Been a while since we had a 2 post day!

Does it count as a "2 post day" when post 1 was posted in the wee hours of the morning? I think so.

Here it is, 3:24pm on August 17.. the day my sister in law has declared will be Camryn's birthday.

She's been saying this for weeks and weeks now. Well, I actually think she started laying odds from day one, but I brushed it off in the beginning and fully expected my child to go past her due date.

But as the summer forged on and I became more and more uncomfortable, I began to not-so-secretly hope for a baby born sometime in the 37-40 week safety zone.

However, I didn't alter my expectations (much), until my 32 week appt when the doctor let us know that Camy was definitely head down and would likely stay that way.

Woohoo! Head down. That's good news. It means she's headed in the right direction (bwahaha, no pun intended, though it did make me chuckle).

Then at my 36 week appt, when we learned that we were already 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced AND that Baby Girl was low enough for the doctor to TOUCH HER HEAD (reiterate: touch. her. head!), my expectations began to shift a bit more.

Our first baby, and I'm already dilating? AND I'm already halfway to full effacement. That's GOTTA mean somethin', no?

One week later.. another centimeter dilated and 80% effaced.. gettin' antsy!

Doc Man said he was very impressed with that 80%. Said that wasn't easy to do, and will probably mean things will move quickly once they actually kick into gear. WOW. Four words stuck in my head, "things will move quickly".

Nurse lady (who we adore) asked us several times if we were sure we were ready.. bags packed? Car seat installed? House ready? Yup, yup, yup. Oooohh.. this is getting exciting.

Then last night's contractions....

Oh boy. Or girl, as the case may be.

There was a good hour and a half last night that I was pumped and SURE that our little love would make her appearance sometime today. I couldn't believe my SIL was going to be right.. but I was so excited!!

Bwahaha.

Not so much.

3:28 pm... not a contraction felt since about 230am.

Water's still in tact.

No signs of imminent labor.

I have had some "lightening crotch" and definite uterine tightening (for lack of a better description), but nothing painful.. nothing time-able.. nothing to lead me to believe I should put the bags in the car now.

I know things can change on a dime, and SIL still has 8 1/2 hours left in the day for her oh-so-sure-of-herself prediction to become a reality, but I'm not holding my breath.

Not practicing my labor breathing either.

We have our next appt bright and early tomorrow morning and I am hope-hope-hoping for more progress. Or better yet.. SO MUCH MORE progress that the dr will joyfully instruct us to go on next door to the L&D wing.

Wouldn't that be lovely?

Lovely.

But not likely.

I think we're in this for the long haul.

You've got about 10 days, Baby Girl, before I start the eviction process.

A letter to my daughter.

Dear Camryn,

Let me go to sleep.

I promise I can be a much better host to you in there if I am well-rested.

And these random contractions?

Not a fan. At all.

Daddy and I went walking today (at the mall.. because it has air conditioner) in an effort to get things moving along. So you need to make up your mind baby girl.. either you agree with us and want to give it the green light, or you don't.

No more of this back and forth stuff.

Contractions coming at random intervals for an hour and then disappearing?

Why? Why are you doing this to me?

Contractions that wake me up from a dead sleep and get my adrenaline pumping and excitement up so I that I can't fall back to sleep even after you've changed your mind and the contractions have subsided?

REALLY?!?

I am exhausted, baby girl.

My back hurts.

My hips hurt.

My head hurts.

Please, if I should be so lucky as to crawl back into bed and fall asleep once more.. let me stay that way for a while.

The next time you feel like turning the contractions back on, let's have it be the real deal? Mmkay?

Whether that happens tomorrow (like your Aunt Amy is CONVINCED of) or next week.. whatever. The next time I have to look at the clock to time the gap between contractions needs to actually MEAN something.

Remember sweet girl, we love you.

I am getting a tad impatient with your indecisiveness, but I still love you more than you'll ever know.

Can't wait to see your sweet face.

Love,

Mommy

37w6d

I can't sleep, so I survey.

How far along?: Thirty. Seven. Weeks. FULL TERM, baby!

Total weight gain: 44 pounds. That's 3 pounds gained in just the last WEEK. Oh. My. Word. 

