Still waiting.....

Yesterday was my due date.......and I'm still waiting for our little girl to decide to come meet us!  We had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and our doctor was genuinely surprised to see us.  She said she had been waiting for our call and really didn't think our little one would hold out this long!  After our last appointment, she was sure I'd go into labor soon......too bad she was wrong.

Good news though......I'm scheduled to be induced on Monday!  So if our little girl hasn't shown up by then, we'll be meeting her on Monday!

39 Weeks.....and waiting!

Today, I've hit the 39 week mark!  I'm almost to the end!  The key word being almost.........

I was SO sure that by now we'd by holding our little girl in our arms. Instead, she's still on the inside and I haven't had any 'clues' that she's planning on coming out anytime soon!  I just assumed that she'd be early and I wouldn't make it anywhere close to 40 weeks....I have no idea why I thought that.

Monday night as the hubby and I went to bed, we started to talk about the probability of our little one showing up later than we expected.........I don't think it had crossed my hubby's mind that she wouldn't be early either!  We actually didn't make any plans for Valentine's day because we assumed we'd be too busy with our newborn to think, let alone go out!

How did we become so convinced that she would be early?!?  I'm pretty sure that every single one of our family members guessed her arrival date as early February!  Also, everyone's been asking how much longer for the last few months.....so that makes it seem like she should arrive early.

For now, I guess we'll just wait and let our little one decide when to arrive!!!!  I'm hoping she doesn't take too long, cause I'm getting impatient!!!!!

38 Weeks....Almost there!

Yesterday, I hit the 38 week mark!  Hubby and I headed to town for our doctor's appointment and also to pre-register at the hospital.  I feel much more prepared and at ease now that we're registered!  Here's the reason:
For the past few weeks, I've had this recurring dream where I'm in the hospital, in a bed, and baby's head is crowning, but until I have my paperwork filled out, NO ONE WILL HELP ME!!!!!  I wake up in a cold sweat each time!  Super scary stuff!  I know that my dream isn't realistic at all, but it eases my mind to have all the paper work (short of signing for the epidural) done!!!!!!!!

Also, at the doctor's office, Dr. Beth informed me that I'm 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated!  I call that progress!  She didn't figure I'd be too happy to hear those numbers, but after the last appointment where they told me that my body had done nothing.......1 cm sounds AWESOME!!!!

Can't believe we'll get to meet our little girl pretty soon!!!

36 Weeks

* This post is also a little behind.......


It's hard to believe we only have a month left until my due date!!!!  While it's so exciting, it's also a little nerve wracking too.  It seems like we still have quite a few things to do before our little girl arrives!!!

Today, I finally packed for the hospital.  I've had a bag packed for her for the last month, but I've been putting off packing for me!  It doesn't make much sense that I've been putting it off, but it just seems like I have time.  Yesterday I realized that I don't!  Next week, she'll be full term!!

I did a lot of research as to what I should pack and what I should leave at home.........I don't know that I ended up leaving much 'at home', but I feel like we'll be prepared! After looking online, I did unpack a few things from baby girl's bag though.  I had packed about 6 outfits plus jammies............I discovered you really only need 1 outfit!

It's also hard to fathom how much our lives are going to change here pretty soon......I'm thinking that Buster, our min pin, is going to have the hardest adjustment.  We adopted Buster shortly after we moved in together, so he's been our 'baby' for the last four and a half years!!!  I'm hoping he's ready for the change!

This weekend, we also slept in all weekend!  I'm sure that won't happen ever again once she arrives!  I'm also hoping that I learn to live on less sleep.......I love my sleep and get rather cranky without 7-8 hours a night, so I'm hoping I can adjust!

Hard to believe my belly's so big!!

Baby Showers

* This post was written on Jan 10th, but I misplaced my camera, lol, so it's a little behind!

