week 37 and then some

my e-mail update:
Congratulations! Your baby is full-term! This means that if your baby arrives now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though your due date is still three weeks away. He weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long.

we went to the doctor last week, and i believe his exact words were: whoa! that's a big baby. but that's all he said. so we went back this week and saw our regular doctor, and he mentioned how big the baby was again. we have an ultrasound set up for next week to see exactly how big this baby is, and to make sure that a vaginal delivery is still viable. all of this is beside the point though, because after our fist birthing class on monday night, i decided not to give birth. it doesn't look like fun. =) i will find a magical solution and have nemo without the reality of birth. no they haven't started giving me drugs yet.
it was funny, when we were making an appointment for next week to have the ultrasound and our weekly check up, it hit me that really we only have two weeks left. two weeks! that's going to fly by. where has the past nine months gone? ben and i are both getting really excited to meet this little one and bring them home to our family.
on sunday, ben's grandma had a baby shower for me and it was very nice. nemo got a lot of great things that will really help us out. especially if nemo skips the newborn size and goes straight to the big kids size. =) i mean if the doctor seems concerned at how big the baby is, this must be one big effing baby. but the goal is still a natural birth. after hearing about the pain med options, i've decided to go as long as i can without, knowing that i might not be able to do it all. and then i think an epidural will happen. but who knows, maybe i won't need anything...i'm going to remain flexible. for all of you wanting to know the date, we are still go for on time. the baby hasn't lightened or anything yet. which is good, considering we are supposed to get a total of 8 to 12 inches of snow today. on top of ice. it's a great day to stay in bed....

a winter wonderland and other things

week 36's email update:

Your baby is gaining about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy hair that covered her body, as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Next week, your baby will be considered full-term. Most likely she's in a head-down position, but if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an external cephalic version, where she'll try to turn your baby by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

it's been a quiet week. louie has developed a severe and constant case of gas. there's not much paint left on our walls. it doesn't seem to bother him though....the silent but deadlies (sbds) are the worst. they even woke me up last night....any suggestions?
tommorrow is our weekly check up with the doctor.

a wave hello....

so ben and i went in for our check up yesterday. we are officially 35.6 weeks along. so tommorrow we will be 36 weeks pregnant, i guess. while we were there, and we will be going weekly now, they had to do an ultrasound. the doctor was afraid the head was up and the butt was down. and even at first on the ultrasound that looked to be the case, but no. turns out nemo really does just have a big butt. =) the coolest thing happened during the ultrasound though. we got a very clear picture of nemo's hand and got to see nemo curl his/her fingers into a fist, it looked like nemo was waving hello to us. which i choose to believe is the case. =)
we got six inches of snow yesterday. it's in the single digits. good thing i don't have to go outside if i don't want to. on the bright side, tommorrow we get a new couch. yippeee...i took some pictures of the farm in the snow. it's really beautiful here. i might post them, but they're on my fancy camera, so it will take awhile to hook it up...that and i need to be able to bend over to do it, so i might have to wait for ben to get home. =)

week 35

not much to report from here on out, but here's my weekly e-mail update:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

nesting and more nesting...

so, this has been a week of intense nesting. on monday we bought a new car. well, new to us. ben and i are proud to introduce to the world our baby mobile, amelia. she is a 2005 jeep liberty renegade, an emerald pearl colour, which means pretty green, has four doors (yea!), and most importantly, four wheel drive. all the better to insure that i can get to the hospital, the doctors, and most importantly, the pain medication when the big day arrives. ironically enough, the day after we bought her it snowed and iced so much that we had to use four wheel drive to get out of the driveway and it hasn't let up yet. so, i guess we got her in the nick of time. tuesday we went and bought a couch. so for all of you that might be visiting us, never fear the futon is going and is being replaced with a nice couch with a hide a bed in it. ben assures me that there is no bar of death. i would have tried it out, but getting in and out of bed are my least graceful moments these days and i had no desire to make weird grunting noises in public. nemo is still doing great, as far as i can tell. nemo definently inherited ben's jungle booty and loves to press as hard as he/she can into my ribs. lots of kicking and elbowing, and squirming around. which is understandable. it's getting a little crowded. on a funny note, ben and i had no problems deciding and agreeing on amelia as the baby mobile's name. apparently it's just naming people that we have issues with. =) nemo it is.

pictures

1~ben and i at christmas with louie

2~ me and my diaper cake








3~ grandma and lori hard at work designing onesies

4~ eric and resa trying to decipher nursery rhymes



5~ me and ben pre baby shower at mom's










6~ me and my girls outside mom's

7~ and them giving love to nemo

Hello there all.......
Until Nemo arrives and is breathing air, I (Superdad) will be his/her translator. Thus far Nemo has told me gurgle-goop-bladda-boo and such. There will be a press release when the aforementioned future rocket/brain/super amazing scientist has more to say.

week 34

here's what my weekly e-mail says about nemo's development (it usually alternate's between he and she, we still don't know):
Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which she'll need to regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

a bit of christmas

here's ben christmas morning, trying on our new baby carrier. yes he's in his pjs (actually they were myne at one point in time) and yes that is a traditional christmas morning salty dog in his hand....i tried to wear the carrier but it didn't fit well over my belly....as you can imagine. nemo is still doing well, but i'm afriad i may be starting to go a bit stir crazy...i clean a lot. and i started a new quilt. i know once nemo is here i will be glad i had all the free time and wish i had spent it sleeping, but until then i am a bit at odds...not that we want nemo any earlier. the longer nemo cooks, the better for nemo...

the final countdown

well, it's the final countdown...nemo is due to arrive in just over a month. ben and i decided this would be a good format to keep extended family and friends up to date. assuming we can keep this up to date. =) valentine's day is the official day, but i've been put on light duty by the doctor to make sure little nemo doesn't come early, so we'll see. ben and i went out to eat last night to celebrate new year's eve (we were both asleep by 830pm by the way) and i realized that i must have passed a certain point in pregnancy. no longer are people asking me when i'm due, they're asking me how much longer i have. the belly button's still in, so i must not be ready to pop yet...we've had baby showers, so i will post pics as soon as i am able and i'm sure ben will have something to say as well. the most important thing: all is going well. we are right on track and the baby looks great, according to the doctor.