One week to go!

Monday, February 22

John closed tonight, so Mara and I were on our own. After dinner, Mara pulled out her princess fishing game, and we played a while. That girl has really fallen in love with board games since Christmas. Makes it easy to know what to get her for her birthday, which is only a month away. ;)

Tuesday, February 23

Since neither one of the pictures planned for today turned out (no sonogram image and no snow here), I decided to take a picture to show what my belly looks like from my perspective. I did this when I was 39 weeks pregnant with Mara, and it's neat to look back and remember. I hope to take another one like this right before the baby's born, but we'll see if I remember.

Wednesday, February 24

We fixed ice cream cones for dessert tonight. While Mara doesn't like many dessert-type items, she loves chocolate ice cream. It's cute how she ends up with a chocolate mustache and beard when she's done.

Thursday, February 25

Tonight we went grocery shopping to stock the pantry. It had been getting pretty bare, but I wanted to have some things on hand so I didn't have to go to the grocery store for a few weeks.

Friday, February 26

Mara and Lani had fun playing at my dad's house while we visited with my Aunt Kathy, who was in town briefly this weekend.

Saturday, February 27

Mara didn't really want to cooperate, but we still managed to get a couple of group shots before Aunt Kathy had to leave town again.

Sunday, February 28

I can't believe that February is coming to a close and I am now 38-weeks pregnant. Mara is very excited to meet her little brother. Only one more week to go!

Turned around?

The baby was moving around a lot this morning and I've been feeling kicks near my ribs all afternoon and evening, so it looks like he turned around on his own and is once again head down. Yay! Now, he just needs to stay there and stop moving around so much. :)

Breech

I told a few people going into my appointment today that I would be surprised if there were no changes to my readiness for delivery based on the aches and pains I've been feeling this past week. What I didn't expect to discover was that the baby turned around and is now breech when he's been head down most of this pregnancy. Guess that's why I've been feeling more down low – that's where he's been kicking me!

We first found out about the breech position with today's sonogram today. It was just a quick one to check the baby's vitals (he scored an 8 out of 8), and no weight check this time since they only do those every other week. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the sleeping boy either even though the tech got a good shot of the front of his face for my doctor. I didn't even ask for pictures because I thought that last one of his face would be for us, and I didn't realize I wouldn't be getting it until the sonogram was over and she was putting it in my file. :(

So, I go back next Tuesday for another sonogram. This one will include a weight check, and I'll try my hardest to get a picture. It will most likely be my last visit before my induction. Can't believe it's so close! Hopefully the boy turns head down in the meantime. My doctor gave me some exercises I can do to help that happen. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Daycare plans

We're at a loss for what to do for daycare for the baby now. We put him on the waiting list at Mara's school back in September and asked to get him in at the end of May. Today, John found out that they won't be able to get him in until the end of June. What? They wait until we're about to have this baby to tell us that we'll have to wait a month longer to get him in when they've already known they needed a place for him for almost six months?

We were already considering switching the baby to a different daycare this fall – somewhere closer to home. Since Mara's going to be in kindergarten, we would like him to be at a place where we could send Mara to after-school care if necessary (depending on how things work out) or not have to drive far to pick him up if I'm able to work from home after school. That means we would be moving him toward the end of August anyway, so it looks like he might never go to Mara's school. And it seems silly to find a new school for Mara right now with just a few months left before she would be leaving the full-time daycare setting anyway, so we might have to have them in two separate places for a few months until Mara starts kindergarten.

With all that said, anyone have any suggestions for how to find a new daycare?

Full term

As of today, I am officially full term with this pregnancy. I feel a little better now that we (ahem, John) made some headway on the baby's room. The house still has a long way to go before I'm happy with it, but I think I'm OK with the baby coming at any time now.

Thursday, February 18

John set the bassinet up in our room so the kitties could go ahead and start adjusting to it. Brownie doesn't pay much attention to it, but Pixie, Puck, and Doxy love to get in it. They'll even camp out in the bottom portion of the bassinet. If you look closely, you can see Doxy in the basket under Pixie.

Friday, February 19

John finished painting the baby's room today (minus some touching up that will need to be done). Now, we just need to get the crib put together and get things in the room.

Saturday, February 20

Mara attended another birthday party today at a bounce place. She used to not like these places too much, but she's fallen in love with these the past couple of weeks – especially the slides. Now, she wants to have her birthday party at one of those places, but we're still trying to decide.

Sunday, February 21

Mara helped John touch up the paint in the baby's room, and then he set up the crib, which the cats quickly made into their bed. In fact, they are very interested in the room in general. Mara wasn't done painting yet, so she finally painted a dolphin sculpture that we bought at the Target dollar spot a couple of months ago.

