She's Here!!!

Avery Vaughn arrived 3 days ahead of schedule on February 9th at 4:23 via c-section after a long labor. She is perfect and a champion breastfeeder (very "aggressive"...ouch!). She is doing great and Derek and I are absolutely in love.

Place Your Bets!

Steve just reminded me that everyone here in KC placed a bet the weekend we found Avery was a girl. I thought I'd post everyone's date and weight since we are getting so close.

Fabian, Feb 10th, 7lb8oz
Karen, Feb 16th, 8lb
Amy, Feb 11th, 8lb7oz
Chris, Feb 10th, 7lb6oz
Gma D, Feb 16th, 7lb4oz
Gpa D, Feb 14th, 6lb3oz
Don, Feb 10th, 6lb8oz
Bon, Feb 14th, 7lb3oz
Joe, Feb 17th, 7lb7oz
Jen, Feb 15th, 6lb4oz
Pete, Feb 16th, 7lb9oz
Steve, Feb 15th, 7lb10oz
Mom, Feb 18th (WTF was I thinking?!?), 7lb2oz
Dad, Feb 15th, 7lb6oz

The lucky winner will receive the whopping $28 pot! Good Luck!

Week 37

This week was exciting! Our last birth class was Monday night so now we are supposed to be "officially ready" for delivery. Not sure how convinced I am that we are ready, but it's going to happen one way or another! Wednesday was my little pregnant lady photoshoot which was fun, except they made me do all the bare belly pictures and I had to pretend another guy was my baby-daddy and hold hands with him, which was awkward. LOL

We got Skype set up and now we can talk to everyone who has a webcam - yay! I've talked to Mom twice and it's so neat - and no wasting of cell phone minutes either, woohoo! Today was Derek's Polar Plunge which was HILARIOUS and more than a little crazy, but a fun day. There is supposed to be a full moon tonight, so I am 50% wishing it would send me into labor, but on the other hand I could really use at least one more full week at work to get things wrapped up.

The anticipation is awful! I can not wait for her to just be here already! Thirteen days to go!

Week 36

Today I am 37 weeks...three more weeks to go! Or maybe less??? The midwife says at all of my appointments that I measure exactly to the day when she measures my belly, so she thinks I will be very close to my due date. So I'm trying not to get my hopes up that it could really be any day now. I FEEL like she is going to be born February 7th, but we'll see. I think it is less intuition and more wishful thinking since that is our nine year anniversary from when we started dating :)

Not a lot new going on other than a bajillion people giving me funny advice, including, "You'll know you're about to go into labor when it looks like someone blew their nose in your undewear." and "You will be a complete emotional wreck in the couple weeks after the baby's born and think that you ruined your life...don't worry, you didn't." GREAT! LOL

I feel really good for the most part other than my hips killing me at night when I try to sleep between pee-breaks every 2 hours. I'm just now starting to feel a little sluggish and slower. I kind of feel like I'm getting over being sick for a week...like my body is just exhausted. Not to mention my cankles are the size of grapefruits and my calves are rock-hard and swollen...they are starting to sting and itch from being so puffed out! Other than that, things are good though...just waiting, waiting, waiting...very impatiently!!!

Week 35

Today I'm 36 weeks and officially 9 months pregnant. AAAHH!!! I am so excited for Avery to be here, but terrified that I could go into labor so soon. We have been to two of our four childbirth classes and they make me feel more calm and Derek feel more anxious, but they have been so helpful! Hopefully we'll make it through the last one at the end of the month. I am sure she is going to be a late baby anyway...she is a snuggler and looks awfully comfortable in there every time we've had an ultrasound.

If she doesn't come before January 27th, then I will be a pregnant model for one of Cerner's new fetal monitoring/tracking products that they are piloting at our hospital. They are an international healthcare software company and the pics would be used on their marketing info and packaging of this new product I guess? Some of the nurses at work recommended me and I said sure as long as they have Photoshop. LOL!

Other than being a little uncomfortable when I walk around (she falls RIGHT into my bladder when I do!) I am feeling really good. Everyone at work comments on how much energy, perkiness, and running around I do even now. A lady at work even said, "Omg, I just realized you were pregnant last week - when are you due?" in a meeting today. I just laughed and said four weeks from today! LOL...I have been fairly large for the past couple months I thought! I don't notice it, but I guess I am very lucky that I've felt so great throughout this whole pregnancy. When I think about how other people in my situation are feeling/acting I realize I really am feeling much better than most of them. I hope that doesn't mean the second baby will be payback!

A picture from this morning...36 Weeks!

35/35!

35 weeks today, 35 days to go! Woohoooooo!

Week 33/34

It's below zero temps with snow and ice.
I'm uncomfortable.
I breathe like a fat person.
I can't put my Uggs on without help.
I found two stretch marks.
I am ready to have this baby...

Well, I WAS until I realized that I hadn't trained anyone at work on my reports yet, but that got done this afternoon.

Waiting for nesting instinct to kick in...