The Countdown is ON!!!!!

We are 38 weeks today!!!! I never thought the day would come when we would be only 2 weeks away from our due date! This is so surreal! It seems like just yesterday when Justin and I found out we were going to be parents that rainy Spring evening on May 13th 2010! The emotions were so strong that night and they have yet to calm since then! We are beyond happy, excited, anxious, nervous, and thrilled to be parents to this little boy of ours! It will be any day now that we will be able to hold our little Ethan and start sharing wonderful memories as a family!

We feel 100% ready for Baby Ethan now! Such a great feeling! Everything on our "To Do" list is now checked off and our hospital bags are packed with the car seat installed! It is such a big relief knowing we are now ready! We are obviously feeling a lot of anticipation for the labor and delivery, but we are keeping our focus on little Ethan and wishing him to be a healthy baby boy! That is our only concern at this time and please keep us in your thoughts as we approach this special day!

A week ago I had a doctor's appointment and I had not started progressing yet. I was 0% effaced with no dilation. However, it was confirmed the baby has been officially dropped for a while and the doctor could even feel his head. At our appointment 2 days ago we had progressed quite a bit! I was 80% effaced and 1 cm dilated! We are very excited that the progression has begun! It is just a waiting game now! The doctor thinks he could arrive a little early since he has been so low, but we are hoping he stays put until at least this time next week!

I have had such a great pregnancy so far! I received negative results on all my tests, my blood pressure has been great, and my weight gain has been very healthy. Sure there have been some side effects I could have done without, but in all an easy pregnancy! In every ultrasound Ethan has been right on target as well! I am still measuring small, but the doctor is not worried at all! But, this last month has been very hard on my body! I cannot believe the difference I feel from just a few weeks ago! I am usually fine during the day, just an achy body, but by night time my body hurts so bad that I cannot sit, stand, or even lay down without being terribly uncomfortable! I have had have so much pressure on my lower abdomen and into my pubic bone for about 2 weeks now that it is almost unbearable at times. My hips and lower back hurt quite a bit and sometimes my legs don't even feel like they are attached to my body! I guess it's just all the pressure from the baby being so low. Thank goodness for my amazing husband! He has seen my activity level drop a lot the past few days and has been helping me out tremendously! I know I can get through anything with his love and support! I am so lucky! :) I understand that these uncomfortable days will soon be a thing of the past, so I am trying to appreciate every last moment of being pregnant with my little Ethan! It won't be long now!

Here are some updated photos of Ethan's room! It is pretty much finished, just need to hang some pictures. We plan to put a big newborn picture of him over the changing table when he arrives! We cannot wait to start taking pictures of our little guy!!!!

This is a painting my sweet and talented friend Robin made for baby Ethan! The painting is so precious and we LOVE it so much!




Ethan has lots of toys in his Toy Tote!




We just love all the books! Justin reads to baby Ethan already and his favorite book is, "I love you Daddy!"

Less than a month to go!

Today we are 36 weeks! Baby will be considered full term this time next week! It seems impossible! Soon, Justin and I will be holding our little boy and will officially be our own little family!

I am feeling very tried these days and just want to sleep all the time. I better stock up on the sleep now, because it will soon be very difficult to get to rest. I have been having some mild cramping, but nothing consistent. I also have been having less heartburn which is such a relief, just another sign he has dropped! My back has been hurting more and more as well.

We had another doctor's appointment this week and everything wen't great! Justin and I were able to ask Dr. Grounds her opinion's on pain medications, when to go to the hospital if we think we are in labor, and other things to expect when the big day arrives. Being first time parents, we both are feeling pretty prepared and I know taking classes really helped. We took a 5 week birthing class, breastfeeding, newborn care and just finished a CPR class this week. At the same time, there is always a sense of anxiousness and feelings of being overwhelmed every now and then. She definitely thinks he is down low because of where she had to place the heartbeat monitor. When we go back next week, we will find out the position of the baby and if any progress has taken place yet.

We have had some fun things happen this week! We finally took some maternity photos! Trying to save money, we did them ourselves and I think they turned out pretty good thanks to my talented Hubby! We plan to take some more this weekend too with Justin and I together. We also ordered our car seat and it should be here on Friday. We still need a few more big items, but may hold off on those for a while. I had some onesies made by a sweet friend a while back that arrived last week that says 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 1 year on them! They will be great for his milestone photos! They are so cute and so personal! Definitely one of my favorites things for Ethan so far!

