Bring on Week 34: Work shower

We are exactly a month away from Nico being considered "full term" at 37 weeks! Yesterday our countdown until August 10th hit the big 5-0! I know these last 7 weeks will fly by!

I am continuing to get bigger and am definitely feeling the effects! It's been significantly harder to get comfortable this week. I constantly change positions at night and can't seem to find a good one. This pregnancy thing isn't as fun as it used to be!

 

Work continues to be a challenge each week with more fatigue and physical aches and pains. I've become very whiney to David at home but try to keep my complaining to a minimum otherwise! I have woken up a few mornings this week and seriously questioned how I was going to make it through another day, much less possibly 6-7 more weeks! The ankles are still looking attractive, as you can see!

We went to a Baby Care class last Wednesday which was very informative! There were a lot of helpful tips and all of the basics were covered- bathing and umbilical cord/circumcision care, diapering, feeding, swaddling, when to call your doctor, etc etc. It was nice to touch on the necessary expectations and tasks since neither of us have been around babies and are clueless!

 

We made a couple fun additions to his room: the baseball rug, bookshelf, clock, and photo frame! I'm in love with his room!

 



 

We are close to having the room officially complete! There are just a few more details that are left!

Today was a special day because it was my work shower! It was actually supposed to be a dual shower, but my coworker's wife went into labor this morning! 

 

We had a lot of food! Taco salad/nacho type food, veggies, fruit, and the cutest cupcakes!

It was so thoughtful of my work to throw a shower for us! We got a couple hooded towels, books, clothes, blankets, bath stuff, a shopping cart cover, and a bottle warmer that plugs into the car. Very nice stuff!

8 months!

Week 32's Doctor's Appointment went well! I found out that if you start crying like an emotional pregnant woman for no reason, then they give you a free sneak peek look at your baby and a nice bag full of samples to make you feel better! 

So this pic can be hard to tell what is what, but if you look from a distance, it's easier. His head is tilted towards you and the facial features are pretty distinct! You can make out both eyes, the nose, chubby cheeks, and his mouth!

Here is a profile pic from the side. He was difficult and wasn't in the mood to have pictures taken of him. He kept moving his arm to cover his head, and he also stuck his tongue out at us. Then he went to sleep!

 

Besides getting a glance at him, the other highlight is that I have not continued to exponentially gain weight over the last few weeks! Still right around 25 lbs total so far.

So my emotional little episode started when I asked the nurse what it would cost/if it was possible to get a quick ultrasound viewing. I have been feeling that all of this STILL hasn't "hit me" the way that I thought it would, and maybe that means that I'm not bonding the way I should be?! I thought that seeing him again may change my perspective, and it did! It was fun to see that we still have a growing little boy in there.

We're in the 30's!

My Week 30 Appt was quick and uneventful. The heartbeat was at 151 and everything is measuring right on target! Dr. Shimer pressed deep into my abdomen to locate his head and told me that he is all ready to go with his head in the downward position! Scary + exciting!

So I've gained another few pounds, making my total gain around 25 lbs already! I'm hoping at least a few of those are because of the recent swelling. Check out the nice thumbprint that lasts for minutes in my foot!
 

I've really started to feel the physical effects of this whole process in the last few weeks. Luckily, the rib issue has resolved (knock on wood!), but overall my back/feet aching and level of exhaustion have continued to rise.
 

David and I went to infant safety and CPR class on Wednesday night. David missed one of his playoff hockey games to go, and it was cute to see that he put this as a priority. They reviewed a million home modifications and safety tips to consider that it makes you wonder how any kid has ever survived! The most valuable part was CPR and choking practice. Even though it wasn't the most fun thing we have ever done, it was a good thing for us to do together.

The definite highlight of the week is that Nico's room is painted!!! It looks awesome!!!

 

 

 

It turned out better than we imagined! All of the colors seem to fit together. We still have quite a few things to add (especially on the bare walls), but it's a work in progress! Thanks to my parents for getting us the curtains- they really tie the room together!

