Tuesday, August 19, 2008

~ Online Baby Arrival Date Pool ~

One of my girlfriends at work set up an online pool for everyone at work to guess on Baby Smith's arrival date - anyone is welcome to join in the fun! Just click on the link below to play along:

Monday, August 18, 2008

~ 36 Weeks ~

We are now down to hopefully 27 Days or less until we meet our baby girl! I had my 36 week appointment this morning where I had the GBS test & found out I am 1 cm dilated & 75% effaced! :) The truth is, I could be 1 cm dilated for weeks, but it feels good to hear that some progress has been made so far! I go back again next week & the week after that, etc LOL My blood pressure was up at the appt again this morning - 134/86 - which isn't terrible, but definitely pretty high for me since I normally have very low blood pressure. The nurse checked it again before I left & both numbers had gone down by 10. I don't have any other signs/symptoms that coincide with the high blood pressure, so we're just keeping an eye on it for now. It is normal for it to increase slightly as you get closer to the end of the pregnancy. My belly is expanding rapidly - here is a comparison - going backwards from 36-35-34 weeks:
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We also had our last ultrasound on Friday morning! My OB mostly wanted to check on the baby's size, position & fluid levels. She is head down now - no longer breech - and the fluid levels were low. The doctor estimated she now weighs 5 lbs 6 oz & she looked very healthy & active. Her abdomen is measuring in the 50th percentile, but apparently her head is measuring slightly below average. I talked to my regular OB about it this morning & she said we are still in the normal range & she agrees with me that it is likely just due to Craig & I both being smaller than average in height, etc. I know Craig has a small head since he can't wear the one-size-fits-all hats that are so popular - they are always huge on him! We were both only 7 lbs at birth, which is about what I'm on target for if the baby continues to gain 1/2 lb a week until the end. :) Here is an ultrasound pic - we think she has my nose! ;)
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It is getting harder & harder to get around like I'm used to with my belly expanding so rapidly. My back & feet ache every night & picking something up off the floor is near impossible - LOL And getting out of bed or off the couch is a workout in itself. ;) I actually stopped & got a new pair of cushioned flip flops today after the doctor's appt. The only pair I had that fit me have been worn every day for a couple months now & are completely worn down to the point it hurts to wear them. I also now have a VERY itchy rash/red bumps all over my belly over the last couple days. The doctor isn't sure if it's just major heat rash or PUPPPS - a pregnancy rash that some women get within weeks of their due date - mostly due to extreme stretching of the skin at this point. If that's what it is, it won't go away until a week or so after birth. I have some new soothing oatmeal lotion that seems to help. It also feels best when I can let it breathe, which will be difficult to do at work tomorrow. LOL ;)

We took an experimental drive with the dogs on Saturday - now that the baby seat is installed in the backseat of my Jeep, they each had to sit on the seat on either side of it. They are used to having the seats folded down back there & having free reign to walk around or lay down. They did pretty good with it overall, but were definitely confused! LOL Just getting them in the car was the trickiest part. Hopefully they'll get more used to it as time goes on.

Yesterday we went to our last Indians game of the season & then to the Feast in Little Italy for some yummy food. It was very hot yesterday sitting in the sun, so we didn't last at the game very long. I was also pretty aggravated that after spending $20 on waters & pop, I could not get some ice in my cup. They wanted to charge me $3.25 for some iced tap water....gee, thanks. After that, we weren't really in the mood for the crowds at the Feast - & it was VERY crowded - but, we enjoyed our cavatelli's & meatballs with a pepperoni bread from Corbo's. We also got some yummy desserts to take home - Craig got a cannoli & I got some delicious brownies from Corbo's bakery. :) We had a very nice weekend - they're just never long enough! ;)

Monday, August 11, 2008

~ 35 Weeks ~

~ Sunday, August 10, 2008 ~

Only 35 Days to go!! We had a big cool down this weekend weatherwise & it has been a huge relief. :) Saturday morning we went up to Babies R Us for their free carseat installation check. They checked out our infant seat & it's now officially installed in my backseat, ready whenever the baby is. ;) It takes up a lot more room back there than I thought it would.

