Week 37

How your baby's growing:

Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, her lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though. So if you're planning to have a repeat c-section, for example, your practitioner will schedule it for no earlier than 39 weeks unless there's a medical reason to intervene earlier.)

Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

We are so thrilled that Kassandra has made it to what is considered full term. But I will admit now I am ready for her to come out. I am ready to have daddy help out with her care. Only a few weeks left. We can't wait!

The blog is updated

I have updated the blog. Be sure to check out all of March to see the new additions. We hope you enjoy all of the pictures. I hope to have more pictures to add in the next few weeks, which will include the (currently) unfinished nursery. We are setup and ready for her in our room as she will spend her first few months sleeping in her bed next to mommy. Therefore if the nursery is not done before she is born it will not be an issue. Tom on the other hand would like to get it done with since this 3 day project has turned into a 3 month project!!!!

Tom and I have also completed our birthing and breastfeeding classes. Tom and I read a lot so when it came to the birthing class we don't feel that we really learned anything new. However the breastfeeding class was very informative - even to Tom. Tom's comment is the best which is that "I thought that you take the baby and put her to the nipple. I would have never guessed that there is more to it than that. But you need to think of the baby's position, the mom's position where the nipple is in the baby's mouth and how to watch to be sure the baby is getting the milk". Who would have guessed! Anyway we will try to breastfeed but will have to see how it goes. It would sure save a lot of money on formula.

Tom's weight loss

Tom began his weight loss in August and has been doing great. In March he reached 80 lbs lost. He is hoping to lose 100 lbs by the time Kassandra is born.

Here are his before pics:















Here are pics of him as of March 3rd. If you pay attention to the door knob and the lines in the door you can see the weight loss in his stomach more than by just looking visually.

Check out the L.A. baby shower pictures posted 3/1

I finally posted the L.A. baby shower pics... I put it under 3/1 so that it would appear this month. Sorry for the delay everyone.
Pictures of the Las Vegas baby shower will be posted soon.

OB appointments are now weekly

Today I had my weekly OB appointment. Kassandra's heartbeat is good. Although her head dropped weeks ago she is still sitting high. My cervix has not dropped yet, meaning neither has she. Really???? because let me tell you with the way she feels on my pelvic bone she feels low to me. I am continuing to gain weight and have now gained 5 lbs this pregnancy, all in the last 3 weeks. I could have told the doctor this as I am eating more than I have in a very long time. As long as Kassandra is healthy and happy that is all that matters.

My next non-stress test with the specialist is this Friday and then my next OB appointment is next Monday. Hopefully I will have something new, and good to post.

Last Ultrasound appointment

Today we had our last ultrasound appointment. In addition we started our non-stress test appointments. They were suppose to do the ultrasound appointment first but luckily for us they switched it on us and we had the ultrasound appointment last. Why is this a good thing? Well if the ultrasound appointment was first Tom would have missed it as he was still working and could not get out in time. I called him with the good news - that it was switched around and he made it in time for the ultrasound appointment.

Up first: The non-stress test:
What is a non-stress test?
This simple, painless procedure is done during pregnancy to evaluate your baby's condition. During the test, your health care practitioner or a technician monitors your baby's heartbeat, first while the baby is resting and then while he's moving. Just as your heart beats faster when you're active, your baby's heart rate should go up while he's moving or kicking.
The test is typically done if you've gone past your due date, or in the month leading up to your due date if you're having a high-risk pregnancy.

This went well. I don't have the results but from what I know nothing much happened. Kassandra is well and I didn't have to many contractions. Personally I hope it will progress more next week as I'm ready for her to come out. As much as I have loved being pregnant I am ready for daddy to help some :)

Up next was the ultrasound appointment. Kassandra didn't cooperate to much as she is trying to surprise with her looks for when she is born but we were able to get a couple of pictures.
She now is weighing in at 5 lbs 13 oz. Her head is measuring 32.83 cm, or approximately the size of a 37 week, 3 day fetus. (Mommy is so thrilled to know that her head is a week bigger than she is (insert sarcasm here). The rest of her is measuring in right on track at 36 weeks.

Week 36

How your baby's growing:
Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

Week 35

How your baby's growing:
Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Las Vegas Baby Shower

On March 6th we had our Las Vegas baby shower. We had it at our home, which made it very convenient for transporting all the great gifts we received. We were very lucky to have so many people help host the party. Tom's Aunt Pat, mom Jan and friends Melissa and Jodi made all the wonderful food. Melissa and I setup all the decorations and Tom and I picked out the cake (we had fun with that).












We enjoyed visiting with everyone and showing off some of the improvements we made to the home (which included painting the living room green). Tom really enjoyed showing off the nursery (yes more pics of the nursery will be coming soon).




























It's a no point day I can eat whatever I want and I love it!!!!!

Then came time to open up the gifts. Logan wanted to help. The cutest part is in the last picture - Logan saw the pacifiers and said "oh good big boy pass'" and tried to take them for himself. We had to explain that they were for babies and that all these gifts were for Kassandra. He still had a lot of fun helping us open the gifts.



















and then it was cake time!

Week 34

How your baby's growing:
Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

What I look like...

Ok so I barely look pregnant. At this point I didn't even gain weight! The only difference is that my stomach sticks out a bit more than it use to. The sucky part is to a stranger I just look fat! Oh well it's the price I pay for being big.
Ok so this pic is blury (Tom was learning to use the camera I think) but it was taken 9/11 which is week 8. As you can see (just squint) my shirt is baggy and my stomach is smaller.

Here is the latest pic which is as of week 33 (2 days away from week 34). As you can see the shirt is not as baggy on me as the previous pic and my tummy sticks out more.

Here I am at week 33 (2 days away from week 34) just in another shirt... tummy still sticks out :)

Feb 20th Baby Shower in L.A.

On February 20th Wendy and David with the help of Logan and Wendy's mom Suesan threw us our L.A. baby shower. We had a wonderful time! It was so great to see everyone again. And we are so lucky to have received such wonderful gifts for Kassandra.

The food was so good. I was stuffed!









The very happy, expectant parents

Our Guests - thank you everyone for coming.



















We then played a few games:
Guess the jelly bean count, don't say baby or loose your bracelet, guess the price of the baby items (bottle, bib and something else that I can't think of right now) and one game where you had to take a napkin, place it behind your back and try to tear it into a baby shirt. This is much harder to play then I thought. I couldn't do it, but as I was the judge I didn't have to (thank goodness). Everyone else did a great job!










And here we are opening all of the wonderful gifts. As you can see we got a lot of cute stuff. Thanks again everyone.







































Where was David during all of this???? My wonderful brother was taking care of all the kids in Suesan's apartment. Wow what a job! But as you can see the kids had a great time.










Thanks again David, Wendy, Logan and Suesan for such a beautiful baby shower. Everything that you did means so much to me and Tom.