Wacky Wednesday

Today was Wacky Wednesday at school, so Mara went to school with a silly hairdo, her shirt on backwards, and two different colored shoes. She and her friends had fun dressing silly for the day.

March 8

We have a date. We now know that this baby will come on or before March 8.

My appointment for last Friday didn't happen because of the snow, and my doctor wanted we me go ahead and come in today for my 36-week appointment and sonogram. The main reason why my doctor didn't want me to wait until my appointment Friday is because of my history of miscarriages, which means this pregnancy is a little higher risk. She said that doctors aren't sure why but there is a correlation between a history of miscarriages and stillbirths at or after 40 weeks gestation. As a result, she doesn't want me to get to 40 weeks. Instead, if I haven't had the baby by March 8 (39 weeks, 1 day), I will go in that day for an induction.

Everything looked good on the sonogram. The baby's head measured big (38 weeks), but everything else was just fine. Based on estimates, he is measuring 36 weeks, 3 days (one day ahead),is 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and is in the 44th percentile for weight. Hopefully he'll be right around Mara's size if the measurements are correct because she was 6 pounds at my 36-week appointment with her and was 7 pounds, 15 ounces when she was born the day before her due date.

The baby did a good job letting the technician get his measurements, but he didn't really want to give us good shots. The technician wanted to make sure we got something from the visit, so we ended up with a couple of pictures of his foot, his spine, and his hand in front of his face. (His face is to the right of his hand in the top picture.) She also gave us a capture of his heart rate, which was 158 beats per minute.

There was one little thing wrong. One of the baby's kidneys is slightly enlarged, but that doesn't mean too much. Just that a valve might not be functioning quite like it should. They'll perform a sonogram after the baby's born while we're still in the hospital, but these things usually resolve themselves.

Also because of my history, I will be getting a sonogram at each of my appointments from now on, so I should have more pictures to share next Tuesday. Hopefully he'll cooperate a little better for us then. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know I'm a day late, but Mara didn't get to celebrate Valentine's Day at school last Friday, so they had their party today. Both John and I were able to make it for the party. After lunch, Mara tried her first ever Fun Dip. She wasn't too sure about it until I pointed out that the powder was like a Pixy Stix, and then she just dug in. It was a special kind of Fun Dip that turns mouths green.

Another week closer

Saturday, February 13

The snow is clearing up, so Mara was able to attend a birthday party for another one of her friends. She's never been too sure of the inflatable bounce places, but she had a lot of fun playing on all the different things.

Sunday, February 14

We celebrated Valentine's Day by watching Lani in her very first skating competition. She did a good job came in first in her group of five. (I'll post more pictures of her routine later.) I also reached the 36-week mark in my pregnancy today.

Snow Days

We had a record-breaking snowfall this week. When all was said and done, the official measurement at DFW Airport was 11.2 inches of snow in a 24-hour period. They canceled all area schools Friday, so Mara's daycare was closed as well. Luckily John went in late Friday, and we were able to have some family time out in the snow.

I was supposed to have my 34-week appointment, which was going to include another sonogram, but my doctor's office was closed because of the weather. My appointment might be rescheduled. Since I already have an appointment for next Friday, I might just have to wait until then for my next sonogram. I'll find out when I call them Monday.

Mara loved going out to play in it, making her very first snowmen, and having snowball fights. If we're friends on Facebook, you've already seen these pictures there, but I wanted to post them here as well.

Thursday, February 11

Mara wasn't too sure of the snow at first since her last experience left her flat on her back when she went running out and slid on the ice Christmas morning. There was no ice yet this time around, so she quickly started playing in the snow.

Mara making a snow angel. She said one of her friends taught her how to make one earlier in the day at school.

Rolling the base for her very first snowman.

Mara and her first snowman

This was only a half hour after we went out to play in the snow, and our tracks were already covered. As of 6 pm, we've received over 7 inches of snow in the DFW area, which is half an inch from setting a record for snowfall in a day.

You can barely tell that we got down to the grass when making the snowman. And this was only a half hour after we made it. The snow is still coming down.

Our crepe myrtle tree right before we went to bed, and you can see it's still snowing.

Friday, February 12

Mara had to make another snow angel since you can't even tell where she made the ones Thursday.

Our crepe myrtle was covered with snow, and Mara had fun shaking the branches to make it snow more.

Mara enjoyed a "snack" of snow while we were outside.

Here's our cute little snow bunny. :)

We had to dig out our snowman from yesterday, and John helped Mara make a bigger snowman today. Mara had to taste the snowman before it could be used.

Snowball fight!

A little snowman for Mara that she promptly threw at John.

Helping Daddy clear off the hedges. They were weighted down and almost touching the group because of how much snow we got, but they quickly bounced back.

Since we don't have a snow shovel, Mara decided to try to sweep the driveway to help clear it so John could go to work.

Writing Mara's name in the snow.