Josh, Sharla, & Jackson

Prenatal Appointment
We had another appointment this week, and saw the final provider, midwife Sage Brook. This appointment was not a pleasant experience for us -- our frustration at having to wait 45 minutes before even being called back set the tone for the entire visit. First, we had the long wait (even though we had an early 8:15 am appointment!). Then, the nurse told me that since I had blood taken last week, I wouldn't have to give any more samples; a minute later, a different nurse came in and said they needed to take blood. Finally, after asking several people and searching through my records, they determined it was because of an error THEY made that caused me to have to give an extra blood sample (they were supposed to do an HIV test AND a CBC last week and forgot the CBC) --- sounds strangely familiar to my 1 hour glucose test mishap! Also, the nurse asked if I was ok with having a student come in with the midwife during my visit -- I said I had no problem (I've done this before on my GYN checkups with Dr. Lynch). However, it wasn't clear until they came in the room that the student was practicing and would be the one examining / visiting with me and the midwife would be observing! Towards the end, the midwife said "well, since you haven't had any contractions, we'll just bypass an exam today." And I responded by indicating that I was hoping to get one since I had shown cervical progress at last week's appointment, and wanted to see if there was any further dilation / effacement. Here's the exchange that followed:

Midwife: "Well.....they didn't record it on your chart. Do you remember what it was?"
Me: "Yes -- 1-2 cm and 50% effaced."
Midwife: (with a snarky look on her face) "Did you see Dr. Peach by chance?"
Me: "Yes"
MIdwife: "Well, he is known for very GENEROUS measurements, so we'll see how it looks today."

So then the student proceeded to handle the internal exam, and it was a MUCH different experience than last week's. Duration and discomfort were multiplied tenfold!!! In the end the student said, "Ehhh....I'll give you a fingertip I guess" (which my online research later concluded was less than 1 cm) and "you are rather thin also" (not sure how "rather" compares to 50%). So we waited an hour and I endured the hellish medical student's practice exam only to find out I was less progressed than what I had been told last week -- ARGGHHHH!!!

In our future appointments, we're going to stick to our favorite DRs. -- Lynch & Wilcox --- and in the Belmont office where I've never yet had to wait long for an appointment.

Teeny's Updates
Not much new still -- he's still moving and shifting around in there, and causing me lots of discomfort! I hope he's not getting too big...

How I'm Feeling
...just about miserable a lot of the time. I start out days doing pretty well, but by 3:00 or so, I'm exhausted, even if the most I've done is sit at my desk at work and have a few conversations. It's tiring just to get up and walk, or sometimes even having a conversation for more than a few minutes can leave me winded! What would it be like if I hadn't worked out the entire pregnancy?! I'm still doing Moms in Motion and yoga, but I have had to scale back on my exertion in both classes.

A lot of new symptoms have popped up over the last week. I've had minor swelling occasionally, but my feet have been taken over recently! Every evening I end up with Flinstone feet -- at least I can laugh about it though, and I am lucky that I haven't had much swelling any where else. I'm also having more and more cramping / Braxton Hicks contractions, pretty much every day now, but still no regular patterns. And I've only had 2 that were painful enough to cause me to have to stop, focus, and breathe through them --- both were in the middle of the night, and I believe caused by me turning over too quickly (almost like a leg cramp, but the uterus instead).

Baby Shower at Work
My great buddies from my old team at work surprised me with a shower this week -- they are so sweet! I haven't worked with them directly in a couple of years, but I stay connected with several of them and visit the floor often to catch up. It was such a fun surprise. They even arranged for Josh to be at the shower! I almost missed it though, because there was some miscommunication about how I was going to be "escorted" over to the room, and I had no clue about it, so I was about to leave for a meeting I had arranged at the exact time of the shower when one of the hostesses showed up and told me I had to go over to their building right away....then she had to spill the news on the shower (to give me a legitimate reason to miss my meeting). Here are some pictures from the event:

Final "Date Night"
Josh and I had planned to have a final date night close to our due date, and we finally took it this weekend. We decided to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Harry & Jean's, since we had not been there in a while. The food was great, and we even both splurged and got 2 desserts (each are enough to feed 2-3 people!.....oh my, that Gooey Brownie is to-die-for!). Then we finished out the night playing our favorite game -- Skipbo. Here's a picture of us from our last Date Night before we have an infant to consume our days & nights!

Exciting Things for Next Week
-- yet another prenatal appointment and still playing the waiting game.

37 Weeks Belly Pic (wouldn't it be nice if this were the last belly pic?!)

And just for fun.....here's what the belly looks like from my perspective:

** on a side note, aren't these whale PJ pants just the cutest?? My bestest, Amy, bought them for me as a surprise after I was bummed when our Target didn't have my size!

