Week 36 - New picture added

I'm officially 9 months pregnant now. Wow! Just putting that in writing freaks me out a little. The baby is now about 5 1/2 pounds and will be gaining about an ounce a day until she comes into this world. That's about 1/2 pound per week which would put her on track to be about 7 1/2 pounds. Aaron thinks she's going to be bigger than that because we were both around the 8 pound mark. I'm still wishfully praying for something in the 7 pound range. Let's face it, that sounds much more 'comfortable' :-)

I call this photo "Cankles" What do you think? Hot huh? Aaron tells me I have the ankles of a 300 pounder. I think he's right!!!

The baby has dropped and it was great at first. It actually took away some swelling and heartburn for a while. Now, the baby must have shifted or something because I'm experiencing swelling again and it's mostly on my left side. Thus, the left sided cankle. Yikes!

And here is the rest of my 'girth' to go along w/ those cankles. I totally gave up on changing out of my PJ's to do the pictures. I figured you get the idea. Aaron also was too lazy to actually stand to take the picture, thus the less than flattering angle of my chin. Gotta love it! I think this shirt may have seen its last day. Yeah, I think I'll have to throw it away when I'm done...either that or find a friend w/ a massive beer belly to give it to.

In other news, we FINALLY got a carseat. Of course, as soon as we got one, I stopped having a lot of contractions and havne't made a hospital visit this week :-) It was probably the magic charm to keep that baby in there. Maybe she just liked stressing me out by making me think she would come when we weren't ready. Now that I purchased the car seat and we finished purchasing the 'must haves', she has been pretty darn quite. Part of it is most likely due to the fact that I have reduced my hours at work again. After another trip to the hospital last week for contractions, my doctor cut my reduced hours in half. Now I'm only working 3 hours per day and it's making a HUGE difference. What do you know...no contractions! My mom keeps teasing me saying I'll be one of those women who has all sorts of early labor signs and then end up needing to be induced. Hope not, because that means I'll have cankles well into August!

Week 35

I am so mad right now! I just completed a MASSIVE blog for this week and the entire thing deleted without saving a bit. Now I can't get it back. Curse you blogspot! I hate blogspot almost as much as I hate the guy at Costco who wouldn't let me buy a slice of pizza on my credit card. Remember him? Yeah, I still don't like that guy either.

Moving on.....Baby Gore is doing well. She's about 5 1/4 pounds now and about 18 inches long. Over the next few week, she'll be packing on the weight and getting cute and chubby before making her way into the world.

She has done her best to give us a few false alarms. I was back at the hospital today with contractions but was sent home...false labor again. Phew! So stressful! I went from having about 6-7 contractions an hour on Tuesday to having 8-9 contractions an hour yesterday at work and then had 11 of them the first hour I was at work this morning. When I called my doctor, she sent me to the hospital to be monitored. As soon as I got off my feet they really slowed down and the baby looked great on the monitor so I was free to go.

I am down to working 30 hours a week now, but may have even that reduced due to the number of contractions I have while I'm at work. I have another appointment on Monday and will talk to my doctor about it then. In the mean time, we really need to pack our bags for the hospital and buy a carseat.

In other news, I also had another "it's a boy" moment this week. Aaron was with me this time. I've told you how the Ancient Chinese birth chart said we were having a boy and that almost every Asian woman who has seen me informed me I was having a boy. Well, Aaron didn't fully believe it until we went for dinner the other night at Chang's Grill by my house. The hostess pointed at my belly and asked, "what do you have in there?" (cute huh?) I told her it was a girl. She then proceeded to shake her head and let out a , "Tisk. No, that is boy!" I then told her we originally thought so too, but it was confirmed a girl in the u/s. She just shook her head at me again and said, "No, that is boy." She didn't 'suggest' it was a boy - she INFORMED us it was a boy. Aaron turned to me and said, "Wow, you weren't kidding were you?" We spent the next hour eating dinner wondering what we would do if it really was a boy.

Could thousands of years of Eastern Medicine and Culture trump modern day technology? Yikes! Now I'm afraid to go get a pedicure because the Vietnamese lady who does my pedis has also thinks I'm having a boy. I might have a breakdown if I hear it again!

Here are some pictures - which are just not fun anymore. I think I dropped over the past week. I haven't gained much weight over the past few weeks, surprisingly, but my belly is certainly bigger and lower. On the plus side, I don't have near the heartburn I did a few weeks ago. I can actually make it thru the night without waking up to the firey burn.

I give you the trilogy...15 weeks, 25 weeks and 35 weeks. Or, as I like to call it.... "I hope I can look this thin again", "I'd even settle for this thin again", and "STOP EATING, SERIOUSLY!" Could it be that most of the weight I'm gaining now is actually going to my face? Not cool. I seriously feel like a blimp. Enjoy the trilogy!

