35/35!!!

I am 35 weeks and only have 35 more days before Emma is due!! It's getting SO close now :) This past week was a bit rough on me since I got sick from eating some bad grapes. I lost 3 pounds from last Tuesday's appointment to Friday and it took me that long to recover! I finally feel better and Emma is stronger than ever! I think her movements are even stronger than Reese's were which makes me wonder how much bigger she will be!

Today I had my 35 week check up and in the last month I have lost a pound. Total weight gain: 29#. I am seeing my OB weekly now and had the GBS culture done today (to see if I will need antibiotics when laboring). So far I am not dilated but she is definitely head down!

I am also proud to say I finished my 1st quarter of graduate school and made all A's!!! I have about 3 weeks off until the next quarter starts.

35 Weeks:

35 Weeks:

Your baby now weighs over 5.5 pounds and its crown-to-rump length is approximately 13.2 inches. Your baby's total length is around 20.25 inches at this point. Your uterus is now 6 inches from the bellybutton and the average weight gain is approximately 24 to 29 pounds.

The baby begins to develop its own immune system.

Here are a few more maternity pictures:

Update: Emma's Nursery

Reese:

Reese is doing great! She has gone potty in her little toilet 3x now! Every time she does she says "uh oh", which I think is hysterical! I clap my hands and get excited and tell her "good job Reese" and she gets stickers and a piece of candy as a reward :)

This past week we have started teaching Reese her colors :) She can say "blue" and "purple" and tries to say the other colors. She also tries to count but everything turns out to be "two"...LOL!

Reese got to see a brand new baby at a CVS store opening event that we stopped at on Saturday. She got all excited and said "BABY"! I am getting excited that she is so aware of babies now and can't wait to give her a little sister!

Maternity Photos!

Here is our maternity session at 34.2 weeks!

We will try and get some with Reese this weekend!! Thanks Cody for being a great photographer :)

34 Weeks and Reese Updates!!

8 1/2 Months Down!! Only 3-6 weeks left...oh my!!
The infant car seat is back in my car and the baby cradle has been set up in our room :) This weekend I washed Emma's clothes!! She is starting to run out of room!! Today I had my 34 week OB appointment and all is well! I am proud to say I didn't gain any weight since my last appointment 2 weeks ago!! Total weight gain: 30#. I will start going to the OB weekly now and we get a sono in 2 weeks!!

34 Weeks:

34 Weeks

Your baby's crown-to-rump length this week is approximately 12.8 inches and the total length is around 19.8 inches at this time. Your baby now weighs almost 5 pounds.

Your baby's hair continues to get longer and thicker. Your baby's hair color probably is not going to be the same color from birth onwards, so you should expect it to change in color. Your baby is shedding most of lanugo, but the amount of vernix caseosa is increasing. Your baby is taking calcium from you to lay down lots of bone. Continue to take your prenatal vitamins and drink milk to ensure that you receive enough calcium. 

The baby now rests on your uterus and is no longer floating.

Fingernails now reach over the finger tips and the baby can scratch itself. 

Reese:

Reese's blood culture and urine cultures both came back negative. So we all have no clue what caused her to get SO sick SO fast last Sunday night! She has a way of keeping us on our toes.

She has been in her new class at school for a week now (18-24mo) and is truly doing well! She seems so much happier in this older class and isn't as frustrated as she was before. She is also listening to us better, says please every time she wants something and can say "sorry" and give hugs when she hits a little too hard.

  She has had a lot of developments over this last week!! 

1. We are now PACI FREE!!! 

Last Monday (with a little encouragement from her school) we decided to cut out the paci cold turkey. Honestly, cutting it off wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It has now been a full week without any paci...so they are getting THROWN AWAY!!

