One Month

I can't believe a month has already gone by! Holy cow!  Incase you didn't see our birth story and are interested, you can read about it here

We were blessed with a free newborn session from a photographer in Pella, Abby Jane Galleries.  She did an amazing job!  Here are a few of my favorites.

I can't believe how much she has already changed!!!

A lot has happened in this past month.  It has almost been 5 weeks as I write this blog which means just 3 weeks and a few days and back to work I go :-( I don't know who will cry more.. me or little miss Hannie.

Johannah has no interest in one month photo shoots.. Bucky however posed nicely :)

Being a month old is tiring business

Our sweet girl is a little over 21 inches long and weight about 9 and a half pounds. 

We are now too long for our newborn clothes.  The 0-3 and 3 months clothes are still a little baggy around the middle for this skinny girl!

Watching Daddy

Hannie has decided that she loves baths just like her mama and loves dancing to her mobile on her play gym... she gets her moves from her daddy.

Ignore the background TV noise :)  When I remembered to turn it off she was done dancing.

When this girl sleeps.. she SLEEPS! :)

Trying rather unsuccessfully to wake this little sleeping beauty... she sleeps like her Uncle Jonathan!

Hannie and Stella's first church service together in Knoxville

Johannah's Birth Story

Disclaimer: You'll have to forgive my typo's in this post.. I am writing it while snuggling a sleeping baby :-)
(Pictures and Video at the bottom)

I have had quite a few people ask to hear our birth story so I decided to include it in our blog.  I have to preface this by saying I have heard so many "horror stories" about women's births.  I have to say I hate those, I hated hearing those and listening to all of the horrible things that happened and how trying to have a natural labor is crazy.  I say this because although our labor wasn't how we had planned and hoped for it to be, I don't write this as a horror story.  This is not a story about all of the horrible things that happen and go wrong and how birth should be scary.  This is a success story of look what your body can do despite some things not being ideal.  So here goes...

The last two weeks of our pregnancy seem to crawl by.. then came Johannah's due date, February 2nd.. then it passed.. then more days passed... soon we were almost a week overdue.  We had our last OB appointment a few days after her estimated due date.  I was to come back in on Monday the 10th for our last appointment and had a tentative induction date set for Wednesday the 12th.  I did NOT want to be induced.  Despite the risk for pitocin and cervidil, I didn't want to be jump starting my body when it wasn't "primed and ready."  

I had scheduled and induction massage on Thursday the 6th.  Oh my was it relaxing.  I must say, anyone needing a massage.. prenatal or not, Jodi Connolly is amazing!  On Friday I began having contractions.  They would come and go without any real regularity.

We spent the weekend at my parent's house in Knoxville.  There was snow in the forecast and it seemed easier to be 15 minutes away rather than 35 if I were to go into labor.  My brother and his wife were also visiting from Ohio, hoping to see their little niece.  I must say, I warned them to come later ;-).... maybe arrive on his birthday (Monday,February 10th) instead of leaving that day HA :)

Contractions continued off and on throughout the weekend.  They slowly increased in intensity but stayed irregular.  Sunday night we stayed up late playing another riveting game of Monopoly.  For those of you who don't know, my parents had adopted three teenagers from Ukraine a couple years ago.  My younger brothers had discovered the game Monopoly a few weeks before and wanted to play it every day... multiple times ;-).  We finally went to bed around 1am.  Jake even took a unisom thinking he would try and sleep in and make up for some of our lack of sleep the past few nights, especially since we would be having our daughter any day now.  I wasn't feeling much of anything that night anyway.  Oh boy would he regret taking that Unisom in just a few short hours :).

A very tired daddy-to-be trying to catch a nap before the tough part begins

I awoke at 2am to use the restroom and didn't feel quite right.  I had only been sleeping an hour and went right back to sleep without giving it much of a thought.  This repeated itself again at 3 and 3:30 until I finally woke up enough to realize what was going on.  I started timing my contractions and they were regular and 3-4 minutes apart.  I texted my mother downstairs and woke up Jake.  We decided to go into the hospital to get checked.  My mother had us fairly quickly and after all the contractions over the weekend we weren't sure if I had made any progress.

