38 Week Appointment

Cake at the surprise baby shower

11 days till our due date! I can’t believe it.  It feels like it has gone so quickly, but yet these last few weeks time has started to slow down. I have started to slow down.  I think our little guy is going to be a healthy weight. I feel like he is packing on the pounds. Thankfully I am still able to sleep almost all the way through the night and I do not yet feel like I am “waddling”.  I have continued walking but my walks have gotten shorter as I find myself tired faster than before.

I was surprised on Monday at work with a baby shower by my coworkers. It was so sweet.  I think Aaron and I have decided on a glider rocker, I plan to go order it after work today at Babies R Us.  We are also still deciding on a crib.  Otherwise I think most of the purchases that need to be made have been made and we will we ready to go when Nolan makes his grand entrance.

Showing off the 38 week bump

Today’s appointment went well. Some people have been telling me they think I have “dropped” I am not sure, I am experiencing more lower pressure, so maybe. Nolan’s heat rate was 142 beats/minute. He is still moving around a fair amount but not quite a wildly as before.  The doctor said I have not made any progress towards labor, so it is just a waiting game now.

Being so close to the due date it is hard to wait, I am trying to stay focused and finish up all of the work I need to do before I go on maternity leave, but all I want to do is head to the hospital and meet my little guy. Someday soon, can’t wait to share pictures!

ONE MONTH!

Today is one month from our due date! I can’t believe it, we are getting so close to meeting our little boy.  Aaron and I had an appointment today with our doctor, she checked to make sure the baby is head down. She did a quick sonogram to confirm at which time she also definitively confirm that we are indeed having a little boy. What a relief we don’t need to worry about returning any of the wonderful gifts we received at the shower last weekend. He was a little feisty when the nurse tried to check his heart rate he kicked the wand two times. However she was able to record his heart rate at 145 beats/minute.

I am absolutely thrilled that we are getting so close.  I have been feeling pretty good, the heat is irritating, but it is for everyone else too. My feet have been a little swollen, but it has stayed manageable.  It is just so exciting to think that we are going to be able to hold him so soon. I can’t wait and I know Aaron is excited too. I love having sonograms, being able to see the little guy moving around just makes real for me. This is such an amazing time, I am so glad I get to share it with Aaron.

The list of things that we “need” to do before our little one arrives seems to just keep growing and growing.  After a wonderful baby shower on Saturday I do feel a little more prepared.  But we still need to buy a crib, install the car seat, pack the bag for the hospital, pick up a few more essentials, get the baby’s room ready, etc, etc, etc. I don’t think there is any way for us to really be ready for all of the changes that are about to happen in our lives. Hopefully we make good choices and are able to be good parents to what I am sure will be a wonderful son.

Ready or Not

Aaron is back from harvest!  They finished cutting last Friday thanks to no rain delays this summer.  Now we are trying to get everything together in preparation for our new edition to our family. I luckily have continued to feel pretty good.  I have noticed I am increasingly more tired and little hungrier than normal.  My first introduction to leg cramps woke me up in the middle of the night with terrible cramping in my calf that seemed to last for 3 days. I am hope I do not have any more of those.

Aaron and I are attempting to get a baby registry started.  I just can’t decide where it should be…target, wal-mart, babies r us.  I have started a registry on Amazon.  It is so hard deciding which items we want. I am really looking forward to our baby shower at the end of July; it is always so much fun to see friends and family!

Aaron and I had a doctor’s appointment on June 26th. Everything went well our doctor said that the growth looks good.  Our little guy’s heart beat was 143 beats/minute. Which is a little slower than previously recorded but still within normal range.  We start going to the doctor every two weeks now so our next appointment will be July 11th.  Aaron will be in Orlando for the NAA (National Auctioneer Association) Conference and Show, so I guess I will have to handle this appointment on my own.  With the increase in appointments and the rapid growth of my tummy it is really starting to get real.  We are 66 days from our due date.   My doctor told us we should be ready for anything by the beginning of August.  Wow, it is coming quickly. I have been able to stay pretty calm and not get to worked up about things, however knowing that we will be holding our little baby in about two months if not sooner, well that just gets me nervous and excited!

