13 days until my due date! 14 days left for Laurel Annette to be a July baby. I would be tempted to say she will be an August baby, but at my appointment this past week, there was a slight concern that my amniotic fluid level may drop too low and result in an induction this week. I have been drinking a lot of fluids to help prevent having to be induced (with the 16th day in a row of 100 degree weather, that has been fairly easy to do although I know I could do even better). While I don’t really want to be induced, the anticipation of her arrival is intense for William and me. We are both so anxious to know what she will look like and be able hold her in our arms. So the thought that she could possibly be here this week is a bit exciting. Our parents are not scheduled to come until next week, however, so it would be nice for her to wait for their arrival. I at least hope she will wait until Thursday morning when my OBGYN returns from vacation!
I think my friend Courtney is correct. Now that we feel like we are ready for the baby, she will take her time with the arrival. We are to the point where we are coming up with new things to do to get ready for the baby. William bought disposable plates and silverware so we don’t have to worry about dishes, we restocked on groceries, we bought new lamps for our bedroom, William fixed our garage door that decided it wanted to sporadically work, and I finally got my car back on Saturday so we could officially put the car seat base and car seat in the car! My hospital bag, which has been packed since 4th of July weekend is sitting by the door and ready to load in the car either tonight or in the morning.
I do have a few more things I need to wrap up at work, so my work to do list is ready to tackle in the morning.
I am still feeling good, but definitely am showing signs that I am 9 months pregnant. I am moving slower, it takes me about 10 minutes go get off my favorite comfy spot on the chaise in the family room, i am constantly dropping food on my belly, and I am in a serious nesting phase, although as I just mentioned, I don’t really have any nesting left to do.
So… this week’s to do’s??
1. Drink plenty of water
2. Sleep
3. Keep my feet up and resist the temptation to find more “nesting” to do
It’s hard to believe that we are just 20 days away from our due date. Like anything else, in some ways, the time has gone by fast, but William pointed out to me that I have been pregnant all year, so I guess it has been a long time 🙂 . It’s also hard for me to believe that we are actually ready to bring home a baby. Our “to do” list went from a long list of tasks to a blank board with everything crossed off. The nursery is ready to go, all the gadgets are put together, the car seat base is installed (in one car… more on this later), all of Laurel’s clothes are pre-washed and put away in drawers or hung neatly in the closet, the diapers and other toiletries have been purchased, my hospital bag is packed (although not in the car… explanation coming), we even chose a pediatrician and paid the deposit for the daycare for when I return to work in October. My favorite part is that the house is spotlessly clean (including freshly shampooed carpets). William and I did a major deep cleaning of the house last weekend… carpets, dusting, cleaning bathrooms, closets, drawers… everything. He has learned that a clean house puts a huge smile on my face and keeps me calm and relaxed. It was a bit weird Friday night when we kicked back with pizza and Netflix (The King’s Speech… great movie) and I was looking around the house ready to make a mental list of what I needed to do this weekend and realized there really wasn’t anything to put on the list (except for getting my thank you cards done, which I am terribly behind on, but have plans to finish today). My biggest task now is getting some projects wrapped up at work, but I don’t feel I can ever feel ready to be away from work for 12 weeks, so I will just have to do what I can. So….I feel pretty comfortable that we are ready to go. Of course, we are first time parents, so we have no idea what to expect or how to gauge if we are truly ready, but I feel good with our progress.
So… what’s the deal with the car you ask? Well…. a little over a month ago, Dallas had some pretty severe storms come through the area. Prior to my knowledge that this severe weather was coming, I decided to take my car to the dealership for routine maintenance. Little did I know that my car would be parked outside on the service center lot and get pummeled by hail instead of being parked safely in my garage where the loan car I had was. The hail left several small dents and a few medium size dents on the roof of my car, and damaged almost all the other cars there as well. Fortunately, the dealership is covering the costs of repairs through their insurance, but it required me bringing my car back to them a few weeks later (2 1/2 weeks ago to be exact), and driving a rental car (also covered under their insurance) in the meantime. I was hoping the longest I would be without the car was about a week, maybe 2, but I called on Thursday and it’s still being painted, so it likely won’t be ready until mid week. Of course I calmly explained to the guy that I am pregnant and NEED my car back before giving birth. He said they could make arrangements to deliver the car to me if needed (no pun intended), which is great, but I just want my car!! So, I am hoping it will be ready by Wednesday or Thursday. I forgot how much I like my car, but driving around in a rental car for 2 1/2 weeks has made me realize just how much I enjoy my car. It doesn’t give me any problems, it runs smoothly, I love it so much I have already put over 100,000 miles on it in just 4 years (yes… I do a lot of driving). I should be able to easily get another 100,000 miles on it. So, that is why we have only installed the car seat base in William’s vehicle and my bag is not in the car.