How big is baby?: Average would be 6 1/3ish pounds, and 19ish inches long. Wonder if Camy is anywhere close to that? Given my weight gain, if I had to venture a guess on her weight, I'd say she's at least 20 lbs by now!

Maternity clothes?: Same as last week.. maternity clothes must be shrinking in the wash. Boo. 

Stretch marks?: We have managed to dodge the stretch mark bullet another week. Yay! ('Cept for the boobies, of course.)

Sleep?: Well, its 11:06 pm on a Tuesday night, and rather than being snuggled up in my bed I am here filling out this weekly survey. What does that tell you about my sleep situation? On top of my insomnia, Baby Girl chilling down low is putting lots-o-pressure on my poor, squished bladder. That means my frequent midnight bathroom runs are even more frequent as of late. Last night's Tee-Tee-Tally? 6 trips to the loo. 

Best moment this week?:  Hmmm.. I guess that would be our breastfeeding class tonight. I didn't know how much I'd learn because I've been reading up a bit and speaking to some BFing Mamas I know.. but I actually learned a lot, and so did Andy. I am so glad we forked over the dough for that class. I feel much more confident in the whole idea now. 

Movement?: Still hosting a dance party for one in there, yes she is. 

Food cravings?: This week's go-to snack has been cinnamon graham crackers dipped in cream cheese. I've had it about 3975 times. Yum, Yum, Yummy. 

Labor signs?: Well, like I said earlier today, we are 2cm dilated and 80% effaced. Since our appt this morning, I have had some spotting and have begun to lose my MP. I can't imagine there would be much more of it left at this point, but just when I think its all gone, I'm surprised again.  Still having random BH contrax a few times a day, and have had 2 instances where my belly has felt very crampy all of the sudden, and I've wondered if those were "real" contractions. The Dr said, though, that if I have to wonder, chances are it was not a contraction. So who knows what's going on.   

Belly button in or out?:  Out. 

What I miss: Right now, my list has been shortened to only include SLEEP. I want to sleeeeep. 

What I'm looking forward to: Other than hopefully meeting Camryn very soon, I am looking forward to picking up our diapers tomorrow and (hopefully) getting them prepped before her arrival.  

Milestone: Full Term.. duh! Have you not been paying attention? I have been doing the Full Term Happy Dance since my 2am trip to the bathroom this morning! :)

FULL TERM! Woot!

Ahhh... here we are. Full Term. 

What a wonderful feeling to know that we have been blessed enough to a) get pregnant in the first place, and b) carry our sweet girl safely to full term. 

Anything can happen now. 

At any time. 

Ball's in her court... whenever she's ready, we'll be ready. 

-Bags are juuuust about packed!

After a quick last-minute run to Target this afternoon, with a towel and change of pants riding shot gun, we are now totally packed. All the bags (mine and Andy's bag, the toiletries bag, Camy's bag, laptop bag, camera bag, and Boppy pillow) are all staged in one place ready to grab-n-go!!)

-Car seat is installed. 

-Cosleeper is put together and in our room. 

Come on Baby Girl... give us the green light!!!

We had our 37 week appt this morning.. one bit of news that I wasn't pleased with, but lots of news I was THRILLED by.

Bad News (to me): I gained 3 lbs since last week. THREE FREAKING POUNDS. And I can't blame that on Camy, she probably gained only about a half a pound of that. And here I thought weight gain was supposed to slow down at the very end. Pshaw. The doctor is not at all concerned though. I guess to him, 44 lbs in 37 weeks is no big deal, but in my world - that is NOT okay!!!

And all the good news:

No protein in my urine. Great BP - 116/60. Beautiful heartbeat. Still head-down. GBS negative, and... 

wait for it... 

We are now 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced! Woooohooo!

We have breast-feeding class tonight (yay!), and I pick up her cloth diapers tomorrow. 

Things are lookin' good. 

Can't wait to meet our sweet girl. 

Just a few quick updates..

Before I get back to the massive amounts of clean clothes that need to be folded or hung up, I thought I'd take a quite break to give a few updates. 

