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Gabriel's Coming Home Projects

I have now finished Gabriel's mittens, socks, and cabled hat in the Kona Superwash yarn to match his teal Debbie Bliss cardigan. I hand washed all of the pieces and am setting them out to dry and block tonight. I think in the end, all of the pieces are going to be of varying sizes. The socks may be too big for a newborn. His mittens may be too small quickly. And I sure hope the cabled hat is way too big for his head. The cardigan is big and boxy, but I can roll up the sleeves, so I think it will work. Now I just have to figure out what to put under all of these items for his Coming Home Outfit from the hospital. You can see a photo of the socks in my October 15th blog entry.

Full Term!

I am 37 weeks and 1 day into gestation today, which is a milestone. Gabriel is now considered full term! He can arrive any day now and his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though his due date is still three weeks away.

On average, a baby at this point should weigh 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel. At my ultrasound on December 9th, one estimate had Gabriel weighing 7 lbs and 2 ounces a week ago, so he is ahead of the average size baby. (Another estimate had him bigger than that.) Lucky me!

I am noticing more and more Braxton Hicks contractions these days, and I have lots of swelling in my feet and hands now. The hand swelling is relatively new over the last few weeks. I have heartburn almost 24 hours a day. My hips are aching, but I usually can get a full night of sleep in if I don't worry too much about work and wrapping up there before maternity leave. I'm also trying to find time to enjoy Gabriel's movement, as I think I am really going to miss that when he is born. I have finally had some net weight gain from when I first got pregnant, but I believe it to be mostly fluid based on the amount of swelling I've had since the start of December. For the most part, being pregnant hasn't been as bad as I expected it to be.

It's probably time to have a bag packed for myself and Gabriel.

Another Prenatal Appointment

I had another prenatal appointment with Dr. Chaudhari on Monday morning. I had gained 6 pounds just over the weekend, but it clearly was fluid retention. For the first time, I had trouble getting my engagement and wedding rings off. My feet had experienced some swelling before, but this was the first time my hands really swelled. But my blood pressure still remains okay, so chalk this up to normal end of pregnancy swelling. I'm in my 9th month of gestation now, so almost done!

I finally caught the bugs that were passing around the office. So I have nasal congestion, a cough, a sore throat from post nasal drip, and barely any voice left to speak. I came down with it the night before Thanksgiving and was miserable with it for the long holiday weekend.

Dr. Chaudhari was not sure that Gabriel was head down at my appointment. He was thinking he might be transverse, which makes sense to me as sometimes I have felt like he was going across my stomach and wasn't low in the pelvis. I've never had that sensation of getting kicked up under the ribs like other Mothers have told me about. I feel a lot of movement in there though, and I really enjoy it and am already thinking I will miss it when Gabriel's out. A transverse lie can be a problem, and require a c-section, if the baby is not head down by week 36. And I was 35 weeks and 1 day as of my appointment.

I am scheduled for another ultrasound on the 9th to once again check the size that Gabriel is, and now to confirm his position in the womb too. There is still concern that he is really big for his gestational age. And I don't have to probably write too much about the problems a big baby can cause during delivery. I am sure you can use your imagination on that.

Dr. Chaudhari has indicated that I will most likely have a December birth and that I won't be going past my due date based on what he has found so far, but the next ultrasound will be the final determination on what the birth plan will be. I have given up the idea of having a late baby born around mid-January. I have wanted to get Gabriel's birth as far away from the holidays, so of course, I'm learning already that there is little control in parenting.

I am on a weekly prenatal appointment schedule now that I am in the final month.

Baby Arrival Progress

The whole family has been working hard on getting things, especially Gabriel's room, all set and ready for his arrival. Michael had to sand and repair the walls in the old guest/storage bedroom. Then who knows how many coats of primer went on the ugly teal wall color in that room. It had been painted that color when Michael bought the house. And then several coats of the new paint went over the primer. And then the lower toxicity paint we paid extra money for to cover the trim in the room turned out to not be able to cover anything. I think after the 4th application of trim paint, Michael broke down and just went and got plain old paint and finally got the trim painted white. I wish now I had a before photo so the change in wall color could be fully appreciated. It felt so clean to see the room empty, freshly painted, and a relaxing light blue color.

