4 More days

Only four days max until Baby Williams will arrive!! Had my trial run at L&D today for my NST. Baby's HR was in the 130's and all looks well so we will continue to hang in there until Monday. The test provided me with enough peaceful time to reflect that apparently I drifted off and didn't wake up until the nurse came back in the room to tell me I could go. Too bad we can't get a nap break at work everyday, I could definitely get used to that. It was strange being on the opposite end of the spectrum today as I was the one wearing the hospital name band and lying in the bed hooked up to a machine. Being a patient is going to be a whole new kind of interesting experience for me, perhaps it will make me better at my job. Everyone at work is shocked beyond belief that I'm still there as they were convinced I would deliver early. I am basically the only nurse who's worked there and carried full term. They have all informed me that apparently my child is going to be very stubborn. Gee, wonder where he would get that from......

40 weeks!!

Happy Due date to us! That's right today I am officially 4o weeks pregnant. How did I celebrate this momentous occasion one might ask. Why, by going to work as usual of course. I have to admit at this point it's getting downright amusing to answer the question when is your baby due? When I answer "today" I can tell by the look on the other person's face that they now view me as nothing more than a ticking time bomb.

Obviously there will be no baby today. Since our due date is about to be behind us I will now start a new countdown: T minus 5 days and counting until we meet our baby boy! Two work days down and only two more to go until I start my new 12 week job of stay at home mom, can't wait!

Happy Election Day!!

Voting today was surprisingly easy. Kirk and I walked in, went right up to the counter, voted, and were back in the car leaving the polling place all within about 10 minutes maximum. Not too shabby considering we figured it would be an hour wait just to vote since this is such a historic election and all. I don't know if we just really lucked out or if the people with last names at the end of the alphabet just weren't voting but we were very pleasantly surprised. This is the one thing I wanted to do before the baby arrived so he now has my permission to show up whenever he wants!! I hope everyone else was able to get out and vote today. If an almost 40 weeks pregnant lady can make it out anyone can, no excuses people. Don't know about the rest of you but I am just so glad that the election mania will be winding down soon. Things I am looking forward to the most now that this election is almost over: one by one the campaign signs will start coming down, the Newsweek magazines might finally have something on the cover besides Election 08' stuff, No more automated phone calls encouraging you to elect whatever candidate they're calling about, and last but not least no more campaign ad commercials with candidates smearing each other. I have decided Baby W is waiting until after the election to arrive so he can prepare himself for the kind of world he will be born into. :)

Kirk and I went to our last prenatal appointment today. We are at a standstill as No change has occurred since we last went 5 days ago. Something tells me our little boy will not be showing up for his due date. I'm actually expecting to go all the way until Monday when our induction is scheduled to take place. I'm a little disappointed as I was hoping to avoid the whole induction/pitocin thing but have to admit that within the last few days I have officially entered that period everyone told me would come where I am just ready to get this kid out and quite frankly will be fine with whatever method it takes to do just that. We have been instructed to show up to labor and delivery at 6:00 am on Monday morning 11/10 for the induction. I will also be making a trial run to L&D this Thursday as I have been ordered to go for a Non Stress Test just to make sure everything is good with the baby's heart rate. The Dr wants this done just as a precaution to make sure it will be okay to wait until Monday to deliver him. Everything looked great today at our appointment so we just continue to wait...... As usual we'll keep everyone posted as things unfold.

Induction date set

Only 6 days left until our due date! I can't believe we're so close now. All checked out well at our 39 week appointment today. We have some slight progress since the last appointment (2 and 80%) and are just continuing to wait it out at this point. Our next appointment is scheduled for next Tuesday 11/4 (election day). If we don't have a baby next week then we will be going to the hospital on Monday 11/10 for an induction. (We'll get more information on that at our appointment next week provided we make it.) That gives us a maximum of only One and a half weeks until we meet our little guy!! That also gives me a maximum of only one more week at work until I'm out for 12 weeks of maternity leave!! I am so excited to get to spend the holidays at home with the new baby this year and not having to worry about work for a few months so we can have that time to get to know each other. In the meantime I'll be taking advantage of the little bit of time we have left to get things ready, pamper myself, and spend some QT with Kirk. I started the pampering process today with a fresh new haircut and fully intend to treat myself to a pedicure and some sleep this weekend. Time to squeeze in all the little luxuries we can before baby boy arrives.

The Home Stretch

38 week 3 days belly pics.

Only 10 days left until the presidential election.......

and only 11 days left now until Baby W is due to arrive! I can't believe the time is here already. On one hand it seems like I have been pregnant for FOREVER and on the other hand it seems like it's flown by. To me this is by far the most tedious part of the whole 40ish weeks of pregnancy. It's strange to think that our baby could be born either any day now or his arrival could still wind up being a few weeks away. It's hard to be patient as I am more than ready to meet our new addition though I keep reminding myself to just enjoy this time as our little guy is easy to take care of right now. Something tells me that once he gets here it won't be quite as peaceful around the house. The wait is killer though and it's getting harder to be patient as our due date rapidly approaches. At 38 weeks and some change I'm feeling huge and exhausted. The exhaustion is really my biggest complaint these days as it's getting harder and harder to make it through the work day much less the work week. Thank goodness for the weekends! Our next appointment is set for this Thursday 10/30 so we continue to wait....... Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

October or November??

