Happy Easter!

Dear Baby Bird,

You decided to not make this your first Easter with us. While we are happy to wait for you, I thought I would show you what you missed!

We started by sleeping in this morning because you kept me up for much of the night last night. I have been sleeping pretty well until now (minus the 4-5 bathroom breaks a night) so the extra sleep this morning was very much appreciated.

We then went to your grandparents house to celebrate Easter with the Heavrins! We got there a little late and almost missed the Easter Bunny, but luckily we found him on the street as he was leaving the party.



The strange thing was that when we talked to the Easter Bunny he sounded just like your Uncle Kevin! :)



After the party we came home so I could rest. You are getting very large and lots of rest time during the day is needed!



Also on a side note I am noticing that I might want to avoid horizontal stripes for the rest of this pregnancy, yikes!

For dinner your other grandparents came up from E-town to bring leftovers from Easter lunch! Since we haven't been cooking very much this week it was wonderful to have such a great meal. We then went through all the Easter baskets that were waiting for you just in case you had decided to make your grand entrance before Easter.



The Easter basket on the left is from your grandparents Mimi and Mikey. I might have eaten the chocolate bunny that came in that basket. I only did this so you could have a taste. :) The middle basket is from your other grandparents Madre and Papa Bear. This basket was filled with lots of books and a stuffed Peter Rabbit. Finally the basket on the right is from us. We included a Pat the Bunny bedtime book and little lamb pacifier.

So there is what you missed today Baby Bird! I promise to hold your baskets for you until your arrival. It has been a big day and I think everyone in the house is ready to take the rest of the night off, including the dogs.



Love, Mom

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.

We made it!

Today is our due date and I was so worried for so much of this pregnancy that we would not make it to this day, so I am thrilled! Sure we can't wait for him to get here, but if I have learned anything over the last couple of years during this process, it is probably patience. I don't anticipate him arriving any time in the next few days, though you never know. I guess that cute little Easter Basket I got just in case he arrived before Easter might have to wait a year.

Anyway, we promise to update if we have any news but so far everything is same as usual.

He's HOW big???

My last growth scan was a couple of weeks ago and they estimated that our "little" guy was 7lbs 11 oz then. I thought that maybe he wouldn't be too much larger today since my weight is the exact same as it was 3 weeks ago at that scan. Well at today's u/s they did another growth check and estimated he weighs 9lbs 14 oz! Now I know these are just estimates and they say they can be off by as much as a pound. All I could think though was "what if they are off by a pound and he is 10lbs 14oz!" Unrealistic I know but these are the thoughts that cross the mind of a pregnant woman being told she will likely birth a linebacker.

While waiting for the OB I assumed that our choices were between waiting until labor started with the risk that he will be even bigger later and risk a c-section, or inducing but risking a c-section since he isn't that ready to come. Well the OB comes in and she wants to talk about another option of skipping straight ahead to a c-section because of his size. I am not in favor of this option and told her I wanted to try to avoid c-section if possible. We decided that the best course of action was to wait a little longer and see if I go into labor on my own this week or weekend. So my next appointment is scheduled for Monday. I have been totally fine with going past my due date, but now with the size of this baby and the risk of going too long, I am REALLY hoping something happens in the next few days. If anyone has some labor inducing vibes they can pass my way I would really appreciate it! Apparently this little guy is pretty darn cozy in there.

Nesting

I thought I had been in nesting mode for awhile. I have been making lists of items to do before baby bird arrives and marking them off the list. However, this last week or so my nesting instinct has kicked into major overdrive. Maybe I was just waiting for Jasper to get home to help? :) This weekend we (mainly Jasper as I supervised) did so many last minute things around the house including finally putting together the infant swing!



I have read many great reviews of this swing which just recently came out and hope our little one loves it as much as I do. We even played the music and had the seat moving to see how the dogs reacted because the last thing I want is to put our little guy in the swing to calm down and have the dogs start freaking out. Luckily they seemed completely uninterested in the thing.

There are still a few things I can do to keep myself busy this week while I am home, but I have a feeling if we go overdue my house might be cleanest it has ever been by the time he arrives.

Here is my 39 week bump picture. No words really needed for this one. Baby Bird we are so excited to meet you!

Single Digits!

I looked at my ticker this morning and was SHOCKED that it said 9 days. I just can't believe it is less than 10 days until my EDD. Now or course baby bird may or may not make an appearance by then and that is fine with me, this pregnancy has just gone by so fast.

The question of the week from everyone seems to be "Aren't you ready for him to get here?" Well that answer is a little complicated. Preparation wise, we are ready. The nursery is ready to go, his clothes are washed, I am off work and as of tonight, Jasper will be home from his business trip and so we can have this kid at any time. Emotionally, of course we are so excited to finally meet this little guy who we have waited so long for. That being said, I love being pregnant and would not mind at all another week to two weeks with him before he makes his debut. Sure there are uncomfortable moments in the final week(s) of pregnancy, but I cherish them just as I have all the wonderful moments. This is something that I was not sure would happen for us and, while hopeful, I am not 100% sure will happen for us again. I know how lucky I am to not only have gotten pregnant but to also have made it to this point will a full term (and possibly large!) healthy baby.

Selfish as it sounds, I love that I still have him all to myself. So whether he decides to make his debut in a day or two weeks, we are happy. Now, should I make it to 41 weeks with no signs of an end, I might start singing a different tune!

Flipping Out

So we had the External Cephalic Version (ECV) performed today at the recommendation of the high risk OB in our practice. After the first OB in our practice didn't recommend the procedure they told us to see the high risk OB and get her opinion. She reviewed the u/s and examined me and thought I was a good candidate for the procedure and said she thought it had about a 70% chance of working. I am so glad we decided to go forward with the procedure because it worked!

