Welcome, Neil David!

Neil David was born on January 29th at 2:02am. He weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

Here are some pictures from right after his birth and from being home. I was able to have a natural birth at the birthing center without an IV and they released us just about 12 hours after his birth to go home.

My view right after he was born

Car ride home

1 day old

Maternity Pictures

At exactly 37 weeks, Dave and I had maternity pictures done by Paul Meyer. He did our wedding pictures, the running pictures I've posted on here before, and other pictures, and we absolutely love the work of Paul and his wife, Cyndy.

We are getting 20 of them in an album and they will be touched up but I'm posting some of my favorites now, anyways. (I could use the touched up files once we have them.) We are taking forever to narrow it down to 20, and I want to get pictures out while I'm still pregnant.

We will also be doing a newborn shoot with them a few weeks after the baby is born. I can't wait!

39 weeks

I have been slacking on posting- I am going to try to get up two posts this week in addition to my weekly posts. First a post with pictures of the nursery (finally) and professional pictures we had done at 37 weeks.

Ok. It's official. I'm ready to have this baby in my arms and be done being pregnant! ;) This past week somehow in my mind I jumped ahead a week and when our neighbors asked when I was due on Sunday, I said this Thursday. Dave had to correct me and say, no, it's next Thursday. I was honestly surprised and really was thinking I had one less week than I did. It was kind of a bummer to have to mentally add another week on again.

And my hormones/emotions are crazy. I hate to admit this but one day at work I started crying for no reason. I swear. No reason. I was fine. Well, my manager asked what was wrong. But nothing was wrong! And I still just burst into tears. It makes me feel really crazy and ridiculous. And once I started crying I had a hard time stopping. I need help controlling this at work. It doesn't help that my feet are swelling up and stuff, and I'm on my feet a lot of the day, especially if I'm on the test floor.

39 weeks 2 days

We got an unexpected sneak preview of our baby! At my appointment this week my fundal height measurement (basically my belly) was more than 3 weeks off from what it should have been based on the week. In my case the baby was smaller than expected. There is a concern there about the amniotic fluid so they ordered an ultrasound. All is well and it was nice to see our baby although I can't wait to see him in person! And ultrasound pictures always look a bit creepy to me. Take a look at his little face- looks to me like the invisible man when he wraps an ace bandage around to show definition of his face. Oh and they confirmed boy. And said that his head is on the smaller side. But the amniotic fluid is fine; he has just dropped so the fundal measurement is decreasing now.

His face at 38 weeks and 6 days

I know it's hard to tell but those are two of his fingers and the technician said he was giving the peace sign.

How many weeks: 39

Size of baby: A watermelon and measures 37-38 cm or 14.6-15 inches, crown to rump length. Head to toe is 20 inches. The baby also weighs 3400-3450 grams or 7.5-7.6 pounds. (This is the last week in the calendar I've been looking at that has weight/crown to rump measurements. From here on out it's a guess and all depends on our baby and how he compares to other babies!)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I stayed the same so I'm up 30.5 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: All maternity clothes now. With swelling my maternity jeans feel tight now. I told Dave it's like when you put on snowpants over pants or something and feel really big. That's how just having jeans on is. So as soon as I get home from work, on go the pajama pants. And any friends who come over get to see me in either pajama pants or sweatpants. I'm past the point of caring. 

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: I'm actually enjoying the movement now other than occasional jabs that hurt because this is a once in a lifetime experience and it won't be much longer that I will be feeling this. One thing that can be hard to describe is the way the big movements can make you feel. I've been thinking how to describe it. Sometimes it feels like he's twisting or something and I can feel it all the way up my throat. It's almost like it makes me nauseous but that's not the right word.  I have no idea how else to describe it other than that though.

Sleep: I wake up to pee a lot but fall asleep really easily and sleep soundly in between my pee breaks. And according to Dave I'm turning into quite the snorer.

What I miss: Walking normally. Reaching my feet easily. Turning over in bed easily. Moving around comfortably. And last but not least, beer.

Cravings: Ha ask Dave. When food comes up on TV I usually say, I want that. I'm so hungry in general.

Aversions: None. 

Symptoms: Well I'm pretty achy in general and tired. My gums aren't bleeding quite as much recently; that seems to come and go. 

Best moment this week: Seeing our baby again on the ultrasound. I still get nervous about things though and when they left and brought someone else in for additional measurements I definitely got nervous and was trying to just relax. When they do ultrasounds, they clam up once something might be wrong or off and having a different technician in taking more measurements without a lot of explanation was throwing a lot of red flags up to me! But I stayed calm and all is good. That's when we were told he just has a small head but it's not too small.