After getting checked in, hooked up to the monitor and checked we were told I was only at 2cm but they would watch me for a little while, have us walk, and check me again.  After being  monitored for a short while we were told that Johannah's heart rate was non-reactive.  During contractions baby should have some variability in their heart rate and Hannie's was pretty flat.  I had to lay on my side and drink some juice which seemed to help wake her up.  I was allowed up and walked the hall for half an hour.  We got back to the room and put back on the monitor... same thing all over again...lay on the left, drink some juice.

Dr. Carlstone came in to see us shortly after.  Due to her heart rate we were given three options... He knew I wasn't a fan of induction and medications unless it was truly medically necessary.  He said we could have a biophysical profile (fancy name for an ultrasound that checks your amniotic fluid levels and looks at the placenta) to see if everything is still okay and have a stress test (where they monitor baby's heart rate and movements over a certain period of time).  He would let me go home if they looked okay and I would have to do them at least daily until Wednesday.  However, since he heart rate was already pretty flat he wasn't the most comfortable with those options.  Our second option was to break my water.  Neither of us really liked that idea because I was only 2.5cm at that time and 70% effaced.  Her head wasn't pushing down in the right position yet and once your water breaks the hospital generally gives you a time frame to deliver in before performing csection due to increased risk of infection.  Third option... start pitocin.  We both agreed on the third option.

I had been texting our Doula, Andrea, through the morning and called her to let her know what they were going to do.  Pitocin was started around 8 am.  I had to have an IV and be on the monitor with the pitocin but was allowed "breaks" about every 1.5-2hours for about 20 minutes so I could use the bathroom, try the birthing ball, walk, or get into the bathtub.  I voted bathtub every time!  

Contractions got more intense fairly quickly with the Pitocin.  I can't remember the time frames exactly but it was within a few hours they were fairly intense.  The whirlpool tub felt wonderful.. they still hurt during but between contractions it was very relaxing... it was not that way when I was in bed.

Jake was amazing through labor.  I don't think I could have done it without his help as well as my mom and Andrea (our doula and photographer).  

I had a lot of pain in my back and hips.  I wasn't aware enough to really think through what was going on.  In nursing school we had learned signs of malpositioned babies... can you guess what some signs may be for a baby that is occiput posterior (face up instead of face down)?  You guessed it... lots of back pain.  I never had any sensations in the front of my abdomen or any pressure only a twisting pain in my back and my hips.  I'm glad I wasn't too aware of everything going on around me, because later my mother told me how wonderful the nurse I had was and how she could tell she was worried and keeping a very close eye on me.

Our doctor checked on us off and on through the day.  I was making progress but slowly.  He did comment at one point about her position and how her heat was not fully engaged where it should be and was still trying to turn in my pelvis.  He thought she might be facing my side at the time.  He did talk to me about an intrathecal injection at one point and thought it would help me to relax better and move things along quicker.  He returned a few hours later and checked me again.  I was around 6 to 6 1/2.  He wanted to break my water and encouraged me again to think about having an intrathecal.  I was having a lot of difficulty relaxing at all.  My contractions were onto of each other and felt like they usually had two different peaks.  They were 1-2 minutes apart at this time.  I agreed. 

An intrathecal is just a shot in your back and gives you some relief for up to four hours.  You aren't numb and can still move.  It isn't an epidural where you get a continuous stream of medication into your epidural space and are frequently numb and have to have a catheter inserted.  Dr. Carlstone came back in and broke my water.  It had meconium in it.  This means that baby had had their first bowel movement before they were born.  It can be problematic because it means baby is under some stress and could potentially inhale it if it were in their mouth or nose when they were born.

The intrathecal lasted about an hour.  I had at least 30-40 minutes where I was pretty pain free and was able to rest.  Boy was I going to be glad that I had that half an hour or so of rest.  I hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours and I had only slept an hour or two before going into labor (we had a total 20 hour labor).  Within an hour, the intrathecal had worn off completely.  In another 30 minutes three nurses came into the room, turned me on my side, put oxygen on me and told me to start pushing.  I heard one of them say to another "She is 9 with an anterior lip, Carlstone is on his way and said to have her start pushing now."  It turns out that Hannie's heat rate had dropped into the 80s after a contraction.  I remember thinking.. but I don't have any pressure or urge to push?