1. We got our glider in!! WOOHOO! My mom didn't even tell me it had arrived, instead she went and picked up by herself and schemed with my husband to get it in the house and set up while I was at a friend's baby shower. :) My sister texted me as I was pulling into my driveway to ask if I was home yet.. I called her to say I just pulled up and hadn't even walked in yet. She told me to call her in a few minutes and I asked her why she called.. in a very odd tone she said "I think I may have dropped something in Camryn's room". I had NO idea what she was talking about and was actually a bit afraid of what I might find (ya never know with that girl!!). About that time I walked into the house and peeked around the corner into the nursery, and caught a glimpse of the chair!!! I was so excited!! I love it even more sitting in Camy's room than I did when we saw it in the store. And it fits in the corner! YAY! I wish the room was a little bigger, but thats ok. Everything fits nice and cozy, and we have a separate playroom for Camy once she needs more room to move around and get into trouble. :)

2. With the chair in place, we were able to situate all the other furniture into their official places. And ya know what that means? We were finally able to hang the shelves above the dresser! Andy got right to work hanging the shelves, and I love that the room is finally looking complete. We moved the name blocks up to one of the shelves and hung the bird print as well. Now we just need photos of our sweet girl to go on the second shelf and complete the look. :) 

I love just sitting in her room and rocking in that chair... imagining how wonderful it will be to have her in my arms, in that very spot, very soon. ::sigh::

3. Things are a-happenin'.  TMI Alert!

For the last, oh, 36 hours I have noticed what I can only imagine is my MP making its way out. Not pleasant, but exciting none-the-less that we are that much closer to her arrival. Just like early dilation, losing the MP could mean absolutely nothing about when baby will arrive.. but like Andy keeps saying "some progress is better than no progress". Right-O, my oh so simple-minded husband. :) Something is better than nothing. 

Also, as of 2ish am last night, Righty is leaking. Joy. I think I jinxed myself yesterday by opening up the box of breast pads to pack a few for the hospital just in case, even though my older sister told me I probably wouldn't need them until a few days post-partum. Righty disagreed I guess. Hopefully this will just be an isolated day of leakage. I do not want to deal with this for the next who knows how long BEFORE baby gets here. I was ready for this to happen once I am actually nursing, but hello.. girls, there is no outside baby yet! Let's not get ahead of ourselves here!

And lastly, Camryn is looooow. I mean, I can't sit up straight today without feeling like I am sitting on something -- that kinda low. I can't stand up from the couch without feeling like there is a (much-heavier than yesterday!) bowling ball sitting on my cervix. There is a lot of lower pressure today, and many more cervix-punches (or head butts maybe?). 

4. Camryn's bag for the hospital is packed. 

Mine is half-packed, with the remaining items currently in the dryer. 

Andy's bag is out, but empty. He's always a very last minute packer though, and really, all he needs is some pants to sleep in, a change of clothes, his toothbrush and deodorant. If he doesn't get it done soon, I may throw some stuff together for him myself.. I do NOT want to say "Uh honey, I think its time for us to go" and then hear him say "MY BAG!? Hold on a sec..". That would not make for a happy laboring-mama. No way. 

And, Camryn's car seat is installed, complete with a mirror on the head rest above her seat so I can peek at her sweet face. :)

There are only 2 more things we are waiting on: the monitor (which should arrive any day now), and the diapers (again, any day now). But we can certainly get by the first few days without either of those things. 

The monitor really won't be necessary until she is sleeping in her own room at night (not for the first couple months) or napping in her room (again, not right away). And the diapers have a little wiggle room with their arrival. Even though I would love to start cloth diapering as soon as we come home, I do have some NB diapers on hand just in case. So we're good to go. 

I know chances are she will not arrive for a few more weeks yet, but I just have to put this out into the universe: as long as she makes it past this Tuesday (when we hit 'full term' and have our breast feeding class) I will be a happy camper. Anytime after the 11th, I'm game.  

I've got my money on Aug 25th, her great grandmother is pulling for the 26th (that was my Grand-Dad's bday), and Andy is pulling for the 27th. We'll see if any of us even come close! ;)

And now, guess I better get back to the laundry. 

What a day we've had!!!

A wonderful, wonderful day!!

