36 weeks and still stubborn as hell

36 weeks, can you believe it!?! My baby is almost 6 lbs and still packing on the pounds at a rate of about an ounce a day. Her length is more than 18 1/2 inches, head to heel. But I have a feeling she is going to be a whole lot longer than that considering Charlie is 6'1" and I'm 5'11" and we both have height in our families.

Today was the big day. Too see if my baby girl listened to her mama and would cooperate with the doctor at getting her head down. I went into the hospital around 8:15 to have an external cephalic version performed. It's a fancy way of saying that my doctor will try to coax my baby into the head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of my belly. I was warned that it was going to hurt but HOLY COW...it was painful!! The doctor would get a hold of her head and a hold of her butt and dig into my skin and attempt to turn her. I laid there, gripping onto the bed hoping that it was successful. After about 20-30 minutes the doctor told me that she just couldn't get her butt out of my pelvis. So does that mean that my daughter has some junk in her trunk or is she just stubborn and refuses to move? After talking to my mother-in-law, I was told that little Abigail is stubborn like her Grandpa!! So since the turn was unsuccessful, my hope is that she turns on her own in the next 3 weeks or I will be scheduled for a C Section at 39 weeks. As much as I would like to have my baby's birthday planned so I can have my momma here to see the birth of her granddaughter, I'm not too fond of someone cutting me open to remove my unborn fetus. But if she continues to remain stubborn, I guess that is what will happen. I go in next Monday for my weekly OB appointment and should find out more. But until then I'm going to be in the upside down position as much as I can so Abigail unlodges her butt from my pelvis. Is it possible to ground your daughter before she's even born? I've already told my family to hold off all presents until she is born b/c spoiling the child is not going to make her turn.

Other than my painful experience yesterday, I've been feeling pretty good. My belly is getting bigger and making it harder for me to get up out of bed or off the couch. Charlie & I have narrowed our daycare providers down to two ladies. They both have openings and we just need to meet them and view their houses (happening today & tomorrow) before making our final decision. I have also packed the hospital bag for Abigail and I. The car seat has been installed in the car. Now we just have to find someone to take care of our four legged kids while I'm in the hospital. I told Charlie last night that he could sneak Frank into the hospital in his coat to visit his little sister. Odie may be a little more difficult.

My family is deciding on who is coming down when to help me out with Abigail. Right now my mom has the entire week of Thanksgiving off and she said if she should arrive early via C Section that she will just extend her vacation an extra week. Meredith and her family plan on visiting Wed-Sun over Thanksgiving and Michelle told me yesterday to let her know when the C Section is scheduled and she will see when she can get off work. I think I'm going to have so much help that I won't have to lift a finger. Although eventually they will all have to go back to Nebraska and then it's just Charlie & I to take on this baby. AHHHHHH!!

35 weeks...my baby is now a Honeydew

Another week gone...another week closer to D-Day. According to Babycenter.com, "Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 lbs (pick up a honeydew melon). Most of her basic physical development is now complete - she'll send the next few weeks putting on weight." Great, so that means my stomach is going to grow even more and the chance of getting stretch is in my near future. Wonderful!!

I have a busy girl this week. Went to my appointment and ultrasound on Monday. Baby is growing just fine so nothing to worry about there. But they did tell me that she is breech. So my choices were to schedule a C-Section or to see if they could turn her manually. I'm not one that would like to be cut open to have a baby. First off, I am one that wants to experience what child birth is like. All the "hee hee hee's", bearing down and pushing. And second, I'm not too fond of the big scar across my belly that comes with a C-Section. So they scheduled me with my regular OB (I had been rotating amongst the OB's in the office, meeting them in case they were going to be the doctor on call when I go into labor) on Monday to see what to do next. So this week I have been trying every natural way to get this baby to turn. First I hooked up some headphones to my iPod and put it on the lower part of my pelvis. They say that the baby will move downward to the music. Next I put a cold compress on the upper part of my stomach where the baby's head is. They say that the baby will not like it being cold and will turn downward where it's warm. Then I tried some positions to discourage the baby from settling in my pelvis.

