38 Weeks and Counting!

Well, okay, so we're just shy of the 38 week mark... but today was our 38 week OB appointment! It was our last appointment with our RN Joan, and from now on we'll be seeing Dr. Gibson at each appointment. Our next appointment is next Wednesday, Dec 23rd, and then our 40 week appt is scheduled for the following Wednesday, the 30th!

Anyways, so today all my vitals looked good (whewee, not talking about weight at all, let's pretend that's not even something they check)... and so did Baby Willi's. His heart rate is still up in the 140s at 148bpm, and he seems to be growing like a champ. My belly is measuring right on track at 38cm. He's still head-down, so hopefully he's getting ready to start making his descent!

So far, no movement in that direction though... I am still only 50% effaced and am not dilated at all. The pelvic station is -4, meaning he's still floating. I thought he had dropped, but it doesn't seem that he has, he's still sitting up pretty high right now. (The pelvic stations go from -5 to +5, and the positive stations are when the head is crowning.) So we wait!

My guess is that this little fella will come late... what's your guess? :)

It wasn't me!!!

I promise! The baby that was born in the skies above Denver, CO late last week was not ours! Ours is still safely inside the womb. Phew! Most of you knew that we got the go-ahead from the doctor to head to Vegas for the weekend this past weekend, despite my being 36 weeks along. We had our doctor's note in hand and were off! We heard about the baby born mid-air and plenty of folks were wondering if that was us, but no, thankfully, it was not. :)

We had a wonderful trip to Vegas and back with no incidents. It was great to take one last trip without a little bebe to juggle. We enjoyed time just the two of us and time with the softball team. And despite it not being the most relaxing of places to visit (go! go! go!) we were able to take time off our feet to rest and catch up on some sleep (despite late nights, we slept late and caught up on zz's that way). We saw all the sights along The Strip, in addition to getting out to see the Hoover Dam!

Our little belly-dweller did great. Good boy! :)

Our next appointment is next Thursday (12/17 at 37 weeks 5 days), so I'll post more updates after that! Just wanted to make sure you all knew that we made it back safe and sound without any complications or mid-air special deliveries!

Here I am at the Hoover Dam!

*Alli & Ryan

Itza Boy!

Wow! What a trip to the doctor we had yesterday! It was wonderful! All my vitals are good, as are those of the little belly-dweller... my weight is okay and my belly measurement is right on track at 36cm. Dr. Gibson did an ultrasound to check on the baby's position and on the fluid levels and while she was looking around, she asked if we wanted to know the gender and of course we said "YES!"... so she said the fluid levels were great and the baby is head-down and slightly engaged (I'm 50% effaced), and that it's a HE! We have a baby BOY on the way! Very exciting. And no, we're not going to tell you the names we're thinking of... some things just need to remain super special between me and the hubs and there has to be at least SOME surprise, right?

Here is a picture of the proof... there's our little man's "junk":

and here's a picture of his cute little face:

For more pictures, check out the shutterfly page as usual! I'm trying to keep it up to date!

We also got the go-ahead from Dr. Gibson yesterday that we can go to Vegas this weekend. Ryan has a softball tournament Saturday and Sunday, so he would be going regardless, but whether I joined him was up in the air. I got the thumbs-up, so I get to go! Yay! We fly out tomorrow afternoon and return Monday night. Should be a nice little "babymoon" getaway. Can't wait! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them upon return.

love,
alli, ryan and baby BOY willi

Giving Thanks

Hello to everyone who checks in with our blog occasionally! Since this is the week of Thanksgiving, what better time to say "Thank You" to everyone for all the love and support you've given us as we embark on this family-expanding adventure! We are truly blessed to be so enveloped by you all.

