33 Weeks Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As you can see from my previous post, we finished the nursery and we have been getting a lot of other productive things done. This week we attended aclass at the hospital to learn more about breastfeeding, it was very informative and we learned some good information to hopefully better prepare us for when Sabrina is here. Today we took a tour of the Labor and Delivery wing of the hospital so that we know all of the ins and outs and what we need to do when the big day is here. While we were there, we also took care of pre-registering to help limit the amout of paper work that needs to be filled out when we check in as well.

I'm still feeling pretty good, nothing really to complain about. I had a visit to the doctor last week and I finally have gained a little weight above and beyond my pre-pregnancy weight. So the total is officially +2 lbs. It may not seem like much, but when you consider that I lost 7 lbs int he beginning its actually pretty good because I gained that back plus the 2. The doctor said I can anticipate to gain about 1 lb a week the rest of my pregnancy.

On to more exciting stuff. Next weekend is my baby shower! I cannot, believe it is already time! I am excited to see a lot of my friends and family at one time to celebrate Sabrina coming soon. My mom and sister have been working really hard to put everything together and I can already tell it will be a really fun time.

That is about all that is going on lately. Other than that, I guess the countdown is on, 7 weeks to go!
I will leave you with a picture of my growing belly.

PICTURES: Sabrina's Room - All Done!

31 Weeks Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Wow, this year went by so fast. Christmas was great this year, we got to see a lot of family and spend quality time with everyone. It was so great. Evereyone kept reminding us that next year we will have Sabrina to share it with. I can't believe it.

I am 31 weeks pregnant now. Here is what we have been up to.
We have gradually worked on Decorating Sabrina's room over the past few months and I would say it is ALL DONE now. Arturo did an amazing job on the painting and chair rail, and I had so much fun decorating and putting in all the girly touches, it realy was a team effort. We could not imagine it turning out any better! Sabrina is one lucky girl if you ask me, I hope she loves her beautiful room!

Mom put together and mailed my baby shower invitations, and the shower will be on January 15th, so over the next few weeks we will be gearing up for that. I cant wait to see what her any my sisters put together, I'm sure it will be fabulous! The shower will be at our house, which works out well because everyone can come see Sabrina's room.

Last week I signed us up for some classes at the hospital to help us learn more about parenthood, caring for the baby, and breastfeeding. I still need to decide on a day and time for us to take our tour of the maternity wing and get pre-registered. Hopefully it is something we can do on a weekend. Perhaps I should call tomorrow to schedule that. I keep forgetting that February will sneak up on us really soon here.

My back pain has been better these days with a LOT of help from Arturo, he has been doing a lot around the house and reminding me to take it easy. My doctor also advised me to try not wearing high heels so much, because as of my last appointment with him I was still wearing my 3 and 4 inch heels every day. So I had the perfect excuse to go shoe shopping! The lower heeled shoes have really saved my back and with less back pain, I am usually in a better mood these days. ha ha

One new symptom I have been experiencing is hot flashes. I am always HOT! So needless to say our heating bill this winter has not been very high, I am running around in cotton dresses most of the time to stay cool. Pants are the worst, I start sweating so bad if my legs cant breathe.

I now visit the doctor every 2 weeks now. So I will see the doctor again this week, on Thursday. I will keep seeing him every 2 weeks through the end of January, then once a week in February until Sabrina is born.

That is about it for now. If I manage to feel up to it later tonight I will try to take some pictures of Sabrina's room and post them later.
For now here is a Christmas picture of Arturo and Me (and Sabrina, in my belly!)

28 Weeks! Hello 3rd Trimester and Hello Belly!

Wow, I had to recount today and realized I am 28 weeks now! Which means I have officially begun my 3rd trimester, the home stretch!

Thanksgiving was GREAT we got to spend time with our wonderful families and see people we don't see so often. I don't know if it was all the turkey I ate or this baby just started another growth spurt, but man has my belly popped! We went to my company holiday party tonight and I had Arturo take a picture of me in my dress before we left the house, WOW I sure am starting to look rounder!

In general I am still feeling good physically. But I am a bit more crabby these days, I try to keep myself in check though and not get too carried away with my emotions. Arturo does a good job of calming me and being just so sweet in general, it is hard to be crabby when he is around. I have developed some sciatic nerve pain and it is not fun at all. I have this constant pain in my right lower back and it radiates down my booty and thigh... it pretty much feels like someone kicked me in my butt! I have had it so easy so far, I should have known I would not get out of this pregnancy without some discomfort. I try not to think about it too much though and try convince mysself it isn't so bad, laying down helps too. Lets hope it eases up or something, otherwise it could be a long 12 more weeks.

I go back to the doctor on the 16th, and after this appoinment I will begin seeing the doctor every 2 weeks rather than monthly like I have been. Arturo and I have been looking into classes offered at the hospital to prepare for the baby's arrival and will be signing up to take those in January as well as take our tour of the maternity wing and pre-register with the hospital, to hopefully make the process much more smooth when I deliver (less paperwork)

Well it is late, and that is all I can stand to type. Goodnight
Here is the picture I promised.

