39 Week Appointment

Father B and I just went to our 39 week appointment...I'm really hoping it was our last one! Unfortunately, there really was no change between last week and this week. Still 80% effaced, baby's head is low, not dilated. We went over some different scenarios with our doctor depending on what happens:

1. Baby B shows up whenever, our doctor will be able to deliver as long as it's not Apr. 3-5, when she's out of town again.
2. We go to next week's appointment...if I am dilated to a "2," she will schedule an induction on Wednesday, April 1st.
3. We go to next week's appointment...if I'm still the same as this week, I will have an appointment with a colleague of hers on Thursday or Friday (she only works M/W), and they would schedule an induction on Monday, April 6 (cousin Lilly's birthday!).

I personally am hoping for option 1, preferably over the weekend (27th-29th)!!! Right now I'm on spring break, and if I have the baby during the week, the days would "count" in my maternity leave even though I'm not technically working. However, I'm not really thrilled about the prospect of returning to school on Monday the 30th either. I tied up all my loose ends there on Friday...but of course we all know you can't really schedule babies or anything that happens with kids, so we'll just keep sitting on edge around here for now!

Congrats to two new parents!

Just want to take a moment to send a special congratulations to a couple of first-time parents.

Friday, March 13th
Scott and Connie had a baby girl, Chelsea Lynn at 5am. She weighed 7lbs 11oz.





Sunday, March 22nd
Adam and Tricia had a baby boy, Nolan Gregory this morning. He weighs 6lbs 2oz and is 20.5 inches long.




Next in line is Stephie and then us! Whoo Hoo!

Farewell DINKS!

Dual Income, No Kids.

The big day is coming fast. Time for reflection. We are quickly approaching the end of a wonderful era, DINKS (dual income, no kids). As mom and I say goodbye to this era, I will reflect on the things that made this time so wonderful!

Here is what I will miss the most:

• Only worrying about Mom
• Being lazy when I want to
• Sleeping in
• Privacy
• Larger Paychecks
• Doing things at the last minute
• Hanging out with friends - without planning too far in advance
• Taking a nap - I love you, NAPS!
• Vacations - week long, out of the country
• Being responsible for only entertaining mom
• Quiet house

I know I could add a few more if I really sat down and thought about it. I realize parenthood has its advantages, but the days of being DINKS were oh so nice!

Happy Birthday 'Nell!

Hoodwinked!

March 30th is our due date...Not March 27th.

At Monday's appointment, our doctor mentioned that the due date is March 30th. March 30th?!? I looked at mom in bewilderment. From our ultrasound appointment at 20 weeks, we were told the due date moved up three days to March 27th. Bamboozled!

FYI- the ultrasound technician takes measurements of the baby and determines the due date based on the results. The original due date is based on the date of the mom's last period.

After being misled for nearly 20 weeks, I asked the doctor how and why did the due date move back to the original due date and not the date given after the ultrasound?

She replied that you should never, ever go by the ultrasound date except when the difference in days from the original date given and the ultrasound date are greater than 5 days. Since the difference is only three days, we have to remain with the original date given, March 30th.

So, Mondays are once again the new change in weeks. Today, we are 3 days into week 38.

Doctor Visit - 38 Weeks

Continuing to get closer...
Today's appointment:

*80% effaced
*Still dilated to "0" but getting closer
*Baby has dropped lower than last week
*If I had the baby today, the doctor thinks it'd be in the high 6 lb. range; full term she's guessing high 7 lb. range ("slightly above average")
*Heartbeat was at 130

I am just glad to have Father B back in-state, and my doctor back in town. The baby can come any time now, we're pretty much ready! Uncle Matt is in town this week on spring break so I think he'd like it to arrive when he's here. My long term sub has been hired and will be in this week to "shadow" on Thursday and Friday, my bag is packed for the hospital, Father B has the carseat installed in his car, we cleaned this weekend and finally took the computer out of the baby's room. Nursery pictures will be coming soon...

