37+ Weeks

As of today I am 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant. That means there are only 18 days until my due date. I'm still hoping that this precious little girl comes earlier though. I would be thrilled with an arrival any day now. I know that she will come exactly when she is supposed to but I'm constantly telling her I'm ready for her to be here.

The first pic above is at 36 weeks and the second is from this past Sunday. It's hard to tell in the pictures because of the clothes I have on but I do think that she has dropped a bit. Nothing dramatic yet but I can breathe a bit easier and I seem to have more room in my stomach. Even since the Sunday pic I feel like she's a smidge lower still.

Today I had a massage in an effort to possibly help labor start. It was a fantastic massage that I truly enjoyed. I was surprised to learn that up to 60% of clients who have a massage past 37 weeks will go into labor within 24-48 hours. Bring on the contractions!

I also had an appointment with my midwife today. Unfortunately baby girl has turned so that her back is against my back. The ideal birthing position is for her back to be against my stomach. There is no doubt that she likes to move a bunch so with a little help from me hopefully she'll turn back around. The good news is that my body is very slowly but surely making a bit of progress toward labor. I have started to dilate just a smidge (I'm not even at 1 cm but it's further along than last week). I'll take it!

Just a few other notes/complaints: I'm still having a bunch of trouble with her sitting on my nerves and my legs going numb but that's my biggest complaint. I guess the heartburn hasn't improved much but I'm so used to it by now it doesn't bother me too much. Sleeping is difficult but again that's just part of being pregnant. One final complaint: I am very ready to be out of maternity clothes. I know it will take a while after the baby is born to be in normal size pants but there are some shirts I can't wear anymore because they don't come down low enough to cover my whole belly--that's annoying when your wardrobe is already limited.

Christmas Tree

On Sunday morning we got up and ready early. Well at least it was early for us on a weekend :) We were going to get our Christmas tree. It was quite cold this year compared to the last few years so we were all bundled up; I guess I should probably say the guys were. I was as bundled as I could be for being 37 weeks pregnant and not having a coat that fits. Because it was cold and in turn I was cold we weren't outside too long looking for a tree. We ended up picking one that had been pre-cut rather than cutting it down ourselves. The main goal was met; we had a tree. We did have a good time wandering among the trees a bit and enjoying some family time. Troy and I (mostly Troy) got the tree in the house before lunch and after Luke woke up from his nap we put the lights on and then after dinner we put the ornaments on. That is the fastest we have ever had the tree purchased and decorated. It usually takes us a few days. Nothing like having a baby due to speed things along :) Can't wait to do all of this with her next year.

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year! We are blessed beyond measure and can not wait for our newest blessing to make her arrival--hopefully very soon.

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with Troy's family. Grandma and Grandpa arrived on Wednesday afternoon and Todd and Georgia got here about 1 on turkey day.

It was for the most part a relaxing day with good food and time with family and friends. Ashley and the boys joined us for our meal (unfortunately Patrick was sick and couldn't join us). This year instead of frying a turkey or even baking a whole turkey we decided to smoke two turkey breasts and a ham. I have to say that Troy did an awesome job with this and we all loved it! I loved that it was easier to handle and clean up :) The rest of our meal was also very tasty and everyone did manage to save room for dessert, of course.

I didn't take very many pictures throughout the day but we did manage to get a family shot of the three of us before I changed into my much more comfortable sweatpants (I live in them these days).

On Friday night after eating an early dinner of leftovers we went down to Troy's office to see the Christmas lights. The trees are so fun to look at and Luke really enjoyed seeing the 5 cranes covered in lights this year as well.

MDO Art

I have not been good at posting pictures of Luke's artwork this year (obviously because I haven't done one post about it yet). This isn't quite everything he's done but it's most of it. The "shape" man, chick and wreath were all items we got to bring home last week after the school's Open House night. Luke was so excited we got to see his "shape" man.

35 Weeks

So I'm a bit late getting this picture posted this week--it's from Sunday when I was 35 weeks along. I've never been this pregnant before as Luke was born at 34 weeks and 4 days. Hooray for being more pregnant than ever before!

I am so glad this little girl is still growing and developing inside of me but I can definitely say that she is getting bigger and quickly running out of room (or at least that is how it seems). I constantly feel her moving around, punching me and generally letting her presence be known. It's so fun to watch my stomach moving around. Troy and Luke are enjoying the show as well.

At my midwife appointment yesterday I learned that she is currently in the ideal birthing position so I'm supposed to continue to sit and rest in the same positions I have been to encourage her to stay just like she is. Let's hope she does!

A couple of other tidbits about pregnancy right now:

*Sharp pains and numbness at the tops of my legs (that comes from the baby sitting on some nerves)

*My heartburn is at an all time high--I'm guessing this will last for a while.

*I've gained roughly 22 pounds total. I'm really pleased with this number. I don't know exactly how much I gained with Luke but I know it was over 35 pounds.

*I've been tired the last few weeks but it seems that if I can get 2-3 naps a week I do relatively well the rest of the week.

*Sleeping is difficult but I'm only waking up once a night to go to the bathroom if that--I'll take it.

