Goodbye 2008, Hello Parenthood (37 Wks)

I can't hardly believe it's the end of 2008 already. Before we know it, a little baby will be here and we'll officially be parents! 21 days and counting...

21 days until my official due date but as of last week on Monday...Dan and I thought for a little while this baby may have been a 2008 baby. On Monday, I started feeling a bit nauseous. By that evening, I was dealing with the full-fledged stomach flu. Let me just tell you that throwing up with a 9+ month pregnant belly is NOT fun!

After several hours of being sick and not being able to keep anything down, including fluids...I started noticing that I was having contractions pretty regularly. I started timing them at about midnight and they were consistently coming about 3 minutes apart! I called the hospital...they wanted me to come in right away to make sure I wasn't going into labor (where you can have really similiar symptoms as the flu).

Once we arrived, they brought me to the maternity ward and they threw me on the fetal monitors to check the baby and to check my contractions...Baby was doing just fine (whew!) however at that point, my contractions were 1 1/2 minutes apart! They checked to see if I was dilating at all...I wasn't. They decided I was most likely dealing with just the stomach flu and was very dehydrated...they started pumping me full of fluids.

Once the fluids started, my contractions began to spread apart. After about 3 hours, they were only coming a few times an hour. I talked to my OB doctor later that day and she put me on bedrest for the rest of this last week to regain my strength and make sure we didn't have a 2008 baby.

Needless to say...Dan and I rung in the New Year with jello, crackers, some cocktails high in electrolytes, and were in bed at about 9:15...quite the party animals that night. Luckily, Dan never got it but was an angel taking care of me.

During our downtime last week, he also got our Pack and Play put together. Sydney wanted to help...






Baby Stats:

Even though my official due date is still 3 weeks away, at 37 weeks I am considered full term. If I went into labor now, they would let me go...wow. At 37 weeks, the baby's lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb. All vital organs are fully developed and ready to go!

The baby weighs around 6 1/2 pounds and is anywhere from 18-21 inches in length. The baby won't get much longer but will continue to put on weight at about an ounce a day (half a pound a week). I'm pretty sure it looks from the outside like the turkey is done!