HDBD 34 weeks - the home stretch

34 weeks!  Yes that's right...34 weeks!  That means that it's only 3 weeks until we are considered "full term" and only 6 weeks until her official "due date"!  How in the world did this sneak up on us????? 

I've had lots of questions about the nursery...let's just say it's still in nearly the same state as it was following "nursery-geddon" back in April (for those who missed the dramatic post, click here).  The walls are painted, the crown moulding is up (not yet puttied or painted), the closet is not painted, the chandelier is in a box on the floor and the drapes are still in their pretty Restoration Hardware packages just waiting to be hung.  We picked up the crib and dresser 2 weeks ago but that hasn't made it into the room yet since daddy still needs to finish the painting first.  I'm leaving this up to him (yes to he who said "yes we can have the nursery finished by January," back when I started planning this in November).  I'm not going to stress about it (famous last words) as we already have her pretty little bassinet set up in our room and that's where she'll stay for quite a while anyway.

Nicolette has decided to make a nice little home for herself in my right ribs...love you honey but that hurts.  I spent about half of my work day yesterday at my desk with my right arm straight up in the air just trying to create more "space" for her to settle in.  As soon as I put my arm down she'd sneak right back up into the rib...silly girl...this is not a game! :)

I had a dear friend who is insanely talented and was kind enough to take some maternity photos last week.  She posted a beautiful blog on her site at Kristin Vining Photography.  And another special (and adorable) chick was kind enough to do my hair and make up so that I didn't look like a total hot mess, she is cute as a button and has the best sense of style, you should check out her website at Lindsey Regan Thorne.  One of my favorite pics from the shoot is below :) 

The countdown is on...5 weeks and 6 days to go!

HDBD - 33 weeks & Happy Blogoversary to Me!

Sorry I'm just a wee bit late with this update.

Yesterday was a  fun day - had some professional pics of the "bump" taken by a dear friend and uber talented photographer, Ms. Kristin Vining.  If you have time you should definitely check out her website/blog - she's amazing!  www.kristinviningphotoblog.com/

I also just realized that yesterday was my Blogoversary!  That's right...one full year of "blogging" (sporadic as it may be).  For those of you who have not been following from the beginning you can catch my first post here: The first blog entry.  But our journey began long before the first blog entry and that is something that believe it or not I've actually started to forget about.  It seems so strange that something that consumed my life for 2 1/2-3 years now seems almost like if couldn't have been real.  Now we have everything that we could have hoped for - ours just came with a little more time, money and needles than most.  Looking back I wouldn't change a thing because if it had happened any other way we wouldn't be getting ready to welcome Nicolette into our family...I believe that everything happened the way it did so that SHE could be a part of our little fam.  We can't wait to meet her...only 7 weeks or so to go!!!!

Wake up call!

HOLY MOLY!  A friend and co-worker of mine who is also pregnant (only 2 weeks ahead of me) delivered her baby yesterday.  All is well and baby and mommy (and daddy) are all fine (PRAISE GOD), but boy was this a wake up call for me!  She was only 35 weeks pregnant!   I'm 32 1/2 weeks pregnant...What in the world would I do if little Nicolette arrived in two weeks?  (cue panic attack and remember to remind hubby that the car seat that we're registered for is at Babies r' Us - we can make do without all the other stuff, but if we want to bring baby girl home that is the one thing that we absolutely have to have).  

Starting TODAY I'm going to definitely start taking it much easier and slow down.  (I say as I'm typing on my laptop at 4:30 in the morning instead of sleeping).  After the 5k yesterday I went straight to work where I was on my feet for most of the day meeting with clients and giving tours of the Hotel, then went to the grocery store and Sam's, then came home put everything away and made dinner, did dishes, etc.  I was on my feet about 80% of the time from 5am until 8pm...and I felt it at the end of the night.  I couldn't even sit on the couch and hang out with the Italian last night I just HAD to go lay down in bed (and was fast asleep within 30 minutes).

Anyway, sorry for the scattered post - Above all I'm keeping the Yatko family in my prayers and praising God that mommy and baby are well - even with this early arrival!  What a blessing that everyone is healthy and happy!    

And to my little one, "We can't wait to meet you baby Nicolette, but please stay put and "cook" for another month or so!  You have plenty of years ahead of you to give me anxiety so no need to start this early."  :)  

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight" ~ Proverbs 3:5-6  

Nicolette's first race...

And I use the term "race" lightly as the only race for me was to try and make sure that we didn't finish last.  Today started out bright and early as Nicolette and I headed out to the YMCA Ballantyne 5K this morning with friends from work.  Less than a year ago a 5k run was like a warm up for me and now I'm lucky just to be able to walk half that distance!  I was blessed to have a fellow pregateer with me today so that I had someone to walk with as I'm still too scared to go for walks by myself.  I did have to stop a few times because of this stupid light headed-ness that I still have going on but we made it through!  Silly baby apparently likes to take every bit of my blood and hang onto it and not let any get to my brain.  Most women suffer from "pregnancy brain" or forgetfulness...not me I just get dizzy and almost pass out...awesome.  This definitely makes getting exercise in a little challenging.     

