39 Weeks- Baby CPR and Doctor's Visit

Ryan and I contemplated taking some prenatal classes and decided all we wanted to take was an infant first aid class. We had a great American Heart Association instructor come to my work a few months ago. I gave her a call and she let me know that she does home classes where we could have as many people as we want attend and she would go over basic adult, child and infant CPR and choking. We had all of the grandparents and Ryan's sister Heather come over for dinner and the class. It was really relaxed and very informative. Even though I'm certified it's never a bad idea to review the basics. It was really nice to have everyone over. All of the grandmas brought Elle a few little presents (I don't think it's possible for these grandmas not to bring a present for Elle every time they stop by). We got some little outfits, diapers, and Halloween decorations.

Friday was my last day of work until the baby comes. I considered working up until the end because we pretty much have everything ready for Elle and the thought of possibly sitting at home for another 2 weeks drives me crazy. It's hard though to just keep booking patients and one day cancel on everyone on my schedule. Also, I've gotten pretty uncomfortable being on my feet all day. So, I'm going to take everyone's advice and try to sleep in and just enjoy these last few days of "freedom" before the baby arrives.

We had our weekly doctor's appt on Friday. I'm only 1cm dilated, but that really doesn't predict anything. You can be 1cm dilated and go into labor that night or be 3cm dilated for weeks. Everything continues to go just as planned and it's just now it's just a waiting game.

38 weeks and counting

We're down to the end here. Only about 2 more weeks to go until our due date, but now that we're full term she could come any day now. We're now on weekly doctor's visits until Elle's arrival. We had an ultrasound 2 weeks ago and Elle was measuring right under 7lbs and she's head down ready to go. I'll be working for one more week then will be off until the baby arrives.

This weekend we attended our friends Rosanna and Jason's wedding in Laguna. The wedding was amazing and it was so nice to see a lot of our friends. It's crazy to think the next time we see everyone it will be with a new baby. What made the wedding even better is that Auntie Megan, DJ Mamabear, was the DJ at the wedding. We had a great time dancing the night away. There were many jokes about my water breaking on the dance floor, but no such luck.

Shan and the baby bump

The beautiful bride Rosanna

We'll keep you posted when the little one makes her arrival :)

Growth Progress

Just getting bigger and bigger... (how many Chili dogs can you spot?)17 Weeks

22 Weeks

25 Weeks

28 Weeks

30 Weeks

35 Weeks

35 Weeks

We're getting pretty close here. Only a little more than a month to go. We went to the USC game this weekend and it will probably be the last one we make it to before Elle makes her debut. We hope to make it to the Notre Dame game Thanksgiving weekend but from here on out we're taking it one week at a time. While there I couldn't resist a trip to the bookstore. There were so many cute baby items but held back and just picked her up a little zip-up hoodie.

We've been close to finishing the nursery for quite some time. We are still waiting on the crib. We ordered it back in July but it's delivery date kept getting pushed back because it was on back order. It is suppose to be here next week but in the mean time here are some pictures of the rest of the room:

We picked up these cube organizers from home depot. The drawers store toys, blankets, ect... and the top row holds all of her books we received at the shower.

Cute closet dividers from Susan

Few of the books from the shower and personalized bookends

I'll post some more pictures when the crib comes in

Baby Shower (Post #2)

The shower that was thrown for me was so incredible that I couldn't just write one post about it. Here is a copy of the cute invites:

I could write for hours about all of the wonderful presents we received. Some of them have a little back story that goes along with them so I thought I would share those with you.

When I got married my bridesmaids gifts were personalized bathrobes for all of us to get ready in. My girlfriend Christina thought Elle needed one of her own too.

A few posts back I wrote about my Aunt Nanette who gave me the personalized USC m&ms at my graduation party. Well now Elle gets her own personalized m&ms.

The m&ms are personalized with the monogram that will hang above her crib and a picture of Ryan and I.

All Elle has to do is learn how to scratch some records like her Aunty DJ Mamabear:

As you saw on the invite everyone was asked to bring a book to help us start Elle's library. When I opened the present from my Aunt Carolyn I found that they were actually my old baby books. My mom had passed them down to my cousins and my Aunt had saved them this whole time.

Elle comes from a family full of pilots including her Dad, Uncle Mike, and Grandpa Kirk. Now Elle can be just like them in her very own airplane.

Again thank you to everyone for making this the best shower I could ever ask for. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives.

Baby Shower (Post #1)

Words cannot begin to describe how amazing my baby shower was. Everyone involved went above and beyond any of my wildest expectation. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking in this post...

We ate a yummy lunch and shared many laughs...

and dessert of course

We played some fun shower games planned by Christina and Veronica. Winners of the games received cute prizes from Isabella Dee.

...and then opening presents. We received so many wonderful things I'm going to have to write about those in another post.

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped out. It was one of the most special days of my life. Elle already has so many wonderful people in her life.

Here are some more pictures from the shower:

Sneak peak at the nursery

We've finally got the paint and wallpaper done. Here's a little sneak peak:

The rest of the furniture should be here in the next few weeks. I've also spent the past few days organizing all of our baby shower gifts. The shower was amazing! More than I could have ever asked for. I'll be posting pictures later this week.

Delivery from the Diaper Fairy

I came home yesterday after work to find this on our porch:

diapers and wipes

five little outfits

and this note...

Third Trimester: large and in-charge

One thing I have not enjoyed during this pregnancy is watching my wardrobe slowly shrink as my waistline continues to grow. I actually went through my closet and separated items that had no chance of growing with me and was able to re-work some looser dresses, empire waist tops, ect... for a few months. I've now come to the time where I'm utilizing my mini-maternity wardrobe. I admit that I loathe most maternity clothes, most of them are just so frumpy. I've been able to get by mostly with buying larger sizes in regular clothes and keeping my eye out for more cuts that are flattering to a growing belly. The only thing I've had to buy maternity is jeans, leggings, and work-out pants.

A little while ago my girlfriend, Kira, gave me this really cute book:

The book is very tongue-in-cheek but a very fun read. It makes you feel a little better when you're trying to squeeze into an outfit that just fit last week. I had two positive wardrobe experiences this past week. First, finding the dress I am going to wear to my baby shower. I just sized up in a regular dress and had a tailor take-in areas that were too big. Secondly, I am relieved to know that my bridesmaid's dress that I am wearing in 2 weeks for my girlfriend's wedding is going to fit. As long as Elle doesn't have a huge growth spurt I have some room to expand in the dress. It's actually a perfect non-maternity dress that works for a pregnant gal. It's a gorgeous dress and I'm very excited to wear it.

30 Weeks

29 Weeks

We had our 29 week doctor's visit this week and everything continues to look great. All of my measurements are right on track and Elle's heartbeat is nice and strong. It is really starting to sink in that this little one will be here sooner than we know it. We see the doctor again in 3 weeks instead of the usual 4, then 2 weeks later, then weekly until delivery.

I saw a patient today and I told her I wanted to see her back in 3 months for a follow-up then I thought: "oh wait, I won't be here in 3 months" so she will follow up with the other physicians in the office while I'm gone. I realized that I had to officially block my patient schedule out for my maternity leave. I think reality will really start setting in when we get into the single digit week countdown.

The nursery is finally starting to come together. We have the painters here this week, wallpaper being hung next week and the rest of our furniture should arrive in the next 2 weeks. Here is a sneak peak at what the wall monogram is going to look like:

Finished product looking similar to this: