Any Day Now!

Yesterday was our last pre-natal appointment. According to the Doctor, my due date is today... yep I am 40 weeks today! I am not getting too worked up about the fact that I am still pregnant. Here's why. The doctor goes strictly by a calendar, based on a 28 day cycle. Since we had been trying to get pregnant for quite a long time, we were tracking everything. My cycle was a few days longer than a "normal" 28 days, and so when we found out we were pregnant and did the math, it put our due date as October 25th, which will be on Sunday. We have had that day in the back of our minds the whole time, and that's the date I am going to go off of. In fact, I just changed the ticker on the side of the blog to reflect the 25th instead of today. If that date comes and goes, I might be in a different state of mind! So we will keep you posted!

As for the appointment yesterday, it went really well. I am now a good 3+ cm dilated and 75 - 80% effaced. She was impressed with the change over the last week and said with that much of a change, I should have this baby any day. I am ok with that! We talked a little about how far she would let me go over. She doesn't like to let her patients go over 1 week past their due date. She doesn't think I will make it that far, but if I do, she said we will schedule something probably for next Tuesday, or even Monday if we want. But I will definitely have a little boy to dress up for Halloween.

Other than that, we just wait! Dave finished painting the baby's room last night and it looks amazing!! I am so excited to move his stuff in! I am totally caught up and even ahead of things at work and at home (bills, etc.) and we are ready for him to come! We can't wait to meet this little miracle boy! When things happen, we will let you all know!! Thanks for all of the love, support, and encouraging words!! You are all the best friends and family ever! We love you!

39 Weeks and Counting!

Tuesday was our 39 week appointment. Everything still looks really good and I am dilated about another 1/2 cm, but still about 65% effaced. My Doctor went to Disneyland on Tuesday evening with her family and won't be back until Sunday, so hopefully we will make it until she gets back. It looks like we will since not much changed from last week and it is already Thursday afternoon.

Other news, IHC implemented new visitor restrictions this past week. Because of H1N1 flu and other fall/winter illnesses, no children under the age of 14 are allowed to visit patients in IHC hospitals (including the one we will be in). Also, only two visitors are allowed in at a time. This makes me sad, as it will affect most of our family coming to meet the little guy. I guess it is all for the best if it keeps us all healthy though.

That's the update for the week! We will keep everyone posted if things start happening!

38 Weeks!!

Yesterday was another prenatal appointment! I am now dilated 2 cm and about 65% effaced. The baby's head is still down, and my blood pressure is really good. The group B strep test came back negative so I don't have to deal with that during delivery. I think the scale was off a little yesterday. It said I have lost 4 pounds in the last week. I don't think that is true, but if it is, it puts my total weight gain for the pregnancy at a whopping 2 pounds. I guess we will see what it says next week.

My Mom won't be home from Hawaii until Monday morning (10/12), and Dr. Savage is going to be in Disneyland with her family from next Tuesday through Sunday (10/13 - 10/18). Which means... the Steedling can come on Monday (10/12) or not until the following Monday (10/19) if I want my Mom and the Doctor to both be there, which I think is preferable!!

I just told them at work that Dr. Savage said Monday would be a good day, and they flat out said it's not an option. Frankly, I kind-of wish it would happen. They have known about this "baby situation" for 7 months, and they still don't have anyone hired or trained to fill in while I am gone or work part time once I come back. At this point, it really is their problem not mine. I gave them PLENTY of notice, and they have done NOTHING. I have to not let it stress me out, or the Steedling might come early anyway. Everything will work out right?!?

As far as the house being ready... We spent the weekend listening to a wonderful General Conference, DEEP cleaning our house (still not quite done yet!), working in the nursery (wainscoting is half-way done), getting baby stuff ready, and cooking yummy conference weekend food (we had huevos rancheros and chile verde - with fresh tomatoes from the garden!) The car seat and stroller are out, the car seat bases are in our cars, and the cradle is all set up in our room, so even if he comes before his room is all the way done, we have a place for him to sleep!

Yesterday after the doctor, I went home and did a bunch of cooking. I made two lasagnas, two pans of manicotti, and two pans of sour cream enchiladas. We have one of each planned into our menu in the next week and a half, and the other 3 are in the freezer for after baby comes! I am doing the same thing this weekend with chicken pot pie, chicken cordon bleu and ham. We also planned out some other quick meals for after and have stuff ready for those as well! We are just trying to get as much ready ahead of time as we can!!

37 Weeks!!

I haven't been very good about posting much. I had many things this summer that I intended to post about, but it just never happened! Here's an update on a few things going on lately:

I never got a really good shot of our garden when it was going crazy. We topped off the out of control tomatoes so they would focus on turning red instead of growing more, we pulled out all of the lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, and onions. I will make sure to take pictures of what is left, as well as our big box of potatoes and our nice stash of onions and put them up. It was a fun year of experimenting, and we have a pretty good idea of what we will and will not plant next year.

