Welcome to the World, Baby Boy!

Brian and I are proud to announce the arrival of our little bean! I went into labor at Brian's office Christmas party Friday night and Chase was born 12 hours later.

STATS!
First/Middle Name: Chase Alexander
Birth Date: Saturday, December 16, 2006
Birth Time: 8:06am
Weight: 7 lbs 7 oz
Length: 20"

Click here for more information about our little bundle of joy!

Pregnancy Update (38 wks)

Had another doctor's appointment this morning. I'm 1 cm dialated and about 70% effaced, so things are moving in the right direction! My belly measured 39 cm and the baby's heartbeat was 146. By feeling my belly the doctor thought the little bean was about 7 - 7.5 lbs. I think he has dropped in the last day or so, which is a nice relief from the pain I was having in my ribs!

2 More Weeks!

As of yesterday we are 2 weeks away from our due date!

We spent the weekend getting things wrapped up. We pretty much finished off our registry with the necessities and I spent yesterday cleaning house and getting the last of the Christmas gifts wrapped, cards signed and thank-you notes done. It's going to feel GREAT having all those things go out in the mail this week. I think we're just about ready for the little bean's arrival (can you believe it?)!

Pregnancy Update (37 wks)

Had another doctor's appointment this morning. I haven't had any contractions so they didn't check me (for dilation, effacement, etc.), but they will next time. My belly measured 39 cm, baby's heartbeat was 139. Blood pressure looked fantastic, so that's an improvement from my last appointment. Swelling has gone down some, too. He's still head down and in a great position. By feeling my belly the doctor guessed he was pushing 7 lbs and was long. We shall see!

3 More Weeks!

Here's a photo of me in the little bean's nursery, taken yesterday (when I was exactly 37 weeks pregnant).

My friend Heather, who was due exactly 2 weeks before me (December 10th), called me Friday morning to tell me she had her baby. That's when reality hit that we are not far behind!! Since we had a bad snowstorm that day here in Chicago and neither I nor my boss wanted me to have my baby in a snowbank, I stayed home and did Christmas cards and thank-you notes. Then this weekend we worked on getting my hospital bags together. Thanks to Heather for the kick in the pants to get some things done!

Pregnancy Update (37 wks)

Click here for nursery photos!

We were very generously showered last Thursday (11/30). My office threw me a surprise shower over lunch, and Brian's office threw us a shower that same day (which his dad drove up from St. Louis for)!

Pregnancy Update (36 wks)

Had another appointment yesterday. Everything still looks pretty good. Belly measured 38 cm, baby's heartbeat was 140. I'm having some swelling (especially in my feet!) and my blood pressure is a little high, but nothing to be too concerned about at this point. We have a baby shower tonight at Brian's office, so that will be fun!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Mom!

Happy 29th Birthday to Brian! It is now official: Brian will be staying home after the little bean is born. He is leaving his job at the DeKalb County Youth Service Bureau to take care of our little guy and work on his dissertation. He won't be completely out of the work force, though, as he has been asked to teach a couple evening/weekend classes at some area colleges next semester. But it will at least give him more time to work on that dissertation and get done with his doctorate... and will save us from having to send the little bean to a full-time day care for a year or so! I'll just have to work hard on not becoming TOO jealous when I have to go back to work after my maternity leave! ;)

The Countdown Begins!

Well, we are now officially less than 1 month away from our due date.

Brian's parents were in town for Thanksgiving and we had a great dinner, prepared by Brian (I made dessert!), and then shopped til we dropped (almost literally!) Thursday night (the outlet mall had a midnight sale!), all day Friday (in Oak Brook) and all day Saturday (downtown Chicago). Needless to say I can barely move now, but it was worth it!

Elmer and Sheila helped us put our Christmas tree up this weekend and we spent yesterday decorating it and putting up most of our decorations, so we are all decked out for the holidays and excited for them to come! Not much longer! Is everyone ready?!?

Pregnancy Update (36 wks)

Had another appointment on Friday. Everything looks good. Belly measured 37 cm, baby's heartbeat was 132. He's head down and things are progressing!

Pregnancy Update (34 wks)

Had another doctor's appointment today. Belly measured 35 cm, the Little Bean's heartbeat was around 140. Everything looks good!

Pregnancy Update (33 wks)

We had our last ultrasound on Friday and it was incredible! The little bean was super active so we got to see him moving all over the place. He was busy sucking on his fingers (at one point he had his whole hand in his mouth!) and grabbing his toes. The tech put his face in 3D for us which was amazing. We think he has Brian's nose and my lips. He was so cute! He weighed in at 4 1/2 lbs, which is in the 41st percentile, so that's really good. If I go full term he should be about 8 lbs. His heartbeat when we first checked in with him was 170 because he was so active. By the time the tech was done it was down to 140. Everything looks fantastic, so we are thrilled. We also got a third confirmation that it's definitely a boy, so we finally took the tags off all those adorable little boy outfits we have! I'll post ultrasound pics soon!

We also had our childbirth class on Saturday, which was really good. We are feeling much more prepared and it's starting to hit home that it's actually going to happen... we're going to have a baby (Omigoodness)!!

(For all ultrasound photos, click here.)

October Summary

We started out the month with baby showers! We then found out Brian was named Doctoral Student of the Year in his program at NIU! What a smarty pants! Then the Cardinals won the World Series and we ended the month with a record number of trick-or-treaters (nine)!

Pregnancy Update (30 wks)

Working on the little bean's room this weekend... doing some painting, putting up a wallpaper border, etc. I'll post pics when we're done!

Pregnancy Update (30 wks)

Had our 30wk appointment today. Everything looks great (the doctor said "picture perfect pregnancy," so we can't ask for much more than that)! The little bean's heartbeat was 140, my belly measured 31 cm.

Pregnancy Update (29 wks)

Chick here to see photos of the shower my mom threw me on the 8th!

Pregnancy Update (29 wks)

I was generously baby showered twice this weekend and had a lot of fun. The first shower was hosted by my dear friends Katie and Janet (Click here for photos!), the second was hosted by Mom (photos coming soon)!

Pregnancy Update (28 wks)

Had our 28 week appointment today and the glucose test I took on Friday came back normal. All is well! My belly measured at 29 cm and the Little Bean's heartbeat was 145.

Pregnancy Update (28 wks)

And so the third trimester begins! We can hardly believe it! Went to my glucose screening appointment Friday (standard test for Gestational Diabetes) and had to drink nasty sugar juice, sit around for an hour, and then endure yet another needle while they drew my blood yet again (thank goodness for Brian, my hero, who sat in the waiting room for an hour just to hold my hand for 1 minute)! We should know the results at our next appointment.

Brian's dad was here this weekend and got to see the nursery as it stands at this point (not complete, but close)! The little bean also did some "belly dancing" for him, which was fun for him to see!

Pregnancy Update (25 wks)

This weekend we got the crib mattress, bedding, mobile and the cutest little pair of Mizzou socks you've ever seen in your life! We are so excited to make up the little bean's bed this week!