OB Appointment Update

OB Appointment Update
Here's the news from my OB appointment today:

• Measuring exactly 38 weeks (at 38w1d).
  
• Calla's Heart Beat = 159
  
• Head is in my pelvis at Station 0
  
• 3 centimeters dilated!
  
• 75% effaced
  
• Mucous Plug is pretty much gone (I've been losing it gradually for a few weeks now).
  
• Doctor believes the baby is right at seven pounds now.
  

The doctor expects me to go into labor any day this week. She said Calla just has to make up her mind which day she'd like to have for a birthday.

Just like last week, I still feel great! I really feel lucky to have no complaints this late in the game. I feel really calm and patient for Calla to arrive when she's ready. It's hard to believe that it's now simply a matter of days (or weeks) until she's in my arms. Wow!

Oh yeah! I almost forgot to mention that Calla really doesn't like the doppler (used to hear and measure her heartbeat). Every time the nurse uses the doppler on me, Calla will run away from it. Today she signaled her displeasure by running away AND then just throwing a tantrum inside my tummy. Attitude!!! Everyone in the room (nurse, new nurse being trained, Bill, and me) were all in awe of how my tummy was twitching and jumping. It's like Calla wanted to get that nurse for bothering her!

Belly Cast(s)

We used dental alginate, reinforced with plaster bandages, to make the belly casts. Here I am at 34 weeks covered in minty fresh (and COLD) dental alginate.

Here you can see the dental alginate, with cotton applied. The cotton will help the plaster bandages to stick to the alginate.

There are some more photos here of the making of the 34 weeks belly cast.

Finished Product: 34 Weeks Belly Cast

There were a few imperfections (possibly due to the burlap having been chemically treated), so we decided to do another.

Here's the 38 Weeks Belly Cast (MUCH bigger!)

38 Weeks Today

I'm 38 weeks pregnant today! I'm still feeling great - no complaints. There's not a lot going on around here. I ordered the Babyhawk (baby carrier) with my birthday money. I got a reversible one (one side has dragonflies, the other has skulls), so Bill won't look like a sissy when he wears it. I'm also looking into having some maternity portraits made, but it's a bit last minute so it might not happen. If I don't have portraits made, the belly casts Bill has made will preserve the memory of my pregnant tummy. We did another one last night. It's amazing how much my belly has grown in the month since he made the last one. I'll post some photos soon.

Also I will post a snapshot of my enormous belly at 38 weeks soon, too. We've not taken any belly pics in a while now, which is kind of sad because the belly has reached impressive proportions now.

Today's main plan is to get the hospital bag completely packed. All the essentials are already in there, but everything on the (quite long) list hasn't made its way into the bag just yet.

Here's a 38 week pregnant belly:


More photos.

Personalized Gifts from Grammy & Popples

Aww... how cute are these? I had been wanting something for Calla with her name on it. Grammy and Popples must have read my mind! These were part of my "unbirthday" present tonight (Bill's parents took us out to dinner for my birthday tonight, since we'll probably be a bit busy around October 12).



I'm thinking of getting a Babyhawk with my birthday money....

OB Appointment Update

Here's the news from my OB appointment today:

• Measuring exactly 37 weeks (at 37w1d).
  
• Calla's Heart Beat = 150
  
• Head is in my pelvis at Station 0
  
• 2 centimeters dilated
  
• 75% effaced
  
• Doctor believes the baby is over six pounds now, but not more than seven. Good baby!
  

So Calla and I are progressing exactly as the doctor had hoped. Based on this progress, she expects me to have the baby in about a week! Of course, you never can know for sure! At any rate, it's cool that I already am making some progress because it means it's that much less "work" I'll have to do during labor. :D

I still feel great! I'm trying to stay rested so I'll be ready when the time comes. I'm not very nervous about having the baby, which is kind of surprising, but it's the truth. I think the harder part will be taking care of the baby, really! We'll do our best, though!

More Loot for Calla from Teetee Heather!

