38 wks (2ds)

So I'm trying to make this some semblance of not laughably late, since last night I was having contractions that got to about 6 minutes apart. And then I decided to go to bed and rest and woke up this morning to only the random intermittent contraction. That was annoying. Sleep really does ruin everything! Anyways, I'll take my unfortunate lack of labor as my cue to update my blog and FINALLY post my nursery reveal pictures. Aren't you all lucky? Thursday, the day I turned 38 weeks and this blog was due, Jason and I decided to walk me around Epcot to help convince Bebe to keep on swimming and follow the light. I did make a whole World Showcase loop, because I'm fantastic. Jason wouldn't let me buy Pumpkin Spice Funnel Cake though and for SOME reason China doesn't sell Spring Rolls (which I love) only Egg Rolls (which I do not love) so my only real excitement at this entire endeavor was that I got to eat a ham & cheese croissant from France. Which was amazing. That night Jason had promised to make me funnel cake but he wussed out (okay, really, I told him he didn't have to because he looked tired. He just should have let me get the funnel cake in America). So instead I decided to experiment with Jump Start Your Labor Cookies. Oh. My. God. Are they the spiciest devil cookies I have ever eaten in my life. Jason had one and claimed he could breathe fire. I ate 9 with 3 glasses of milk. I don't even LIKE drinking milk! But, interestingly enough, I started having some mild contractions when I went to bed that night. About every 10-15 min. THen when I woke up they were around every 8-9 min. We went to the Dr but no cervical check this week, he did however feel me having a contraction when he did my belly check and laughed and said he'd be surprised if I made it to next weeks appointment. After the Dr's Jason and I went to the mall and walked a bit and I found a take home outfit (FINALLY) and another batch of hangers and a mirror for Bebe's nursery. I was miserable by the time we got home and at 7 min apart. Jason and I finished Bebe's nursery (pics to follow, I swear), I did a load of laundry, ate, and then had a couple more cookies before taking a nap. I woke up to contractions 6 min apart! That's when we got super excited. But then they fell to 9 for a bit before coming back up to 6. I had a headache at this point so I went to bed and woke up to... no contractions. Okay, intermittent ones. But I haven't had one in awhile now. Maybe I should eat more cookies. Likely after Jason and I take the scenic walking tour through every neighborhood in our development.

Bebe is 38 weeks now, she's plumped up to about 6.8 lbs. and is around 19.5 inches long (imagine a leek). She's apparently putting on a lot of weigh, but not as much as Mommy who put on 6 lbs. this week. Thanks Christmas. You're a bitch. I'm at +28 lbs though which is still in a good range so all my Dr did was laugh at me. According to development websites, Bebe now has a firm grasp, which I was HOPING to feel today but she's being difficult. She needs to listen to her parents.

But, as promised, Nursery reveal! We're still getting a fan, but it isn't a "must have before she's here" item. Or, I have convinced myself it is not because Jason will need his dad's help to install it and that wouldn't happen until after she's here anyways.

The painting process and prep work. Jason worked so hard!:

The final, decorated, finished product. The shelf and curtain rod Jason refurbished and painted for her:

Her bathroom. I did not need any Jason assistance to put this together:

37 wks (6ds)

Ha ha ha, it was the holidays, like anyone really expected me to be any earlier than this. Right, so, how fast can I spit this out? Wednesday I had my final pregnancy class, Planning a Positive Birth, and it was my favorite of the whole series. The instructor was excellent and really gave me some things to think about. I don't really want to talk about my birth plan here, though most people know what I want, in the event that things don't go to plan which there's always a high chance of. Suffice it to say this class was on my wavelength and I was happy. On Friday I had my Dr's appt and it went really well!! I learned I am NEGATIVE for Group(ie) B Strep, yay! Also I am 1 cm. dilated and 60% effaced. We saw a different Dr since our was out of the office and the first thing she said when she started my check was "I can feel her head right here, she's pressing right into your bladder. You must have to pee all the time." And truer words were never spoken. That same day Jason's parents and sister came up to help us get ready to celebrate Christmas! We hadn't seen Amanda since this summer so it was really nice to be able to spend some time with her (and she made me a beautiful photo collection of my sonogram pictures and some maternity pics that I hung in my bedroom)! We had dinner, I got my nails done, and we grocery shopped. The next day we went on a hunt for round, red candles to complete my place settings. Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Pier 1 and Yankee were all a bust. Thank the Lord for Michael's! We had a nice Christmas Eve, with some roasted AND smoked chicken and a baked macaroni & cheese and a salad before opening a few gifts and diving into preparing some food for the next day.

