Almost 31 Weeks Along...

Monday I took Hilo for a very long walk because it was absolutely beautiful outside. We walked for a good hour and then stopped by the neighbors to see if their 5 yr old boxer "Spike" could play. And he was home! The two of them are hilarious to watch because they both swat at eachother and then use their weight to push eachother down. Spike usually wins because he easily has 30 lbs on Hilo, but Hilo is definitely faster. Of course since it is spring and all the snow is melting, he needed a bath afterward. Yeah - that was interesting. We managed to get him cleaned up and not too many scratches on me.

Tuesday we had another doctors appointment. We had the "Labor talk". Very basic info telling us what signs to look for and what to do if we think I am in labor. Always good information to know! Baby is growing right on track - belly measures 30.5 cm, weight is up 21 lbs, and heart beat was between 146 and 155 bpm.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Work has been pretty busy again for Jim and I so we are really tired by the time we get home. It is March Madness and also St. Patty's day this weekend, so Jim is heading to Madison to visit with his friend Mark and fiance Tara. They are going to Madison to hangout with Mark's brother Josh. I would go - but the whole drinking all day and being in bars just for some reason doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun at this point.

Baby Shower in MI

This weekend was a trip to MI to visit with family and then of course for the baby shower. We took Friday off so we could get an extra day - it was well worth it! The baby shower was beautiful and we were able to visit with lots of friends and family. We played a few games and they hosted a diaper raffle, for each person who brought a pack of diapers, they were able to enter their name into a drawing for a wine basket compliments of Aunt Deb or a handmade quilt compliments of Aunt Linda. Cindy's (Jim's mom) friends won both prizes... their table was definitely the lucky ones!

We received a bunch of great baby gifts... just making it sink in more and more! The Kirkwood family went in on the strollers, both of them! So we now have the travel stroller complete with infant car seat and then Jimbo got the Maclaren Vollo stroller - umbrella stroller made by his favorite Formula 1 Racing team. Jay (Jim's dad) even decorated the box with a race car photo from his calendar! Big time!

The boys had gone go-karting once again during the shower and then stopped by afterward. Then a bunch of us went to Champps for some food and drinks. It was so nice to hang out with our friends and get some time to just relax. That night we visited with more family and then relaxed at Jay and Cindy's.

The drive home on Sunday was uneventful - we made it home in about 6.5 hours and Hilo had some room in the back of the car among all the gifts and luggage. Ah - time for bed!

Willa Jean has Arrived!

Today my girlfriend Mandy was finally admitted into the hospital and stayed! It has been a long week of contractions for her... and then a few hours in between with nothing. But today at 2 am her water broke and she was off to the hospital. Mandy was nice enough to let me hang out so I took the day off of work to learn a few things. It was quite surreal being there, and thinking this is going to be me in 2 months. YIKES! I was there for the "waiting period" and was able to see the Mandy without drugs and the Mandy with drugs... surprisingly she was making it look like a cake walk. Thankfully though, I needed to be at work to catch a meeting when things really started happening. The epidural was wearing off... and contractions were significantly stronger than ever... But alas... she is here! And a tiny little thing with some lungs! The picture somewhat shows how tiny she is compared to Jim's hands. I really am not sure how Jim will be able to snap those little buttons on the onesies or fasten the newborn size diapers... My mother in law seems to think a small baby is out of the picture... I am not there yet...

Here are the stats:

Willa Jean Simon

March 6, 2007 @ 4:30 pm

6 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches

Belly Pics... at 29 weeks!

Well the pounds are starting to come on a lot faster in the last weeks... I am officially up to 20 lbs now. And the belly is holding steady at 39"... so I am not sure where it is going... (yah right). I did recieve a very nice compliment today at work though - from behind you can't even tell you are pregnant! So I will take that as a good thing! :)

We had a doctor appointment this week and again baby was measuring just fine. This appointment was the glucose test for gestational diabetes. I had to drink a super dooper concentrated orange pop and then they drew blood one hour later. It tasted fine, but definitely gave me the shakes... I am not used to caffeine or sugar that early in the morning... And baby was responding too. The first read on the heart rate was 167 bpm... and then it dropped to 154 bpm. But good news is I don't have gestational diabetes. Measured 28.5 cm so that is on track too. It is very hard to believe that we have only 11 weeks to go - of course that is if baby arrives on cue... which we know is not likely!