We HEART Chickie!! (Part 4)

Yesterday was my 38 week check-up. As usual, I was in and out in of the hospital within 10 minutes. The doctor checked Chickie's heartbeat (a strong 140 bpm) and confirmed that he/she is still head down. This is the first time that she also checked to see how dilated I was. After what must have been the most painful minute of my life - at least for the time being - the doctor told me that I'm still at a big fat ZERO, meaning it looks like Chickie is cooperating with Mommy, and I'll most likely be able to make it through the rest of the school year! Even though we still have a week left of school, it sure seems as though the year ended with Memorial Day weekend. Between all of the end of the year celebrations, I must have scarfed down two slices of pizza, an equal amount of cake (at least), and my regular balanced lunch. No wonder Chickie's been kicking like crazy all day long. Either Chickie's on a major sugar high, or he/she wants out. BIG TIME :)

Looks like salads for dinner at the Alp house ...

Memorial Day 2012

Hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy the warm weather!

 

It's All Coming Together ...

Since our showers, Chris has been busy putting together a couple of Chickie gadgets around the house. Check them out! Don't they look fun?! :)

"I'm Elmo and I know it ..."

The pack-n-play has dangling owls ... right up Chickie's ally :)

Popping Pumpkin

This past Friday (5/25), we rolled right into week 38 ... and since then time just hasn't bothered to pause and steal a moment's breath all weekend long. Chickie, popping out to pumpkin status, is now what they call "full term," meaning that he or she could potentially pop out to meet and greet everyone most any day now. Scary. But exciting. Thebump.com suggests that week 38 babies average between 6.2 and 9.2 pounds. I'm hoping Chickie is closer to the 6.2 side, although the relief I get from locking my hands together underneath my belly when standing for too long would suggest otherwise.

We had our weekly check-up last Wednesday. Nothing really new to report. It took the doctor what seemed like an eternity to find Chickie's heartbeat, so after lying there for a good 20 seconds of shear panic, it completely slipped my mind to ask what the heartbeat was. I was just happy to finally hear that light thumping, along with the doctor's reassurance that everything was perfectly a-okay. It seems as though Chickie was just curled up a little more toward the right side of my belly than the left side where she started with the monitor.

Friday night I had a little trouble sleeping. I kept waking up to unfamiliar stomach cramping. I'm not sure if I was experiencing mild contractions or rather reminders of the strawberry cheesecake I had enjoyed earlier that night with Chickie's Auntie LoLo. After a later start to Saturday, Chris and I eventually found ourselves all over Village Crossing. For once we actually came prepared. We were the people we always strive to be. The ones with all the right coupons, the gift cards, the agenda, and the energy to get it all done. Our first victim was Target. We picked up a new bookcase for Chickie's nursery to hold all the cute and cuddly stuffed animals that apparently are just plotting for parents to turn off the lights so they can suffocate their innocent children during the wee hours of the night. How horrible is that? No stuffed animals in the crib until Chickie can successful turn him/herself over. Got it. Our next victims included Bed Bath & Beyond and Walmart. Yes, Walmart ... Actually, we were more the victims there. I had received two of the same receiving blankets, and after standing in line at customer service for a good day or so - and getting cut off by a couple of regulars - we made a quick return and went off in search of sour flavored suckers, a must have in my hospital bag, or so I'm told. Of course Walmart only sells sour flavored suckers inside a jumbo mixed candy bag that retails at $7.99 and only includes 2 - maybe 3 - sour flavored suckers max along with a bunch of candy neither Chris nor I wanted/needed, but after feeling that sense of pure suffocation that creeps in on you after stepping one foot in any Walmart store, we grabbed the bag and ran for our lives!  Little did we know that one of the first things we would find after strolling into the Babies R Us next door would be a bag of assorted sour flavored suckers. Dang. Along with the suckers, we also filled our cart with a few items to make my life easier while trying to nurse Chickie over the next year or so, and braved Walmart for one final return of the day. So maybe we weren't quite the people I always strive to be, but we sure got a lot of errands done for a little amount of gas, and that's certainly something to be proud of these days. After refueling with some PB&J, Arnold Palmer, and House Hunters, Chris and I headed out to Lake Villa for my cousin Matt's graduation from U of I. It feels G.R.E.A.T. to have another U of I alum in the fam. Even though we had a long day, Chris still found a little bit of energy to put together Chickie's bookshelf when we returned home from the party. I watched and took pictures :)

 

 

 

They've got the look.

It took a certain pregnant lady a good  hour to get them to stand for this shot. Lazy.

U of I Alums!

Hard at Work.

I found Nemo!

Chickie's Nursery (Part 12)

Check out what's been growing in Chickie's nursery!