Because it was Christmas! This was the first holiday Jason and I have ever hosted in our house so we really wanted it to be nice and we could not have done it without SO MUCH help from Jason's parents and sister. I was so exhausted from an inability to sleep and they really jumped in and helped with the cooking and cleaning and ironing and omg everything. We had a really nice morning opening gifts before the rush to finish things before my family arrived. And arrived they did! We had a total party of 13 at our house and it was so much fun!! Everything went smoothly too until Jason was making the gravy and it happened to explode in his face and over the entire kitchen. He's okay, no worries. His dad and Garrett jumped in to take care of the mess and the food and I began wrapping up his burns in ice water dipped wash cloths until my mom and his mom came in to help and assess the damage. My sister picked up some burn treatment things at the pharmacy and we soon had Jason wrapped up and ready to continue! He's fine now, face is great and arms are only a little red and splotchy. And the food was unharmed in the process!! We had roasted tomato and garlic soup, salad, green beans, squash casserole, mashed potatoes, a country herb stuffing, cranberry chutney, and a giant prime rib roast. I was stuffed!! Then we had presents and we are so blessed from our amazing families. It was really unbelievable. If I start listing everything I'll never stop! Afterwards my sisters Kali and Lilly stayed over along with Kali's boyfriend since the lucky ducks were going to NYC for the week the next day and we were taking them to the airport. We stayed up late with everyone playing XBox games until I went to bed and had the best Christmas ever: straight sleep from 11:30pm-8:30pm. I didn't even wake up to pee! That's how I know it was a Christmas miracle!

The next day everyone left and Jason and I ran errands. He's spent the past couple days painting the curtain rod and refurbishing a shelf to pain for Bebe's room so I can finally show pictures of it! We're so close!! I've been feeling insanely pregnant lately. As I said up there, I'd been extremely sleep deprived before Christmas. Either I'd go to sleep for two hours and wake up to pee and be wide awake for the next 4 hours. Or I'd wake up every hour on the hour for the entirety of my sleep duration. Or I just wouldn't be able to sleep at all. Christmas was such a relief, you can imagine. Other than sleep I've had the typical complaints. I'm uncomfortable, my back hurts, I get random and inconsistent contractions that are very uncomfortable, I feel insanely heavy whenever I move and the lightning pain is sometimes terrible. Not to mention I pee like every hour. Though I did lose another pound somehow. I SWEAR I'm eating. At 37 wks I am now +22 lbs and the Dr did not say it was bad so I say it is good. But all in all I'm so ready to be done!!

But Bebe still has a few more weeks. At 37 she is now full term, THANK GOODNESS, so she COULD be born. But she hasn't yet. She's about 6 and 1/3 of a pound and about 19 inches (about as long as a stalk of swiss chard - which funnily enough we used in our stuffing for Christmas!). She's pretty much just hanging out, getting rounder and healthier, and assaulting every organ she can possibly sink a limb into. One night she moved non stop from 11pm until 5am. She's going to be a little handful, I can tell already!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: If you want a Birth Announcement SEND ME YOUR MAILING ADDRESS. Text it, e-mail it, I don't care how you get it to me. If you don't send it to me you might not get one!

All the presents under our tree!

Gathering in the kitchen

Me setting the table(s)

Mommy (Bebe's Besta) and me!

My present from Amanda!

