Baby's First Halloween Costume

So at the last minute, I decided to dress the baby bump as a jack-o-lantern. It's some what thrown together, but it still made me happy to participate more fully in the holiday!   The trick-or-treaters liked it, and we're about to head out to our last lamaze class with it on.  Might as well, I mean it is Halloween after all! :) 

Our Last Hurrah and False Labor

Saturday I "kidnapped" Eric and we went to have a big last date before baby arrives. We started the day at Morning Glory Bakery here in town and then headed down to Des Moines.   We did spend a couple hours at Babies R Us and Target buying a few last neccessities for baby, but then the rest of the day was just about us and fun!  We ate at Q'doba for lunch (one of Eric's faves!), went to see the Body World exhibit at the Des Moines Science Center (something I'd been wanting to do all summer!), and then did dinner (at Panera Bread - reminiscient of our first date) and a movie (Real Steel).   It was a really fun day just spending time together and doing some things we might not get to as often or as easily once baby is here!  Here are a few pics from the science center of our rocket race (you can judge who the winner was) and of Eric being a meterologist.

 It was hard to get a good pic of the screen itself, but this is the cool effect of what happens when you hold up something green in front of a green screen!

As for the false labor story... on the way home (and well into the night), I was so glad we'd made the time we had for our last hurrah, because I became more and more convinced that baby was on the way.  Unfortunately, it was not the case.  Anyway, I started having Braxton Hicks contractions sometime around dinner - they've been pretty constant for the last month, but have yet to be consistant.  But - not so last night.  On the way home from Des Moines around 9:00, they were exactly 10 minutes apart and were stronger than any of the other contractions I've had up to now.  Then at midnight when we finally went to bed, they were still consistant and were down to 8 minutes apart. I woke up to go to the bathroom at 2:30 and timed contractions at 5 minutes apart and was not able to fall back asleep - partially due to the contractions, partially to the mounting excitement.  They continued at 5 minutes apart for an hour and a half, and I got tired of being up by myself, so I woke up Eric at 4:00... and the contractions promptly stopped.  : (  I was pretty disappointed, because I'm READY!  Anyway, I can only hope the 10 hours of contractions were productive for something after all the sleep I lost and emotion I wasted!  :)

Old Wives' Tales and Gender

We're getting pretty anxious these days to find out whether this little person inside of me is a boy or a girl. Eric's even got a pool going at work and some lucky guesser (of gender and weight, or birth date and time) will maybe win 6 or 7 dollars... or more I suppose if guesses continue to trickle in.  :)  It's definitely the question I've been asked the most in the last 9 months - Do you know what you're having?  The answer is no, I don't.  

Based on how I'm carrying and how the old wives tales go, most people I encounter seem to think our little one is going to be a boy.  So just for fun the other night, I took a quiz I found online to tell you the gender of your baby using Old Wives' Tales.  It told me I was having a boy.  But upon further inspection, the break down of the results were 9 old wives' tale matches for a boy... and 8 matches for a girl. :)  Not exactly a convincing set of results. 

It was pretty entertaining though...  sure I'd heard the ones about carrying high or low, whether you can tell you're pregnant from the back or not, even those based on what types of food you're craving... but I chuckled over many others like how you pick up your keys, how strongly you smell of garlic after eating it, how clumsy you are pregnant, which of your sides you prefer to sleep on, etc.  There were 17 in all.

One of my pregnancy books stated that Old Wives' Tales have about a 50% rate of accuracy.  (Which was supposed to be a joke, because of course, all guesses have a 50% rate of accuracy when there are only two possible outcomes.)  I suppose I don't really believe in them, but it is fun to dream and guess while we're waiting. 

The doctor informed me at my last visit that I have a full term uterus and it's just a matter of days now.  I'm afraid my gut reaction was to take him a little too literally on the "days" part and kind of made a fool of myself in his office  - exclaiming "REALLY?!?!"  Well, anyway, the due date is just three weeks from tomorrow so no matter how you look at it, I suppose it really is just a matter of days.  It could happen any day now, and we cannot wait to let everyone know if it's a boy or a girl!  :)

If anyone wants to make a guess, feel free to post a comment below.  I can't promise you a part of the winnings from Eric's pool (unless you want to chip in a dollar), but you can at least take pride in having been right... here's a pic of me and of baby if it'll help! :)  

    #Meagan

Fall!

Fall is definitely my favorite season, whether it is the great weather, the fun goings-on, or the fond memories I have associated with past falls.  This year is no different, with my lovely wife and her fondness of having holiday parties.  We had our 4th annual fall party, with great food, pumpkin carving, dinner and then barn dancing!

Here are some of the lovely pumpkins carved this year :)

And here is a picture of the three Dobbs pumpkins :)

And here they are lit up.