We started off the day by getting an email from our awesome maternity photographer, Lisa Woods, saying she posted a sneak peek of our session to her blog. We had SO MUCH fun with her last night, and had been anxiously waiting to see some of the pics.. but we never could have imagined how INCREDIBLE the pictures would turn out. She is a friggin' ROCK. STAR. The pictures are phenomenal. Thanks to our wonderful friend Katie for helping set up this shoot with Lisa, and for making me pretty with the makeup and hair! And a HUGE thanks to Lisa for taking time out of her day to make our day (our week, our pregnancy) so wonderful. Lisa, your kindness and generosity truly touches my heart. We can't thank you enough for what you have done/are doing for the two (er, three) of us. 

Our sneak peek can be found here, and I will post more to the blog once we get the CD. 

After staring at our photos for a while, we headed off to our 36 week OB check. 

I was weighed and SO HAPPY to see that I only gained 2 lbs since the appt 2 weeks ago. Right on par! WOOHOO. 

Did the pee-in-the-cup bit that has become like an acrobatic feat these days.. all was well. 

Great BP, though she didn't tell me this week what it was.. but "great" is enough info for me.

Doc came in and measured my fundal height - perfect 36.

Listened to Camy's heart on the doppler, beautiful 140's.. and he mentioned how much a  mover she is. Uh, yup -- she never stops anymore. 

Then came the fun stuff.. the GBS test and the internal. 

GBS test wasn't what I would call fun, but it wasn't as bad as some have made it sound. 

The internal was terribly uncomfortable but, BUT... good news!!!

We are 1cm dilated, 50% effaced, and while he was in there (sorry), he said "... aaaand there's her head...".

To which Andy and I both responded "Her head? Huh?".

"Yep, I am touching her head. She's veeery low. That's good news."

EEEP!!

Doc-Man reminded us that it could mean absolutely nothing.. we could walk around this way for weeks. But it is still quite a comfort to know that *something* is happening. Something is better than nothing, right? 

Guess we better pack our bags. Who knows what could happen from here... here's to continued progress!

After our appointment we headed down to Babies R Us and got the last of what we think we'll need for Baby Girl. YAY! 

What a wonderful, wonderful day!!!!

Camryn, we are so excited, Sweet Girl. Things are coming together so nicely in our preparations for you.. and we cannot wait to have you home. All we need is you. The nursery is not complete without you. Our home is not complete without you. Our little family.. to be complete, all we need is you. 

Now here's my request, Camy.. stay in there at least a week or two more. Let your little body put on a little bit more baby fat, let your lungs mature more... and let's agree to have your debut fall somewhere after the 18th of August but before September 1st. Preferably on Aug 27th.  Does that work for you? Your daddy thinks you'll be here on the 27th.. I think that sounds like the perfect birth date for a baby as sweet as yourself. :)

We love you, Little One. 

Keep growing. Keep dancing. Keep making us smile. 

Thirty. Six. Weeks.

How far along?: 36 weeks!!!

Total weight gain: I don't weigh myself between appointments anymore. As of the 34 wk appt, I was up 36 lbs. Yikes. We will see tomorrow how much more I've packed on since then... I'm a little afraid. 

How big is baby?: According to babycenter, the average 36 weeker is more than 18 1/2 inches long and almost 6 lbs! I can only imagine baby girl is about that size since we've always been told she was near the 50th Percentile and measuring right on track. Its hard to imagine the Sweet Girl in my belly may already be bigger than both the twins were when they were born!!

Maternity clothes?: At this point, even my maternity clothes are starting to feel a little small, but I refuse to buy any more with less than a month left to go. I will just keep what does fit on a regular rotation, so you will probably see me wearing the same things over and over. 

Stretch marks?: Still just on the girls, not on the belly. WOOHOO!

Sleep?:  Sadly I have been having to take Tylenol PM most nights over the last week to fall asleep. I don't know if the aches and pains are keeping me up, or the anxiety over knowing just how close we are to having our baby. 

Best moment this week?:  I am really, REALLY looking forward to our maternity pictures this evening! Our dear friends K&K arranged for us to have maternity and newborn photos taken by the amazing Lisa Woods! :) 

Movement?: TONS! I have heard/read about several people experiencing a decrease in movement as they near the finish line but that has certainly NOT been the case for us. This Sweet Girl is always on the move.. stretching, rolling, hiccup'ing, dancing.. she's all over the place. Its been entertaining to sit with her Daddy and just watch my belly bounce.. its unreal how big the movements have become! Unfortunately some of the movements are so pronounced they are becoming painful.. she pokes out so far sometimes its pretty uncomfortable!