36 wks (5ds)

Oh this week. Nothing dramatic has happened, but I'm just very exhausted. I went to a class called Parents Night on Wednesday to hear a lecture from a Pediatrician and a Pediatric Dentist about childhood illnesses and teething and all that fun stuff. The Pediatrician drove Jason up the wall since she was talking about how Chinese Herbs do more for your kid than anything and Jason is just... not into that at all. And then she got into the Vaccination debate (which I won't get into here because I really don't want to get into that debate with any of you lovely people) and he was like "Do we have to stay here? We could be playing Skyrim." But then she finished and the Dentist came on and he was awesome so Jason felt a lot better. We learned when we should start bringing the kid to the Dentist, when to start brushing teeth and how, and how to never let your kid go to bed with a bottle. Fun stuff. I was feeling ridiculously nauseous through the whole thing though so it put a damper on my ability to pay attention. Then Friday I had my Dr's appt and will now be going weekly! I had my Group B Strep test done (Jason kept thinking the Dr and I were saying "Groupie Strep test" and was like "Is that an STD or something?"). I'll find out my results on Friday at my 37 week appt but everything else looked great! He says I'm doing awesome! I'm also actually -3 lbs from last week, but considering I'd been +6 last week he didn't think it was a big deal. Weight gain is now +22 lbs. This weekend Jason and I lazed about and played a lot of Skyrim and it was actually a really nice, easygoing weekend. Then on Sunday we ran a bunch of errands and finished our Christmas shopping before my sister came to visit! We were going to go shopping but I was so exhausted from the earlier errands that we just ended up hanging out and working on her list of what to get people. That night I was having terrible Braxton Hick's. Every 6-7 min sitting down, 10-12 min when I got up and walked. Only in my abdomen, not in my back, and not painful just super uncomfortable and annoying. I was also crazy nauseous again and just all around feeling really pregnant and miserable. Even a nice long shower didn't help. Such as my life now I suppose? It's all just twiddling my thumbs and staring at my packed hospital bag as I wait!

This week Bebe is about 6 pounds which makes her the size of Crenshaw Melon. I guess it's just a big melon, because I've never had it before. She's also just over 18 1/2 inches long. She's still thrashing around and beating me up though so clearly she either has plenty of room or she thinks she has more room than she does. I'm going with the latter. She's shed most of her lanugo (the downy hair covering her) and is shedding her vernix caseosa that's been protecting her skin during this months long bath of hers. She's swallowing all of this and it's going to end up in her first meconium diaper that Jason will most likely be honored enough to change. It's mind boggling to think that in a few days (since I'm late on this, like always) I will be 37 weeks and she will be full term and I can feasibly go into labor any day in the next 4 weeks. It's so soon!!!

I will leave you this week with some pictures from the book I ordered! I took our Maternity pictures and made a Mixbook with them. It was super fun and easy to do and I'm so thrilled with the end results.

Edited for those not on my Facebook: Tonight's proof that Bebe has no regard for how much space she takes up

35 wks (4ds)

((Note: I wrote most of this entry Monday, and just finished it today, hence the 4ds and not 6ds))

