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!