Christmas Card

We went on Saturday morning down to Union Station to take pictures for our Christmas card- been meaning to for weeks and just keep having things pop up, but it finally got to the point where they *had* to be done or we wouldn't get them out on time.

So of course Sat. morning it decides to start dumping snow! We still got a few pictures (along with some cute ones for Diddi's card), but it was bitter cold and we ended up being a little late for the Fikstad family party. Thankfully it seemed everyone else was running a little late also, so we didn't miss anything.

Party was fun, food was great, we finally got a picture of Grandma with her kids and enjoyed visiting with everyone.

Next appointment is Wed. and it is scheduled late enough in the day that we are hoping H will be off work and able to make it. He hasn't yet met the midwife, so hopefully he can this week.

I will update later, but here is a sneak peek at our Christmas cards (being printed right now!).

Getting close...

So much is going on and I have been a total slacker at updating the blog, sorry everyone!

We had our first baby shower last weekend. Howard's aunt and two cousins generously threw us a family shower and it was wonderful! We got very spoiled with gifts, a ton of diapers, super yummy food and great company. It was so nice of everyone, and we were so excited to be remembered! We will be having our friends and other sides of the family shower in January, and will keep everyone updated as it gets closer.

Down to the final stretch now, and our appointments are every two weeks for the next month, then they will go to weekly. At the appointment Tuesday the midwife told me that Marshmallow is measuring at 4lbs already and that he is 'cerebrally enhanced' (he has a big head!). She also said that the pains I've been feeling are not Braxton Hicks (practice) contractions, but are most likely real contractions. Nothing to worry about unless I start having 5-6 an hour, and right now I'm having 5-6 a day. But at least I know what to be on the lookout for!

Movements have definately changed in the past week or so. He is not 'punching' nearly as much, but is stretching and pushing a lot more. Movements are very strong and more batched together. He will go crazy stretching and turning for 10-15 minutes and then be quiet for hours... So far his busiest times seem to be when I first wake up, right after breakfast and as soon as I lay down at night. It is really fun to just lay there and watch my stomach contort like crazy- you can see a several inch difference where he is stretching or turning. Very cool!

The nursery is almost done. The basics are mostly in place (except for the bedding) and there are just a handful of decoration things that still need done. Enough little things to putter on for a couple weeks, but nothing big enough to cause any stress!

Thanksgiving was very nice. We only had 7 people there, and everyone brought something, so things were very low-key and relaxed. The next big activity will be our annual Christmas Party on the 19th! Actually every weekend between now and mid-January is booked, but our party is the only thing in the near future that will require much effort from me!

Hope everyone is doing well, love you all!

Month 7

Month 7!
Baby's energy is surging thanks to the formation of white fat deposits under the skin. (Have those kicks and jabs tipped you off yet?) Baby is also settling into sleep and waking cycles- though, as you have probably noticed, they don't necessarily coincide with your own! Also this month, all five senses are fully functional, and the brain and nervous system are going through major developements.

3rd Tri!

We are now officially in our 3rd Trimester! Time really has flown and we are so excited to be reaching the end of this pregnancy...

Had the first appointment with the Midwife on Wed. and all in all it went well. Marshmallow is catching up from the flu quite nicely. He is measuring eight days ahead, is super active and everything looks great with him.

I have a couple challenges, but nothing too major... My blood pressure is a little elevated and my fluid levels are still a little low. The MW is having me take things easy for the next two weeks to see if we can get them reversed, but did threaten me with bed rest if they continue to be off. Needless to say, we are doing everything we can to avoid that!

When she was reading my chart there was a flag from the targeted ultrasound three weeks ago- evidently the tech couldn't get the measurements she needed on the baby's heart (which we weren't told at the time) so the MW scheduled another 'big' u/s in two more weeks. It will be nice to see him again so soon, and hopefully they can get all the measurements they need then.

Since we are 3rd tri our appointments go to every two weeks until week 36 then they will be once a week, but with H's new work schedule he wont be able to go to all of them with me anymore :( I'd gotten kind of spoiled having him there....

H's aunt called right after the appointment and generously offered to host a family shower for us. It was very sweet of her and I'm so excited! My sister had offered to do a friend shower for us (in Jan), but we weren't expecting anything from the family so it was pretty exciting!

The back bedroom is almost done, we need to hang one more piece of drywall, tape, texture and paint then we can move into it. That *was* my plan for the week/end, but with the 'light duty' dx I am taking it easy and not trying to tackle it alone... I just keep telling myself that we have 13 more weeks still and it really will get done in time, as long as I don't push it and end up on bedrest!

Month 6!

Well, we are now half-way through our birthing class and so far its been interesting. We took a tour of the hospital last week and got to see the facilities which was nice. Because of all the flu stuff going around they have changed their policy on visitors effective Oct. 15 and I am kinda bummed about it- no kids under 14, which isnt too bad because the nieces and nephew can see him when we get get home, but the other part is that there can only be two visitors anywhere in the hospital (including the waiting room) at a time!

That wouldn't be too bad, but they count H as a visitor so that means I can only have one other person in there. Basically saying if Mom is inside then Dad has to wait in the car until she is done and then switch!?! Grrrr.... I'm really, really hoping that they don't count Nikki (who is my doula) as a visitor too- that would be unbelievably sucky! I completely understand limiting people during the flu season, but I think it is ridiculous to count my husband as a 'visitor', it should be two in addition to him, not counting him.

