32 weeks!

Another good doctor's appointment today... Baby is still head-down, with a good strong heartbeat, and VERY active. Mommy is doing well too, good blood pressure, and my weight is still well on track, only gained 1lb since the last appointment. The doctor said that she'll strip my membranes at 38 weeks if I'm ready, so I'm very excited about that. If you don't know what "strip my membranes" means, then chances are it would gross you out, so we'll just say it should make me go into labor within a few days. So I'm excited, that's going to be around July 29th, so she may even be here by the end of July!

Not much else going on, just working on getting ready for kiddo to be here, we put together her cute Boppy seat and her pack 'n play this weekend, so now she has places to "play" once she gets here. The dogs are pretty curious about all the new stuff that keeps showing up, I can tell that they like her toys, they keep trying to steal them, especially the stuffed mushroom, that's Catfish's favorite... he's still learning that the baby's toys are not toys he can play with, although I'm sure I'll get over that soon enough.... it's like trying to get the dogs to not lick the baby, it just isn't going to happen.

I got a new sewing machine this weekend, so I'm going to go play with that now, gotta re-learn how to sew so I can start my baby-things-making business!

Wedding Day!

Not ours of course.... today we're going to Alabama to go to my friend Megan's wedding. Baby Claire is excited to get to kick Charlie again, and I can't wait to see all my old friends from college, should be fun!!

We also get to go pick up our pack 'n play today, thanks to the nice lady at Babies R Us that finally found a store that still had a few left, since it's been discontinued. I almost hugged her when she found it.... yep, it's the little things that make me happy now, so a new pack 'n play is right up my alley.

I think tomorrow I'm going to get a sewing machine, I've decided to start a business making cute personalized baby stuff, just have to figure out exactly how to do that... and contrary to popular belief (mom and Aaron) , yes, I do remember how to sew, I just need a machine to do it on! I'm pretty excited about the whole idea!

We go back to the doctor on Tuesday for the 32 week checkup, can't believe she'll be here in 8 weeks!! We're having another ultrasound this week to see how everything is going, and to see how she's positioned, hopefully still head-down! We'll see how it goes!

Less than 10 weeks left!!

Back to the doctor again yesterday.... pretty typical appointment now, they just help pass the time a little faster. Baby Claire's heartrate was good, around 160 bpm, and my blood pressure is still good, and the weight gain is still under control, so everything is going well! I'm pretty firmly convinced that she's got one of her feet hooked around my ribs, just to make it easier for her to kick me, she's getting REALLY strong, some of the kicks actually feel lke they're moving my whole body. She's also managed to irritate a few of my nerves, so I've got a pretty uncomfortable tingly spot on the top of my belly. The belly, by the way, now resembles a little basketball, it's getting pretty big!
This past weekend Aaron's cousin Michelle and Aunt Shiree threw me a baby shower, it was lots of fun, and we got all kinds of cute stuff for the baby, and now finally have a mattress for the crib. Then I found out today that Babies R Us has discontinued my pack 'n play, so I'm a little mad about that, but I guess I'll just have to pick out a new one!
Another appointment in two weeks, ultrasound and another doctor's appointment, so we'll see how she's doing then, so far so good! Only 69 days left!!

Congratulations #2 & #3!

Congratulations to Abbie and Charlie, new parents to baby Henry, born early in the morning on Wednesday. He's a cutie, and LaLa will be a great big sister!

Congratulations also to Molly, Greg, and big sister Lane, their baby Kakie was born today. She's Charlie's little cousin, so she'll be Claire's cousin-in-law in about 25 years!

29 weeks!

We're 29 weeks today, only 11 left to go! Baby Claire is getting bigger every day, she's about 2-2.5 lbs now, according to babycenter.com, and probably about 15 inches long. We had an ultrasound last week, and all looks good, she's measuring right on track, and from the profile shot, it looks like she's going to have my nose (thank god). She's busy putting on weight and getting bigger, which is pretty much all she'll be doing for the next 11 weeks, since she's pretty much finished with developing all her organs and body parts.

Last week I went to Alabama to visit Becky and baby Charlie (Claire's future husband). Charlie is pretty adorable, and has the funniest "serious face". We went out to lunch, and he was so good, slept the whole time. Hope mine is as well behaved! Right now she's just a little crazy, I'm not exactly sure what's she's doing in there, but it feels like some major construction, she moves around all the time, and I'm pretty sure she has a foot hooked around the bottom of my ribs to make it easier to kick me in the stomach and lungs. It's a little uncomfortable, but it does mean she's in the head-down position, so she's getting ready for the trip out.

This weekend Aaron and I finished up the touch-ups on the paint in the nursery and put together the furniture that we already have, the dresser, blanket chest, and crib. We started putting away some of her clothes, now we just need to get the rocker and a changing table and the mattress and we'll have a pretty complete nursery. My mom is making the bedding, and it's almost done, we'll get to see it this weekend when she comes down for the shower that Aaron's aunt and cousins are throwing for me, can't wait for that!!

I've got another doctor's appointment on Tuesday, which should be nothing exciting, just checking her heart rate, my weight (only 3 lbs heavier than where I started!) and measuring how she's growing.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Becky and Josh, proud parents to baby Charlie, born this afternoon! Can't wait to meet him!

Finally, some good news!

So after my little hospital drama, I finally got some good news, I passed my 3-hour gestational diabetes test, so I'm not at risk, and can go back to eating all the junk I want! Just kidding, I really am doing much better at eating healthy and drinking tons of water. I still have ice cream every now and then, but not every day. And baby needs calcium!

I found out the other day that the material that I had special ordered for my mom to make Claire's bedding was discontinued.... SO disappointed, but I talked to mom today, and with a few changes, there will be enough fabric to make almost everything, so that's exciting. Now mom just has to get started on making it! I think this weekend we're going to get the paint for her room, and maybe will get started with the painting this weekend.... maybe, like we were "maybe" going to get started on the painting the last 3 weekends, we'll see! Then we have some furniture to put together, and it will actually start to look like a nursery instead of a mess.

I'm 26 1/2 weeks now, baby is about 14 inches long and a little more than 1.5 lbs. We have another doctor's appointment on the 20th, and will get to have another ultrasound to see how everything is going. She's still lying sideways, which isn't a problem yet, but could be in a few weeks, so we need to get working on the turning, little Miss!

Hopefully this week I'll get to be an "aunt" again when Bec's baby Charlie is born, can't wait to see him!! And her too of course! He might wind up being baby Claire's future husband....