Busy Weekend - including lots of changes!

Well, Thursday after I wrote my blog we had the last day of school. I pretty much felt horrible the whole time I was at school. I had a horrible headache when I woke up and my back was killing me. I finally called the doctor's office after school was out (we got out at 12:30). They were concerned about my headache because it can be a sign of preclampsia (sp?) so they had me come in and get monitored. Everything was just fine and I was able to leave. They told me that they think it's because the baby is laying against my spine and causing pressure on my lower back! Isn't that nice of him!?!? I went home and put heat on my back and took a two hour nap. I felt a lot better after that. Thursday evening I went to SATC 2 with my some of my girlfriends. We ate supper and watched the movie. It was a nice way to end the school year.
Friday we had meetings in the morning and then had our last baby shower. This one was put on by the faculty and staff at my school. We received some VERY nice gifts. I must admit that I feel pretty lucky to be teaching at my school with such wonderful and considerate people! Friday afternoon/early evening Michael and I worked in my classroom trying to get somethings finished. After we were done we went next door. Michael's boss, Corey, bought the house next to us and is doing some major renovations. I asked him if I could destroy anything. They gave me a hammer and I went to town on his dining room wall. I think they were a little shocked at how fast I tore the wall down! I'm sure if a lot of people would have seen me they would have been shocked. Here's a 38 and 1/2 week pregnant lady completely destroying a wall! It was a WONDERFUL form of stress relief. Michael and I didn't got to bed until 1:30 on Saturday morning, which means we got up late Saturday morning. We got up around 10 am. We headed to St. Joe and bought a TON of stuff at Menard's for the house. We got three ceiling fans, two dome lights, a chandler for the kitchen, and mini blinds for Cole's room. When we got home Michael installed the mini blinds and all the lights. He didn't get to the fans because he will have to run the wires up in the ceiling and we figured it would be pretty warm up there considering how hot it was today! He's planning on doing that some morning soon. I ended up packing Cole's bag for the hospital. I got our bedroom organized (since we now have furniture to put stuff in) and cleaned up the living room a bit. I still need to pack my bag for the hospital but I don't think that will take me too long. :)
Well, I am going to go to bed! Good night everyone! We'll keep everyone updated on how things are going with Cole's arrival.... only 10 days left before our due date!

38 Weeks - Only TWO weeks left

Below you will find my 38 week picture. I find it amazing to look at the pictures I started taking 10 weeks ago. I waited to take pictures because I really didn't show until 28 weeks and then suddenly I had a baby bump! :)

Now at 38 weeks, I am starting to get a little stressed that we won't get everything done that we have to before Cole arrives. I think part of my stressing is coming from the fact that yesterday morning one of our friends had her baby and I know that I'm next on the list for having a baby.

We had our 38 week appointment yesterday. The doctor checked me. I will say that before we went in I told myself that it was going to be the same as last time (1 cm and 50% effaced) so that I wouldn't be disappointed. Yes, secretly, I was hoping for some kind of a change but I didn't want to get my hopes up. She checked me and said that I was 2 to 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I did ask her what station the baby was at. The station is how far down the birthing canal the baby's head is. Cole is currently at a 0. That means his head is even with my pelvic bone. The doctor even commented on how far down he was! She asked me how far along I was and I told her 38 weeks and she make the comment of how low he was. She also informed me that she stripped my membrane. I guess this can sometimes bring on labor. At that point she told me we could have a baby in as little as two to three days or we could go full term or late. I was a little shocked when she said it could be a couple of days! I wasn't expecting that. Of course Michael had to go and ask her after this if that meant I couldn't travel anymore! I had just planned on not asking so that way I couldn't get told no. She told me I can't go to Kansas City but I can go to St. Joe. So we won't be headed to my sister's this weekend for her BBQ but at least I can still go to my class next week in St. Joe, assuming I don't have a baby before then!

Well, I better go get ready for the last day of school. I hope everyone has a great Thursday. We'll keep you updated on baby Cole's progress!

38 weeks - I do have to say that I am wearing a bright yellow shirt not to look like a big sun but for field day. Each year we have field day shirts made and this year they were yellow, which made me feel like a giant sun! :)

Taking a little break!

