3-1/2 Weeks Left! Can That be Right?

Nicole here. Chris has been busy so I thought I would take charge of this blog, especially since we are already a week and a half behind. First of all I would like to point out that the floating baby countdown to my left is not really how it is. I was watching to see if that baby would throw a punch or something, but it didn’t, therefore I think they should take away that feature entirely. They say (who’s they? I don’t remember, I just know I heard this somewhere…hopefully a credible source somewhere) that the baby’s most active weeks are from 33 to 36, and that really was the case with Reilly. I had to tell her to calm it down a couple times for fear that I would just rip right open (gross, huh?)!

We missed last weeks blog because we were road tripping it to IA for the College World Series. There were six of us in a land cruiser and we had a fine time! Chris and I were both a little worried about the trip because if I went into labor in the middle of Nebraska, what would we do? The doctors said that the biggest thing to do was drink plenty of water and make a pit stop every two hours to walk around and avoid blood clots. It worked out because I (and most of the boys in the car) had to use the bathroom every two hours ANYWAY. I didn’t go watch baseball though (and they only ended up watching one which was a bummer, but I heard that Sporcle kept them busy)…I relaxed at my parents' house and had a baby shower! It was really great to be able to see people and catch up on their lives. Thanks to Lisa, Sharon and Sarah for throwing it for me! All of my sisters were able to be there too, along with Josh and Edwin, so it was a nice family weekend. We got home at 6pm Monday night and headed straight to birth class. That whole week was a whirlwind and the reason why we didn’t blog. Sometimes sleeping is just more important.

This last weekend we finally buckled down and got a lot done in the baby room. It was really fun going through everything and finding a place for it! Seeing how much stuff we’ve been given has been an awesome reminder of how the Lord provides! Many many thanks to everyone for the things they have bought or handed down. We have been so taken care of, and that makes everything so stress free! We even have a near complete wardrobe from newborn to 18 months, which is a huge blessing! By looking at all of our great baby stuff because of friends generosity, the awesome house we get to rent, and the fact that we have two good jobs it really proves that the Lord is good. It wasn’t in our timing, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We also have our hospital bag mostly packed. It made this labor thing feel a lot more real! It is just sitting in our living room, waiting for the last minute additions, and then off we go. It’s a good thing I asked the family when they wanted the “labor call” because if we took off in the middle of the night, I would have waited to call. I figured, labor will probably take HOURS so they might as well get a full nights sleep and we would call in the morning or when she was born, whichever came first. They told me that was a bad idea. It seemed practical to me!

Three and a half weeks to go and time is flying! Thanks for reading!

UPDATE: Chris here. My wife is so amazingly great, isn't she? I am so blessed to have her be my partner in this wonderful journey. I just had a few things to add to Nicole's post. The one thing that she forgot to mention is that her feet and ankles are swollen. I asked her today if it hurt and she said no, it just feels like her feet are going to jiggle when she walks. I laughed at that. Also, Nicole didn't write any baby facts so, here you go:

• The only organ left to mature inside the Bun is her lungs. Every day that she stays inside Nicole (up to 42 weeks) improves her chances and ability to be a great breather when she is born.
• While unlikely (because she is our first baby), Reilly could drop down into the birth canal any day. This would be a win-lose type of situation for Nicole: she would have a much easier time breathing but a much more difficult time walking.
• I get excited about this one: fat is beginning to collect on Reilly Marie's body and create those adorably cute dimples around her knees and elbows.
• The Bun's skin is growing smooth and, yes, I'll say it, baby soft.
• Her gums are very rigid and it won't be too long before we get to learn about the joys of teething.
• If Reilly is exactly the average right now then she is 18.66 inches long and 5.78 pounds. Between now and when she's born, she'll gain about 1 oz. every day.

The last thing that I needed to do was to make sure and post a picture of Nicole. We love you all so much! Thanks for reading and for sharing in this journey with us.

