Little Max will be here soon!

Well it has been entirely too long since I bothered to take the time to write on here! So I apologize for that. I am trying to think of the many things that have gone on since I wrote last.

It was about early December that things started getting VERY uncomfortable for me! The heartburn that I thought was so terrible started getting worse. It got to the point that I couldn' t lay down at night without getting very sick with the acid and other disgustingness in my stomach. I started sleeping on the couch so that I could sleep sitting up - though this has been very difficult. It is lonely sleeping on the couch all alone and not being able to lay in bed next to my husband!

Max has definitely gotten bigger. At some point my stomach just got huge! My clothes started getting snugger and snugger and Max kept kicking stronger and stronger into my ribs! It is so hard to bend over and do anything, and turning over in bed is just insane. We went to having monthly appointments to appointments every two weeks. The appointments were pretty boring, just measuring my stomach and that's about it. They prescribed me Nexium for heartburn - but that didn't really do much good for me unfortunately!

In January we started to have appointments every week. She checked my cervix and said I was dilated and that it was beginning to prepare for labor. That got me pretty excited. The next week she told me I dilated a little more and asked me if I was interested in induction. I eagerly said yes - knowing that it would be so much easier to schedule everything with school and patients for clinic. So we scheduled the induction for the night of February 4th and the morning of February 5th with expected delivery some time on Thursday February 5th. Only a little shy of my due date since I was due February ninth - but it makes me happy that I don't have to go PAST my due date!

I went to the doctor yesterday and mom went with me. We had an ultrasound and they measured everything on the baby - the circumference of his head, the length of his legs, arms, looked at everything and said everything looked good! He was estimated to weight 7 lbs and 6 oz based on those measurements. His head is in the right position and is very low - which explains all the discomfort and waddling I have been forced to do!

She did the exam and said I hadn't really progressed much more - the dilation was about the same and the cervix was only about 50% effaced - so she told me it was very unlikely that I would go into labor naturally before my induction date. So now, I am looking forward to my last few days of pregnancy. So many last things to be done. My bags are packed for the hospital, the cameras are charged, and I have even made address labels for birth announcements when we get them ordered to make it go fast to mail them out!

Not really a whole lot else to say I don't think except that this "heartburn" or whatever name of this hell that I am going through that you want to call it is just utterly miserable. I was really hoping I would get some good rest before the baby arrives, but it doesn't appear that that is going to happen. School is keeping me fairly busy and they have been great about the time off I am going to get. I am getting three weeks instead of the two that I originally expected so I am looking forward to that. I will have to study for a bunch of exams I am missing this month but it will be worth it to have the extra time with Max.

I will go ahead and finally post this blog - sorry I haven't written more this last bit of pregnancy --- surely didn't think anyone wanted to read all my fussiness. I am so so excited about meeting my son. To look into his eyes and to hold him - I can't wait to see what he looks like. This pregnancy has given me such a different view of my own family and of my own mother who went through it all so she could have me in her life. Amazing.
I will try to post some more updated pictures.

I had 2 awesome baby showers this month.

My sisters and mom threw me one in Crosby and so many people came. It was a good time - everything was MVP sports themed - right down to a baseball maternity shirt Mom crafted up for me to wear. We had fun games like putt-putt with a pacifier and shooting basketball with diapers and bowling with baby bottles. So cute and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. All the food was food you would have at a game - hot dogs and burgers and even cracker jacks! We also had a baby bib contest that was so much fun. Kim brought a bib that said "tax deduction" which was the one I picked. However I did get two bibs in the mail that probably would have beat that bib out. Breanna got one that says "My heart belongs to a dentist" and Rebecca mailed me one that was misty green like my scrubs at school and had a toothbrush and a tooth embroidered on it! So cute! Tiff made a beautiful diaper cake with a sports theme - topped with a baseball! so cute! And there was an awesome cookie cake (my favorite!!!) there !

The other shower was thrown by Brittany and Rachel and the girls in my class. They have been an amazing support system and truly my extended family through this pregnancy - after all they are the people that have to deal with me on a daily basis! They made cupcakes and candies, had all kinds of great food (including dirt cake! Yum) and some awesome fruit salad! They even had Sonic ice for me! I had a ton of gifts to open - some adorable outfits - including Matthew's personal favorite the Italian Ferarri track suit with a matching onsie (Matt has been looking for a matching one for himself - goofy!)... they gave me lots of gift cards and other things I needed - including the stroller and car seat a bunch of the girls chipped in their money together for.

I have had an insatiable craving for ice the last few weeks. I googled it and it kept coming up as being associated with having an iron deficiency. When I asked the doctor about it she agreed but said it was probably nothing to be concerned with.

This is my last weekend being pregnant --- I can't believe that this journey is really about to come to an end - it seems like it began SOOO long ago ---- and that I am about to no longer be pregnant - but in that instant become a mother instead.

So the plan for next week is to go into the hospital on Wednesday night and go through all the paperwork and get into a room. They will give me Cervadil to dilate my cervix that night and will start me on Pitocin to start contractions the next morning. So the plan is for him to be in my arms sometime on Thursday February 5th! We will be at Hermann Hospital in the medical center.

I am going to create a page for pictures to share and that people can upload pictures for me to have as well.

The website is Your web site address:

http://maxvincentputonti.shutterfly.com/


and I think you can email post pictures to it by sending them to maxvincentputonti@sfly.com



Love you all so very much

Meg