We went to a consignment sale tonight that was a lot of fun. I guess this company does two big sales up here every year and then two down in Utah County. We had a special preview pass for first time parents and so we got to check it out the night before it opened to the general public and really found some good stuff! We ended up getting a really nice rocking bassinet with the white noise attachment, a changing table pad, two sleeper sets with hats, a three piece outfit with a little sweatshirt coat, a maternity shirt, an Avent Isis pump that was still sealed in the factory plastic, a 95 piece Playmobile toy set that had never been opened and two of the big Ikea leaf thingies that mount above the crib and only spent $70! The bassinet alone would have been probably 150 new so I think we did pretty good. :) The trick now is going to be convincing Loki it is not for his personal use. I washed all of the fabric parts, wiped the whole thing down with Clorox wipes and then put it back together. Loki promptly hopped in the bottom netting shelf part and hasn't moved since! Good thing he's cute!

Next week I'm heading to AZ to visit Mom and Dad for a few days, yay! I wish H could come down too, since this will probably be my last solo trip for quite a while... It would be fun to take a weekend trip together before the baby comes, but there really aren't too many places within my limited driving range right now and we really don't want to spend the $$ to fly anywhere fun since his insurance is changing 1/1 and we will be paying a ton more than we had planned. It will work out, things always do!

So here is this months update, month 6 already!

Let your spouse put an ear to your belly- he may be able to pick up the heartbeat (no stethascope required!). Inside the womb the formation of capilaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby is also soaking up your antibodies, getting his immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink- getting ready to bat those newly formed eyelashes.

'Big' ultrasound

We had our targeted ultrasound today and all in all it went very well!

Normally H is off of work by about noon on Mondays, so of course today would be the day that they add extra stops to his route. We barely made it to the appointment, right on the dot, thankfully there was no traffic! :)

The tech was wonderful, she spent a ton of time trying to get the Marshmallow to move, but he was having none of it... For the third month in a row he was head down with his face buried in my back, one hand covering his face and the other between his legs. We were in there for over 40 minutes and never did get him to show his sweet face. There were however, other things he was quite proud of showing off-

"He's quite proud of his 'stuff' isn't he?"
"It was easy to tell he was a boy huh?"
"He just really likes showing his parts doesn't he!"

Yep, we have a shy exibitionist on our hands. We tried wiggling him, jiggling him, shifting positions, moving the u/s wand over to my side, eating red hots, poking and prodding... He wanted nothing to do with it. He was moving fine and even kicked the wand when the tech was measuring his heart rate (162 and strong!) but would not turn his face for anything. *sigh* Three appointments in a row with no peak at his face. :(

Everything was measuring great, and it was so neat to be able to see the chambers in his heart, the hemispheres of his brain, his fingers, toes, ribs, spine and even she even pointed out the femur bones.

Two little things to watch out for- three weeks ago he was measuring 18 days ahead and today (depending on what body part she measured) he ranged from right on to a week ahead. Basicly there was very little growth in the past three weeks. Considering I was down with the swine flu for two of the three weeks, that is probably why. My body was using all its energy on trying to recover and didn't send as much umph to him for growth. The other concern was that the fluid levels around the baby are a little low, and the tech also marked those up to being sick. Our next appointment is in three more weeks, so as long as things show an improvement by then, then there is nothing more to worry about. But until then I am supposed to up my fluid intake and hope that helps things.

Finally, we made the big switch and changed our next appointment from the OB Doctor to the Nurse Midwife. We went with Karen, who I've seen before and really liked. Machel had been recommended by a couple people as really good, but she doesn't see pregnancies on Wed, and since that is H's weekday off, we'd like to keep our appts on Weds so he can come too. I went back and forth quite a bit, but really feel good about switching.

After waiting so long to be pregnant, I dont want to just turn around and give up all of the hopes for how I want this pregnancy and delivery to go. While I know that I can plan all I want and ultimately have no control over how things go, I want someone there who will at least try to listen and make every effort to try to let my body do what it was made to do, instead of worrying more about their schedule and ski trip coming up. Plus if I am this irritated by the Dr now, I'd hate to see what happens during delivery when I have even less patience and self control. Believe it or not I can be pretty darn crabby when I want to be! ;)

We got a super long video of the u/s, but after two hours of uploading to Youtube we got an error that said the max length for videos was 10 minutes. Guess I should have read the fine print better when I started. :) As Marshmallow gets bigger it is harder and harder to interpret the u/s though. When he was little and fit all in one shot it was pretty easy, but now it is like trying to look at pictures from the Hubble telescope or a bad Ink blot test or something!

Tomorrow night we start our birthing classes, so we'll let you know how things are going later in the week.
Love you all!

Month 5

From here out the baby updates are monthly instead of weekly, so they wont be quite as often, but it just means that the Marshmallow is almost all formed and will be just getting bigger and stronger every week!

What what you say, baby is now able to hear sounds from outside the womb. Studies show that baby finds classical music and your voice most soothing. nipples are starting to sprout and that little face is fully formed. Baby is starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12-14 hours a day. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out when, just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.