11 days left

Today I found out that January 9th will be Orzo's birthday. I had an ultrasound today and was hoping that she would have flipped on her own or I would be having a version (where they manually flip the baby) tomorrow. Unfortunately she decided to stay put and there isn't enough amniotic fluid to have the baby flipping procedure. Orzo appeared healthy and is currently estimated to be 6lbs 5oz. (At my last ultrasound, 3 weeks ago, she was estimated at 4lbs 15oz). Since she is still breech I will have a planned C-section on Friday, January 9th at 9am.

In preparation for our new arrival, John and I took almost every class offered by Hartford Hospital for new parents, Baby Care, Breastfeeding, Infant CPR, a Maternity Ward Tour, and a Childbirth Class. Ironically the one class we did not take was the C-section class.

As of Friday I was 37 weeks pregnant and kept thinking I had 3 weeks left until my due date, now suddenly I only have about 1 1/2 weeks left until the baby arrives... where did the 9 months go!!

All I Want for Christmas...

I had another ultrasound at 33 weeks just to check in on the baby since my uterus was measuring slightly smaller than expected. Fortunately everything checked out fine on the ultrasound in terms of the size of the baby, but she hasn't started preparing for her trip into the real world yet. She was breech (head up, butt down with her legs folded and feet up by her head), most babies at that point have their heads facing down.

Orzo's face and head with a fist up by her mouth

A slightly scary looking view of Orzo (I think she looks a little like an alien in this picture)

Orzo's foot (just getting ready to kick me in the ribs)

I had another doctors appointment today (at 35 weeks 4 days) and Orzo is still breech. I have another ultrasound scheduled at 37 weeks to check on her progress. If she hasn't turned by then the doctor's will either try an external version (where they basically push on my belly to get her to turn around) or possibily consider a planned C-section. I've told John that all I want for Christmas is for Orzo to turn around on her own... anyone know if they sell that on amazon?

Orzo's Room

John and I have been hard at work getting the baby's room ready. You might remember from earlier posts that it was a very bare room that initially was an office. We have cleared out all the office furniture, taken away the computer (though my father thought Orzo should start off with her very own computer), installed a new light fixture and a new closet system, painted the room, and finally just added furniture.

We knew we would have to put together the crib, but had assumed all the other furniture would come in one piece. The deliveryman informed John that the rocker/glider would have to be put together and that it was incrediably difficult to do. Everyone either paid him to put together the chair or called him back within a few hours to get his help. With all the things we had to do around the house I would have paid to have it done, but the delivery man put so much emphasis into how difficult the chair was to put together that John saw it as a challenege and proudly told him we would do it ourselves. Fortunately, John was right and easily put the chair together, the crib was another story and took all afternoon.

PS If you look closely at Franklin's tail you will notice that he got covered in white paint after a painting mishap!

Parties all around

It was overall a very festive week, my brother in-laws birthday was on Sunday, Franklin's birthday on Thursday (Rob isn't always so happy that he has to share his B-day with the dog!), and my friend Kelli threw me a surprise baby shower yesterday. It was a complete and total surprise, I thought I was arriving at her house for a Pampered Chef party and instead arrived to find all my coworkers with baby gifts yelling 'surprise'. How a group of 30 women kept the baby shower a secret I will never know. Thank you Kelli and everyone else it was so exciting to see everyone there and 'oh and ah' over all the adorable baby clothes and toys!!!

Happy Birthday Franklin

Thursday we celebrated Franklin's 3rd 10th birthday. It was 2 years ago on Thursday that Franklin arrived at our clinic as a stray unable to walk and covered in ticks. (I should note that it is because of Kelli that I ended up adopting Franklin) He made a full recovery from his 'stray days' and has made a full recovery from his tumor removal surgery in August. He does look a little unhappy in his party hat, but take a look at a video of him on a typical day prior to bringing him out for a walk.

10 weeks left

It is hard to imagine that I am in my last trimester and only have 10 weeks left to go. Considering the long list of things John and I want to get done around the house and we have to fit in Thanksgiving and Christmas in between, I'm not quite sure how all of that is going to happen. My family has recently been making all of our plans for the holidays, but the funny part is that while we can do all the planing and scheduling we want to, Orzo prefers to keep her time of arrival a secret and could drop in unannounced at anytime.

10 weeks

20 weeks

30 weeks

Happy Halloween

On Saturday, Lisa and Rob had their annual halloween party. My neice, Ella, was dressed up as a fairy and her friends were dressed in costumes ranging from Indiana Jones and Darth Vader to Ladybugs and Princesses. John, Orzo and I all dressed up as well.

Orzo as a bun, me as an 'oven', and John as the baker.

We can't take all the credit for our costumes since we borrowed the idea from my friend Manon and Alex, who had the same halloween costume last year when they were almost 8 months pregnant. Thanks Manon, Alex, and Margaux!!

Happy Birthday to Me

B-day photo at 26 weeks

October 14 was my 29th birthday. John and I celebrated by going out to dinner and a play in Hartford. Everyone seemed to think that was an excellent idea since it will be my last birthday that we can make plans to go out without having to find a babysitter.... I prefer to think of it as my last birthday without homemade fingered painted, glittered, crayon colored birthday cards from my kids.

I did get one homemade B-day card this year. My neice Ella finger painted this card for me and on the inside Ella dictated what she wanted to say and Lisa wrote it down. "John, Roie, goat, feed them. Fun! Milkshake, lick, tongue, feed them, Reggie".