Everything else is going well, just trying to mark things off our To Do lists before our little guy gets here! Next item on the list......packing the hospital bag! How surreal is that?!

Happy 3 Year Wedding Anniversary today to my best friend and love of my life! I LOVE YOU!

35 weeks!

Wow! It is unbelievable! We are 35 weeks today! Only 5 weeks left to go until our due date! In 2 weeks he will be considered full term so he could come at any time! This week officially marked the beginning of my feelings of nervousness and anxiousness! I am so ready for him to be here, but at the same time feel there is still so much left to do. I guess you can never be fully prepared for the birth of your first baby, but I hope to feel a little more prepared in a few days. Justin is handling everything great and being fully supportive, but I can tell he is feeling there is no time to waste either! We are both trying to finalize everything and checking things off our To Do lists. We did order his Playard and High Chair this week. But we still need to get his car sear, stroller and extra car seat base, along with a some smaller items like Halo Sleepsacks!

I think my feelings of anxiousness are taking over even more because I can feel he has dropped. My Doctor could feel his head very low into my pelvis this week. This could mean he will be on his way very soon!

A lot has happened in the past 3 weeks, I am not even sure where to begin!

About 3 weeks ago on November 16th, I had an appointment where my doctor measured my Fundal Height (where you measure in centimeters the top of the uterus to the top pubic bone to make sure the size correlates with the week of pregnancy you are in). She had measured it once before at a prior appointment and it was totally off, but assumed it was because it was too early. Although, fundal height measuring is not an accurate way to determine the size of the fetus, it is a good general procedure done at most visits. So when I went in for my 32 week appointment I was only measuring at 27 weeks, clearly measuring small compared to most women. The doctor reassured me that is most likely the way I am built and not anything wrong with the baby, however she wanted to do a Sonogram to make sure. The doctor said my weight gain had been ideal throughout the pregnancy and along with a strong heartbeat and consistent movements from Ethan, she was not concerned anything was wrong but wanted a more accurate way to measure the baby. My heart instantly dropped when I heard we needed the Sono. We had not needed an unplanned Sono at all before and even though it was just a safety precaution, I was extremely worried something was wrong with Ethan. The worst part was, we had to wait 2 weeks before we could get into an appointment. The doctor tried to explain again that if she were that concerned, then I would be in the emergency Sono right then or would send me to another hospital, but she said there is no reason to worry. So I scheduled my appointment for 2 weeks out and did exactly what she told me not to do....worry. I was very upset for the rest of the day and the next. Knowing I had to wait so long to make sure my baby was doing well made me very emotional.

I was at the appointment alone so I instantly called Justin to tell him that I was measuring small and we needed a Sono. I was clearly in tears so Justin felt the need to call the doctor later that afternoon. Once he was able to get the full story from the nurse he immediately felt better, which made me feel better. Over the next few days I was feeling Ethan move more than ever before, almost like he was telling me, "Mom, I am fine there is nothing to worry about!" My motherly instincts were also telling me that he was just fine as well. So I eventually started to trust my body more and I stopped worrying. We didn't tell our family because we both knew deep down everything was fine and didn't want to cause any unnecessary scares.

Finally, November 29th rolled around and it was time for the Sonogram! I was so excited for this appointment, but at the same time I felt a sense of calmness because I knew the Tech was going to tell me he was on target. She looked at everything and she measured him 3 different time to make sure it was accurate and she determined he was indeed measuring perfect! He was weighing in at 5 lb. 4 oz which was perfect for week 34!

I met with my doctor the next day and she was very happy with the results and just reiterated that due to my build and being long waisted I will just look smaller that other women pregnant. She once again said my weight gain has been perfect and that I should be very proud of myself for taking care of my body and most importantly, Ethan. Just like our Birthing Instructor said the other night, "if there is ever a time to eat healthy in your whole life, it is when you are pregnant." I definitely cannot say that I have eaten perfectly this whole pregnancy (sweets do get the best of me), but I am cautious of the amount of "bad foods" I put in my mouth as it not only effects me, but Ethan as well.

So all that to say, we had our first obstacle in this pregnancy, but everything turned out great in the end!