I went into the hospital this morning and he was completely breech again. I was at the hospital from 8:30 until about 12:30 though the ECV itself only took less than 5 min. They gave me a shot with medicine to relax my uterus and medicine through the IV to help with pain though I don't feel like it did much except make me sleepy. The actual procedure was pretty painful but manageable since it was only for a few minutes. After they had him flipped head down they watched him on u/s and then on the fetal monitor for an hour to make sure he seemed ok in there. After that I was allowed to come home. I have been tired all afternoon and my stomach feels so sore like someone punched me in the gut but I am very happy he flipped. Now we just have to hope that he doesn't flip back in the next week or so!

Some have mentioned telling baby bird how much I would appreciate him staying in this position, but I have already resorted to full on bribery and am offering lots of toys to him if he stays put until his birthday.

Because there is a small chance that you can have to have an emergency c-section after the ECV, Jasper and I acted like we were going to the hospital to deliver the baby this morning. We brought our bags and were ready to go. We even took a picture of me in case it was my last with this gigantic bump.



Luckily it looks like I will have this guy with me for a little longer.

Nursery is FINALLY Done!

I have had 90% of this room done for awhile now but there were a few more important things that have been missing: a crib mattress and crib skirt! I had just put off buying the crib mattress for awhile for some reason and the crib skirt I was having made and it took about 9 weeks. So yesterday they both arrived via UPS at the same time and Jasper and I were so excited to put them in the nursery to complete the whole look. I actually designed the nursery and picked out the color scheme well before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl. I am not really a blue or pink gal so I wanted something more gender neutral but really colorful. Also I wanted pieces and fabrics our baby bird could grow up with and not outgrow in a year or two.


So finally, here it is!

This is the glass above the door to the nursery. My mom and I thought it was the perfect entrance to baby bird's room.




This is the view of the nursery from the door. The curtains are from an etsy seller Isla Corinne who let me pick out the fabric, length, style, etc. I was thrilled with how they turned out.



A close up of the side table next to the recliner. We got it at Ikea along with the dresser. The picture frame says Best Grandparents. I got it as a shower gift and the colors worked well with the nursery. I think we are going to get all four of the Grandparents in a pic with Baby Bird at the hospital and put it in the frame.






















I am loving the splurge we made with the La-z-boy recliner. I foresee many nights of sleeping in that recliner in the future and it is so comfy. The pillow was from etsy seller Robin's Egg Blue and was purchased for me by a friend for my shower, I thought it fit the nursery perfectly. The bear, Rascal, was actually mine as a kid and it has been with me ever since. I thought it was time to pass him on to the next generation. :)























This bench seat was the first nursery purchase I made at the Pottery Barn Outlet back in November. I got a cushion seat made by another etsy seller taterbabies. Under the bench seat are lots of books, toys and blankets.



This is the changing area. Above the dresser is where we are putting out little guys name. Since we haven't shared the name yet, that will have to wait until he is born!




A close up of the knobs on the dresser. Again another etsy purchase from riricreations. I had looked forever for bird knobs and loved these. They are metal and the seller spray painted them red to match our nursery.


The closet was a little hard to figure out. Since the upstairs was a converted attic, the closets are a little awkward. I ended up having our handyman create a little hanging space off to the side and then installed the cube organizer from target to hold clothes in larger sizes, bibs, hats, and other odds and ends. The rest of the closet is just open space for storing large items like those big boxes of diapers I got on sale!





























The Crib! The sheets were just purchased at a local boutique and have the alphabet on them. The crib skirt was made by yet another etsy seller (I almost went broke on that website!) RockyTop Design. The hardest part was finding a fabric that I liked that would coordinate with the curtains. The decal was created by etsy seller Urban Expressions and that seller lets you pick out the colors you want for the decal. I loved the saying as it is so true for us and thought the bird fit in perfectly with the rest of the bird accents in the room.



Speaking of bird accents, here is the close up of the mobile above the crib. It was actually what I designed the entire nursery around. I fell in love with this mobile that a lady handmade. You can pick out the fabric colors for each bird and I thought it was so sweet. So after having the mobile made I picked all the other fabrics and the paint out to match it. It is from etsy seller Gifts Define.


So that is it for now. All we need to our little baby bird to complete the room. Hopefully he will make an appearance in the next couple of weeks!

Breech Baby

So baby bird was head down for much of this third trimester but when we went in for our appointment and ultrasound at 36 weeks we found him transverse, almost breech. I was already scheduled for weekly ultrasounds so we were told to just wait until our next week's appointment to see what position he was and how big he was and then we could talk about options. Well we went in Thursday for our 37 week appointment and ultrasound and he was completely breech. Also they estimated his weight at 7lbs 11oz which is pretty big (81st percentile). So we might have a stubborn linebacker on our hands. Honestly I can't blame him for not wanting to be upside down for 3 more weeks, but that is not the point!

I already have an appointment scheduled to see the high risk OB in the practice, who is the OB that I have seen the most during this pregnancy, on Tuesday and she said that she will have another ultrasound and then let me know if she thinks I am a good candidate for an External Cephalic Version which is basically where they admit you to the hospital and then try to turn the baby by pushing on your stomach and adding pressure to certain areas. I was looking the procedure up online and found this crazy video of one being performed.

So we will wait and see. If baby doesn't turn on his own or with this procedure, then we are looking at a scheduled c-section which I would like to avoid if possible. Main goal is a healthy baby though so we will do what needs to be done to get him here safe and sound. Only a few more weeks!