34 Weeks

Wow, only 6 weeks left. We continue to check things to get done off of our list. Birth plan: check. Furniture set up in the nursery: check. Bags packed: not yet. But we'll get there. Nicole is still feeling good. She's had moments where she's said "if I wasn't thinking about it right now, I wouldn't know that I'm pregnant." That could probably pass as the definition of a great pregnancy.

We are headed to Iowa this weekend for a shower with friends and family there. (Well, Nicole will be headed to a shower. I will be headed to some baseball games at the College World Series.) We are really excited to see everyone there and get to be around family. I am also really excited to go on a road trip with a woman who is 35 weeks pregnant. We have some rules from our doctor: we have to stop every two hours for Nicole to get out and walk around and Nicole has to drink a lot of water. Normally on this drive we'd stop once. We're thinking we can make it in three stops. We'll see how it goes. I'd say the chances are very high that we'll need to stop more , considering the whole "drink a lot of water" rule. It feels like this coming weekend the last big thing we have before Reilly's estimated time of arrival gets here.

Nicole still has people tell her that she doesn't look nearly big enough. She keeps measuring exactly where she should be and our doctor and nurse both think that she's doing wonderfully. We have another appointment on Wednesday—hopefully that one will go as well as the others have.

Your baby acts completely like a newborn, with her eyes opened when awake and closed when sleeping. She has started to settle into more of a routine for sleeping & awake times. She has learned to blink. She can also see more clearly when there is a bright light on Nicole's stomach and probably has the outline of all her organs memorized. Antibodies from Nicole's blood are being transferred to Reilly. These immunities continue to build until birth. Then breast milk will add even more protection against disease. Reilly Marie may have already turned to a head-down position in preparation for birth. Since this is our first baby she may be settling into the pelvis with her head pressing against Nicole's cervix. Fingernails have reached the end of the fingertips now. The Little Bun may scratch her face even before she is born. Reilly Marie's length is probably about 17.7 inches and weight is around 4.7 pounds.

IT'S A GIRL!

I usually hate all caps almost as much as I disdain exclamation points but I needed to convey my excitement. We're having a little baby girl!!!! It feels so good to finally get to tell everyone. Our little Bun is a girl bun. We have picked out a name and it is Reilly Marie. One of the best things about everyone knowing now is that I can stop writing all of that "s/he" and "his/her" nonsense. That is fantastic.

At this moment we have about 48 days to go. We were talking to some friends, Dan and Jenn, last night at our Bradley class who are at 29 weeks. They said "Eleven weeks away still sounds like plenty of time but we realized that that means we only have eleven weekends left. That doesn't sound like much time." So true. We only have seven weekends left. Can that even be right? Only seven more Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until Reilly Marie comes to live with us forever. I still ask Nicole if Reilly can come tomorrow. She gently reminds me that she's not ready yet. She's not. But she is getting so close to being ready. We are so excited.

Nicole's baby shower happened recently. If I'm being honest, the weekend didn't go exactly as planned. Don't get me wrong, from what I hear, the shower was an enormous success (thank you so much to those of you who got us gifts: we are overwhelmed by your generosity), but Nicole, along with two of her three sisters who were in from out of town, spent most of Friday night and Saturday with some sort of stomach flu. Nicole is so tough, though. She didn't let a silly little bug slow her down. I can't express to you how proud I get about who my wife is and how strong she is. I just love her so much.

We also got to celebrate our anniversary this past week. The past two years have easily been two of the best years of my life and I can't believe that, as good as this last year has been, I am even more excited about our third year of marriage.

As far as Reilly Marie goes, she got the hiccups for the first few times this last week. I think it's adorable but I'm sure it's a lot less fun for Nicole. Right now amniotic fluid is at its highest level during Nicole's pregnancy. Reilly Marie's head size has increased 3/8ths of an inch due to rapid brain growth (probably more—our kid is going to be smart). Neurons and synapses are developing in huge numbers—forming connections in Reilly's brain will give her the skills she needs to thrive as a newborn. This week, she may be able to coordinate sucking and swallowing with breathing. While most of her bones are hardening, our little Bun's skull is quite pliable and not completely joined. The bones will be able to move slightly to make birthing easier. Reilly now takes intermittent deep breaths of water. That's okay, though since she gets oxygen from the placenta. This breathing exercises muscles and encourages her lung cells to produce more surfactant (a protein essential for healthy lung development). Reilly Marie is now about 17.2 inches long and weighs around 4.23 pounds.

