38 Weeks: Pumpkin Baby

We are thirty-eight weeks along now!  LB is similar in size to a pumpkin this week.  Alex and I are closer to being ready for the little baby, although I don't think we could ever be completely prepared :)  The nursery is also almost finished, only missing the curtain finial pieces and maybe a picture frame or two.  Our house has been taken over by baby things, but we have tried very hard to keep it organized.  My nesting instinct has taken over full force... not really sure it was necessary to reorganize the kitchen pantry at three AM though!  Here are the pictures of our Harper preparation:

    

Thirty-eight weeks!

 

Our pretty guest bathroom is now stocked full of baby goodies.  We used the drawers for washcloths and bath towels.

  

Washcloths!

  

 Harper's cute animal bath wraps and extra washcloths.

  

 Hooded bath towels

   

 Bathroom essentials: cleaning supplies on the top and baby supplies on the bottom.

  

 Our baby medicine box is full of first aid supplies and infant medicines.

   

 Basket of bath toys!

 

The humidifier, a bin full of baby lotions and shampoos, and a little bathtub for the little baby.

    

Harper's room!  I am so excited we finally got the curtains up.  We are just waiting for the end pieces for the curtain rods to arrive in the mail.  We may eventually add more frames on this side of the room, but we are happy with it for now.

  

 My favorite part of the room is the wall above the crib!  The room seems a little dark because we have not yet put in a ceiling light.

 

Tessa made Harper the beautiful elephant painting to match her elephant themed room.  We put the diaper caddy on the closet door handle near the changing table.

 

 Harper's closet full of diapers, cutie baby clothes and shoes.  I think she has more clothes than I do thanks to all our shower gifts and hand me downs from cousin Catherine!  We used the bookshelf to store toys and baby books. 

   

 I used a jewelry organizer to store all of Harper's adorable hats and mittens.

  

 We used white fabric containers from Ikea to organize the dresser.  This drawer is full of baby socks and leg warmers!  You can never have enough baby socks :)

   

 This drawer holds pacifiers, teethers, Harper's cute wubbanubs, hair supplies, sunglasses, and extra bags for the diaper genie.

   

 We are keeping Harper's burp cloths and plain washcloths in this drawer.  We plan to use the washcloths during diaper changes to minimize the amount of times the changing pad needs to be changed.

   

 Our diaper drawer with supplies for diaper changes.

  

 This drawer is full of onesies and baby pants organized by size.  The extra mattress pad is in this drawer as well.

    

 This drawer is for all the little white Carter's bodysuits: long-sleeve, short-sleeve, tank top and side snap.  We also keep Harper's sleep sacs, swaddle sacs, and pajamas in this drawer.

  

 I love baby blankets!!  We have Harper's receiving blankets and stroller blankets in here, as well as extra sheets for her pack and play.

  

 This drawer is for swaddle blankets, extra changing pad covers and crib sheets.

   

 Our bassinet! 

  

 We have stored the pack and play and baby bouncer in the downstairs closet for use on the first floor.  Luckily the closet is deep!

  

 Harper has her own shelf in the kitchen for her bottles and bottle warmer.  We have plates, bowls and a Beaba maker ready for when she starts to eat solid foods.

  

 She also has her own kitchen drawer for pretty burp cloths and bibs :)

37 Weeks: Winter Melon Baby

We are officially considered a term pregnancy!  LB is thirty-seven weeks and similar in size to a winter melon.  Speaking of food, Alex and I spent all of this past Saturday preparing meals for when Harper arrives.  It took one entire day, multiple trips to the grocery store and tons of dish washing, but we now have a good two weeks worth of freezer meals.  We had a great time putting our awesome kitchen to use and will be very thankful when we don't have to worry about cooking or cleaning with a new baby.

     

I started my nights rotation this week.  I love working nights, but labor and delivery always packs a ton of action into each fourteen hour shift.  It is hard not getting to see Alex during the week, but Moo sure does love a day time nap buddy :)

   

Alex starting our cooking extravaganza! 

  

 Alex and I used Pinterest recipes to plan our meals.  We bought foil trays from the grocery store so the clean up will be easy those first few weeks.

     

  

 Chopping onions!

  

 We made a mess!

   

 Happy thirty-seven weeks!

       

All clean!

  

 We made two large trays of lasagna, two mushroom and ham quiches, a chicken pot pie, two dinners worth of tortilla soup, two dinners worth of chili, a tray of chicken and pesto stuffed shells, a bag of spaghetti sauce, and a batch of cilantro lime pesto chicken tacos.

  

 Our freezer full of meals!

36 Weeks: Honeydew Baby

Happy thirty-six weeks!  Thirty-six week fetuses usually weigh in at about six pounds.  They start to shed their downy lanugo layer of hair along with the creamy vernix caseosa that has been covering their skin.  These substances mix in with the amniotic fluid, which the little one then swallows and uses to form meconium.  LB's head is down in preparation for labor and according to Alex, her bump has definitely dropped this week. 
    