Looking forward to: Holding my baby in my arms. Getting to my due date. Every passing day is one more day towards seeing our baby in person!

His first Penguins jersey!

38 weeks

Alright I'm going to say one positive and one negative right now. I failed my Group B Strep test which has me worked up a bit even if I'm trying really hard to hide it and calm down. Group B Strep isn't bad for me but potentially bad for the baby- I guess a lot of us have this but if it's present during a regular birth (c-section wouldn't matter) then the baby can be exposed and the results can be bad up to being lethal. To improve the odds (but it doesn't guarantee anything), they give the mom antibiotics (and not orally).  However, that doesn't guarantee that nothing will happen to your baby and I'm reading online that there can be late onset group B strep which can happen whether or not you have a positive or negative test. The midwife center has agreed, though, that instead of giving me an IV I could choose the option of a shot every 6 hours. Either of those options honestly has me feeling sick and I'm trying really hard right now to just avoid the topic in my mind altogether. Anticipation is the worst for me and I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this one.

On the plus side though, he is definitely head down, engaged, and dropping. They measure your fundal height (basically your belly) and that is decreasing, which means he is dropping. I can definitely tell when I walk and biking is done for sure until I'm cleared for exercise afterwards; it's just too uncomfortable at this point.

Speaking of biking, I have tried to up exercise although I definitely feel it and overdid it earlier this week. Even though I was sick, our weather was awesome (in the 60's) so Dave and I walked the neighborhood together. Then I did it again the next day while talking to my friend Colleen and I overdid it. I was so sore, and in parts of my body I never knew could be sore. ;) But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop walking; I just need to not go as far from now on. I didn't use my Garmin watch but I think I did about 2 miles and our neighborhood is extremely hilly. It was really, really nice to talk to Colleen though. I miss my running buddy so much!

38 weeks

Showing the belly a little better

How many weeks: 38

Size of baby: A watermelon and measures 36-37 cm or 14.2-14.6 inches, crown to rump length. Head to toe is 19.5 inches. The baby also weighs 3200-3250 grams or 7-7.2 pounds. The midwife center estimated that the baby is at 6 and a half pounds.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I gained 4 pounds so I'm up 30.5 pounds. Let me say, I am NOT happy about the weight gain. I made it a point to talk about at my 38 week appointment and she said it's ok. I'm hungry a lot and that's my body saying I need more food for energy/whatever, and try to eat healthy things instead of junk. And it probably isn't helping that I'm not really exercising. Also, the midwife noted that I seem to be swelled up so I must be retaining water and stuff.

Maternity Clothes: All maternity clothes now. 

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: There is still a lot of movement and I'm about to nickname him Thumper. I still wish I could see what's going on in there. The midwife at my appointment said he's very long and last week the comment was that he's all twisted up in there. I guess that's because of the length. Poor kid! I keep saying he just wants to get out of there at this point, I think.

Sleep: I realized that part of my miserable sleeplessness has been this cold that I can't take medicine for (or at least anything that will have an actual affect). The past two nights I've actually slept so much better. I still wake up to go to the bathroom or if there's a really big kick from the baby, but when I'm sleeping it's a very sound sleep. I'm so thankful for that. I'm still pretty tired but not outright exhausted. Also, I have to say- I'm having crazy dreams! Last week I dreamt that he stretched his leg out of my body (but didn't break skin or anything) and it was so realistic. Now I'm starting to dream that I'm having contractions. It feels realistic and when I wake up I lay there for a few minutes just to make sure I'm not having contractions.

What I miss: I am so looking forward to my first beer after the baby is born.

Cravings: I'm just hungry in general.

Aversions: None. 

Symptoms: My gums are bleeding a lot now. My back and neck crack easily, I think all my bones are just settling or something. I pee a LOT now. I'm achy and riding in the car for a decent amount of time (like my commute home) leaves my back pretty achy. I definitely feel emotional, too. But with all that I do feel a lot better now that I'm not fighting this darn cold.  

Best moment this week: My coworkers had a cake and presents at one of our meetings. I didn't read the card right away but it made me tear up. They are so thoughtful and I was surprised.Oh! and #2 we had maternity pictures done. I felt miserable, I can tell I'm kinda tired in them, and I can see as the pictures progress that I'm losing energy ha but the photographer (Paul Meyer, who was also our wedding photographer) did an amazing job. I will have some of those in a future post. I promise. Even if it's not until after the baby is here, depending on how much longer I have.