31 1/2 Weeks(ish)

Man, I'm sorry I haven't updated in over a week and a half. We've had a crazy last few weeks. I got a new job and our evenings have been incredibly full this past week. We really covet your prayers for our friend, Navan. He was hiking on Friday and fell 800 feet when a false snow ledge gave way. He's still in critical condition and has a long road ahead of him but has done better than expected thus far. If you want to read more about his story you can go to http://navanpowers.com.

Nicole and I both had birthdays this past week. She turned 23 on Thursday. I turned . . . I turned . . . I turned th—. I can't even type it. Thirty, okay? I turned thirty on Tuesday. Apparently my mind has been pretty occupied because a week before my birthday, someone said something about me turning thirty in a week and I was absolutely convinced that I was still weeks and weeks away. I was not. I am now into my fourth decade of life. Seriously, though, things couldn't be better.

Nicole has felt this week like the Bun is really beginning to stretch her stomach. I guess it's not her favorite feeling. The Bun continues to be very active and likes to kick and squirm and test his/her limits within Nicole's belly. S/he is really starting to get cramped in there so you can understand the desire to test boundaries. I'm sure anyone who has already had kids just thought to themselves "Test boundaries? You haven't seen anything yet."

Our Bradley classes continue to go well and we both feel like we wouldn't be completely lost if the Bun was born today. That's a good feeling. I may have said this before but we've really connected with a couple of other couples in our classes. One couple, Eric and Gweneth, were ecstatic to learn that we'll be cloth diapering as well. We had a nice little chat about it on Monday.

In spite of our unbelievably busy week, all three of us have made it to Friday and have a three day weekend to look forward to. If you hear that we were in bed at 6 on a Friday night, it may be true. This week has been our fullest in a while.

The rate of physical growth slows down just a bit this week, but even though s/he doesn't get much longer, the Bun will gain a lot of weight the rest of the pregnancy. Fat continues accumulating. This layer of fat turns his/her skin from red to the rosy pink s/he will have as a newborn. Calcium, phosphorus and iron are being stored and his/her bones are growing and hardening. Our baby is 16.2 inches long and weighs 3.3 pounds. His/her brain enters another period of rapid growth, producing hundreds of billions of new nerve cells! Amazing! S/he may move to the rhythm of music. Studies with heart rates show that s/he also prefers some types of music to others — already! Lungs are the only major organ left to complete development. While we may be anxious to meet our little Bun, these last few weeks can be vital — with each day increasing our baby's ability to breathe on his/her own.

30 Weeks and Then Some

Hey, everyone! We have less than ten weeks left! That's incredible! Who could have known that time would fly by this quickly? We knew it would go fast but this is almost shocking. Things are going well for us. In fact, as I write this I am waiting to go meet Nicole at the doctor's office for an appointment. We continue to be surprised at how uneventful all of these appointments continue to be but, in this case, no news is good news. Nicole and the Bun both have been healthy and right where the should be each time we go in so there is very little for the doctors or nurses to do.

Our Bradley classes have also continued to go well. We really enjoy the other couples in the class as well as our instructor, Debbie. Last week I had the opportunity to wear the Empathy Belly and get a little, tiny bit of a taste of what it feels like to be pregnant. The worst part wasn't the weight but the strap that they cinched down over my diaphragm to simulate the baby pushing against Nicole's diaphragm. It made every breath so shallow. While the five minutes I spent in the Belly really weren't horrible, it was easy to see how difficult and uncomfortable it can be to be Nicole. I am so thankful for how strong she is and has been.

Nicole continues to feel pretty good and pretty healthy. She is also really looking forward to her upcoming showers in June. God has really blessed us, too, by allowing Nicole to work some extra hours over the past few weeks and now, at the perfect time, will be able to give up those extra hours because her bank has hired some new people. We have just felt as though God has really orchestrated some amazing things in our lives over the past six months.

