The birth of Finnegan!

Wow. What a week. What started out as a routine checkup turned into me heading to labor and delivery to find out that I was to be induced and having the baby either that night or the following day... I walked to the hospital to give birth to my child. I had just been out shopping with my mom and sister! And the day before I was at work and then hit a tennis ball around for a few minutes...

Remember how I was being super impatient about how Finn hadn't arrived yet? Well turns out I might have been more than impatient and actually been feeling that it had been time. When my grandparents were here over Easter weekend, I could barely walk-I had chalked it up to being sore from tennis but it seemed to be lasting longer than it should have. I also just didn't feel quite right and felt that he should have been there by now or that something should have been happening.

So spring break came and went and no baby. I went back to work on April 1 and worked Monday-Wednesday. I felt ok, tired and not very mobile at all but by Wednesday I was feeling a bit dizzy even after I had been eating and drinking plenty of water. I knew I wouldn't be going to work the rest of the week but was till frustrated at no signs of labor. I stressed about emailing my co-teacher and principal about not coming in but of course they were more than understanding.

I had my appointment at 1:45 on April 4 and mentioned to my doctor that I had noticed a decrease in Finn's movements. A normally VERY active baby and now his movements were just an occasional kick here and there. So off I went to labor and delivery. I had been before for my stomach bug a few weeks back so I wasn't too worried and honestly thought it was nothing. He probably just didn't have enough room to move around.

I was hooked up to a monitor to track his heartbeat around 2:30. Maybe a half an hour or so later, a doctor (she has a specific title but I can't remember-she's a special doctor haha) came in and let me know that I'd be staying here and having the baby. My OB would be coming in to induce me and that's that. The reason being was that Finn's heartbeat would decelerate with some of my contractions that led them to believe that my placenta was "pooping out" as she put it. See! I told you he was supposed to come out... He just didn't know how!

Mom and Ali left to go home for dinner and Brett was at a track meet so I was totally bored for several hours and slightly uncomfortable since I was in jeans and had definitely not packed my hospital bag, much less brought it with me. Brett came at about 7 and I was induced at 8:15. 3 cm dilated. I was pretty heavily monitored and checked frequently so sleep wasn't an option. Pitocin also makes contractions much more painful and I definitely made myself go too long without any relief. Natural childbirth at this point was out of the question and I opted for a pain killer which I received at 1:45. 4 cm dilated.

Let me tell you, this pain reliever did nothing. It was not supposed to totally eliminate the pain, just take the edge off and leave me feeling drunk-ish. Yeah, nope, nothing. Epidural at 2:30. That was the weirdest feeling. It didn't really hurt too much just felt like a pinch, a little stab, and I could feel the liquid going into my body. That did the trick. I couldn't feel anything. "Danielle, you're having a contraction, can you feel it?" "I'm having a contraction?" Finn started having a reaction to the pitocin and they took me off around 3 or 3:30; he had started to decelerate again and my blood pressure dropped a ton. I had to be on oxygen, was dry heaving, and had an excessive amount of bleeding. It was a scarier moment for Brett I think because I was just so out of it but I was definitely scared. My nurse, nice as she was, was a bit high strung and a little panicky so she wasn't reassuring or really letting us know what was going on. Luckily another nurse I liked was in there and she said this might be due to the placenta separating a little bit and they were just trying to figure everything out. Jeeze, with the other nurse it seemed like I was headed for an emergency C-section! Once I was off pitocin, everything regulated again and I was now 6cm dilated.

I started to progress naturally, but slowly for a couple of hours so my nurse thought he might be ok with the pitocin again around 5:45. At 6:15 she came in and turned it off. Guess we were just going to have to go slow but I was getting much more regular on my own. Even thought he pitocin ended up not working, it atleast helped get labor going which was good.

I stayed about 9 cm for awhile but around 10am I was good to go so my doctor broke my water and they turned down the intensity of my epidural. I tried to start pushing at 11 but I was still so numb that I wasn't doing anything. I'm just really responsive to epidurals I guess... They turned it down even more so the intensity was half what it was and I was able to start pushing at noon. I had to up my pain relief a little bit because now I was DEFINITELY feeling my contractions.