Saturday afternoon we went out to the Browns training camp in Berea. The weather was very nice, not too hot or too cold, but I did end up with my first major sunburn of the summer. I put sunscreen on, but apparently not good enough - my nose, my knees, the top of my feet & the skin right along my tank top (I must not have put the lotion close enough to my shirt) is all very crispy. I had to take a cool shower when we got home & put on lots of aloe. Craig got a couple of autographs, which was a nice bonus. :)

Sunday was a nice vegging out sort of day - breezy & rainy all afternoon. We stayed in & put some finishing touches on the nursery - we've now got the crib mobile installed & everything up on the walls where we want it. I've also slowly been working on packing some things for the hospital. It's very hard to pack away an outfit to come home in when you only have a few outfits that fit at this point anyways, so I'm putting that off a bit longer. I at least have the baby's coming home stuff ready to go, the cameras all set & my toiletry bag ready. :)

I took some belly pictures today & can't believe how much bigger my belly looks just from a week ago! I went so many weeks where I didn't notice a major change, but it really seems to have expanded in the last week! We have our final ultrasound this Friday, 8/15 to check on the baby's size, position, fluid levels, etc, so we're excited for that! :) Monday, 8/18 starts my weekly appointments! Can't believe how close we're getting to meeting our baby girl. :)

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Some of the work we did in the nursery Sunday:
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Friday, August 8, 2008

~ 34 Weeks ~

~ Sunday, August 3, 2008 ~

As of Sunday, we were down to 42 days to go until my due date! At my 33 1/2 week appointment I spoke with my doctor about the nausea I've been feeling, combined with the heartburn & reflux at night. She thinks the nausea was linked to the heartburn & reflux & started me on Prilosec OTC instead of just using the Zantac after I got heartburn. I still haven't felt perfect lately - I still seem to be experiencing some nausea, but it feels SO great to not have any heartburn or reflux at all these days!! :) It's been months since I didn't experience major heartburn daily, so it's a huge relief to not have that constant issue.

I'm also having a lot of swelling - mostly in my feet & usually if I spend too much time sitting at my desk at work all day or walking around too much on the weekend. I think the heat & humidity we've had here lately really make the swelling so much worse. I'm basically living in one pair of Teva flip flops that fit me, but even those tend to leave a big indent in the top of my foot from the strap. I also have what I've been calling "memory foam" feet - by the end of the day if I push a finger into the top of my foot an indent will remain there for several seconds or a minute. It's pretty special!

Here are my pictures from 34 weeks:
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~ Thursday, August 7, 2008 ~

We attended our first Browns Preseason game of the 2008 season - they played the Jets, who were all over the news after acquiring Brett Favre this week. The weather was nice & cool - I was concerned I'd cook at the preseason games in August this year - but, quite the opposite happened! With 4 minutes left in the 1st Quarter, it started pouring & there was lots of pretty crazy lightning over the lake & stadium. They suspended the game pretty quickly & ordered everyone out of the stands. This was easier said than done - once the concourse was filled up below, there was no place for anyone to go. We got soaked just trying to get down out of the stands. We ended up finding a decent place to hang out for 45 minutes or so on the ramp that takes you to the upper deck - everywhere else was shoulder to shoulder people.

Once they finally started playing again they had pulled all of the starters. We stayed until halftime & then decided to call it a night. We were cold, wet & tired & it was getting late already since the game was delayed so long. We had a nice time at our first Browns preseason game as Season Ticketholders. :) Hopefully, the weather will be nicer for the next game on 8/28! We're also hoping I don't go into labor at the Cowboys game on 9/7 or the Steelers game on 9/14. I guess it would make for an interesting story! LOL

Here are a few pics:

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I've also determined this week that the baby seems to be affected by storms! Tuesday night we were woken up by a tornado siren - there was a strong thunderstorm rolling in off the Lake & apparently a strong possibility of a tornado forming so they set the alarm off at 2:45 am! The baby was very active until about 4 am, making it difficult to get back to sleep. The next night we had another storm roll thru again at 3 am & she was moving around again like crazy. Then, last night at the Browns game, she started getting really active just before they delayed the game for lightning. It's pretty interesting! :)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

~ 33 Weeks ~

~ Sunday, July 27, 2008 ~

Only 7 weeks to go! Time is really moving by fast these days it seems. I have been feeling pretty good, but have had a couple of rough days with heat exhaustion. My only other complaints right now are the constant heartburn - I can get heartburn after a simple bowl of corn flakes in the morning...not good - Zantac is my best friend lately, the backaches by the end of the day & my huge swollen feet most evenings. Other than that, I'm really feeling pretty good & am enjoying my pregnancy.

I am now working from home at least one day a week, which really seems to help me not to feel so exhausted. Some of the first trimester fatigue & morning sickness seems to be trying to creep back in from time to time. I'm also noticing that as hungry as I am sometimes, I am no longer able to eat a huge meal - my stomach is too squished I think! LOL So, I'm eating more often, but much smaller portions.

