More Belly Photos

At 38 weeks, I subjected Mitch to more belly photos. A friend at work does some photography on the side and wanted to build up her portfolio. She had asked to use me as her maternity model. Never one to pass up free photos, I agreed. On March 29th, she headed out to the house to capture some posed and natural photos of the parents-to-be at 38 weeks. It was a gorgeous day, despite a little wine. We took some individual shots of the belly, some posed indoors with Mitch and I, and a zillion natural photos outside. Three hours and a few hundred photos later, we were finally done.
I treated Mitch to Cheesecake Factory that night for being a good sport. We, also, considered one of our last nights out before baby.
Here are a few of the photos that she brought in to show me at work this morning. She is still working through all the pics, but she wanted me to have a few that were complete before I go on maternity leave. When I get the disk with all the photos, I will post a shutterfly slideshow. \

38 Weeks

On March 25th, Mitch and I had our 38 week appointment with Dr. G. We love Doc G because she is always high spirited and laughs nonstop. She is very down to earth and comfortable. She checked baby's position and heartbeat. Position is perfect and the heartbeat was strong, as usual.
As for me, I lost a pound (go figure) and my blood pressure is great. I assume this is just water weight, but I will take a pound. My belly is still at 31 centimeters. Doc G. loves how compact I carry baby in my belly. At this point, she checked for dilation and effacement. I am 80% effaced and 2 centimeters dilated. She, also, mentioned how great everything looked and asked if my mom had easy labors. I let her know that from my understanding, my mom had fairly nice labors. She informed me that I must have good genes, because everything looked great and labor should be easy for me, as well. We will see about that:) I think my mom is way more tough than me. She had 4 kids naturally, come on-she is a champ!

We briefly spoke about labor, maternity leave, insurance, breastfeeding, etc. She informed me about drinking and breastfeeding. Well, actually, all she mentioned was that my first beer after childbirth will be the best I have ever tasted. See, this is why we love this woman. Mitch and I headed out with a "inducement" scheduled, on the off chance that baby does not arrive during Spring Break. But, I am hoping baby will want to come out on time and on his or her own.

Baby Showers Galore

BABY SHOWER #1

Blame it on "pregnancy brain," but I am easily fooled. I headed to work on Thursday, March 26th like any other day. Walking into my classroom, I was immediately bombarded by children with art work. Our art shelf at work is full of fun projects for the kiddies to enjoy. Some day s I will get a picture or two offered to me, but i try to convince them to take it home to mommy and daddy.
For some reason today's outpouring of art worked felt a little different. All I heard was, "This is for baby," "Presents for the baby, " "Is baby here yet." I get this most days, but that day it was really out of hand. I just went about my day, thinking they must know the end is near. They all know my due date and we have a countdown calendar in the classroom. But, a few kids mentioned something about a party. I thought nothing of it, children are always talking nonsense.
So, fast forward to 5pm. I am asked by Carol, the lead morning teacher, to leave and go to the activity room so she can do some work in the classroom. No big deal. About 20 minutes later she comes to collect the children and myself. We walk down the hall to the class and "SURPRISE." The parents in my room have decorated the room beautifully and there are treats everywhere. The children and parents have thrown me a baby shower. I was clueless. Carol informs me that this was why all the kids were so excited all day long and even says they actually mentioned the shower to me several times throughout the day. Nice, right? You would love your kid in my room, considering I do not listen.
We enjoyed chocolate chip cookies, fresh strawberries, and the best red-velvet cupcakes in the world. I should mention another theme for the day. A friend at work came to my classroom during lunch time and mentioned how there seemed to be a lot of kids in red that day. Again, I did not think much of it.. Work with people long enough and people start wearing the same thing. It happened with Jennifer V. at my previous job all the time. We were known to show up in the same shirt. And with 27 kids in the classroom, they are bound to have the same color on. I joked that it was for me. The kids love all "Catherine facts" and the most popular one is that i love red. Anytime they have red on, it is important to point it out to me. Well, guess what? They had all been informed to wear red in honor of my special day:) Adorable!!!
Amongst the popping of balloons, I opened endless presents from my sweet children and parents. The kids were out of control, but I loved it. It was a awesome surprise and reminds me what a wonderful group of kids I have at work..

BABY SHOWER #2

A few weeks back a friend at work asked if a few of us would all go out to dinner on the 26th. She is getting married in June and wanted to try out a restaurant for her rehearsal dinner. I was more then thrilled to have a dinner date with my friends from work and love weddings, so we all marked the calendar. So, after a hectic school closing, (as mentioned the kids were all hopped up on cupcakes) we all headed to Olive Garden for a intimate dinner of about 6 people from work. Wrong, again.
I walk to a back room and there sit 20 or so of my coworkers. They had planned this night to be a baby shower all along. And again, apparently they thought I knew because teachers are not the most stealth people in the world-and we are loud:) I was astonished that I was fooled twice in one day. Mitch was even there to help celebrate. We dined on yummy Italian food and baby received more wonderful gifts. I do have the best coworkers in the world. I am hoping my scatterbrain mode will diminish after baby's birth and I will get my intuitive nature back. But, for now, I am happy to be completely and utterly in the dark.

Some pics from Olive Garden

Maternity Photos

Just a photo post. We headed to Dulles Mall for some 36 week maternity photos on March 14th. Bless Mitch for putting up with me and wanting him included in the photos.

36 Weeks

Our 36 week appointment was on March 12th. Dr. P informed us that everything is wonderful. Not much to report. Weight and blood pressure are great. Currently my belly is measuring 31 centimeters. She did feel my stomach again to see baby's position. Baby is ready! We asked a few logical questions about the baby's upcoming birth. We spoke a bit about a birth plan. But, naturally-Mitch and I figure we will just go with the flow. We are ready!
We have started to pack our bags and do last minute shopping. The house is fairly clean and organized. Mitch has been putting together some of the gifts from the baby shower and our house is full of boxes and baby gear. I have been washing an endless amount of clothes.
Baby's room is still under construction. But, that will not be complete until we know if our little one is a boy or girl. Stay tuned to find out!

Baby Clothes Galore

Mitch is such a handyman

Mitch's hard work completed!

35 Weeks

Just some fun photos Gramdma took for us over the weekend.

Showered with Snow at 34 weeks

On March 2nd, we were hit with our first and probably last big snow of the season.
It was the day after my baby shower and we received a few inches of snow in Northern Virginia. It was literally almost 70 degrees a few days before the snow storm, March has begun.
Of, course this made for a great 34 week maternity photo and poor Mitch had to brave the shoveling alone.