 
David ordered a really cute backpack for Nico online and had it personalized. It will be useful as a diaper bag for the next few years!

 

One of my patients gave us this bouncer, because he has been looking to get rid of it! I have some of the nicest patients and have received about 10 baby gifts in the past month (a few blankets, a lot of clothes, and a piggy bank)!

 

 

Little Miss Attention has found a good napping spot. The dogs can tell that something is up.

A Great Weekend: Happy 2nd Anniverary!

Happy Two Years to US! We had such a fun weekend celebrating our 2nd year anniversary! We take turns planning each year, and this was David's year to be in charge. It was a perfect weekend because we were able to spend a lot of quality time together. We went out for sushi followed by ice cream on Friday night. On Saturday, he took me to The Original House of Pancakes for breakfast, which is where we ate the morning after our wedding. On the way home, we stopped to buy a decorative mantle that we have been really wanting for our bedroom. He said this was the weekend to splurge on it, and I wasn't allowed to worry about money for the rest of the day. THEN, we went to get pedicures!! What a full weekend already.

 

We relaxed at home for a while before going to my cousin, Caitlyn's, 1st year birthday party. She is so cute. It was funny watching her demolish her birthday cake, and it made me excited for future celebrations with Nico!

To top off the weekend, David made reservations for an AMAZING dinner at Del Frisco's on Saturday night. I have to brag- I'm one lucky girl.
 

Here's what's going on with the little guy for the next few weeks!

• His eyes are open and are beginning to blink! He can distinguish between light/dark, follow a blinking light, and produce tears.
• Response to sound grows more consistent-  he should recognize David and my voice now!
• He continues to breathe in water to practice the breathing motion. The lungs are capable of breathing now, but he would struggle and need medical attention. By Week 31, the lungs are the only major organ left to complete development.
• Eyebrows and eyelashes are noticeable.
• His body is finally becoming plump with fat accumulating.
• He's increasingly sensitive to changes in light, sound, taste, and smell.
• He is moving from side to side, but probably still is head up. In the next few weeks, he will move to the head down birthing position.

I had to finally give in and take some Tylenol this morning. Nico must be shoved up into my ribs! It's impossible to get comfortable and my right side is tender to the touch. Hopefully this is just a phase, and he will stop pushing up into them!

7 months already!

When people ask how far along I am, and I respond with "7 months," a majority of people are in disbelief, including myself! It just sounds SO far along compared to how I feel/how I look, and it's hard to believe that we are only a few months away! Time has gone by pretty fast.

In the past few weeks, Nico has started moving A LOT more! I have started to notice movement every few hours. His kicks are stronger, and I can see my stomach twitching like a muscle spasm. David has been able to feel a few of the strong kicks, but they have been hard to catch! Just when I tell him to put his hand on my stomach, they seems to stop. Nico is a little sh*t already! He has had the hiccups a few times which are entertaining! I love feeling him move. I get excited every time.

Week 28 appointment went well: 

• I gained another 8 lbs over the last month (making the total gain 22 lbs so far)! Fatty!
• Heard a normal heartbeat of 140 bpm.
• Got my Rhogam shot. (Since my bloodtype is negative, I need the shot so my body doesn't build immunity against the baby's blood if his is positive).
• Got tested for gestational diabetes, which was negative.
• Gotta go on iron supplements because some of my bloodwork is low.
• Dr. Shimer checked the cervix, measured my belly, and it's all looking good. 

Now I have doctor's appointments every 2 weeks. I was a little bummed to hear that we do not get any more ultrasounds unless medically necessary. We may not see the little guy again until the big day!

Overall, I have been feeling well. Nothing seems out of the ordinary- Continued physical aches and pains, a little more tired as the week ends, and hormonal/moody and snapping at David on occasion. (what else is new with that though?!)

On a more fun note, we bought a glider! I found it on Craigslist for a very affordable price. It rocks and swivels, and is very comfortable! It's hard to tell in the picture, but there are small blue checkered lines throughout the fabric.

