36 Weeks: Home visit, Shower, Baby's room

We are now in the home stretch, as they say, of our pregnancy.  This is the time that most people say feels the longest and it does feel like we have quite some time before the due date, but we are guessing it will go by pretty fast.  Why wouldn't it? So far things have felt (relatively) quick and smooth.

We had our home visit with our midwives last week.  The first thing they asked to see was the kitchen.  Yeah, we thought the same thing...the kitchen??  They make herbal teas and whatnot for the birth, so they wanted to know where to find our big stock pot, mugs, honey (Shani questions the honey, she never uses honey for tea.  Silly Hakujins), etc.  Next was the laundry room (John thinks sweet, they will be doing laundry not him) then to our birthing supplies.  Being the organized person she is, Shani had all the birthing supplies in order and set in one area for them to go through.  The midwives commented on how nice and easy it was to see everything.  It looks like we had everything we need which is a good start.  We then went to the bedroom to see where the tub would go.  We thought we'd need to move the bed around to make space, but they said there was a great spot for it.  John still wants to slide the bed over a bit to be nice and give us a little more room.  Then it was to our "normal" prenatal visit.  Shani's BP was 120/82, baby's heart-rate was 132bpm, she is measuring 34cm, and everything continues to look healthy.  Now that we've officially hit 36 weeks and had our home visit, we are clear to deliver at home!  Hurray!

36 weeks

Shani had another wonderful shower this weekend that her great friends Betty, Lisa, Liz, and Michelle threw for her.  They served brunch, a cool twist to the traditional baby shower times, and a delicious variety of food.  This shower had some of Shani's soccer friends that she's known for 15+ years as well as other great college and family friends.  Among the friends, there were 6 pregnant gals!  What is in the water??  We were blessed again to receive so many helpful and adorable things from friends.  This little guy of ours already has a wardrobe larger than John's.  If he is anything like his dad, it's a good thing he has so many clothes because John's white shirts never stay white! 

The pregnant mommy's at the shower

Piranha Girls (Soccer)

Great shower hosts Lisa, Betty, Liz, and Michelle

 

 

Wonderful Friends

Here is a picture of the room.  There are still some pictures and shelves and a valance and closet curtains that we want to hang, so we'll post more pictures once the room is all the way done.  John put up our new blinds this weekend so now that wall looks a little more complete.  We are very happy with how it turned out and it still shocks us when we walk by that room and see it all decorated.  There are times when it still has not hit us that our lives will be changing, but at the same time we can't wait!

Stay-cation

We really wanted to have a little vacation together before the baby arrived, but with so much going on until then we knew we couldn't get away.  So we decided to have a stay-cation; a vacation where we didn't go anywhere! We had a great time and enjoyed the time we spent together.  Saturday we went to Awful Annie's for breakfast, then headed towards Wheatland.  We first stopped to look for some rare swans that John was hoping to find. He thinks he did, but will have to send pictures to people that know better. Don't hold your breath.

He also saw a Bald Eagle and Eurasian Wigeon (new bird for him).  Shani just stayed in the car with Mochi and read.  Then we headed to Camp Far West to go on a hike in Spenceville Wildlife Refuge.  It was a nice 5 mile, relatively flat hike to a waterfall.  It was sunny and warm, which we weren't prepared for, but still very beautiful.  Mochi had a great time running around. 

We then had a nice dinner and went shopping for our homebirth supplies.  Sunday we went to brunch, ran some errands, cleaned house, John watched some football, Shani put baby stuff away, and we finished the baby's room.  We had some wall stickers that we bought and finally put them up. It took a lot longer than we anticipated, but it definitely makes the room look  more complete.  We'll post pictures of it soon.  We had a great stay-cation and really enjoyed the time we spent together!  Now only 4.5 weeks of waiting until our due date!

A Really Fun Couple Weeks

To say that this has been a fun couple weeks would be an understatement.  We've honestly had so many fun and different things go on.

We started our birthing class with some other couples delivering around the same time we are.  Four of the couples have birthed with our midwives before and there are 5 of us first timers.  It's great to have the couples who have birthed with them before share their stories, but it's also fun to be around others who don't know what to expect.  We've learned a lot about how we see the birth and how we want the atmosphere to be in our home during the birth.  We are definitely looking forward to the growth we'll have together during this experience.  The only thing that is freaking out Shani a bit is that one of the couples went 2 weeks over her due date with her first baby.  Although we both know the "due date" is an estimate that we shouldn't hold as truth...2 weeks over does not sound pleasant.  To compensate, we are trying to mentally push back our due date by 2 weeks just in case...but it's not working!