This weekend is going to be a buys one. We don't actually have any plans with anyone else but we have plans of what we want to get accomplished. I have already been up at school this morning and worked for a couple of hours. My plans are to get my room organized for the end of the school year. At some point I need to pack my bag for the hospital and Cole's stuff for the hospital. I really want to make sure that everything at school and home are in order in case I would have this baby early. Right now I am so busy that most (most but not all) of me wants Cole to stay right where he is. I hope he is enjoying his last couple of days, or weeks inside of me.
I came home from school to eat a late lunch with Michael. Michael has several plans for his weekend too! He's already cleaned out the gutters, he's doing some kind of electrical fix, painting a spot on the siding and installing a new basement door. He is also going to come into school and help me move some of the stuff that I can't, since I'm not allowed to do any heavy lifting!
Hopefully we can get everything on our to do lists done so that we can relax a little bit this week. I would love to be able to come home one night this week and take a nap and not worry about needing to do something!
Right now we are in count down mode... 3.5 days of school left and the baby is due in 18 days. The doctor did tell me she wouldn't let me go over a week late so at the most I only have 25 more days of being pregnant before I get to meet my son! SCARY!!!
I hope everyone has a good weekend and enjoys the beautiful weather!

Quick Update

This is going to be a quick update. I just realized I haven't updated the blog in quite a while and people may be inquisitive about how we're doing.

This past weekend my aunts had a baby shower for us! My family was there and so were some friends from high school and college. It was great to see them! We received a TON of stuff! I'm pretty sure that we have EVERYTHING we need to get ready for Cole's arrival. I know we have more than enough. We are extremely lucky to have such great friends and family. I'll upload some pictures later to show some of the things we got.

Below is a picture of me take last Wednesday. I'm 36 weeks in the picture. Hard to believe that I've been pregnant for 9 months. Today is another doctor's appointment. We will be going in again next week, the following week, and the week after that. Today is the first time they will check me to see if I'm dilated at all. I think appointment is going to be the one that makes it even more realistic that this baby is coming! I'm getting excited and ready for this baby to come. I need to pack my bag and the baby's soon.

Well, I have to go get ready for our field trip today! I hope everyone has a great week and that it goes by QUICKLY!

More Fox Pictures

On my birthday, Saturday, we got some more pictures of the baby fox and his momma! He or she was hanging out playing around! It was pretty funny because he or she kept trying to get the momma to play and she wasn't too interested!

Isn't he or she cute!

I love this look!

The pretty momma in the back yard!

She was checking out a dog that was running around in one of the neighbor's yards.

I just love her color!

My First Mother's Day!

I guess today is my first official Mother's Day. Some of my friends have said that today counts as my first Mother's Day even if my son is still in the womb. I'm not sure if it does but it's nice to think that people already consider me a mom! :)
It's odd to think that next year I will be taking care of a 11 month old son! I still can't wrap my head around the fact that we are going to be having a baby in a little over a month!
We hope EVERYONE has a great Mother's Day!

Another Fox Siting!

Well, we had another fox siting this morning! Michael was downstairs and heard one of the fox pups yelping. I went to check it out and he was on the back porch. He was all by himself the poor thing! I don't know if he got lost or what. We figured out that he wasn't really happy because Michael had moved the piece of cement back into place. The cement had been blocking the hole under the steps. I was able to stand on the back porch and take pictures. Michael went down and moved the concrete. Once it was out of the way the little guy went right on in!
Enjoy the pictures and the video. I can't believe how much he's changed. He's almost completely red now!

34 and 1/2 weeks

As of last Wednesday I was 34 weeks. Below is a picture of me on Wednesday morning before school. The little guy is gradually starting to drop down a bit. He isn't up in my ribs as much as he was a couple weeks ago! I'm glad to say that he is still pretty active. The weekly e-mails that I get about my pregnancy said that he should start slowing down because he's running out of space but so far he doesn't seem to care about that. He's still kicking like crazy and having a good time! :) I frankly can't believe that we have about five and a half weeks left. It doesn't seem possible that we should be so close to the end.

Tomorrow is our 34 week appointment. I know it's a little late. I got a call last week letting me know that I needed to reschedule my doctor's appointment that was supposed to be last Thursday. So I called and got it rescheduled for tomorrow. I'm excited to go in tomorrow because i know that this is our the last our our "two week" appointments. I will have to start scheduling an appointment every week now!

The other night Michael kind of had a moment where he realized that I am getting bigger and that this baby is coming pretty soon! He looked at my belly as he was dropping me off at school and said, "You're getting really big." I then informed him that it is normal for pregnant ladies to get big! He said he knew that but seeing my big belly made it more realistic. :)

Well I am going to go relax after our big exciting weekend (Apple Blossom BBQ on Friday and all day Saturday and then the Pancake Breakfast for school today). I'll update again soon!