"FULL TERM" sounds so exciting right now...

Okay, so maybe I'm not the most patient person in the world. Reading that 37 weeks was officially considered full-term brought a whole new excitement to the stage I am in. Afterall, everything after yesterday is gravy. She could show up NOW and she'd be FULL TERM. Wow. Of course, NOW might not be ideal since my Maternity photo shoot is Saturday and I think they like it if you're pregnant for those. And then there's the husband's big 30th birthday bash that I've been planning since I was 17. Guess her early arrival wouldn't exactly be idea for that, either. But regardless, we could not possibly be more prepared to bring our little girl home than we are right now.

Speaking of Shawn's 30th birthday... I have spent the last year preparing a "30 years of Shawn" scrapbook. I spent the 5 years before this one being excited about doing it. Unfortunately the second that last page protector was on I was bursting at the seams and could no longer wait to give it to him. I gave it to him almost 2 weeks ago - I couldn't even hold off until Christmas. He liked it as much as a boy can like a scrapbook (afterall, it was all about him). ;) I'll post some pictures from it shortly.

I am so excited about this year's plans for New Years. Us and Jamie & Jenn are going out to the restaurant with my new favorite dessert (okay, well technically I guess we're going for dinner but I'M going for dessert) and then we are heading in for a quiet movie night. I am so ecstatic that I don't have to travel. I am MISERABLE in the car right now. I had just over an hour ride on Christmas eve and then again on Christmas day and I thought it would kill me. Between being big and uncomfortable, having to pee every 6 minutes and feeling totally claustrophobic in a car (this is a pregnancy thing) - I am not one happy camper in the car. I'm also very excited that we don't need to figure out what to do with the pup. Everyone thinks that it's such a pain in the butt that we always have to think of the dog before we make plans but IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT. I absolutely love him to pieces.

I'm so excited that I got a photo printer for Christmas. My sister and brother in law got it for me along with a package of 160 refills!!! They TOTALLY spoil me rotten. (Not to mention they completely spoiled Rylee by buying her a TON of adorable gifts!!) I have to be patient long enough to get an adapter to use it with my Easyshare camera. Now that I have this little gem - i already can't live without it. I've already thought of all of the fun things (and conveniences) with having this at home. I will be able to take pictures of our friends and family as they visit Rylee for the first time and send them home with pictures that day. Sometimes technology is AMAZING. I cannot wait to use it! :)

I'll make sure that if I go into labor early, I have someone post all the details. My maternity leave is short anyway (3-4 weeks) so I'll be back before you know it. I'll also make sure a link gets posted for my professional maternity photos once they are ready. :) Hope you all have a great New Year!!

All is well in the womb...

Thank you everyone (Tonya, Kate, Heidi, moms, Darcy, Jason, Jamie & Jenn) who called, emailed, or begged us to call as soon as we got out of our ultrasound. It really is so wonderful to have so many people who genuinely care about the well-being of our baby. :)

We got to the ultrasound and both of us were really nervous. It hadn't even occured to us to bring a videotape this time but luckily we were able to buy one there. The u/s tech prepped us for possible scenarios as she prepared to goop up my belly. She told us how sometimes the placenta just can't keep up enough to deliver nutrients to the baby and therefore the baby is malnourished and needs to come out early. Very early on she asked if we knew the sex. We told her that the two ultrasounds we had around 20 weeks had shown that it was probably a girl. She confirmed that in about 20 seconds which made us VERY happy. She told us that the placenta, amniotic fluid, heartbeat all looked fine and then did the calculations to determine her exact size. As of yesterday, our little peanut weighed 5 pounds, 13 ounces. She said that Rylee is still very low (she is going to have ONE HUGE CONE HEAD) and that she is just running a little on the small side. She is in the 29% percentile for growth - normal is 50%. She said there was no cause for concern unless she was in the 10th. GOOD NEWS FOR US!! She told us to expect Rylee to grow another 1/2 pound a week until she is born - which means we will be looking at a 7 1/2 pound baby at the least! We got to see one of her tiny hands all curled up - so cute. She had her hand to her mouth which she kept moving. To see her make pouting and "smiling" faces made me cry. It was so surreal to see her at this point. Overall it looks like it will be several more weeks before this chicklet makes her appearance. I haven't had a single contraction, my cervix is closed up tight and it appears she isn't quite "done". We just can't wait...
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

HOLY COW ~ I'M 9 MONTHS PREGNANT!!!

(I have completely given up on my husband learning how to take a clear picture. He refuses to TRY so I'm planning to teach Manny to use the camera so that I can occassionally get a picture of Rylee that I don't have to take).

