A Light @ the end of the Tunnel!!

Well, today I am 6 days overdue - we had an appt. yesterday afternoon that included a "Non-Stress Test", an Ultra Sound, and a check up with my doctor. The test was to make sure the baby's heartrate responded well to stimulation, and the ultra sound was to make sure that there were still okay levels of amniotic fluid.

Well, everything was fine, and I was surprised when we met with my doctor to find that there was NO CHANGE. WHAT?????? You've gotta be kidding me! I'm still only a little over 1 cm. dilated. But, there is some good news! Tomorrow, if all goes well, I will be induced :)

Mayo Clinic has a 10 day policy - where they are supposed to schedule an induction for at least 10 days after you are due. They have it this way because it is so much better for your body to go into labor naturally...which I'm still hoping happens sometime today instead of getting induced (but there are no signs of that happening!). Day 10 is actually Saturday, so my doctor said she could play with it since that was over the weekend. She tried to schedule the induction for Friday - and they were booked. Thursday was booked also, so she cheated and scheduled it for tomorrow. Hurray for Dr. Marnach! Otherwise it would be next Monday, and I'm just too excited to meet my baby to wait another whole weekend!

Sooooooo - today I am cleaning my house to make sure it is nice & clean for me and the baby when we return...going to take a nap because it will be the last time in a LONG time that I can take a nap when I want to...and just relaxing.

Please pray that there aren't a lot of deliveries going on overnight. 'Cause if it is too busy, we'd get a call in the morning that the induction has to be rescheduled - I promise to cry if that happens! Ha ha!

Passing Time...

Well, nothing exciting to announce yet! I'm hoping something happens soon, but who knows!! This baby is pretty content where they are. In the meantime, I've been going on lots of walks, doing the Wii Fit, & have done LOTS of cleaning around the house...anything to keep me active, not just to pass the time, but I'm hoping to get things moving!

Our niece Brynne had her first dance recital tonight, so I went to that with my family. It was so cute, all of the dancers...they start so young! It brought back lots of memories, as I started dance when I was 2 years old :)

Brynne is the last one on the right...hard to take pics from so far away

Brynne Marie Kelley...the oldest grandchild on the Tarara side of the fam! Doesn't she look like she's 4 going on 14???

Our 3 nieces on the Tarara side - Brooklynn, Ella, & Brynne

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We've had a blue bird hanging around our backyard lately, which we decided to name Barry. Aaron said maybe it's a sign that we're having a boy! I think he's been here every day since Wednesday! We've been trying to catch a picture of him for days, and finally got one tonight!

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"Barry"

******Last but not least****** I wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to the Spindler's! Aaron's cousin Brooke was due the same day as I was, and she was lucky & went into labor on our due date! They welcomed a little girl, Sadie Lee Wednesday evening. We are so happy for them and excited to see their little one! Congrats Brooke, Brad, & big sis Rylee!!

F-o-R-T-y W-e-e-K-S :)

Well, as it turns out I made it to 40 weeks & am "still pregnant" :) I'm hanging in there, but really READY to be done now. I was so content with my pregnancy until this week...all of a sudden I am very anxious to meet this little one and introduce our son/daughter to everyone!

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We had an appt. yesterday, and still not much change. My dr. said I'm a little closer to 2 cm dilated...but not enough to say that officially. We have an appt. scheduled for next Monday to do the "non stress test" & I'm sure I'll be induced next week if this baby does not come on its own. Here's to hoping I don't make it to the test on Monday and don't have to announce an induction date to you all!!

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As far as the poll goes, most of you had chosen that the baby would be born after the 27th, and that is appearing to be true. It is split down the middle as far as if you all think it is a boy or girl - this child loves to keep us guessing, huh?

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Hopefully our next post will be an announcement of our baby's birth!

...until then...

Memorial Weekend 2009

Happy Memorial Day to everyone :) This was the first time that we've just been home for the Memorial weekend since we've been together, and it is the first weekend that I've ever just been home. We usually go to my parent's cabin for Memorial weekend. I had a hard time yesterday and today because the weather was so beautiful and I can only imagine how awesome it was on the lake...but it is all worth it, especially when we meet this little one. We couldn't have traveled that far so close to our due date. We made the best of our weekend here in Rochester.

