Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. This year on Christmas Eve we are going to my mom's house & then on Christmas day we are going to my brother's house & then the day after Christmas we are going to Dan's parents house. This should be our last "quiet" Christmas because next year Madelyn will be here although she will still be a little too young to understand what is going on. I hope everyone has a great holiday!

In other news, we had our 36 wk appointment yesterday & now start going weekly. Nothing too exciting to report as everything continues to be status quo at this point. Once again it took the doctor a while to find her heartbeat, which amazes me - you would think that the bigger the baby is the easier it would be to find the heartbeat! When they did find it it was 159 bpm. I have not dilated at all but the doctor said that Madelyn's head is wedged down in my pelvis, which is good news, and partly explains why I am feeling so miserable! That means she shouldn't be changing positions between now and her delivery & she is in the "locked and loaded position". The doctor also confirmed that I have been feeling contractions as my body is preparing for the delivery. I am really nervous but excited at the same time. Next week I am off on vacation and then have to go to work for 1 day and then start my maternity leave. I plan on getting Madelyn's room all finished up and all her clothes & sheets washed and ready for her. It's hard to believe that our lives are about to completely change forever in the next couple of weeks.

34 weeks & counting...

Today we had our 34 week appointment and sonogram. We were quite happy when the doctor announced that Madelyn is still a girl and there is still only one baby! We would have a bit of a problem if either of those things had turned out to no longer be true! :-)

It is so amazing to see her on the ultrasound machine - she has a lot of hair already & we could even see the fat rolls on the back of her little neck. She was all tucked up in a little ball & was burying her face, so the tech had a hard time getting a picture of her face, hands and one of her feet. Everything looks great though & everything is measuring normally. She is actually measuring a week ahead and is an estimated 5lbs 8oz already. Given that she can gain up to 1/2 a pound a week for the remainder of the pregnancy, she could easily end up over 8 lbs (God, I hope not!). Of course, there is a margin of error & this is just an estimate. She is in the correct position for delivery and her heartbeat was 140. Dan is convinced she will make her arrival early, though there are no signs of any premature labor yet. The dr said I should be good to finish all my Christmas shopping. I'll post the new ultrasound pics soon.

Classes, classes, classes!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had dinner with my mom, Bob, David, Toni & Caitlin the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and then on Thanksgiving day we went to Dan's parents house and had another wonderful meal. Austin was in town visiting for the holiday, so that was a lot of fun too. Then on Sunday, we went to the Breastfeeding class, which was very informative and I learned a lot. This Saturday we have part 1 of the 12 hour Childbirth class, which is what we are really looking forward to - in this class we also get to tour the hospital.

I am starting to get really uncomfortable and am glad the end is in sight. I am kind of nervous but cannot wait to meet our little girl and hold her in my arms. I am already smitten! :-)