38 weeks

The date (Sept 15) is less than 2 weeks away now, but now the big question is… WHEN? This week when I went in, the doc said that everything is looking great, but I’m still not progressing at all yet.  She told me to put up my feet when I can, keep a great attitude and try to be patient. Waiting is so hard…

Although, something that can make waiting a lot easier is having fun!  Matt and I had a great time at a shower last weekend down in Hastings.  They threw us an adorable “Fiesta” shower, complete with tacos for dinner, fiesta decorations, a piñata full of goodies and baby things, and sombreros for Matt and me to wear.  I only took one picture the whole time we were there, so thanks to Martha for a these pics that we can share.

Adorable decorations:

Sombreros!

The adorable (and delicious) cake!

A beautiful bouquet of flowers with some special little additions.  Can you see them?

Some of the flowers are little rolled up baby socks!  Such a cute idea!

Natalie was a great helper while we were opening presents.

We had such a fun time, and really felt loved by our family.  We are so thankful for all of them.

I hope Baby decides to make an appearance soon.  We’re ready! (or, at least as ready as we can be…)

37 weeks

We’re finally considered full-term!  Wa-hoo!  It could be any day now…

A few new things have happened in the past few weeks.

A new painting I made for Baby’s room.

New front steps/sidewalk!

BEFORE

AFTER

New sidewalk in the front and along the side of the house.

We had another ultrasound this past week, just so they could check on the size of the baby and make sure everything is still going ok.  Baby is still measuring big (more like 40 weeks) but they don’t seem too concerned about it. According to the ultrasound measurements, they estimated that Baby is about 8.8lbs right now.  (Although, they even admit that they can be off by as much as a pound in either direction.)

At this point, we’re just going to wait it out, and see if we go into labor on our own in the next few weeks.  If we go past the due date (Sept 15) they will have another ultrasound to see if they think we should still attempt a natural birth or if they will schedule a c-section.  Either way, we will be parents in just a few weeks!

My replacement at work started this week.  I spent the end of the week training her in on things so that she will be ready to take over whenever I’m gone.  She’s doing a great job so far, and it’s nice to know that if I don’t come to work some day soon, there will be someone who is ready to take over.  We’ll be both working together for the next two weeks, which is also nice for me because now I don’t have to catch somebody walking by to stand at the front desk so I can make one of my frequent runs to the ladies’ room.  Not gonna lie, I’m really going to miss sitting at the front desk , but I know that there are different seasons of life when we are asked to do different things.  My season at the front desk was a great one that I will always remember with great fondness.

In case I haven’t mentioned my plans for work after the baby, here’s the main scoop as we see it now.  I am going to continue to work (alongside the new hire) in my current position until the time that Baby decides to come.  Once Baby arrives, I’ll be home on maternity leave for several weeks.  YW has been extremely generous and flexible with me, and they are allowing me to come back to work on a part-time basis.  I will be working 1 day a week doing “special projects” around the office.  Nothing has been set in stone yet as to what that will entail, but I’m glad that I don’t have to say goodbye for good.  I love that I’ll still be able to stay connected with the organization and people there.  Also, I think it will be nice to have one day a week when I will be able to get out of the house.

I just wanted to take a moment to say how wonderful and supportive Matt has been throughout this whole pregnancy – but especially in the last few weeks.  He is so understanding and caring of all the aches and pains that I’ve had come and go.  He’s come to baby classes, read books, and learned about labor/delivery and baby care with me.  He washes almost all of the dishes (because I can barely reach the sink over my belly).  He takes care of the house and the yard.  He makes sure that I’m eating (even when I’m hot and crabby and don’t feel like eating anything), taking my vitamins and going on walks to get some exercise.  He takes time off work to come to appointments, and I’m sure that he is going to be absolutely amazing throughout labor and delivery.  His calming and encouraging presence is something that I appreciate already, and I know it will be so helpful during the time we spend in the hospital and in the future – both for me and Baby.  I’m so thankful that God brought him into my life, and I know that he is going to be a wonderful father to our child.