Not only did we have a great Thanksgiving, but we also had 2 baby showers in the past couple of weeks!

First was a smaller family shower on my side of the family! My cousin Kristin, Aunt Florence and Mom all hosted the shower and they did a great job! We got a lot of great essentials! Here are some of the highlights:









Then we had our last baby shower at Justin's parents house! It was so fun and got a lot of great stuff for Baby Ethan!

8 Months!

We are into our 8th month this week and 32 weeks along! The finish line is drawing nearer! Things are going really well and overall I am feeling great! I can feel Ethan is definitely getting longer by the vast area of activity being covered in my belly! By this week he could have all his hair and sharp fingernails! We will need to pack some nail clippers in our hospital bag for sure! Speaking of, I have already made out my hospital bag list and lets just say Justin has his work cut out for him!

Our birthing classes are still very informative and we toured the hospital this week. The hospital has been around the KC area forever and has a great reputation for advanced medical practices and high security (they have never lost a baby!). It's great because right when you check in you get your own newly renovated labor/delivery room that is spacious and full of nice conveniences. The downfall is the Mommy and Me room after delivery is not updated and very small. It's probably what a hospital room looked like when Justin and I were born! The hospital is breaking ground on a whole new Maternity ward soon so that is why they have neglected to update the recovery rooms. It is really neat because when they finish their new construction, the older Maternity ward will be the NICU section and all the NICU babies will get their own rooms! I thought that was really sweet. There is a newer hospital that we also have rights to that we may go check out after Thanksgiving.

Last weekend was my baby shower in Kansas City! I am so lucky to have met great friends in Kansas City considering we knew absolutely no one when we moved here! I was missing a few people (you know who you are!) who could not make it, but I hope I get to see them soon! My friend Kelli hosted the lovely shower and she did a great job! Our activity was to decorate little onsies with iron on animals, paints, and fabric markers. It was fun to have a project and bring out our creative side! Ethan also received some great things like:

Cute outfits
Piggy bank
Hooded towels
Blankets
Matress cover and sheet saver
Bottle warmer
Baby Einstien toy

Here are some pictures:

My sweet host Kelli!



The decoration table!



Two of my oldest friends in KC, Alicia and Neatra!





Me and Christina! Our boys are less than 3 weeks apart!

31 Weeks!

We are 31 weeks today! 63 more days until Ethan's due date! It is quickly approaching! He is estimated to be about 3.3 lb. (which is similar to carrying 4 naval oranges!) and over 16 inches long! He is gaining about a 1/2 a week now and will continue to do so for the next few weeks.

He is still very active but is taking longer naps now. He still likes to keep me up a night by moving and kicking, especially around 3-5 a.m. which makes it very hard to sleep along with the frequent bathroom breaks and heartburn that never seems to stop, but it is all worth it! This pregnancy has just been a blessing. About a week ago his movements started to feel a little different. I think he is now head down with his back towards me (at least I hope so)! He seems to be more prevalent on my right side at all times. I go to the doctor next Tuesday, so I hope she is able to tell me how he is positioned.

Justin and I recently started childbirth classes. We will attend them once a week for 5 weeks. Last night was night two, and we really focused on relaxation techniques and ways to stay positive during labor. We are currently deciding on a birth plan. We both have a lot more research and discussions ahead of us, but for now we are hoping to go drug free for as long as possible during labor. It all of course will depend on the situation when the time comes and if we are healthy enough to make our own decisions, but we plan to have as less interventions as possible. We learned last night how important it is to spend the first two hours after delivery bonding with baby with just Mommy and Daddy. I know it will be hard to keep the visitors waiting, but it is such a crucial time to spend with baby.

Justin and I also just celebrated our 10 year anniversary on November 9th! It's hard to believe I met him when I was only 17 years old! We were just kids! This anniversary has always meant so much to us, even more than our wedding anniversary and it always will. These have been the best 10 years of our lives and we are so thankful that we cannot even put into words!

Justin's parents recently took us to Chicago for a short weekend getaway. It was mainly for a business trip with Justin's Father's company, but it was also a great time to spend away before Ethan is born. It was our last trip just the two of us and the last time we will not have to lug around baby gear for a while! Oh, the fun that lies ahead! Ha!