Gosh we have such generous and thoughtful friends and relatives. Teetee Heather surprised us today with even more gifts for Calla!

The pic is a bit dark, sorry, but there's a lot of cool stuff from our Babies R Us and Amazon registries! There's an adorable frog hamper, the super-cute Mortimer the Moose toy, a piddle pad to protect the baby carrier, a copy of Stellaluna, a rubber ducky that indicates if the bath water temp is too warm, and the Twilight Turtle! I love love love the Twilight Turtle. It projects stars onto the ceiling. Aww!

I hope Calla gets a chance to thank her Teetee in person soon!

37 Weeks Today!

Just wanted to note that I am now 37 weeks pregnant. The baby is term - mature and ready for the world. It's one of the best milestones to reach during pregnancy. If she were born today, it wouldn't be too early anymore, medically speaking. It wouldn't be too early around here, either. The house is baby-ready! Poppa Bee assembled the playpen and the bassinet yesterday. We also packed up our hospital bags (well they're mostly packed, anyway).




I'm still feeling really great. Thank goodness. I am slowing down my physical activity level a bit, just to avoid not being rested when I do go into labor. Luckily, I had the energy and time to take care of errands, deep-cleaning around the house, and various projects in the last few weeks, so I don't have to worry about getting that stuff done anymore. Now I'm going to focus on less physically demanding tasks to keep me busy until I have a newborn to keep me busy!

Even More Stuff for Calla

Last night I enjoyed a Girl's Night with some girlfriends. Two of whom surprised me with even more stuff for Calla! Coolgram wants to see pictures, so here we go:

From Cheryl: Bees and Kitties! An adorable kitty, matching kitty hat, and socks. Also BEE stickers and a sweet little burp cloth.


From Carla: An adorable Honey Bee outfit.


Detail:

Two Weeks?!?!

Just returned from my OB appointment to report the following:

• Measuring 36 weeks exactly (at 36w1d)
  
• Blood pressure is "great"
  
• Baby is head down and "engaged"
  
• Baby fits my pelvis "perfectly" (of course she does, I custom-made her!)
  
• Baby is facing to the right
  
• Baby heart rate is 144 (good)
  
• Gained two pounds in two weeks according to their scales (my scales say three pounds, but who am I to argue?)
  
• Everything is "looking great for a natural birth"
  
• 1.5 centimeters dilated!
  
• 50% effaced!
  

And (are you sitting down?), my OB strongly feels that I'll probably have the baby in about two weeks!
So, I might get my little birthday present a bit early. Fine with me, she can come whenever she likes as long as she's healthy.

After the appointment today, you better believe Poppa Bee and I are going to get those bags packed for the hospital.

Wow. I'm so excited. Two weeks seems so much closer than four.

Awesome Swing from Aunt Susie & Uncle Cayce

Yesterday, Calla got a pretty swing from Aunt Susie and Uncle Cayce. I was so excited about it, that I started putting it together myself. We had company come over before I finished, so Bill finished it up later in the evening. Anyway, it's gorgeous and I love it!



I love the little owls on the mobile. How cool is that! Also, I love that it matches my living room furniture, so it doesn't make my living room look like a day care center. OKAY! I know my living room is going to look like a day care center for the next several years, but still!!! This is a lovely swing, it has great features, and was well-reviewed. I'm so happy to have it for Calla. I'm sure she will adore it.

Crazy Weird Dream

I had a strange, David Lynchish, pregnancy-related dream this morning. Naturally I can't remember all the details, but I do remember Bill and I following a nice bartender from Rio Loco across a bridge, over and over - like we couldn't get to the other side. We finally got on a train about half way across the bridge. There was an extremely obese blonde woman sitting near us and she asked if we had seen her daughter.

We were then in an apartment where we lived about eleven years ago (in Chattanooga), and someone knocked on the door. I looked out the peephole and saw that it was the woman from the train, but she was hiding her face. She was asking, "Have you seen my daughter?" and knocking on the door endlessly. Then she looked directly at me and her eyes were glowing as though I were seeing her through a night-vision camera. It was pretty dang creepy. But it got even stranger because she started to vomit, and an ENORMOUS perfectly round watermelon (roughly the same size as my "birth ball") somehow came out of her mouth.