We are having the nursery painted on Tuesday! We changed our minds on the color and are going with red and blue now instead of neutral. It's risky, but we think it will be fun! We are so excited! Cindy and Dave are also giving us the gift of having our master bedroom painted, and our master bathroom/downstairs bathroom painted AND textured. It will all look awesome, and we are spoiled!

Hospital Tour!

 

We had a tour of Baylor Frisco on Monday night to check out the floor, patient rooms, etc. We weren't exactly sure what would constitute not meeting our expectations since we had none really. Isn't a hospital a hospital? It was really nice though- seemed almost like a 5 star hotel with a plasma tv in every room. A few perks that I remember include a steak and lobster dinner for David and I the night before we leave, an in-room webcam routed through the internet/tv to communicate with family/friends face to face, better NICU than our other hospital choices, and all of the baby's testing and handling is done bedside as opposed to taking him away to a nursery area briefly!

 

Also, the childbirth classes are free, and it's in network for my insurance. I registered online so the decision has been made. Here's to checking another item off of our never-ending to do list!

The table has turned with my "Don't I look bigger today?!" optimism! I'm thinking bigger belly=bigger pains! My feet and back are KILLING ME!! The back and anterior hips are pretty achy from growing pains, but both feet are definitely getting early stages of plantar fasciitis. I've been doing some treatment on my feet at work, and I keep trying to sit whenever I can, both of which are helping. I've been pretty whiney this week.

At 25 weeks today, little Nico is getting out there!.......

We registered!

I'd been looking forward to going to register with David for months now! Whenever I've gone into Babies R Us or other related stores, I couldn't wait for the day that I would be one of those pregnant-looking woman carrying around the scanning gun! We had a lot of fun, and I don't think the process was too painful on David! Since I had already researched certain things, we were ahead of the game and some of the intimidating sections like feeding went by smoothly. I then spent a few hours online afterwards finishing up! It's addicting!

We are registered on both Babies R Us and Amazon. Most of the essential items are on Babies R Us and the unique items (stuff Babies R Us doesn't carry or is well overpriced there) are on Amazon.

We also were productive yesterday and picked out a paint color for the nursery! It's a light neutral- almost like the color of a sandy dirt baseball field. It will go perfect with the blues and reds in our furniture and bedding!

We have started a scary looking to-do list that is posted on the refrigerator door. The list is about 45 items (which feels like 836 items) and continues to grow every time we check something off! Seems overwhelming at times! One thing that I really want to accomplish is to finish all of our home projects before Nico arrives, otherwise we will never do them! We bought a really cute Martha Stewart bedding set from Macy's that comes with decorative pillows and even curtains, so I'm looking forward to getting the master bedroom looking cute!
 

6 months along!

Our Week 24 appointment went well! Heard a nice heartbeat at 149 bpm and just checked in with Dr. Shimer. Everything is going smoothly so it was a quick appointment!

The weight has started to pack on. I'm up to 14 lbs now! I gained 8 lbs in the first 5 months combined, and apparently have put on 6 lbs in just the last month. I finally broke down and went shopping for some maternity shorts and capris with the belly band in them. They are so comfortable that I may have to continue wearing them for life!

I feel little Nico moving all of the time now! It happens most consistently after meals. It's such an exciting feeling, and I doubt it will ever get old. David said that he surgically inserted a baseball bat and he's working on his swing in there.



Happy 23 Weeks!

 

The belly is getting there!

Weeks 23-25 for Nico's Development:

At 24 weeks, he is officially considered "viable!" This means he's reached a stage of development to be capable of living, under normal conditions, outside the uterus.

Proportions of the body are now very similar to a newborn, although thinner since he hasn't begun to form body fat.

Rapid eye movements are beginning.

His tongue is developing taste buds and he may even make a face in disgust of food I'm eating!

Fingerprints and footprints are forming.

Detailed structures of the spine, creases in the hands, sweat glands, and real hair on his head begin to form.

With his sense of movement well developed by now, he can feel me move!

