I’m home from the hospital now. Aria was born on May 24th at 5:13 p.m. She’s 8 lbs. and 18 1/2 inches long. More pictures can be found at my gallery. I’m feeling pretty good, but a little tired. I’ll post more later.

So, with a little less than 2 weeks until my due date, I’m just waiting for the baby to be ready to come. Tuesday was a good day for us: our house in Florida finally sold! It’s such a relief to not have that to deal with anymore, especially since we’ve been in California for six months. We ordered a cloth diaper package a couple weeks ago and it should be here on Tuesday. One of the items in the package was out of stock, so we had to wait a little longer than normal.

Ray’s parents will be here next weekend and my parents will be showing up sometime between the 11th and 20th. My sister has her exam play on the 11th and her graduation on the 20th, so both of my parents arranged vacations during that time to see her and then come up to see us. I feel a bit overwhelmed that we’re going to have so many visitors, but things should work out.

I wish that you could know when you’re going to go into labor. I’ve been so excited that my patience for things to happen is quickly wearing thin during these last weeks. Also, I’d really like to not go past my due date. Most doctors don’t like you to go too far over and it sounds like induction can cause quite a few problems that I’d like to avoid.

I’ve added a few entries here from my livejournal. Sometimes I forget that there are two sites to update. I backdated the posts so they appear in the proper order. They are the last three posts (Almost there, 8 months, and Itchy! Itchy! Itchy!). ^_^ I’m also adding a link to my livejournal in the Blogroll section.

I’m now in the last month of pregnancy. There’s four weeks until my due date, but at this point if i was to go into labor, they’d do nothing to stop it (nothing to help either). Next week the baby will be considered full term, so I’ve gotten everything I need for the hospital because it could be any day at that point. This is about the time where the baby should be dropping which take pressure off the lungs and stomach a bit. The baby’s always been a bit low, so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to see the difference, but I was looking forward to being able to breathe easier. I found out at my appointment yesterday that she’s already dropped. >_< Oh, well. At least she won't be turning around at this point. She's head down, so no worries there. I guess she's either streched out or very long since I'm still feeling pressure on my lungs.

We found out that my doctor is a big Nine Inch Nails fan yesterday. I wanted her to write down the name of this weird reaction I have (Vasovagal - hope it won’t cause any problems during labor - passing out would not be fun) and we had her write it on my list of things to get to finish my hospital bag. When she saw that I had “NIN’s Year Zero” on the list, she asked if we liked them. Of course we said yes, and then she went on to tell us how she liked them and has gone to lots of their concerts. Ray and I were surprised, but find it cool. So, now I don’t have to worry about having them on my playlist at the hospital. I guess we’ll all be enjoying the music. ^_^

It’s interesting that when you’re 8 months pregnant, you have 8 weeks left. I’m excited and anxious. My appointments are now every two weeks, so that should help things to move faster. The doctor did another ultrasound yesterday. The baby’s turned around. Yay! The doctor still thinks we’ll be having a girl (baby’s still not giving us a good view). I’ve got to work on my hospital bag still. I’ve also got to put together a good playlist for labor. I’m leaning towards lots of NIN. ^_^

I think we’re going to have a lot of visitors here for the baby’s first few weeks. Ray’s parents are planning on coming out around the 12th of May so they can be here for the birth (as long as baby doesn’t decide to make an early entrance). My sister graduates on the 20th, so both her and my mom will probably be showing up sometime after that. I think my dad will also come up to see us sometime during May as well. We’ve started making some tentative travel plans for this summer. We’re thinking we’ll make a trip to Florida in July and a trip to Massachusetts in August. If anyone has any specific times they’d like us to try to make, let us know. Also, if anyone’s coming to the Bay Area, we can always come by and visit (or you can visit us).

Ray and I have been watching CSI. I’m addicted; it’s such a good show. We watch all the shows, so that means three new episodes a week. We’ve been renting the original series from our local video store and we’re just finishing the third season. After we catch up, we’ll probably start getting the Miami series and then the NY series. I’m hoping we get Miami soon so that I can bring it to the hospital with me. We’re making good time on catching up. We started watching the original series a few weeks ago and we’re probably averaging 4 discs a weekend. >_<

My belly is mad itchy and it’s driving me crazy. No matter how much belly lotion I put on, the itchiness doesn’t stop. >_< I hope it's not going to be this bad through these last couple months.

This weekend we’re going to take a tour of the hospital’s birth center. In a few weeks, I’m going to pack my hospital bag, but I’ve still got to buy a few things for it.

12 weeks left to go. Why does it feel like time’s moving slower now?

So, we had another appointment today and the doctor did another ultrasound. She’s 80% sure that we’re going to have a girl. ^_^ Exciting. Our little one is still in breech position, so the doctor’s going to check a little later on to make sure little boy parts don’t magically appear. We’ve got a name picked out already: Aria. Now, I get to go pick out cute little outfits that aren’t gender neutral or boring. ^_^

Three months to go! I’m getting anxious.

Went to the doctors today. My new doctor is awesome. Since we hadn’t had an ultrasound yet, she did a quick one in the office and printed some pictures for us. I’ll have my official 19-20 week ultrasound in a couple weeks, so I should have more pictures then. The baby is currently in breech position and was a little diagonal, so we don’t know the sex yet. I’ve uploaded the pictures; they’re not the best quality since we don’t have a scanner here and I had to use the camera. ^_^

Legs

Heartbeat

Head and Ribs

All 3

So, our third visit to the doctors was fairly fast. I got the results of all my blood work. My blood type is O+, I don’t have Von Wilibran’s, and I’ve never been exposed to Toxoplasmosis. After getting the test results, the doctor got the doppler out to find the baby’s heart beat. It was very exciting to finally hear. The baby’s heart beat is good at 161. So, everything’s good and progressing well.

So, I put on a pair of capris this morning and they were tight (uncomfortably so). >_< Not being able to wear pre-pregnancy clothes has begun. Fortunately, I already got a couple pairs of maternity pants and a couple bella-band type things, so I'm good to go. Now the problem is going to be buying lots of shirts. Most of the shirts I wear are from high school, so they're typical junior shirts and just barely reach the top of most pants. Not good for maternity pants. I really need to get a bunch of long shirts. Almost all of my clothing will not be wearable for the next year or so. >_< I'm going to be packing them into boxes tonight. Man, I really thought I had a couple more weeks before this happened. I'm not even gaining weight, but the belly is getting really bloated.

So, I had gained two pounds, and now I’ve lost them. I’m not sure if this is good or bad. I feel like my belly’s getting bigger though, so it might be because I’ve been going to the pool at the gym. I’m going to Jo-Ann’s after Aqua Fit tonight and getting one of those fabric tape measures. Time to start keeping track of the belly size.

I really wish time was moving faster. I don’t go to the doctor’s for another week and a half and I know it’s going to be a long visit (blood tests, u/s, whatever else they do at 8 wks). I want to be showing and at the point where we can tell everyone without having to worry about the high risk of m/c. I guess I really just want to look pregnant and have a big belly. ^_^ I definitely feel pregnant though. Every once in a while, I can feel pain in the ligaments in my abdomen, so I know they’re streching for the baby. Then there’s the hunger/motion sickness and lots of other standard symptoms (including the annoying heartburn and frequent bathroom trips).