Justin and I did not buy anything for ourselves, all we wanted to do was shop for little Ethan which is way more fun! Here are a few of the things we got:

Here are some Kicky Pant outfits for Ethan! Kicky Pants are made from bamboo and are so soft and comfy! I know Ethan will just love being in his Kicky Pants!



A couple outfits from H & M and Baby Gap. I absolutely loved H & M Baby! There were so many cute basics to choose from.



These are also so soft and sweet made of organic cotton from Egypt a line called "Under the Nile." Very cute and affordable!



Justin's Mom found these funny little things! They are basically little teepees you place on baby boy's "wee wee" during diaper changes so that he does not pee in your face, all over the wall, on himself or anywhere else! Haha!



I was so excited to go to the Land of Nod store in Chicago which was just outside of the city. I was hoping for it to have lots of organic clothes and things, but it mainly sold nursery and kids room decor. We did find this cute wooden bamboo airplane that we bought. Ethan will not be able to play with it for a while, but it looks cute in his nursery for now!




Justin and I wanted to make some personalized things for baby Ethan. We borrowed a sewing machine and gathered materials to make burpies and baby blankets! Justin is way more talented than me with a sewing machine so he has actually been making them. It is really funny to see him sitting behind a sewing machine making burp cloths! He usually drinks a nice dark beer while he sews which makes it all seem a little more "manly!" Here are a few burpies so far!

4D Video

Halloween and 3/4D Ultrasound!

We had my Mom's Birthday/Halloween party this past weekend! I went as a Bump Sign! Justin was a blonde cowboy! Pretty funny!

We had our 3/4D Ultrasound yesterday! We were so excited to see our baby boy again, since we had not seen him in almost 11 weeks! We knew we would not be able to get perfect pictures, since it is very hard to get good pictures in the short 20 minute visit, but the visit far exceeded our expectations! Now, when we think about our baby boy we can actually visualize his precious face! I do not think it has left my mind for more than 5 seconds since the appointment!

Not only did we get to see some of his sweet little features, but best of all we got to watch him move and play the whole time! It is incredible how Ethan is already acting like a baby! We got to see him play with his feet in his hands, rub his eyes, yawn, suck his thumb and best of all smile over and over again! Even our ultrasound tech could not believe how much he was smiling! He must be one happy baby! Maybe he felt his Mommy smiling at him. :) He even has lots of hair on his head!

He weighed 2 pounds and 12 oz.! Most babies at his gestational age are only a little over 2 lb. so we could be in for a big boy! Even though my belly is not real big, we had a feeling he would be on the bigger side. He kept placing his arm over his face so we could not get a perfect shot of him. The tech kept shaking him and I even tried laying on my side and it didn't help. It actually made him move closer to me which is why on some of he pictures there is a lot of fuzziness. We could however see his nose and his lips pretty well and they look just like Justin! Even his facial expressions were just like his Daddy's! I saw a short glimpse of his chin and I think it looked a little more like mine, but it was only for a second. We saw his precious little ear! We also saw his boy parts, so no surprises there!

Here are some pictures. The video is even more amazing which Justin will be uploading sometime tonight! Enjoy! :)

Sweet little face:

This is a total Justin expression:

Chubby little fingers:

Precious little footprint:

Sucking his thumb:

Smiling:

Smiling again:

Hands:

Feet again:

7 Months!!!

We are 28 weeks today and officially in our third and final trimester! Baby is over 2 lbs. and is 14.8 inches long! In 12 short weeks we will be holding our precious little Ethan in our arms!

We had a doctor's appointment a couple of days ago and I had my glucose screening test. I was a little nervous for this test because of my extreme sugar addiction. So weeks leading up to the test I tried really hard to not over indulge in sweets. The test is designed to detect gestational diabetes which is becoming more widespread and a serious complication in pregnancies. My doctor told me she would call me if I failed it, however I have not heard anything yet so I am hoping no news is good news!

We heard little Ethan's racing sugar-high heart beat (I had to drink a sugary drink before the test) and Dr. Grounds said he sounds great! I have gained 16 pounds so far and Dr. Grounds said that I am right on track! Since I am so long I still do not have a real distinct bump and I am not sure if strangers can even tell I am pregnant yet. We are going to Chicago next weekend and we asked Dr. Grounds for a doctors note stating that I am healthy to fly in case the airline asks for it at check-in since I am in the third trimester. Dr. Grounds basically laughed at us and said I really only look 4 months pregnant and no one should say anything. So we'll see! Hopefully we will not have any problems! Even though my bump is not real big, my waist has grown from 26 inches to 34 inches so something must be growing in there! I am looking forward to my bump getting rounder in the next few weeks!