Canton Trip + baby movement

This was finally the week that I could feel the little guy moving and be sure of it! It has continued to happen multiple times each day. The best way to describe it is that it feels like a tiny muscle spasm or air pocket. Pretty cool.

4.2.11- David was able to feel him move too!

Canton was a blast with my mom and Cindy, and we were very productive! We picked up a few big pieces for Nico's nursery along with a handful of other small items. Here are some of the highlights!

 

 

 

 

While we were gone all day, David was hard at work putting together the crib! He was lucky enough to do it twice since he built it in the upstairs living area, and then it didn't fit through the nursery door!!

The room is starting to come together! We are hoping to pick out a paint color and have it painted in the next month or so.

The big name reveal/David's birthday!

Both families met at Campisi's on Thursday to finally reveal the name and celebrate David's birthday! David had a great idea to make a game out of it, and he emailed it to both families on Wednesday. I think all 4 parents were driven absolutely nuts in their efforts to figure it out. At one point on Wednesday night, I talked to Cindy and she was randomly researching Kirby Puckett's father's name (What?!?!). Ryan told me that my parent's were acting as if a million dollars was at stake as they yelled back and forth on separate computers! My dad added up all of the roman numerals in question #10 (the answer was simply roman), to equate to 1066, which was the Battle of Hastings, whose winner was William. (Really, people?!?!)

 

The answers of 1 through 18 are in the word box. There are 3 additional clues at the bottom that read:

1) It is the 1st thing you see

2) Trace ancestry from; be passed or handed down

3) The answer is found in 1-18

With all of that nonsense, all parties came to Campisi's with wrong answers. The Elson's were set on Nathan with a middle name of either Allen or Arnold. The Biagini's pulled out 4 flashcards with various combinations of names including Nathan Arnold, Nathan David, Anthony Arnold, and Roman Anthony. 

We told them that they all overanalyzed it and that the answer was simply stated in the clues. If they could just figure out the definition of clue #2, it would all make sense! After 5-10 minutes of continuing to be mislead, they realized that word was "descending."

David kept repeating... the first thing that you see... descending... in 1 to 18... and they just weren't getting it. About that time, our waiter came over, and we asked him. Within 10 seconds, he read the first letter of each name down the list and got it. Too funny.

David then opened his presents, and look what his parents got him...

 

                                                           



 

We were SOOO surprised! Not only did they figure out the name, but they had remaining time to get an embroidered jersey! It was a very fun night and we were so happy to announce our little boy's name...

NICHOLAS "NICO" ARNOLD BIAGINI!

Halfway there!

The Week 20 doctor's appointment went well. He's still in there and squirming around as they tried to hear the heartbeat. At least we have some evidence that he is actually moving in there. I am starting to think that I feel him moving around at times, but I'm still not 100% confident! I've felt the "air flutter" feeling that everyone keeps talking about but it hasn't happened much. I pushed into my abdomen yesterday and could have sworn that I felt something coming back at me, but who knows?! Maybe this is the week!

People are starting to tell me that I'm showing!!! I get really excited when that happens and can't wait until I look more "officially" pregnant! Other than occasional back pain, everything is going great!

We are getting together with both sets of parents on Thursday for dinner to celebrate David's birthday AND announce the name!!!

Weeks 20-22:



He has the same awake and sleep patterns of a newborn. He has a favorite position for sleep and recognizable active and rest periods.

He is swallowing amniotic fluid and his kidneys are making urine. After he takes in amniotic fluid, his body absorbs the water in the liquid and moves the rest into the large bowel.

His brain has entered a stage of rapid growth, especially in what's called the germinal matrix. This structure deep in the middle of the brain serves as a kind of factory for brain cells and disappears shortly before birth. But the brain's amazing expansion program continues until around the five birthday.

His testes begin their descent to the scrotum.

Eyelids, eyebrows, tongue, and fingernails are fully formed.

His legs are reaching their relative size. With the increase in muscle development, I should start feeling much more than tiny flutter kicks soon!

