Tour of the hospital

This past week, we took the second part of our Great Expectations class, including a tour of the hospital.  We saw all of the different rooms that we will see during the labor and delivery process.   


First, you start in triage - they check you in and make sure that you are actually in labor and should stay at the hospital.  You check into a private desk and they bring you to a private room where you stay for about an hour for an exam and some tests.  This part is nothing like the emergency room that you see on tv with pregnant women sitting around waiting for a bed.


From there, they bring you to the labor and delivery room up a few floors.  This room is larger as this is the part where the most nurses, coaches, doctors and helpers are involved.  This room is also private and although its a hospital, its pretty and comfortable.


After the hard work is done, you are moved upstairs to the recovery room which is where I will live for 2 days after the baby is born - and where all my visitors will come!  The picture above is the actual recovery room.  The couch to the side turns into a bed so Chris can sleep in the room whenever he wants.


It was good to be able to see the rooms because when the actual time comes, it won't be new to me and will seem more familiar.  At the same time, however, it was a little scary to see the rooms too cause that means we are getting closer and closer to D-day (delivery day).  I just have to keep reminding myself that people go through this every day, have more than one baby and it will all be worth it in the end!

Countdown to the Olympics!

At 33 weeks, Blueberry is now a pineapple, hopefully without the leaves (although sometimes it feels like the leaves are in there too poking)!  What do you think?  Does the pineapple look like it could fit in there?  Our little pineapple is 17 inches and 4.25 pounds.


As if there wasn't enough proof that this baby is mine (besides the ever growing belly), Blueberry is getting just as excited about the London Olympics as I am!  Each day, it seems to pick a new sport to practice for.  The other day, the baby was a gymnast practicing a very impressive floor routine.  Yesterday, Blueberry was a biker, pedaling the day away.  Today, we have a very active rower - not sure how far you can get in there though... 


Last week, we went to our Great Expectations class at the hospital (part 1 of 2) and got a lot of info about labor and delivery.  They showed us a video of people delivering naturally and with an epidural, taught us about rhythmic breathing, massage and stages of labor.  Next week we will learn more about delivery and take a tour of the hospital.  Tomorrow is another doctors appointment and a Bowser & Baby class - how to introduce your dog and baby to each other.  We will see what they have to say! 

Ladies and Gentlemen... place your bets!

As we are getting closer to the due date, its time to place your Blueberry bets.  Will we have a boy or a girl?  When?  How big will Blueberry be?

Click here to make your selections.  I will post the results in a few weeks and then we will see who is closest in each category.  Then, when Blueberry decides to join the party, we will have some winners!

Introducing Grammy & Grandy

When we were in Birmingham, Grandmommy and Granddaddy told us that they had selected their official great-grandparent names:  Grammy and Grandy!  We think its really cute and think Blueberry will like saying it too!


Blueberry had a great time meeting Grammy and Grandy for the 'first time' and performed with a few flips and dance moves.  Hopefully next time we go to Birmingham for a visit, Blueberry will be able to do even more and look even cuter on the outside!

Sweet home Alabama

This past week, we packed up and headed South to celebrate 4th of July in true Southern style.  We had a great visit spending time with family, celebrating and of course, eating!  We started out the week with lots of family time and it was nice to relax and just spend time together.



In the middle of the trip, Chris and I headed down to New Orleans for 2 nights for our last  'babymoon'.  We stayed in the French Quarter and with no plans whatsoever, took our time exploring the city, trying to stay cool and of course, more eating!  We spent some time at the aquarium, took a ride on the St. Charles trolley, explored Jackson Square, walked up and down Bourbon Street and popped in and out of a bunch of stores.  We were able to sleep in, go swimming and peruse the restaurant options.  And when nothing was really looking fabulous for dinner, we decided to drop by Cafe Du Monde and just eat beignets!  When else do you have an excuse to eat donuts for dinner?


As you can imagine, it was really hot down there, but it seems like the whole country was in the 100s that week, so we couldn't really complain any more than anyone else.  Overall, it was a great trip and fun to see New Orleans again, especially since the last time I was there, I was 11.

Once we got back to Birmingham, we had 24 more hours to visit family.  In that time, we took advantage of the fact that the family photographer was in town and had a pregnancy photo shoot!


We went to the Botanical Gardens for a 7am shoot and are excited to see the results.  Thank you Daddy, for schlepping all of your equipment, waking up early and withstanding the heat so that we could get some good pictures!  More pictures to come but for now, here is the preview picture. We can't wait to see how they all turn out, but knowing how your other pictures come out, we are sure they will be great!  


I am feeling great, Blueberry is moving around A LOT and we have another doctor's appointment tomorrow!