We have our 3/4D Ultrasound on Monday! We are so excited for this because Ethan has now developed all of his features! I wonder who he looks like?! I am really anxious to get another picture of his feet because in our first ultrasound his feet looked enormous! With the intensity of his kicks, I know those things have to be HUGE!

I promised myself I would not tell anyone this story because it will only embarrass myself, but what the heck! This is a baby blog to document all the funny things that happen during pregnancy, right?!

So with the Hogs actually being ranked this year we have seen more Razorback football games in the last couple months than we have seen in the 2 1/2 years since we have lived in Kansas. This has gotten us back into the football spirit and we have had so much fun on Saturday's sitting on the couch and watching the games! This also sparked memories of Justin's old High School football days when he played for the Greenland Pirates! :) Justin and I had just started dating during the very end of his football season our senior year of High School. I never got to watch him play, but I remembered how much he loved the sport. Justin played Tight End and was the Kicker. So one Saturday after watching the Hogs play he whipped out his old football highlights video (yes, VHS- have not seen one of those in years!). As we were watching the highlights of Justin catching passes, scoring touchdowns, kicking 43 yard field goals and sacking Shiloh Quarterbacks (can't remember, was there a rivalry there?!) with a big smile on his face, I decided since we were having a boy I wanted to make something special for Justin and Ethan.

I had planned for weeks to go to hobby Lobby and get an iron on football, letters and numbers to put on a onesie and make a little Terminella 80( Justin's football number) jersey . So I was so excited this week when I strolled down the isle and found everything I needed with the letters and numbers in blue! I immediately came home and started working on my project. I knew Justin would be home very soon so I was in a hurry to get it done as I could not wait any longer to show him the surprise. So there I am, ironing on letters on a little onesie thinking how easy is this?!

Justin comes home and I take him to the nursery and have him sit in the glider with his eyes closed. I start to tell him how I have been waiting weeks to do this and how excited I was to give him a gift for Ethan. I have him open his eyes and of course he has a huge smile on his face saying "awe" like he does, then..... he starts to stare at it a little closer and says, "Well, they spelt the name wrong"(the letters looked monogrammed so he though I took it somewhere to have it done). I looked at him with major concern and said what do you mean??! I then looked at the name on the back and sure enough the name was spelt T-E-R-M-I-E-L-L-A not TERMINELLA!!! "I left out the 'N', how could I do this?," I though to myself with embarrassment! At that point I was not sure if I wanted to blame it "on the monogram people" or tell him the shameful truth! Never being able to lie to Justin, I had to come clean. "I DID IT," I screamed feeling so incompetent! Justin began to laugh so hard he almost had tears in his eyes! I told him, "Well, it is a long last name!" He replied, "yeah, it can be hard to spell for someone who does not have the last name." This is a perfect example of "pregnant brain." Justin said it was my first real big brainless moment since I have been pregnant. I guess almost making it 7 months before my cluelessness started is pretty good. Ever since, he keeps pointing out my lack of brain cell comments I make. He is totally right, I admit it, I am a victim of pregnant brain!!!!

I began to get upset because the letters were already stuck on and I did not want to have to go buy more supplies and re-do it! So Justin, being the most crafty man that I know (he had the best pillow in his 7th grade sewing class after all) decided to take matters into his own hands. We began to re-heat the iron and peel off the letters. We were able to manipulate two letter "I's" and a couple of dashes (this was my idea by the way!) to make two letter L's (which I had ran out of) so we were able to spell the name correctly without having to re-do it with extra letters in the package! I was happy again! I really wanted the moment to be special so I asked Justin to re-enact the whole scenario again and act surprised. There were no mistakes this time!

Here are the pictures we took:

We have not done too much with the nursery lately except our glider arrived! We absolutely love it! It is the most comfortable chair in the world. It rocks, swivels and reclines for all those late night feedings! It fits me perfect, however Justin looks a little silly in it when it is reclined because his shins basically hang off. We now have all our furniture for the nursery and just need to add little things here and there.