Only three weeks to go until Baby Williams is due so we are now officially playing the waiting game and biding our time until he decides to make his big debut. Since I know that he could be born anytime between now and a week or two after our due date I've really been wondering lately just when his birthday will be. Will it be November or October? Will he be born before, after, or right around his due date. What do you guys think? Apparently there is a guessing pool of sorts going on at Kirk's work right now. Don't know why but it cracks me up to think of a bunch of grown men sitting around trying to guess Baby W's due date all so they can win a coveted bag of m&m's, or whatever the prize is, I say m&m's because apparently that was the going prize the time Kirk won one of these things. The girls at my work are convinced it will be a Halloween birthday. My guess is he'll be born sometime during the last week of October. Of course now that I'm saying this he'll probably be stubborn and be a week or two overdue. I sincerely hope it doesn't happen that way but I also know that I have absolutely no control over the situation. My mom is convinced that it will either be October 2oth or 31st since both of my brothers have decided to schedule their wisdom tooth removal for these dates and she will be busy shuttling them around town those days. I figure whenever it does happen it will be during the wee hours of the morning anyway, isn't that the way these things usually work?

We had our last appointment yesterday and things are continuing to progress right along. Here are the stats for those that want to know: 1cm dilated, 50% effaced and -2 station at 37 weeks. As we're leaving our appointment on Tuesday Kirk looks at me and says "ya know, I'm starting to think we're about to have a kid." So I guess at 37 weeks pregnant the reality of the situation is finally starting to kick in for my husband as D day is now in our not so distant future. I'm still feeling pretty well but do have to admit that I'm getting pretty tired these days and fantasize multiple times during my work days about going to my office and taking a nap. I feel huge, can't breathe and can't do anything around the house without my upper back aching so all that being said my feelings will not be hurt if this kiddo decides to arrive in a week or so. I don't even want to think about getting any bigger than I am right now! I've also been having some lower back aches/cramps lately that my doc says could be contractions. I haven't had anything really that I could tell was an abdominal contraction yet. Anyone else have this experience? Our next appointment is set for Monday 10/21 at just shy of 38 weeks.

In other news Kirk and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary last week. As most of you know we usually celebrate our anniversary by going on a trip. First year: Biltmore, second year: Outer banks, third year: Blue Ridge Georgia cabin, this year: trip to the hospital to bring back our very permanent souvenir. Since we're not really going on our usual trip Kirk went all out this year and got me THE most fabulous gift EVER. A beautiful, black, brand new Kate Spade purse and wallet. That's right he went to the Kate Spade store all by himself, told the sales girl about a purse his wife had seen three weeks ago that she loved and bought the most fabulous anniversary gift ever!!! How sweet is that?? It's hard to believe it's been 8 whole years since we first met and 4 years since we were married, time really does fly.

Slight Progress at 36 weeks

Today was our appointment with the Ob Gyn for our 36 week checkup. Imagine my surprise when the Dr. informed us that I am already making some progress. This is about how the exchange took place:

Dr. Wheeler: "Have you been having any contractions or been feeling like you've had anything going on?"
Me: "Nope I don't think so."
Dr. Wheeler: "The reason I ask is that it looks like you're already about 1 cm dilated."
Me: "EEEK!" or some other kind of gasping shocked sound.
Dr. Wheeler: "I still expect to see you next week though."

OMG!!!! I honestly don't even think I've had one single braxton hicks contraction yet. How could this be?? I know I could go on like this for weeks and it doesn't necessarily mean anything but this new information got me started thinking that this is really going to happen soon! The Dr. also informed us that it could really be anytime now and that if I did go into labor I'm so close to my due date that they wouldn't do anything at this point to try and stop it. All of this new information got me started thinking about all of the little things I need to do and loose ends I need to tie before the big day and suddenly it doesn't seem as far off as it did just 24 hrs ago. Last night as I was drifting off to sleep I had a quick moment of panic when I realized that today I would be 36 weeks and in just two weeks I would be officially full term. This thought was followed by the thought that the baby could possibly come in two weeks which was quickly followed by the thought OMG I'm not ready for him to come in two weeks. I've been telling myself that I'll probably be overdue so I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the baby could actually come before our due date. Anything at this point is possible because like I was just telling Kirk tonight this kid will come when he's ready.

Everything looked good as usual at our appointment today and we are due to go back next Tuesday for another check up. Incidently today at my weight in I weighed the exact same thing I did two weeks ago at my last appointment. Absolutely no change and that's still four pounds less than what the nurse tried to stick me with last week. Interesting no??

I also had yet another party in my honor today as my coworkers decided to throw me a baby shower at the hospital. It was a lot of fun and we got a lot of cute stuff including a hand made baby blanket from one of my coworkers. I feel very loved as baby Williams has so many people who want to celebrate his upcoming arrival with us. I have never felt as pampered and spoiled in my life as I have felt these last couple of weeks. Thanks to our family, friends, coworkers, and mom's coworkers we have pretty much most of what we wanted/needed for the baby and we are now just waiting for his upcoming arrival.