We are thankful for our health, your health, and our belly-dweller's apparent health. I am now 34 weeks 4 days along and cannot believe that means we're a mere 6 weeks (give or take) from meeting this mystery bundle! Wow. I guess it's seemed like a long 9 months as much as it seems the time has flown by... crazy. Our next appointment is in 2 weeks on Wed Dec 2nd, so as of right now, no new medical updates. I'll be sure to update the blog again after that appointment to let you all know how things went. At that appointment the doctor is going to check to see if the baby is head-down and ready and rarin' to go! Since she'll be doing a mini-ultrasound to check that status, she said she'd TRY to see if she can figure out the gender, but I'm not convinced that our modest little one will share. heh heh... Though, the lady at our local Chinese restaurant told me with no uncertainty, that we are having a boy. Who needs those silly ultrasounds anyways?! ;)

For those of you checking our shutterfly album of belly updates, these pictures won't be news to you, but here's a picture of my belly at 34 weeks, and then a couple pictures of the nursery!





Happy Thanksgiving!
love,
the willies

Nursery? Check!

My husband rules.

Last weekend we picked up our crib and dresser combo tower changing table thingy (technical term) at Direct Buy only to find out that they were both in lots of pieces and it would require quite the assembly to get them together. My heart sunk a little because of course I wanted to run home and have the nursery all set up so I could play house... but then I knew that I'd have to be patient and wait for Ryan to want to put them together, and not nag. And guess what!?! Not nagging totally worked! He decided last Sunday to put the dresser thing together, so we got that done right away! And that was a DOOZIE. We got done with the basical frame of it, which was quite time consuming as it was, and he goes "why are there still so many parts?", to which I had to say "oh, we have to put together the drawers..."... HAHAHA! Poor guy. But we got that done and look, FABNESS!!!


And then just last night he started in on the crib, so we got that all put together last night and now we have ourselves a nursery!!!! Here's a pic of the crib. Perty, huh? And yes, we're going to raise up the mattress, we didn't realize it was so low till we finished and by then we were ready for bed, so we'll raise it up this weekend :)


So now we just have to buy detergent and wash the sheets and baby clothes and stuff and that nursery will be ready for our little bundle's arrival! Yay! I also want to hang some pictures and move others around and stuff, so still some fun decorating to do, but for the most part, we're good to go! And ahead of the game, too! Yahoo! I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I heart my husband.

Today is our 32 week check-up, so I'll keep ya posted on how that goes! Gee, I can't wait to get on the scale. Yikes! HAHAHA! I think this baby is going to weigh 15 pounds... HA!

Love yuz!
*alliwilli

Post 32 wk OB appt update:
Let's skip right over my weight, shall we? And move along to the baby's heartrate, which was super strong, we heard it the second she put the doppler thingy on my belly, no searching around for it! It was at about 140bpm. And my belly measures in at 34cm, which means the baby is growing and growing well! (Maybe it WILL be a 15 pound baby? Please Lord, no.) All is well in the belly!

Our Baby Shower

Wow. Thank you doesn't even begin to tell people what I feel in terms of gratitude for the shower that was given in our honor this past weekend. I was SO completely overwhelmed by how much was going into the shower and how many people wanted to help put it together, I was literally shaking and burst into tears when I got to my mom's condo before heading over to the clubhouse with Megan. And yep, I cried afterwards, too. It was just SO wonderful! I think it probably doesn't help that my hormones are on over-drive... ha!

Anyways, the shower was held this past Sunday, October 25th at the Dancing Willows Clubhouse (the clubhouse at my parents' condo complex). It was a big gorgeous room with a huge fireplace and a great big granite island covered in delicious grub. There was a table right as you entered the clubhouse with a huge and fabulous gDiaper "cake", my belly journal for browsing, and the baby book that Emilia got me, so that people could sign it. :) The other 3 tables were covered in scrapbooking goodness. At first I didn't understand what was going on, but then learned that throughout the shower the gals would be working on each making one page for a scrapbook for Baby Willi. Each gal chose a theme that they think represents us or our growing family, and made a page that will later be populated by pictures we take with the new addition! It was an AMAZING idea! How clever! I loved it!!!!

Then, we were literally "showered" with gifts... we got SO much good stuff! Diapers, wipes, butt-cream, strollers, rocker, cradle, sheets, bedding, stuffed animals, onesies, snug-sacks, books and even WINE!!!

If you want to see pictures from the shower itself, I hope to get some from Aunt Peggy tomorrow, but in the meantime, my friend Carmine posted some wonderful ones on her blog, so feel free to browse The Heilig Family Journey for those!