We also had our 34 week appointment last week.  Everything continues to look really good.  Shani's blood pressure is good, baby's heart rate is good, Shani's belly is measuring 33cm which is good, everything is really...good!  John's mom joined us for this visit which was neat.  Our son was quite active when Shani first laid down for the midwives to palpate and measure.  He was stretching his legs out to the right as he frequently does.  A midwife apprentice was there and she said it made it really easy to see exactly how he is positioned because she could see feet going one direction and his butt moving the other.  Shani is happy with his position.  When we were at a chiropractic seminar for Shani a couple weekends ago, she noticed the baby flipped to her right side.  She told him that he needs to go back to the left because that's the best position and if he doesn't he's in trouble.  The next morning he was still on the right side. John said that the first day he didn't know better, but when we gave him a chance to move and he didn't, he's now disobeying.  Later on that day he flipped back to the left making both his mom and dad very happy :-)  He's been behaving well and has continued to stay on Shani's left side.  What a good son!

This past weekend Shani's family threw her a baby shower. The sister-in-laws (Kim and Kathryn) and grandmas (Lorna and Donna) did an amazing job.  Everything looked perfect.  The theme was nature/birds-- appropriate since Shani told John about becoming a Dad with a bird book, John loves birding, and the baby's room is nature themed.  Shani had an absolute blast and felt so loved and spoiled by everyone who attended.  We had friends and family travel from southern California, Pleasanton, San Francisco, and Colorado, not to mention those closer to home who took the time to be here for Shani's special day.  We are truly blessed by those in our life!  John also enjoyed the day as he got to hang out with one of his best friends and go birding while all the girlie stuff was going on.  Here are some great pictures from the shower!

Adorable table decorations

Our wonderful family and friends

Happy Hatching Day!

My best friends' (Pam and Elaine) sons and two of our son's future best friends 
(Parker-3 months and Jacob-3 weeks)

Amazing shower hosts Grandma Mac, Grandmomma Donna, Auntie Kathryn, and Pam (minus Kim)

Amazing shower host Auntie Kim

Three generations: Shani, Great Grandma, Grandmomma Donna, and Great-Great Aunt Tak

John's shower gift, a camping rocking chair

A Year of Change

This week has been another fun week for us.  We took short work weeks (Mon-Wed) then played with family for the rest of the time.  Thursday we spent with John's family wine tasting in Amador County.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  After all the rain we have been getting (which we love) it was nice to have clear blue skies.  We went to a late breakfast then headed up to do some "winering" as John's sister put it.  Shani compared her neologism to John's "birding," instead of "wine tasting" or "bird watching" it was "winering."  We went to a couple good wineries and one not so great, but had a great time hanging out together.  We came home with a case of wine (half from our wine club) just for ourselves!  We ended the day eating yummy sushi at Mikuni's to celebrate John's dad's birthday.  

This week also marked our 32nd week of pregnancy.  Shani continues to feel great.  Our son is already starting to take after his dad--he must be tall and needing some room because he stretches his legs and pushes Shani's right side so you can see and feel him.  Once he moved in a really weird motion while John had his hand on the belly and it freaked both of us out.

Shani has noticed a trend. In case you are curious, here are the three answers for the most common questions she's asked: We are due on Feb 24th; No, we don't have a name picked out; and she will work until she physically can't (which her Dad hopes is the day she delivers because he has to take over her patients while she is out).  However, the room did get painted, the crib set up, and the closet organizer built--all before Christmas too!  We have a couple things that still need purchasing, then the room will officially be completed.  It's crazy to think we have about 8 more weeks to go.  Very fun!

32 weeks

New Year's Eve we played with John's parents.  We went on a nice walk around Maidu so John could show off his digi-scoping stuff that Shani's family got him for graduation and his parents got for him his Birthday and Christmas.  We then visited some friends and their new baby and took the long way back to do some more birding.  Another beautiful day!  After that we headed to downtown Sac for dinner with Shani's parents and friends and 9pm fireworks.  The fireworks stirred up the Columba livia (aka Rock Dove or "pigeons") that roost on the Tower Bridge. The silly people standing around us started crying "Wow! Look at the bats!" For those who are wondering, pigeons have a wingspan of 24 to 26 inches. The largest bat that might be seen on a cold Sacramento night (Eptesicus fuscus or Big Brown Bat) has a wingspan of of just 13 to 16 inches. If you are still awake, John wants to take you birding. If you zoned out for a minute, Shani apologizes for letting John "edit."  :-P  Although Shani didn't make it to midnight this year, we reflected on the great year we had and what 2011 will bring before going to bed .  Yes, we freaked out a bit.  