This week is so so so much better than last week, health wise. The cold is gone and although my nose is stuffy I'm told that pregnancy and stuffy noses go hand in hand and it'll probably be stuffy for a few weeks yet, even though I'm not sick anymore. And good thing too because it's been a busy week!! Wednesday was my pre-natal breastfeeding class which I am so glad I took. We learned about proper positioning and things and I learned that if I were nursing a preemie sized stuffed lamb I would have awesome technique, lol. So lets hope that I don't forget it all when I have a normal sized newborn to nurse. On Friday I got to meet my friend's beautiful new baby! He's so tiny and adorable, omg. Bebe did not like me holding him though and spent the whole time I was holding him trying to push him off of me with her feet. I'm beginning to think that it's a really good thing I have no intentions of making her an only child because these early signs are not so promising to her ability to share! This weekend Jason and I got Christmas lights for the roof and also picked up a bookshelf for Bebe's room! Jason built it for me and anchored it into the wall and I was able to put in all her books she got at my shower and her toys as well. Nursery is definitely almost ready for reveal!! Jason just has to paint her curtain rod and her shelf and hang them (as well as some other wall art) and I can finally show it off! Finally, today Jason and I are going to EPCOT to see Neil Patrick Harris narrate the Candlelight Processional. We got the dinner package so we could get guaranteed seating and have reservations in Morocco! I'm so excited, since Jason and I LOVE NPH and are so excited to get to see him in person! ((Post Note: the concert was awesome! being pregnant got us better seats since the guy directing the confirmed seats was like "oh there's some seats up here!" and it was awesome. We could see NPH singing along with the choir. Plus, he was hilarious. We even stayed after for the firework show since we got to go in the reserved area for it. Definitely a nice way to belatedly celebrate our birthdays)).

As I said, I feel much better health wise this week. But so so uncomfortable pregnancy wise. Bebe should apparently be calming down her movements as she runs out of room but, HAHAHA, that's a joke. She's still rolling and jabbing and kicking and being a general basket of energy ((Post Note: at 6ds this still hasn't changed, and my stomach looks like a cat playing under a blanket right now)). I've also been getting terrible "lightning pains" as her head or something bumps against my pelvis and makes me gasp in sudden pain whenever I stand up, or walk, or stand still, or sit still, or whenever it randomly wants to assault me with it's quick jab of sudden hot poker like pain. Fortunately it lasts for like, a second. But it's almost knocked me over twice already ((Post Note: This has slowed down, I think Sunday was just a particularly bad day for it)). I've also been getting Braxton Hicks very very often. At least nightly. The other night I was starting to get worried because it was coming every 6 minutes but when i got up and had some water and walked around they completely vanished. Which, thankfully, because as uncomfortable as I am she needs another few weeks in there. And I am uncomfortable. Sitting is uncomfortable, laying down is uncomfortable, moving is uncomfortable. But, even with all of the above, I'm still loving being pregnant. I love feeling her imitate River Dance against my ribs and knowing she's just as eager to get out and see me as I am to see her. But I'm going to miss knowing that she's safe and healthy and happy inside me. That no matter how much I worry about her now, it'll be multiplied by infinity once she's out.

And she'll be out in around 5 weeks! Bebe is now 35 weeks and weighs as much as your average Honeydew melon (honeydew you want to marry me?), which is about 5 1/4 lbs. Length wise she's grown to over 18 inches. So no wonder she and I are so uncomfortable! Her kidneys are now fully developed and her liver can now process some waste products, which will certainly keep her mommy and daddy busy when she's born! Excitingly, most of her basic physical development is now complete and these next few weeks are going to be spent with her gaining weight and brain development! I can't believe she's already formed so completely already, and that even if she were to decide to be born now she'd likely be fine. It's so surreal!

34 wks (5ds)

This has been a difficult week. The day after writing last weeks blog I came down with a cough. The next day I had no voice. Fortunately I had a Dr's appt that day and my Dr is awesome and on the ball and immediately wrote me a script for amoxicillin. My throat was a little sore and he didn't want anything trying to turn into strep. Of course, amoxicillin doesn't stop a cold and after being out all day with Dr's appt's and pre-registering at Winnie Palmer and picking out a Christmas tree I was dead on my feet when we finally got home. On Saturday I was even worse and curled up on the couch while Jason decorated our tree as I fought the sniffles. And Sunday? Sunday was the worst day this week. I was MISERABLE. I went through a box of tissues, my lungs rebelled, my head was stuffy, I couldn't stop sneezing and the only thing I wanted to consume was toast and 7up. That night I was up most of the night not being able to breathe or sleep and it was just a terrible way to begin my 27th year. Yes, that's right, 27. Monday was my birthday! And by some birthday miracle I woke up feeling a little better. Definitely not 100%, but a little bit better. Jason - being awesome - stopped at a local cupcakery after watching me indulge in a Cupcake Wars marathon the night before and got me 4 delicious cupcakes to celebrate my birthday! And, in increasingly good news, today I woke up after a full nights sleep without having had to reach for a tissue all night. I'm definitely on the upswing!