Week 33

Quite the exciting week. I was off work per my doctor on Tuesday due to contractions and was released this afternoon to return to work on a reduced schedule. She also gave me some drugs to help keep the contractions at a minimum. Apparenlty I'm having false labor, which can be slowed/stopped when I take this medication. If they continue once I've taken the meds, it is real labor. Yikes! We'll see if that helps keep the contractions at a minimum. I am also dilated to 1cm too.

A quick update on the baby. She is about 4 3/4 pounds this week. Apparently the same weight as an average cantaloupe. FINALLY a fruit that I actually eat. Which reminds me, I should by one. That sounds kind of good.

I have quite a few pictures to post this week. My sister sent me the pictures of my shower in Roseburg. Here are some of them.

Quilt, courtesy of my mom. Beautiful!

Advice box, courtesy of crafty Dena. It matches the babies room!

'Shower Cake' that my sister made. So cute! Tasted delish too.

I also stuck with my "Sprockets" Theme this week for my pictures. Again, Aaron did my 'photo shoot' just before I left for physical therapy. I always wear my yoga pants to PT and then change before I go to work. I also went for a bare belly shot this week. Gutsy, I know...

I also couldn't resist adding this picture of Oreo. She LOVES catnip so Aaron took out the little container of catnip for her to enjoy. Before he could get some of it out, she swiped it out of his hand and all over the kitchen floor and then proceeded to roll around in it and lick it off the floor. I swear, that stuff is like kitty crack! I think Oreo may need to join a 12 step program.
That's it for now folks. Let me know what you think of the pictures in this weeks post. I decided to post them a little smaller than the other weeks. Are they too small? Whatcha think?

Baby Shower Weekend

Hi All,

I'm posting my baby showers in reverse order. I had one 2 weeks ago in Roseburg but don't have the pictures for that one yet. Will post when I get them.

My friend Angela hosted a baby shower for me this weekend at her house. She is quite the hostess with the mostess! Thank you Angela! Between Angela and my friend Joanne (baby game extrordinare) we had a great time. Here are a few pictures (OK, a lot of pictures) from the weekend.

Yum, just looking at this last picture makes me hungry. Note the MASSIVE chunk of brie. I think there was but a tiny wedge left by the time the shower was over.

I opened a gifts after we all stuffed ourselves on the spread above and played a few games.

Yes, in case you're wondering...that is babies first pink leopard print. She'll be rocken' that in no time!

I also took a few pictures of things when I got home too.

This is a newborn outfit from Angela. How cute is that?! This might be 'babies going home outfit'.

I call this one the "Hungry, Hungry Hippo" hat and socks. Can't wait for the babe to fit into these. How adorable!

Pack-n-Play courtesy of Grandma. She can't wait to have that baby down at her house!

The photograph of these pants just doesn't do them justice. They are so adorable. I'm a bit bias because I actually have a pair of these for me! Mine don't have the pink daisies embroydered on them though. Thanks Heather!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

Week 33

Just a quick post this time. I don't have any pictures of this week but will post some soon. I haven't gained any weight, but I think my belly has dropped a bit, so I may look a little different than last week.

This week the baby is about 4 1/2 pounds. She should be gaining about 1/2 pound every week from here on out. I think the brownie I just snacked on and the massive glass of milk may have just added 1/2 pound to me, but I doubt it was much nutrition for the baby.

I had a wonderful baby shower in Roseburg this past weekend. My sister hosted it at my mom's house. She is quite the hostess with the mostess. It was so much fun and was really great to see all of my friends all at the same time. Let me just say, baby Gore is quite spoiled. She will be very stylish thanks to many of her future honorary aunties and their wonderful taste in clothing :-) I'm still waiting for the pictures of the weekend but will post when I get them.

We also had a bit of a scare this week and thought Baby Gore might try to make an appearance early. I went to the hospital on Tuesday afternoon because I kept having contractions. Apparently anything more than 4 per hour is too many, and I was having at least 7-8 per hour. When I finally called, they sent me straight to St. Vincent and I was hooked up to machines monitoring my contractions and the babies heartbeat. Heartbeat looked great but my contractions were pretty consistent, so they gave me medication to stop the contractions. It worked, which means it was 'false labor'. Apparently real labor can't be stopped by medication. Easy enough! I went home and rested for 24 hours and then went in to see my doctor this morning. She wasn't too concerned since it was false labor and cleared me to return to work. I guess the baby just wants to keep us guessing.

That's all for now. Pictures to come!