I pushed for three hours.  It felt nothing like what we had learned in our natural birthing class we took in Des Moines or any of the books I had read about unmedicated birth.  When a contraction started I would have pain in my groin/hip area and it would wrap around the front of my pelvis and into my back.  I would push and it would only increase in intensity.  I had to have someone on each side push on my hips after a contraction ended to help ease the pain of them.  In a normal unmedicated birth pushing usually feels better.  You will frequently have an urge to push and your body will often "take over" and start pushing automatically even if you aren't trying to.. you can't stop it.  That didn't happen... ever.  

About two hours in Carlstone mentioned a vacuum assist and episiotomy.  He knew that she was occiput posterior (face up) and would have some difficulty getting through the pelvis.  When babies are positioned face up instead of face down their chin isn't tucked to their chest and it is difficult for them to turn and navigate through the pelvic opening.  Their head is frequently extended instead of tucked down.  Her head doesn't push on the normal areas that it would push to help labor and pushing along.  Dr. Carlstone knew I didn't want any intervention that was truly medically necessary and we had even discussed episiotomies and he had agreed that they normally don't need to be performed and doesn't like to do them either.  He also told me with a vacuum assisted birth you normally get three tries to help baby out then it warrants a c section.  I got to push for another hour.

I'm not sure how long she was crowning but I remember them have me feel her heart two or three times between pushing.  He did do an episiotomy and used the vacuum to help her out on one final push.  

Finally she was here! 

Jake later said he couldn't believe I didn't cry.  I am a crier... I cry at commercials, I cry at movies, I cry at heartfelt stories in church, I cry for no reason if I am overly tired... but when my baby girl is born? Nope! :-)  I think I was in such shock that she was finally here and she was mine!

I ended up with a third degree tear.  Ouch!  I knew it couldn't have been good when Carlstone keeps asking for extra  packs of sutures...

As I said in the beginning... this isn't a story that is mean to make birth scary.  Birth is natural.  God created us and our bodies to make and have babies.  Do things always go as planned?  No.  But being educated and prepared help to reduce the risk of interventions and things going wrong.  I remember thinking part way through labor.. "where are you God?.. I don't feel you here with me at all and this hurts and it is scary.. I know something isn't quite right.."  I was later told by different nurses and my physician that babies that are born in Hannie's position usually are not born vaginally and end up being born by emergency csection.  I can see why... especially if someone has an epidural.  Pushing was hard enough doing it naturally.. I can't imagine how someone could push out an OP (occiput posterior) baby after having an epidural!  Looking back I can see God was there the whole time.  I had some amazing nurses and a physician who knew what I wanted and did his best to prevent any interventions that weren't truly necessary.  He gave me time to push (the nurses told me most mom's do not get to push that long and usually end up not being able to make progress soon enough to keep pushing).  

Johannah Ruth Stielow born on February 10th at 9:42pm.  7lbs 8oz and 20 3/4 inches long.

Hello world!

Moral of the story... even when things aren't ideal you can still have (or at least close) to having a normal/natural birth.  Be educated at what medication and interventions could potential do.. do they increase your risk of csection?  Would they put you or baby at risk for blood pressure issues or heart rate problems?  Education and preparation make all the difference no matter what type of birth you are hoping to have.

Here is our amazing birth video that Andrea did.

Watch Johannah's Birth Video Here

The Waiting Game...

How far along? 40 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: A little over 35lbs.  I had gained more but the past week I lost 3-4lbs so I'm back down.

Maternity clothes? That is a silly question.  There's a few tshirts I can still wear but I have to pull them down sometimes or my tummy peeks out :-)

Stretch marks? Nope!

Sleep: It's okay.  I still wake up a lot, but I feel like I could sleep all night and then take at least one nap during the day (that whole working thing really gets in the way of that!)... where is this burst of nesting energy everyone talks about?

Miss Anything? Not really.  A glass of red wine sure sounded good the other day.

Movement: She's a wiggler!  I feel her a lot lower though in my pelvis and then kicks around my belly button and side instead of up under my ribs where she usually liked to sit.

Food cravings: Turtle sundae's!  My mom went with me a few weeks ago to finish getting all the baby items we needed and we got turtle sundae's from Culver's   I don't think I had ever even had one before... but now they sound DELICIOUS ALL THE TIME!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Same as always... be careful with sweets and citrus.

Gender: Girl

Size of baby: Jackfruit... I never even knew what that was until now :) Somewhere around 20-21 inches long.  I'm guessing she's going to be long and skinny like her daddy!

