37 Weeks

As you can tell by this lovely picture - I'm ready. Enough with the puffies, achy pelvis, and crazy sciatic that almost drops me, and almost a new record on the scale. I know I technically have about 3weeks left, but hello. I'm.done.

Laundry? Check.
Baby clothes washed? Check.
Grocery shopping? Check.
School supplies? Check.
House tidied? Who are we kidding, that can be a disaster in minutes!
Car seat? Check.
Baby swing (re)purchased? Check
In-laws in town to harrass in the middle of the night? Uh, no.
Mom ready to come? Uh, yes -but I don't want to pull her away from my sister and family visiting them soon, nor have her miss my Dad's 60th Birthday (on the 13th).
Ready for the labor pains and have the baby on the outside? uh...

Okay, so I may not be done quite yet... but one of these days!

Inching Forward

Although the expression on my face doesn't really show it, I'm feeling really good.
Nesting and working away on house and yard projects.
32 weeks on Friday.

Facing the Inevitable

Facing the inevitable that:

my derriere will only get bigger - along with my thighs, arms, chest, and the worst, my face

I will most likely cave into my sweet cravings every afternoon

the kids will continue to say "whoa, you're getting fatter everyday"

I could spend hours reading birth stories and dreaming of the perfect labor and delivery

our baby is probably already named but it bugs me whenever the kids refer to him by name

I want to exercise during this pregnancy but don't

my mood swings are much too moody - and swingy

that this little boy is already so loved

this pregnancy is cruising along and I only have 15 weeks left

am I forgetting anything?

The Year of the Boys

It's a . . .

(this isn't actually our photo, but we have one just like it and it saved me from scanning ours)

While it felt like forever to finally get to the part where we find out the gender, everything looks really good. He's measuring right on - even in the 75th percentile at 12 oz. Oh boy! We have several shots of him from his open hand with all 5 fingers extended to a 3D picture of him cuddled right in there with his hand up by his chin. awww.

We're pretty excited to even out the playing field just a tad more here. And we'd run out of girl names. Just so happens we've been hanging on to a boy name for couple years and now it looks like we may just get to use it.

So bring on the year of the boys! Our little guy will have two boy cousins just about 4 mos older and one will be here in Denver.
Perfect.

Eating My Words

"My husband and I both come from families of 7 children and we loved it. We're not going for 7 though!"

Well . . .

We're happy to announce that

Baby Hunt #7 is on the way!

Joining the ranks in July!

My plans are being foiled...

I went to my last OB appt today. I know! No changes from last week tho - no more dilation or effacement. Bummer. But, I did have my last weigh in. Hallelujah! I've never weighed more in the my life, but then again, this isn't the most I've gained in a pregnancy...make sense? We're scheduled for induction Tuesday night. We'll go to the hospital and get 2 rounds of the antibiotics going and then start the pitocin in the morning. So hopefully not much later, we'll get to see our babe! We're all so excited to get Mom L out here too. She comes on Monday (unless we need her sooner!) YAY!

Anyway, back to my plans being foiled. First, I got everything I wanted with Lucy. There were four specific things I was hoping for:
1. to have my water break. It had never happened with anyone else and I wondered what that would be like. (I actually didn't even know it had broken until the dr. checked me after a stress test.)
2. to have a more speedy labor. (the shortest one before then was still 8 hours.)
3. Not to tear or need stitches (sorry tmi).
4. to have her during the day (it was actually the evening, but the nurses still come and bug you all through the night anyway!)

So with that said, there were some things I was hoping to do differenly this time, but alas, it's just not meant to be. And really, when it comes to health and safety, of course, those are #1! But these were the things I was hoping for and maybe you guys have some ideas/suggs for me too. Here goes:
1. Labor more at home - I seem to be at the hospital forever. But with Strep B, the minute you think you're in labor, you get youself right in. As my dr. said "don't piddle around." Ok.
2. I'm afraid to admit this, but ideally, I would love to see how far I can go without an epidural. Why? Because this is probably our last baby and if I didn't try, I think I'll always wonder...then again, once the pain hits - get me the epidrual!! I don't know... but pitocin is nasty!
3. I would like to labor out of the bed more, let gravity help. I've read that certain positions can be so much more helpful than just laying in bed, especially with back labor (which I've had everytime, but then I've had an epidural and have been able to rest too...). However, being induced, I just found out that once they start the potocin, I need to be hooked up to the monitor. Blast. Maybe I'll try the rocking chair...? I dont know..

Btw, thanks for all your comments about the Strep B. It was all very helpful!