My contractions were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing so I was pushing every minute or so then relaxing. It took me a while to get this pushing thing down-it's definitely not something that you just know how to do. Then I got really good and really motivated. I also got really frustrated because it was getting progressively more painful and everyone kept saying, "You're doing a good job! You're almost there!" I can't tell you how many times I heard I was "almost there" and that can get discouraging when it's like I was "almost there" 20 minutes ago!

It was a very intimate experience, however, just my OB, nurse, and Brett. Brett even had a leg, haha, which I know wasn't his plan but when I started pushing he was instructed to hold a leg and that was that. He was very thankful in the end that he was able to do that-what a powerful experience! And at 1:24, our beautiful baby boy was born! I laughed and cried, Brett cried, Finn cried-it was all so wonderful.

Finn was cleaned off before he was going to come to me but they found he had taken a gulp of fluid on the way out and had extra fluid in his lungs and wasn't able to breathe super well. Brett held him and took him up to the NICU while I got stitched up-after having a 9 pound baby who is 22 inches long, some tearing is expected.

Finn was going to need to stay up in the NICU since he wasn't able to eat on his own quite yet and he just had to pass some tests in order to leave. As far as NICU babies go, he was the healthiest you can be he just wasn't quite as self-sufficient. He was able to leave the NICU on Sunday and stayed with us two nights in a transition room. He was still hooked up to an iv to maintain his blood sugar and we were taking his temp every three hours. Nursing was (and still is) a struggle because he wasn't introduced to it right away. Frustrating as that has been, I'd rather be be able to breathe and be healthy than be an expert feeder. We make it work-I pump and use a bottle and a little shield, he just likes the plastic. We're working on it, though, and hopefully he'll be able to nurse on his own in a couple weeks.

Brett and I spent a total of 5 nights in the hospital and I hadn't been outside from 2:15 pm Thursday until about 1 pm Tuesday. It felt weird to be outside and to be bringing Finn home! It was so exciting and it was fun to see Katara's reaction. She is still getting used to him, but they'll be buddies soon enough. We are starting to figure out a better sleep/eating schedule-we were so used to waking him up in the NICU that we continued doing that here. The best advice we got was that he's not a NICU baby anymore so don't treat him like one-this is how we knew we likes our pediatrician :) Last night we finally just let him sleep and it was awesome. He ate at 10, slept til 2, slept til 5, and then til 8... Awesome :) And Brett and I switch off which has been working really well (Brett uses a bottle with my milk). Brett is better at changing diapers than I am. He used the analogy that he has had to deal with the pressure of a floppy fish that he is able to transfer those skills to a squirmy baby. And I'm fine at it, I definitely gagged at one of his dirty diapers but haven't since.

He was one week old yesterday and it was such a beautiful day that we did some errands and took him to the park. I had him in the stroller while Brett played tennis-very fun :) And he's a big boy! Eating more and more every day. He also loves riding in the car, his eyes get super big when we put him in his seat-so cute :)

Impatience is Not a Virtue

39 weeks today. So much for coming early like I thought and like the doctor thought. The whole, "I wouldn't be surprised if I see you in a week or so" hasn't so much happened. I know that it is good to wait the whole 40 weeks but there is still some discrepancy as to exactly how far a long I really am. So while next Monday marks 40 weeks, it was the doctor's prediction based on the size of the baby at the time of my 10 week ultrasound. Who knows!

I have been experiencing some pelvic pains-some days are much worse than others. I thought it was just muscle soreness from playing tennis a few times but after the last time I played last Wednesday, the pain hasn't gone away and in some cases is worse. Yesterday, for example, I could barely walk during parts of the day and just standing up or trying to stand up was extremely painful. Nothing that I can do about it though except muscle through it and potentially take some Tylenol if I feel like it. My nurse said to not be afraid about going to the Labor and Delivery Unit and if nothing's wrong, they'll just send me home. Well that really sounds like an annoyance. And I don't know what constitutes as enough pain or unusual pain to justify a trip to the hospital, so that wasn't really helpful.

