Work Showers

John's Work Shower

John's cube mate/work wife, Marinell, is due the same week I am.  Here we are laughing after we bumped bellies, and then trying hard to be serious.

My Work Shower

One of our favorites--a clothesline of gifts that just kept going!--very generous.

And here we are practicing with a co-worker's baby.  Can't believe it will be us soon!

The drama continues...

So after being on bedrest for a few days, I returned to work on Friday and Saturday without much trouble.  Thankfully, I am doing mostly desk work now.  Celia then met me at my apartment Saturday after work, and the two of us enjoyed a nice dinner out.  We were then on our way to a show in San Mateo....

Celia was driving along, minding her own business, going about 30mph, when what appeared to be a teenager and her friends, ran a stop sign and entered our intersection with no time for Celia to dodge them or brake fast enough.  So, we T-boned the side of their car.  No one was seriously injured, but when I called the maternity floor at the hospital, they did recommend that I come in to be monitored.  6 hours later, after multiple tests, they released me and said the baby and I were ok.  Celia and I both noted a neck ache the next day, but nothing bad.  It seems the two cars took the brunt of the damage....

The Performing Arts Center was nice enough to listen to our sob story and give us new tickets to the show the next day, so we saw "Crazy for You" on Sunday, made yummy Easter treats with a recipe from Mrs. Hackbarth (thanks!--love the pretzels), and made my mom's egg-a-la-goldenrod for dinner.  

We're hoping for a little less excitement this week!

Growth Ultrasound

Well, so much for everyone telling me I look small!  :)  The last 2 ultrasounds have estimated Cali to be about a 1/2 pound bigger than average for her due date.  We must remember who her father is though!  You can bet if I have to push out a 9lb. baby that it WILL be John's fault at that moment :)  2 weeks ago she was estimated at 4lb 10 oz., and today, at 5lb. 7oz.  Due date is estimated closer to May 15th or 16th now instead of the 18th.  We think she's going to have John's bigger lips too--they're sticking out as far as her nose in this picture!  She was also in the process of trying to suck on her fingers at the time.  Everything looked good and I don't think I've had any contractions in the last day or two, so hopefully we can keep her in there a little bit longer... but not TOO long!  :)  For those of you who have difficulty seeing what's in these pictures, this is a profile shot of her head.  The tech confirmed that she is indeed a SHE too which we were thankful for--didn't want all those cute dresses to go to waste!

Bed rest

I've been on "bed rest" for about 5 hours, and i've had enough already :)  I don't sit still very well.  For those of you who have done it, i am sorry you had to do it.  Luckily, mine is only temporary, as of now anyway...3 days to be exact.  I started weekly monitoring at the hospital last week because of an elevated protein they found months ago.  I guess it's nothing serious, it just means statistically that you're more likely to have high blood pressure, placental issues, and a low birth weight baby...so they do a "non-stress test" once a week for the last 8 weeks of the pregnancy.  This entails monitoring the baby's heart rate, any contractions that i'm having, and a quick ultrasound to check amniotic fluid levels.  The baby passed with flying colors both times (and was actually a little ahead of schedule weight wise according to our ultrasound a week ago), but last week i was having uterine "cramping", and this week i had 3 contractions within 30 minutes (which i could barely feel)...so they gave me an injection to stop them and prescribed bed rest for the next 3 days.  I guess that's what i get for doing overtime at work the last week or two... or maybe Cali thought our "practice session" yesterday was real and that she was supposed to get the show on the road--(we did a couples labor class taught by my prenatal yoga teacher).  When do YOU think she'll arrive?--vote on the new poll!

Photo (wk 34) courtesy of Maxine Bauer

WI visit

We flew home to WI on Friday, the 20th and arrived that evening.  As always, every minute of the short trip was planned.  We hung out with my parents Friday evening and got to see their pics from their Cabo trip before running back to the airport at midnight to pick up Celia.  Saturday we met Brooke for Culvers, then went to Ryan and Michelle's baby's baptism party, followed by a high school get together at their house that evening.  Check out this picture!--we took a similar one in Ryan's basement about 10 years ago, but things look a little different now--lots of spouses and kids!

Sunday was my baby shower.  My mom, grandma, mother-in-law, and "my girls" planned and executed an amazing day.  Great food, fun games, cute favors, and an amazing diaper cake.  Everyone's hard work made for a beautiful day.  Thanks to all who came and for all the great gifts--John and I really appreciated it!!  

Sunday evening, John and I had dinner with John's parents.  Monday AM we hung out with our new nephew (and his parents), then had lunch with my brother and Grandma Strube before I headed out to the airport (John flew out the next AM)

My trip home was quite eventful--both of my flights were delayed, one had a moderate amount of turbulence that I thought i could handle until the guy next to me got out his Burger King--ugh, nauseous! ...then when I got back to San Fran at midnight, I suddenly realized I didn't have any keys!!--we had only brought one set to WI, and guess who still had them?!  I sat in the airport for about 30 minutes trying to stay calm and attempting to think of some sort of solution that would allow my overly exhausted self some sort of sleep that evening before needing to go to work 8 hours later.  To make a long story short, my landlord just happened to still be awake and was GRACIOUS enough to let me into my apartment--i wanted to KISS that woman's feet!  

It is now 9 days later and my exhaustion level has not been resolved yet...I haven't had a day off since because I had a continuing education class all day on Sat. and Sun. and then decided to work some overtime at work to try and get some extra vacation for my maternity leave--but guess what, BAD idea!  I now have a bad cold.