Category: Baby Journal

I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. Last week, the baby’s head was low and my cervix had started to soften. This week, the doctor said I was almost dilated to 1 cm. She could get her fingertip in, but not her whole finger. So my body has made some progress in the last week.  Thumper’s heartbeat was 145.

I was 37 weeks yesterday and therefore, this also means that Thumper is full term. You are welcome to make your arrival any time now, baby!

We’re getting pretty excited. I am more and more uncomfortable everyday and my feet are getting huge. The doctor wasn’t worried about the slight increase in my weight gain because she said it was all water. I am going to feel like a dainty fairy once all this water is out of me!

So, things are progressing. Everyone is different. So now we just wait and see when my body and this baby are ready to do their things.

My brother came over today to take some maternity pictures. I am so excited to see how they turn out. I didn’t think I really wanted/needed them done at first, but he took some cool pictures and I am glad we decided to do it. Now I just have to wait a short time to see them while he edits them. I think it will be nice to have them and put them in a photo album for Thumper to see when she gets older. I am sure she won’t care that much, but I will like having them! 🙂

We also packed our bag for the hospital the other night. I had a huge break down when we packing. It finally hit me that we were having a baby. Not that I didn’t know it before, but it finally clicked that there won’t be anymore “Chuck & Andi”. There will always be another person included in our family! I am so excited about it, but it was just a bit of panic for a few minutes.

I also found the need to find a stuffed animal and put it in the car seat to be sure I knew how it worked. Talk about weird!

After Adam came over to take pictures, Chuck and I decided to make a trip to Target to get the rest of what we needed and return things that were left from the shower to return. We are now pretty set. We have just a couple things left to get from Babies R Us.

Wow….it’s crazy that we are so close to meeting our little girl!

I had another baby shower today. This one was given by my mom, step mom and aunt, Patty. This was my family shower. It was so nice see so many people come to celebrate this little baby’s arrival. We got tons of presents and I feel so blessed that this baby is already loved by so many people!

My cousin, Patrick and his wife, Tina, gave me more garbage bags full of clothing that their girls have grown out of! I am so thankful that people are handing these things down to us!

They also gave us two grocery bags full of books. I can’t wait to put them all on the shelf and then start reading to her! How exciting! I know I want reading to be a big part of Thumper’s life, so I am blessed to have been given so many books from people!

Today my coworkers threw a shower for me and another coworker who is pregnant right before me. We had pizza, cupcakes, gifts…..it was wonderful and so sweet of everyone to come and show their excitement and support for us!

I had my doctor’s appointment today and I was happy to hear that the baby was still head down. This was the first of the internal exams and the doc’s comment was “wow, she’s low”. So that was good. And my cervix had started to soften. I was 36 weeks yesterday, so any progress at this point is good.

Yesterday we drove back from Iowa. Today we drove to Duluth to see Chuck’s dad. That was such a hard trip to make. I cried a few times on the way up there. But I really wanted to hold myself together.

Chuck and I didn’t really know what to expect since we hadn’t seen him in person or talked to him any way other than e-mail or letters since February 2009. Paige and Brian went with us since they had been up there before. I was glad we made the trip when we did since I am getting so close to my due date and I wouldn’t want to take the trip up there too close to the due date.

It was hard to see him after so long, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be. The hardest part for me was when we got home. That’s when I was the most emotional because it was hard to know that he won’t be here when Thumper is born and that one of her grandparents won’t be able to see her all the time. I know we’ll make the trip up to see him when she is born, but it was still just a hard reality for a hormonal pregnant lady. So I cried. Or more accurately, sobbed. But it was good to get it out.

I know Chuck’s dad is really excited for us, and I am comforted by the fact that Thumper won’t be too old when he is out of prison, so they will have many years together to have fun. And I am sure Thumper will have siblings by then, too!

Today is Sunday, and Wednesday we headed down to Iowa to spend some time with Chuck’s grandparents. We weren’t able to go at Thanksgiving because the weather wasn’t good enough to travel. Any other year we would have gone, but we didn’t want to risk it this year. So I was glad we were able to go down for Christmas.

Not too many people showed up this year, but I was thankful to spend time with his grandparents. The Schminkes are so excited to have their first great-grandchild! I get all sorts of e-mails from Doris checking up on me and telling me how excited she is! It makes me think about how excited my grandma would be if she were still here.

We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend and were fed like crazy! I love visiting them and I hope we have many more chances to visit them with the baby!

I went to the doctor today (I can’t believe I am on visits every two weeks now!) and they listened to the baby’s heart beat. When they were listening, the baby had hiccups! It was so stinking cute! HB HB HB hiccup, HB HB HB hiccup! 🙂

I went to the doctor today (I can’t believe I am on visits every two weeks now!) and they listened to the baby’s heart beat. When they were listening, the baby had hiccups! It was so stinking cute! HB HB HB hiccup, HB HB HB hiccup! 🙂

My friends threw a wonderful shower for me! We actually had our first huge snowstorm of the year today. I had a number of people cancel, but even though I had a minor breakdown about it, everything was just fine! Better than fine! We had a great time and I got so many gifts for the baby! She is definitely going to be spoiled!

After the shower, we had a birthday celebration with my mom, Dave, Adam, Charlie and Katie. I was so exhausted by the time they all went home! It was a long, but fun day!