picture this

So being just a few days shy of 40 weeks pregnant attractive is definitely a defining trait that went out the window when thinking of myself quite a while ago. But picture this and I'll spare you a photo for this post:)

So tonight I'm sitting on the couch with a shirt that's about 4 inches too short for me and pants that I have to fold down under my belly because it just rubs the wrong way. So the bottom few inches of my belly are hanging out, resting on my thighs becaus e its so huge. Then there are my boobs. I have forgone wearing a bra unless absolutely neccessary so my boobs pretty much rest on my huge belly. So, huge belly resting on thighs, huge boobs resting on my huge belly - hot I know. Then top off the picture with a piece of chocolate cake and a glass of milk in front of me and now you've pictured me this evening in our living room.

I'm sure glad my husband loves me as much as he does because this is definitely not an attractive picture - it just can't be:)

appointment update

Well we had another appointment yesterday afternoon and unfortunately didn't get great news but I'm trying to remain optimistic. Doctor said I'm dilated a little bit - maybe a "finger tip" or 1cm and still 60% effaced. During my exam she said she actually felt her head!

We discussed inducing and she said we'd be looking at an induction date of May 9th if she doesn't come before then. She really likes to let your body do its thing and allows you 7-9 days over your due date to do that. She definitely takes the conservative approach when it comes to doing things to help move things along and while I am so ready for her to be here I  know that that is what's best for our baby and my body. However, one of my concerns is her size and that she will continue to grow each day however, she assured me that this is not a concern of hers. She said all my measurements are normal and as she feels her outside my belly nothing tells her that she's bigger than she should be at this time. So, that's a good thing!

Other than that nothing new - we continue to pray daily for a healthy baby and safe delivery and trust that she will come when she is ready. As my dad says, this is just God's way of teaching me patient before she even arrives! Which, if you know me very well know that patience is definitely not one of my virtues:)

39 weeks

7 days and counting. We are officially in waiting mode and excited that it is so soon. I don't think there's much to update from this past week. I will post another update after our appointment on Tuesday and let you know if I've progressed at all - lets hope so!


Jimmy and I missed our families this weekend as they celebrated Easter in Iowa but we were able to attend our church here in town and hit up Buffalo Wild Wings for an Easter lunch!:)


I continue to feel baby move although it's obvious she's running out of room. We pray every day for a healthy baby, a healthy delivery, a clear sign that "it's time", safe travel for our families when it's time, and for our journey to parenthood!

So until it's time I'll keep you posted - have a good week!

Latest email update & photo:

Hang in there -- you're almost done! Predicting a due date isn't an exact science (and can make for some pretty lucrative wagering), but there are definite signs that the time is near. Look for the bloody show, the passing of the mucous plug, diarrhea, nausea, energy spurts, contractions, and breaking of the water.

moving

We can officially share our news, we are moving back to Iowa – Cedar Falls to be exact! It has been a whirlwind few weeks for us – on top of preparing for our baby’s arrival we have been praying and discussing a job opportunity that presented itself to Jimmy. And we are very excited to share that Jimmy has accepted a different job with John Deere that will be moving us back to our “hometown”! Ever since we found out we were pregnant we knew we would like to get back closer to home before, or soon after, our baby is born. We’ve had a few opportunities come and go but we are glad we were patient and remained hopeful as we seem to have been given a really great new gig.

The plan for me post maternity leave is that I will cut back to part time and work remotely from home doing pieces of the same job I have today. We once again feel incredibly blessed to work for a company that provides new opportunities and flexibility in our work and personal life. Part time and working from home will be an adjustment for me and I am excited to give it a try!

Timing is a little bit up in the air given our certain situation (me being 39 weeks pregnant) but Jimmy’s new job’s effective date is June 1^st so the plan is to get up there as soon after little miss arrives as we feel comfortable. We have started the house hunt virtually and should be paired up with a realtor in the next day or so to get us started. Then we will have to take care of all the things on this end in terms of selling our current place. So, we will have a busy few months, to say the least! But, we know that God never gives us more than we can handle and it will all work itself out!