Elleigh and Lucas helped Daddy to remove accidental paint droppings from the rug. And after a good bath with Grandma's rug cleaning machine, the rug bounced right back.

And not technically Gabriel's room, but we did make more room in the living room for Gabriel's gear. Grandma and Grandpa Abberton came to visit on Saturday and dropped off their rug cleaner and the crib we will be using, and then helped Michael haul away the elliptical that use to be stored in the living room. We actually used the Grands' pick-up to haul away a lot of stuff to the dump to make room for baby gear. Elleigh is enjoying the temporary bare spot on the floor in the living room until we fill the space with some sort of baby contraption.

And Elleigh and Lucas have done a good job guarding the babies and toys in the doll cradle that Great Grandfather Johnson made. And Elleigh and Lucas have turned out to be fantastic seat cushion warmers in Great Grandma Johnson's glider rocker.

We are using the crib that Cousin Maya was in not that long ago. Aunt Deb and Uncle Gary got a brand new mattress to go with the crib. And on Thanksgiving, Uncle Gary showed Michael how to man-handle the infant car seat into my CR-V.

I put the crib together on Sunday night and put the baby bedding on it from Grandma and Grandpa Doaner. The dresser we are going to use as a changing table still needs to be moved into Gabriel's room. And then all of the clothes and gifts we have received so far need to still be laundered and sorted into the right size piles and put away in the dresser and cupboard.

Almost ready for the big reveal on the baby's room.

And Even More Welcome for Baby Gabriel!

I went to Nancy's house on Saturday afternoon and walked in on another baby shower attended by New Hampshire family and friends! The amount of baby stuff in our house has just exploded over the last two days! Gabriel is definitely going to be spoiled rotten. One of Gabriel's ultrasound photos ended up being on the shower invitation. Allison is so graphically creative!

Gabriel now has a handmade flannel quilt from Grammy Abberton, which I noticed has sheep on it, my favorite. And Baby G has a handmade green and yellow traditional quilt from Meme Cynthia now too. And Shaelyn has decided to hand down her Cookie Monster and Elmo dolls to Gabriel so that he can have a chance to love them as much as she did. Ahhh! Not to mention Shaelyn is a great gift helper. And Karen's Mom, Nancy, crocheted a green and white blanket that is feather light. And Dale is very good at packing gifts up in the back of vehicles, and the front of vehicles for that matter.

We also have the stroller and infant car seat travel system now from Grandma and Grandpa Abberton. That is the item that most makes it real for me that a human being is going to pop out some day soon and then live with us for the next 18 years or so. This stroller has 3 cup holders and Aunt Nancy pointed out the large bin underneath perfect for shopping trips. It's a pretty slate grey-blue with a blue swirl pattern on it. But it's not an overwhelming boy blue. I'm going to get the base installed in my car and start driving around with the car seat in the back of the CR-V and let Elleigh and Lucas get use to riding one on each side, but not touching the car seat or the dangling toys. We will get a second base for Michael's Pilot. Does this stroller make me look motherly?

If you haven't noticed yet, I always include comment on the dessert. The shower cake came from Bread and Chocolate and was/is delicious. It is chocolate mostly with a bit of maybe mocha flavoring and both white and dark chocolate shavings all over the top. And I found out when I got the leftovers home that the part that "Welcome Baby Gabriel" was written on in chocolate was on a slab of almond marzipan. Mmmm! There is way too much leftover cake in the house right now.

Around the start of December, Michael and I will make a final trip to Babies R Us to pick up the last of the things we may need in the first few weeks we have Gabriel home. The shopping list won't be too long though considering how generous everyone has been in giving us stuff to care for our little boy when he comes into the world. And we still have some gift cards to spend on the remaining items too.

Welcome Baby!

