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

33 Weeks Pregnant

Dear Nicolas,

I went for my 32 week appt last week. Your heartbeat was 145 and I gained (another!) 3 pounds. I'm not that worried about my weight gain (I know I will lose it), except my pants feel tight and I don't want to have to buy new pants in January! I guess I'll have to stick to just yoga pants pretty soon. LOL :-D

I asked my doc about my chances of a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) and she said since it wasn't that I pushed for 2 hours or labor stalled and it was more baby (Donovan) not tolerating it well, my chances are a good 80%. That made me happy b/c all this time even though I wanted to try, I was thinking it was more 20% chance it would happen. So, I'm happy about that. My plan is to try not to have any medication as early this time. I'm not sure if I can go completely natural, though. :-O Not how I remember those contractions! But, I'll try. I have to wonder why I really want to even try for a vaginal birth. In a lot of ways it sounds more painful and "messy". LOL! But, I guess, as a woman, I want to experience it, if I can and this is my last chance. For one, we will likely stop at 2 and also if I ended up with another c-section, even IF we had a 3rd...big *IF*...I'd have to have a c-section, for sure.

So, we have 7 weeks left. My back is hurting BAD!! I'm not sure if I just don't remember it hurting this much before, or if it's b/c I'm not going to the chiropractor this time, or I'm not exercising much, or another reason, but it hurts a lot. Add the fact that I'm tired every morning when I wake up, even if I've had a relatively "good" night's sleep, I'm getting pretty bad off here. Ha! I remember the last month with Donovan being pretty bad, but I'm thinking the last 2 months with you is going to be the "bad" stretch. I can't rest as much this time, either, so I'm sure that's a factor. You must be getting pretty cramped in there, too, how you keep trying to break through my belly. :-p

So, I think Donovan is really grasping this baby thing more and more. We went for pro pictures last weekend and he really cooperated very well, giving you kisses and all. We were looking at 2 penguins, a mommy and daddy, and when I asked where the baby penguin was, he said "momma's tummy", which I didn't even expect. We got a Christmas card from my friend and neighbor who just had her 2nd and I told him how that was her 2-year old's baby brother and then he said again how the baby was in momma's tummy. So, that seems to be going well. He asked what the carseat was hanging out and I told him and then asked "Do you want the baby to sit next to you in the car?" and he said "yes". So, that's good, too! :-) I know he will likely be jealous at times, but I'm sure he will be a great big brother to you in no time.

Lastly, I think your brother is trying to tell me I'm gaining too much weight. Sure, he's rubbed my tummy and said "daby", but now a couple times he's rubbed my butt/hip area and said "daby" too. So not funny! LOL! :-D

Love,
Mommy

31 Weeks and another ultrasound!

Dear Nicolas,

Oh boy! You have really filled out!! We saw you today at our last 3D ultrasound. You've gained a lot of weight, it looks like. It was great to see you again. I'm measuring about a week early, still. She estimated that if I go 40 weeks you'd be in the high 7 lbs and probably 20 in. But, she said the height is only based on the femur so you could have long legs and shorter upper body. Donovan was 19 inches when he was born, so we'll see. Anywho...all was well and here are some of the pics (there were over 50!!).

Love,
Mommy





Pouting:


Still a boy! LOL


Tongue action

30 Weeks Pregnant -- 10 more weeks to go! Eek!

Dear Nicolas,

I'm playing with the spelling of your name here. I'm not sure if I like it better with or without the "h" yet, so bear with me. I keep hearing your name around now. At the mall play area, Nicolas Cage in the movies, etc. :-)

So, we only have 10 more weeks to go until we meet you and that's if I go to the due date! :-O How exciting, yet nerve-racking! :-D I'm excited to meet you and have another baby, but nervous what it will be like with 2 kiddos. I'm sure it will be very hard, at first, but just like with your brother, in due time we won't remember what life was without you. You will be loved very much.

I went to the doctor today and your heartbeat was 142. My belly is measuring "30", which means growth has slowed considering I have been measuring 2 more than the # of weeks pregnant. I certainly don't feel that way b/c I feel HUGE!!! :-D My belly is really in the way these days. Soreness is setting in and it's really hard getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. But, you're worth it, right? ;-) We are in the home stretch as I now go see the doctor every 2 weeks! Yikes! That hit home today. I gained another 5 pounds (I'm blaming Thanksgiving), so I'm up to 30 total, so far. I'm sure Christmas won't be nice to me, so I'll probably end up gaining more than I did with your brother (37 total), but that's ok. His came off, so I'm hoping the same of yours. ;-)

The nursery is coming along. I have lots of laundry to do and need to pick up a couple other things, like a double stroller, but overall I feel good at our progress. Oh and, guess what? Yesterday your dad picked up our first minivan!! :-O Yep, you read that right. I'm a minivan mom, now! Woah! I never thought that would happen, but the SUV (Acura MDX) just didn't seem like it was going to work because of how tall your dad is. You see, you have to ride backwards for the 1st year, so you really can't go behind him since he needs his seat all the way back. And, your brother's feet were really smashed behind your dad, hence the minivan. Your brother can climb in all by himself now, so I'm sure he'll like that. We'll be keeping this van for 10+ years so we got a 2008, brand new, with all the bells & whistles. It is REALLY nice!

I'll close here. We get to see you again on 12/9 for our next 3D ultrasound. I'm looking forward to that! And, we go for professional pictures the following weekend, where we hope your brother will give you kisses. And, then the holidays will be upon us and in no time, you will be entering our lives in the flesh. :-) Can't wait to see you!

Love,
Mommy

These are my 29 week pics:

The Final Trimester - 27 Weeks Pregnant

Dear Nicholas,

How are you doing in there? I feel you moving around a lot, but I bet you're starting to get cramped a little, huh? Well, we have 3 months to go, so get comfortable. :-)

I saw the doctor today and your heartbeat was 130. I gained 6 more pounds, so I think I'm up to 22 now. My belly measured a "29", which the doctor said was "perfect". I also gave blood after drinking a special drink to test for gestational diabetes. I have to wait for those results. Other than that a quick and painless appointment.

I'm feeling pretty good these days. My pelvis is sore alot and I have to take my time getting out of bed or changing positions, but all in all, I don't think my hips hurt as much this time. Maybe it's because I'm barely exercising except for chasing Donovan around sometimes. ;-) My headaches have pretty much gone away except for the occasional one, so I'm really happy about that. We get to see you again on Dec 8th for our next ultrasound. I'm excited!

Donovan is really getting much more aware of you, now. I'm sure my growing belly is hard to ignore. :-) He even knows where Nicholas is and will point to my belly. He rubs my belly and says "baby" and gives you kisses too. You can see some pics below. I doubt he can REALLY grasp that we will have a new baby here to stay, but it's fun nonetheless. We are going to get professional pictures taken of our whole family in December. I hope he cooperates. ;-)

There are moments that I'm very excited to hold you. I don't think I was *as* able to be excited about a baby when I was pregnant with Donovan. I was excited to have a baby, but being a first time mom I was also very nervous, but now that I've been doing this for a couple years, I can relax sometimes and be excited. Don't get me wrong, I'm still nervous what life will be like with 2, but I think we will make a very happy family and am looking forward to it. I went shopping for some necesseties last week and have started working on the nursery. I have some ways to go and plan to be done by Christmas in case exhaustion really sets in like I remember last time. Your mommy is nothing if not a planner. :-)

Well, I'll close here. Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

Love,
Mommy