Leaving Springfield will be bittersweet. While we are of course excited to be back close to family and old friends we have a lot of good memories from our time here as well. We’ve established some close friendships, found a church we love, came home from our honeymoon and started our life as a married couple together here, will bring our first baby home here, enjoyed many days at the beautiful lakes, and so much more. However, we also knew this was a temporary stop for us and that a home is just a home – what’s important is that we are doing this move together and simply moving on to the next chapter in our lives.

update

So we had our weekly doctor’s appointment yesterday and she checked me for the first time. Turns out I’m approximately 60% effaced and just barely dilated. Better than nothing, right?! My doctor assured me that those measurements really don’t tell her much as every woman’s body is different and that I could go into labor today or it could be 2 weeks from now. She said she does look at dilation as an indication of how my labor will progress and/or how long it may be. Meaning, if I were to go into labor today and have barely started to dilate, labor may be a whileJ however, she’s known woman that dilate from 0-10cm in no time so it really does just depend. And since this is my first baby we aren’t sure what to expect from my body. So, I’m taking the news for what it is – trying not to get too anxious, disappointed, or excited about it and just remain patient. I keep praying that God will make it clear to me when “its time” and until then enjoy the kicks inside of me that only I can feelJ

surprise?!

Friday my coworkers decided to throw me a surprise baby shower complete with yummy punch, cake, and lots of gifts! They definitely caught me by surprise as I had no clue and they even got Jimmy in on it.

The story: Jimmy had put a lunch date on our calendars a few weeks ago while I didn’t think anything of it as we often will grab lunch together out of the office on a Friday. So Friday rolls around and we had a scheduled lunch for 12:30pm. The only problem is I usually eat lunch between 11 and 11:30am so when I noticed it wasn’t until later in the day I started bugging him about why we couldn’t go earlier. He fed me excuse after excuse about having different meetings and needing to finish something up, etc etc. So by the time 12:30 rolled around I was definitely ready for lunch. But, to my surprise – we weren’t going to lunch.

I met him at his desk and we were heading out of the office when he made a slight detour to the General Manager’s office. He opened the door to a flood of pink and full of people. This picture captures my surpriseJ

It was so sweet of our coworkers to put together something special for us and baby girl. I LOVED the cake, the punch was yummy, and they were too kind with all the gifts we received! Someone even snagged me a piece of pizza to curb my hungerJ

 It’s nice to know that the people we work with day in and day out care about us and our life outside of the office too. Jimmy and I have met some great people here and moving will definitely be bittersweet.

Wait – we’re moving?! More to come on that later this weekJ…………

38 weeks

We are now 2 weeks from our little girl’s due date and I am anxiously awaiting her arrival! My belly just feels heavy and low to sum things up. It seems I sleep well every other night meaning those days that I don’t sleep well are a bit tough.  I have wrapped things up at work and gotten them to a place where it should easy to hand things off. We hired a part time employee to take over parts of my job while I’m on maternity leave and I have spent the last 2 weeks training him. So, my stress level at work is low – which is great. Jimmy and I have gotten things to a place at home where we are ready to go as well, to the point where we are in wait mode. So, my stress at home is super low, which is also great. So I feel like we  just waiting.

Jimmy and I haven’t planned much on our weekends because we don’t know what each day will bring so we’ve definitely enjoyed this time together, even if it’s doing nothing at all.

This weekend we stayed in bed until 10am both mornings even though we were awake at 7:30 because we know that soon that will not be possible. Friday night we got Chinese takeout, made a blanket fort in the living room and snuggled up for a movie at home. Saturday we slept in before heading out to run a few errands, swung by a local outdoor music event, hit up an afternoon movie, and had dinner out. Then today we wrapped up our weekend with church, errands around the house, and an afternoon baseball game in the sun.

We really had a great weekend. I can’t help but wake up each day thinking that today may be the day that our lives will forever change. I am anxious for our appointment on Tuesday, if I make it until thenJ as my doctor will check me for the first time!

So, that’s all for now. I’ll leave you with the words from our baby update for this week and some 38 week pictures!

 The last bits of vernix caseosa (the white goo keeping baby's skin moist) and lanugo (downy hair) are slowly shedding into your amniotic fluid. Baby's head is about the same circumference as her abdomen, and her head could be covered in an inch or so of hair.

38 weeks - taken on Apr 17th, 2011