Better late than never! And a sneak peak!

Maternity Pictures!

And a sneak peak at Liam's newborn pictures!

Still Cookin!

Just wanted to update - Liam is still cooking!

I didn't realize I hadn't posted in a couple days until people started asking questions haha.

I did end up in L&D Thursday night because of severe dehydration that was causing tons of contractions, but two IV bags later my uterus calmed down and I was good as new! =) I've never really had a problem with needles but it took three attempts to get a vein (the first one blew - NOT fun, the second one kept rolling or running or something, finally the third worked) so that was not the most pleasant experience. Since then I've just been laying low around the house resting up and drinking water! FYI all you pregos - I had no idea I was dehydrated because I had had three huge bottles of water that day, but I had also had some days where I wasn't drinking much water and the nurse said it just caught up with me...so keep drinking!

My mom kept me company Thursday and Friday and now Will is home. I won't be around much this weekend because we are planning to soak up every second of our last weekend just us!

I did add some spring touches to the house this week so I thought I'd share...

I totally copied Keri and made the Pottery Barn inspired Easter eggs!

I threw the leftover eggs in a vase and added this cute frame I found at HomeGoods.

I worked on a few more things, but they're still in progress so we'll see if I get around to them this weekend.

Happy Weekend Everyone!!

38 Weeks!

38 Weeks!

How Far Along: 38 weeks!

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a watermelon.

Liam is measuring somewhere around 7 pounds and is 19-21 inches long!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +25-27ish. I'm upping it to 30 though so that will be my goal to lose after baby. Gotta get swimsuit ready!

Maternity Clothes: Mostly maternity except some sundresses.

Gender: BOY!

Movement: He's still busy but it's not as painful. He is more of a stretcher and roller now than a kicker.

Sleep: Sleep has been pretty good but I have been having some WIERD dreams! I think the best one so far has to be the one where I missed the birth of my own baby. I was out of town and my husband called me and told me the baby was born and I was so mad! Yeah, that's not physically possible...

What I miss: Nothing! Now that it's so close to being over I keep thinking about everything I'm going to miss about BEING pregnant! Although I wouldn't mind walking normally again - waddling is overrated.

Cravings: I'll eat pretty much anything right now...

Symptoms: Waddling (not from my size, but more from the pressure!), heartburn, BH contractions, the norm.

Best Moment This Week: I had a great appointment with my doctor yesterday, and it's nice to know there is an end in sight!

Milestones: Liam is ready to be born? Sounds like a milestone to me, let's go buddy!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Liam's arrival! I am getting SO impatient!!!

Let's take a look back in time...

8 weeks

18 weeks

28 weeks

38 weeks

My how things have grown! Even though it has been happening for 9 months now, it still blows my mind that I'm growing a real baby!

Misc. baby things:

This is Liam's cradle. I was waiting for my mom to finish the bumper before I posted a picture of it, but we've had it for a while. This cradle is from the 1800's and Liam will be the 5th generation Lofland to sleep in it. I can't wait for a little swaddled baby to be in there instead of a teddy bear!

My mom and I also put together a little changing station in mine and Will's bedroom because I know in the middle of the night we will be not trekking it to the nursery for a diaper change. The basket holds the supplies and the little lion unfolds into a changing pad! How cute is that??

So we have accumulated 34 ultrasound photos over the course of the past 9 months and I don't know what to do with them! I know they will eventually fade and they are already starting to curl, but I wish there was something fun I could do with them to keep them around. I've taken pictures of the really good ones and will probably put them in his baby book, I'm just sad thinking about having to throw them away someday =( Maybe I'll google it and see if I can come up with some kind of keepsake.

Tweaking

You know when you say you're done with something or you think you're done with something, but you're actually not?

Well, that was the case with Liam's nursery. After my last baby shower and a week at home, the nursery got some minor tweaking here and there. And I have to say I love it even more now!

Will's parents found this little truck he used to play with as a kid and cleaned it up for Liam!

Our changing pad came in, a definite necessity. Thanks Amy!

We did end up getting a side table which will eventually house a lamp, but I haven't found one I like yet so Mr. Elephant Humidifier is there for now.

Liam's first piggy bank courtesy of his great-grandmother!

After contacting just about every PB Kids in the country, my mom tracked down the chair I loved! I guess grandmother's really will do anything for their grand-babies, thanks mom =) She also got us the shadow box that will eventually display Liam's birth announcement, hospital bracelet, and other important baby keepsakes.

(Now let's see if it stays this way before he gets here)

Maternity Pics Sneak Peak!

Will and I met with our photographer tonight to go over our maternity session. I normally do not like pictures of myself and am my own biggest critic, BUT I guess that's why she can call herself a professional because I loved so many of them! They aren't ready yet and probably won't be for a couple more weeks, but these two were on Facebook and have her credited so I wanted to give a little sneak peak.

These are two that we ordered plus about 10 more so I'll have more to share later!

37 Weeks!

37 Weeks!

Yes, I wore this skirt in last week's picture. It's really comfy (from Old Navy) and I have pretty much been living in it.

How Far Along: 37 weeks = FULL TERM! Come on Liam, anytime now!

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a watermelon.

Liam is measuring 6 lbs. 12 oz. give or take a pound as of yesterday. He is measuring in the 35th percentile. I kind of want to fatten him up a bit before he comes!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +25.