*I'm super proud of myself for planning ahead. I currently have at least 15 meals in the freezer for after the baby is born. My goal is to make 3-4 meals a week that I can have leftovers to freeze so life will be easier the first month or so after baby's arrival. Go me! :)

*I haven't had any swelling of my feet yet. I had a bunch of swelling with Luke so I was really expecting some this time.

*My cravings seem to be increasing slightly. They include: cereal, hot drinks like hot chocolate or apple cider, sugar :(, and salads. Oh, I'm also having a hard time saying no to soda (this week has been better but I'd love to have a Coke right now).

*The baby's room is for the most part ready for her arrival. I'll do a post with pics of it soon (maybe; hopefully).

Oh, the last thing to share is that we (Troy, Luke and I) went on a tour of the hospital yesterday afternoon. It was a little rough for Luke after MDO but I feel SO much better about arriving at the hospital now. We never had the chance to take a tour before we had to rush to the hospital with Luke and so Troy and I were a bit anxious about it this time. Now we know where to go and what to expect as far as accomodations. We were both impressed with the birthing room. It's a big room with a couch/bed for Troy along with a table and nice rocking chair and the bathroom is also huge with a shower and soaking tub. The baby doesn't leave the room until I do which I'm also thrilled with (after having Luke rushed to the NICU after barely time to give him a kiss). I know that labor will be tough but I'm looking forward to having the chance to experience it and knowing where I'll be and what the set-up is I feel better about it.

Quake Update

So, we had another earthquake last night. There have actually been numerous aftershocks but last night's was the biggest measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale. It is also the only one I have felt since the big one on Saturday night.

And guess what?!?! Troy was home and he felt it. He was quite excited to check it off of his bucket list. He happened to be sitting on our bedroom floor unpacking his suitcase, I was in the family room watching TV and Luke was asleep. Troy and I met in the hallway because we were racing to each other to see if the other had felt the quake.

For me this one was so mild compared to Saturday. It lasted only 5-10 seconds compared to roughly a minute and there was no rattling of items, only the house shaking. I'm not saying that lightly but I was so glad it wasn't as strong. Troy said he was glad to experience one and now that he has he is done as well. He agreed with me that it is much more "intense" than you ever think it will be.

I have to add that yesterday in Oklahoma also saw numerous tornadoes (thankfully none close to us and no human injuries), thunderstorms and lots of flash flooding because we got over 6 inches of rain! I am really done with the natural disasters! Unfortunately aftershocks are still a very real possibility and I know that the tornadoes and thunderstorms will be back in the spring. Such is the life in Oklahoma.

Quakin'

So I can take an item off of my bucket list now. Yep, I had experiencing an earthquake on my list (shouldn't be surprising that a geologist would have that on there really). I have to say it was a little more than I bargained for too. But let's start at the beginning shall we?

Yesterday morning I was SO bummed to wake up and realize that I missed the 4.7 foreshock (because it turns out that wasn't the big one) at 2ish am during the night. I was jealous of my friends that had felt it which now seems a little crazy. My mom was here because Troy is still out of town and she was glad we didn't feel it.

Fast-forward to last night after the K-State v. OSU game (we played so well; I was truly disappointed we didn't get the win). My mom and I are getting ready to head to bed. My mom was headed toward the bathroom and I had just closed my computer and we both heard this rumbling noise. Then the house started shaking and I yelled, "Mom, it's an earthquake!" We stood holding each other in one of the kitchen doorways for what seemed like quite a while feeling the whole house shake around us and listening to the dishes rattle in the cabinets. It was one of those slow motion moments in life that I know I'll never forget.

I have to say that I was more than happy to have someone here with me during the quake. It was so much more scary than I would have anticipated and I know that if I had been home alone with just Luke I would have been even more freaked out than I was with my mom here.

Once the ground settled down and we calmed down a bit, we turned on the news and our computers to learn what exactly was going on. The initial evaluation of the USGS was that the quake (which I thought was an aftershock) measured 5.2 on the Richter scale. That's a rather significant earthquake people. Today's report is that the earthquake was actually a 5.6 and that last night's quake was the actual earthquake and not an aftershock. That makes it the biggest earthquake to ever strike Oklahoma.

It was amazing to see how fast all my facebook friends from Oklahoma logged on after the quake. My post was the following: "So I was bummed this morning that I didn't feel the earthquake last night--just felt that aftershock. More than enough for me!!! No more please!"

And truly I don't need to experience another earthquake--one at that level was definitely enough for me. I can't imagine feeling anything bigger than what I felt last night! It honestly did scare me a bit more than a little. I'm very grateful that it didn't cause any major damage and that no one was injured.

I do have to say that Troy is extremely jealous (I'll try to explain that it really is a bit crazy to be jealous but I don't think he'll go for it). I've only been able to talk to him briefly today so far but he just can't believe that he missed it. I guess there is still one person in the house who has experiencing an earthquake on their bucket list.

Oh, three more quick tidbits about last night. First, Luke did not wake up for which I am very grateful. Second, my mom immediately called my step-father in KC and he even felt it all the way up there. He said that things rattled around on his desk for a bit. And three, apparently Maggie is not your typical dog because she didn't even get up from her spot on the floor during the whole thing--not a single bark or twitch to indicate anything was wrong. Crazy dog!