feel like we're that far along to ask us that, but I guess we are...

We asked her if during labor Jeff and I will be in the room by ourselves, and if it was correct that she and the nurses would only occasionally come in to check on us. She said that that is usually how it works, but then she said to remember that I would have my "Bradley trained coach" there to guide us through the labor. Of course she was referring to Jeff. I appreciated her having so much confidence in him.

We now start going every week! Next week we meet Stephanie.

Bradley Birth - Class #10

Last night's class focused on the first stage of labor, which we've already covered, but we just discussed in more detail last night. It was a lot of review, but we did see the most "intense" video that we've seen yet, which was good because the more we see, the more comfortable we are with it.

We learned a few classes ago that we should have our bags packed for the hospital by the 36th week, which is this week, so we are planning to get that done this weekend. Another thing that we've crossed off of our list is writing down our preferences for the way we would like our birth to go (Birth Plan or Birth Preferences). We have an appointment with the midwives tomorrow, so we'll take it in for them to review and give us feedback on.

More tomorrow....

Last Month

Last Thursday marked the completion of eight months of pregnancy, so we are officially in the last month. Baby Schrades will be here in five weeks from yesterday, assuming he is born on April 9th. We can tell that he is getting bigger. When I wake up in the morning my stomach is really tight, like he is curled up into a little ball and stuffed inside somewhere that doesn't have much room for him...poor little guy. He gets the hiccups at least once a day now. Maybe he did before and wasn't big enough for me to feel them. I was gaining about a pound a week for months four through seven, but I gained two pounds the week before last and three pounds last week! Aside from the yummy root beer float that we had this weekend, I feel like I'm eating less now because of mild heartburn and a compressed stomach. With that said, I doubt that Baby Schrades has gained five pounds on his own in the last two weeks.

This weekend was the first weekend that we haven't had a lot going on. Jeff played golf on Saturday and I went shopping. Yesterday we watched a movie in the morning, hung out outside since the weather was so nice, and then I took a lazy Sunday afternoon nap....the perfect weekend.

We have three more Bradley classes and we'll start going to the doctor every week now.

Nursery Update

We've made a lot of progress on the nursery. The things we have left to do are fun - get art for the walls, bedding for the twin bed, and other accessories. We are still waiting on the crib to come in. Here are a couple of pics...of course you'll see more when we're finished.

Bookcase, glider and rocking horse

Changing table and empty spot where crib will go

Big brother checking out the GT mobile

Belly Gallery - 34 Weeks

Big Brother at 34wks

34wk belly

32wk belly

30wk belly

28wk belly