Tales of Our Very Non-Weekend Weekend

This past weekend, Chris and I signed up for a 12 hour crash course in parenting: 6 hours Saturday and 6 hours Sunday. We were out the door by 8am both days, leaving us more than a little sleepy come Monday morning. In exchange for our little rest and relaxation, there were a lot of pluses to this taking this course, the first one being that a lovely breakfast spread - consisting of bagels, fruit, yogurt, juice, and water - was served upon arrival both days :) The second obvious plus was that we really did learn A TON just from showing up. Our instructor was really fantastic. Very knowledgeable. She shared so much valuable information about labor and delivery, caesarean sections, vaginal births, epidurals, breast feeding, bottle feeding, home safety hazards, breathing exercises, timing contractions, how to preregister for the hospital, what to pack for the hospital, when to leave for the hospital, what to expect upon being admitted at the hospital, where to direct hospital visitors, diaper changing, swaddling, bath time, and much much more. We sat on the floor and practiced common breathing exercises including deep cleansing breaths and the shorter, faster "ahh-hee, ahh-hee, ahh-hees". We were also given life-like dolls (ours was a girl :)) and actually practiced changing diapers and swaddling our newborns with receiving blankets. A tour of the labor and delivery and mother-baby floors/rooms were also included in the course, as was an hour-long lunch break (plenty of time to hike it to Portillo's across the street!) and an afternoon snack tray filled with cheese and crackers, veggies, yogurt, cookies, and more juice and water. I think we were both pretty wiped out by the end of the weekend, but Sunday ended on a high note: Our friends - Jim and Sylvia - who are also expecting this summer, met us for a late afternoon showing of the new movie, What to Expect When You're Expecting. It definitely had it's share of funny and sad moments ... super cute overall :)

Happy 89th Birthday, Great-Grammy!

5.19.12

Cheers to Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Casey!

5.12.12

Good friends of ours, Kevin Casey and Katie Van Deventer, got married about a week and a half ago at the St. Alponsus Catholic church of Chicago. Drinks, dinner, and dancing followed at Gibsons Steakhouse downtown. Chickie and I made it out on the dance floor for a few songs and enjoyed plenty of lime and sprites. Chris's knees made it to the dance floor during every song and enjoyed having their d.d. for the night escort them home before any major injuries occurred :) Much thanks to Kara for loaning me one of her maternity dresses for the night! When you're 8 months pregnant, black has a way of making everything better :)

Winter Melon

We still have 3 weeks to go, yet Chickie has already reached full term! He/she has fully developed, and will only continue to grow stronger throughout the rest of the month and into June. Thebump.com said that a lot of moms-to-be find themselves scrubbing their floors around week 37. What's hilarious about this is it's incredible accuracy. As soon as I got home from work yesterday, I threw all the bathroom rugs in the washer - grabbed the broom, dustpan, swifter, mop, and cleansers - and began the impossible process of trying to make this place spotless. When Chris came home from work, he joined in my efforts and was a huge help - especially with the bathtubs - since it's getting pretty hard for me to bend over these days, plus I really shouldn't be around too many chemicals at once. Thebump.com said that the reason many women do this around week 37 is that their nesting instinct really begins to kick in as their bodies sense that baby will be here shortly. It's also the brain's way of making sure their prepared for just about anything so they can feel like they have an extra edge on this whole new parenting thing. Although we still have a lot of cleaning left to do, it was SO NICE to get ready this morning in my beautiful, sparkling bathroom! After work, my mom and I have pedicure appointments :) ... ahhhhh, Friday is finally here.

Enjoy!

We HEART Chickie! (Part 3)

Don't expect to hear any news regarding pink or blue, stork or caesarean, at least in the next week or so. Now that I'm almost 37 weeks, weekly visits to the doctor is a must, yet I left rest assured today that this baby is cooperating with Mommy's work schedule and will not be joining us anytime soon :) I was so relieved to hear that as I'm really hoping to make it through the rest of the school year so that I can enjoy a nice, long maternity leave come summer and fall.

Other things worth noting:

• Chickie's heart rate is back up to 140 bpm. It had been in the 130s and 120s at our last two visits. I'm still not sure if this means anything (actually I'm pretty sure it means absolutely NOTHING), but it's always fun to keep track and see how accurate the old wives tales are for us. They say that if the baby has a high heart rate (i.e. above 140), it's going to be a girl.
• Chickie is still turned head down, just like the doctor wants him/her to be.
• Chickie's bump is a good size, suggesting that he/she is growing just fine!
• The results are in and I'm NOT anemic ... woo hoo! :)
• They also performed a Strep B test ... results are expected within the week ...

Happy Mother's Day!!

Our "Larger" Sweet Honeydew?

So, thebump.com told me that Chickie was roughly the size of a honeydew melon around 33 weeks, and apparently they liked this fruit so much that they decided to use it again. At 36 weeks, Chickie is once again the size of a honeydew melon, just a larger, more riper one? Exactly 4 weeks from today marks my last day of work for the school year, and I'm crossing my fingers that Chickie holds out at least that long. We have so much to do between now and then that we really do need all the time we can get. Last night I washed all of Chickie's bedding so that we could finally put the mattress in the crib. While I was busy doing that, Chris put together the pack-n-play in the living room, as well as the car seat. We also went out to Babies R Us and bought a second car seat loading station so that we can have one in each of our cars, as well as two car mirrors, and a small bin to hold stuffed animals in Chickie's nursery. We're getting there, slowly put surely ...