Anyway.. back to the baby. Laurel seems to be pretty content in my womb for the moment. I have had no contractions, only what feels like Laurel stretching her body to occupy as much space as she can. When I went in for an ultrasound two weeks ago, she was already measuring 6 lbs, 9 ounces according to the machine, and that was at 35 weeks, 3 days!! So… my doctor feels she is likely going to be a big baby and there is a possibility we may not make it to 40 weeks. My next ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday, so she plans to look at her growth again and determine next steps, which could include inducing early. The good news is that I hit the 37 week mark yesterday, which is considered full term, so there is good confidence that her lungs are fully developed and there is a much lower risk of issues if she were to be born.
I have been feeling pretty good also despite our long stretch of 100 degree weather here in Texas. I am indoors most of the time, so the heat is not really bothering me. Still no major issues… no nausea, food aversions, food cravings, indigestion (actually… maybe I did once or twice, but it was shortlived), heartburn…. nothing. Swollen feet and ankles are the one problem I continue to have. It depresses me a little bit because I can’t really wear any shoes. I have one pair of work shoes that fit and other than that I wear flip flops. Any shoes with a lot of straps tend to make the swelling worse, so I am really looking forward to my feet being “normal” again. I try to keep my feet up as much as possible (they are up write now as I write this post), and it helps, but the swelling always returns once I am sitting without my feet up or up moving for long periods of time. Sleeping has become somewhat uncomfortable, but I am still sleeping pretty well.
So for now, the preparation includes just a few things: sleep (I have got to go to bed at a more reasonable time) and cherishing these last weeks, maybe even days together as a family of two. That part is actually a bit emotional for me because although I am so thrilled and excited to welcome Laurel into our lives, I have become so content with it just being William and me, and being able to go anywhere and do anything with little notice. However, I am ready to embrace the change as I know this moment will be one of the most defining moments in our lives.
So… any predictions on when this defining moment will be?
Well… we are getting closer. Less than 7 weeks away from the due date and we are almost prepared to welcome Laurel home. William and I have been able to mark a few things off our To Do list this weekend, which was really nice. We went shopping to buy some “must have” items, and William assembled the swing, bouncer seat, and secured the bookshelf to the wall and the changing pad to the dresser. We have William’s favorite dustless board (i.e. white board/dry erase board) with our list of items we still need to purchase and tasks we still need to complete. I think we are both happy with what we were able to mark off this weekend.
Last week we took an infant safety/CPR class. I think we are both happy to have that knowledge now, but I hope we never have to use it. This weekend, we have our last two classes… baby care class and breastfeeding class. After that, I think we are supposed to feel prepared, but I don’t know that there is such a thing 🙂
The pregnancy still seems to be progressing nicely. Still no major issues except for swollen feet and ankles, and a bit of trouble finding a comfortable sleeping position. I can’t wait to sleep on my stomach again!! Other than that, I have been feeling pretty good. I feel myself starting to waddle a bit and I am definitely not moving as fast as I used to, but I am still taking the stairs at work (my daily exercise 🙂 ).
Laurel is definitely moving more. It definitely seems she is getting a bit cramped b/c it feels like she is stretching out and pushing either an arm, or knee, or some part of her body out against my stomach like she is searching for more space. It’s pretty funny and still does not really bother me. Occasionally she still gives a good solid kick or two, but more larger movements now than anything else. I do wonder how she is positioned though because if I had to guess, I would say she is sideways laying horizontally instead of vertically. I don’t know if it is even possible for her to be positioned that way, but I feel movements on the left a right side and rarely high or low in my abdomen.
Wow… can you believe it? The countdown in weeks is down to the single digits and we are 60 days away from Laurel Annette’s due date! William thought there was some sort of error with the countdown ticker on the page, but I assured him July 30th was right around the corner.