Prenatal Appointment
We had another regular appointment this week, and this time we met with Dr. Peach. I had to do the standard tests, along with giving some blood and having the Group B Strep test. Since I was "exposed" for that procedure, the doctor decided to go ahead and check to see if we had begun any labor preparations, and he found I was at 1-2 cm dilated and 50% effaced (click here if you want to know what those terms / stats mean....or don't click if you prefer to keep the mystery alive :) ). While he immediately reminded us that those measurements are not indicative of imminent labor (it can still be weeks away), I was slightly excited knowing that things are starting up for the big day.

The other stats: so far, I have gained 35 lbs; Teeny's heart rate was, as usual, 145-150 beats per minute. Also, we will start having prenatal appointments weekly now, so we'll be visiting them again next week (and will meet the final provider, one of the midwives).

Teeny's Updates
Not too much new to report. I imagine he's just getting bigger as time goes on, so I am noticing less grand movement, and more shifting (and pressing down on my bladder!). Next week he will be considered term, so we're glad he's made it to that milestone (and are hoping he won't bake too much longer).

Random (scored a good deal) note --- a few weeks ago, we found a clearance Halloween costume at Old Navy that should be the perfect size for Teeny next year. We only got the top part, as the pants were the wrong size, but it was still a pretty sweet deal, and we can just put him in brown knit pants.

How I'm Feeling
Let the complaining begin! Some days I go on and on about all my aches and pains and annoyances.....other times I put it in perspective and realize that in comparison, I"m not that bad off. I didn't have any bedrest, I didn't end up with gestational diabetes, I don't have stretch marks, and I can still go about my daily activities for the most part. But this last week has brought forth a bit more of a constant backache, some on and off cramping (not contractions, but what I'm guessing are pre-labor cramps), and a bit more swelling in my feet -- especially at night. So I'll indulge and feel a little bit sorry for myself :)

Special Update -- Teeny's Room
One of our final decorating tasks in the baby's room was to hang some shelves -- I ordered them weeks ago, but they were backordered and just came in last week. Josh pulled out the husband skills and put them up today, and they look great. So now that the walls and everything have all the final touches, I took some pictures for the blog readers to see. I've left some wall and shelf space to add some baby and family pictures after the little man arrives, but this is the "look" for the most part!

Exciting Things for Next Week
We have another prenatal appointment scheduled. Other than that, we're playing the waiting game! We might also go on a "last date" before we become a family of three. :)

36 Weeks Belly Pic
(We updated the belly pics in the image galleries with the last 4 weeks)

Gayle & Lenore hosted a fabulous baby shower for us last weekend. The food was great, it was so nice to see everyone and share in the excitement of our Teeny, and of course, it was so much fun opening all the baby goodies! We received a lot of super cute baby boy clothes, lots of essentials like diapers, wipes, blankets, and the like, and even some of our bigger items --- the stroller, Angelcare movement monitor, diaper pail, and swing.

Here are some of the pictures of the fun times:

Me & Amy before the shower --- if only the arm trick worked for the Teeny belly too!

The booties corsage was so cute!

You can see more pictures at http://collinsfamilyblogs.smugmug.com/gallery/4432389_9Nky4

Thank you to Gayle & Lenore for hosting an amazing shower, and also to everyone for coming out and giving such thoughtful gifts!

Now that the day is getting more and more near, we are starting to look at finishing out buying the things for Teeny....and it sure is $$$$$$ !!!

But craigslist.org has provided us with several opportunities to score the exact items we were looking for, at a much reduced price than the big box stores!

Here are the deals we've scored thus far:

Chicco Polly High Chair -- great condition, 42% cheaper than buying new!

Bumbo seat -- great condition, 50% cheaper than buying new! (and a good find, because they are currently off the market due to creating new packaging with warnings about not putting the seat up on elevated surfaces)

Baby Bjorn Air Carrier -- great condition, 60% cheaper than buying new!

Score for deals, AND getting what I want!!


-- My mom, pregnant with me in the month before I was born	-- Me, preggers with Teeny, about a month before my due date

Teeny's Updates
He's a big one! As Josh mentioned in the previous post, he's measuring in the 80th percentile for size, and was estimated to be 6 lbs, 7 oz currently. We had fun looking at him during the ultrasound - he definitely has an affinity for his feet, because he was (again) grabbing at them and holding them up near his head.

How I'm Feeling
This week wasn't too shabby! I had a renewed sense of energy (no "nesting" though - sorry everyone). I've still got a few of the general discomforts, but nothing keeping me from going about normal activity. Bathroom trips are becoming more and more frequent, and I think that's another indication that Teeny is slowly-but-surely moving down low. Another recent change is sleep interruptions -- I'm waking up a lot more in the middle of the night, and am not easily able to go back to sleep....maybe it's preparation for all that middle of the night waking we're going to have after the little man is here! I also think I'm starting to get some Braxton Hicks (BH) contractions (the kind that aren't real labor), but they're not too bad because they aren't painful, just uncomfortable.

Baby Shower
Gayle & Lenore hosted a baby shower for us this afternoon - it was fabulous! I'll have to post more details and pictures soon.

Exciting Things for Next Week
We have another prenatal appointment scheduled for Friday, but other than getting the Group B Strep test, it should just be more of the same ol' checkup procedure.