Looking forward to: I want to say meeting our baby again and since it's my blog that's what I'm going to say. This might end up being a broken record until he's here! 

37 weeks

So guess what?! I'm full term now! This means if I go into labor I can go to the birthing center (up until now it would have been hospital). Not that I really have any indication that labor will happen soon. I'm getting to the point though that I'm getting really tired of this and so ready to meet our son! It will be nice to have my body back even if takes some time to recuperate. And things are knocking me on my butt, I am just getting tired so so easily.

37 weeks 2 days

And with it being January it's hard to not get sick. This week I've been struggling with a cold- sore throat, stuffy nose, etc. Blech.

How many weeks: 37

Size of baby: A watermelon and measures 35-36 cm or 13.8-14.2 inches, crown to rump length. Head to toe is 19 inches. The baby also weighs 3000-3100 grams or 6.6-6.8 pounds. At my appointment the day after I hit 37 weeks (so 37 weeks 1 day) she estimated the baby's weight around 6 pounds or so.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I gained 1 pound so I'm up 26.5 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: All maternity clothes now. 

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: I think I'm actually getting used to there being movement. It still wakes me up at night and I see my stomach rolling all over the place. He also seems to get hiccups a lot- at least daily. I joked with Dave that I try to hold my breath but it doesn't help. Often when he gets hiccups it also makes him move around a lot- it seems like he's trying to stop them and finding them annoying too. ;)

Sleep: I think I'm doomed for no more good night's sleeps until the baby is sleeping through the night which will be at least months away. Most nights I just end up getting up out of bed to try to distract myself. I'm achy, have a hard time getting comfortable. The baby moves and wakes me up. But that's a catch 22- I've also jolted awake realizing I haven't felt him move and then I can't sleep because I want to feel him again. Go figure!

What I miss: Aw I really miss running and exercising. Just a few more weeks!!! I have even given up for the most part walking up the stairs at work at this point. 

Cravings: I kind of want fruit. And chocolate is starting to sound really good right now.

Aversions: None. 

Symptoms: Same old stuff- achy all over, and tired. But now I can add on- I feel really bad for Dave because it feels like I'm making up for 8-9 months of no PMS all right now. I feel really really moody, cranky, and even snapped at him for no reason over email at the height of me being upset. I'm prone to crying easily- just talking to a friend at work about how ridiculously moody I am, I had to blink back tears and I don't even know why I felt like crying! I know I can be emotional to begin with- someone help me figure out how to get this under control. Either people in general don't talk about this or I'm way too far on the moody side.

Best moment this week: Right now I enjoy weekends and just chilling on the couch. Haha. I've been feeling sick so I'm going to use that as an excuse as well. And they talk about nesting- that still hasn't hit me at all. 

Looking forward to: Meeting our baby! I know it's likely it's going to be a few more weeks but I can't wait for Dave to be holding his own son in his arms. I love that Dave has felt him move but it will be nice for Dave to experience the baby in the same way I am. And Dave is going to make such a good Dad; I can tell already.

Baby Shower

Dave's sisters threw a baby shower for me and it was really nice. You could tell they put a lot of time, thought, and effort into it and I really appreciate everything they've done for us.

I don't like being the center of attention, so I was really nervous for the shower actually. And it turns out I got some kind of flu or stomach thing before- so badly that I thought I was going to miss the shower. My mom came to stay with us overnight and I actually called her to tell her she might not want to stay with us. But she brought Gatorade and some pregnancy approved medicine and I was feeling more normal the day of the shower. I'm really surprised how I felt didn't show in the pictures, and happy about that!

The restaurant where the shower was at was set up for Christmas, which ended up being really pretty! I never thought about mixing Christmas and baby shower. The shower colors were blue and white, and Dave's sisters had everything matching.

The place setting at the shower. The centerpieces were Christmas trees filled with blue and silver wrapped Hershey's Kisses. The blue Hershey Kisses had a sticker on the bottom with little feet and the date.

With the hostesses, Dave's sisters

Everyone kept saying I didn't even look pregnant. So I posed in front of the Christmas tree
and  put my hands around my stomach so you could see, yes, I do have a belly! ;)

With my mom and the balloon that is still filled with helium and in our living room

Dave's sister made the cake, it was delicious! And this is my absolute favorite picture of myself from the shower.

Dave showed up early to help take presents out to the car and got to help open.
It was nice to not be the only one sitting up there by myself. I definitely relaxed more.

Dave had fun helping open- we tag teamed with cards and presents and
he got to play with some of the toys and other presents (in this case a basket).

