38 Weeks-The Finale

Can you say uncomfortable?

Well, That was a short countdown. It's looking like we will be saying hello to Violet very soon.  The high risk doctor says her amniotic fluid levels are low and thinks we should go ahead and induce labor. I've got my regular OB appointment tomorrow morning to find out what day.  It could be sometime this week or possibly even tomorrow after the appointment.

On that note, I went ahead and got one more picture of me before the big day and thought it would be cool to wear the same clothes from the first photo we took of the pregnancy. Let's do a comparison:

It's pretty obvious the differences here. The one thing I find very interesting is that I look older. There is a level of maturity there that I feel is missing in the my earlier photograph.  I'll be very curious to see how my body changes once again after the baby.

Before we move onto sharing the birth story and beyond, I want to share with you some photos of the baby shower my lovely co-workers gave for Violet. I had such a nice time, and everything was so absolutely pretty.  The food was fabulous, and the company was great, even when the weather was posing a threat to our festivities.  I'm so grateful to have such caring and supportive co-workers.

So now I must reflect back on my pregnancy. The beginning was bad, the middle was great, the end was exhausting. All in all, it could have been so much worse and for that I'm grateful it wasn't. In the beginning, I hated the nausea and not being able to tell people how bad I felt and why.  Later, I loved getting my appetite back and eating everything in site and it all tasting amazing. Now, I can't stand my lack of mobility, the back pain, the waking up in the middle of the night, the swollen feet, and the heartburn. I know this sounds so stereotypical of a pregnancy, BUT IT'S SO TRUE!

The next time I'll be sharing anything will be Violet with the world. As much as I've disliked the crazy uncomfortable symptoms of pregnancy, it's been lovely to have her to myself all this time. But I think she's ready to meet all of you and I'm sure everyone is more than ready to meet her, too.

37 weeks- And the Countdown Begins

So I posed for my mandatory "holding the stuffed animal" portrait. Do you like it?  Sweet Bunny looks like he's giving my tummy a hug, aaawwww!   Ok, so enough of that.  Let's talk about all the stuff we've been doing this past month and how crazy I feel.

This month has just flown by with activities. My co-workers hosted a baby shower for Violet, Spencer and I posed for some professional maternity photos, and every minute of our weekends have been crammed with nursery and home improvement projects.

I'm proud to say the nursery is complete, YEAY!  We're very happy with the end result.  I love the wall color, the decals went up with little or no headaches, the colors all coordinate, and the bamboo shades I ordered for the window went up without a hitch and block the daylight better than I expected.  And without further ado, here are my photos:

The two diaper wreaths you see were made by my wonderful sister for Violet's first baby shower, but I missed getting any pictures of them during the party. They were so cute and well made I had to document them before I tore them apart. (I'm using those diapers, by golly!) The paper lanterns hanging in the corners of the room were from our wedding.  They were hanging in the arbor behind us during the ceremony.  And the smocked gown and name banner were made by Spencer's Aunt Sandra.  Plus, all the stuffed animals and dolls you see in the room were given by our friends and family.  I think all these great things add a lot of personal touches to the room.

We are so excited to have had our maternity pictures taken by my good friend and co-worker Kamin Williams.  We took a drive out to her neck of the woods in Vincent, Al to have the pictures taken, with fabulous results.  Here are some of our favorites she posted on her own blog:

If you want to see all of the photos from the shoot and order prints you can go here.

 Besides getting the nursery decorated and having our pictures taken we've also been washing Violet's clothes, bottles, and pacifiers. We've installed the car seats and packed the hospital bags (except those last minute things) and made those last few purchases for baby. I'd say we are just about ready to have Violet here with us.  Of course, there are still a million things I could try to do around the house like clean out the office closet and garage, and paint the garage door, and repair our doorbells, but let's be honest, they have nothing to do with Violet and aren't mandatory chores before she gets here. At this point, having that last bit of "just the two of us" time is moving to the top of our list. I'm not sure what we're gonna do though, it's been so long since we've tried to do anything "fun" I'm not sure if I remember how to have it, and a few things we used to do in the past are out of the question right now like bowling, bars, and hiking. Lifting heavy objects and drinking alcohol are big no no's and I can barely walk around the grocery store these days let alone through the woods . Hhhmmm.

Violet has been monitored constantly this past month.  She's had a consistently healthy heartbeat, her blood flow is active, and she has a decent amount of fluid to cushion her tiny little body.  At 36 weeks she was estimated to weigh about 5.5 lbs. So things are going smoothly right now. She dropped into position a while back though and I'm already dilating a little, so we are curious if she's wanting to come a bit early.  Having said that,  let me mention my nervousness this week.

I was nervous this week that I was going to go into labor early. The factors that led me to think this way:
1. Monday marked the beginning of my 37th week. Technically, that made Violet full term. So she could be delivered at any time unlikely to have any health issues. 
2. I also saw my OB on Monday, and at the end of my visit she just happen to mention that she was "on call" on Thursday. Didn't think much of the comment when I was there, but later wondered if she was suggesting that I might not make it through the week.
3. So then Monday night Spencer and I had dinner plans with his dad and step-mom and I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions, which is nothing new, but my stomach hurt at the same time. I could not concentrate on anything else during dinner except what my body was doing. Of course, the pain eventually subsided, but I was seriously close to stopping off at the hospital when we finished dinner out.
4. After Monday's events, I couldn't help but get nervous when Spencer had to be out of town on Wednesday night.  I really tried to take it easy and drink plenty of water to avoid as many Braxton-Hicks as possible, but I about had a breakdown after work and almost guilted Spencer in driving all the way back that evening so he wouldn't be gone the whole night.

Now that Spencer's back home and we're pretty much just working on cleaning around the house, I feel better about her coming whenever now. But when I  REALLY think about Violet being born, it seems so unbelievable. To even think we would have a child together, in our home, growing up and eventually going to school.  That's just crazy to me. It's hard to think that in a very short time our lives are going to change dramatically.  Our day to day will be completely different. We are going to hate it and love it more than anything else in this world.  NOW, I'm getting excited!