HAPPY 32nd ON THE 23rd!! Aaron's birthday was Saturday - and although it would've probably been the best present ever for Aaron to have his first born on his birthday, I'm sorta glad he was able to have one more birthday to be about "him" because I'm sure with the baby's birthday being around his, it will not be as focused on him in the future! I'm big on birthdays (I think I get more excited for his birthday than he does) because it is the one day of the year that is "your special day"! :)

I made him a cake...he's good at humoring me and allowing me to take a picture with him holding his cake & blowing out candles...like you do when you are kids, even if it was just the two of us!! We went to dinner together and than had some friends over for a bon-fire in the evening. Overall, I think he enjoyed his birthday.

Happy Birthday Aaron - Love ya!

Our friends Becky, Dan, Jeremy, and Sarah at the bon-fire

Rachel & Jeff

The birthday boy and his VERY pregnant wife! I don't really approve of this picture, but it's the only one we took together on his birthday, so it'll have to do!

Sunday was GORGEOUS out!!! There is a full/half-marathon in Rochester on the Sunday of Memorial weekend, so we went down there to watch the finish. I'm not sure why, but I get sooo emotional at those things. As soon as we walked down there I had tears in my eyes, and they just kept flowing (thank goodness for sunglasses!). Being that I've run two 1/2's, I know the feeling of accomplishment you have at the finish of such a big race, so I always get a little overwhelmed...but this year, I think I was also just a little jealous (sad, I know) - I actually haven't gone for a run since I ran my last 1/2 marathon in August. We started "trying" right after that so I really stepped back on working out around then. I'm looking forward to going for a run in the near future!

We also went for a walk around Silver Lake...it's a man-made lake here in town and it is a little less than 2 miles to walk around. It was a great day to be outside, so in the evening we went for another small walk around the neighborhood (we went for a lot of walks this weekend...trying to get things moving so we can meet our baby!!!).

Today was also a beautiful day. We went to the Rochester Water Ski show for something to do. They kicked off the season today. At least we got to be on a lake for a little while this weekend! It was pretty neat too, because they had a 21-gun salute for Memorial Day at the end of the show, which was really cool to watch. I of course had tears in my eyes, especially when they had someone play "Taps" on the trumpet. We also went for another walk down-town Rochester by the river...notice the trend of walking? I think it is going to be that way every day until this baby decides they are ready to greet the world!

The cutest boy ever, 6 years old - I have always loved to water-ski and I told Aaron today that I want our son/daughter to be in this show...the little ones are so dang cute!!

So, as you can tell, I'm still hanging in there...I'm officially "ready" now. Until now, I've been hoping to stay pregnant just a little longer, but I'm very content with having this baby ANY day now!! If I haven't had the baby by Friday, it will be my last day at work. I was always planning on working until I had the baby, but one of my jobs is to do our payroll, and the person doing payroll while I am out has daycare issues for next Monday, so it worked out best for her to know if she would be responsible for doing it or not on that Monday. And given at that point I'll be overdue, it works out for the best! I'll be only a few miles from Aaron, as his office is right by our house. So, I think it makes him feel a little better also!

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We have an appt. tomorrow, so, unless something changes DRASTICALLY in the next 24-48 hours, you can count on an update and a 40 week picture within the day or 2!!

Poll!

One more week to go until my due date! I decided to put up a poll to see what you guys think...will this baby arrive within the next week or will I be overdue (and also - what do you think, boy or girl?).

If you want to get more specific on dates & boy/girl, feel free to leave a comment! (Remember, you can post as anonymous if you don't want to register)

It is HOT here...yesterday it was in the 90's and man have my feet swelled up like a balloon!!!

Any day now we'll be introducing you all to our new little one! So exciting :)

Still Here...

I hope all of you moms & moms-to-be had a wonderful Mother's day :) Little Poppy gave me a very nice card thanking me for protecting him/her for the last 9 months & telling me how excited he/she is to meet me in the upcoming weeks. He/she also told me that they love me as much as their little heart can love somebody...what a sweet little baby I have already!

Not much has changed here. As of my last doctor's visit, I'm dilated a little over a centimeter, but I know I could be that way until I'm overdue & end up getting induced, so I'm not getting too excited about the news!

