A May Baby...

No symptoms or signs at all this weekend. Not even a quick false contraction to get my hopes up. It doesn't feel like she's dropping any; if anything I think that she's crawling even further up back inside. It looks like little Lucy is going to be a May baby. (Just as long as she's not a June-baby, I think I'll be alright). 

I have a doctors appointment this Thursday,  my 40 week checkup. I've decided that baby or no baby, that Thursday's going to be my last day of work until I go back in July. Happy last 4 days of work to me. I haven't had more than a week off of work since our wedding/honeymoon. And a month of not working? That dates back to 2004. Looking forward to some "time off".

One Week til May 4th

I had extra vacation days to use up before my maternity leave. I kept pushing them back, because something always seemed to come up at work. Well, I finally put my foot down and took off last Friday and Monday. I cleaned the house, washed the floors, and made a big dent in my “to-do” list. Kyle asked if I had gotten that “nesting” instinct. Unfortunately, it was just a “wow, I’m bored with nothing better to do” instinct. I wish I had the desire to clean and tidy up my home, but nope, this was a long overdue and forced scrubbing.

After hand washing the kitchen floor, our 11 year old golden retriever, Savannah decided to poop right in the middle of it. I'm not sure what she was trying to tell me or what signal she was sending, but it allowed me the opportunity to wash the floor twice.

I sometimes wonder what our dogs do when we’re not around. So, I let them outside and spied on them from my bedroom window. This is a short clip into the lives of Savannah and Reggie, when they think no one’s watching. As you might notice, they're two very different dogs.

Only 1 week until Lucy's due date. For a while I thought she'd be early. Then I thought she'd show up right on her due date at noon. After yesterday's dr. appointment, I'm now thinking that she'll have to be forced out a week and a half after her due date. No effacement and zero dilation. As my mother-in-law said, Lucy must just feel happy and safe inside. (Or maybe she's afraid of that crazy dog in the video).

Oh by the way, for you foodies, Lucy's the size of a wintermelon. I've never had one before, and after wikipedia-ing it, I'm not really in a hurry to try one.

My Little Pumpkin... 38 weeks

Little Lucy is approximately the size of a pumpkin.

I haven't had any symptoms or signs of labor. If it wasn't for this ridiculously large stomach, I would forget that I was pregnant. I had a doctor's appointment this morning. Nothing exciting other than a whole lot of waiting to see the doctor. My blood pressure was up to 95/70 (which is still low for the average person) and Lucy's heart beat "sounded good". Which means that we'll just continue to wait until she's ready to come. I go back again next week to check her status.

She's still very active and I'm starting to learn how to ignore her hiccups. I used to love baby hiccups, now they just drive me nuts!

I realized that I might be a mother this mother's day. Kyle made the comparison to going on a first date a few days before Valentine's Day. 

Not much else going on in the Ring house.

37 weeks

I feared that one day, this fruit would come… Little Lucy Ring is the size of watermelon. Yowsers! At my appointment on Tuesday, they estimated that she weighs 6 pounds and 12 ounces. That puts her in the 58 percentile. She received 8 out of 8 for the portion of the biophysical profile test that she completed. They did note that she was a little low on amniotic fluid. We skipped the non-stress test part of it. The doctor was behind, and she had aced all of the other tests.

We passed our childbirth course. It was nice taking the 6 week class. At the review, I was amazed of how much I had learned. I think we’re ready for this whole baby pushing business. Which, we did find out that Lucy has turned and is head down.

22 more days until her due date. I have another doctor’s appointment next Thursday. It should be just a quick check up to make sure we’re still feeling ok. I’ve actually been feeling a lot better than I expected to be feeling at this point. Sometimes my lower back will be a little sore, but nothing too bad. I’m starting to find bending down to tie my shoes sort of difficult too.

By the way, we received this in the mail:

 

Barbara (Christine's mother-in-law) knitted Lucy a sweater, socks,  and hat. These may be the most adorable things I've ever seen. I can't wait until she's big enough to rock out in this!