Then I realized she was me.

Not exactly subtle, was it?

Calla's Room - All Done!

Poppa Bee was a busy worker bee today, and now Calla's room is ready for her.

• He etched the mirror and put it into the frame I stripped, sanded, and repainted.
  
• He hung the green origami crane mobile I made.
  
  
• He hung the floating shelves over the toy box. I just need to get a few more storage bins to put on the shelves.
  
  
• He let me put dot decals on the door (a good compromise, because I wanted to put them on the walls too).
  
  
  

Here are more nursery pics!

Aside from all of that, he also installed the other car seat base and made some really cool floating shelves we'll put in one of the bathrooms. Made a great dinner, too. And put up with me!

Officially Prepared?

Bill and I graduated from our Prepared Childbirth class tonight! I guess that means we're officially prepared to have the baby! We even have a certificate.

We really learned a lot from the classes, and feel a lot more prepared now truthfully.

Coolgram Strikes Again!

In keeping with her never ending quest to spoil Calla rotten before she's even born, my mom has ordered Calla a "play yard" (we called them playpens back in the day) from my BRU registry. It's gorgeous:

Car Seat Check & Baby Shopping Spree

In just a few short weeks, Calla will be full-term, and in just over a month she will be due! You better believe we're feeling anxious to get some more baby prep under our belts.

Today, we took advantage of the free car seat inspection/installation at Babies R Us. Now Poppa Bee is driving around with a car seat base in his car! After getting the car seat installed, we took also advantage of the huge sale going on at Babies R Us and bought a ton of baby stuff. I believe we finally have all the essential baby items for the first few months after Calla is born.

Today's Shopping List

• Co-Sleeper
  
• Glider and Ottoman (due to arrive in 7-14 days)
  
• Baby Monitor
  
• Infant Tub
  
• Baby First Aid & Grooming Kit
  
• 2 Diaper Bags (one for dad, and one for mom)
  
• Misc. Medicines and Hygiene Products
  

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few items, but as you can see we bought a ton of stuff today. The nice part is that, thanks to the sale and some coupons, we spent about twenty percent less than I had budgeted. Bill told the cashier, "Wow, we can still eat today!" :)

Crib Bedding from Co-workers

On the Friday before Labor Day (my last day at work), my co-workers surprised me and Bill with a little baby shower. It was so sweet. There was a gorgeous cake (and ice cream) that was delicious. They all pitched in for my gift, the crib bedding from my Land of Nod registry. I think it makes quite a difference in the nursery.

Bill and I were quite impressed with the thoughtfulness and generosity that went into the baby shower. All of this in the middle of one of the busiest times of the year at my work (and here I am abandoning them!).


More photos of the crib bedding.

Quilt from Granny & Aunt Lolamae

Another package came to the house addressed to Miss Calla Sophia this week! Inside was a gorgeous handmade baby quilt from Granny and my great-aunt Lolamae. Bill is showing it off in the photo below. The pattern is called tumbling blocks. We love it, and I know Calla will, too.


See more pics of the quilt here!

OB Appt (9/2)

You'd think now that I'm off work I'd have plenty of time to blog about my pregnancy. Wrong! I've been very busy, so these updates come a bit late. Sorry about that! In the last two weeks I've had appointments with my doula and my new OB. Both of the appointments went really well!

Some details from my OB appointment:

• Birth Plan was approved and signed by my doctor. Thanks to Stacy and my doula for helping me get a really good list of preferences together!
  
• I measured 33 and a half weeks (I was 34 weeks 1 day). Those of you who keep saying that the baby is so big, and/or ask if I'm sure it's not twins, please take note.
  
• Baby Heart Rate: 147.
  
• The new OB had a lot of good things to say about my doula and the pediatrician I'm considering.
  

Now we're doing appointments every two weeks, so I'll be going back soon!