I am already starting to get questions about whether I am tired of being pregnant, but I am not really experiencing too much discomfort right now, so I am good. The worse side effect of pregnancy I have is swelling in my ankles that occurs almost every day and then goes away at night (what some like to refer to as cankles). Before you start to worry… my blood pressure is fine and there is no concern about pre-eclampsia. I am praying that it stays that way. I had a doctor’s appointment today and everything checked out fine. My ankles were a little swollen, but my blood pressure was normal. Laurel is moving around quite a bit. I can sometimes feel different “bumps” poking out. I cannot tell if it is a hand, foot, knee, head, bottom or what. I actually think she has the hiccups at this very moment….either hiccups or she has decided to rhythmically kick me every few seconds 🙂 It really doesn’t both me. I love to feel her move. It lets me know she is doing ok. William gets so tired of me putting his hand on my belly so he can “share in the experience”. She usually stops moving when his hand is there (it’s his calming effect), but he has felt some interesting gymnastics and kicks.
So… despite the fact that everything is relatively smooth sailing with pregnancy, William and I are trying to check off as much as possible so we are prepared for Laurel’s arrival. I do feel slightly overwhelmed by the list, but we were able to get a few things checked off last week, so I feel a little better. Two big decisions we need to make soon are daycare/nanny options and finding a good pediatrician. William and I visited the local daycare centers closest to our house and feel comfortable with one of the centers we visited. I think we would both feel comfortable with that option, so that did alleviate a lot of stress for me although I am still interested in looking into the nanny option as well. I will say that I was leaning more towards the nanny option when William and I were both working very long hours at work, but now that he is teaching and his hours are little less demanding and very predictable, daycare centers are much more of an option that it would have been a year ago. I can easily drop her off on my way to work and he can pick her up at a reasonable time in the afternoon without much problem. So, while we haven’t made a final decision, I am glad we at least narrowed down the options. The other big decision is choosing a pediatrician. We opted to find one close to home and set up pre-natal visits with two pediatric groups over the next couple weeks. I have had recommendations for physicians at each of these practices, and think I have an idea of which one I will like better, but you never know. So… we should have a pediatrician chosen in a couple of weeks and that will be a big relief as well.
The rest of our to-do list is mainly making sure we have everything ready to go to bring home the new member of the Cody household….
Organize her closet (maybe buy some shelving)
Purchase the infant carset and stroller
Stock up on diapers, wipes, baby wash, lotion, etc…
Clean the carpets
Baby proof the house (or at least getting a start on it)
Set up the baby gadgets (swing, bouncer, stroller, etc..)
Choose a “coming home” outfit for Laurel (we do have a possible option)
Get some comfy loungewear/sleepwear for me during the first few weeks
Download some white noise for Laurel’s ipod (white noise is supposed to help babies adjust to life outside the womb)
Learn how to use my breast pump
Pre-Wash some of Laurel’s clothing
Pack the hospital bag
Review all of our childbirth class materials
And the list goes on……. (I didn’t even include my long to-do list for work)
Our goal is 4th of July weekend to try to complete everything. This will put me at 36 weeks and should allow me to relax during the last 4 weeks.
I apologize that I have fallen so far behind on my baby bump photos. I really thought I would do a better job, but I will try to take one in the next week.
So the weekend before last, my sister and best friend from college hosted a Baby Shower for me. It was so much fun! Both sets of parents were in town along with my grandmother, and two of my sorority sisters/college friends (one who is a newleywed and brought her husband). It was definitely a busy weekend with so many out-of-town guests, but it was great to see everyone!
We did the usual baby shower stuff… mingled with the guests, enjoyed some great summer salads and Strawberries Romanoff (YUM-O!), indulged in Sprinkles cupcakes and cake pops that my sister’s friend made, played a few games, and opened gifts. I was also able to share the nursery reveal video with the guests, so they saw it before William posted it on the blog. The parents got to see it in person of course and were super impressed with William’s beautiful creation :-). After many of the guests had left, and the guys returned, some of those remaining played “Just Dance” on Wii while I assumed my all too familiar position on the couch with my swollen feet and ankles elevated.
It was a great weekend and a very enjoyable event!
By now I think that everyone knows that I decorated the nursery for baby Laurel and that I did a reveal for Kyllan on her birthday. Miraculously, she didn’t peek once during the entire process. Below is the video of the nursery reveal and Kyllan’s reaction. Also, there is a second video where Kyllan and I talk about our favorite parts of the nursery. Both can be played in HD if you change the settings in the corner of video. Also, a few pictures are on my flickr page.
Kyllan’s Baby shower is this weekend. I say Kyllan’s baby shower, and not our baby shower, because I was not invited. Both our parents will be in town for the event, as well as a few out of state friends we don’t get to see very often. (We don’t see the ones in state enough either.) I’ve been busy trying to wrap up the semester and Kyllan is always buys, so we haven’t had much time to really do baby related stuff recently. It will be great to have a chance to share our excitement with everyone. I know that one of the shower events is going to be watching the nursery reveal video. At this point, Kyllan is the only person other than me that has seen it. I will post the same video to the site sometime this weekend, after the shower.