I did feel a little bit like a freak show when at the end of the race the race photographers made my friend get out of the picture so that he could get a full profile shot of me.  Breaking news: "8-month pregnant woman finishes walking Ballantyne 5k!" - note my sarcasm here.  I somehow doubt that the Today Show will be calling to interview me as they did Amber Miller who finished the Chicago Marathon while 38 weeks pregnant (and then proceeded to deliver her child hours later).

This will definitely be our first and last "race" until the little one arrives.  But once she's here and old enough I can't wait to take her running with me in the jog stroller!!!!!  I was chatting with a mom of a 7 week old baby girl before the race and she had her baby girl all nestled into her BOB stroller and took off running as soon as the race started.  I'm definitely looking forward to that!

Don't EVEN ask me what our time was today...let's just say that most of the 10K runners were finishing as we finished our 5k walk. :)   

 I couldn't bring myself to pin that silly race number right over my bump.

 

We're in LOVE!

So, no bump pic to share today, but I have something even better to share...pics from our 3D/4D Ultrasound!!!!!  We went to an awesome studio (The Prenatal Picture) for our ultrasound session.  At the ultrasound the tech mentioned that I have an Anterior Placenta which basically means that the placenta is on the front of my belly instead of the back.  About 50% of women have anterior placenta and this explains why I don't feel her kicks or movements in the center of my belly, only on the sides.  Aha, now it makes sense!  It also means that it's a little trickier to get a clear shot - especially with this little snuggle buddy...the tech said that Nicolette really likes to snuggle up close to the placenta (probably because it's warm and she can hear my heartbeat).  She said that this also means that Nicolette will probably be a snuggly little girl when she gets here too!  YAY!  I love snuggles!!!! :)

I need to dig up some baby photos of both of us to compare but we both think that she looks more like me.  I think she has a Gulbranson nose and Lord knows that she has the same chubby cheeks that I had when I was a baby.  (When I was a baby my head was 90% cheeks).  The tech also said that she already has a LOT of hair, but obviously we can't tell what color it is yet :)  I need to see a baby pic of the Italian once again because Nicolette has really full lips and I don't think that I had full lips like that when I was baby (nor do I have them now).  Regardless, we were both in awe as we watched her move around, wiggle and giggle...yes, we got a few good laughs out of her because we were poking and prodding trying to get her to move her little hands away from her face but no such luck...for 30 minutes straight she had one or both of her sweet little hands right up by her face so we didn't get a super clear shot of her face.  Here are a few of our favorite pictures (we got 52 images, so I won't bore you with ALL of those - however there were several shots of the "girlie parts" so we can confirm with absolute certainty that she is 100% girl - she might have been shy showing her face but not a bit shy about flashing the lady parts...let's hope that's not a sign of things to come in the future :)

 She's playing peek-a-boo!  You can see her little smile behind her right hand.  

 Giggling!  She's a happy girl!

 Still smiling, but dang it she won't move her hands out of the way!

 At first glance this appeared to be our sweet, precious little baby giving us the one finger salute (and I wouldn't blamer her if she did.  We were poking her and wiggling her around just trying to get her little hands out of the way).  But it's actually her index finger. 

 Squishy face - I think she has mommy's cheeks (mommy had HUGE cheeks when she was a baby)

 Trying to settle back in and go back to sleep. 

 Daddy said that she was practicing "Tebowing"

Sleepy girl!

HDBD - 31 weeks!

So here we are at 31 weeks!  Only 8 weeks and 6 days away from D-Day or 5 weeks and 6 days away from being considered "full term". 

Had a busy week last week working on my favorite event of the year.  Here are a couple of pics snapped at my 13th hour of work from Tuesday evening's gala event :)  Still hangin in there and might I add that I'm still able to rock my 4" heels for the full day.  Those who know me well know that I don't do flats...I really only own 1 pair (and they're leopard print ballet flats so they won't go over too well with my conservative dress code at work).  My plan is to rock the heels until delivery day (so long as they don't hurt me or the bambino). 

After a busy week at work the hubs and I were able to spend Friday at the Wells Fargo Championship.  He's so sweet, all week long he kept saying that he didn't want me to go to the tournament because I'm 7 months pregnant...he must have missed the news story about the woman who ran the marathon at 8 1/2 months pregnant.  I think I can handle a few hours walking around the golf course honey, but it's sweet that you're concerned.  I'm glad the weather cooled off a little so that he felt comfortable taking me out there with him.  I have been getting a little stir crazy since I've been afraid to leave the house to go for walks by myself due to my light headedness/dizzy/almost fainting spells so it was nice to be outside and walking around for a while.  I know that the weather here will be in the upper 90's before we know it and then I probably won't want to be outside even if I could! 