I did go to work today, mostly because I am able to sit enough that the pain wouldn't bother me as much. However, my sleep has been so interrupted by bathroom breaks or just being so warm in the middle of the night that I am about ready to lie down and take a nap while the kids watch their movie. Oh well. Several of the teachers were suprised to see me today and frankly, I didn't think that I'd be back either! I do know that this is for sure my last week since the old assistant will be back next Monday.

We did have a really nice Spring Break, I tired my best to relax as much as I could but we are both really bad at relaxing and it was the perfect time to get some errands done! The weather turned really nice on about Thursday or Friday so it was great to have some sun and 70 degrees! Although it makes it difficult when I really want to be doing things and I really need to be taking it easy. My grandparents ended up coming out after all which has been really nice and very helpful especially since I've really started to lose a lot of my mobility. And mom and Ali come tomorrow which will be fun! They were hoping that Finn would be here, but who knows, he might arrive while they're here. In the meantime, it will be nice to have some more help and a distraction. I'm suprised that this would be a time I'd need more help and support so I am very thankful to be getting some. Brett has been great but he has a lot on his shoulders with school, track, starting up again at the golf course, and of course keeping up around the house with just every day life.

Easter was lovely yesterday. The music in mass was beuatiful and the choir director gave me a big hug when he saw me-I haven't been going to choir since February, just too much of a commitment-so that was nice. We had a great brunch afterwards and I think I ate a record amount of food-it was great. We all took naps and read in the sun on our porch-even Katara got to go outside under close supervision (we don't have a nice deck like at our old place. This one opens up to the stairs which are very intriguing for a curious kitty) but she is a surprisingly goos listener and understands the word "no"-such a smarty :).

Really excited that it is April! One of my favorite months! Walking down the stairs today I realized I have been so caught up with the arrival of Finn that I almost forgot my birthday was coming up. I mean I knew it was coming soon but now it's only 2 weeks away! I'm going to be so old! Haha, just kidding. But 26 does seem old, I don't know why. And speaking of birthdays, it's been fun having this calendar with due date guesses-I'm really excited to see who wins, I have a fun prize in mind! Not sure how soon the winner will receive it, but whoever it is, I'm pretty sure they'll like it :)

Rollercoaster

Normally I like rollercoasters, however, not of the emotional and physical kind. I just feel like everything has been so up and down for so long that I'm just ready for some more ups rather than more downs. I think I have just been anxious about delivering and really hate waiting. I'm not a fan of surprises and have a really hard time when I feel like things are out of my control. I know babies come on their own time but it's still stressful at this point thinking it could literally be any day and I need to be prepared but it's hard to be prepared for something you can't predict or be prepared when you don't really know what exactly to prepare for.

I did get some good news on Friday. My doctor last week had said that she didn't feel there was a medical reason to perform cervical exams unless I was showing signs of potenial labor or preeclampsia, etc. but on Wednesday I started feeling nauseous out of nowhere and sometimes that can be a sign of early labor. So I had her check me on Friday. Turns out I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced or thinned out and she was surprised, but good surprised. She complimented me on the hard work I had done so far (thanks? didn't know I had been doing anything!) and that because I was progressing so nicely, my actual labor was probably going to be "easier" in the loosest sense of the word, since childbirth isn't ever easy, but it should go smoother and probably not last as long because I was progressing well. So that was exciting and she said that she wouldn't be surprised to see me within the next week, so we'll see.

Then Saturday. I was just irritable and not in the best mood and then of course Gonzaga lost. Just an overall bad day and I just felt and acted negative-I don't like that. It's not like anything had changed overnight, I was just in a bad mood. But that's what I mean about the ups and downs. I just feel like I have more downs. I also realized that I will most likely not be able to play tennis until the fall. I mean potentially if I have the baby like today, I might be able to play spring adult league, but even then that's pushing it as it starts April 15. I could play tennis over the summer-there are leagues available, but they don't count towards your record and personally I don't feel like paying money for a league where the competition isn't as good since everyone plays up and everyone is more playing to have fun. I like having fun when I play, but I find being more competitive as fun. So that was disappointing especially since I have been looking forward to it for a long time. It's just been hard to find things that I enjoy because I like being so active but pregnancy has really hindered that. I know I'll be busy with the baby but I also need something to keep me sane.

