This is the month...Fingers Crossed

Well it's November. All of my previously pregnant friends have delivered except one. She and I are it. The others have all delivered healthy babies and are happily home and getting settled. My cousin delivered in her home last night at 4am - totally natural and that booger was 11.5 pounds. Dear Lord, Make me a bird....All I can say is that I would have have been a basket case and would have had the police, firemen, neighbors, clergy and anyone else in screaming distance at my doorstep. Kudos to my cousin and her new baby boy, Alex! Her experience makes me know that mine will likely be easier than that, so I have a lot to look forward to.

As we enter in to the month that our baby is due, I can start to feel the anxiety building in me. I'm really ready to have him here. I'm no longer worried with what I can and can't finish in time for his arrival. I've started reading again about what to expect and I think that causes quite a bit of the anxiety. So, I'm putting the books down and just going in to this with an open mind and a complete ignorance of what may happen. Works for me--So I say. But knowing me, I will likely be cramming like a college student right before the doctor says push.

When I hit 35 weeks, we scheduled an appointment with a 3d/4d imaging place. The facility was fantastic. We were able to video stream the sonogram live to the grandparents, uncles and friends who were interested in it, while keeping the private, personal atmosphere that we wanted to experience during the process. We have a video, pictures, a link for future viewing, etc... Our appointment was 30 minutes long and $135. It was absolutely worth it. The pictures are amazing and he looks like such a chubby kiddo. I loved it! I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to see their baby before it arrives. I've included some of his best poses.
I have doctor appointments each week now and we are at the point of checking things out to see how I have progressed. As of last week, I'm officially 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. We will not check again until next week. Today's appointment was just a heartbeat and measuring visit. I'm officially 36 weeks and 3 days but I'm measuring at 38.5 weeks. But, there are no real contractions to make note of - just random pains and aches and nausea is about all that's going on around here. And, of course, he is moving around like crazy getting bigger and bigger and running out of room. And, no matter how hard he kicks, I don't think he can get my chest to get out of his way. But, I do applaud his efforts. I think we are going to have a driven child. I like that.

It turns out that my blood pressure was extremely high today and the doctor considered admitting me to the hospital to monitor it and try to get it down. He let me sit for a little while and came back to take it again. It went down just enough to let me go home. Thank Goodness! I have had no problems with high blood pressure throughout this process so I think today was a bit of a fluke. If it stays high, they may induce or he may just decide to grace us with his presence early. So, just to be safe, we went to Babies R Us and purchased everything that we felt like we needed to be fully prepared for when he gets here. I have one major item left to purchase (The video monitor) and then we are done for the first month or so.

I also purchased several Christmas outfits for Baby Walker. Jeff is worried that I'm going overboard on the Christmas clothing, but I don't think it is possible to go overboard on Christmas stuff - poor kid.

That's about it for now. My next post may include stories of a new baby - or may not. It's all up to him now.