37 weeks

There I was at 37 weeks on Sunday, September 8.

And here is our baby boy, Copeland, who was born on Tuesday, September 10.

What a surprise!  I had thought all along that I would have him early but I never thought I'd have him 19 days before the "official" due date!  My water broke at about 3:45 am on Monday morning and we called the doctor's office once they were open and went in to get checked out and were immediately admitted to the hospital.  I had requested a natural, mobile birth so we were able to walk all around the hospital and not be tied to the bed.  The doctor told me if I didn't progress fast enough she would induce but I was able to keep progressing and finally at 3:26 am on Tuesday we welcomed this little angel.  He was 8 lbs 20.5 inches and just perfect (in our eyes of course).  He passed all the tests they ran at the hospital and is eating like a champ.  We've since had two pediatrician appointments with him.  He gained all his weight back by 9 days after birth and the doctor said he's doing just great.  We are slowly figuring out life with a newborn and we're pretty lucky that he sleeps fairly decently at night.  Right now I'm able to get about 2-3 hours of sleep at a time between feedings.  Now that he's here I can't imagine life without him.  This little guy stole our hearts.

Pavlov's Dogs

When Ryan first got the Vitamix the dogs HATED it.  They would run as far away as they could and shake and try to crawl up my leg to save them from the awful loud noise.  Ryan decided he could turn Vitamix time into a pleasurable time for them so he started keeping treats in the kitchen and handing them out whenever he runs the machine (which is a lot).  Now the minute he turns it on the dogs come running into the kitchen from wherever they are instead of running the opposite way as fast as they can.  Pavlov would be proud.

36 weeks and 1 day

Now I am really getting huge:

And I'm also getting to the point where we're just waiting to welcome baby boy.  At our last appointment everything checked out fine and the doctor even said "we are just waiting now".  Baby boy is still measuring big, of course.  So I'm getting a lot of questions lately about upcoming labor and delivery so I thought I'd answer some of them here:

1.  Do you have a name picked out?  Yep, but we aren't sharing until we welcome baby boy into the world.

2.  Are you having any labor symptoms?  Not that I know of.  Everyone says I am probably having  Braxton Hicks but I don't notice them.  Other than that, I just feel ginormous but I'm not in any kind of pain and I don't feel like I've noticed him drop.

3.  Are you sleeping?  Negative.  Not because I'm uncomfortable or anything but mainly because I go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME and also anytime I need to roll over or move in bed it is quite the process which apparently requires me to be awake.

4.  Do you wear those bright green Birks everywhere?  Yes - I don't care if they don't match - they are music to my feet and I can still wedge my size 26 feet into them.  When I'm not wearing my bright green Birks you will find me in my bright red Danskos.  Sorry fashion world - sometimes comfort does win out.

5.  Are you doing anything to try to persuade him to come out?  I'm not but Ryan is.  He is very proactive about making me "pregnancy" tea, which is supposed to help with cervix softening in early labor, and asking me to go on walks.  I think he is even more ready than I am.

6.  Are you nesting?  Nope.  Not at all.  I think I'm actually less motivated to clean/organize than usual.  With my size and lessened mobility I feel like I get tired so much easier.

7.  Any cravings?  Nope.  Never really had them other than developing a sweet tooth, which is unusual for me.

Well, that's all I can think of now.  Like I said, we're kind of just waiting now...  It's kind of fun to be waiting for this little surprise.  I mean, I know that eventually he will come out so it's not a complete surprise but it's kind of fun to not know when (unless they have to induce me because he's running late).