Every day when I walk into work at least 1 or more people say "you're still here, huh?" - now, I know that they are being nice & such and just making conversation, but given the fact that I could hear that for 2+ more weeks, its starting to get a little OLD! So, I'm taking this opportunity to apologize if I have EVER said that to anyone in their final weeks of pregnancy, 'cause I now know that comment can get very annoying to a pregnant woman!

I decided to take a 38 week pic since you never know when my last opportunity will be :)

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Aaron continues to work on the basement. We painted the rest of it a few weeks back and now he's tiling. He always amazes me with his ideas...when we went to purchase the countertop for our bathroom, we realized that we would have to special order the size we wanted, and we really didn't want to have to wait for that to come in. Well, leave it to my talented husband to decide to make it himself instead! We got some granite tile & he made the countertop - it looks great so far! It hasn't been grouted yet or anything, but you can see how good it looks. So, we (well, HE) are still plugging away at the basement. The bathroom is ready for use as soon as he finishes the tiling...which he has been working on nightly. Lots of tile cutting and going up/down the stairs since he's cutting the tile in the garage, so that is getting a little exhausting to him!

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Here's the countertop Aaron made :)

As for me, I continue to do what I can...I did help paint the basement when we did that, and last weekend I planted some annuals in our little flower garden we have. I feel bad that I am not much help in the basement, but I do what I can!

Our bags are packed & we are ready to go any day now...although for some reason I'm really hoping it will be a little longer. Aaron's birthday is next Saturday, the 23rd, and I'm hoping that it will be sometime after that. Not sure why, but that is just how I feel. Obviously, I'll be happy when this little one decides to enter the world...regardless of when it is!

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This pic has nothing to do with the post, but my family's dog McKenzie (Mac) passed away last Thursday unexpectedly. My dad had to make the decision to put her down when he discovered she had a stroke. I'm very sad to see her go, she was such a GREAT dog. We've had her for quite some time and she was definitely part of the family. Love you Mac!

Pregnancy Reflections

I was thinking the other day about all the things I was going to miss about being pregnant...and some of the things that I will happily leave behind. Thought I'd share some with you:

Things I'm Going to Miss

1 --- Feeling my baby move/kick me. It's like a little conversation between me and Little Poppy...our little secret. Especially when I'm at work or doing something where I'm really concentrating on a project - all of a sudden Lil P will say a quick "hello" to me & it zaps me back to reality of this little life that Aaron & I created and how precious life in general really is.

2 --- Aaron's eagerness to be a dad - and his absolutely adorable questions/concerns/general excitement that he voices to me. I know that his excitedness when the baby arrives will leave me just as amused, but I'm still going to miss his "pregnancy questions/comments" & eagerness!

3 --- All of my nieces innocent little comments about my pregnancy. I've had quite some

interesting conversations with all of my nieces at one point or another during the pregnancy. Some famous "niece quotes" that have stuck with me are:

"You have a big belly"

"Have you gone to the hospital yet?" (asked probably about 10 times now...where my response is always, "does it look like I've gone yet??"!)

"Now that we are done opening presents, we get to have cake which will make your belly even bigger!"

"So...how do you feel about your belly?" - with quite the emphasis on my feelings for this lovely bump I have!

4 --- Strangers - it is so amazing how people that don't even know you can be so excited for the upcoming journey that Aaron and I are about to take as parents.

Things I'm not Going to Miss

1 --- Wearing the same things over & over again - I was super excited to wear maternity clothes at first, and now I am so OVER that. I miss all of my other clothes - the good thing is they will all seem "new" to me again, so maybe I'll be able to contain my urge to shop for clothes for a little bit........just maybe......... :)

I'm sure there are other things that I am NOT going to miss...but really, it is all worth it to me. My #2 was going to be the fact that this baby TAKES OVER your body - they are definitely in control! From head to toe - all is affected by this little one!! But when it comes down to it, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, and hope that God blesses me with the opportunity to do it again since Aaron & I are hoping to have more than one child in our lives :)

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"A mother's joy begins when new life is stirring inside... when a tiny heartbeat is heard for the very first time, and a playful kick reminds her that she is never alone."

-- Author Unknown