6lbs Already?!?!?!

At our big ultrasound this morning, we were very pleased to learn that Hailey is 6lbs 1oz already! We have 24 days to go until her due date so she'll probably pack on at least another pound or so. Unfortunately, I don't have any very good pictures from this time around, but we were able to see just about everything (and we confirmed again that she is indeed a girl). The most amazing images were of her toes (I think I saw a toenail) and her hair. Yes, she's a hairy beast, but that's just as we expected given her Mommy and Daddy. We also saw her "practice breathing" which I guess is a good sign that she's about ready to come out. I'm getting so excited to meet her. I think that I'm going to go out today to buy my red raspberry leaf tea and my evening primrose vitamins. Next midwife visit is Wednesday the 5th, but I might post before then with pictures of the nursery.

Midwife Update and Cord Blood Donation Rant

We had our appointment with Shelly, our midwife, this morning. I'm still measuring a little small so we have to do another ultrasound next week. She said that she wants to keep an eye on Hailey's development, but that she's probably just going to be a small baby. I'm not going to worry about it at this point because 1) there's nothing that I can do about it except to eat healthy and take care of myself (which I'm already doing); 2) I was a smaller sized baby; and 3) we're going to love her no matter what size or shape she is.

Also, Luke and I were both able to feel her little head through my belly. That was pretty cool. She's head down so no breech babies here. Good little girl...way to save Mommy from a yucky c-section.

Now, let me bitch for a minute about this whole cord blood situation. Luke and I have always wanted to donate the cord blood from any children that we might be fortunate enough to have. Our opinion is that if our biomedical waste can somehow save someone else's child, then that's pretty much a no brainer for us. Unfortunately, I've waited too long to sign up so now we can't do it. I realize that this is completely my fault for procrastinating, but I honestly did not know that there would be no local programs and that it would be so confusing. Apparently, our government, in it's infinite wisdom, passed a law mandating that all pregnant women be given information about the program, but then they didn't fund any additional donation sites. So, it's basically worthless. Sounds pretty familiar!

More Shower Fun

Here is the belly at 35 weeks...pretty impressive, huh? Surprisingly, I'm still pretty comfortable on a day-to-day basis. Of course, I can't slouch or bend down. The most annoying thing is just the constant hiccups that she seems to have. It's such a bizarre feeling, and there's nothing that I can do about it except to wait for them to go away.

Anyway, last Sunday was our family and friends baby shower in Nashville. It was a couples shower, which was a little different but really fun. Hailey got lots of beautiful presents. Almost our entire registry was filled. Mom was here for the big event and then she spent the rest of her time washing all of the clothes and getting the nursery together. It looks pretty good now. Thank goodness for Moms. My next appointment with the midwives is Wednesday and then I'll have to go every week after that. I'll try to post again right after my appointment.

Babies Are Such a Good Deal

Little Baby Hailey is not even born yet and she’s already costing Mommy and Daddy a fortune. Call it the nesting instinct or just pure insanity, but over the weekend I decided that we absolutely had to redo Hailey’s closet immediately. She has a lovely walk-in closet with a window in it, but it
only had one shelf and bar that went all the way around the top. It was just the wire shelving crap that the contractor installed, and it would never do for our precious little one. So, off we go to Target, Home Depot, and finally, Lowes. Several hundred dollars later and poor Luke is forced
to put together multiple shelving units, which I insisted upon. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Luke I suppose), we couldn’t fit all of the shelving units that I wanted so she only has a corner piece and one 30” piece. Plus, she has tons and tons of bars for hanging clothes. Needless to say, this little project didn’t exactly get finished over the weekend. Thank goodness that my Mom arrived today to help put things in order. Maybe I’ll try to take a picture when we’re finished so that you can see the finished work in all of its glory.

On another note, I’m pretty sure that my belly has grown quite a bit since my last trip to the doctor. The only way I can really gauge the growth is by how stretched out my belly button is getting. Let’s just say that it’s gone from being an innie to an outie to a flattie. Yikes.

Hailey Weight Update

I just got back from seeing the midwife, and she says that Hailey is a little small weight-wise (in the 45th percentile). Plus, I'm measuring a little small on the outside. If my belly doesn't grow enough in the next 3 weeks, we have to do another ultrasound to make sure there are no growth problems. I hate when they say crap like that. Now I have to spend the next 3 weeks wondering if she's growing in there or not!!! I'm fine if she doesn't weigh that much (I was only 6lbs 11oz), but why worry me with thoughts of “growth problems” (which, by the way, is too vague a term to even Google).

Ok. In the midwife’s defense, she did say that it’s probably nothing to worry about because Hailey may just be a small baby. But still, she clearly does not understand the epidemic of worrying that runs in my family. I’m probably setting off a worrying chain reaction of seismic proportions just by writing this. So, let’s all calm down because there is nothing that we can do about it but wait until our next appointment on the 21st. Well, nothing except try to eat healthy and measure my own belly every night like some crazy psycho.