We spent this weekend organizing things for Harper's arrival.  We installed the car seat and car accessories after watching an instructional video or two :)  We worked on the nursery which is almost finished pending a few last minute deliveries.  We also started packing our hospital bags.

    
Honeydew baby

   
 Happy Memorial Day!

      

We are super excited about how the wall above the crib turned out.  We will have to take pictures and have them printed as soon as Harper is born so we can fill the picture frames with her cuteness!

  

 We are still waiting for the curtain rods to be delivered before we can hang the curtains.  We are really happy with how nice the mirror looks above the dresser.  Once the final pieces arrive for the nursery, we will post pictures of the finished product.

   

Our hospital bags are mostly packed!  We have snacks, shower shoes, little toiletries from Target, nursing pajamas, slippers, and all the essentials.  My diaper bag is also ready to go with several potential outfits for Harper to leave the hospital in.

  

 The car seat fits nicely in the Edge!  There is a vehicle seat protector under the car seat and a retractable window shade on the door.  The mirror is all set too!

 

   

 We made a car diaper station with our cute little Chevron Changing Pad from Aunt Sarah and Kaylyn, baby wipes, Desitin cream, and changing liners.  We just need to throw in a few diapers.  

    
We are a few steps closer to being ready!  Next weekend, we plan to make a bunch of freezer meals so that we don't have to worry about cooking when we bring the little girl home :)

35 Weeks: Coconut Baby

We are thirty-five weeks today!  LB is similar in size to a coconut and busy packing on the baby fat.  Our goals for this week are to finish the nursery, pack a hospital bag, and figure out how to work a car seat.  I have not had any painful contractions, but we want to be ready just in case the little one comes early.  My schedule over the next five weeks certainly does not bode well for my plan of making it to July 1st.

  

 Hello coconut baby!

Last Camp Before Baby

Alex and I decided to go camping one last time before Harper arrives.  We went to Jordan Lake, along with everybody else in town.  We were lucky to find a spot by the time we got to the park.  Our site wasn't directly on the water, but we could see and hear the lake easily.  We made pimento cheese burgers and our favorite Ghirardelli dark chocolate raspberry s'mores.  We had a great time relaxing in the woods and talking about our exciting future to come!

  

Next time we go camping, we will need an extra little chair!

    

 Camping was definitely the perfect way to spend my first day off in nearly three weeks!

   

 We are obsessed with pimento cheese burgers.

    

 Good morning breakfast on the stove :)

34 Weeks: Butternut Squash Baby

We made it to the next big mile stone as far as obstetrics is concerned!  After thirty-four weeks, steroids are no longer given for fetal lung maturity.  LB's lungs are still not ready, but if she made her debut early, it would no longer be as detrimental.  Only three more days until we have a day off!

 

Thirty-four weeks picture with our little tree :)

33 Weeks: Durian Baby

We are thirty-three weeks today!  Fetuses at this gestational age are similar in size to a durian fruit and usually weigh nearly four and a half pounds.  Their bones, except for the skull, are starting to harden.  They keep their eyes open more often now while they are awake.  The durian fruit, which I have never heard of, is apparently regarded as the "king of fruits" in Southeast Asia.  After reading about it, it is definitely not something I would like to try.

    

I am back on labor and delivery this month which means the hours are much longer, but I finally get to operate again.  Today was day nine of a nineteen day stretch :(  Makes me really sympathetic for our patients who ask for excuse notes from part time jobs for the "miseries of pregnancy," not.

  

My scrubs are getting a little snug!

  

   

Happy thirty-three weeks!

Knights Night

We went to a Knights game tonight with Sean, Kate, Tyler and Kacey.  It was raining when we first arrived, but it cleared up quickly.  Our seats had a great view of the city!  We ran into Matt and Presley at the game too!  The Knights were losing the entire game, but won it on the last play with two home runs in a row.

   

Our beautiful view!

   

    

 Sean, Kate and me!

   

   

 The hubbies :)

32 Weeks: Squash Baby

We are thirty-two weeks today and LB is similar in size to a plain old squash.  We already passed the acorn squash week :)  Fetuses at this gestational age are supposedly sleeping ninety to ninety-five percent of the time.  LB certainly is not one of those fetuses.  She kicks and punches all day long!  All of LB's organs are developed now, except for the lungs, which still need a good couple of weeks.

 

After failing the crap out of my one hour glucose screen, I passed the three hour glucose tolerance test with flying colors!  We had a glucose rich snack to celebrate :)

  

 Harper's bookcase arrived today!  Now we have a place to display all of her little books.

  

 Moo wanted to help build the bookcase too.

  

All finished and it looks great!