Also, we will have a lot of fun putting the new baby gifts together and organizing all the clothes and goodies he received at the shower!

35 Weeks Belly Pic

-Papa Josh here:

Following up on a previous post, we had an appointment with the perinatal specialist today. We were there to take another look at what the doctors call a 'prominent stomach bubble'.

With our last ultrasound the stomach measured a bit bigger than the doctors were expecting and wanted to get more measurements. Turns out the stomach, just like any other organ that holds fluid will
expand and contract based on how much fluid is in it (who knew, right?), and depending on how much amniotic fluid the little booger slurped down his stomach will size accordingly.

The doctor was able to get a few more measurements and was happy with the results.

Above are two pictures we got from the ultrasound. He likes to play with his feet.

Since we hadn't been there in awhile it was decided they would take general measurements of our boy to check his growth percentiles....this is where it gets interesting.

This includes measuring the circumference of the head, abdomen, length of thigh bones, etc. For those with quick eyes (raises hand!) you can see all kinds of neat information on the ultrasound
screen. For example, while they're drawing out the lines to do the measurements the length and estimated gestational age (Est. GA) flash on the screen based on that measurement.

Thighs and head measured pretty close to our 35W+2D GA. Then came the kicker. Teeny's abdomen/gut/belly. Maybe there was a reason his stomach was so 'prominent' after all. The Est. GA of his abdomen ended up being almost 38 weeks, at least 2 weeks older than he is!

With all of these measurements the computer spits out an estimated weight of the baby. Teeny is currently sitting at 6 pounds, 7 ounces (with an accuracy of +/- 1 pound).

That is in the 80th percentile (read "the husky pants are right over here"). Needless to say Sharla is currently mortified at the prospect of another four weeks for him to get more 'swolled up'.

Most of you are aware of the 3D ultrasounds that are now offered that allows you to see your baby in all the creepy, rusty glory that is a partially developed child.

Some places also offer 4D ultrasounds. What is that fourth dimension you ask? Through the power of ancient Eastern medicine and high technology we were able to catch a glimpse of Teeny Collins
three years in the future.

Much farther into the future was a bit blurry, but scenes of an offensive lineman and the 'Comic Book Guy' were vaguely visible.

I suppose only time will tell.

If Teeny is the size of a football, then why is my belly the size of a beach ball???

Prenatal Appointment
We had another regular appointment this week, this time with a midwife, Nancy Kuney. She was nice, and was helpful with all of the questions we had. Teeny's heartbeat was at 150 bpm and the uterus measurement was at 34 cm, both of which are right on track. All the other stats were good as well, and I've gained about 32 lbs so far (I'm inching dangerously close to the 25-35 average!). We'll have another appointment in two more weeks.

Teeny's Updates
Nothing much new to report this week -- still feel like he's getting lower in my belly because I'm having to pee more, and I can feel his movements down lower also. He shifts around a lot, but I think he's out of room for the big punches and kicks. And for some reason, he really likes my right side, so sometimes I get pains over there where he's poking a lot, and I have to poke back at him to try to get him to move over to the left.

How I'm Feeling
I'm still subpar, but some of the subjects are TMI, so I'll just leave it at that vague description. Some days are better than others, though! One of the things I'm trying really hard to do is not to make excuses for missing my fitness classes, and keep going to them (I try to never miss the hospital class, but yoga all the way over in Charlotte is a bit more of a challenge). I went to both yoga and Moms in Motion this week, and one of the things that is weird is that I was the farthest along in both classes at this point. I can remember going towards the beginning of the pregnancy and thinking how far away I seemed from the really preggers girls....and now I'm there! There were a couple of girls in yoga due around the same time as me, but my belly was by far the biggest. I know everyone carries differently, but I'm guessing my short stature and torso are to blame - no where for Teeny to go but out.

Exciting Things for Next Week:
We have our perinatal specialist appointment to get another ultrasound so they can check on the stomach bubble (we're still not exactly sure why and don't really have many details on this). We're excited to get another peek at Teeny though!

We also have a baby shower scheduled for Sunday, hosted by Gayle and Lenore, so that's exciting! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and gushing over the baby (I think it will really add another notch to the this-is-really-happening-meter).

34 Weeks Belly Pic:

Sorry for the delay in posting these --- the shadow editing was a bit more complex than Josh had anticipated. These are some of my favorites, but I did add a link to the album so you can see all the pictures (under Image Galleries).

Amy & Joel visited again yesterday, and Joel was my hero and did a photo shoot for us so we could have some good pregnancy shots on film before Teeny makes his debut outside the belly. He did an awesome job with posing us and adapting to the lighting situation in our house (and our less-than-professional D40 camera). At one point, he had some awesome improvisations set up with a bright flood light (the kind you keep in your garage from Lowe's) and a bed sheet! And I have to also give a shout-out to Amy for being an awesome photographer's assistant / lighting director!

We have some great shots, but Josh is still working on doing some slight photo editing to correct shadows and the like, so in the mean time, I decided to present some of our "blooper" shots.