Video from today!!!

Okay, be patient with me while I try to figure this out. We've got a new video of the little one. While we were getting our u/s today, the tech was nice enough to use the 3D transducer to get 3D images - it was so amazing! I'm trying to figure out how to include them in here.

I think I got it, just beware - this is an almost 6-meg file, so it takes a minute to download! What look like feet are really fists in front of the baby's face, then at the end, baby straightens its arms out.

3-D Ultrasound

Oh - pretty sure you need Real Player or Media Player to view it, too.

I need a new calendar!

I just called the hospital, and scheduled our childbirth education classes.

Baby Care - once a week for three weeks in November

Labor & Delivery - once a week for five weeks December and January

Breastfeeding - one time class the end of January

That pretty much fills up the weeks till our little one is here!!!! I guess I see why they say time starts to fly as you get closer (at least till those last few weeks when I hear I'll just want the kid OUT!)

Note to Bryn

Where are you? I know this has nothing to do with my blog, but this seems to be the only way I can reach you. I can't get to your blog anymore... I want to see how you're progressing!!! Did the address change?

Growing Exponentially!

Man - no wonder I couldn't breathe this weekend! Check out how much I've grown in the last week:

Weekend in Chicago

Work was... well, it was work.

But then mom came into town, and we had so much fun! I think it's a really good thing that I don't yet know what I'm having, since I probably would have wanted to buy everything in sight in every little shop we went into. We found the cutest little shop, Madison & Friends, that had everything from newborn outfits all the way up to toddler stuff. They also had the top of the line strollers (around $700 a piece!) and of course designer diaper bags. They had the most adorable little girl clothing, too!

We did tons of walking, but mom was (of course) very conscious about slowing down and making sure I was drinking enough water.

And the food!!! Yum-O!

From dinner at the Culinary School (quite an experience!) to lunch at the Tavern on Rush, we had some great food. Not too many fruits and veggies, but hey - you only get to splurge like that every so often!

One small downside to the trip was the stay the last night at the Quality Inn at O'Hare. But I'm putting that part of the trip out of my mind, other than to file it under "Places not to go in the future".

Thanks, mom, for such a wonderful mother/daughter weekend. I love you and can only hope to have a similar relationship with my little one. You're the best!

October Midwife Appointment

Well, yet another uneventful ob appointment, but that's a good thing! Well, it was relatively uneventful. Suki was a little surprised by my 12 lb. weight gain within the last month, but recovered quickly and reassurred me that I'm now where I'm supposed to be for weight gain. I got okayed to travel on an airplane, which is good since I leave tomorrow morning for Chicago (yay!). Suki also told me that it's normal for me to still be feeling the BH contractions, but to really make sure I'm staying hydrated (my biggest stumbling block so far) - especially when I'm flying.

We officially made the decision today to go with midwives for the delivery. So now the main thing is to meet the other two (Kelly and MaryJo) so we're comfortable with all three. Our next prenatal appointment is in four weeks (I'll be 26 weeks), and then from there we start on the two week cycle (beginning at 28 weeks)!!! I guess they'll also order more blood work to check my glucose levels, make sure I'm not getting gestational diabetes.

Suki brought out the trusty doppler so we could hear the heartbeat, and Rod was able to use our new digital camera to video tape that. I'm going to try to figure out how to put a link in here for that... check back maybe sometime next week on that one.

Appointment Stats:
Kristin's Blood Pressure: 104/64 (up a tiny bit, but no big deal)
Baby's Heartrate: 150 (it was kind of all over the place, but that might have something to do with the few sips of coffee I had before I went in)
Height of Fundus: 24cm.
Weight Gained from last appt: 12 lbs.!!

We tried to get them to sneak us in for an ultrasound today, but were unsuccessful. The good news is that we've got one scheduled for October 31st!!! We have to pay for it, but will finally get a good look at how this little one is growing ~ and of course (hopefully) what this "it" is!!!

Ultrasound appointment: Monday, Oct. 31st with the u/s tech.

Next appt: Wednesday Nov. 16th with Kelly (midwife)

No Wonder!

Okay, looking at the pictures from the past month, it's on wonder I've gained at least 10 pounds in 4 weeks! I'll get my official weigh-in on Wednesday when we have our next doctor's appointment, but unofficially, my scale has me up by 10!