This past weekend, we had two baby showers!  One on Saturday given by Mitch's sister and aunt, and one on Sunday given by my aunt, best friend, and her mom.  Everyone's generosity, thoughtfulness, and kindness overwhelmed me.  We received so many things for baby Reineke!

The nursery is now ready to go with the exception of needing a changing pad!  Baby's dresser is overflowing with blankets and clothes from all of our family and friends.  I actually feel like we could bring her home tomorrow and be good to go!!!

Hubby was a little overwhelmed by all of the pink.  He just looked at our kitchen table piled high with gifts and said all he could see was pink!  I told him that pretty soon, once she arrived, he wouldn't have a problem with pink at all!  It would just be the everyday norm.

Here are a few pictures from the showers:

Saturday Shower thrown by sister Kelly and aunt Marlene

Sunday Shower thrown by friend Justine, aunt Marcia, and family friend Yanci. 

Excited for the new year!

I’m super excited for 2012!!!  I can’t wait to meet our baby girl in February and enjoy a month off work with her! I can’t wait to spend days snuggling with her and am looking forward to sleepless nights and long days!  (I know in a month or two my opinion will be completely different as I beg/plead for some sleep.)

We have our baby showers this weekend!  Yes, I said showers as in plural.  We have one in Ord on Saturday afternoon and one on Sunday afternoon!  We’re going to go from an empty nursery to a packed full nursery in just one weekend!  I’m excited to be able to finally know what we need!  I’ve been holding off on buying stuff for our little girl because I know we’ll get tons of stuff from family and friends.  BUT, how am I supposed to nest and get everything ready for our princess without any stuff??? I know that this weekend is going to feel like running a marathon and my swollen feet will probably reflect just that, but I’m really looking forward to all the time spent with family and friends!

It’s finally starting to sink in that pretty soon we’ll have a little girl in our arms.  Being pregnant is fun, don’t get me wrong, but I’m dying to hold our little girl and count her fingers and toes and see that she’s okay!  This pregnancy has seemed to drag on, maybe because I’ve been pregnant for most of the last year.  It seems like I’ve been praying for a little one for forever and now my prayers are going to be answered!!

I’m in week 33 of pregnancy and with that I’m starting to experience some new symptoms.  I’ve been lucky in the sense that middle of the night bathroom trips were not something I had to do, even in the first trimester….This past week I’ve been going up and down the stairs like a crazy lady!!  Who knew that something so small could kick your bladder so hard?!?!  I’ve also begun to experience sleeplessness……my mind is constantly running with things that I/we need to do before our little girl arrives that it never shuts off!  Falling asleep is hard, staying asleep is harder!  I’m sure my body is just preparing itself for the new level of exhaustion that I’m about to experience, but I’m thinking it’d be smart to ‘store-up’ on sleep! 

Some fun-facts:

•          Our little one weighs in a little over 4 lbs and has passed the 17 inch mark!!
•           Her brain is growing super fast!
•          Her bones are hardening!
•          She only has a few more weeks of growing in-utero before she’ll be ready for life on the outside!

Missing Taylor

One year ago.......We lost you.   In my mind, I didn't lose you when I actually miscarried.  I lost you when the doctor told us you were gone.  Even though I miscarried at 10 weeks gestation, I have 9 weeks on your memorial necklace that I can't take off.

I wear your memorial necklace always.  Taking it off is hard and seems like I'm taking you out of my mind.  I love to hold onto it as I think of you during the day.  It sounds crazy, but when I talk to you I hold onto it also.  I'm so glad that there are jewelry sites that specialize in miscarriage and loss jewelry.  When I ordered a necklace shortly after our appointment, I didn't know that I would cherish it so much.  I also didn't know that it would be a 'connection'  to you.

I also love it because when people ask about my necklace, I get to tell them about you.

Front of necklace

Back of necklace

"The mention of my child's name may bring tears to my eyes,

 but it never fails to bring music to my ears. 

If you are really my friend, 

let me hear the beautiful music of his name. 

It soothes my broken heart and sings to my soul."