Maternity Clothes: Mostly maternity except some sundresses.

Gender: BOY!

Movement: He's still busy but it's not as painful. He is more of a stretcher and roller now than a kicker.

Sleep: I spoke too soon because it's been pretty good this past week. I don't know if that's because I've just been SO exhausted every night, but I actually wake up feeling refreshed! I still wake up at least twice to use the restroom.

What I miss: Cute spring clothes! Will and I were at the J. Crew outlet last weekend and there were SO many cute outfits I had to walk right past...so depressing.

Cravings: Bananas this week. And chocolate. Will made chocolate pancakes filled with Nutella last night. Best.Dessert.Ever.

Symptoms: Still the same although this week I feel like the BH contractions have lightened up a bit. I wonder if that has anything to do with his movement slowing down?

Best Moment This Week: Seeing Liam yesterday. He was being SO cute! He kept opening his mouth and sticking out his tongue and he yawned a couple times - it was the cutest thing! I would post a picture but they're getting really difficult to make out because he's running out of room.

Milestones: Reaching full term! He can come anytime now and would have a good chance at being 100% okay!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Liam's arrival! I am getting SO impatient!!!

~Dr. Appt. Info~

I guess Liam knows my doctor is out of town because my appointment yesterday showed no change from last week. My blood pressure was pretty high for me at the beginning of the appointment (136/84) and if it didn't go down by the end I was going to have to go to the hospital to be monitored, but it went down 20 points(116/84) by the time we were leaving; phew! Next Monday will be my 38 week appointment which I think is when we may go ahead and schedule a date if he doesn't come before then! I've mentioned before that my doctor said she won't let me go past my due date because of my GD, and they typically schedule inductions and/or c-sections for 39 weeks so that means Liam will most likely be here in TWO weeks! That gives me two more weeks to write thank-yous (I am SO behind), find a place for the last remaining baby items, and fatten this baby up for his big debut!

I need to do a post soon on all Liam's STUFF! My mom is here today and I'm hoping she'll help me find a place for everything because it is getting overwhelming - there is baby stuff in every room! We are also going to cook some meals we can freeze for later. Here's to a productive day!

Thanks Shutterfly and Target!

Over the weekend Will and I were going through baby stuff and found a $20 gift card to Shutterfly in our Target gift registry bag. Of course I went straight for the birth announcements and so far I really like these options...

opinions???

36 Weeks!

36 Weeks!

How Far Along: 36 Weeks down, 4 to go!

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a Crenshaw melon. Enough with the melons.

Well, the websites say he should be around 6 lbs. but my doctor said he felt like he might be closer to 7 lbs. at my appointment yesterday, yikes! And probably somewhere between 18-20 inches.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +24. I may reach my goal of only gaining 30 pounds, yay me!

Maternity Clothes: A mix of both.

Gender: BOY!

Movement: He has started to slow down a bit which makes sense if he really is such a big boy! But I still feel him everyday and he still gets his usual hiccups 2-3 times a day so it hasn't caused me to worry.

Sleep: Still meh. I went to bed really easily last night but woke up at 4am and couldn't fall back asleep for an hour. At this point I would just rather it stay this way since I won't be getting much sleep soon anyways because of baby. That would just be cruel for my body to give me a couple week of easy sleep to have it taken away again!

What I miss: Things being easy. Everything is a struggle with a big 'ole belly!

Cravings: milk and fruit.

Symptoms: Still the same although this week I felt like the BH contractions lightened up a bit. I wonder if that has anything to do with his movement slowing down?

Best Moment This Week: So last night we had to run to Costco because we were out of dog food and fruit. I had been up since 5am and was feeling absolutely miserable - tons of contractions, sore feet, complete exhaustion - your basic train wreck. Then this lady stopped me on the way out just to tell me what a cute preggo I was. I seriously could have kissed her. I still felt miserable, but it made me feel like I didn't look *quite* as bas as I felt. And today at Old Navy one of the employees stopped me to congratulate me and offered me an umbrella since it was raining outside. Strangers are so nice to pregnant people =)

Milestones: According to my What To Expect book 36 weeks = 9 months pregnant! Woah! And baby is pretty much fully developed at this point minus the lungs, woohoo!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Spring Break! This week is insane! And tomorrow my long-term sub is coming to shadow me for the day. I'm really excited to meet her!

*Doctor's Appointment Update*

Baby had a nice strong heartbeat and is definitely growing! I have an ultrasound scheduled for next Monday to check his size. Depending on how that goes she's fine with scheduling a delivery date for 39 weeks, however she still thinks I will go into labor on my own before that! I'm excited about the prospect of that, BUT my new goal is to NOT go into labor in the next two weeks because my doctor is going OUT OF TOWN next week! It's Spring Break for her kids so they're going on vacation which I totally understand, but I would HATE for her to not be there! I've heard once you're in labor you don't really care who delivers you, and the nurses are really the ones you spend the most time with, but I really love my doctor and I would love for her to be there. Although, because of the practice I go to, her not being there has always been a possibility. I'm just going to lay on the couch all spring break week with my legs crossed, ha! =)

I have also had some changes - I am now 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced! I'm glad the progression is going slow. It gives me hope that I might last until 38 weeks. Cross your fingers that Liam continues to cook until then!

And here's some more pics just for fun =)