After the game, a very frustrating and emotional game to say the least (I had burnt the heck out of the bottom of a pot that morning and cleaning it out was Brett's way of dealing with the loss), I started having some pretty intense back pain that felt a lot like menstrual cramps. I had kind of a big wave of pain and then it diminished, but didn't really go away throughout the night as I kept waking up. I think the longest stretch of sleep I got was maybe an hour and a half? Around 1:30 I started looking into whether I was going into labor or not. I wasn't having any significant contractions that I could distinguish, but my back was hurting and I was getting twinges of pain in my abdomen but nothing consistent. It looked like I was having a mix of false labor and true labor symptoms so that was inconclusive and I continued to sleep restlessly throughout the night. Around 6 or so, after being up every hour, give or take, I typed in "not sure if I'm having contractions, just bad back pain" and came up with a forum of a few moms who had experienced the same thing. They had just had back labor with no real sign of contractions and that the lady with the same question as me should call her doctor. So I should call my doctor, right? But of course it's Sunday so I'm not sure if anyone will be able to help me! It's about 8:00 now and I still have a dull pain in my back and feel either Finn moving or some sort of contraction- Braxton Hicks or regular, I just don't know. With how unknowing that I was dilating, I could very well be in labor and just not know it. Maybe I'm just really good at being pregnant?

Ugh so I am just so unsure. I am never a typically case of anything ever. All this being said, we're going to try and track what's going on but even then, everything is so sporadic. It's Palm Sunday and I'd like to try and get to church, it would probably be good to get up and walk around but I'm just so tired! I am tired of being patient and want him here!

"Homestretch"

I have heard the phrase, "You're in the homestretch" so many times in the last few weeks and "not too long now" "It could be any day!" yet the due date still feels like it is nowhere in sight. I guess that is mostly because there really is no definitive day that Finn could arrive so it's not like I can make a countdown chain until the big day. I felt like things were going so fast from week 22 through about week 32 or so and then now it's just a lot of waiting and anticipation. Not that I am in a huge rush, but we're just really excited! And of course there are times like last night, for example, when he is pushing/kicking so hard that I have to stop what I am doing because it hurts so much so I'm ready for him to get out...Speaking of which, I had one little kindergartener say to me yesterday, in all seriousness, "You know, if you cut open your belly, your baby will dies." Me, "Well, I'm not planning on cutting my belly open so I think I'll be ok." Another kindergartener who had been listening, "Well then how does your baby get out?" Crap... um, "Secret tunnel? When you're older...talk to your parents. Ok go to lunch, bye." Smooth-handled that one with grace...Sometimes I'm prepared with better answers but not this time! Oh well, it made for a good laugh with some co-workers.

I have been feeling much better health-wise and sleeping better, though Katara wanted to play all night two nights ago so we ended up putting her in her crate. She hasn't spent a night in her crate for months and last night she was much better, still naughty (she likes scratching on the bathroom door if it's closed and if it's not, she leaps on the counter and knocks off whatever she feels like playing with/waking us up with-jerk). I have been having some lapses in memory or decision making. I was at leaving Target the other day and instead of being in the turn lane, like I though, I was in the lane to go the complete opposite direction. I still had an opportunity to get on a ramp and turn around, but I overshot and ended up a few miles down the road trying to find the next closest exit-that was neat. The nice thing about this whole memory loss thing is that I can't remember what else has happened that was similar. I was reading a few testimonials from new moms that were pretty funny recently that I'm sure will happen to me. There was one where a mom put her baby in the car and cried for an hour standing outside because she had locked the doors only to find that her keys had been in her pocket the whole time...

Everything is still going well with Finn. I tested negative for my Group B strep test (yay!). I am in my last month so I have doc appointments every week now which is actually kind of annoying. All she does is measure my belly, check is heart rate and ask if I have questions-which I usually don't. I mean, I'm not complaining that things are going so smoothly it's just that it takes longer for me to drive round trip and wait than my whole appointment.