I made it through another busy work week that included my whole office being packed up so a new work station/desk area could be installed, and then everything had to be put back in the new locations when the install was done. Even though I got a lot of help with that project, I was still tired by Friday. I was rethinking my commitment to go out to dinner Friday night with my co-worker, Kristen, and my old co-worker, Brandi, for dinner.

But I knew I would have fun, and being pregnant, if I yawned and fell asleep I have the perfect excuse. So off I went to The Red Blazer, but instead ended up having dinner with a whole bunch of my co-workers as they threw me a lovely baby shower! How that many women kept it a surprise is amazing!!

They ordered me a Mommy Friendly Cosmo for my arrival and the restaurant set us off in a quiet area by ourselves for the festivities. After dinner, I opened all of the new goodies and gadgets for Gabriel. Everyone found the cutest things! I am so happy to hear this may be a really cold winter because Baby G has quite a few plush, cozy winter outfits to wear that I can't wait to snuggle him in.

And for dessert, there was a yummy cake with strawberry, chocolate and yellow cake layers in it separated by Raspberry jam. On the outside, instead of regular frosting, I believe it was a creamy, possibly hazelnut flavored layer that then was covered with a chocolate/ganache layer. It looks just like the chocolate was poured over the cake and it was delicious.

The CR-V was filled up with the presents and this morning I will start sorting again and figuring out an order to Gabriel's room. Watch the side bar for the new photos to appear.

Luckily, cell phones take photos now so I have a few pictures from the shower that Brandi sent me.

Coming Soon... Gabriel!

Michael and I drove to Vermont with Lucas and Elleigh on Saturday where a group of family and friends came together to help me celebrate the pending arrival of Gabriel! It was so much fun, but I am exhausted and sore today! Opening gifts is hard work! And best of all, I got to see some folks that I just don't get to see as often as I would like now that I live in Hew Hampshire.

The event was held at the Brandon Senior Center and there was a whole spread of the homey kind of food you only get from a potluck. Mmmm. I can't stop thinking about Barb's homemade chicken wontons with the peanut sauce. And the cake had both chocolate and yellow cake layers, and a layer of the same filling that goes inside jelly donuts. Very nice!

I knew this baby was going to be spoiled, so I have been very good about not buying too much for Gabriel before he's had a baby shower. But clearly, there have been plenty of other people out buying for our kiddo! And some even handier people have been crafting for him!

Michael and I could barely get all of the gifts we received into the back of my CR-V. The dogs were not impressed with the traveling arrangements! Lucas especially didn't like the balloons that went home with us and that hovered over his side of the seat. We got home just before 9 pm last night, so we left the car loaded with our gifts.

Michael and I will unload the car today and then I will start sorting, washing, and making a game plan for putting everything away. Keep watch of the photo slide show on the right side bar for all of the gift additions we received.

And here's a photo of both Michael and I at 31 weeks and 5 days gestation.

Thank you so much to everyone who spoiled our family rotten at the baby shower!

Gabriel's Ultrasound

I have started the 8th month of pregnancy. I can't believe how fast the time is going!

Had another ultrasound today, so Michael and I got more glimpses of our boy. He's so much bigger now that we really only see one body part at a time on the screen as compared to when he was smaller and we could see his whole body in one shot.

The ultrasound shows all of Gabriel's parts in the right places. And he's still a boy! So we don't have to be concerned that his bedroom is now painted blue. The ultrasound technician showed us how she could see a good amount of hair floating in the amniotic fluid around his head. And she even showed us how he was practicing his breathing to get his lungs ready for room air upon his arrival.

Gabriel's growing uniformly, meaning his head and limbs and all of his parts are all growing at the same pace. However, he went from the 44th percentile in size from his last ultrasound estimation to the 89th percentile on today's ultrasound. Today's estimate is he already weighs 4 lbs and 13 oz. Based on that weight, he is about the size of a baby due 12/21/08. I thought I was sticking out more the last week or so.

So there will be another ultrasound in early December to get another estimate on Gabriel's size at that point.