September 28, 2007 (37 weeks, 1 day pregnant w/ Venily)


Picture: 37w, 1d





Well, I'm full term now as of yesterday and I only have 20 days left until my due date!! I want her out by next Friday, lol, but we'll see! It's getting harder and harder to sleep and/or walk b/c my back really hurts and it feels like my hips are splitting in half! Plus now I'm getting bad leg cramps again, so I'm back to stetching for an hour each night and I'm hoping that will help. I'm really hoping that the doctor will tell me on Monday that she is really close to being born! I had such bad contractions the other night that I dreamt that I was in labor and had to go to the hospital. But I'm sure she'll take her precious little time and not come early! It's so funny b/c Jason jumps at any thing I say and thinks I'm about to have the baby all the time! LOL! Last night I yelled for him to come see something and he thought my water broke!!

September 24, 2007 (36 weeks, 4 days pregnant w/ Venily)



I had the first of my weekly appointments today (hopefully only a few left). It went really well. Everything still looks great. According to their scale though I've gained 4.5 pounds in 2 weeks! My scale says differently though, so who knows. If the doctor's office is right that puts me at a total of 22 pounds so far this pregnancy, which is awesome! But I can feel EVERY pound of it- she's SOOO heavy!!! The doctor checked me and said that her head is really far down which is going to make for an easier delivery, but that it probably feels like I'm walking around w/ a bowling ball between my legs, lol, it sure does! He also thinks that she's about 7 pounds right now!!! I have a feeling that she's going to be BIG! I was talking to my mom and all of her children were over 8 pounds except for my sister (but that was only b/c she was born 4 weeks early at almost 6 pounds anyway). Hopefully she comes in like a week before she can get too gigantic, lol! And, WOW, is she active right now!! All the stuff I read says that she should be slowing down as she runs out of room, but she is really moving all around in there! I had a dream one night that she had bruised the whole inside of my stomach and you could see it from the outside, lol. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised.

Other than being HUGE and having to deal with all of the things that that entails, I don't have any new symptoms, so that's good. Just some lower back pain still and getting tired easily. Jason and I went for a 2 mile hike yesterday at Kettle Moraine and that was really nice. While we were walking Jason told me that he thought I was going to be a great mom and I almost lost it- I don't think I can love him any more than I do right now. Except maybe when I see him with his daughter b/c I already know how much he loves her. About a week ago we went to the Whitewater Aquatic Center and swam, which felt great. I really want to go again. I'm hoping staying active will help this baby come sooner! In 3 days, when I'm officially full term, you can bet that I'm going to be doing everything that I can to get this baby out!!!

September 18, 2007!!!! (35 weeks, 5 days pregnant w/ Venily)


Picture: 35w, 2d



It's the 18th today, which means that there is exactly one month until my due date!!! Which is awesome because I think I'm officially ready to not be pregnant any more, lol! Jason says not to say that b/c he still needs a few weeks to get everything together like getting our roof finished up and stuff! But I am so ready! Venily is ready too- she wants OUT, ha ha! She's been kicking so hard lately that I'm surprised she hasn't broken free! Her foot sometimes literaly sticks out like 3 inches, then she'll pull it back in and I'll push on it and she'll stick it out again! It's so cute, but I thought Jason was going to be sick when I was showing him! LOL, he's funny- I can't wait to see him when I'm delivering her!!

I'm really hoping that when they check me next Monday that I've started dialating or showing some signs that labor will start soon- I can't even imagine going to my due date (or later- oh my gosh!)! I'm not sure if she's dropped yet, but I'd like to think so- I'm not very good at judging stuff like that! I want to see her and hold her so badly!!! Hopefully I only have a few short weeks left!

September 13, 2007 (35 weeks pregnant w/ Venily)



I'm 35 WEEKS TODAY!!!!!
Only 35 days left until Venily's due date and only 14 days until she's full term!!! I've been having a lot of braxton hicks contractions (I believe- I've been having them since I was about 20 weeks) and had them pretty bad last night, making it really hard to sleep! It's so exciting- I've been dreaming about being this pregnant for a long time and now I finally am!!!!

Here's what she looks like this week:

September 10, 2007 (34 weeks, 4 days pregnant w/Venily)



Another great appointment today. I gained another 1.5 pounds in 2 weeks and her heartbeat was 145bpm. My doctor said that she appears to be a very healthy little girl. My next appointment is in 2 weeks again and then I start going to my appointments WEEKLY! We're so close now! At my next appointment I get an internal exam and I'll be tested for the Strep B virus.

We're getting so excited and Jason is being so cute about the baby! He just told me today he was thinking about getting a tattoo with her name on him! LOL, I don't really like tatoos, but I think that would be adorable!

I survived my 4 days without Jason, lol, and got a lot of stuff done. It was actually nice to be able to sleep in the bed all by myself with all 6 pillows, ha ha! I even painted some pictures to go up in Venily's room. I'm happy with how they turned out and am glad I did them myself so that they match perfectly with her room. I need to find a place to hang them up now. I painted a bunch of little butterflies too and put them around her room. I also started a workout routine. I haven't been able to walk much lately b/c of how badly it hurts my back- plus all of the stupid mosquitoes around here! I don't work out crazy or anything- just a lot of stretching and light weights (no more than 10 pounds), but I feel better already. My muscles (especially in my legs and back) are so tight and I'm going to need my arm strength for carrying around my sure-to-be large baby!

