Countdown t-11 (38 Weeks)

Dear Nicolas,

Good job staying put until after Aunt Kim's baby shower. Now you can come *any* day you want, ok? Like today, even, ok? :-) Kim's baby shower turned out very nice and I was very happy to give her that special day. I hope she liked it just as much.

I went to the doctor yesterday and I am 2cm dilated / 70% effaced. I don't think you can really go backwards in effacement, but it's just subjective how the doctor feels that day. Your HB was 150 and guess what? I lost a pound! :-O I was shocked, but my appetite has decreased over the last week, so I guess that makes some sense. Total net gain is 39 pounds right now, 2 more than with your bro.

Your room is all ready, so now all we are doing is waiting for you. I'm working a lot and very tired. I don't look forward to bed at all because it's just not comfortable and I'm not sleeping well. And, I wake up in the 5 o'clock hour most days just because. Hips are sore and overall very uncomfortable. That's to be expected at this point, but still hard to handle esp. b/c it would not be fair to your brother to just sit around, ya know? He does have to eat sometimes. LOL! It would make it easier if your dad wasn't coaching basketball and gone so much right now, but we're almost there. Just need to stay strong a bit longer.

I think that's it for now, otherwise I will just keep complaining. :-D Below are the pics for this week.

Love,
Your mommy

Countdown t-18 days (37 Weeks)

Dear Nicolas,

Almost there. I thought I may have been starting labor the other night, but nothing happened, which is good! You're doing a good job staying in there until after Aunt Kim's baby shower on Sunday. Way to go! LOL After that day, you can come out *any* time you want. :-) Well, your dad might prefer you be a little late, but ummm...no thanks, ok? He wants to be able to finish out the basketball season and I understand that, but I'm very uncomfortable these days and if we go much longer I will have gained WAAAAY too much weight! I gained *another* 3 pounds in ONE WEEK! :-O What is going on? LOL Anyway, maybe it's water weight. ;-) So, in total I've gained 40 pounds already. Bummer. But, I hope to lose it quickly. I *might* be seeing some stretch marks, but I'm not sure. I also feel bruised on my belly. It's sorta weird. And, my skin has been burning a lot at the top of my belly. I put on a lot of lotion, but it doesn't help much. Sleep is rough, but I do believe you have dropped if you look at my week 33 pics, for example, and the past 2 weeks you can see my belly buttom pointing downward. Your daddy said you look lower, too and thank goodness you moved off my bladder. The last few nights I've only had to get up once to go to the bathroom. Yippee!! But, my hips are hurting a lot, so I really don't like staying in bed too much, and don't look forward to going to bed at night, either.

At the doctor's appt yesterday, your HB was 142. I am a little over 1cm dilated and still 75% effaced, so not much change from last week. I expected that. I was 1-2 cm dilated up until I delivered your brother. Speaking of your brother, he is such a sweetheart. He has a few alphabet books and for some letters we expand on what the letter is for like (his comments are in quotes):

D is for Door, Drum...and..."Dada! annnnnd Don! annnnnd Dogs annnnd Ducks"
M is for Milk and moon..."annnnd mama!"
N is for "Nicolas" as he rubs my belly. So sweet!! :-)

Below are my belly pics of the week. Enjoy. :-p

Love,
Mommy

Countdown t-25 days (36 Weeks)

Dear Nicolas,

We are in the final days of this pregnancy. Soon, we will meet for the first time. I hope you are as anxious as I am. But, not toooo anxious. We have Aunt Kim's shower next Sunday first, ok?

At the doctor's on Thursday, I found out I am 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced. I looked back at my journal with Donovan and I was 1-2cm for several weeks, so this could mean nothing or it can mean something. We just won't know until you decide to make your appearance. Your heartbeat was 130 and everything looked great! I go back weekly now.

Today your brother and I went on a hospital tour so he could see where you are going to be born. It was a good trip. He was really interested to see the baby in the nursery and immediately tried taking you out of my belly with his bare hands. LOL So, at least now I know he knows you will come out eventually. :-) Later in the day we went walking and I tell ya, I can't move like I used to! I'm pretty sore this evening too. Phew! I look forward to getting this weight off.

I got my hair done and cut today. You can see it in my belly pics below. I think it looks cute! I'll be curious how it will look when it's curly again. I only keep it straight for 3 days tops. See you soon!

Love,
Mommy

35 Weeks Pregnant

Dear Nicolas,

We're getting there! Not too much longer to go and I'm getting antsy! I'm getting a lot more uncomfortable here. My back is hurting A LOT and finding a comfortable position to sleep is getting REALLY hard! My skin burns on my belly sometimes too, so I add a lot of lotion. I'm super lucky as I haven't seen any stretch marks yet! :-O Maybe one day I'll get back in a bikini after all. ;-) We had a little scare at the doctor's appt last week when she had trouble finding your heartbeat, but it was all good. I am up to 34 lbs weight gain. I gained 37 with your brother, so I'm on pace to probably gain about 40 with you. I'm blaming the holidays and the lack of time to exercise this time around. :-D Next week, when I'm 36 weeks, I start going to the doctor every week and they check our progress. We have to make it to at least January 20th, so I can host your Aunt Kim's baby shower, ok? After that, have at it! Don't keep me waiting until your due date, ok? ;-)

We had a very nice Christmas this year, by the way. You can see pictures here. Your brother loved getting all his new toys, especially the cars, trucks and "things that go". It was really nice to spend time with the whole family and eat lots of good food, too! You got a few gifts too!

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun too. Your dad organized a small party where we hosted a murder mystery. It was very last minute, but he did a great job pulling it together and I didn't have to do much at all (I am not too much help these days). We laughed a lot and it was a lot of fun!! Here are pictures of the party.

It's late and my back is hurting, so I will leave you with pics and say good night.

Love,
Mommy