I am now visiting the doctor every 2 weeks instead of 4 & in just 2 1/2 weeks, I'll be onto weekly appointments! We also have one more ultrasound coming up on August 15th - the doctor likes to do one more towards the end to check on baby growth, the current size, position & fluid levels to insure there are no issues that we aren't aware of. So far, everything has been great at my doctor's appointments.

At 33 weeks our baby is now approximately 17" long & over 4 lbs - it is estimated that she will gain a 1/2 lb a week now until the very end. Here are some pictures from today:
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~32 Weeks~

~ Saturday, July 19, 2008 ~

Craig & I travelled down to Louisville, KY to see Craig's friend Kevin from OBC get married. It was our last little weekend away just the two of us for awhile, I'm sure!

Friday night we drove down to Columbus for the night & met up with my friend Sarah for some yummy dinner at Hoggy's! We really wish there was one up here closer to home - it's our favorite for BBQ (for Ohio anyways...) Craig & I did some clearance sale shopping at Old Navy & got a lot of great deals before checking into the hotel in Hilliard for the night. The hotel room was like a sauna when we got there, not great for an 8 months pregnant girl. The AC wasn't on, so I kicked it on full blast & it eventually cooled things off in there.

Saturday morning we got up & ended up grabbing a quick breakfast at McDonald's before hitting the road again. We made it into Louisville by 1 pm & went straight to the Louisville Slugger Museum & Tour. We went on the short factory tour to see how they make baseball bats & toured the tiny museum there before checking into our hotel in Downtown Louisville to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was at 4:30 & a very nice ceremony. The wedding reception was at 6, but not much happened until the wedding party arrived at 7. It was open seating & we didn't end up knowing anyone else there but the bride & groom, so we sat with some odd people. LOL The wedding reception actually started clearing out by 8:30, so we left by 9ish & went back to the hotel to rest up & get changed out of our dress clothes. The wedding party was supposed to head downtown to the 4th Street Live area around 10, so we drove over there to meet up with everyone. After paying to park & wandering in & out of several restaurants & bars there on a busy Saturday night, Craig got a hold of the groom & found out they weren't going to make it out after all. It was probably just as well, I was exhausted & was getting some strange looks from the people at the bars. LOL Our most interesting site of the night was some guy dressed up like Colonel Sanders that you could get your picture with.

The next morning we had planned on just getting up & hitting the road, but the bride & groom felt bad that we hadn't seen much of them after making the drive, so we hung around & met them for breakfast. It was a later start than I had wanted, and to top it off there was an hour wait for breakfast where we went! By the time I got my food, I literally thought I was going to pass out my stomach was so empty - this baby likes it when I eat!

We got home & picked up the dogs & were just plain exhausted. Overall, we had a very nice last weekend away for awhile, but I am definitely done with road trips for the duration of this pregnancy. I just could not get comfortable for a 6 hour drive back!

Here we are dressed up for the wedding:
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Baby Shower!

~ Saturday, July 12, 2008 ~

We had a wonderful baby shower!! About 25 guests were there - it was great to see everyone! I helped my Mom with some of the baking & preparations on Friday and had a very busy day with the shower on Saturday, so by Sunday I was exhausted! I am glad that our shower ended up being as early as it was - my fatigue has really set back in over the last couple weeks.

We made lots of pink foods & drinks for the shower - we had pink lemonade, pink strawberry cupcakes (these were SO good!), brownies with pink frosting and strawberries, pretzels & cookies dipped in pink chocolate. We also had some delicious chicken salad tea sandwiches, deviled eggs, pasta salad, fresh mango salsa, fruit salad & shish-ka-bobs. We had SO much food! LOL It was all delicious!

We got SO many great gifts, too! Everyone was very generous - we even got some great gifts from some people that were unable to make it to our shower. We played a couple games at the shower - one was for everyone to guess the size of my belly by cutting a ribbon & the other was a trivia game on nursery rhymes. My Mom also passed around a journal & had everyone write a comment or piece of advice in it for us. It will be a very nice memento to look back on over the years. Another fun shower idea was that my Mom requested everyone get a small baby book for us to dedicate to the baby instead of the standard greeting card. It was a fun idea & now we have a great collection of baby books started for our baby girl!

Here are some pictures from the big day:
The yummy food!
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The gift table:
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Me with my friends Sarah & Jen:
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Mom & Me:
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Me & Craig:
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My friends from work - Marisa & Amanda:
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Me & Craig & my Sisters-in-law, Kara & Kaitlin & Mother-in-law, Robbi:
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Baby Quilt my Mom made:
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Baby's 1st Skechers!
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Diaper cake from Robbi:
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