Here is a picture of the paintings I made (I even painted the frames)!

September 6, 2007 (34 weeks pregnant w/ Venily)




Picture: 33w, 2d

I'm so excited to be in September already (and I'm 34 weeks today!)- any time after September 27th, she's welcome to come!!

Jason is gone this weekend to Pennsylvania and made me promise not to have her, lol, and he made her promise too! :) Next weekend he's going to Michigan and wants me to come with, but I'm not sure. Then the weekend after that he might be going down south to watch Jake Kotrba's graduation, but he doesn't want to go because he's afraid I might have the baby! He told me that once I hit 36 weeks, he's locking me in the house and I'm not able to go anywhere, lol. We'll see about that, I'm not nervous about it!

Actually, I'm surprisingly not very nervous at all about having her! I'm really looking forward to it! I think I have a very good idea about how things are going to go and I think it's going to be an easy labor (I'm optimistic!)! Plus I look forward to being in such a nice hospital and feel confident that they are going to take good care of Venily and me! I'm 100% set on having an epidural and despite all of the labor horror stories, I think it's going to be an AMAZING experience! I've been watching a lot of Baby Story and Bringing Home Baby and so many people that I follow their pregnancies online are all having their babies and they all handled it fine and now get to be at home with them... I guess I'm just looking forward to that too much to be nervous or worried!

Jason and I have been talking a lot lately about what it's going to be like having her here with us and we're both really excited- he thinks it's going to be a lot of fun!!! Jason is looking forward to getting her a Halloween costume (we haven't found the perfect one yet though!) and wants to take a family trip with her in the Spring. Right after I have her, Jason is going to take a week off of work so we can be together as a family and he can help me out in any way that he can. It's funny- he's pretty clueless about babies and I'm a little scared of newborns until they're around 2 months old and thier necks are sturdier- so we're going to have a lot of learning to do! But I can't wait- we love her so much!!!

As far as how I'm doing, I think I'm doing pretty well for being 34 weeks pregnant! My lower back just absolutely kills me, but other than that- no real problems! I take a nap every afternoon and wake up a couple times a night to go to the bathroom, eat, and rearrange my pillows. But, I'm extremely lucky not to have to work right now, so all of my energy can go to taking care of myself and the baby! The ticker thing on here last week said I probably have cankles, lol, I DON'T!! I don't have any swelling at all (and my rings are still falling off of my fingers). Also, I don't have ANY heartburn (I still don't even know what it feels like!) and no stretch marks (pray that it stays that way- I don't know how much bigger I can get though!). Now that I wrote that though, I'm sure all of those things will come my way- oh well, she'll still be worth it! :)

I started packing for the hospital already!! I think most of all Venily's stuff is ready to go! My next appointment is already on Monday- they come a lot faster when they're only 2 weeks apart!

Saturday, September 01, 2007 9:13 PM

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Current mood: happy 10 Random things about me * I'm one of the luckiest girls in the entire world- and I'm very aware of how lucky I am! * I can't drive well- I have no sense of direction and I can't park my huge van * I love the smell of bug spray, tomatoe plants, and campfires * I want a million kids- have them, adopt them, and be a foster parent * I'm very opinionated, but often don't express my opinions to other people * I'm convinced I could make the world a better place if I was in charge * I've been a vegetarian since I was 12 years old and I love animals * I have to eat chocolate every day * My dream job is to be a stay-at-home mom, I could never be happy working full time, no matter what the job was * I am OBSESSED with all things to do with babies! 9 Ways to win my heart- (yeah, I lucked out w/ my perfect guy!) * Love children * Love animals * Be dorky * Do everything you can to make me happy * Spend a lot of time with me * Tell me how much you love me... often! * Make me laugh * Be an amazing father * Work hard to make the life we want 8 Things I want to do before I die * Watch my children grow up * Travel around the world * Own a small farm * See something incredible happen * Win the lottery, lol, just kidding * Umm.... I'm really happy with my life the way it is, I just want to continue living it for a very long time and continue doing everything we're doing!! * * 7 Ways to annoy me * Be loud and obnoxious * Talk down to me * Try to push your religion and/or beliefs on me or make fun of my own * Be overly sarcastic * Complain about the same things over and over again but never do anything to fix the problem! * Talk bad about people behind their backs but act nice to them to their face. * Treat others badly. 6 Turn offs * Self-centeredness * Aggressiveness * Ignorance! (and pretending you know what you're talking about) * Apathy * Huge muscles- yuck! * Rednecks 5 Things I'm afraid of * Anything bad happening to our baby * Having something happen to Jason * Centipedes!! (and other bugs) * Praying mantises- I HATE them- I can't even look at a picture of them * Angler fish that live deep in the ocean- the ones w/ pointy teeth and lanterns (I know I'm never going to actually see one, but the thought of them scares me to death!) 4 Favorite items in my room * All our baby stuff!!!! * Our comforter * Xoey Marie * My good luck items 3 Things I do every day * Think about my baby one million times and look at her in the mirror! * Clean * Eat 2 Things I want to do right now * Eat something * Finish doing the dishes 1 Person I want to see right now * Venily!! -but she still has some more baking to do... soon enough I'll see you my baby girl!!