And I wrapped up the weekend with some nursery shopping with my mom.  God bless Babies 'R Us and their 20% off coupons.  We got Nicolette's bassinet - I'll post a picture in a post later this week.  We set it up in our room and put the batteries in the little light, noise maker, vibrating thingy.  It was fun to turn it on last night and see what Sasha (our cat child) did.  She was VERY curious...especially when we put it on the nature sounds instead of the music.  But she was a good kitty - she didn't try to hop in the bassinet at all - she does however like to curl up in the storage basket underneath (where we're supposed to keep diapers, wipes, etc.).  I think that may be Sasha's new nap time spot which is fine with me as long as she's not trying to get IN the bassinet where the baby sleeps.  We'll let her think that we bought it especially for her.  Chance (our dog child) couldn't care less.  He's the most mellow dog you'll ever meet...didn't even sniff the bassinet or anything, just laid down on his bed right next to it and went to sleep.

As for cravings - I can't get enough FRUIT...watermelon, pineapple, mango, apples, grapes, berries...on two separate occasions I have eaten a pound to a pound and a half of grapes in one day...that can't be normal!  At least she likes fruit and not brownies and ice cream :)

And Tuesday was my birthday - 35 and proud WAHOO!  This means that I am officially of "advanced maternal age" - sounds awesome right?  We had a check up with Dr. Bale and so far everything is progressing just beautifully.  When I asked about the light headedness/fainting, Dr. Bale said that most women just get "pregnancy brain" where they get a little forgetful (this is a legitimate thing by the way caused by the majority of the blood in your body going to your little one instead of up to your noggin).  I haven't been forgetful (or at least not that I remember) so he said that my version of pregnancy brain is just getting dizzy, light headed and almost fainting.  cool.  Now don't feel too sorry for me...it doesn't happen every day, just once in a while and totally randomly so I'm a-ok. 

Little Nicolette is probably right around 3 pounds today.  We have our 3d/4d ultrasound next week and I can't wait to see her little face!  I'm sure that it has changed so much since our 19 week ultrasound! 

And I just realized that I'm wearing black in all of these pictures - no I am not in mourning and yes I do own and wear other colors...promise!

HDBD - 30 weeks

So I must apologize but I really have nothing clever to say today.  However today is Hump Day Bump Day and we are officially 30 weeks along.  That means only 7 weeks until we're considered "full term" (HOLY SMOKES) and 10 weeks until the estimated due date. 

Little girl is making lots of use out of the space she has on the right side of my body but seems to have missed the memo that she can hang out on the left side too.  Sometimes it feels like she's trying to crawl all the way around to my back so I gently nudge her back to try to get her centered a little bit.

I was thrilled to receive an awesome baby gift last night which included Mustela® baby care products.  I've been struggling to find a brand of soap, shampoo, lotion etc that I was comfortable using for little Nicolette.  I try to use paraben, phthalate-free products for myself and the Italian and really want to do the same for our sweet little one as well and this line of products fits the bill perfectly!    I've included some more info on Mustela® products and parabens below:

Mustela® Our Commitments

Expert Naturalness

• Priority is given to ingredients of natural origin that are rigorously selected
• Exclusion of questionable ingredients: paraben-free, phthalate-free, phenoxyethanol-free, essential oil-free, alcohol-free and Bisphenol A (BPA)-free

Proven Effectiveness

• Proven results from medical testing under actual conditions of use
• Products developed in close collaboration with healthcare professionals

Guaranteed Safety

• Hypoallergenic products and rigorous tolerance testing
• Traceability of our ingredients and products, from suppliers to point of sale

Special Pleasure to Use

• Development of pleasant textures
• Selection of delicate scents 

Environmental Commitment

• Our boxes are made using wood from sustainably managed forests and are printed with ink containing vegetable oils.
• Concrete actions being taken to reduce the use of plastic, paper and cardboard for packaging (recyclable recipients, deletion of inserts, etc.)

From wikipedia:

Parabens are a class of chemicals widely used as preservatives by cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Parabens are effective preservatives in many types of formulas. These compounds, and their salts, are used primarily for their bactericidal and fungicidal properties. They can be found in shampoos, commercial moisturizers, shaving gels, personal lubricants, topical/parenteral pharmaceuticals, spray tanning solution, makeup,^[1] and toothpaste. They are also used as food additives.
Their efficacy as preservatives, in combination with their low cost, the long history of their use, and the inefficacy of some natural alternatives like grapefruit seed extract (GSE),^[2] probably explains why parabens are so commonplace. They are becoming increasingly controversial, however, because they have been found in extremely low concentrations in breast cancer tumors (an average of 20 nanograms/g of tissue).^[3] Parabens have also displayed the ability to slightly mimic estrogen (a hormone known to play a role in the development of breast cancer).^[3] No effective direct links between parabens and cancer have been established, however.^[4] Another concern is that the estrogen-mimic aspect of parabens may be a factor in the increasing prevalence of early puberty in girls.^[5]