As far as the Bun goes, s/he is about three pounds now! Every day that goes by means the Bun has a much better chance of survival if s/he is born today. In fact, if the Bun were born today s/he would not require a ventilator and would have about a 90% chance of survival! The Bun is surrounded by about a pint and a half of amniotic fluid. The amount of fluid will decrease as the Bun continues to grow (too bad for Nicole that she won't feel as those anything will be decreasing except her amount of sleep). S/he will spend a lot of time opening and closing his/her eyelids. S/he can follow light and may even reach towards light that s/he sees. The lanugo hair (meant to protect the Bun's skin) is starting to disappear. Toenails are in their final growth stage and bone marrow is now responsible for red blood cell production. Our little Bun can now produce tears, as well. Yes, even inside of the womb.

29 Weeks

Wow, we're getting so close! 75 days to go until the Bun's due date. Before that we have a major milestone. Nicole's shower is on June 5 and, if I am not mistaken, that will be the day that we announce to the world if the Bun is a boy or a girl. I am especially looking forward to that day so that I can stop this ridiculous s/he, him or her, blah blah blah nonsense. It's such a pain. Oh well.

We are all moved in and mostly settled in our new home. We are loving it. It's been great to have that space and to really have a place that feels like it will be home for a while—a place where we can raise the bun. I'm still working on getting up some more pictures for you all but it's a slow process. I'm sorry.

We had another great development last week: we started our Bradley method classes! For those of you who don't know, the Bradley method classes are like a Lamaze class. We have twelve weeks of learning about everything from pain management techniques to breast feeding. We really enjoy our instructor as well as the other couples in our class. I think we were both pleasantly surprised after our fist class at how much we enjoyed it. Feel free to ask about what we're learning, it'll be a good refresher for us.

You may also notice that the location for Nicole's pictures has changed. No more fireplace. Unfortunately, our new digs don't have a fireplace so we'll likely be taking the rest of these pictures in front of a blank wall. We'll see. Maybe we can take them on the front porch.

As far as the Bun goes, his/her head is growing bigger to accommodate the (enormous, I'm sure) brain, which is busy developing billions of neurons. The eyes can move in their sockets. The Bun may be able to follow a blinking light right now (I'm sure s/he can). As well as our baby's increasing sensitivity to changes in light, s/he may also be able to taste. In fact, our baby may already have preferences or dislikes for particular tastes at this stage. The Bun is also moving from side to side, but probably still is head up. In the next few weeks, s/he will move to the head down birthing position. At times Nicole may feel as if the Bun is performing somersaults for an olympic gold medal. The Bun may be performing fewer movements now because living conditions in the womb are becoming more cramped. The Bun is still, however, doing a lot of kicking and stretching. Some of our baby's kicks and punches could potentially take Nicole's breath away. The Bun hears things better from the vibrations all around, and can now distinguish real sounds and voices. We can now "teach" our baby in the womb by exposing him/her to music, literature, and simply talking to him/her. At this stage baby eyes are almost always blue and can distinguish bright sunlight or artificial light through the uterine wall. At week twenty nine, our baby measures about 11 inches from crown to rump, or a total length of about 15 inches from head to heel, and weighs about 2.5 pounds.

New House!!!

I know that this doesn't directly have to do with being pregnant and having a baby but it's a big part of what's going on in our lives right now. We've moved!! We moved on Saturday into a cute little two bedroom house in Lakewood. I've uploaded a few pictures of the house (check out that yard!) and will continue to let you see some more pictures as we get everything organized and our new home starts to look more like a new home instead of rooms full of boxes.

Thank you so much to our friends and family who helped us move! You made moving day, not only incredibly easy, but also very enjoyable.

We are so excited to have this new place to raise our little Bun and it is already feeling like home. If you haven't seen our new place yet we're excited for you to come see it soon! We have a couple of bedrooms now, too, so we'll have somewhere for you to sleep if you're coming from out of town.

Thanks, again, for reading, everyone. We're excited to get to share our lives with you.