Weight of baby: around 7 or 8lbs

Labor Signs:  I've had braxton hicks off and on for a week or so and all the pressure and achiness they talk about.  I also read that it is common for women to lose a few pounds before labor due to hormonal shifts.... so maybe soon! 

Symptoms: My heartburn/indigestion had been better but seemed to return more this past week... another upcoming labor symptom maybe?

Belly Button in or out?  Out.... our doula said it was like with the turkey timers.. it pops out when she's done. :-)  You can come out anytime now Miss Johannah

Wedding rings on or off? Off :-(  I'm looking forward to being able to put them back on again!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and excited... maybe a little impatient? :-)

Looking forward to: Meeting our little girl

38 Weeks... Almost Done!

Happy 38 Weeks!

(incase you were wondering what my shirt says.... "Life is better with a bump" :-))

It is so surreal thinking that our little girl could be here in 2 weeks or less!  Or maybe three... if she is stubborn.  It is hard to believe that soon there will be a baby living in our house... that is ours! :-)  It is hard to be patient; we are ready to finally meet her.

A lot has happened in the past 5 weeks... holidays..a baby shower.. and a birthday... so I'll give you a picture update on the past 5 weeks.

We of course took no pictures while at my in-laws for Christmas, so we only have pictures from my family... whoops.  We'll get better about taking pictures once miss Johannah is here, promise! 

Here are a bunch from Christmas morning...

 My brother, David

My dad, opening presents

 Me showing off one of my only non baby related Christmas presents.  No way am I complaining; I got stocked up on cloth diapers and covers (yes!)... plus  I also got the cutest, softest blanket that my mom made for Johannah.  I just didn't have a picture of me holding any of those up :-)

Alex and my mom.

 My handsome hubby showing one of his Christmas presents he got from my brother, David.  Have you seen the YouTube spoof "What Does the Fox Say?"  Well if you haven't it is hilarious... at least the first one or two times you watch it.  David saw this book online and decided Jake had to have it to read to Johannah :-)

 Buddy, my mom's dog, got caught snooping in the presents.   He is pretty talented at unwrapping gifts all on his own and was sniffing around for another one he wanted to open :-)

 Our little Bucky enjoying Christmas

Jake and Alex modeling their new hoodies

Two weeks ago my "Aunt" Denise and Cara threw me a baby a wonderful shower.  It was a lot of fun and the food was AMAZING!  They are so crafty :-)  

If you are wondering who's gorgeous house this is.... it is my mother-in-law's.  Her and her husband built it (maybe still building parts of it ;-)) a couple years ago.  It is beautiful.

I'm a sucker for all the baby girls items that say "I love Daddy... or like this outfit "My Heart Belongs to Daddy"... aww.. so cute!:-)

After my shower I ended up being sick with the flu for a week.  Sorry to everyone I exposed :-S  I didn't feel the best at the shower and thought I just had a cold, whoops!  At least I coughed into my sleeve or a kleenex like you are supposed to, ha!

  I had my flu shot this year, as I do every year, but it is true when they say that your immune system is suppressed in your third trimester.  

It was the first year in 8 years that I have ever gotten it; and I've had influenza patients cough in my face all the prior years and been just fine :-P.   I'm assuming I caught it while I was working in the ER on New Years Day since I started getting sick about 36 hours later.  There were a lot of patients who were positive for Influenza A, none of which I took care of though!  I could only imagine how much worse it would've been had I not gotten vaccinated. Phew!

David's birthday was last Thursday.  Yes, that was the day last week when we had the blizzard warning and the streets covered in ice.  What did we do for his birthday you ask?  Why, drive to Des Moines for dinner of course! :-)  Granted, there was nothing about a blizzard in the forecast... just some high winds and possible flurries.  It started getting slick half way to Des Moines (my parents live in Knoxville and we were all riding up together).  The radio kept saying that it would be over within the next hour so we figured it would be better after dinner and the storm blows over.  

By the time we got to Des Moines they issued a blizzard warning.  The 50 minute drive turned into a 2 hour and 10 minute drive.  We thought it had to be better on the way home and that all the craziness was due to the quick in and out storm that we weren't prepared for... Nope!  Most of the Des Moines roads were completely ice covered.  Cars were stuck all over the place unable to move up hills or were stuck in the middle of the icy bridges.  Our drive home was over 2 hours as well.  It will be a birthday celebration we won't forget :-)

Happy 18th Birthday Davey!

