Great Expectations: 39 weeks

How Far Along: 39 weeks 

Fruit Size Comparison: watermelon

Weight/ Clothes: No further weight gain, which makes my midwife pleased with me. Things are fitting much the same as last week and the week before. I did buy my first true pair of snow boots this week. Don’t want to risk any falls when it’s snowy out, so good traction seemed key.

Cravings: Pancakes... This is a returning craving from a few months back. I’ve had breakfast for lunch a couple times in the past week. Once at my friend Jess’s and once with Adam. I actually made pancake mix from scratch since I’d run out of box mix. They were pretty good. Adam laughed when we were at the grocery store and I made sure we picked up more pancake mix just in case. 

Movement: Peanut is doing his thing moving around as usual...an elbow here, a foot there and his bum traveling from side to side. 

In terms of my own movement, it’s gotten harder to get around since the baby has dropped and his head is putting new pressure on things. The other day I had trouble getting into the car even because it was tough to pick up my leg. Now that was strange. These challenges come and go though because today I felt pretty limber tidying up around the house. Also, I’m finding it much harder to get up from our couches or from bed these days. I’m looking forward to having my abdominal muscles back. Adam is probably looking forward to this too since I often need his help   propelling myself up these days. Oh and while I’m talking about getting Adam’s help...he’s been ever so kind helping me with my boots lately whether it’s getting them on and tied or pulling them off, I’m not sure what I would do without him coming to my rescue. 

Symptoms: My eye continues to twitch....sometimes both. Talk about distracting! 

The heartburn continues even though the baby isn’t sitting as high these days, in fact it got worse this week because I ran out of Zantac briefly and was only relying on Tums. 

Congestion...I don’t have a cold, but I’m pretty stuffed up most of the time especially when I lay down to go to sleep. Blowing my nose can sometimes help, but I think it’s just all part of the territory that is pregnancy.

I have occasional sciatic nerve pain now too...again I think this all has to do with the baby sitting lower and adding pressure to my lower extremities. 

Mental State: I am feeling ready for this baby to arrive...or at least as ready as I can feel since I know there are many unknowns when it comes to having your first child. It’s not that I’ve reached the point of utmost discomfort because my discomfort really comes and goes, but I’m just excited and I’ve knocked everything off my to do list including the final bits of nesting. We’ve picked up the last few items we wanted to get ready for the baby. Adam installed our new car seat in the car. My house is clean. Our doula is on call. My calendar is pretty much open and I’m ready to embark on this new adventure.

Appointment Updates: My weight gain has stalled right at 40lbs gained, which isn’t too bad since I was told 35lbs was a-okay. My blood pressure also continues to be nice and low and the baby’s heart rate is still in the 140s. 

I had my first internal exam this week at my appointment because I’ve been having some new pressure mainly involving my bladder and I was wondering if I was imagining things or was the baby’s head in fact really low. My midwife checked things and I am not crazy. She said the baby is extremely low, which would explain why my movement is impeded from time to time and why I feel so much pressure. She also said I’m 1cm dilated and my cervix has shortened and softened, which is all good news. She also said she didn’t think I’d have this baby much beyond my due date if beyond at all, so that’s encouraging. Guess we’ll see when the time comes.

Best Moment of the Week: Getting to check in on baby boy at my weekly appointment and getting the last few items we wanted for the baby, so I can feel as ready as possible. 

Great Expectations: Maternity Photos

I had pretty specific ideas for what I wanted out of our maternity photos from specific Boston locations around our new home to what I hoped to wear and the overall feel for our photos, but being the person who is often behind the lens rather than in front I wasn't sure where to go about finding a photographer so I asked a friend from church who dapples in photography similarly to myself and she offered to take our photos.  An added bonus is I'll get to return the favor by taking maternity photos for her this spring since she too is expecting. I absolutely love how they all turned out and especially how this year's Christmas card turned out since we featured one of our favorites.

Our Christmas card photo
On Acorn Street in Beacon Hill...I love how they decorate the area for Christmas.
This photo is also getting printed for our living room.

Another favorite from Boston Common (our front yard)...this one was printed in black and white for Peanut's nursery.

More photos around Beacon Hill (our neighborhood)

Yet another favorite that was printed in black and white for Peanut's nursery. 

The last black and white photo printed for the nursery in honor of Make Way for Duckling...Boston's classic children's story.  

In the Public Gardens

I love this close up too!

This statue of Washington is one of Adam's favorites in the city.

This is a balcony on the front of our church where pastor's back in the day could do open air preaching, meetings and even the occasional baptism.

There are SO many favorites as you can tell and I'm so thrilled we have these pictures to document this very special time in our lives as we await our first child.

Great Expectations: 38 weeks

How Far Along: 38 weeks

Fruit Size Comparison: leek

Weight/ Clothes: All remains the same this week...my doctors were happy that I did not gain any weight and clothing is fitting much the same as last week. I fill everything out quite well, but I am still feeling cute pregnant rather than too uncomfortable and huge pregnant. I'm thankful for that.

