37 Weeks - Full Term!

Well, we made it full term! Baby Mayes could come any day now and from what our midwife has been saying she just might be here sooner than later. At my last appointment she said to make sure Bryan has his bag packed too and that she'll see me next week unless she sees me at the hospital sooner. Eek (a good eek)!

At this point she has definitely dropped. I can feel her turn her head pretty low. It's a really funny feeling, because it's so much more gentle than the soccer kicks and karate punches I feel everywhere else. I am still having a significant amount of rib pain, but I am hoping once she arrives that will get better - or at least I can do more to treat it without her inside of me.

I have packed the baby bag, my bag, and the electronics bag. I am pretty sure I overpacked my bag, but with not having a definitive answer to how long I will be in the hospital I feel it's better to overpack a few of the important things.

I have a list on the fridge of important numbers in case anyone who may be at our house (family, I mean) needs to get ahold of doctors or us. I wrote out instructions on how to take care of the animals as Bryan's cousin is on-call to take care of the dogs (thank goodness!) until my mom gets into town and can help take care of them.

Bryan and I had our last official date night as a couple without a child - even though she made her presence known during dinner by moving around like crazy.

I have decided we are going to put a bunch of old wives tales to test in the coming weeks. There's the one that when the barometric pressure drops it can trigger labor - we are supposed to be getting a low pressure system this weekend. Then there is the one about a full moon - which there is one at the end of next week.

Just a waiting game for the next few weeks now, which will be hard for me as I am getting very impatient to meet her and running out of things to occupy my time.

36 Weeks.

Maternity Photos.

Here are some of our favorite maternity photos (taken at 31 weeks). Kaynee Weaver Photography did an amazing job.

35 Weeks.

No picture this week. Bryan was gone all day on Saturday (the day we normally take our weekly picture). I was dealing with morning sickness and cold symptoms on Sunday. At this point I feel like it'd make more sense just to wait until our next weekly picture.

However, this last week we - okay, I - worked on a lot for Baby M's arrival. I washed all her clothes, blankets, towels, anything that could and needed to be washed. I organized her dresser and closet. I put her monogram up above her crib (so no one is allowed in her nursery until her arrival now!). I installed the carseat in the car as well as made room for the stroller in the car. Next on my list of things to do is to start packing my bag and the baby bag. Not much longer.

34 Weeks.

34 weeks and we are getting closer! This last week we pre-registered at the hospital, so we are all ready to go when Baby Mayes decides to make her arrival.

I also had a prenatal appointment this week that confirmed what I suspected - Baby M either cracked or severely bruised a rib. It's quite painful and there isn't much that can be done due to being pregnant. The few things I'm allowed to try don't do much at all. I am hoping she will start to drop soon to provide some relief from the pain, because when she shifts her little butt under my ribs it really hurts the injured one!

Bryan and I have also been working on getting all the things we still need - various things for the nursery, diapers, wipes, travel sized bathroom stuff for my hospital bag. We still have a few more things to get but we are trying to get prepared so that whenever you comes we aren't scrambling to finish things. We are definitely ready for her to be here, though!

33 Weeks.

I'm a little late with posting, but with our baby shower things just got crazy. So crazy in fact that we didn't even take our normal weekly photo on Saturday for 33 weeks. At least we got a cute one of Bryan and I showing off my bump at our co-ed baby shower.

We had an amazing shower, though. We had opted for a co-ed shower because we thought it'd be more fun and casual than a traditional shower. Lots of friends and family joined us. Bryan manned the grill. We got to show off the nursery. And Baby M has acquired a wonderful wardrobe. I think what was most special though is that I had my whole family here: mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. It's rare for all of us to be in one place together at one time.

My dad, niece, and me.

I got crafty and made a banner saying "It's a girl!" that matched the invitation colors.

I also made some pom poms. Cheap and cute.