Baby Girl's Birthday

Well, after praying and sleeping on it, we have decided to take the doctor's advice and schedule a c-section. We called the doctor this morning, and she scheduled us for November 9th. The surgery will take place at 8:30am. So...Little Girl will arrive two days before her due date (unless she decides to come on her own earlier)! Now, if we can only get everything done that we would like to get done before her arrival. :)

Here is another 4D shot of little girl at 38 weeks.

Week 38: Leek

Today, in theory, Little Girl is the length of a leek (19.5 in.). Maybe she is, but the doctor said today that she weighs 10 lbs. 4 oz....not the average 6.8 lbs. :)

We (parents and grandparents) started the day today by getting our H1N1 shots. It was quite an experience to get up early and wait in line for our drive-thru shots administered by nursing students at the city baseball field. B and his mom seemed to have gotten senior nursing students to administer theirs. Mine was obviously a freshman because it hurt, and I bled a bit. I got a special type of shot because of the pregnancy. Hopefully, Little Girl will receive the benefit of the vaccine since she is still in me.

Later in the day, we had another doctor's appointment. A sonogram was included, and we got more 4-D pictures of Little Girl! Sadly, we have not been able to scan them yet, but I will try to get them up soon. As stated before, we found out that Little Girl continues to grow at about a pound a week. I am also measuring at 43 weeks! Because of this, the doctor highly recommends that we schedule a c-section. Also, I have not progressed any. I am still 70% effaced. B and I told the doctor that we would prefer that labor start naturally, and we would see how things go from there, but we are going to pray about our decision and think through it again overnight.

We also attended our very last birthing class. Sadly, it was not very informative, but we did exchange phone numbers with a couple we have befriended in the class. They are due two weeks after us, and they live in the area. Hopefully, after our children are born, we can get together for some play dates!

Enjoy the pics of our drive-thru shots!

Sunsets and Making Music

This has been an awesome weekend! We have had cool fall temperatures (for the South), beautiful sunsets, and Little Girl and I played the handbells this morning. Enjoy!

Week 37 : Swiss Chard

Baby Girl is full term this week although her due date is not for another 3 weeks. Yeah! That means she could come at any time and be ok. If she was your typical little girl, she would be the length of a stock of Swiss chard and weigh 6 1/3 pounds. Although I did not get an update on her weight this week at the doctor's appointment (that's right, I'm going every week now), I did find out that I am 70% effaced.

We also had another birthing class today. We learned about what to expect after the birth, and we also watched a video on how to stop your infant from crying. Interesting class, but a little kooky at parts. We have one more class next week where we will learn practical baby care like changing diapers and such.

So what are we doing when we are not at the hospital going to water aerobics, going to appointments, and going to birthing classes? We are trying to finish up all the last minute things that we would like to have done before Baby Girl comes. I've washed her clothes and blankets and bibs. I'm trying to fill out her baby book. I've got a list of job related things that I would like to do now instead of later. I found out that a prayer I wrote for the diocese website last year is going to be published in a school journal. Yeah! I need to write another prayer or two. We have also put together Baby Girl's bassinet/pack n' play and stroller. The car seat is installed and will be inspected next week. Our bags are packed for the hospital; in fact, they were checked at our birthing class today. Hopefully, Baby Girl will give us enough time to get our lists of things to do before her birth done. We both feel like it is crunch time. Oh! I almost forgot the most important thing that we got done this week! We finished up writing all the thank you notes!!!!! Yeah! I thought I would never see the end of those things. (Yes, I'm a writer who hates to write.) :)

Belly Dance

As  you can see, we have a very active little girl.  Our Portuguese doctor said she is going to be an athlete.  I think she is going to be a dancer.  :)

You can see the movement!!

Week 36: Crenshaw Melon

If Little Girl was average, she would be 6 lbs today and 18 1/2 inches long.



We had another doctor's appointment today. From now on, we will have a doctor's appointment every week. We learned that I am 50% effaced, and we also learned that Little Girl is 8 lbs. 6 oz. She is still growing like a weed! This means that I will definitely have an epidural during labor because it is quite possible that I will have to have a c-section by the end of it all.



This past week has been so much fun because one of my dearest friends drove down for an extended weekend to visit! We had a great time catching up and doing a bit of shopping. We also had our infant CPR class, and we will have another birthing class tonight. These classes have been great...very informative, and we are getting to know our way around the hospital.



The absolute best thing that happened this week was getting to have another sonogram! This time Little Girl cooperated, and we were able to get some great pictures of her. Here they are. Enjoy!


Her little profile.


Her ear.

Her little face...

And sucking her thumb!

PS. I almost forgot! Today was also our 9th anniversary!!! We had breakfast at Ward's (my favorite biscuit place), and then a nice dinner at Macaroni Grill. B bought me flowers, and we exchanged cards, but we agreed that the best gift of all was seeing our little girl today! :)

Week 35: Honeydew Melon

If Little Girl was growing at the usual weight, she would be 5 lbs and a quarter this week...just like a honeydew melon. All of her major organs are now complete, and she is just putting on fat now.

This past week, we have had two more showers, we have visited with old friends, and...we have started birthing classes! Monday was our breastfeeding class, and tonight is our first birthing class. We really enjoyed our class on Monday, and we learned a lot. Hopefully, this is a sign of more good classes to come.

I also had my last sewing class before the baby comes. I am making a little dress and bonnet. The fabric has little maroon flowers on it, and I hope to have it monogrammed. I didn't finish the outfit before the class was over, but my friend and the lady who is teaching me are going to finish it up for me. Hopefully, I have learned enough so that I can make Little Girl some cute things with my sewing machine in Europe!

Showers

This past weekend I was given two more showers! I think it's pretty obvious from the pictures that we are having a little girl. Have you ever seen so much pink?!