All in all, things have been going pretty well in the past few days/weeks, and now we are just patiently waiting.  The somewhat cooler weather has been a welcome relief to the heat and humidity of July and early August.  Fall is coming soon… and so is Baby!  Wa-hoo!

35 weeks

We’re getting closer!  I am blessed with the energy and health that I have been given.  Sure, I get tired, but I haven’t been sleeping very well, so that’s to be expected, right?  A new development in the past week or so has been that my feet have been swelling a bit.  You can tell a bit in the picture – my ankles are definitely a bit swollen.  I think it mostly happens when I’m really hot.  It’s somewhat uncomfortable, but at least it isn’t permanent.  It comes and goes.

Another recent development is that I am fairly certain Baby has “dropped” in the past week.  I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but I have definitely noticed a difference.  Some people at my work even commented that I seem to be carrying lower than I was earlier.  Several things have become more difficult with this change, including leaning over, sitting up straight, sleeping, walking (definitely more of a “waddle” these days), getting up from the couch, and finding clothes that still fit!  My wardrobe is definitely dwindling.  I can make it!  Only a few more weeks!

I was at the doctor last week, and the measurements show that I’m still growing.  They scheduled us for another ultrasound in 2 weeks to make sure that things are still going ok with baby.  I’m hoping at that point that we will be able to get an idea of how big Baby is.  They will also check on positioning and things.  After that, I will have to go in for weekly appointments until Baby comes out to meet us!

The reality that we’re coming close to bringing Baby home has brought out some interesting “nesting” behaviors.  We’ve been working on cleaning out some closets and things, and have this big pile of stuff ready to donate to Saver’s.

I’ve been feeling a bit domestic recently, too.  I found a cute pattern online, and made my first pair of baby bootie/shoes.  I’m not sure yet if I will keep these or if we will give them away to someone else with a baby.  These are definitely more “boy-ish” but it’s just the fabrics that I had on hand at the time.  They weren’t super difficult, and turned out really cute, so I hope to make some more in the future!

While I was at JoAnn one day (with a page full of coupons!  Dangerous!) I got the urge to paint.  It’s strange, because I’ve never really bee much of a “painter” and it can actually be sort of stressful for me (something about how you can’t hit “undo” or erase a mistake).  But, I found some supplies that were on great clearance prices, and used coupons for some others, so I got all the supplies I needed for a very reasonable price.

It took me a LONG time to decide what to paint, but one hot night while Matt was out, I sat down and created this:

It’s not necessarily very “baby-ish” other than the fact that it is bright colors, which matches the rest of the baby room.  I enjoy the geometric feel to it, and it was easy and fun to make, so I say it was worth it.  It’s amazing how much fun it is to mix together colors and transfer them to a canvas.  Very satisfying.  I still have one canvas left (they came as a set of 2), so I’ll have to wait for inspiration before I try to paint on the other one.

Another big change in our our life is our vehicle situation.  Both of our cars (a Neon and a Jetta) are fairly small, not very baby-friendly, and have various (and potentially expensive) issues that they’re dealing with.  After months of research, discussion, looking and thinking, we went out looking at a dealership one more time yesterday.  We’d originally been looking mostly at CUVs (small SUVs) which are really fun to drive, have much better cargo space than either of our current vehicles, and often get fairly decent gas mileage.  They’re a bit spendy, so we thought we’d just go out and see what we could find and then come home and discuss the financial feasibility.

Well, I’ll skip you the middle of the whole story, but let’s just say that we came home as “almost owners” of a Honda Odyssey.  Yes.  A minivan!  Turns out, it is a little bit older, but it was at a great price, and we knew that it would most likely not even be there if we came back a different day.  It will be so nice for getting a baby carseat in and out, and hauling around stuff and people.  It’s not new, and not quite as “fun” as the sporty vehicles we were looking at, but it fits much better into our budget at this point, and Odysseys get great ratings.

I say “almost owners” because we didn’t actually bring it home yet.  We didn’t go out that day with intention of buying anything, so we didn’t have all of the things that we needed to “seal the deal” but we’re going in on Monday to bring it home after they make a couple of checks and fixes on a couple minor things.