2. She drinks from "big girl cups"

3. She is "trying" to potty train!

Last week she asked to sit on the potty (3x in one day) and we didn't even have a training potty yet. So we went out and bought her a potty:

and on Sunday, August 22 she actually peed in it for the 1st time!! I was so excited I think I scared her with my reaction...LOL. She was kinda confused on what happened but I tried to make a big deal out of it and she got some teddy grahams as a reward :) I am not getting my hopes up though and we aren't pushing her to potty train since she is still kind of young. We are just supporting her when she asks to sit on it :)

4. She LOVES to dress herself now!

She's trying to button her shirt:

What do you mean this doesn't match?!

Do these shoes make my feet look big?! 

(she actually walked around the house ALL day in these cabbage patch doll shoes)

5. She's practicing being a BIG sister!

Singing Rock A Bye Baby...

Teaching her baby how to pray:

Saying "night night" baby...

notice the bow in her hair....

she LOVES to pick out bows to wear now because I showed her that the little girls in her books all wear bows :)

Doing research on babies...

I have finished her Bumble Bee tutu for Halloween!

I just need a few more supplies to be able to make Emma's tutu :)

We took Reese back to Inflatable Wonderland this past week and we all had a blast!

33 Weeks/Reese

Only 7 more weeks till Emma is due and only 4 more weeks until she is full term! I can't believe in 1 month she will be term and ready to make her debut at any point after that!

33 Weeks:

33 Weeks:

Your baby weighs about 4.4 pounds at this point. The crown-to-rump length of your baby is approximately 12 inches and the total length is around 19.4 inches.

With the exception of crying, your baby is capable of doing everything that a newborn baby will do. Your baby is restricted now inside of the uterus, but still can kick and move. Your baby sleeps a lot of the time, just as newborn babies do. Your baby's eyes move in the manner of REM sleep and researchers believe that babies can dream vividly in uterus. When your baby is awake, she is listening, feeling and learning. There are billions of neurons in the brain that make trillions of connections.

If your baby were to be born now, the lungs would probably be strong enough to function properly, but your baby may still need extra care from specially trained doctors and nurses.

Your baby's eyes open during alert times and close during sleep. The eye color is usually blue, regardless of the permanent color as pigmentation is not fully developed. The final formation of eye pigmentation requires exposure to light and usually happens a few weeks after birth.

Reese:

On Saturday we took Reese to Meme & Granddad's house to swim in their new pool :)

She LOVED playing on their piano :)

Sunday morning I was able to catch Reese "blowing a kiss" to daddy on my cell phone!


Sunday night was quite eventful for us. She was acting absolutely fine all day and at 5pm we noticed she was shivering. I took her temp and she was 101.7 so we gave a dose of Tylenol and put her in the bath to cool off. We laid with her in bed for an hour since she was acting so tired and then took her temp again, 102.5. We decided to head to the after hours children's clinic that is 15 min away. When she was assessed her temp was already up to 104.9 and her pulse was 220! This was an hour AFTER Tylenol was given. They ruled out an ear infection and said her throat looked fine and said we needed to go to the ER. Cody and I just looked at each other and our hearts sank! We were about to have to take our baby to the hospital again.

We headed straight to Methodist Children's Hospital and poor Reese vomited all over her car seat when we were 5 minutes away. I lost it! I couldn't help her...she was strapped into the car seat, throwing up and we needed to keep driving to get her to the ER. We were able to bypass the waiting room (thank goodness) because we were considered a transfer from the after hours clinic. The Dr. on call came to assess her and then a series of procedures soon followed: IV start, CBC and blood cultures drawn, cath UA specimen, rapid strep test and a chest x-ray. 

Finally around 12:30am we were told by the Dr. that her urine/x-ray/strep were all negative. Her WBCs were high at 20,000. They gave her IV antibiotic (rocephin) and sent us home at 1am and said we had to wait for the blood cultures to grow (48 hours) and would be called if anything started to grow (meaning sepsis).

On a happier note, Reese acted completely fine and healthy on Monday and pretended like nothing even happened the night before. It is amazing how fast kids rebound from being ill. We are still very puzzled on what happened Sunday night and so is her primary pediatrician (who she saw Monday morning as follow up).