White-tailed Kite taken through John's scope

For New Year's day we went over to Shani's parents to hang out.  Shani's family's tradition for New Year's is to cook a whole bunch of finger foods and snack on all day. Therefore, her mom was hard at work making food all morning.  We then went to the snow with her family (another New Year's day tradition in the making).  With the snow level being so low we didn't think we had to go very far, but it was raining as we drove up the hill and we had to go to a higher elevation than expected.  We finally got good snow around 5000 ft and had a blast, it was amazing!  

This year brings a lot of change to our lives.  We have the obvious change with the new addition to our family, John will be ending his post-doc and starting a "real" job this year, and for the first time since high school,  John will be living in the same location for two years in a row!  We are so excited for what is to come for our family and we look forward to sharing all that is going on with you.  We hope you have a wonderful New Year and hope that this year is even better than the last!

A Wondeful Christmas Time

This is one of our favorite times of year.  We love being with family with our cozy homes all decorated, eating good food, giving gifts, and most of all, celebrating the real Reason for this Season! 

Christmas Eve was much busier for us this year than normal.  Usually we have a pretty relaxed day, then attend Christmas Eve service with the family, and drive through American River Canyon to see the luminaries and Christmas lights, then off to bed.  This year started with coffee and bagels and a time for us to just hang out. Afterward, Shani whisked off to visit one of her best friends who was in the hospital after having a baby girl on Christmas Eve morning (congrats Pilorin's). Then we headed to Kim and Josh's for a delicious meal with John's family (John's parents got in from Colorado late morning) and the Buhs' (Josh's family). We left the afternoon party for Valley Springs Church for service with John's family followed by Bayside for service with Shani's family. We enjoyed a crisp and clear drive through the luminaries and lights and wearily drove home to wrap presents (yes we waited until the last minute...again), and finally off to bed.

We woke up early Christmas morning to open presents to get ready.  Yes a pet peeve of John's.  He likes doing the gift giving first thing in the morning, in pajamas and messy hair.  Shani on the other hand likes showering, getting ready, eating breakfast, then opening presents (used to be different when she was a kid, but now older she wants "cute" pictures).  So we compromised.  We opened each others presents at our house in pajamas, then got ready and headed over to Shani's family to eat breakfast and do our slow normal Christmas morning routine.  We hung out at the Kelley's for the morning, then enjoyed the Mac side for the afternoon, then back to the Kelley's for the evening.  After the long day we got home and talked about how generous our families are and how we received some really fun things.  Although it's a little crazy going back and forth between places, we are truly blessed to be able to spend time with both our families during Christmas!

31 weeks (7 months)

 

30 Week Appointment

We had our 30 week appointment this week.  Shani's belly is measuring 29 cm, her blood pressure is 110/72, and the little guy's heart rate is 144 bpm.  Everything continues to look good and healthy.  It was time to have her iron level checked and it was as expected.  Our midwives recommended that Shani could take an iron supplement, but that it wasn't totally necessary.  They seemed aware (not concerned) that Shani's Braxton-Hicks were quite strong.  They asked about her water intake (low hydration is a common cause) but she drinks plenty.  Our midwives feel the uterus is just working hard to grow and will be ready to work when the time comes.  John thinks her stomach looks like a football when it contracts, which Shani isn't happy about.  She doesn't want anything football related for our kids; John just smiles.  While palpating Shani's tummy, the midwives think our little guy is indeed "little."  They guess he'll be about a 7 lb baby.  Shani was happy with that, so let's hope he ends up around that size. 

The midwives asked if we could believe we're already at this point.  We looked at each other and had mixed feelings.  Part of us feels like after trying for a while to get pregnant, a few issues in the 1st trimester, and how badly we wanted a baby, that it's surreal that we are this far along.  There is another part of us that feels like 10 weeks is a long way to go.  However, we are happy with where we are and hope that the next 10 weeks go by quickly.  We are also excited for this time to spend together as we know we won't have this time alone again (and we are okay with that) :-)

We were in LA this past weekend for Shani's sister-in-law's graduation from nursing school.  It was a nice trip to catch up with both family and friends.  Although the weather was nice (high 82) it sure didn't feel like December.  Being down there we realized how much we don't miss it.  We do miss being near Shani's Grandma and Uncle, our great friends the Hills, and our old church, but other than that we couldn't be happier being out of LA and up in Sac.

The next time we post will probably be after Christmas.  Yes, it's only a little over a week away.  We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas enjoying this time of our Savior's birth!

