False Alarm!

37 Weeks, 5 Days

At this point I am not sure if my belly is getting any bigger, and I am not sure how much it matters if it does or doesn't! I do know that Baby Sanchez is supposed to continue gaining weight at 1/2 lb a week, though!

So early Friday morning was fun; we had our first "false alarm!" I woke up around 3:45 with contractions ranging between 6 and 7 minutes apart. Eventually I woke up Fred. He said, “I’m not ready; my desk is a mess with jobs.” I told him to stay calm, that enough time had not gone by to know if this was the real thing or not. We kept timing them and Fred got out of bed and started adding some of his clothes to the bag I’ve already packed for the hospital. I kept thinking this can’t be for real yet, because there are too many things left to do and our house is a mess! Not only that, but I ordered Harry Potter Book 7 to keep me distracted in the early stages of labor, and it hadn’t arrived yet! (it came Friday afternoon) The cramps were uncomfortable, but the contractions were more annoying than anything, so I decided to get up and walk around to see if they’d go away. They seemed to start spacing out a little more as I wondered around the house and doted on Miss Maddie. A warm shower really helped , and the contractions spread to 10 minutes apart. Around 5:30 I decided to try to go back to sleep. Though a few more contractions woke me up, and continued irregularly through the day, I realized that Friday wasn’t going to be “the day.”

How much of this stuff can a girl take? I decided that I was over exhausted from keeping way too busy (between Cafe Catholica, baby showers, other social nights out, working on the nursery, doing last minute pre-baby errands and working 5 days a week, I haven't been getting much rest). So I cut down my weekend activities to rest. Now I have a manageable number of contractions in a day :-)

Some of the added problem: Baby Sanchez decided to flip from head down to either transverse or breech (i can't really tell). Seriously, that is a way less comfortable position for him to be in and he needs to hurry up and flip back!

On a fun note, Connie and Jeannette hosted a diaper shower for us yesterday, and we had a great time! They put all kinds of work into it, and we had a wonderful time seeing friends we don't see very often. Look at this super cool diaper cake Jeannette made for us! We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends to help us prepare for this great adventure we are about to begin. The gifts we've received from our friends, at showers and not, have been so incredibly awesome and thoughtful. (Susan hand made us a precious baby blanket - I will post a picture of that when I can!) Everyone's kindness has touched us so deeply!

Such a cutie!

Okay, I wouldn't be a good mama if I didn't brag on my baby now and then. We had another ultrasound today and got these fabulous shots! This one below shows our baby's sweet little face! Our little one is going to look just like Daddy! Look at those big cheeks and little pug nose!

I just thought this one was too funny. The baby has such a frown on it's face! Definitely Fred's lips ;-).

The ultrasound weight estimate is 6 lbs 7 ozs - in the37th percentile for size. Not too bad, slightly smaller than average (good for me and getting this little booger into the outside world) but not small enough for concern. Considering that neither Fred nor I are big people, I'd be worried fi this was a big baby!

Now that we are full term, its just waiting until our little one decides to come!

Dropped?

36 Weeks, 6 Days

Apologies first for being late with my post! We got home last night around 7:30 after a wonderful shower with Fred’s whole Texas family that his sister Fiona threw for us. Of course, after leaving Miss Maddie to herself all day, we gave her some loving and then took her for a nice walk before getting down to the business of organizing the nursery. Of course, by the time we’d moved the furniture around, unloaded all kinds of cute baby goodies out of packages, and marveled at the tiny-ness of it all, it was 10:30, and I still needed a shower! So thus I did not get around to posting. But here is my pic - I have received a few comments that the baby has "dropped" in the last few days. What do you think?

This week was sad, with Rene Horvath’s Rosary Monday night and funeral on Tuesday. He was a great friend of my family since shortly after he fled to the US from communist Hungary in the late 50s. He and his wife of 30 years married later in life, never had any children, and not much other family (none in Houston). Even with my big, extended family, its enough to make having 6 kids of my own sound like a wonderful idea.

Fred and I watched Knocked Up a few weeks ago and I related to many parts of the movie, even though it wasn't all that great of a flick. At one point the pregnant main character is sitting on the curb with her legs spread wide. I wondered why they'd shown her that way because even when it isn't totally comfortable I try to keep my legs crossed, or at least together! Then I saw the pictures from the baby shower my coworkers threw me...

So much for being prim and proper!

Since we are really nearing the end, and the time of waiting has begun, I am now visiting the doctor every week. This past week they did another blood test. Good news! My platelet count came back about 20 points higher than last time, so no worries there. The doctor said though that my fundal height was measuring the same as the week before so she ordered an ultrasound to check the baby's size and my amniotic fluid. Most likely, however, as I mentioned earlier, the baby is just dropping low in my pelvis, making it hard to measure my uterus as she gets ready to come into the world!

Baby has to hang tight for at least another week, though. There is too much left to be done! But I hope she doesn't hang too tight - like until the end of August!

Showered with Love

35 Weeks, 5 Days

Time is just flying by as we continue to get ready for Baby Sanchez's arrival. Today my sisters and my aunts hosted a shower for me that consisted of mostly family. I had a wonderful time, and so generous to put it together! We received so many thoughtful gifts, ranging from the must haves to the nice to haves - actually everything is a nice to have when you have not much of anything!

While I am excited about all of it, and have been busy in the baby's room all evening, I think the gift I am the most excited about, because it brings back so many memories, is Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose. Elizabeth and her mom bought it for me, even though Elizabeth says she doesn't remember the beautiful stories written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola, but I certainly do! He is the creator of Strega Nona!