Dad is back at home!

The week we were all dreading quietly passed without interruption. New Orleans was a blast. I worked hard during the day and partied hard with our customers and prospects at night. But, I am most happy to say that I am back home and baby is still inside Mom! Yahoo!!!

Looking back at our predictions video, my nostraMIKEus prediction says that baby will arrive tomorrow. Not going to happen! If I am allowed one mulligan, I do have a strong feeling about Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Let's see if this comes to fruition.

Mom has another appointment with the doctor tomorrow afternoon. Be sure to stop back tomorrow evening and check out the latest update.

On a side note
A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that a friend was shaving his head for cancer. Well, Jeremy and his son Evan's story aired on our local 10pm news. Pretty cool! Here is the link to the video. http://wcco.com/video/?id=57061@wcco.dayport.com

Doctor Visit

Yesterday was my 37 week doctor appointment, so here's the Baby B update:
I am about 50% effaced, not dilated at all. She said the baby's head is already very low (not a surprise to me, I can feel a lot of pressure)! Not much else to report. I'm still trying to get over last week's cold - it's a slow process.

I can't believe how fast everything is coming up. Last Friday I was just three weeks away from our due date! There are only 9 more teaching days before spring break...and we have not even interviewed for my long term sub yet. Normally this lack of preparedness would absolutely freak me out, but for some reason it isn't. I think it's because I'll be out the rest of the school year, so I won't have to come back and deal with however the sub changed things. Also, I think I've mentally checked out of here a little bit. Hopefully we have interviews by the end of the week and can get him/her in here next week so they can see how things run.

Luckily we are a little more prepared for the baby on the home front than I am here at school!

Praying for a Quiet Week

New Orleans, Louisiana
Dad is leaving Mom for a few days. I will be heading down to the "Big Easy" for work. I will most certainly be praying for a quiet week back home with Mom and Baby B! Stay in there baby!


Not much to report on otherwise. I had a great time reconnecting with Marty on Wednesday. Mom and Dad had a lovely dinner with Jeremy, Lindsay, and Evan at the Taste of Thaiyai in AV on Saturday. The restaurant was quiet, we were pretty much the only people there. Food was pretty good. Mom and I had the Pad Thai (chicken for Mom and shrip for Dad)...Yummy!!!

I want to send a special message to Jeremy, "Enjoy the hair on your head while it is there!!!" Jeremy is going to participate in the St. Baldrick's head shaving at O'Donovan's Irish Pub on Thursday. He is raising money for childhood cancer research and shaving his head in honor for those who have been diagnosed with cancer. His son Evan was diagnosed with a very rare form of lung cancer known as pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) three months ago. If you would like to help the cause, please go to this web page http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/shavee_info.php?ParticipantKey=2009-61387 and donate.

Have a great week everyone!

Baby B's Mom is Sick

Over the last couple of days I seem to have picked up some kind of bug, and today I stayed home from school. I'm self-diagnosing either a cold or a sinus infection, but a trip to the Minute Clinic may be in my future. Thankfully it does not appear to be Influenza B, which made its rounds through school last week.

I'm a huge fan of MEDICINE, which I am severely limited in my options of taking, so I've been combatting the runny nose, cough, sore throat, and headache with the powerful punch of acetaminophen and cough drops. Father B was very nice and went out to buy me orange juice today, and Grandma Barb (proving that even moms still need their moms to take care of them) was in the area and brought me a smoothie. My other "treatment" has included the neti pot, a device I greatly feared until I bought one - which actually does a great job of clearing out all the gunk in my head and face. (Type in "neti pot" on youtube if you're unfamiliar...you can see one in action).

Baby B seems to be taking this in stride and continues to be extremely active both day and night. I can feel its heel/knee/elbow poking me a lot. Clearly all the coughing, sneezing, and noseblowing doesn't bother it too much!

Hopefully the Last of the Monthly Pictures

Could this be the end?
Here is (hopefully) the last picture of mom's monthly progression pictures.