Food cravings?:  Just craving food. In general. All the time. 

Labor signs?: Continued BH contractions. Lots of pressure down low, so I take that as a good sign that she's getting cozy down there and hopefully won't be turning at the last minute. There have been a few instances where I have had a sudden jolt of discomfort (not really *pain*, but a sudden odd sensation) down around what I can only imagine is my cervix.. I don't have a clue what it is or what it means, but I'm telling myself its a good sign as well. 

Belly button in or out?:  Out. 

What I miss: Sleeping soundly, sleeping on my stomach, bending at the waist.. all the things I take for granted in my non-pregnant state!

What I'm looking forward to: Hitting "full term" in one week. 

Milestone: Every week Baby Girl continues to grow is a big deal to me, but this week seems like a pretty big deal since we can now say Camy will most likely arrive within the next month! Eep. 

We. Are. Set.

I cannot believe we have reached the point in this pregnancy where we can honestly say "We are READY!".

We are ready for our daughter to arrive.

Car Seat, Crib, Cosleeper - check, check, check. 

Cloth Diapers, Covers, Wipes - three more checks. 

Newborn clothes and socks and mittens and hats - checkity check check.

Bottles, Pacifiers, Burp Cloths -  yup yup yup.

Tub and towels, washcloths and soaps - all ready and waiting. 

Plenty of blankets for cuddling.

Boppy for feeding now.. bowls and spoons and bibs for feeding later. 

Monitor for peeking. 

Swing for soothing.

Books for reading. 

Toys and floor mat for playing. 

Bouncy Seat for relaxing. 

Thermometer, Aspirator, Humidifier, Clippers, Brush & Comb, Gripe Water and more for caring. 

What more could the little babe need? 

I mean really, we. are. ready. 

The last load of her clothes (likely the last load before she soils her own!) is in the dryer. 

We have folded and sorted and put everything away. 

We've matched all her tiny socks and melted over her teeny-tiny onesies and dresses. 

We have set up the guest bathroom to now be Camryn's bathroom, with all her towels folded and ready for bath time, all her (billions of!) washcloths at the ready, her shampoo in a basket by the tub. 

There are only 2 more things we are waiting on: her glider should be arriving sometime this week, and her diaper shipment should be here soon as well. 

After that, we're done. 

We just wait. 

I'm wondering if time will seemingly stop at that point. Will these last few weeks drag on and on and on?

The first 35 weeks and 6 days of this pregnancy have gone by in a flash, but now that we are justthisclose to the finish line, will this train slow down?

I woke up this morning and let Andy know that today marks the 8-29 day countdown. 

It got me thinking back to the 8 months we tried to get pregnant. 

Time in those 8 months crawled by in 2 week intervals.. 2 weeks til ovulation, then 2 weeks til testing. 29 days seemed like an eternity back then, and now here we are on the other side of the tracks, with a whole new meaning to the 29 day countdown.

How will my emotions handle the anticipation of this 29 day countdown?

Hopefully much better than how I handled them on the TTC side!

On the TTC train, there was no guarantee at the end of that 29 days. All we could do is hope for great news to be waiting at the end of the month.. 

Now we have so much to look forward to, a lifetime of joy with our daughter is waiting for us at the end of this ride!

We just cannot wait to meet her. 

Will she have brown hair like we both do now, or blond like her daddy did when he was a baby/toddler?

Or will she even have any hair at all?

Will she have brown eyes like mine (and everyone else's in my family), or will that blue-eyed-gene sneak through from her daddy's side of the family? 

Will she have crazy long fingers and toes like her mommy, or cute little chubby fingers and toes (I won't say "like her daddy" because he wouldn't like that very much!)?

Will she get the olive tone skin from my side of the family, or her daddy's Irish fair skin?

Will the freckles from my mother and sisters make an appearance even though they skipped me?

We have so enjoyed speculating about all this.. and knowing that we will have all the answers in less than a month is thrilling.

I can't wait to look into her eyes. 

Or to see her Daddy holding her for the first time.

To kiss her little feet and chubby cheeks, and to see her wrap her tiny finger around her Daddy's. 