Aside from the cold of DOOM, my Dr's appt went very well. Let's not talk about the weight gain that occured from my Key West Bar Food Crawl and just say I'm at +25 lbs which is still in a good and healthy margin as long as my weight gain slows its roll these next few weeks (hopefully being sick did that a little bit). My tummy check was exactly 34cm, so Bebe is still measuring perfectly on track and her heartbeat is still in the 140s. She's been moving like a dervish this week, likely as a sign of her displeasure at my constant coughing. But yeah, she's good and healthy and wonderful and that's really all I could wish for on my birthday.

This week Bebe weighs about as much as your average cantaloupe - which is 4 3/4 lbs. She's also about 18 inches long! it seems so surreal that something that big can fit inside of me, even though I feel gigantic. And to know she's going to get bigger? It's just so weird! And she definitely will get bigger because her fat layers are continuing to develop, making her rounder and her skin smooth, which is good because she'll need them to regulate her body temperature once she's born. Her central nervous system and her lungs are continuing to rapidly mature as well. It just boggles my mind that she's due in 36 days and her body is in such hyper drive developing her. Especially since if she's born now she would likely do fine with only minimal assistance and a short hospital stay. But as uncomfortable as I am now I do not want her to make an appearance for several more weeks. Grow Bebe grow!

33wks (6ds)... barely

Guys it was Thanksgiving. You have to cut me some slack. I know I say this all the time, but this week really has been non stop. Aren't the holidays always? You will probably be lucky if I post at all around Christmas. Anyways, I started Week 33 on Thanksgiving day. The day before I'd cooked and cleaned and bemoaned the poor abused state of my back. And Thanksgiving day had Jason and our two little furbabies traveling down to Sunrise with my Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins for Thanksgiving dinner 1 (T1, from now on) and my Sweet Potato Casserole for Thanksgiving dinner 2 (T2). After dropping off the girls at Jason's house and unloading our luggage we zipped over to my Mom's house where 16 of us gathered around to say what we were thankful for and eat Turkey shaped cakepops from my sister (okay, so there was actual turkey and other yummy things there as well, but cakepops, c'mon). After enjoying T1 and socializing a bit - not to mention coercing Bebe to finally move for her future Great Grandma's and her Aunt Lilly - Jason and I bid adieu and headed back over to his parents' for T2 where 12 of us gathered around to nosh on turkey and my sweet potatoes and other amazing dishes. Jason's aunt even made me an AMAZING Chocolate Truffle Pie (that I swear tastes JUST like eating a Lindt truffle) for my birthday (which isn't until the 5th of December, but we celebrated then!). All in all? It was a super successful Turkey day and Bebe and I were satiated and content!

The next morning Jason and I got up early and headed over to my mom's to get ready for my family's 3rd annual Thanksgiving Weekend Key West Vacation! My mom, Stepdad, sisters, brother-in-law, sister's boyfriend, Jason and I (that's 10 of us) all head down to Key West to relax and enjoy. If by relaxing you mean bar crawling across Key West, which I do. Well, they bar crawled, I snacked. Cheese fries, ice cream, key lime pie, and lots of water. LOTS of water. Before we left we joked that they'd get me a wheel chair for all the walking and somehow get to the front of the line. I nixed the wheel chair idea. I'm pregnant, not an invalid. However I DID end up getting to the front of every line I went into. Bathroom line, that is. Something about an 8 months pregnant lady with a hand on her back and a pained look on her face spurns the charity of half drunk bar patrons so that even the bartenders and waitresses let me go before them. But I survived, mostly! And made every day 7am to 7pm, which is when my energy evaporated and Jason would take me home so I could curl up in bed in exhaustion and moderate pain. Of course, two days of non stop walking and I didn't swell up once. Stop at a local restaurant/bar in Islamorada and our incompatent waiter leaves us sitting in the sweltering sun for an hour and only refilled our drinks once (when I flagged him down) before we got our food and I couldn't even get my feet in my sandals they were so badly swollen. It was awful and took a whole 24 hours before I finally felt normal again.

