Due Date

Well today's my official due date - 40 weeks - and I don't feel any closer to labor... booo...

I am surprised at how much my body's been changing just in the last week or so:
(sorry if this is TMI... I tried to keep out any unpleasant details)

• HEARTBURN - I'm lucky that I've only had bad heartburn in the past few weeks and not the entire pregnancy.  But man!  This sucks!  It happens every night regardless of what bland foods I eat.  Seems like the only thing that makes it better is the Midnight Truffle Blizzard from Dairy Queen (silver lining!)
• Braxton Hicks - I have tons of contractions, some days they even get to be about every hour, but then they go away.  They're not really that painful, mostly uncomfortable.  Only occasionally do they wake me up.  And I can usually make them less intense/go away when I change position.  At least my body's doing something to gear up for labor!
• Hot and sweaty - I now know why pregnant women have that "glow" about them, it's cause we're so dang hot and sweaty!  I can't believe how warm I feel.  Luckily it's cold outside!
• Hip pain - my hips are so so so crazy uncomfortable.  They feel so loose and they pop/grind when I walk.  There is so much pressure on them (almost like a head is pushing on them from the inside, oh, wait...)  
• Waddling - I seriously look like I learned to walk from a duck.  I try to walk normal, but it's difficult with a head between your legs.  Jami (who is recovering from torn cartilage in her toe) and I went out the other day - we were quite a pair.  At least we have someone to sympathize with!
• Bending over - I feel ridiculous trying to pick something off the ground.  I can't bend.. instead I have to do this squat maneuver.  I've given up on shoes with laces.
• Bigger baby - I can tell she's still growing.  How?  There's no more room little lady!  My belly is rock hard with baby body.  She likes to stick out her little bum right by my rib cage.   
• Face - my face is doing all sorts of weird things.  My skin looks like it got sunburned.  I keep getting cold sores.   And my cheeks are puffy.  Boooo!
• Bladder - I am constantly scoping out the nearest restroom.  The real bummer is that when I'm washing my hands after going potty I think "have I gone to the bathroom yet?" cause I still feel like peeing.  No relief.  Cruel.
• Thirst - I can't get enough water!  Which is a problem when combined with my tiny bladder.
• Tired - I'm so dang tired!  Probably cause I don't sleep very soundly due to my achy hips and constant pee breaks (someone please pass the Benadryl!)

Despite these new/increased symptoms... I'm so thankful we're having our little girl!  I have to keep reminding myself to keep my eye on the prize.  And, all things considered, I've had a great pregnancy.  It's only been these past few days were I'm seriously uncomfortable and ready to do anything to get this baby out (yes, anything)...  But I guess that's all part of the perfect plan.

My Grandma Seaver called me and enlightened me on why I haven't gone into labor: because my little girl isn't done getting ready for her debut.  She has to grow her eyelashes and nails to perfection!  hahaha  I do take comfort in knowing that she knows when the time is right and it will all work out.  Even if I'm forced to learn patience in the process.

Labor Update...

Summary: I'm still prego....

Details:  I went to the doctor this morning.  I haven't made much progress since last week (still 1-2 cm dilated, 65% effaced, -1 position).  But everything is still looking great.  She's all lined up and ready to go.  I think everyone's ready except for my body.

At my appointment last week the doctor stripped my membranes.  Which, as it turns out, is about as much fun as it sounds.  He said "ok, this is going to be uncomfortable" - then my face turned bright red and I got instantly sweaty from the sharp pain - he replied "oh, actually I meant it's going to hurt like the dickens!"  haha - thanks for the heads up (not!)

Luckily when I had my membranes stripped this morning, I was much better prepared - so it didn't hurt as much (I wasn't caught off guard).  The doctor said that within 48 hours I'll know if the process initiated labor (there's like a 50% chance that it will).  Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be going into labor anytime soon.  The first time I had crazy awful contractions right after.  But today - nothing.  :-(  Get this baby out!!!

So I have another appointment on Wednesday (my actual due date).  Worst case scenario, he said they'll induce me no later than March 9.  So at least there's an end in sight (even if I have to use binoculars to see it!)  But everything's going great.  I've been trying to count my blessings:  Blood pressure's been normal (today it was a little higher - but in my defense, they did take my blood pressure during a contraction - ouch!)  Her little heartbeat is still strong.  Even though I'm uncomfortable and semi-mobile, I'm not on bedrest.  And my belly measures ~34 cm - which is on the small, but healthy side (yea for a petite little lady!)  And I'm now on Maternity Leave - woot woot!

But hopefully it won't be too much longer.  I think she's feeling real squished these days.  She'll try and sprawl out making my belly look all lumpy with her little feet and elbows sticking out all over.  And when I have a good contraction, I think it makes her mad.  I have been trying to reason with her that if she were to come out she can wiggle and dance all she wants - but I don't think she's picking up what I'm putting down.  Oh well, March 9.... let the countdown begin.

We can't wait to meet our tiny dancer!

Baby Shower!

The wonderful ladies in my family recently threw me an AWESOME baby shower!  We got together Thurs Jan 27 with friends for an open house.  Then Sat Jan 29 we had the family over for lunch and games.  

My mothers & sisters are so dang talented!  Look at all those beautiful decorations!!!  And no one can make delicious food like the Gourmet Glauser Girls!  I'm so thankful to have such an amazing family!  Both the one I was born into and the one I married into! 

Love you all!!!