After much deliberation over the past few months, we made the decision to trade in Matt’s Neon.   We brought Mr. Neon home with us yesterday, knowing that we had to clean him out and bring him in on Monday to leave him there.  It’s strange how sad that is.  I guess I get really sentimental about things like cars that seem to have personalities.  In fact, I got somewhat misty-eyed at the dealership as they were out appraising him. We’ll miss him.  Goodbye Neon.  We won’t forget you.

On a somewhat happier note, I was trying to come up with a name for the new Odyssey… and for some reason, the name Baloo came to my head.  You know, the big, friendly, protective bear on The Jungle Book that watches out for little Mowgli and gets him safely back home to the village?  Do you see any resemblance?

Well, changes are a-happenin’ in the Knutson household.  Each day we are a day closer to being a family of 3, and that never ceases to amaze me.  So much to do before Baby comes, and yet I want SO BADLY to hold Baby in my arms and tell him/her how much he/she is loved.  So ready to be DONE being pregnant, and yet so wanting to enjoy the time that Matt and I have left just as the two of us.  I am sure that God’s timing will be perfect, but sometimes I just wish I could know WHEN it will be!

33 weeks

Here is a belly picture from last week, but I’m actually 34 weeks today.  I can’t believe how the time is going these days.  This summer has been absolutely flying by!  It’s the end of the “summer” season at my work, which means that there is a lot going on there, too.  July was basically just a blur, and I’m sure that August will be gone practically as fast as it came.  September will be here before we know it!

Our baby classes are now over (except for one more 1-session class later in August).  I feel like we learned some good things and I now feel much better equipped to know what to expect with labor, delivery, and even some baby care.  Sure, it’s going to be crazy, and there’s no way to really know what to expect, but at least we “think” we know some things to make us feel better. Also, we took a tour of the labor/delivery and postpartum sections of the hospital.  I’m sure we looked ridiculous – 15 waddling pregnant women and their partners, all parading around the halls of Abbot Northwestern.  It was funny, but also really nice to be able to see the actual place where we will be going during that crazy time.

Lately, I’ve been feeling really “big.”  My tummy seems to “pull” more than it did even a week or two ago – both pulling on my back when I’m standing up and to the side when I’m lying down.  It’s the strangest sensation, and not necessarily very comfortable in either position.  Gigi (my giraffe-print body pillow) has been wonderful for helping me to get some rest, but sleep has definitely been getting harder to come by these days – between the uncomfortable positions, restlessness, difficulty turning over and frequent trips to the bathroom!  Still, I’m so thankful for the mobility that I have, even at this stage in the game.  My feet have been getting a bit swollen and sore, but not nearly as bad as they could be.  I’m so thankful for flip-flops!  I guess there is ONE good thing about being pregnant ALL summer.  (I might have some trouble coming up with too many others…)

Back on the home front, we’re still getting things ready around here.  The nursery has many more things in it now (thanks to a few purchases and our shower), and that makes it seem even more homey.  It is quickly turning into on of my favorite places in the house.  Bright, cheerful, cozy, and comfortable.  I’m so excited to be able to share it with our Little One!  We even hung up some of the decorations from the shower to welcome Baby to his or her new room!

We opened packaging and put away a lot of things from the shower, and washed all of the washable items to get them all ready.  It’s so fun to see things coming together.  Even though we still need to get a mattress pad, I put the sheet on the crib, just because it makes it look so much cuter than a plain mattress.  Also, check out the adorable baby blanket that my mom knit!  It’s so soft and wonderful.  Handmade with love by Grandma. 🙂

It’s strange, because if you buy a “bedding set” from the store, it always comes with a sheet, bed skirt, bumpers, quilt, etc.  I knew you couldn’t really use the quilt for a baby (it’s more for decoration), but something they are saying these days is that you shouldn’t even use bumpers.  Something about air circulation and possible suffocation or something.  Anyways, I’ve heard it from enough different sources that I guess I’ll take their word for it.  We don’t have the crib “skirt” (because it wouldn’t match all the different sheets, anyways) but it’s amazing how plain and boring the crib looks with just a single sheet and nothing else.  I guess babies don’t care how “cute” their crib looks, and they say the less “stuff” you put in the crib, the better off they are, and the risk of SIDS is lower.  Maybe we’ll look into getting a mobile at some point, but we don’t have one as of now, and I don’t know if we’ll need/want one or not…

We made a very important purchase this week.  It’s is something that I’ve been researching and planning for MONTHS – a travel system (which basically just means that the carseat/base/stroller all come together and match).