26 Weeks! Lots of Fun Stuff

Wow, I almost don't know where to begin! There has been so much fun stuff going on recently.

I guess the most exciting thing is that we got to have a really cool 4-D ultrasound yesterday, this was just for fun. 4-D allows you to see the shape of your baby and all of it's features, it really is amazing, because you get to see what your baby looks like before they are born. Mom and Dad went with us as well as Arturo's Mother. They were all impressed by the advances in technology and how clear the images were. I have to be honest, I got a little emotional. My Dad and I both think she looks like me when I was a baby, I kept saying "she has my lips!" It was really cool.
Here are some pictures before I talk about anything else.

Pretty cool huh? Oh and for anyone wondering, YES, she is still a GIRL, we confirmed it yet again and got a very clear look, and we have officially named her SABRINA! (no middle name yet)

We have been doing more decorating in her room too. We purchased the bedding we wanted and put it in her crib, and also got a couple other coordinating items. And I also hand painted letters to spell her name on the wall above the crib. There isn't much else to do before I would consider the decorating done. I need to find some curtains and a lamp (those are the two major things I still want) and then some baskets to organize the shelves of the changing table, and a laundry hamper. Thats about it. I am so excited because the baby shower will be at my house so everyone will get to see the nursery all pretty and decorated.

This week I had a doctors appointment and I finally gained some weight! I gained 3 lbs, which means I have now gained back all but 1lb of what I lost in the beginning of my pregnancy. The scale will probably only go up from here now. :) I was tested for gestational diabetes and PASSED, so that was another good thing. I was honestly going to be a little sad if I had gestational diabetes around the holidays. But I am free and clear and can continue eating whatever I want (in moderation of course) 

Everyone just this week started commenting on how I am finally showing so I guess that means my belly finally "popped out" too, so I guess I officially look obviously pregnant. Here are two pictures of me today that Arturo took.

24 Weeks Here I Am!

24 weeks down 16 to go.
I was sick with a cold over the weekend so while I was laying around in bed the past couple days I caught up on all of my pregnancy and baby book reading when I realized that I am inching closer to my due date! In fact, in 4 weeks I will officially begin my 3rd trimester!

I have a doctors appointment next week on the 16th when I will get tested for gestational diabetes and just have another regular check in with the doctor. As of my last appointment I had still not gained any weight, so I am interested to see what the scale says when I go on the 16th. I guess pregnancy has inspired me to eat healthier which may be why I have not gained any weight. But the doctor never seems as bothered by it as I am because the baby is growing just fine and I am having a pretty easy pregnancy.

The baby is still pretty active and I feel her moving constantly all day. She can actually move enough that when I am laying still you can see my belly move. So that is the new nightly activity for us, I lay on the couch and Arturo and I stare at my tummy watching the baby kick and punch.

Not much else has been going on these days, I just keep plugging away at work and now that Halloween is behind us, I am anticipating the holidays coming up. I cannot believe Thanksgiving will already be here in 2-3 weeks. I am really looking forward to all the family time and of course the eating! Especially since I have a pretty good excuse to eat up this year. Haha

I will leave you all with a picture of my growing belly. This was actually taken last weekend on Halloween when I was 23 weeks.

22 Weeks, Paint is all done!

So we had 2 very productive weekends and Arturo managed to get ALL of the painting in the baby's room done, and put up the chair rail. it looks FANTASTIC! Everyone I show pictures to cannot say enough about how wonderful the room turned out! Now I get to do my thing and go crazy decorating with all the accessories! All I can say is there will be lots of purple and butterflies in there when I am all done! Yesterday while at Target I picked up a mattress for the crib and a thicker pad for the changing table. It is so crazy to think a baby will be sleeping on that mattress in a few months!

Arturo is getting more and more excited about the baby coming, he goes on and on about how he cannot wait to meet her and see what she looks like. He plans to take 2 weeks of paternity leave to be with me and the baby after she is born. I am really looking forward to having some good quality family time for the three of us to really bond and get the hang of things around the house. :-)

I have been trying to get more creative in the kitchen these days. My Mom pointed out a great recipe booklet for me to pick up at the grocery store by Taste of Home, the feature this month was "Fall Freezer Meals". Meals large enough to make one batch to eat tonight and one to freeze and eat later, I have already cooked a few things from it and they are great! (and now I have a few things in the freezer to make later when I don't feel like prepping a meal) The idea behind this is that I can master these recipes now, and when I am closer to my due date I will cook up a handful and freeze them to re-heat and eat later after the baby arrives, because I am sure the last thing I will want to do is cook and we want to avoid eating out too much.

Thats all for now, here are some pictures of the finished paint job in the nursery!

Coming in the door

 Looking around the room.

 Another View

 Closet

 Closer look at the detail.

Arturo practiced putting a diaper on this teddy bear! He did a pretty good job!