Cravings: Nothing too exciting to report in terms of cravings this week...maybe I'll experience more cravings in a future pregnancy...but still nothing exciting to report. I wonder too what the baby will and won't like in terms of food because for example my mom ate a TON of spinach when I was in utero and I hated the stuff until I was an adult. I feel like this happens quite often that what the mom eats a ton of while pregnant the child winds up not loving. I'll keep my fingers crossed that my lack of specific cravings and food obsessions will mean a child who is less picky about food. I can hope right?

Gender: We've been discussing circumcision further this past week since we're having a boy. We are still leaning towards it because of my Jewish faith heritage and because Adam is circumcised, but it feels like a big decision and nowadays the research really isn't there to say it's a health "must". There are definitely passionate arguments on both sides of the coin, which has made this decision a much less simple than some might feel it to be. This is one area where having a girl is much simpler!

Movement: Baby boy is cramped and up in my ribs from time to time ESPECIALLY when I'm riding in the car. I don't know what it is about the car, but that is the worst in terms of my comfort and feeling him move about. For the longest time he seemed to be hanging out mostly on my right side, but he's moved over towards the left from time to time recently. Other people are seeing him move a lot now too. If I'm sitting still, you can usually watch his bottom shift across my belly. It's pretty crazy to watch and the reactions are fun too. Most people say it seems like an alien is in there trying to bust out. I have yet to see a foot outline pushing out or anything crazy like that yet. We'll see if such a thing happens.

Symptoms: Eye twitch, heartburn, waddling, and many a Braxton Hick...also waking up every couple hours to pee, which is usually accompanied by a Braxton Hick contraction. Woohoo!

On a side note...I've been using coco butter with vitamin E the entire pregnancy in the hopes of staving off stretch marks since I experienced those doozies as a teenager when I had a growth spurt...so far it's working. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they stay away.

Mental State: I am feeling peace of mind this week. Last week I felt like there was A LOT to finish up before the baby arrives, but I've knocked EVERYTHING off my to do list! The nursery is finished. My hospital bags are packed. Thank you notes are written. I am almost caught up on my "Great Expectations" blogging and the few topics I still wish to put up here are at least documented in photos on Facebook if I never get around to posting.

Now I'm just trying to remain cool and calm as we wait to see when this little guy decides his debut date will be. Could be any day now...could still be a few weeks.

Appointment Updates: No weight gain, great blood pressure, the baby is estimated to be around 7lbs at this point. He's feeling pretty average in size according to the midwife. He's head down and his head is crazy low in my pelvis. I was told to stop taking baby aspirin this week so that my blood will clot properly after his birth. I am following my doctor's orders but not without a bit of nervousness and double checking with the doc since I was taking the aspirin to alleviate any potential auto-immune issues effecting the pregnancy.  My doctor and midwife assure me that I don't need to be taking it at this stage and that everything will be fine. I am praying that they're right and that everything continues to go smoothly in these final few weeks even without the aspirin.

We also met with a student doula this week after emailing with a bunch to see who might be a good fit and I think we found one. It seemed meant to be when I found out she went to UVA for undergrad and had just finished her masters work at Harvard Divinity School...can we see relatable for me and Adam...I think yes. I also really liked her philosophy, demeanor and reasons for becoming a doula. She's working towards going to midwifery school next. We were a little late out the gate in making this decision, but it seems to be working out and I think Adam feels good having a trained third party there to help, to guide and to advocate if need be. We meet with her again this coming week to discuss our birth plan in details and a variety of scenarios that could occur, so we're prepared and all on the same page. Then she's just on call for whenever things get going! She'll come to the house when we need her and stay until the birth.

Best Moment of the Week: Finishing the nursery and finally getting to reveal photos of the finished room!

Great Expectations: Nursery Reveal

I have been slowly knocking items off my today list this week especially and finishing the nursery was top of that list. I designed the room to be gender neutral (yellow and gray) for two reasons. Reason #1: I didn't know our baby's gender when I started envisioning/ working on the design. I had more of a feel/ vibe in mind when I got started and then that morphed into the room we have today. Reason #2: This room will need to be shared someday in the future by a sister or brother. 

Without further ado...

The Nursery Reveal!!!

The room in full site.

View from the door into the nursery complete with our chevron wall thanks to  the help of Baby Herndon's Tati (aunt) Anna!

Another angle from the door.

Ceiling detail...puffs are from two of our baby showers.
Something perfect for Baby Herndon to look up at when nursing in the glider.

Swinging around from the left side of the room to the center changing table zone.

Board book classics ready to be read complete with whimsical bookends.

The center of the room is the changing zone complete with maternity photos in black and white.

These baskets will eventually be full of diapers and supplies.

Continuing around to the right side of the room, home of the crib.

Not a Peep bedding from Land of Nod

Our giant giraffe that Peanut's Nana found after seeing it in multiple inspiration photos.

Finally,  facing the door to the nursery where we have our book shelves, my papa's desk and a beautiful wall decal.

Complete view of the other side of the room. I've been asked if we planned to keep the desk and I figure it can't hurt to have a desk in a child's room. The monitor connects to my laptop, but isn't a computer on its own so no worries there.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of our new nursery. It's been a true labor of love and I can't wait for Baby Herndon to enjoy the space! We're pretty much ready for him to get here...which probably means he'll take his time...oh the irony!