My hubby giving Alex guitar lessons.

Aaaaannd... long awaited nursery photos :-)  It is "almost" complete.  We are having a Bible verse painted for us that will be hung behind her crib.  There was a mural I almost purchased but once you remove it you can't reuse it and it seemed like such a waste with  how much it was!  My mother-in-law told me of someone in Coflax who could paint it for us on a window pane type thing so we could keep it.  What a perfect idea!  I can't wait to see it :-)

 I highly recommend searching Craigslist for some items that are safe to "reuse" such as the recliner/rocker that we have.  They are normally VERY expensive and we bought it for 1/8 of what it is worth new from someone in a gated community in West Des Moines.  It looks almost brand new!  Talk about a good deal!

 You can see my "mostly" packed hospital bag on the floor... ready and waiting... :-)

 Part of the theme to my baby shower was to bring a book instead of a card.  We got some wonderful additions to our little girl's library. :-) The bookcase we have them in was the last furniture piece my Grandfather had ever made.  So happy to have it.  Johannah will be spending her first couple weeks sleeping in our room in the cradle that he had made for my mother to use when we were babies.

 Toys!!!!

How far along? 38 weeks :-)

Total weight gain/loss: I think I am close to 35lbs and with two weeks left that is just about perfect. Phew :-)

Maternity clothes? I can still wear a few of my Mercy T-shirts  but they are sure are snug around the belly area, haha. I wore one to work on New Years Day but had to wear one of my tanks under it... they tend to ride up or get stuck up on the tummy when I'm moving around a lot :-)

Stretch marks? Nope!  I'm telling you... drink that gallon of water like they tell you; I know stretch marks are genetic but by keeping your body hydrated (among all the other benefits) greatly reduces your chance of getting stretch marks.  And it sure helps with the fatigue.. at least until your last few weeks, then I think you are tired anyway, but I definitely think it helped make a difference in energy throughout.

Sleep: Okay. As she has gotten bigger I tend to wake up about every hour for the first 4 hours of sleep to go to the bathroom before I am able to stay asleep for a longer stretch of time :-).  The pregnancy pillow I have has really helped... plus one of my Christmas presents from my thoughtful husband was a memory foam topper for our bed.  Holy cow, my back never hurts when I wake up now!  It is amazing.

Best moment this week: It was fun going out for David's birthday.  We had a doctor's appointment that day as well, and it is always fun getting to hear our little one's heart beat.

Miss Anything? Not really.  I'll be happy when I don't have to think as much about what I eat.  I have to remember how frequently I have orange juice or other acidic things otherwise my stomach will not be happy.  I look forward to getting to drink some nice coffee again whenever I want :-)

Movement: Lots, although I think she's starting to get a little cramped.  She still wiggles and kicks but no more big flip flops anymore... she's stuck head down from here on out.

Food cravings: Today I had to have a turtle sundae and oh man was it delicious!  Otherwise I don't have cravings too much anymore.  Sweets have started to sound good again.. but maybe that is just because I can tolerate having a few of them here or there when I couldn't at all before.  I've always had a sweet tooth (thanks Dad :-)).

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Same as always, have to be careful with anything sweet or acidic.  It is better than what it used to be but I still can't have very much.  It has to be pretty far and few between. I can't wait to have OJ for breakfast every morning again!

Gender: Girl!  Although my mom and a few people have joked about "what if she is really a he"... Let's say it honestly wouldn't be a horrible thing, we would still be beyond blessed and excited.  But oh would we be stuck with a lot of girly pink items :-S That would be not so great having to go buy some boy or gender neutral items instead, HA!

Size of baby: About the size of a pumpkin!!  Averages round 19 1/2 inches(probably somewhere between just under  19 to about 20.5).. I wouldn't be surprised if she turns out to be long and skinny!

Weight of baby: Most likely around 7 lbs.  Most babies are just under 7 to almost 9 lbs at 38 weeks.

Labor Signs: None! (darnit).  Some achiness and my belly isn't quite as high as before but she is still snuggled up under my ribs.  Someone tell her it will be just as comfy if she moves down :-)

Symptoms: Rib pain.  Mostly on my right side and back around my rib cage.  Again.. most on down there little missy!

Belly Button in or out?  I now have an outtie!

