38/40

No baby yet. I guess that is a good thing. We have some stuff in our work lives to get done before our little guy gets here so that we can focus completely on him. I have pretty much set up my action plan for transitioning to part-time status at the church. Christopher and I worked together Thursday on his 6-week away plan. Please say a prayer for him and his team...the hard part is Holy Week is falling right in the middle of our maternity leave. So he will still need to be semi-connected because of how big that is at Christ Church. So, also pray for mama! :) I do have some pretty exciting news that my lovely roomie from before I got married will be visiting with us for a long Easter weekend. I am so excited about that.

Went to the doctor on Wednesday and he was able to say I was dilated 1cm! Woo hoo! I can stay there for up to two weeks. He also did a little loosening of stuff in there...stripping membranes (that sounds disgusting), but he said it starts the labor process faster. Bring it on! He did make a comment that I may miss my apt next week. That was pretty eye opening. So we got busy on making some plans for if that were the case. 

My feet are remaining swollen for sure and I did have one contraction in the middle of the night Wednesday that woke me up it was so painful. I guess those are my two "labor prep" things happening in my world. 

Waiting at the doctor...something in our weekly routine lately! :)

Valentines Day was this week and Christopher was a wonderful Valentine. He gave me a "push present" on Valentines Day from
one of my favorite stores, Kate Spade. (sorry no pic...I forgot to take one).

Valentines dinner at Sperry's!

Until next week!

37/40

This has been a pretty good week. 37 weeks! Oh boy!

Baby Phillips has definitely started to prepare for his arrival. :) I have definitely started "false" contractions this week. Kind of crazy when you just have to remain still for a few seconds to let them pass. It's like a big surprise 10 times a day. For someone who doesn't really care for surprises...it's challenging at times.

I took some advice from a friend this week and decided to take today off just to relax and prepare to be at home. I still feel pretty good but definitely feel tired and less energy. So when I can rest... I should.

Here are some pics from the week! I am trying out using the blogger app on my phone to post this blog so I am not sure how this will look in comparison to my other posts.

Until next week...

36/40

This week has been a pretty typical week. With the exception that the child inside of me is at 6 or 6.5 lbs or so. Wow! That makes it feel like its coming pretty soon. Next week he will no longer be premature if he comes early...woo hoo!

We hosted our friends from Japan this past week. Lots of running around and meetings. Baby was tired for sure from all of the planning and organizing that had to take place to make that happen.

On another note, I think my ankles are gone till baby Phillips comes. They go down in the mornings but by the afternoon they are pretty swollen.

On Wednesday, we went to our weekly check up and everybody was healthy. Baby is measuring perfect and his heart rate is great. Blood pressure is still good for me. I had to do my Group B Strep screening (Google it if you don't know what it is). Yeah...had no idea that you had to do that! :) 

We reviewed our birth plan with our doctor and he was very pleased by my thoroughness...haha! :) 

Thursday night we went to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for a CPR course. We both learned a lot. Who knew how hard you have to beat your child on the back if they are choking. Had no idea... I sure hope we don't have to ever do that.

Creepy CPR babies

Until next week...

35/40

Not a whole lot of changes this week in the baby Phillips world. He has definitely grown to be over 5lbs according to the books and mama can feel that for sure. I have definitely had to start propping my feet up more because of my poor swelling ankles this week.

I definitely can't say my miserable scale is off the charts yet...but it is sometimes around a 3 or 4. If I am busy, it stays at a 2ish...so thats good. However, I need to rest...and rest makes the miserable feeling become stronger. Does that make sense...no...but whats a girl to do? :) 

On Saturday we got his car seat all ready. We spent 30 minutes peeling stickers off the base and the carrier of the carseat. Not a fan of those stickers. I read the owners manual...I know how to work this contraption. No need to remind me with 100 stickers on the carrier. :)

Stroller with the attachment for the car seat in place.

 This was the "storm" after the baby shower. It does not look like this anymore...but I would be lying if I didn't say that my OCD went away for about 3 days and I just shut the door to the baby's room until I had the energy to organize it all.

Babies room is needing some stuff on the walls pronto! :)

This is about Wednesday of this week. I was able to get the majority of it all organized. Everything has a place and everything is in its place. :) I love our roman shade that was installed this week. This is at night time so it is closed but it looks great open too. :) 

Eat, play, sleep blanket...luv! Also my organic nursing pillow (on the rocker) came in this week. This is what my hostess for my shower got me. Its got beans in it or something. I love it!

Until next week...

34/40

Wow this week was an exciting week for baby Phillips. He found out that he is going to have two awesome dudes to hang out with come June, Jude and Josiah. My friends Shanna and Hannah both found out they are expecting happy and healthy boys in the past week. Boys Rule! Woo hoo! :) 

Also this week we were blessed by an amazing baby shower for Baby Phillips. It was so overwhelming (in a beautiful way) to see the response from friends, choir members, and church members. Someone said I will need to hire a scribe to write the thank you notes for all of the wonderful presents our little boy got. He is one blessed and loved kid. A LOT of people are excited to meet him in just a few more weeks. I had some amazing friends host this shower and they just hit it out of the park from the flowers, food (the cake...oh my goodness!!), decorations, organization...wow! Times like these, remind you to not worry about stuff...God provides and it all works out. Every time...He is faithful even when you feel like its last minute. Soo...onto some pictures.

guests at the wonderful baby shower - 1/13/13

The brains behind the baby shower, my best friend Amanda B!

Christopher giving the "excited dad speech" before we open just a few of the presents. 

Presents! Most of them we waited to open until we got home.

My friend, Jessica, surprised me with a quilt that she had secretly been working on. I am in love with it!

So, all of the things are falling into place and we are preparing and finishing things more and more each day. However, it seems the more I "accomplish", the more gets added to the to-do list. So its a good thing we have a few more weeks to prepare. 

We are off to buy some big purchases today such as a car seat. I have heard you can't leave the hospital with your baby unless you have one...so thats kind of important! :)

Until next week...