We capped off the night with a "barn dance", and the picture below is proof positive that a 36 week pregnant woman is perfectly capable of getting out on the town and cutting a rug (or wood floor, I guess).  She didn't have to stay at home and sit on the couch, and she didn't go into labor!  Sure, we sat out every other dance and she chugged some serious water, but we had a blast. So to everyone who asked us if we were trying to induce, the answer is no.  :)

 So as we cruise into the 37th week, baby is perfectly content to continue hanging out inside mommy.  Meagan is pretty much ready for baby to come out, both to meet our little one, and to ease her growing discomfort.  Baby has much less room these days, and his/her movements are quite a bit more pronounced.  We'll see if we can't get another movement video.  The baby could come any day now, and we're basically prepared.  We can't wait to meet this little guy/girl, and it is both exciting and nerve-racking to know that one day it is just going to happen.

#Eric

Blessings and Frustrations :)

Blessings!  Well I was very blessed last Sunday by my friends Paula and Sara, who hosted an awesome baby shower for us! Thanks ladies, as well as all the others who provided food and to everyone who came!  It really meant a lot to Eric and me!  It was so much fun to celebrate our coming baby with such good friends, and we were truly "showered" upon!  I think there are only 5 or 6 true necessities left that we still have to buy before baby arrives, and then most of the other things can wait until after Christmas or we can just try to do without!  We're just plain feeling blessed to have such awesome friends!  Here's a few pics from the event.  (Guests were instructed to wear pink or purple if they thought it was going to be a girl, and blue or green if they thought it was going to be a boy.  I wore them all. :))

Frustrations...  As you can see from the pic in Eric's last post, I am getting pretty big these days, and with that I'm daily encountering more and more things that I can no longer do.  Granted they're temporary, and baby's such a blessing, they're worth it, but regardless.... here's the list of things that I can no longer do, at least without difficulty... and well sometimes frustration!

1. Trim my toenails.
2. Put on my socks.
3. Tie my shoes, even fit into all my shoes!
4. Pick things up off the floor.
5. Get up off the floor.
6. Get in and out of the car in a skirt.
7. Run errands without having to use one (or more) of the stores' restrooms. 
8. Roll over in bed.
9. Find clothes that fit. 
10. Cross my legs.  (Which I discovered at church a few Sundays when I was wearing an knee length skirt.)

Thankfully, though, I have an awesome husband who is willing to help (even with trimming my toenails!) and who is patient when I have to stop to pee as often as a small child.  Thanks, honey!  I truly am blessed, and we can't wait for baby to arrive!   (4 1/2 weeks and counting!)

#Meagan

Heartbeat

Well, Meagan's mom was kind enough to loan us her stethoscope last week so we could take a shot at hearing the baby's heart beat for ourselves.  We had tried unsuccessfully last weekend, but not for very long.  Then this week before bed, I gave it a good try and sure enough, there it was!  I found a nice spot where it was relatively clear, though it isn't especially loud.  It was super exciting to say the least!  It is so incredible to be able to hear it for ourselves as opposed to waiting for the instrumentation at the doctor's office.

In other news, we are now at 35 weeks, which is officially the point where Marshalltown is ok delivering the baby.  Here's a pic of the baby bump - turned baby mound - turned baby hill :)

#Eric

Head Down!

Best news of the week - I had an appointment yesterday and for the first time in any appointment throughout this entire pregnancy, baby's head is down!  Let's hope it stays there!  Everything else checked out healthy!  Strong heart beat for baby, good blood pressure for me, glucose test checked out healthy, iron test is good, I know I'm gaining more weight than I should, but doctor still said it looked good at yesterday's visit! Praise God for a healthy pregnancy thus far!  

Baby has also taken to kicking even more vigorously in the last few days, at a time when all the books say that baby will probably be slowing down because of limited space. Not our baby! :)  It'll first stick its little foot or rump out, making a bump a good three inches off the surface of my belly, and then do something that kind of feels like a side kick as it retracts the other foot making my belly literally jiggle back into place.  I think it might be practicing karate in there!  Or else he/she is just trying to stretch me out!  "Mom give me more space in here!  Hmm... maybe if I push hard enough in two different directions at the same time, it'll stretch out..." (Sorry baby, all that happens is that the belly jiggles right back into place, and gives me great enjoyment. You'll be out soon!)

Most everyone who sees my belly guesses that it's a boy... something about how I'm carrying... but who knows how accurate those old wive's tales are. I think I just have such a short torso that baby doesn't have anywhere else to go but straight out. :)  Regardless, I don't think it's possible that I could be disappointed by one gender or the other, I'm just so excited for it to come out so I can meet him or her!  I feel like I know how to play "girl" better than boy, but Eric assures me that he'll teach me how to play "boy" too. :)

I've also been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions on quite a regular basis these days.  Not the most fun thing in the world, but if they are the cause behind baby's head being down and staying down, I'll take them! :)

Anyway, I think that's all for now.  We'll be posting a pic of my 8 month belly next week already! Only 6 more weeks to go if baby makes it to the due date!  We can't wait!

#Meagan

...Movement...

Well, we've been trying to get some movement captured on the video, but Baby Dobbs seems to be camera shy.  Or possibly just a finicky movie star.  Normally baby pushes all over the place, and as soon as the camera starts, he/she says "oh, the lighting isn't right.  I'll be in my trailer".  Tonight we finally got something that could actually be distinguished on the video.  So here it is!  Not the best we've seen, but probably the best you're going to see :)
#Eric