Wedding rings on or off? Those came off a month ago :-(  I was too afraid I'd forget check them often enough and they would get stuck.  I didn't want them cut off so I played it safe and took them off for safe keeping.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: Meeting our baby girl!  Trying to be patient, but I'm ready to meet and hold her.  And that whole getting to hang out with her for 8 weeks and not work seems pretty nice right around now too! :-)

33 Weeks

Wow... Sorry for the lack of updates, it has been a busy past month!    I am not even including the most updated belly pic (sorry Auntie Marie) well... because it looked awful hah... My hubby took one today in front of our tree and I look so sleepy! I am pretty sure I am retaining water not just in my now very large ankles and once tiny hands and fingers but now maybe in my face too.  We'll try again on a well rested day.. maybe this weekend :-) haha

My church family in Knoxville, where I grew up, threw me a baby shower a few weeks ago that was wonderful.  

Jake and Bucky dropped me off the morning of the shower

  Aren't they both just the cutest? ;-)

My mother-in-law Jill hosted Thanksgiving at her house this year and invited my family over as well.  Oh my goodness it was delicious.. I'm glad I wasn't as far along at Thanksgiving as I am now.  Baby Girl is squishing my stomach and there is no way I could have eaten all the tastiness that was there otherwise :-)  No longer am I able to out eat Jake.

Bucky wasn't being very cooperative during picture taking.

And onto the questions...

How far along? 33 weeks 4 days :-)

Total weight gain/loss: I think I'm pushing close to thirty pounds, my ankles can sure tell the difference all of a sudden!

Maternity clothes? Maybe the best question is can I wear anything BUT maternity clothes?  Well.. not really :-)  A few T-shirts . and my mom laughs every time I wear my under armor hoodie because the front is a little "short"

Stretch marks? Nope! I'm telling you.. that gallon of water a day is good for something!

Sleep: Sleeping okay... still wake up 2-3 times a night for potty breaks, but my pregnancy pillow sure helps a lot in keeping my comfy most of the night.  Just a slight backache when I first wake up but it goes away once I get up and move around.

Best moment this week: Nothing too exciting this week... But two weeks ago our little Johannah had hiccups for the first time.  Or at least it was the first time I could tell that was what they were :-)

Miss Anything? Not really.. I've been able to have some orange juice or decaf coffee every once in a while as long as I am good about not eating a lot of sugar or acid foods at other times.  My heart burn has been surprisingly more controlled the past few weeks.  I have reflux anyway.. but the time when most people have it the worst mine is the best :-)  Maybe I've finally just got down what to eat and not to eat to not aggravate it.

Movement: Tons!  She also seems to like to snuggle under my right rib cage, silly girl.

Food cravings: I don't think I've had anything too new lately that I've been craving. But....I did have some baked apples at lunch today and I am pretty sure I am going to need to start making a lot of those... they were DELICIOUS :-) 

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Same as always... just have to be careful having anything very acidic like orange juice (which I love!), chocolate, or coffee (even my decaf).

Have you started to show yet: I've had two people tell me I didn't look like I was big enough to be 33 weeks recently.  I think they must've just been being nice to me because my brothers say I look like I swallowed their soccer ball.

Gender: Baby Girl 

Size of baby: Pineapple (doesn't that sound delicious!)... averages a little over 17 inches in length

Weight of baby: Between 4.5-5 pounds!

Labor Signs: No way!!

Symptoms: No real symptoms other than some aches here and there. Nothing too bad.  I do get spoiled with foot massages from a very nice husband :-)

Belly Button in or out? In... although the top sticks out a little bit. 

Wedding rings on or off? Off :-( I finally caved and took them off last week.  I could still twist them around my finger easily but had to use soap and water to wiggle them off.  I didn't want to risk forgetting and them getting stick... or getting a bunch of fluids during delivery and them needing to be cut off.  

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! :-)  Although some anxieties are starting to set in.. she's going to be here SOON!  My bestie has already said she's coming over after my baby shower in a few weeks to help me get everything all set.  Phew, I think I'll feel better then... all the up in the air things are a little anxiety producing with miss Type A over here.

Looking forward to: Meeting our little girl!  I have a shower in a couple weeks that I'm looking forward to.  Lots of friends and family together will be fun... plus I am hoping and praying for a couple friends to be able to all have some good news soon and make it necessary for us to all take a few group pregnancy pictures :-)