I started training a new girl at work yesterday. I am going part time when the baby is born, and she will be working part time as well. I am giving her all of the Coupon Manager part of my job, and I couldn't be happier! I really don't enjoy it that much, and it will be nice to give it all away and not have to worry about it anymore. (We were originally going to both be doing parts of it, but I think it will be much better/easier for her to do it all, and me to have the other responsibilities that I already have... financials, accounting, conference, etc.)

Dave just got a new calling. He is the Executive Secretary, and is trying to get used to the increase of time required. It is much more than preparing Primary lessons for 4 and 5 year olds! I think he will really enjoy it, and our Bishopric is great. He really does miss Primary though, he loved that calling!! He's just so dang good with kids!

Ok, the baby... The room is painted, thanks so much to a good neighbor and new friend! Mike was great, and taught Dave some good tips too. (I think he is much more excited about tackling some of the other projects we want to do around the house eventually!) We are going to try and get the wainscoting up this weekend, and then we can move everything in. We have washed and folded everything, and I think we have pretty much everything we need now, we just need the room to get finished up in order to put it all in place!

Yesterday was our 37 week appointment. My blood pressure is good, I lost a pound (thanks to the kidney stones last week and being unable to eat anything), the Steedling's heartbeat was 142, and we did the Group B Strep test. (We will get the results next week on that one.) I am dialated to a 1 1/2, and 50% effaced. And the best news... the baby's head is DOWN! Yea!! I think hearing that was a huge relief for both Dave and me! Other than that, things look good! Now we finish getting the house ready, and wait! We are so excited to be parents!!

The Love of My Life!!

HAPPY 3RD ANNIVERSARY TO THE MOST WONDERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD!!

I can't even begin to tell you how lucky I am to have found this man! He is truly the greatest blessing in my life! I can't even imagine what I would do without him by my side. He completes me and makes me better. I am so blessed to be married to this worthy Priesthood holder and future amazing father. I can't wait to watch him with our children!

(This picture was taken on our three month anniversary.)

And... today we hit 34 weeks! Time is flying and we are finally starting to get things ready. The room will be coming together, and I will make sure to get pictures up soon! My doctor appointments are now every two weeks and things are still looking good!

The Steedling is Definitely Active and Definitely a Boy!!

Last night for kicks and giggles, Dave and I went and had a 3D/4D ultrasound done. It was a little traumatic, but I am glad we did it! I say traumatic because about five minutes into the ultrasound, I got sick. I was super light-headed and really nauseous, and was sweating buckets. I have no idea what happened, but I thought I was either going to pass out or throw up at any point. I missed part of the ultrasound because I couldn't look at the screen. I adjusted my legs(bent my knees and put my feet up), took some deep breaths, said a little prayer, and felt better enough to finish the ultrasound and see some really cute pictures of our very active little boy!

It is so fun to be able to see a little bit what he is going to look like! He moved around a ton! Most of the time, he had his arm and hand in front of his face. He also spent a good bit of time with his foot in front of his face too! It is amazing that you can see all of his little fingers and toes, as well as knuckles, joints, and everything else!

While he was pretty shy at the first ultrasound, taking a long time to tell that he was a boy, this time around... not shy at all! We got very clear shots, and he is very clearly a he!

The first picture is his face ( a little smushed) and the second is his arm and foot in front of his face. Dave loves how his little toes are all spread out!



We can't wait to meet this little guy in just under 3 months!

Well, I Stumped the Doctor!

On Tuesday I had my prenatal appointment, which included the oh so fun glucose test. I drank the orange flavored sugar stuff and then had my normal appointment. Everything looks good and once again I measured a week small. Then I got my finger pricked. My iron level was AMAZING! The nurse was very impressed. My glucose level... not so much. Yep, it was high.

So I got to go back this morning. I had to do a 12 hour fast and be there at 8:30 this morning. I got poked, and my level was just fine. I drank the orange drink and ran errands for an hour. I went back and picked the next victim finger to be stabbed. At that point they wanted my level to be below 180. It was 225. Oops. I ran more errands for an hour and went back for finger number three. After two hours, my level was just slightly above the two-hour level on the chart. One more hour and the fourth finger later, they wanted me below 140. It was 114.

What the? The nurse went and got the P.A. and she came in to talk to me. She was confused to say the least! They were all very impressed by my amazing three-hour level of 114, but not so impressed by the 225 after the first hour. She asked me some questions and we talked about a few things. She was floored with my total weight gain of only three pounds and zero swelling (even in summer heat) at 27 weeks! And since I have measured small so far, she thinks I am fine, and decided not to treat me for glucose problems/diabetes. She told me to make sure I am eating enough protein and watching my carb and sugar intake.

So, I left. That first number worries me, so I am going to be careful. That means less carbs and sugar, so don't tempt me with your treats! I have been pretty good, but I am going to do better!