After the keys Jason went back to O-Town but I stayed with my mom in Sunrise for a few days. We set up Christmas on Monday. And by "we" set up Christmas I mean "my mom" set up Christmas while I occasionally wandered around and poked at things. Then I met up with one of my good friends from Middle School and her adorable daughter! We spent about 4 hours catching up and she gave me some amazing pregnancy advice (and a dvd!). It was so so so great catching up with long lost friends and it almost felt like it hadn't been nearly a decade since we'd hung out. On Tuesday I went with my mom and stepdad to get my mom a (as my sisters put it) "ballin'" new car and then decorated the Christmas tree when my sisters arrived (along with hot cocoa and snippets of the VS fashion show). This morning mom and I made our way up to Orlando where we immediately started organizing Bebe's nursery and figuring out where to put blankets and toys and things! I still have so much to wash, but I can do that on my own. Tomorrow we're going shopping for more essentials too! Clearly you all can see why I have neglected this until the last possible hour, yes? I knew you'd understand.

So how has this week treated me? So glad you asked. Bebe is definitely definitely DEFINITELY head down. The constant pressure on my bladder? Check. The flutters of little fists against my hip area? Check. The sudden sharp stabbing pain in my lower pelvis? God check, check, triple check. As I type this she is flailing around and making it so uncomfortable to sit up straight. Of course the pain in my lower back makes it uncomfortable to slouch. And the Acid Reflux makes it uncomfortable to lay down. Win, win, win! Last night I made the mistake of eating garlic rolls. Let me tell you. They taste so so much better when they're in your stomach as opposed to your esophagus. But even despite all of the discomfort and Bebe's single minded determination to make me as uncomfortable as possible, I still am loving being pregnant. I love feeling her move (even when it hurts) and I love knowing that she is active and well and full of personality even as a fetus. When she's out of me I know I'm going to miss this.

Appropriately for this week spent in the Keys, Bebe is about 4.25 lbs. which makes her the size of a pineapple! She's also about 17.25 inches long as well, which makes it slightly more reasonable as to why she is kicking and punching everything she can reach. I would too if I was 17.25" and stuck in my stomach. The waxy vernix coating is thickening and she's now lost almost all of her lanugo (that fine, downy hair) as she's putting on baby fat to round herself out. Her bones are also hardening more, although the plates in her skull won't fuse together so that they can overlap in order to pass through the birth canal (this is why babies sometimes have a conehead appearance after they're born). Fun fact: your skull doesn't actually fully fuse until early adulthood so that they can grow along with your brain through infancy and childhood. And, whew, I cannot believe I actually finished this!

32 wks (4ds)

This was a busy busy week!! And, I won't lie, I could have written this Thursday but I have had like no motivation to do anything except sleep lately. Even now I'm staring at the computer screen trying to think of words to type because pregnancy has turned my brain to mush. But there's so much to talk about!! Like my fantastic BABY SHOWER that I had last weekend!!! My sisters hosted (with a lot of help from my fabulous mother) and it was absolutely perfect. It was Nursery Rhyme themed and all the food and decorations (that my sister drew free handed) reflected that. A bunch of family and friends came and it was just a wonderful day. Bebe was SO SPOILED! She seriously got so many amazing things through everyone's generosity and I could be any more grateful. Other important events this week was our 32 week Doctor's visit on Wednesday. Once again Bebe is hitting all those textbook markers that make me and my Dr very happy and I was given the All Clear to go home for Thanksgiving and to Key West for my family vacation! Wednesday was also our Basic Infant Care class and I came home with a pile of notes to page through while Jason tried to stay awake in it. Then on Friday my sister, Kali, came down and we were joined by my other sister, Kirsty, on Saturday. Their purpose? To help me prepare for my Maternity pictures that the weather FINALLY allowed me to have taken yesterday!!! Let me just start by saying that Lindsay (@ You Are The Roots) is amazing, and she's been around to document all of Jason's and my big events (engagement and wedding, now pregnancy!), so this event was no exception. Kirsty helped me pull my look together and came up with some cute ideas, Kali did my hair and make up, and away we went up to the adorable town of Mount Dora to find a little park with a beautiful lake and some gorgeous trees. The entire shoot was super easy going and fun, like it always is with Lindsay, and even though I've only seen one preview from the set I am SO EXCITED since it's gorgeous!!