Today is the big day. I am officially 36 weeks pregnant. The time when it really throws off people who don't know that pregnancy is technically 10 months, not 9. It seems like such a milestone - one I thought I'd never achieve!

Today I started my once-a-week appointments. This was also apparently the one where they start preparing you for the horror and invasiveness of labor & delivery. "You're going to put that WHERE? But... the baby doesn't come out of THERE... so... umm... what's the deal with that??" Have I mentioned that I hate my husband when I'm 36 weeks pregnant? After the whole putting the dirty orange juice glass in with the clean dishes in the dishwasher incident this morning, he has the audacity to say to me after she finishes putting that up there - "How'd that feel?". GRRRRRRRRRR. He's lucky I didn't give him a taste of EXACTLY how it felt... with my foot.



There was good news and bad news at this morning's appointment. The good news is I won't go into labor worrying that Rylee might come out a Xander (I will know for sure one way or the other on Friday). The bad news is that the reason for the ultrasound is that it has been a month now since they have shown any growth in my little peanut and they want to make sure that everything is okay. She told us not to worry (oh, okaaay) - that we might just be having a small baby - but that she wanted an ultrasound this week to be sure. So I have to wait two painstaking days and drive far, far away before we find out. I've never even entertained the thought of having a small baby. Shawn is 6'5", 215 pounds and I am 5'10", 160 pounds (not pregnant). We were both good sized babies - me weighing a pound more than him at birth (although his mom smokes so he most likely would've weighed more). We can definitely deal with a small baby - as long as she is healthy!! We were both just expecting to have a huge baby. Over the last 9 months I have basically prepared myself to have a 10-pound baby 3 weeks late and need a C-section. ;) So although it may just be that Rylee turns out to be a little peanut, everyone send some big healthy thoughts her way anyway. :)

BAH HUMBUG!

So they spelled my name wrong... how cute is it anyway?! When I submitted my order form to the guy at the counter, I almost said to him "Can you make sure my name gets spelled right?". I decided I'd give him the benefit of the doubt that he'd actually make sure my name was spelled correctly on my Christmas cards - I mean, after all, everyone spells names differently so I'm sure they pay close attention to that. WRONG. I went to pick them up and immediately looked to see that they spelled my name correctly. "Oh no! My name is spelled wrong" I say to the woman behind the counter.
WBTC: "Are you sure?"
Me: "Yeah, pretty sure" (no sarcasm there)
WBTC: "Well let me see how it was spelled on the order form" (The order form that the customer fills out).
Me: "Yeah, pretty sure I spelled it right on there" (again no sarcasm)
WBTC: "Oh yeah, it looks like it was our fault.

??????????????

So... I hate the holidays this year. I cannot wait for Christmas to come and go. It occured to me about a month ago that Christmas and New Years fall on a Sunday this year - my only day of the week off - so for me those weeks are the same as every other week of the year. I could've REALLY used those extra days off - me being 9 months pregnant and all. When I think about Christmas this year, I make the Grinch look like Mary Poppins. Just come and go, holidays, and no, I don't want to hear what my teacher friends are doing over their sabbatical. ;)

At my OB appointment last week, the Dr. said that my little peanut hadn't grown since the previous appointment two weeks earlier. (Although I'd gained 3 pounds). She told me not to worry and that at next week's appointment, if Rylee hadn't caught up, they'd do an ultrasound. The difference in how I look with clothes on and how I look bare-belly is shocking. I'll have to have Shawn take pictures both ways next week (double the photos - that outta be fun!). I look about 5 months pregnant with my clothes on and about 15 months pregnant without. ;) In less than 3 weeks, I have a maternity photo shoot with Demers Photography! After the shoot you'll be able to link to their site and check out the big 'ole belly at it's fullest! At the time of the shoot, I'll (hopefully) be almost 2 weeks from the big day! I'm so excited about it! It will be a far cry from the "modeling" I used to do for my former employer - when I was thin, athletic and beautiful - but atleast I'll get some good shots for Rylee's scrapbook!



So how about them ankles!?! The picture doesn't do it justice ... they have actually turned into "thankles". (They are the same size as my thighs - which is just not pretty!). At the last appointment they told me the sodium would have to go. Olive Garden's alfredo sauce is low-sodium, right??
Shawn and I opted to watch a video in lieu of birthing classes. I'm a little nervous about this decision. I took the class with my friend, Amy, but Shawn is going in a little unprepared. The video is actually pretty informative - I can't believe there are so many things I didn't know about childbirth. For example, they tell you that you'll have exactly 7 warning signs that all show up 2 weeks before you deliver. REALLY? Okay, so your homework is to think of all the things that surprised you about your labor (or things that seemed "insignificant enough" to not show up in all the books) and FILL ME IN! :)