The Countdown Begins. . .

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I can't believe that its been over 6 weeks since my last posting! Everything has been going well and time has been FLYING by! It's hard to believe that in 7 weeks or so Kader will likely be in our arms. I feel moderately prepared for his arrival, but at the same time feel like all the time in the world will never prepare us for this life changing event. As I write about being prepared, I should mention that we've completed our 5 week birthing class. It was a good refresher course from nursing school for me and definitely an eye opener for Kirk. The most memorable part of this course came after watching a movie about the birthing process from early labor until delivery. After the video was completed, I asked Kirk what he thought about it. His response “that woman was kind of a bitch to her husband.” I knew then that I had my work cut out for me!! I'm praying for an easy labor and good anger management on my part :) I know Kirk will be a saint throughout it all, especially now that he has more information on how to help me cope through everything. I'm going try for “natural” labor initially to see if I can tolerate it, if not, BRING ME THAT EPIDURAL!! I just figure that women have been delivering babies since the beginning of time without medical intervention, so I can at least try!! The nice thing about now vs. then is that if I want an epidural I can get one!!

Even though Kader isn’t outside yet for everyone to enjoy, he got special treatment this Christmas. Our families went way overboard buying gifts for him. It’s overwhelming to know how many people care about this baby already. I am so thankful for all of the loving support we have received throughout the pregnancy.

Kader will not be lacking for clothes. . . and we lucked out and got a lot of accessories from our baby registry!

Go Pirates!!

We've recently put together the majority of the nursery so all the furniture is in place. After 5 different paint colors and the room being completely painted with a color I thought I liked, we've finally repainted with a color I love (thanks to my brother Matt for getting this together for us). I'm waiting for a few pictures, a rug and valances to come in the mail so we can add the finishing touches to his room. I am still lacking a good portion of essential things and want to go out and get them all so that I will have them, but everyone keeps telling me to wait until after I have the baby shower. So I'm waiting! It's crazy all of the things, big and small that babies require.

Below are some pictures of our work in progress.

Door coming into nursery from living room

View from our bathroom door

Crib, looking much better than I imagined it!!

Kirk putting together the crib. . .it only took about an hour to put it together! It took more time to get all the packaging out to the trash!!

At 29 weeks we had our 4D ultrasound of Kader at Triangle Imaging (a old PICU RN friend from Duke owns it). The facility was super nice and it was great to catch up with an old friend. Kader was being a little less than cooperative for our 30 minute (that turned into about an hour) ultrasound. His head was down very low in my pelvis and he had his face towards my backbone and he would only occasionally peak at us despite many maneuvers to convince him otherwise! Since we weren't able to get the best shots of him Kim brought us back at no extra charge a few days later. In preparation I had a small caffeinated coffee from Starbucks prior to getting there hoping that he would be a little spunkier than before. . . he was spunky alright (heart rate at the beginning of the ultrasound was 170!!--he is not used to me drinking anything with caffeine which I have pretty much eliminated since I've been pregnant) but not any more cooperative than the previous ultrasound. He was content in the same position as previously, except this time had umbilical cord by his face obstructing a lot of potentially good pictures. Nonetheless, I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!! It's reassuring to see him active and doing well. Seeing him on ultrasound just made me want to hold him right then! He's still got a good amount of time to “bake” in there, but statistically he would have a good chance for a good quality of life if he were to be delivered now. AGAIN, let him bake much, much more—I still have lots to do before he makes his grand entrance!

Snuggling with my placenta :)

Look at that tiny foot and those toes!!

Picking his nose already?!?

Check out the lips on that baby!

At 28 weeks I was tested for diabetes which I passed!! Shortly afterwards I came down with a horrible stomach bug that lasted about 18 hours. . I was throwing up every hour on the hour despite taking 2 different medications for nausea/vomiting. After about 8 hours of throwing up and not being able to keep down liquids we went to the urgent care where I was able to get 2 bags of IV fluids and IV nausea medications. I threw up two more times after I got home, but was starting to feel better. If I wasn't pregnant, I probably would have waited longer to go to the doctor, but I was worried that being dehydrated might start contractions and cause problems for Kader. Kirk was SUCH a trooper. He laid in the bed with me all day long getting me whatever I needed and was my cheerleader for drinking fluids! He's the best husband in the world and I can't begin to imagine what a wonderful Daddy he is going to be. Otherwise everything has been going great. My energy level is good and overall I can't complain. I love watching my belly grow. Over the past couple weeks I'm not sleeping as well as usual because I can't get comfortable!! I hate laying on my side and unfortunately I don't have much of a choice in the matter! I'm looking forward to when I can lay on my stomach and back again! Kader is getting so big and is definitely making his presence known by a little jab here and a tumble there--I love it! Again, all these are reassuring signs that he's doing well.

Below are my pictures of my ever growing belly!

Thanks again to all of our friends and family for your loving support, without you all, this experience wouldn't be the same. I pray for a happy and prosperous year for everyone. I also pray to continue with a healthy pregnancy and ultimately a happy, healthy little boy sometime next month!!

Love to all,

Kirk, Tiffany and KJ