* note: no babies were actually showered during the course of this event

Elven Baby Names

Jake and I have been looking at little girl names this past week.  We opened our Baby Names book and started with the A's.  I came across these two names:

Aelfthryth - having an elf's strength

Aelfwine - a friend to the elves

I kept telling Jake that these were perfect names - since I'm such a huge LOTR fan (see Halloween 2009).  Jake was adamant that our little girl isn't going to have any names dealing with elves.  Adamant.  (I was joking anyways... kind of...)

A few minutes later I decided we should look up the definitions of our names.  I started with Alfred.  Here's what I found:

Alfred - one who counsels the elves

No freaking way!!!!!!!!!  What are the chances?!?!?!?!  hahahahahaha!!!!!!  Jake had never heard the definition before.  It was so perfect cause he was dissing elf names not 10 minutes before!!!  How funny!

And - another story - this morning I was on a conference call for work.  Before the meeting started there was music playing (like the music they play when you're on hold).  I put it on speakerphone and I had the cell phone laying on the couch next to my belly.  Our little baby started jumping and moving like crazy!  Then when the meeting began and the music stopped, our baby stopped her wiggling.  What a tiny dancer!!!  Darling!

Results are in - It's a ...

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

       YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was dancing around a lot during the ultrasound, but she was very cooperative for her photo shoot!

Here is her darling little face

And I love this picture of the bottom of her feet (they are crossed so one foot is laying on its side)

This is cute, but hard to decipher... it's another face picture, but this time her left arm is tucked under her chin and her right arm is up by her ear.  It's so funny - I lay in the same position while talking to Jake at night!!!  She's already taking on our characteristics!

We also have a few other pictures, including an obvious "girl" shot... not the kind of photos a lady would want of herself online!  But if you're ever in Provo, you can drop by and see them on our fridge.

Here's a picture of the baby bump - this photo is only a week old and I feel like I'm noticeably "bump-ier".  (Jami said if I had a boy I would have to change my hair to blue - luckily I can stay with the pink! Blue's just not my color...)

I finally went and bought some maternity pants - the elastic waistbands are so intimidating.  But after an entire week of wearing my black sweats, I realized it was finally time to take the plunge.  It's nice to have jeans that fit now (makes getting dressed in the morning a lot less depressing!)

Our baby girl is quite the kicker!  She's so sassy!!!  Jake's even felt her kick!  Seeing her little face made the pregnancy feel so much more real!  I guess we should start looking at cribs, car seats, diapers, etc (I don't even know what to buy!) AHHH!!!!  I'm starting to freak out a little.  I can't believe in ~20 more weeks we're going to have a BABY!  YEA!!!

Boy -or- Girl ??????

We find out the gender of our darling little baby this week.

            Leave a comment with your guess ...

              *Boy     ~or~     *Girl

Little Alfreda? .or. Little Alfred?

     Mini-Jake!   or   Mini-Jenni!

Jake and I are just hoping for a healthy baby.  We're already getting to know our little baby's personality - every time I lay on the ground on my tummy or when I'm bent over... the baby will kick me!  Apparently it doesn't like being squished!!!

Our Big (Little) News

Jake and I have had many adventures in the past few months... moving to Utah, starting grad school, learning to telecommute, buying a 1993 Jeep Wrangler, etc - but there is something that has taken the most of our time/thoughts/energy - see if you can guess:

• it's why I won't be able to be in the same room with you if you smell bad (especially BO)
• it's why Jake hasn't been able to go dirt biking as he would like (cause I can't go...)
• it's why I have the strangest dreams
• it's why I've been bitchier than normal
• it's why I've been swearing a lot more (sorry if I've offended you)
• it's why I get winded walking up the stairs
• it's why swallowing pills now makes me gag (even the little ones)
• it's why I'd rather take a nap then do anything else
• it's why I can't eat hot dogs and deli meat
• it's why any spicy food gives me crazy heartburn
• it's why I didn't run the Labor Day half marathon
• it's why Jake and I have switched from running to yoga
• it's why my doctor gets mad if I cross my legs
• it's why I no longer can eat like a normal person
• it's why I've reaffirmed the fact that I'm married to the most patient, amazing man ever!
• it's why Jami and James say cute things to my belly
• it's why we won't be scheduling any trips in late Feb/early March
• it's why I look way fatter than normal
• it's why Jake puts his ear to my belly to listen for a heartbeat

That's right!!! WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!

We are soooooo excited! It took 12 long months to get pregnant and I can't believe it's really happening! Our baby is Due March 2 - 3/2/11 - which makes me ~17.7 weeks along right now! The first trimester was really, really difficult. I could barely eat anything (on the plus side - I lost several pounds). But things have been a lot better in the past few weeks (I'm making up for all the food I couldn't eat - I'm constantly hungry!)

Last Friday, I went to work in my black dress pants (fit a little snug around the belly, but not too uncomfortable). But by the end of the day, my belly had "popped" out and my pants no longer were comfortable to wear. I thought that maybe I was just bloated or something, but no - it didn't go away. I'm officially round and prego now!!! And the pain and cramps I had been feeling all week I now realize were from my ab muscles being ripped apart (yikes!). Jami and I had to make an emergency run to Target late Saturday night for Sunday clothes - I bought my first maternity outfit!!! I like that I'm starting to feel legitimately prego (but I don't like that none of my pants fit, in fact, I'm wearing sweat pants to work today!)

Oh - and when I'm laying down at night - I can feel movement in my belly. It's not like I can feel a specific kick or anything - more like a swooshy, sloshy feeling! AWESOME!