Hey, Stop That! (and Tacos)

While laying down, Tif has been poking and prodding her stomach only to get an answer poke back within the second. She also does this thing where she rubs her whole stomach really fast and then he goes bezerk by jumping all over the place. (How does one find out? Tif's daily 6 rounds of lotion regiment gets an answer back every time.) We like to think of it as him being self aware and answering back as aliens do in the movies. It's mostly likely just him moving because we're interrupting his sleep. Either way he gets his revenge by pushing on her bladder and ribs and Tif goes to the bathroom for the 19th time of the day.

Also in baby news, the little guy gets to feast on 3 free Taco Bell tacos once again tomorrow after a taco dinner tonight. The Dbacks keep scoring a lot of runs and we keep scoring tacos. Good thing we found a Taco Bell with sane customers to patronize! You better get used to it baby, you'll see Taco Bell a lot this summer.

D Date Minus 16

With just over two weeks to the due date, there is no new information about Tif's progression. Today's doctor's appointment proved the same as last week's. We got clear instructions of what to do when, but other than that, it's just wait, wait, wait. Tif can't wait to wait with her feet up after 12pm tomorrow when she is officially done with work. I still have another week left.

Flipped!

At the end of week 37, we have made it to full term. The baby can come safely now at anytime. It was confirmed Thursday he did flip head down for his big debut, which is what I have spent 20 minutes 3 times a day for the past week trying to get him to do. Everything is progressing as it should, which is good news. However, my feet are sore, my back hurts, the baby still moves constantly and sometimes painfully, and even the pregnancy clothes are uncomfortable at this point. I am looking forward to making it through the last 4 1/2 days of work then getting to put my feet up for a while. Report cards are complete, my classroom is almost packed for the summer, and I have been busy setting up for next year to make my life easier with a newborn. It's just a waiting game now!

We took the baby care class Thursday, practicing diapering and bathing. It gave us lots of useful information, and the nurse who taught the class was great. I think we both feel better now about bringing home a baby. Mike didn't win the diaper derby this time, but he diapered well. Compared to the other preggies there, I definitely didn't look 37 weeks pregnant. I did say at the beginning I hope I don't get too big. Ask, and you shall receive! My total weight gain has been 25 pounds. That has been plenty, just ask my poor feet!

The Baby Room!!!

Weekly Doctor Visits!

Good news Tif, you get to see the doctor once a week now! Wooohoo!

As much as we love the doctor, Tif is not looking forward to seeing her every Thursday. This week there was good news, bad news, and ugly news that became great news, although none of it was really that bad.

The good news was Tif has grown from the other week so we don't need to have another 3D ultrasound, at least not yet. Tif hadn't grown the other week and we just wanted to make sure that the baby was still growing, but it all was great.

The bad news was the baby has not turned yet so Tif has to do these funky exercises to try to get him to turn around. At this point in the pregnancy, 94% of babies have gone head down and Tif has to now lay down with her butt up on some pillows and a hot and cold pack to coax him away from the cold and toward the heat to lay head down. He started to turn a bit tonight, but didn't go all the way around. We'll just have to give it some more time.

The ugly news was that Tif had to get her blood drawn to check her iron levels, (updated: iron levels are fine!) and you know what blood draws mean: Si Senor for dinner!

Baby Shower Weekend

This was baby shower weekend. First, we had a shower hosted at Iguana Mac's by my wonderful co-workers. It was so chill and there were no games, just drinking at happy hour, talking, eating cake and opening presents. We're not ones that like too much attention so it was great and pressure free! We received some really cute clothes, a ton of bath stuff, and our car seat among so many other things.

Next, we had a shower on Saturday at my mom's house. The decorations were adorable and baby Mike and baby Tif welcomed everyone from a sign in the front yard. There was even another guy there! We knew we couldn't escape games forever and Gammie had a baby picture guessing game, a set of trivia questions, and a toilet paper around the belly guessing game. We had to guess how many squares it took to get around Tif's belly. I guessed 32 and it was 11. I am an idiot! That's okay, Tif overestimated, too. Cousin Danitza won the contest and she won the chance to babysit the kiddo once he's here! We even had Aunt Kris on skype watching us open up her gifts. One of them is the baby quilt, which you'll see when we finish putting everything away in the baby's room. We also got cute clothes, a bouncy chair,a humidifier, diaper changing pad, diaper champ, and most importantly, an instant read ear thermometer. No need to get out the vaseline when he's sick!

Essentially Ready

We've got the carseat. They won't let you leave the hospital without it.
We've got the crib. He is not sleeping in our bed!

We've got a supply of diapers. Although from what we've heard, this is only a week's worth.

And most importantly . . . we've got the instruction manual.

8 Months and Counting

This shirt was a big hit during our Saturday errands. Men especially made comments about how funny it was. The count down is on, 6 weeks to the due date (5 weeks to June 3). My ankles started swelling for the first time when I was in Kansas City. I have gotten into the pool several times this week to alleviate this new symptom. It seems to work so far. I had a ton of fun with my old friends, catching up and reminiscing. We had a lot of laughs! I enjoyed getting to see where Grandma Judy has been hiding out for the past two years. Despite a couple of hiccups on the flights there and back, the trip was well worth it!

Everything is going smooth with the doctor visits which soon turn into weekly check-ins. It was confirmed the baby has indeed turned head down from his previous sideways position. The doctor did say, however, that he may not stay like that quite yet. At this point he should start gaining half a pound a week. I'm not looking forward to the extra pressure on, well, everything in my body, but know that he's got to fatten up to come out healthy.

Mike, Sierra, and I are having to adjust to all the changes in the house. It's starting to look like there's a baby in here or something.