Cody & I are also shocked that yesterday Reese specifically asked to sit on the potty three times! She never did go potty but she sat there, wiped and flushed the toilet! I guess she's ready to start potty training at just 18 months...and I guess I need to go buy a toddler training potty soon!!

Her new favorite word is "bye-bye"!

32 Weeks/18 Months!

Officially 8 months pregnant!!

Today I had my OB check up. Everything is right on target! Emma's heartbeat was 148. My fundal height is measuring 32 weeks. I go back in 2 weeks :)

32 Weeks (Emma):

32 weeks (Reese):

32 Weeks:

By week 32, your baby weighs nearly 4 pounds! The crown-to-rump length of your baby is approximately 11.7 inches and the total length is about 18.9 inches.

This week your baby's movements will peak. You should continue to monitor the fetal movements daily and address any concerns with your caregiver. The wrinkles in your baby's face are disappearing and fat is still being deposited throughout the baby's body. 

The body growth slows down from now on.

Because of the lack of space in the uterus, the legs are drawn up in what is known as the fetal position.

As a preparation for breastfeeding, your baby has learned to root for the breast. The baby will turn its head if touched on the cheek and open its mouth if the bottom lip is tickled. By this time the baby can also suck and swallow in a coordinated way. 

Reese:

Good morning Reese, Happy 18 Months (8/6/10)!

Off to school...clinging on to her bear!

Reese is now 18 months, aka: 1.5 years old!! Time just flies by these days. She is 22#1oz (20%) and 33" tall (86%). She had to get one shot and managed not to shed a tear! I am so proud of her!!! That afternoon she acted super "goofy" and was not aware of the shot she just got at all!

Where's Reese....?

What shall we cook for dinner Momma?!

Reese is continuing to develop her vocabulary daily. She can now clearly say "Harley" and tries to say "Bailey". She can also say: hi, baby, rice, trash, please and thank you. She is learning manners at school so we have been re-enforcing them at home. I ask her to say "more please" instead of just "more". She has thank you figured out and will say it when she hands you something, which is too funny! She also told me "bless you"  after I sneezed one day! I was caught off guard because I hadn't taught her that one yet (although we say it when we sneeze). She has also blown us a few more kisses, which I desperately want to catch on video soon!

Reese has started her transition period at school where she moves up to the next class (18mo-2yrs). They do it slowly over the whole week, which makes it easier on her AND me!

Her 1st Car Wash!!




Soaking Wet!!

31 Weeks & Road Trip!

I can't believe I am already 31 weeks! Only 9 more to go miss Emma!! I have been feeling much better this week, no contractions at all!! Emma is definitely growing and her movements are getting so strong now! Cody got to feel some pretty amazing movement last night!! My heartburn has actually been a bit better this week.

31 Weeks (Emma):

31 Weeks (Reese):

31 Weeks:

Your baby's crown-to-rump length is nearly 11.2 inches and total length is approximately 18 inches. Your baby weighs approximately 3.5 pounds at this point.

This week marks an incredible milestone in your baby's lung development. Before now, the air sacs and branches in your baby's lungs were present but not functional. The lungs were not able to inflate properly. However, now there is surfactant being produced in your baby's lungs. Surfactant prevents your baby's lungs from collapsing outside of the uterus and the baby is able to take in air and breathe properly. The fetal ear is almost completely developed both inside and out. Your baby can hear your voice and other familiar sounds that she will recognize after birth. Your baby is putting on white fat under the skin and the skin's color is pink instead of red at this point. Your baby's fingernails have grown to the end of her fingers and she may scratch herself while she is in the womb. 

Reese:

This weekend we took Reese to Mason's 1st birthday party in Porter, TX (by Kingwood). Mason is my cousin's son and he is absolutely adorable! The drive up there was perfect and Reese was a true champ sitting in her car seat for 4 hours!

Once we arrived at the party Reese was ready to play!!

She now loves to help water the dogs :)