welcome to christine and pete's baby blog


Thursday, September 25, 2008

New Polls!

I added some new and exciting polls, so make sure to vote on them. Yes, I am bored. Luckily, I have some WORK to do this afternoon! Hooray!

Notice that on the poll about when the baby will be born there is NOT an option of having the baby after October 25th. Hopefully I didn't jinx myself into having the baby super late, but you never know. My Mom had six babies and we were ALL late. :)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Two Down, Eight To Go

At my appointment today, my doctor found that I am now "a good two centimeters dilated". Everything else was normal. I am now at the point where I constantly have that nervous/excited feeling. And, for some reason, a part of me feels kind of proud that my body is doing what it's supposed to be doing and that these contractions I've been feeling have been real and that they have been accomplishing something.

Pete is way more antsy than me. I feel nervous/excited, but I am not too worried about when things are going to happen. I mean, it could be next week, but it could be a month from now. When I told him about my appointment, he asked if that meant I'd have the baby soon. When I said probably not, he was 100% disappointed. Lately, it's like with anything I say, he wants to know if that means I'll have the baby soon, and he is so cute and let down when he finds out that he still has to wait.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Shower

Well, we made it through the shower and back to Appleton without having the baby. I was partially convinced that I would go into labor while we were in the cities, so I am happy to be safely back in Appleton. I still feel great, but I have been having quite a few contractions. The baby is still moving around a lot, and now that I know where its head is, I feel like I can completely feel the little feet kicking my ribs.

Anyway, the shower was amazing. It is one of those things (like a wedding) where you are surrounded by people who care about you and made the effort to come to celebrate something going on in your life and you end up feeling really overwhelmed and emotional about the whole thing. Needless to say, there were quite a few tears shed at the shower. Some were warranted (like when Alison first saw me and started crying), and others were just effects of feeling so overly emotional about everything (like when Alanna and I both teared up as she was talking about when the food was coming out).

We basically just mingled, ate a lot of good food, played a few funny games, opened presents, and ate some delicious cake. It was perfect. AND, now we literally have everything we need (according to my list) for the baby. So, thank you to my wonderful friends and family who made the effort to be there and make it special...and thank you everyone for all of the great and thoughtful gifts...and thank you to my amazing friends who planned the whole thing.

I left feeling sad that it was all over but thankful for all of these people in my life...and even more excited about the baby (if that was even possible). :)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Breastfeeding Class

Pete and I both went to a breastfeeding class tonight (and, for the record, Pete was NOT the only husband there), and it was actually pretty fun. Well, not fun, but it was interesting. The highlight of the whole thing was watching a video of a minute-old newborn who naturally and instinctually starting nursing within the first hour of its life. It was pretty cool to watch, and, of course, I started tearing up thinking about how it's going to feel to have our own baby. Pregnancy hormones are so much fun. :)

Exciting Appointment

I went into my appointment on Wednesday thinking that it was just a regular check-up. Nope. It was much more exciting than that! They did check all of the regular things like blood pressure and weight, and they measured me (exactly 35 for my 35 weeks). But, they ALSO did a bunch of other things, the most exciting of which told us that:

1. The baby has turned so that it is in the head-down position.
2. I am dilated to 1 centimeter.

These two little pieces of information really (finally!) made me feel like this is about to happen! It really made things much more real, and I couldn't be more excited.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

New Boy Name

I think we are set on our girl names, but Pete likes Sophie better and I like Claire better, so we'll see what happens. :) As for boy names, we have really been struggling. We both agree that Aidan is our favorite of the names we had on our original list, but we have never really felt 100% settled about it.

Anyway, the other night we were having dinner with Nancy and Paul, and Nancy brought up the name Blake. I LOVE THIS NAME! In fact, that has always been my favorite boy name, and Claire has always been my favorite girl name. Sadly, early on in the pregnancy, Pete made it very clear that he did NOT like the name Blake, so I sort of let it go. But, the other night when we talked about it, he didn't hate it as much! Hooray! (Trust me...for Pete, not hating something is as good as loving it). So anyway, that is my number one boy name again. Blake Elias Hoffman. I think it's perfect.