Since Aaron was away so much in June he had not really had a chance to feel the baby kicking yet. Well on Monday night he felt the little guy kick for the first time. It was really neat to share that experience with Aaron. Our little guy continued to kick for about 20-30 minutes in the same place, I think he knew it was his Daddy and wanted to make his presence known. 🙂

We are looking forward to a busy weekend.  Aaron is playing shows in Sharon and Medicine Lodge this weekend and as it turns out Sharon is celebrating its 125th Birthday so they are having some fun activities over the weekend as well.  Hopefully the temperatures stay moderate, but I think it will probably be dreadfully hot. Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Less than 90 days

We have entered the 3rd trimester!  Aaron and I are both getting very excited about meeting our son.  I know that we are not completely ready yet, but that is alright. I think most parenting is done by trial and error anyway, right? There are a thousand things left for use to do in preparation, but sticking the our true nature we will get it together, right toward the due date.  Hopefully he doesn’t come too early…

We have attended several Childbirth Preparation classes that  have done less to prepare me and more to scare me about the labor and delivery process. Just like every other first time mom I am praying for a smooth delivery and a healthy baby.

According to the doctor everything is going well with my pregnancy. I had my blood glucose tested at my last appointment, I have not received the results yet, but my doctor said that if it was high they would have contacted me to schedule the 3 hour test.  So because I haven’t been contacted I am assuming I must be within normal range.  I have been trying to keep walking, but the weather is starting to get out of control. We are expecting record highs tomorrow of 105+. Time to start looking into a gym membership! I think this is going to be  a long summer, I will probably remember the heat and discomfort for the rest of my life!

It is the beginning of June and you know what that means…Harvest. Aaron is on harvest leave until further notice. Luckily being only an hour from Sharon  does make it a little easier for him to come back to Wichita and see me.  The last few months have just been flying by and I am sure that June will be no exception. I may not even notice his absence, although I think that is pretty unlikely.

Aaron and I were so excited to find out that Aaron’s sister Megan and her husband Andrew are expect a little girl on October 22, 2011!  What a blessing to be able to experience being first time parents together.  Congratulations Megan and Andrew!

Just can’t wait to meet these babies!

Baby Traffas’s Quilt


While Aaron was away this weekend in Sacramento. I decided that I would trust the sonogram technician and go ahead and start a quilt for a little baby BOY!  I was so excited to get started on something for the little one. Aaron and I haven’t really bought anything yet as we were waiting to find out the gender.

Quilt fabric selections

I have made quilts in the past with my Grandma Poe but that has been many many years and they were always squares of the same size. Anyhow I found this pattern at a local quilting shop and I just love it.

By the end of the day on Saturday I had been to 4 quilting/fabric shops in town looking for just the right fabric. I really thought I had nailed it when I got home with my selections.  So I started cutting away making tons of little blocks to be sewn back together. I worked and worked all day, but had to get some sleep so I called it quits when I had 1/4 of the squares assembled.  I felt so proud of myself.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling terrible as I have been battling a sinus cold, but then I saw all of the cute little square laying there just waiting to be sewn together, so got back to work. I sewed all of the squares together to complete the front of the quilt. Then I laid the quilt on the bed to take a look at my progress.  I was somehow disappointed with my work. I had tried so hard to choose fabrics that complimented each other but  now the only color I was seeing when I looked at the quilt was ORANGE!

Baby Boy’s Quilt

I thought, “what can I do now it is completely sewn together.” So I did something very silly and started ripping out the seams. I also added some large solid squares of the blue fabrics. Then re-sewed the quilt back together. I am much happier with it now, but it is still not exactly what I was thinking in my head.

Last night I finished adding the quilt batting and the quilt backing. The quilt backing is the dark blue fabric already used in the quilt. Now I still need to decide if I am going to try actually quilting the blanket with the wandering stitch as the pattern picture had shown or stick with just hand tying the quilt.  Either way I think will be fine. I know that the hand tied would take less time, but I think the stitched quilting would look really nice. I have no experience with stitching a quilt. My Grandma always preferred the hand tied when we were young because it took less time and we (the kids) could help. So for now I will stay undecided about how I will be finishing up the quilt. The final step will be to decide on binding for the edges. The patterns says it is not something that is completely necessary but it just seems like it would be a nice finishing touch. I think I may use the same dark blue fabric that I used for the backing.

Baby’s Quilt Close Up

I think this could be a really fun starting point for our little guy’s room. I love the baby dinosaurs fabric and I was thinking about trying to use it somewhere else in the room. Possible curtains, who knows at this point. Luckily I have plenty of time to decide.

Just over 150 days till he is due to arrive. Can’t wait to meet him.