Mommy to be and Daddy to be, in front of the beautiful fireplace

Thanks to all our family and friends who were there. I wish I could have had more time to actually talk to everyone, but things like this just fly by and can be a bit overwhelming for me. I tried to make a point to say hi and hug everyone and also got a picture with most of the people who were there. And seeing everyone just reminded me what good friends and family we have and how much I love you all.

Update - friend with cancer

I won't post every blog post of his but I previously posted the first three here.

My friend with Stage 4 melanoma is starting his progressive treatment tomorrow and it's going to be pretty scary and hard on his body. So please, please keep him in your prayers as he goes through this. Kick the cancer, TJ!

And here is his 4th blog post:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/Patient-1-Beat-cancer-is-my-2013-New-Years-resolution.html

And a 5th blog post:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/Patient-1-Green-Light.html

36 weeks

In one of the books I have (with weekly updates) it suggested using a band aid for a belly button if it's sticking out. I have to admit I'm a bit embarrassed about my belly button so I'm starting to try this trick. The worst part is, my belly button still sticks out a little even with a band aid on! But it's better than nothing. The weird thing is, it's still an innie when I lie down (unless the baby kicks there and then you see it push out, which can be pretty amusing to watch).

I have skipped a few items that some of my friends report on every week because either they won't really change much or it's something I think is too much information for a public blog. I'm going to comment on those, once, with 4 weeks out from my due date. (What made me think about this is talking about my belly button- that's one of the items I skip.)

Labor Signs: This is one of my TMI categories. I will say I have not had any labor signs at all, although the baby is head down which is good. But I'm not even feeling braxton hicks contractions. I will talk about anything related here in the first few paragraphs each week but for the most part you aren't going to hear about dilation, effacement, or things like that. And actually at the midwife center they only do the internal exams if you request them which I probably will not do, until you go past your due date. So I'm not even going to know some of that stuff.

Wedding Rings: This one is whether they are on or off. Mine are still on. If I've had swelling it's been pretty minimal so far. I don't see this changing too much so I won't report on this- if I can't put them on anymore I'll probably mention it in the first few paragraphs.

Stretch Marks: I don't have any that I can see but I still have 4 weeks! This is another one I probably won't say much about from week to week.

Showing: I figure a picture is worth a thousand words! Although it might have been funny to hear me continue to say that I think I'm showing but everyone else says I'm not and then compare that with pictures from later months as it finally dawns on me that I really wasn't showing when I insisted I was.

36 weeks 2 days

How many weeks: 36

Size of baby: A honeydew melon and measures 35 cm or 13.8 inches, crown to rump length. Head to toe is 18.5 inches. The baby also weighs 2850-2950 grams or 6.3-6.5 pounds. 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I gained 2.5 pounds (OOPS) so I'm up 25.5 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: All maternity clothes now. 

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: I'm still feeling a lot of movement and you can see it a lot as well, even when I have a sweatshirt on. Tigger still likes to lay on my belly and I can see her moving from the baby kicking but she just sits there and purrs.  

Sleep: Well most of the week I was off work and sleep works well. I wake up a LOT during the middle of the night but then I was able to sleep in. The last two days I have gotten up early for work and it's so much harder than before Christmas! I'm still waking up at night; like wide awake/eyes wide open/can't go back to sleep and then my alarm goes off way too early. Honestly, I'm just glad I have about a month left of this and then at least I'll have 12 weeks off before having to deal with the alarm clock again. I know after the 12 weeks I'm still going to have this sleep issue but for different reasons, and I'll deal with it again then. 

What I miss: Being comfortable in general. I groan and grunt a lot wiggling around on the couch trying to get comfortable or to get off the couch. I also posted my year in review and re-reading some of my running posts made me really miss running again.

Cravings: Not really anything. I would love another peppermint milkshake from Chick Fil A though, if they're still available.

Aversions: None. 

Symptoms: I'm really tired, very achy, my hips and back are both sore. My stomach feels really big although I still get comments that I don't look like I'm less than a month away. 

Best moment this week: I have a sentimental one. I'm bouncing between being excited and being nervous about all this responsibility but really wanting to meet our baby. We had a newborn care class and towards the end, I was sitting there and kind of tired, so I reached over for Dave's hand and we held hands for a little bit. Lately my hands have been warmer (and I've in general been warmer- guess I should list that as a symptom too) but for some reason I was a bit chilly and his hand felt so nice and warm. I just sat there thinking about what we've created and about how much I love him and he's such a great husband even when I'm being a sensitive monster right now (sometimes) haha. 