Shower!

My friends are throwing me a shower next Saturday, and I can't wait! It is going to be so much fun! I absolutely can't wait to see everyone...especially since I get kind of lonely here in Appleton. My only fear is that I will go into labor while I am there, but luckily Pete is coming with me, so at least if something happens, he will still be there. :)

Nursery

Our nursery is really close to being done, and it looks SO good. I absolutely love it. I will post pictures of it at some point in the near future to show you how far it has come. Everything is in place, everything has been washed and put in its designated spot, etc. It is my favorite room in the house.

On a sad note, we got our rug in the mail yesterday, and it is horrible! It looks nothing like the picture online! The one I wanted was all sorts of bright colors, and this one is basically pink, tan and blue. What? It makes no sense. But, I figured out what happened, and the store screwed it up! The rug I got in the mail is called Botanical Isle Sand, and that's what the store CALLED it, but they had a picture of Botanical Isle 3880 (a totally different rug) as the picture for Botanical Isle Sand. How frustrating. But, at least I figured it out and I can do something about it.

I Love Lists

Of all of the self-proclaimed list makers in the world, I have to say that I probably win the prize for the most thorough, psychotic, obsessive list maker of all. Pete will definitely agree with that. He has said multiple times that he worries that some day he is going to come home to find me in a room completely covered with lists because I have gone completely nuts.

Anyway, I have a plethora of lists regarding the baby. I have a list of things to pack for the hospital, a list of what to do to babyproof the house, a list of everything we need to do before the baby is here, and a very embarrassing list of what we need for the baby. In my opinion, that list is the best one, but I would NEVER show it to anyone for fear that they would really think I am crazy. That list has tables and a system for shading boxes when things are completed and all sorts of extra fun things. I love it, and I love updating it.

Getting Closer...

I am in my 34th week of pregnancy. Overall, I still feel really good. I haven't reached the point where I am annoyed with still being pregnant, but I am definitely slowing down. I get tired really easily, my arms are killing me, and I haven't been sleeping well at all. I literally get up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom, stretch, get a drink, or try to get some blood flow back into my hand. But, I still feel like being in week 34 is perfect. I am still enjoying being pregnant and I feel like we have just enough time to do some of the last minute things I want to do before we have the baby, like the pregnancy class, the breastfeeding class, completing the nursery, etc.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Yeah! Summer is Almost Over!

I absolutely love summer. It has always been my favorite season. I love being outside, sitting in the sun, getting tan, going on boats, swimming, etc. The end of summer has always been a very sad time for me. But, not this year. For the first time in my life, I can say that I am ready for fall. It pains me to even say it, but it's true. Obviously, this is a pregnancy issue, since it all relates to being hot and puffy and out of breath and uncomfortable. I'm sure next summer I will be back to my good old self...loving summer and enjoying it with the baby!

Bad Parents...Already

So, Pete and I missed our first pregnancy class. When Linda and her family were here, we were sitting around the table eating dinner, and Linda asked when our first class was. My heart seriously skipped a beat because at that very minute I realized that our first class had been that very night. I was horrified! I almost started crying, but I held it together. Anyway, I called the hospital and told them what happened, and we decided that we are just going to take the all-day class instead of the four-week series...on October 4th. So, yes, we are cutting it VERY close. Hopefully the baby can just stay put for a little bit longer so that Pete and I can learn how to be parents BEFORE we actually have a baby.

My Biggest Fear

I have a very strange fear of getting my blood pressure taken. It makes no sense because I have always had good blood pressure, but for some reason I get really, really nervous every time it is taken. I have always been like that. The nurses all laugh at me because I get so weird and stressed right before they take it. And, because of my other fear of getting preeclampsia, my fear of getting my blood pressure taken is even worse lately. So, I have another appointment today (32 weeks!), and my heart is already racing thinking about having them take it. I have serious problems. :)