So busy week leads to an EXHAUSTED Katie. And not just because it's been Go-Go-Go. Friday night I couldn't sleep and only got about 4 hours of it, and then Saturday night the same thing. I ended up falling asleep on the couch at 2am and waking up at quarter to 6am to get ready. Of course as soon as Jason and I got home I ate a bit and then passed out for another 4 hours. It's frustrating because everyone tells you when you're pregnant to sleep when you can, but when you just CAN'T sleep it makes you so angry at all the advise you get to sleep! I'd LOVE to sleep more, because that's pretty much all I want to do. But between my back hurting, my acid reflux, my restless legs, my insomnia, my gigantic stomach, and my need to pee every couple hours? Sleep is just sitting off in the corner laughing at me and telling me that this is practice for when Bebe gets here. Everything just feels like it's in overdrive lately, including my Reflux and aches and pains (back, ribs, hips, etc). But most of all? Pregnancy Brain. I am so overly ADD right now, noticeable by the fact that I started this entry last night. I really hope I don't just decide to flop down on a bed in Key West and sleep my entire vacation away, but oh my goodness does that sound like the best idea ever right now.

Bebe! Bebe is fantastic. I swear she's an octopus and all my ultrasounds missed her 4 other appendages. In the car on the way to my photo shoot I swear she was playing a game and trying to see how many internal organs she could assault at the same time. The answer: all of them. The best news with her is that, according to the Dr, he believes she is now HEAD DOWN! YAY! This is awesome for birth, but now she's taken to using my bladder as a pillow and that is much less exciting. She also gets the hiccups ALL. THE. TIME. And she really really hates them, because after a minute of them she starts flailing about, kicking whatever she can, and doesn't calm down until they stop. Fortunately they don't seem to last long. She's also still growing, somehow, because it doesn't feel like there's much room in there. She's almost 17" at this point, and about 4 lbs - which makes her as big as a large jicama (image included because, lol if I know what a jicama is). She's going to be gaining about 1/3 to 1/2 of her birthweight in the next 7 weeks, and her skin is starting to smooth out those wrinkles as the weight I'm gaining (I'm +19 lbs. total this week) goes towards fattening her up. She now has toenails and fingernails too! And apparently she is now supposed to have real hair but, lol, she's had plenty of hair since well before 29 weeks so I can't even begin to imagine how much hair she'll actually have when she's born. Yeti child.

Preview from my Maternity shoot! (© Hearts & Crafts photography)


A couple seconds of hiccups, and Bebe reacting to them

Kirsty's adorable decorations. Jack & Jill going up the hill and all the characters from Hey Diddle Diddle! (There was also a Humpty umpty on a wall with the Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars and a Mother Goose elsewhere on the walls)

Spread of food. "This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef" sandwich platters, "Three Blind Mice" cheese and fruit platter, "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" pumpkin bread, "Humpty Dumpty" deviled eggs, etc.

The dessert table

The rhyme that inspired the cake!

Kirsty made amazing sheep cake pops as party favors! Mary's Little Lamb and the Baa Baa Black Sheep

Me in my chair of honor!

My grandma - Bebe's Great Grandma! - and I

My mom and I

My dad and I

My sisters and I