28 Weeks

We entered the 3rd trimester!  It's crazy to think we'll have another one in our house in just 3 months.  At the same time we feel like it's still far away.

People often ask what we'll be naming our son and we have no idea. Just like before, we feel like we have a lot of time.  However, we are constantly reminded by people that "it's not that far away" and "it'll be here before you know it."  I guess we'll see.  We will be going in with a few names but we don't plan on having a named completely determined beforehand.  We feel like we'll know once we see him.  Shani says she'd go a week to figure out the "right" name, but John says only two days.  So two it is!

Along the same lines, no we haven't started the baby's room yet.  It currently is John's work space and with how busy he is, it will be that way for a little while longer.  Maybe by Christmas we'll have it cleared out??  Okay, wishful thinking, but we know it will be done before our little guy arrives... we think.  Don't think for a second that it hasn't been on our minds or that Shani hasn't made a few comments :-) 

We picked up our Christmas tree yesterday.  It's the tallest one we've had...or probably will ever have.  From now on it will be a pesticide-free tree (yep, one more year of chemicals) and the ones we've seen haven't been all that tall.  That's okay, we are happy as long as we have the wonderful tree smell (the pesticides don't make them smell good...right?)  John has had to do most of the work with the tree.  Even squatting down to put the tree stand on (something easy) is getting harder for Shani to do.  John also wasn't happy with Shani when she was standing on a chair on the tile to put up the lights.  She swears her balance is still okay, but John wasn't liking it.  Thankfully no crashes and the lights are up!  We still have all the ornaments to put on and other Christmas decorations to hang, but the house is starting to look more and more Christmas cozy.  The way we like it, our favorite time of year!

28 weeks

Very Thankful

We were fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving this year at one of our favorite places, San Luis Obispo.  Any excuse to come to this area and we are there.  Shani's family decided to join us this time as it's a good meeting place between Sac and the rest of her family in LA.  We were definitely on board with this decision!  We had such a wonderful time.  We were able to meet up with good friends for lunch, take walks on the beach with Mochi, hang out with family, eat delicious food, shop, and relax!  It's amazing how quickly 4 days can go.  The weather was absolutely beautiful for us- every day in the 60s, clear skies, beautiful sunsets, no rain or wind, just perfect.  We couldn't have asked for a better time...maybe just longer :-)  


Every year we have so much to be thankful for and this year is no exception.  We are healthy, our family is doing well, we are surrounded by great family and friends, we both love our jobs, we are officially living in the same home, and we have a baby on the way!  We couldn't ask for better--we have already been blessed with so much.  We know that we have been blessed and we are thankful for all of the support we have received. Our prayers go out to those that are having a more difficult year and we hope to be able to support you as well.  

 

For those of you who are new to the blog...

No Shani is not smuggling a Turkey on the beach!
(27 weeks)

26 Week Appointment

This week we had our 26 week appointment.  Things continue to look really good.  Shani's belly is measuring 26cm (right on with the week we are) and baby's heart-rate was 144 bpm.  We got to hear his little heart beating with the fetoscope again.  The midwives were a little surprised that we've been able to hear with the stethoscope because of how small he still is.  We are going with the fact that he's already got a good heart (as opposed to him being big).  The baby is still head down and we hope he stays that way.  They are pretty certain he will, but said we'll have a better idea at our next appointment.  He's already presenting in the optimal position for birth (Left Occiput Anterior), although it's likely he'll keep flip-flopping around.  The midwives contribute a lot of his good positioning due to the fact that Shani's job has her up and active, not sitting for long periods of time.  We are just happy that things are continuing to look good and healthy!

24 weeks

We are now into our 24th week. Finding out we are having a boy gave Shani the opportunity (and permission) to do some shopping.  Although that hasn't stopped her in the past, she is definitely looking for some cute boys clothes.  Since John had wanted to find out the gender, Shani said this gives her free range to buy boy's stuff.  John just smiles, shakes his head, and hopes she doesn't come home with too much!  

A few patients of Shani's have started asking, "Is there anything NEW going on in your life?"  In other words, "Are you pregnant or just gaining weight?"  Shani is excited that her stomach is looking more like a "pregnant belly" than a "lack-of-exercise-and-eating-ice-cream-belly."  She is holding very low, so depending on what she wears, it can be hard to tell she's prego.  It's more obvious more of the time though, which she is happy about.     

The other exciting moment this week came when John was able to hear baby's heartbeat while laying his head on Shani's belly. We had to count beats because Shani didn't believe him! The little guy is growing up! (baby that is...John is grown :)

24 weeks