Easter 2012

On Saturday we went to Carmel to spend time with Kyle's family and to check out his parents new house. They were able to work with the builders and have it built exactly the way they wanted. I love the smell and feel of a new house... It's even nicer than the smell of a new car :)

On Sunday morning, Kyle and I got up early and made an asparagus, Canadian bacon and gouda quiche. We brought it over to my parents and spent Easter with my family. The Easter Bunny had left eggs in the backyard for Yoshi and Franny.

They enjoyed opening the eggs to see all the stuff inside. Franny liked the balloons and lizards, but Yoshi's favorite was definitely the "chalk-kal-lit"

After that we dyed Easter eggs and played games. I can't wait until Lucy's here next Easter and can join in on the fun!

I'll leave you with my 36 weeks and 3 days photos,

Michelle

36 weeks

Little Lucy is the size of a coconut...

Reminds me of one of my favorite Sesame Street songs...

"Shimi shimi, coconut, shimi shimi pie

Grandma, grandma sick in bed
Called the doctor and the doctor and the doctor said
Let's get the rhythm of the head, ding dong"

We toured the hospital on Tuesday. We were able to see all of the different rooms that we might be in.  Hopefully we'll never have to use the c-section room or the NICU. 

Pretty much, we'll wait until I start having contractions that are 5 minutes apart. Then we'll go to the hospital, check in and get checked out in the pre-labor room. Once I'm "ready" we'll go to the labor room, and have Lucy. After Lucy is born, Kyle, Lucy and I will be in that room for about another 2-3 hours, while they bathe her and check all her stats. After that we'll move to the postpartum room, which we'll be in for about 48 hours. Hopefully after that, they'll run some last tests on Lucy, and we'll be released to go home.

I have a doctors appointment on Tuesday. They'll run a non stress test and do an ultrasound to check for all those things doctors check for before delivery :)

I can't believe that Lucy will be here in less than a month (hopefully).

I did a little research on when babies are born in relation to their due date. A baby who makes it to 35 weeks, has the following percentages:

35 weeks: 1.2%

36 weeks: 3.3%

37 weeks: 7.2%

38 weeks: 12.9%

39 weeks: 26.6%

40 weeks: 30.6%

41 weeks: 15.8%

42 weeks: 2.3%

43 weeks: 0.2% 

Just a reminder of everyone's birth date guesses:

Maureen:  April 24th @ 7:19pm

Hannah: April 27 @ 6:12am

David Ring:  April 28th @ 9:15 am

Jason: April 29 @ 11:07 pm

Me: April 30th @ noon

Nana: May 1st @ 10:00am

Kyle: May 2 @ 10:45 a.m

Christine Lynn: May 3rd @ 130am

Draves: May 3rd @ 8:05 am

Kels: May 5th @ 515PM

Auntie Donna: May 6

Theresa: May 8th

Nuna: May 11th @ 5:00pm

Papa Ring: May 12 @ 8:47 A.M

I'm surprised no one picked her actual due date, May 4th

All the Marbles...

I should be blogging about Lucy's size at 35 weeks (which is about the size of a butternut squash). Instead I'm going to blog about something even more exciting... the NCAA tournament. If Kentucky pulls off a win tonight, you're looking at the 2012 Bielick-Ring March Madness Champion. However, if somehow Bill Self-ish beats the wildcats, Susan (Kyle's mom) will be the first repeat winner (which would be fitting, since she was also the inaugural champ in 2009). 

Kyle and I enjoy our family pool. Everyone fills out one bracket, and the winner gets their name on the perpetual plaque, which is proudly displayed in our house. Unfortunately, neither Kyle nor I have our names up there... yet. There's no money involved, yet the stakes are higher than any other bracket that we fill out. My mom even fills out a bracket. This year she chose Lehigh over Duke, and had Marquette and Wisconsin not lost as early as they did, she'd still be in the running.

Hopefully this is my year. I like my chances. Go Kentucky! (Hopefully SR does not ever read this)