There are SO many kinds to choose from! Different styles, colors, prices, features, weight limits, safety ratings… and so many online reviews that it can make your head spin!  After MUCH deliberation, we decided on the Chicco Cortina stroller and Chicco Keyfit carseat, which conveniently come together as a “travel system” from Target.  It’s really nice how the carseat can lock into the stroller for when Baby is small, too.  Even Matt was impressed with some of the nice features. (He said he thinks it has better shocks than his car!) It’s not the cheapest one on the market, but definitely not on the upper end of the price spectrum, either.  Both of us are satisfied (as much as we can be without having a baby to test it with) with the quality and sturdiness of everything.

I got antsy, and DORKY ME decided to put a stuffed animal in the carseat and give it a stroll around (inside) the house at 11:00pm.  Hehehe.  For now, Bear will be keeping the carseat nice and warm until Baby kicks him out. 🙂

It’s nice to have the carseat, because now we can figure out how to get it installed properly (which is actually more complicated than people think it is – to get it right at least).  Also, if Baby were to come early, at least we would be able to take him or her home with us!  They don’t even let you leave the hospital if you don’t have a proper carseat, so it’s a relief to have this all ready at home just in case.

While we were at Target searching for the travel system, we just happened to walk past the clothing section.  Since we don’t know if Baby will be a girl or a boy, we don’t really have many (almost any) clothes yet.  I figure that at the very least we will have to have one outfit to bring him or her home in.  Sure, we could just pick something gender neutral, but I was SO excited that Matt agreed that we could get one of each gender outfit to bring to the hospital with us.  If nothing else, we had fun looking through the baby section.  Matt likes earth tones… can you tell?  I think they’re pretty adorable, too!

It’s hard to see, but on the little boy outfit, there’s a little monster sticking out of the pocket, and the words on the chest say “Can I keep him?”

The hardest part of picking out the clothes (other than the fact that there are SO many adorable ones to choose from) was trying to figure out what size to get.  The tags on these said that the “newborn” size went from 5-8 lbs.  From the information we have, it sounds like our baby will most likely be bigger than that, so we actually got the “3 month” size, which says it is 8-12.5lbs or something.  They just look so big!  If nothing else, I guess Baby will have something to grow into!  But, better too big than too small, right?

Several times in the past week, I have found myself just sitting in the rocking chair in the nursery and staring at the two outfits hanging on the crib… and thinking about how amazing it will be when there is an actual little person there to fill the clothes, sleep in the crib and get rocked in the chair.  I pray for Baby… and for his/her parents, who don’t probably even know yet what they are getting themselves into.  Our lives will be forever changed, and I am sure there will be hard days ahead, but I KNOW it will all be worth it.

I’m SO excited to be a mom, and Matt’s going to be a SUPER dad.  And, how wonderful it is to know that our Baby will also have a Heavenly Father who will be watching out for our whole family, through all of the highs and lows, joys and hard times.  We are not in this alone.

This past weekend we were blessed with a family baby shower that was thrown by some of my aunts and cousins.

There were some adorable decorations. (I loved the baby toys used to hold the sign together!)

Yummy food!

Great down to the smallest details.  (Look at the cute duckies on the skewers!)

So many great people there!

We played some fun games, including one where we had to guess baby food flavors and one where there were a bunch of baby items in paper bags and we had to guess what was inside just by feeling through the bag.

The games were challenging… and we had many laughs!

The last game involved baby pictures of some of the people at the party.  We had to guess which pictures were which people when they were young.  It was really cute and fun.

Then came the presents.  Everyone was so incredibly generous and thoughtful… it was overwhelming.  We are so excited to be able to use all of the amazing things that we were given.  Thank YOU to everyone!!

We are so blessed by our families, and we had a lot of fun at the shower.