Well… it was a fun, exciting weekend for William and me. It started with my birthday on Friday, my sister’s birthday on Saturday, and then Mother’s Day today where we finally revealed Baby Girl Cody’s name to our mom’s (and therefore everyone else). We sent them Mother’s Day cards from the baby (with her name inside) that they were told not to open until today.
So…. the new member of the Cody household will be named…………….. (Click “read more” below)
Can you believe I only have 1 1/2 more weeks in the 2nd trimester? Today, Tuesday, I am 26 weeks and 3 days. The 3rd trimester begins at 28 weeks. I am getting pretty excited knowing we are only about 13 1/2 weeks away from meeting our new baby girl. However, I am also worried I am running out of time to get stuff done on my “to do” list like finalize a pediatrician, figuring out who will take care of Baby Girl Cody when I go back to work, get some spring cleaning done, and most importantly…. getting some sleep while I still can!! William and I have several busy weekends until Memorial Day weekend, and I really plan to make sure I am on a strict action plan for rest after that. I am so glad he is doing the nursery!! He is so right… I would have driven myself crazy. He still will not tell me when the “big reveal” is, but I assume it is coming in the next couple weeks.
The pregnancy is still going great. I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday and it went very well. Two weeks ago, I had my 1 hour glucose test to screen for gestational diabetes. I heard many people talk about how disgusting the sugary drink is that you have to drink as part of the test. I was a bit nervous when I found the “beverage” to be pretty tasty. In fact, it tasted like orange soda to me and I am a huge fan of orange soda. I even have a Fanta Orange t-shirt that smells like Fanta Orange that I got at the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta a few years ago 🙂 I was hoping that my affinity for the drink was not an indicator that I had gestational diabetes and fortunately it was not. The test came back normal as did all the other labwork done. Baby Girl Cody was apparently pretty excited about all the attention she was getting at the doctor’s office. When they placed the doppler on my belly to listen to her heartbeat, her heart rate was accelerated. She even started kicking where the doppler was, which was pretty funny. Her heart rate did not stay accelerated for long and returned to normal within several seconds, so everything seems to be going very well!
William is enjoying watching my belly grow, telling me how pregnant I am, and making predictions on when my belly button it going to “pop”. It’s still migrating forward, so we’ll see how far it goes.
This past weekend, William and I attended a wedding of one of my good friends and sorority sisters and it was a beautiful wedding. It was also great to catch up with the rest of my sorority sisters. I am guaranteed to have a good time when we get together. Baby Girl Cody slept the whole trip to South Carolina, but was moving and kicking on the ride back to Dallas, so I guess she enjoyed the weekend also. I posted a couple photos below from the weekend since I didn’t take a belly photo this week. I also posted a picture my sister took while I was out shoe shopping at DSW after work last week. I am sure my mom will be pleased I am wearing something different 🙂
This whole baby thing seemed like it was taking forever, but now that the due date is only 100 days away, it all seems to be happening so fast! 100 days. Can you believe that? There is still so much to get done. As far as I can tell, Kyllan has behaved and has not peeked at the nursery… yet. She is, however, inquiring about the nursery reveal at least twice a day and telling me what days would be good for her. I’m pretty sure that she has a date set in her mind that she will take a look regardless of what I say.
Things are really going to start flying by now. Last week we took our official labor and delivery tour of the hospital. Just another sign that the end/beginning is getting near. Kyllan is REALLY pregnant now, which may explain her lack of post recently. That, and she is back to falling asleep at the blink of an eye. Below is her 25 weeks picture, taken this past Saturday. This coming weekend we will travel to South Carolina to attend the wedding of one of Kyllan’s college friends and sorority sisters. The weekend after that we will be in Jacksonville (more on that to come). The week after that we will celebrate Kyllan’s birthday. The week after that, Kyllan’s sister is hosting her baby shower.
Also, I would just like to remind everyone that we are now blocking search engines from the site. Searching for “cody report” on Google is going to be less and less likely to turn up the blog. (More and more likely to turn up links by that guy named Cody who wanted to buy the domain from me a few years back for his weekly stock market report.)
Disclaimer: I received a phone call from a friend alerting me that too many post on the blog were focused on pink baby clothes and baby bumps. My next post will be a MAN POST about manly things