I love baby showers!

Heather Lake's baby shower was this weekend. They're having a little girl, and she's due January 1st, 2006. Her shower was so much fun (great food, too!!!), and I got to see some friends I haven't seen in a while - Kathryn and Julie (and Heather, of course)!

























And Heather and I had to get the belly shot - just a little snapshot of what I might look like in two months...

We can officially Rock!!!

Rod and I were finally able to make the trip up to Mio this weekend to go to the amish furniture store with Penny (Rod's mom) to pick out a rocking chair. It's a tradition she started when Brena was pregnant - to buy all the daughters-in-law a rocker for them to rock the grandbabies.

After trying all sorts of rocking chairs and gliders, we found one that's not only really comfortable to sit in for long periods of time (I've already fallen asleep in it twice!), but matches our living room furniture perfectly!!!

Thanks, Penny! You're not allowed to get us anything else from now on!!!

Diapers, and Bottles, and Nipples, Oh My!

So far the most overwhelming part of this whole process is trying to figure out which diapers: Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, store brand; which bottles: Playtex, Dr. Brown's, Avent, store brand; then there are all the other little things - pacifiers, nipples, oh my goodness!

So far the only certainty I've gotten from parents is that every baby is different, and you just don't know. How am I supposed to prepare with answers like that?!?!? I guess there's only so much we can do before little Baby Schanck gets here.

This week's updates

Well, I re-weighed myself yesterday (making sure it was first thing in the morning, before I ate breakfast) and the scale doesn't lie. It said I was up 6.5 lbs. I guess as long as it doesn't keep going up that quickly, I'll be fine!

People have started getting their shower invitations (HUGE props to Bo~they look amazing!!!) and RSVP-ing. Yay! I'm getting so excited!!! I think this is when that nesting urge kicks in. I don't want to wait till the shower to get everything! I want it all now so I can feel prepared!!!

Oh - we did buy our first pack of diapers this weekend. Another overwhelming experience. We've read and heard people say to buy a pack a week to start stocking up. I'm just making sure I keep the receipt with the pack.

Here are updated belly pics for this week:









We got a new digital camera this weekend, so I got to try it out with this morning's shot - the colors are a little different... the new camera has more buttons and stuff :)

This can't be right!!!

Okay. When I found out I was pregnant, one of the first things I did was buy a scale. I promised myself that I wouldn't obsess over what it said, I just wanted to keep a handle on how much weight I was gaining. It's not like I can judge that by how clothes fit!

Anyway, I try to weigh myself every Monday, the same day as I take my belly picture. Just on a whim, I jumped on the scale this morning and to my horror, I've gained 7 lbs. this week! SEVEN POUNDS!!!! That's more than I've gained this entire pregnancy!!! What's worse is that my belly hasn't even seemed to grow at all this week, so I don't think the baby went through a big growth spurt! Maybe it was all that bragging I did about not gaining much yet... payback.

I think I'm gonna weigh in again tomorrow just to see. Maybe it was a fluke. Too much dinner at Famous Dave's last night, or something!

Made it halfway!

As of this past Sunday, we're officially halfway there! Now the countdown can begin... And the panic can set in.

Is it bad just to answer "No complaints" when someone asks me how I'm feeling? I do have complaints, but they seem so minute when compared to problems other people are having. My complaints mainly consist of not getting any good restful sleep, an achy back (although Rod still owes me that massage...), and having to pee every 15 minutes! It could be worse. I know it could be worse! Plus, even though I took an updated belly pic this week, I'm not sharing because it doesn't look any different than last week's. But somehow the pants that fit last week no longer fit! I'm officially down to 6 pairs of pants I can fit into... I guess it's good that there are only 5 days in a work week!

So much stuff, how to choose???

Well, Rod and I finally registered for the shower. Turns out both Target and Babies R Us have those fun scanner guns that Rod got to play with :). So that's set, at least for now. It's nice that in this day & age, we can go online and add/delete items from the registry, versus having to go to the store or call some 800 number.

Jody and I got a place for the shower finalized this weekend, too! So the official stats for the shower are:

Sunday, November 20th
1-4pm
daVinci's Restaurant in Frankenmuth

Invites are going out shortly, thanks to Jody's creative handiwork!