Other things-I guess I'm special and will not get cravings :( too bad but probably a good thing? It takes me forever to put shoes on-Brett helped me with my boots the other day but otherwise it's about three minutes or so to tie my shoes. No real swelling, still wearing my ring, though some socks are a little tight. Very few stretch marks (super yay! Thanks cocoa butter!!). My chin acne, or chackne as I have lovingly dubbed it, has started to diminish. I didn't realize I've started waddling but Brett informed me I have been for awhile now... Sleeping ok as far pregnancy goes, I still have some sick symptoms that are waking me up from time to time, as is Katara. I was able to ride my bike today but it kinda hurt to sit so I think I'll be holding off on that until after the baby. I was complimented on how nice I look at school the other day and that I always look so put together as the lady said she was just miserable throughout her pregnancy and would never wear heels or boots 9 months in. I'm so happy and lucky this has been so easy.

That's pretty much it! 36w 5d today. Brett wanted to take some pictures in the park, we had fun :)

Brett wanted me to look over and be serious...

He said, "Oh my gosh! That dog has [poop] coming out of it!"

Clearly it helped me be serious...

First signs of spring!

35th week surprise

Ok, so I'm not having the baby today but this morning I though that might be a possibility.

I woke up, still feeling run down with a cold and exhausted after another very restless sleep. I was pretty hungry so I went to the kitchen thinking some cereal sounded good. Turns out it was a bad idea. Shortly after eating my bowl of cereal, I had some very intense abdominal pains and was feeling a little nauseous. This was a new feeling since I never got sick during pregnancy until now. I threw up for the first time after what seemed like forever (maybe 15 minutes) of pain and discomfort. I did not feel much better and was just not able to get comfortable. I had heated up a ton but now was freezing.

For some more time, I was just writhing around on the floor, trying to get comfortable but the pain was just so unbearable. Meanwhile, Katara had been kind of in and out of the bathroom and each time she'd come back in, her tail would be super bushy-obviously she knew something was wrong. I ended up throwing up again and finally got a hold of a nurse in my doctor's office. She suggested I go to labor and delivery just to be safe.

By now, about an hour or so after all this started, I was feeling a little better. I started feeling bad because Brett was already on his way home and now I was feeling better and maybe this was just a one time thing. We still went to the hospital and checked in. About 10 minutes or so after I had changed into my robe, I started feeling awful again-more pain and more throwing up. So fun.

I am hooked up to a monitor to keep track of Finn's heartbeat and to see if I was having contractions. Finn is all good and I may have had some contractions but probably just due to my stomach affecting my uterus. I am now hooked up to an IV and they also took some blood for a few tests. I have been feeling pretty well for a couple hours and Brett went back to work. I'm just hanging out having some jello and saltines (I was starving) and just waiting on my results.

Needless to say, this was pretty scary, mostly the pain and nausea but I'm so glad we came to the hospital. Kind of bummed we are not coming back with a baby but I guess this is a good practice run?!

Ok-update from about an hour and a half ago: all bloodwork looks great, I am getting a prescription for nausea and just need to make sure I'm hydrated. The baby is not affected and luckily it wasn't anything crazy-definitely glad we came in. AND we get our mattress today so that's a nice little reward after this fiasco! And thanks to Laura for picking me up at the hospital :-)

Changing into this robe made it really hard not to get our hopes up that Finn was coming!

Smiling because I feel alright at this point.

Nope, not feeling so great now.

Resting and watching Finn's happy little heartbeats while I await my IV.

After my IV is in, I try to keep down some snacks. Oh and those are my barf bags-just in case :)

Welcome to March and let the Madness begin!

I have been excited for March since I found out I was pregnant. What better way to direct my energy and anxiety toward watching a ton of basketball? And with Gonzaga at #2 (rumors of jumping to #1) this might be the best March Madness ever!