I can't wait to introduce her to all the people who have prayed for her and showered us with love and support as we've awaited her arrival. 

I can't wait to drive her home, and tell her all about the things we'll pass on the way - the Starbucks I have come to frequent lately that always gets her dancing. The Walgreen's Daddy went to several times a week in the beginning to refill the HG meds for me. The park we can't wait to take her to. 

I can't wait to carry her into her first home.. show her all the things we've done to prepare for her.. take her into her nursery we have obsessed over, rock with her in the glider.

Oh how I hope these 8-29 days fly by. 

I want my baby here with us. 

I want her in my arms.

35/35

EEP!

You know what today is?

35 weeks pregnant. 

35 days to go. 

I love the symmetry of this weekly milestone.

I love that we have made it this far with our baby girl growing and kicking in my belly and all the while making my heart swell with an overwhelming love for her already.

I love that we are about.this.close to meeting our sweet daughter.

We got her bedding in the mail yesterday (huge thanks to my sister, Camy's Aunt V for getting it for us!) and of course, it went straight into the laundry so I could put her crib all together before I went to bed. :) I love the way it turned out! And I love the bedding even more in person than I did online. 

I will post the weekly survey tomorrow, but for now.. here are a few pictures. 

This bear was made by my grandma, Camy's Great Grandma. It says "My heart belongs to Camryn". So cute.

Shortly after taking these pictures, I switched the bumper around so the scalloped detail side is facing inward - the crib slats obstructed the pretty view. 

The vinyl wall words are a lyric from one of our favorite songs: "I love to watch you laugh and smile, I love to watch you dream."

We have 2 floating shelves to hang above the dresser, but we are waiting until the glider arrives and finds it official home in the corner (where the stroller is currently living). We can then center all other furniture accordingly and know exactly where the shelves should go. 

Once the shelves are hung, her name blocks will be moved, and the bird print will be hung. 

And.. the 35 week belly. 

WOW! 

And the bare belly...

And the (I can't believe I'm posting this!) frontal bare belly, ugh. 

Only 5 weeks to go, folks. 

5 weeks.

5.

Surrounded by Love!

Yesterday was our first of two baby showers. 

This one was hosted by my older sister, Camy's Aunt V and our dear friend, Katie at my mother's home.

We had a wonderful turn-out of friends and family, many of whom I don't get to see often enough.

We had amazing food.. my favorite Tortellini Salad made by Katie, an adorable baby carriage carved out of watermelon  (by my brother in law) and filled with fresh fruit, veggies, dips, etc. 

We had a precious cake that read "Welcome Camryn Louise" and was made by the same baker that did our wedding cake! It was delicious, and I was so touched that Katie did so much investigative work to find the right baker and have the same flavor/filling made for our Baby Girl. 

The games we played were both fun and hilarious. Not your typical "sniff the diaper" or "how big is Mom's belly?" games. One game was a sort of fill-in-the-blank/word association game where Andy gave his answers the night before and the guests were to try and guess what Andy said. It was HILARIOUS. A few gems: "Nursing ____", Andy said "home". Um, baby related, hon!? "Bubble ____", Andy said "butt". Bwahaha. Good times. 

And oh the gifts.. we are truly blessed to be surrounded by such generous friends and family.. everyone happy to shower us with love and support as our family grows. We could never have imagined how much we would receive, and just cannot thank everyone enough. We got our crib mattress and bedding, our car seat and stroller, our cradle swing, exersaucer, and bouncy chair, our bath tub and nearly all necessary bath items, lots of clothes, blankets, and best of all - each guest brought their favorite childhood book to start Camryn's library! We got an adorable diaper bag, hangers, baby-proofing items, some baskets for organizing, a precious picture frame, some toys/rattles.. it was truly incredible. I was just in awe of all the loot we had to bring home, and stayed up until about midnight sorting through all the fun stuff!

Even with all Andy and I have had to go through with this pregnancy and our ever-changing financial situation, when I sit back and think about all we have.. our health and the health of our daughter, our home, our families, our friends... we are so so blessed. I am so grateful to God for all that we have, and for all the love and support we are surrounded by on a daily basis. 

It warms my heart to sit in Camy's room and just look around.. seeing all the ways our lives have already been enriched by her and all the ways our lives will change after she makes her arrival.