Thursday, September 15, 2011

The countdown begins...


As of today we only have 10 weeks left until our little Micah J. is scheduled to arrive. I am officially 30 weeks along! In some ways it's all still very surreal. My doctor's appointments are now every 2 weeks and starting at 36 weeks I'll go every week until I pop.  I'm so thankful that I have a husband who has come to every appointment so far with me. He's already a good daddy-o!

The doctor was very pleased with all my numbers.  Her words were, "Your heart rate, your gestational diabetes results, your weight gain thus far and the baby's heart beat are all beautiful. You win the best pregnant woman award for the day." It was good to hear that everything is going as well as it could to this point. Micah is positioned where she should be (head down) and my belly measurement was average. My tailbone pain has started flaring up again and the doc said that could get worse as I encroach upon full-term. I will whimper uncontrollably when it slips out. Mike's stopped reacting urgently and asking me if I was okay each time knowing exactly what it is now. The PUPPPS rash has been unbelievably calm the last few weeks. I feel like I need to say that in a whisper in case my skin hears me. :)

Micah's kicks and punches are getting stronger.  I can actually see my belly move and watch lumps appear throughout the day. We took an adult/infant CPR and choking class this week and I was more enthralled with watching my belly move than the details of the class. It may have been a little A.D.D. kicking in at that point as well. We are taking a Beyond Birth class this Saturday morning to learn how to care for her as well as get a tour of the labor/delivery unit at NKC Hospital. My parents plan to take a grandparents class too just to brush up on their skills since they are watching her two days a week once I go back to work.  The other three days she'll be at the Montessori school my sister works at that one of my mom's good friend's now owns. Although I have a great babysitting situation, I'm sure going back to work isn't going to be easy!

Other fun pregnancy side effects that I've been experiencing are as follows; light spots on my cheeks, intense calf cramps in the morning, continued "airyness" (as I like to call it), bloody noses, leaky nipples (yes-I've already started lactating), breakouts on my back and neck, dark line down the center of my belly, and an inability to form intelligent sentences at times (pregnancy brain). Fun fact that I just learned - women have multiple holes in each nipple. In fact, we have holes galore on those suckers! My "hole" life I thought we only had 1 little opening where the milk would gently flow out in a nice solid stream. Heck no! It's comes out like a shower head! Who knew? I felt like superwoman when I discovered this phenomenon and immediately had to show Mike. He wasn't as impressed as I. So far so good on stretch marks.  I haven't been the best at putting on cream/oils because in the end I feel like it's majority hereditary so why bother? My dad said mom only had them on her hips and I have them there already from growing, so I won't care if I just acquire more in that general area.

The nursery is 80% done but I don't plan to post any pictures until it's fully complete. Renee, Marsha, my dad, sister and Mike have all played different parts in bringing my vision to life and I can honestly say that it has turned out better than I ever expected.  I think Micah is going to LOVE her room! I know I do. We are still awaiting the arrival of one dresser and I need to wash her sheets and all of the clothes I have for her thus far. I can't wait to put them all away in her closet and organize them in her drawers. It's the little things!

I received the cutest shower invitation this week to my baby shower! I remember when my shower seemed so far away and here we are only three weeks out from it. I'm so lucky to have such good friends who are so good at throwing showers. We're all old pros at showers at this point!  I actually just went to St. Louis for the weekend over Labor Day to throw a shower for my dear friend, Leslie. It was a good time! They also had their annual flip cup tourney that same weekend so Mike came in and we stayed Sunday night so we could attend. Mike and I joked that it was our babymoon since we don't have plans to go anywhere else.