Dear Baby Girl Golden (or Mimi if you will),
Today marks the 38th week you have been existing and growing inside my stretched-as-far-as-it-will-go-belly. Your dad and I have spent the past nine months wondering about the kind of person you will be, what you will look like, and when you will decide to make your grand entrance.
We have spent countless hours reading up and taking classes on pregnancy, birth, parenting, and breastfeeding. We have spent months designing and working on projects for your nursery. We have spent hours wandering through the baby aisles at Target, overwhelmed by the choices in garbage cans, video monitors, car seats, and even diapers. We've planned out different labor scenarios, the hospital bags (plural) are packed (and have been for a couple weeks now), the car seat is installed, the house is clean, the freezer has been stocked (mostly by your Grandma), your itty-bitty clothes have been laundered, and we have been showered with generous and thoughtful gifts by your loving families, our friends, both our sets of coworkers, and even by my students.
We are so ready to meet you.
Every day this past week, I have woken up at around 4:30am, thinking, hopefully, this might be the day we get to meet you. Today, might just be the most significant day of our lives. Although I fully understand that your birthday may still be days, or weeks (please be kind, your mother is not always patient), away, I have an overwhelming desire to hold you in my arms, to finally see your sweet face and tiny toes, to feel your soft skin against mine, and eventually, to share you with the rest of the world.
We hope and pray everyday that you are healthy. That you find things in life you are passionate about. That you love to learn and explore. We hope you get your dad's determination, love for reading and writing, and maybe a fraction of his love of sports. We hope you love to travel, appreciate art, and value your education (preferably as an Illini, but we promise not to push too hard).
Most of all we hope you always know you are loved.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Pregnancy Review
Although this blog will not just be a baby blog or go into full detail documenting every minute of my pregnancy (we're about 9 months too late to start that anyway), I thought it'd be fun to do a brief summary of the highs and lows of this experience thus far...
How far along: 38 Weeks
Total Weight Gain: Somewhere around 25-30 pounds - I had lost a pound or two as of my last appointment
Maternity Clothes: Are, in general, not fun. I have been able to mix a lot of my regular clothes in with some maternity staples. It was great being pregnant over the summer and not working - I barely had to really get dressed! Now that I'm back at work and the weather has started to cool way down, my wardrobe is stretched (literally and figuratively) pretty thin!
Sleep: Up until the past week or so I was getting 8 glorious hours of pretty much, uninterrupted sleep. In the early months, I struggled with the whole sleeping on your side part, but with a nest of strategically placed pillows, I think I've finally got it down. Lately, I've been waking up before dawn, wide awake, for no apparent reason - other than maybe being excited that each day I think might be the big day!
Movement: Still feeling some big kicks - she has definitely dropped over the past two weeks though!
Food Cravings: Much to Erik's disappointment, I have not had any major food cravings at any point of my pregnancy. I think he was really hoping there would be midnight Taco Bell trips to Pontiac, unfortunately for him, it just didn't happen!
Labor Signs: As of Tuesday's appointment, my cervix was a full 3 centimeters dilated and baby girl's head is engaged. I've had Braxton Hicks contractions for the past two weeks or so, but nothing too intense yet. Dr. Weaver is on vacation for the next week and she seemed pretty confident I would give birth while she was gone - so now I am even more impatient! The only other sign has been the nesting instinct, but it is hard to tell if it's "nesting" or just my normal compulsiveness to have a clean house. Doesn't everyone wash windows at 5am?
Worst Part of Being Pregnant: Gallbladder pains. They've calmed down a bit this week, thank God! Hoping they go away for good after birth and are just due to all the extra hormones.
Looking forward to: Meeting our little Mimi! We can't wait!
How far along: 38 Weeks
Total Weight Gain: Somewhere around 25-30 pounds - I had lost a pound or two as of my last appointment
Maternity Clothes: Are, in general, not fun. I have been able to mix a lot of my regular clothes in with some maternity staples. It was great being pregnant over the summer and not working - I barely had to really get dressed! Now that I'm back at work and the weather has started to cool way down, my wardrobe is stretched (literally and figuratively) pretty thin!
Sleep: Up until the past week or so I was getting 8 glorious hours of pretty much, uninterrupted sleep. In the early months, I struggled with the whole sleeping on your side part, but with a nest of strategically placed pillows, I think I've finally got it down. Lately, I've been waking up before dawn, wide awake, for no apparent reason - other than maybe being excited that each day I think might be the big day!
Movement: Still feeling some big kicks - she has definitely dropped over the past two weeks though!
Food Cravings: Much to Erik's disappointment, I have not had any major food cravings at any point of my pregnancy. I think he was really hoping there would be midnight Taco Bell trips to Pontiac, unfortunately for him, it just didn't happen!
Labor Signs: As of Tuesday's appointment, my cervix was a full 3 centimeters dilated and baby girl's head is engaged. I've had Braxton Hicks contractions for the past two weeks or so, but nothing too intense yet. Dr. Weaver is on vacation for the next week and she seemed pretty confident I would give birth while she was gone - so now I am even more impatient! The only other sign has been the nesting instinct, but it is hard to tell if it's "nesting" or just my normal compulsiveness to have a clean house. Doesn't everyone wash windows at 5am?
Worst Part of Being Pregnant: Gallbladder pains. They've calmed down a bit this week, thank God! Hoping they go away for good after birth and are just due to all the extra hormones.
Looking forward to: Meeting our little Mimi! We can't wait!
Our Greatest Adventure
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