The gift that gave me the most warm fuzzies was originally a gift from my Grandmother to my Mother, for me. Its a beautiful christening blanket with matching socks and a handkerchief bonnet that my "Mom" made for me. It is so beautiful and I don't ever recall having seen it before!

Yesterday was a little exhausting, but fun, as CECO had their annual "picnic" that this year went to Jillian's. Because I was on the planning committee, I ended up doing a lot of working, taking pics, etc, but still got to have a lot of fun. I even did some bowling, much to my mother's concern! Being 8 months pregnant isn't keeping me back from much!

Not much else to comment on, except that Baby Sanchez is still tumbling around in there like a little monkey, so they will check on his position at my next appointment on Thursday. They'll also do blood work then, so we'll know a little more about what my platelets are doing :-P.

Big Belly Blues

I knew the belly was growing out of control when I:

- stopped wearing shoes with ties or buckles
- started asking Fred to give me a little push out of bed
…or off the couch
…or a pull out of a chair. That is, of course, until we bought the exercise ball - good for those core muscles and I just roll right off!
- used my Bella Band for the first time in months so no one would see my belly poking out from under a maternity shirt that no longer fits.
- started seeking out the handicap stalls in public restrooms: they are bigger, have hand rails for support, and seats that are higher off the ground.
- had to move the hymnal from the pew back in front of me at Mass so I could kneel.
- modified to a “sit-kneel” position at Mass because my belly hits the pew in front of me before my knees hit the kneeler.
- could no longer take advantage of my ability to park my car in extra small spaces that everyone else avoids because I can’t get out of the car once parked.
- tried to squeeze sideways through a crowd only to have my belly bump into every person I passed.
- could no longer eat a full meal without feeling like I just left Thanksgiving dinner.
- was lifting myself out of my desk chair at work and the arm rest broke off and flew across the room under the strain of my body weight.
- had to start using a mirror to check for stretch marks on the underside of my belly.
- stopped painting my own toenails.
- lost my balance and fell over backwards while digging through a bottom cabinet (sprawled on the floor, I almost died laughing – my Mom and Fred looked a little more concerned!).

Fun with Photoshop

So after taking today's pic I noticed how my belly just seems to have busted outward in the last week, so I thought I'd try an overlay in photoshop to see what the real difference looks like and it is pretty insane. If Fred and I were setting these belly shots up right, we'd make sure that he always took them at the exact same angle, from the exact same distance and I'd always look the exact same direction - but we haven't done that, so just work with what I've got:

From last week to this week:

From Week 10 to Week 34:

Kinda funny how I can't keep my back quite as straight these days...

Just thought I'd share. Regular update posted earlier today :-)

Summer Days Drifting Away

34 Weeks, 5 Days

So it has finally happened - the clothes that seemed to hang over my barely showing baby bulge are too small! Of course some shirts still fit better than others, but man! I know I keep saying that the third trimester is a lot like the first - but again another parallel as I find myself putting on clothes that fit the week before only to take them off in favor of something a little bit bigger!

The belly also keeps shifting around and taking different forms - its not consistently round these days! With all of the kicking and knocking about Baby Sanchez is doing in there, he must be remodeling. He's at least tacking up some posters or something. The only time he seems to really chill out is when Vicki is around, since she wants to see the crazy shapes my belly takes as he moves around. We had dinner and I did everything I could think of to wake him up and get him going and all I got were a few sleepy kicks.

Also a note on the use of the word "he" in the blog, as has been pointed out to me a few times recently. Baby Sanchez may very well be a "she," but he is my general pronoun of choice. In fact, my feelings are that Baby Sanchez is a girl - I've said that from the beginning. Fred is convinced we are having a little girl. Feeling as such, I like calling the baby a he just to make things all well rounded and prepare for either one. The way this little stinker moves around, a boy won't be surprising either. It will be exciting to find out and bring our little boy or girl home!

STRETCH!

33 Weeks, 5 Days

I don't know what is up with my belly in this week's picture - it looks more square than round! That is probably because Baby Sanchez is into stretching out and doesn't have enough room to do so freely these days. In all honesty, I kind of wish he'd cut it out; it isn't really comfortable! Most of the time, his hiccups indicate that he's about ready to come into the world with his head down, but earlier this week he flipped transverse - laying lengthwise in my belly. Instead of leaving his little feet kicking harmlessly out at the world on my side, he was kicking my insides! Yowch! Now that his feet are back where they should be, it is fun to watch my belly move. When he moves his little feet my belly looks like a blanket with a mouse (or something) running around underneath it.

In other excitement this week (well besides the fun of the doctor's office) Fred and I picked up our new stroller and car seat - Thanks Aunt Paula & Uncle Buddy for the gift! Fred put it all together by himself and did a great job. I practiced swaddling and wrapped up Baby Panda Sanchez and put him into the carrier. We even tested it out in both of our cars to make sure it fits well. It is a squeeze in the Mustang, but will have to do until the Accord is paid off.

Miss Maddie was quite interested in what on earth we were doing! Then I played the sound of a baby crying and put the speaker behind the wrapped panda bear. Miss Maddie seemed very concerned, but eventually got frustrated and started barking. Her barking probably won't help so much with an already crying baby, but at least the baby can hear her barking now, so at least he'll be used to it by the time he gets here!

Thursday I added a registry at Pottery Barn Kids. I picked some items on Sale for baby's bedding and as I was leaving asked how long the sale was going on - ha turns out it is clearance (apparently there is a "fall line" in baby bedding!?!) and everything I registered for may not even be there for much longer. While I could redo it, at least if anyone shops soon, they'll get any of that stuff at a great bargain! We'll just have to see what happens - I'll keep my eye on it and swing by the store in the Galleria to see what is still there next week.