Looking forward to: Weekly appointments and I'm hoping to get on the bike a few times to exercise. I think I'm gaining more weight now because I'm not really exercising much at all.

Baby Pool!

Dave and I set up a pool for the baby, to guess things like birth date, weight, height, etc. We did it just for fun; we're excited about this and it will hopefully help to pass the time a little these last few weeks.

Here's the link for anyone interested in guessing! It's public.

Click Here for Dave and Jen's Baby Pool!

http://www.babyhunch.com/poolpage.php?poolid=0ca3088fb10aef44d5e7190f7e5154e4

And here's your first hint unless the ultrasounds were wrong:

2012 in review

One more New Year's type post. I just like to reflect on what has happened and this is the perfect time of year to do that.

So the year started out of course with running. Training for the half marathon, starting to ramp up long runs, racing some 5Ks.

In February, Dave and I made a trip to Savannah/Tybee Island to visit my sister that included my favorite 5K so far and an impromptu trip to Hilton Head.

In March, I paced my friend Colleen for 10 miles in her ultra marathon, which was just another awesome experience. Dave and I continued our travels to Rehoboth Beach and visited Dogfish Head.

In April, I dealt with a running injury and learned not to push through them. Sometimes it's better to let yourself rest for a few weeks and get back into it instead of pushing and making it worse. And I went to my first Comicon ever.

In May I ran my first half marathon, which is just one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had, even though I definitely fell short of my goals. But I also learned I can push through pain. I also found out that I was pregnant, and right before that Dave and I traveled to Hershey, which ended up being my last beer run.

In June, we traveled to Salem, NH for Dave's sister's high school graduation. After the graduation we traveled to Vermont to see some of my family. We also saw the heartbeat of our baby for the first time, again another amazing experience and something I will never forget.

In July, we got to see our baby again and were excited to see that everything was progressing well, although we still waited until I was out of the first trimester to publicly announce the pregnancy. We also played our final concert with East Winds, in Chautauqua, NY, which was a really neat experience.

In August, my uncle unexpectedly passed away, which was upsetting but also meant we got to see my family. It's still hard to believe that my uncle is gone. And reminds me to take every chance I can to see family. You never know what might happen...

In September, we went on vacation in the Outer Banks, and found out our baby is a boy.

October and the rest of the year were more laid back. We went to a Jars of Clay concert (my favorite band and first time seeing them live).

In November, I failed my 1 hour glucose test (devastating to me) but passed my 3 hour glucose test (thank goodness) and we headed to my parents' for Thanksgiving.

And in December, we looked forward to Christmas/New Year's and some time off work. Work really ramped up and I was nearing the end of my pregnancy, so exhaustion set in and I turned lame as far as other stuff.

I know the last few posts haven't had any pictures but I'll fix that in my continued weekly pregnancy posts, I also have a post scheduled with pictures from the shower, and when the nursery is finally ready I will have a post with pictures from that!

2012 Resolutions (How did I do?)

So a year ago I made some resolutions for 2012 and wanted to see how I did. The previous post is here.

1. I wanted to run more races - both quantity and type in 2012. In 2011 I ran 7 races and they were all 5Ks. Well, I did not run more races but I did run different types. And I would have run more races if I had been able to but with the heat and being pregnant that just didn't happen. This is one resolution I'm not upset at all that I didn't keep. I ran 4 races in 2012 (2 5Ks, a 5 miler, and a half marathon) and walked 2 additional 5Ks.

2. I wanted to clean out the storage space by the middle of the year. We did that and had a nice garage sale and got rid of a lot of furniture to make room for the baby furniture and all of that. Check on this one! (It might not have been by the middle of the year, but it was done so that's what really matters!)

3. I wanted to blog more. I'll say I have. I don't know how interesting this is to others but I personally like going back and remembering how I felt or what happened. I've blogged about my exercise, about my pregnancy, and in general just about what's been going on. I had 173 posts in 2012, which was definitely up from 2011 (14), 2010 (0), 2009 (18), and 2008 (18).

Resolutions for 2013
1. I'd like to try to run at least 7 races to match 2011. I don't know if this is going to be doable; we'll see. With a baby I'm going to need to adjust how/where/when to exercise and it will probably be harder to get to races.

2. I'd like to lose the baby weight and get back into shape. I don't want to put a set time limit on this one though because I don't want to be unrealistic. So I'll just say at some point in 2013. It took 9 months to put the weight on, so if it takes 9 months to take the weight off and get back into shape, so be it.

Happy New Year, everyone, and I hope you all have a great year!