• Immunities are being transferred to him. These immune cells will protect him from viruses I've already had for up to six months after birth!

Scalp hair becomes apparent this week.

Week 19-20

I can't believe it will be 5 MONTHS on Wednesday! This past week was a fun one.

• We made the news "facebook official."
• We decided on a baseball decorated nursery! (Go figure.) We don't want it too overdone and themed-out though, so we are planning on getting the basics in blue, red, and neutral colors and then accenting around it all with baseball stuff! The bedding is just about complete. I bought a light blue breathable bumper, blue and white ruffle, mattress pad/covers, and baseball sheets! They are so cute with little balls and bats on them. Now all we have left is the mattress and we're done with all of the crib stuff.  
• We have the crib!... now we just need to put it together. It's a 4 in 1 convertible crib that can be a crib, toddler bed, daybed, and full size bed.
• We bought and assembled a cute dresser from Ikea! I ordered cute little baseball knobs online that should be arriving any day now.

 

• More packages keep coming with the more and more coupons I keep finding! We definitely will be set on diapers, wipes, baby lotion/wash for a while.

• My coworkers are so nice and made me a "finding out the gender" gift. Look how amazing this diapers cake is! It's decorated with various bibs and toys, and also a pacifier, comb, brush, and sunglasses.

 

• And lastly, I'm showing more @ 19 wks!!:

 

Week 18 Appt

The picture says it all!............

 

He's waving at us.

 

 

Scratching his forehead in thought.

 

 

 

The sonogram experience was AWESOME! The technician was very thorough and spent a good 30 minutes reviewing head to toe! We saw different parts of the brain forming, chambers of the heart, spine/ribs, blood flow, and organs! The measurements were all normal, and he's healthy looking with a strong heart beat at 161 bpm.

He did a few funny things while we were watching him. As we were looking for one of his hands, we found it on his crouch... just like a typical guy! He was doing chewing motions of the mouth, and also picked his nose, scratched his forehead, and waved a few times at us. His left hand was very active so of course David is set on him being a lefty like him now! It was such an amazing experience and I can't wait to start feeling him move soon!

17 weeks

I'm boycotting baby stores! With my recent psycho efforts to compare prices between all of the stores in a 30 mile radius that sell baby items, I have determined that online is the way to go. I'm loving amazon.com, and I've started to research which items we want on there!

Just as an example.... take a jumbo pack of 252-264 diapers that are size 1.

Babies R Us.................  $41.99

Target........................... $44.99

The price I paid online....$11.49

Yeah... what the heck! So if you become a member on Amazon.com in the baby section (which is free to do), you automatically get 30% off of diapers and wipes, and free 1-2 day shipping! In addition to that discount, you can stack multiple coupons on top of that. The coupons are easy to find and are in magazines that have free/cheap subscriptions or are accessible online. I'm not really sure what the catch is, but I'm going to try to order what I can now before these deals come to an end.   



We put the stroller together and love it! Thanks again, Dave & Cindy!  

Miley thinks that this is her new toy.

  

My belly is growing, and I've been insanely hungry the past week or 2. Fortunately I've been in the mood to eat a ton of fruit. I've even eaten a few FOOTLONG subs! The little guy is hungry at 17 wks!

 

Development for the Next 2 Weeks:

• The brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, vision, touch, and hearing. He may be startled by loud noises, i.e. dogs barking. He supposedly will be used to the dogs barking and less likely to be startled after birth!
• Alveoli, tiny air sacks, are forming in the lungs. Vocal chords are formed. He goes through the motions of crying, but without air, no sound is made.
• Sweat glands are forming.
• His arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now.
• Hair on the scalp is sprouting.
• A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on the skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.
• The sketon is transforming from cartilage to bone.
• Meconium (composed of products of cell loss, digestive secretion and swallowed amniotic fluid), is accumulating in the bowel. This black gooey substance will become the first bowel movement- how exciting.....  

              

We also found out that our first screen results are negative! The liklihood of Down's/neural tube defects is apparently low, so that is good news!