Aside from basketball madness, there is also our own baby madness. With Finn's arrival just around the corner, we are getting more and more excited everyday and trying to make sure we are ready to go. We're probably going to put his carseat in my car at some point this week, I'm starting to think about what to bring to the hospital, and have started putting some necessities in the diaper bag. So far, everything baby-related has been so easy. He's just such a healthy chap! At our last ultrasound, he weighed about 7 pounds. Yes, at 34 1/2 weeks, he was already hovering right around 7 pounds. I was 7lbs 4oz when I was born and Brett was 7lbs 3oz...That was supposed to be my last one, but because he's so big, they want me back in three weeks to monitor his weight. Either he had a really gnarly growth spurt (up from 4lbs 2oz in a month) or he really is on track to be 9 or 10 pounds. Brett asked the technician if the first babies are normally smaller. She answered yes and my response was, "Oh, great..." To which the technician replied, "You're just good at growing babies!" But if my first is supposed to be the "smallest" I'm in for a real treat later. Oh well, I'm ok with a big baby if they're as healthy and easy as this one has been! But yeah, needless to say, the kicks and hiccups have quite a significant amount of force to them at this point. I don't know how he has as much room to move around as much as he does-I can only imagine how wiggly he is going to be come diaper changing time...

While everything baby-wise has been going very smoothly, I can't say the same for everything else. February was a super challenging month with illness, drama with Brett's school, and lack of sleep. I was really excited last weekend with the sleep I was getting. I woke up feeling rested two days in a row for the first time in a long time. But then that all went quickly downhill starting with the crashing and shattering of our wall mirror in the middle of the night which led to me staying awake for about two hours stressing about the baby. And then of course the emails from a student that some of you heard about on facebook that was extremely trying and gave me nightmares. Now, I am sick again, for the third time in about a month. I went to the doctor yesterday and some of you know how much I really despise doctors. The strep test they gave me was one of the worst experiences ever. I have a very sensitive gag reflex so the nurse suggested lying down. I had never heard of that idea before so I decided to try it even though I was thinking my tongue might go back in my throat thus making me gag even more. I was right. I totally threw up on my nurse and she still wouldn't take the damn stick out of my mouth ("Sorry! Sorry!" was her response) so I shoved her hand away and sat up to go to the sink. I was so mad. Then my doctor came back, not strep, and started recommending over the counter meds that I could take. When she was finished I asked why she was recommending all meds for congestion and sinus problems when my main issue was my tonsils (it felt like I was swallowing knives). She suggested some cough drops after using her IPHONE to check and see if chloraseptic was ok for pregnant women (it's not). Seriously? I could have checked on my phone to see that too. So glad I'm paying you for this. Whatever. Being sick and pregnant is so frustrating especially since I have had whatever this is for so long and just can't do a lot to get rid of it. So I am forcing myself to just stay put and do nothing all weekend which means turning down a birthday party I was excited for, tennis practice, dinner with friends, and you know, having fun in general.

I am hoping that despite missing out on fun things, I will be able to get better so as to be healthy for Finn's birth. But what confuses me is that I have been taking vitamins, eating really well, getting some exercise here and there, not really pushing myself, yet I am still getting sick. Yes, I do work in a kindergarten and I know that can definitely contribute, but I have been working in schools since November and haven't been sick since October until now. It's just draining to have to deal with all of these things at once. It would be one thing if I were sick and pregnant, or pregnant and not getting sleep, or receiving harrassing emails and not sleeping well but it's all of these rolled up into one very stressful month.

Don't get me wrong, we have had some very positive things come our way and we try to recognize those when we can, but they are very easily overshadowed by the other stressors. We should be getting our new mattress this week (yay! no more squeaking!), I have started working towards my teacher's certification, our apartment is great, Katara brings us both so much company and happiness, and spring break is three weeks away!

Being as large as he his, if he continues to keep growing at such a rapid rate, there is a chance they will have to induce me a little earlier, which means I could have a baby in three weeks or so... Speaking of which, here are the predictions I received!! (Those of you that guessed after April 15th are silly... I certainly hope he doesn't stay in there that long!!) Actual due date is April 8, or NCAA Championship Day.

Lucky #3

33 1/2 weeks! Gonzaga is at #3 in the nation! There are going to be 3-Boise Lofgrens soon...Must be something about those 3's...

Things are going well, better than last week for sure. I wrote out a post that listed a bunch of my anxieties but I didn't publish it because it was just a way for me to get some of my thoughts out. I'm feeling better about things-despite being sick again. We had a nice 3-day weekend and this time we did not push ourselves too hard nor did we really have any plans, thus leaving us with some much needed relaxation time. It was a beautiful day last Saturday and Brett and I with a couple players from our Spring team got out to play some tennis. We were expecting another person but they didn't show up so I ended up playing an entire set and a few extra games afterwards. The fact that I felt well enough to do that was very encouraging. I couldn't move quite as fast, and didn't push myself to either, and Brett's ankle was still bothering him a little bit so we had to change up our game plan a little bit:We had to play smart-working more on placement and technique rather than pure athleticism (lol) but seriously, it was interesting, and we won! Not that it was important to win, but it was kind of fun after not having played in a while!

