More Belly Pictures

I'll be 38 weeks on Monday and since today was picture day at school, I was dressed nicely and put some effort into curling my hair even! I thought I would take some pictures since I felt "pretty." Pretty gigantic!!! HA! Don't think my stomach has gotten that much bigger since about a week and a half ago, but my students were commenting on how "big" I was looking.
I have even had a couple of days I thought we were going to be lucky enough to meet this little one.
Last Thursday I was having contractions all day. Not painful, but pretty regularly, like every 5 minutes. Many people at school said I should call my doc. So I did. They told me to lay down, drink water until I feel like I'm drowning and call back in a hour. Nothing changed so they told me to get checked out at the hospital. As you can see, they ended up sending me home. Oh well, it was nice because I was nervous about dealing with preregistration and where the maternity ward even was.
The next day I had much more sever contractions that were taking my breath away, causing a ton of pain and were about every 2 minutes apart. I paged Clint and demanded he come home. He found me laying on the couch, one had on a pillow and the other on the coffee table "looking more in labor" as he put it. He suggested I walk around a little, so I did and after about 1 hour the contractions stopped and I was fine, but exhausted.
So a week later and my biggest complaint is the stabbing pains I get in my back at the end of the day. Nothing seems to help except a massage. Too bad the hubby is being the slave at the hospital. As much as we would like to meet this little bundle of joy this week isn't good because our doctor isn't in town. Maybe he'll be a good birthday present on Monday.
Enjoy the pics and we'll keep you posted.

Buffalo Excursion

Last weekend we went on a Buffalo excursion. There is a guy in Westmoreland (town about a half an hour east of Manhattan) that raises Buffalo and Morgan horses. Every year SOKS (Significant Others of Kansas State, which is a program the wife of the dean of the vet school put together) has us go out to feed buffalo at this guys ranch. The first two times we went it was a blast. The buffalo came right up and everyone had a good chance to feed them. This year, the buffalo were a little more shy and we didn't get as much hand feeding as we would have liked. We mostly were just throwing alfalfa pellets on the ground, hitting a few in the process, merely by accident.
I think we picked the coldest day of this "Fall" to do this activity. It was a whopping 35 degrees that day. Do we look cold? After we fed the buffalo we went back and had VERY dry buffalo burgers and shivered some more in a dusty barn on the property.
The people who run the ranch are extremely friendly and welcome visitors any time. One of those perks of living in Kansas!

36 Weeks and Counting

We had a doctor's appointment today. This started our weekly visits. I was checked to see how I was progressing. The doctor said I was effaced 50% and dilated to a 1. I hope this is good. I've definitely been feeling my body "getting ready" for labor. This was apparent when I didn't sleep very well at all on Sunday. Clint said I tossed and turned all night. :(
We got to have another ultrasound today in which we found out that the baby weighs 7.5 lbs ALREADY! The ultrasound tech said that the measurement was give or take 1 lb. I can't believe he weighs 8.5 lbs already, so I think it's 7.5 or less. At this point, babies gain about 1/2 lb a week. So if I make it to the 40 week mark, I could potential give birth to a GIANT. It's all Clint's fault! I was a nice size of less then 7lbs when I entered the world, but Clint was 8.5lbs! YUCK! Thank goodness for pain meds right?
So the doctor left us with the impression that he could come any time in the next couple of weeks. Told us if my water broke or if my contractions were 5 minutes apart and I couldn't talk through them I had to go to the hospital. Pretty excited.
Despite the fact that I've been saying that I'm ready for the last month, I'M NOT! We still have things to buy, the house to finish getting ready and I need to get things at work ready for maternity leave. Plus there's the fact that my doctor is on vacation next week! So he either needs to be born this week or not for 2 more weeks. :)

So we'll keep you posted on our progress. Looks like I might not get to wear my Halloween costume on Halloween this year. My friend Jeanette makes these shirts. She also sells them on her blog under October's posts. http://jeanettesmommymusings.blogspot.com/

Enjoy the pictures.

Getting ready for Clark's Arrival

Last weekend we had a couple baby showers in which we received MANY wonderful items much needed for Clint and I to successfully raise our child. :) We also went to the local thrift store and found a dresser that we both liked. It originally was white, but we wanted it to match the crib. So we painted it. The dresser is actually a changing table also, but that piece is still being painted. We got a really good deal on the dresser, 25 bucks, because it was used and the track on the middle draw was broken. Clint had the fun job of fixing the draw. He did a great job and that draw is the only one that works perfectly.
While doing the piles and piles of laundry, and putting away all the baby clothes, I now have noticed that the bottom draw is going to need the same fixing. Clint will be so happy when he gets home and I get to tell him! NOT. Actually it wasn't that difficult for him to fix, it's just that Clint HATES spending money. He's Scrooge! Draw tracks are expensive, but we'll work something out.
I also had to include a couple of pictures of Wesley helping. :) All the animals were in the room with us "helping" in some way or another. It was either laying in the draw that was on the floor, getting into the dresser where the draw was suppose to go, or keeping watch. They did all perfectly.
I have about 4 weeks of pregnancy after Monday. He could come early, or he could be stubborn, like his parents and come late. Either way, we'll keep you posted. :) I hope to take belly pictures later today and put that post up soon, or I'll wait until Tuesday and include the latest ultrasound pictures.