37 weeks, 2 days....

I am down under 20 days to go, according to my ticker! I am FULL TERM! yay!!! Happy to say that I am still not nervous about Teagan's exit strategy (nor the necessity for it!) yet...surprisingly!

I had an OB appointment today and nothing too new to report. Teagan was moving like she was doing a cardio workout in there...which made her heart rate really high. When they put the doppler on my belly, she was measuring in the 190s! But the doppler couldn't stay on to get a solid reading b/c she kept kicking/pushing/bumping it out of the way (she hates that thing). The nurse practitioner said that the high HR isn't of any concern because she was so active and strong that they'd expect a fast HR, but to be safe (and to calm me) she pulled out the fetal monitor and I was monitored for about 15 minutes. Her HR was perfect. It stayed around 135-140 and bumped up to the 160's only when she started her little moments of high activity. She said it just shows that she is very healthy and very active and she probably really liked my breakfast. So, that is all good. Oh, and I got a negative on the strep B test (woo hoo!) so I don't need to have an IV of antibiotics for her birth!!! (this was a surprise, I was convinced I'd have it b/c I always get strep throat!!!).

I did not get checked internally. I guess my doctor doesn't do that at this stage unless I report contractions, pain, etc. Since I am mostly just fine, they don't bother checking my cervix. I guess it goes back to the fact that I could be dilated and effaced and still not go into labor for weeks or be totally closed and long and give birth tomorrow. Cervical dilation/effacement doesn't seem to be a good indicator of the time of labor. Which is kind of a bummer b/c I'd like an inkling of when this is gonna get started. My guess is still not for a few weeks but everyone (including the nurse practitioner) says it could happen any minute!...or not. Ugh.

I got my diapers in! They are so cute. They've been washed and stacked...I am trying to get a system together that will make life easier. So, we bought some diaper wetbags from Planet.wise which are like water-proof laundry bags that are used to line my diaper pail and that is all set. I do have one package of disposables for the first few days - meconium stains everything supposedly. I'm not sure yet about how the bum gen.ius 3.0's will accommodate the umbilical cord stump, but I'm working on that.

Besides that, thank you so much for the comments on the pictures. I am so happy we did them. I did return the crappy ones from the expensive place and got my $150 back. They were reasonable about it (not much they could say...they were awful). If anyone wants to do maternity pictures and money is holding them back - seriously - consider JCP Photography (and check online for coupons). It seems silly, but they came out cute and I didn't want to spend a ton of money, but I wanted to document this time.

I am still ticked that I can't comment on a few blogger blogs. I keep trying...and I'm reading...and thinking of you all. Some blogger sites are fine, some aren't. It is so ANNOYING! I recently had a comment from Libby that I wanted to respond to...read your blog, but couldn't comment. I'm trying to work out the kinks. So, I'm sorry you all...you are in my thoughts!

Maternity Photos!

I had to post these ASAP because I think they came out so cute. But, there is a story. Remember back in August I won that Baby Expo grand prize? As part of that, I got a gift certificate to a local photographer (who I will not mention) expressly for maternity photos. Well, last Monday (35 weeks) Brett and I went and used that gift certificate. They didn't like the ideas we had and the changes of clothes we brought with us, so they chose the ones they thought were best and posed us however they wanted. We weren't thrilled but thought we'd wait and see. Yesterday, I went to pick up the proofs, leaving a $150 deposit. Apparently, we'd used up the gift certificate on the sitting fee...but that's okay, I really wanted maternity pics (it took us so damn long!). However, the pics were kind of awful. They were totally bland and it didn't look like us, we didn't look happy, and (get this) for one 5x7 print, they were charging $75. So, ridiculously expensive for something we didn't even like. This prompted me to make an appointment yesterday with a local, inexpensive big store that happens to have a photo studio (you know, the ones where the kids holiday pics are done?). Well, we had an appointment there today at 1:20...and these are the pics we got. I love them. I think they are cute, they let us do what we wanted, they are sweet but still show us being ourselves. What do you guys think? In any event, we spent less than that $150 deposit (that I am getting back on Monday) on a TON of photos that look great. We had a great time and feel good.