I also thought that the tennis game correlated a little bit with how our life is going. We have had to do some things a little differently recently and modified the way we go about our daily lives just with balancing time and money, etc. and it has been successful. Brett and I are able to communicate even better every day, strategize with budgeting, figure out what necessities we need for the baby and ourselves, as well as make sure we do some fun things just for us before there's three! We had a gift card from Christmas to the movie theater so we went and saw The Hobbit-so good! It was fun to go to a movie just the two of us as it's been a while since we've done that. We also went and got some necessities with a Toys R Us gift card Brett received as a gift from some teachers at one of his schools. He had become increasingly concerned with the prospect of if the baby arrived much earlier than expected, he felt under-prepared and wanted to make sure we had things like a diaper pail, some diapers, wipes-things that he wasn't as familiar about purchasing if he had to do so one his own, so that was fun to go do that as well.

It's nice to feel that we are pretty much as prepared as we can be for little Finn, not only with "things" but we are also very comfortable with our birth plan and ready to have a little one at home. We haven't ironed out the details of night times and the responsibilities we each will be adding on, but we have a general idea.We are just so excited for his arrival. He is getting so big and strong! He has found my ribs and is making himself known by lodging his little feet in there especially at night. It's kind of crazy to think that our tennis season starts March 8 and I'll be just about 36 weeks which is technically full-term. I don't think he'll come THAT early but it is fun to think we could have a brand new baby next month!! I'm really interested to see how Katara reacts to a screaming human in our house. Luckily she has established some safe places to hide and hasn't once tried to jump in the crib or the cradle-let's just hope she continues to stay out.

Everything pregnancy wise is still going just fine. My final ultrasound will be on the 28th. The reason I'm having so many is because of the initial scare with downs/cystic fibrosis. I'm kind of glad I get to do a few because it's fun to see him in there and her how much he is growing! I still haven't had any cravings...I mean there have been times when something sounds really good like awhile back I had bacon with just about everything for a week and then hamburgers were really appealing and then pizza, but nothing weird and nothing that I had to have right then and there. Sometimes I'll see ads on tv and that triggers a "craving" one time it was Greek yogurt. I almost feel like I've had more aversions to food. Like yesterday, I had some chicken nuggets for lunch but only because nothing really sounded good. We were about to go to the store and Brett was like maybe we can get a corn dog! Nah, that's ok... What?! A corn dog DOESN'T sound good? I know... It's weird. Oh well! To be honest, though, having a smooth pregnancy has really been what we both needed with all the stress we've been dealing with over the last few months. I definitely can't be grateful enough for that!

We had a co-teacher of Brett's over last night, along with her husband and almost 3-year old, for dinner. She had donated a huge bag of baby boy's clothes to us a while back and this was our way of thanking them as well as to introduce she and I as she is also pregnant again and due in May! It was fun to have a little toddler over. He really liked me right away, it was so cute. He came over while I was cooking to show me his monster trucks and motorcycle toys and he was definitely "showing off" during dinner-playing with his food, haha. Brett and I were just so content watching him and observing him, it's been awhile that Brett has been around little little kids. It was also hilarious watching Katara's interaction with him. At first, he was a little noisy and she was freaked out so she was hiding in the depths of our closet. After dinner I reintroduced her and she just stared and didn't really know what to think. Good practice for a few weeks from now!

I did have a really funny moment the other day-it's kind of personal/embarrassing but it made me laugh so hard. I was hanging out at home, and it was quiet so I think Finn was sleeping as I hadn't felt him move in awhile and I had to pass gas (one of those super fun side-effects of pregnancy) which I did and he totally twitched. I was laughing so hard thinking that I had just startled him like that. It made me even more excited for him to get here!!

Anyway... Here are a couple pictures of my progress!!