Here are some pictures once we got the goods back to our house and started putting things into the empty nursery...

The no longer empty bookcase:


The cradle that I was lulled to sleep in as a newborn, fixed up and ready to go, along with the rocking chair I was fed in as a newborn, with a fabulous newly upholstered cushiony set up:


The stained glass that Ryan's mom was given at HIS baby shower, now hanging on our belly-dweller's door:


And some wall art we got from my mum:



A BIG HUGE Thank You goes out to EVERYONE who contributed to our growing family, but especially to the following gals who planned and executed such an AMAZING, thoughtful, and creative shower: Grandma-to-be-Terry, Grandma-to-be-Mary, Auntie-to-be-Meg, Carmine, Nichole, Alicia, and Anna... and thank you also to Peggy who flew out from Florida to be with us! Also, I must thank Elisa for helping me register, without her, all I would have had on my registry was Mortimer the Moose. :)

Also, my mum DROVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY for this shower... she drove out to bring us the cradle and rocker, among other things, and then just this morning is flying back. I will miss having her around! We did lots of fun nesting projects and just had a wonderful time together. I look forward to lots of quality time during my maternity leave as well. It's nice to know she'll be coming back in a mere 2 months, almost to the day, to be here for the birth of Baby Willi! Thank you mum! Love you bunches!

As always, I've updated the Dward Family Shutterfly page with new belly pictures... so enjoy those as well!

Anyways, we are so full of love and gratitude from our shower and know we have all the support we need as we approach the last 10 weeks of our pregnancy... so thank you to everyone, we love you all!
~Ryan, Alli & Baby Willi~

28 weeks... The 3rd Trimester... YAY!

Well hello! Yes, it's been a while! No news is good news, right? :)

So we had our 28 week OB appointment last Friday, October 9th, and everything seems to be healthy! Hooray! My BP is fabulous, and let's not talk about my weight gain, with the exception of saying that the doctor and nurse both told me separately that I'm doing great. Phew! The mystery baby's heartrate is in the low 140s at this point, so when Dr. Gibson threw her guess into the baby-gender-pool, she guessed Team Pink. So we'll see!

This doc visit was also the big Glucose Tolerance Test visit... whoppee! It meant peeing in a cup, then guzzling a sugary cocktail and then waiting for an hour and then having blood drawn to compare glucose levels. I passed! Hooray! Excellent. Must be all that candy corn training I do... I scoff at their tolerance test, gimme a real challenge people. ;) Sure, it was nasty, but after my sugar coma passed, I was ready to finish off some festive Brach's Pumpkins... bring it on. HA!

Other baby news? Well, let's see now... we've started to receive gifts from people who won't be able to join us for the shower next weekend, so that's always exciting! And we also placed our order at Direct Buy for the car seat, extra base, crib, dresser and mattress. And already the car seat, extra base and mattress have arrived here at the house! Very exciting. The nursery is very empty right now, I can't wait for the arrival of my mum on Wednesday (the 21st) with the cradle and rocking chair, and for the arrival of the crib and dresser so we can really get this party started!

Last week I got to spend time with my fabulous old friend Emilia and her newborn, Lucia Rose, who is just a DOLL. So amazing to think how far we've come since we met... oh boy, maybe I shouldn't relive my college memories on this "family friendly" blog... but let's just say, we're a long way from St. Mary's College right now, both married and moms (or moms-to-be!)!!! Crazy-talk. But her husband agreed that we're still the same 2 girls... giggly and silly as ever.

Other family news? Randy (Ryan's Dad) started his chemo treatment this week, on Monday, and seems to be doing pretty well with it. I believe he has his next treatment this coming Monday, so that might be a bit tougher, being the 2nd round right on top of the 1st. And then I think he has a week off for recovery before another 2 rounds back-to-back again. So all seems well right now on that front, we'll keep you posted as he gets further along in his treatments.

Well, I'll leave you with a picture of me at 28 weeks... oy vey! Look at that belly!!! :)


best as always,
*alliwilli