Knee-Chest Position

I tried this on the floor of the living room while watching my soap opera. One would think it would be comfortable. Well when you have this belly protruding out, it's pretty painful at times. I was able to hold it for 10 minutes.

Next was this position...

I tried this position while laying on the bed watching Friends. It was more comfortable and I could hold it longer (20 minutes). I can't believe this baby hasn't even been born yet and I'm bending over backwards for her. I'm not sure if any of these positions have helped. I guess we will find out tomorrow at my doctor's appointment.

Another highlight of this week was my work baby shower on Tuesday. We had snacks, cake and punch and I was showered with some wonderful gifts. I work with such a great group of people. I can't wait to introduce Abbie to them all. I'm sure she will know Anthony (our CFO) once she hears his voice. He brings the entertainment to our office. On Friday he was telling me of when his son was breech and how his wife would do these same positions. But he made sure to demonstrate them for me in the hallway of our office. There is never a dull moment at LinkAmerica.

My mission this upcoming week is to find a daycare provider. I know, I should have had someone lined up weeks ago. But you see, I'm a procrastinator and I always wait until the last minute to do things. I guess it's been hard for me because I have only lived in Oklahoma for 6 years and I'm not too familiar with who runs at home daycares. I have a couple of friends who have told me they could do it but they don't live in Sand Springs or Tulsa. So I had a couple of friends from work who are from Sand Springs give me some names. I have their names and numbers, I just need to sit down and start calling. I also found a list of questions online to ask them. Charlie & I are also going to go visit them in person so we can check out their house and also hopefully be there during the day to see them interact with their kids. I just pray that someone has an opening for the beginning of the year.

Well I have rambled on long enough. Time to go fold some baby blankets, call some daycare providers and write some shower thank yous.

34 Weeks

Wow, I can't believe that inching closer to the finish line. According to the weekly emails that I get from Babycenter.com, my daughter now weighs about 4 3/4 lbs (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. And babies that are born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies. I am no way ready for child birth but it is reassuring that if I would go into labor that she would be fine.

Yesterday, Charlie & I attended a Childbirth Education class. My OB said that they always recommend first time parents to attend this class. I called and talked to the instructor and got the run down of what we would be learning. I figured why not, we may learn something that we didn't know. Charlie thought it was going to be a waste of time and money ($75). So we arrived at 10 am to the lobby of the OB office. There was only 2 other couples there. The instructor was a nurse who had worked in Labor and Delivery and now was the clinical manager of the OB office. Overall the class was pretty boring. We went over the anatomy of a pregnant woman, learned a few breathing techniques, discussed signs of labor, and ended the day going over epidurals, C-sections and she had show & tell of different items they use during delivery. A pediatrician was supposed to come speak to the class but with flu season, they were staying busy. So we were dismissed an hour early (YEA!!). About the only thing I enjoyed was touring Labor & Delivery. They showed us a birthing room, a post partum room and we also walked by the nursery. I looked in on the newborn babies and thought, "Wow, here in 6 weeks that is going to be my baby lying there." One of the babies born that day weighed in at 10 lbs, 8 oz!! Holy cow!! The instructor said that mothers are giving birth to big babies these days. I truely hope I'm not one of them. I would be happy with the average 6-7 lb baby.

First Blog

Well I finally jumped on the blogging band wagon. I have wanted to blog for the longest time but just haven't found the motivation to start. A lot of my friends have blogs and I enjoy going to their page and reading up on their lives. And I figured now that I'm pregnant, it would be a great time to start jotting down my thoughts and updating my family & friends near and far on the happenings during this exciting time. And once my daughter makes her appearance, this blog would be a great place to post pictures and keep tracks of firsts. I got a baby book at my shower but how many people think about getting that out when the baby smiles for the first time or rolls over for the first time? I spend a lot of time on the computer during the day and at night so it just makes sense to have this blog. And with a blog, I don't have to spend time sending out weekly email updates. You just send out the URL and your family & friends can check on your life whenever they feel like it.

So guess it's time to post my first blog. I hope you enjoy reading it and I promise not to bore you too much. :)