Squishee due a little earlier...

No fun pics to go with this post, but I did want to let you know that we're looking at a "revised" birthdate for Squishee. When we went to the doc this Tuesday, we saw that Squishee's growth is slowing down and that the amniotic fluid was starting to go away (these are two of the common risks associated with the blood pressure medication I take). At that time, our doctor told us that if today's appointment showed similar decreases in fluid (no, we were NOT at Oil Can Henry's...), then we could be looking at inducing next Tuesday!!

As exciting as that was, it definitely sent Sean and I into a bit of a tizzy! Oh sure... I have a few things on my "To Do" list that I want to accomplish before Squishee's arrival, but the big concern of ours is the house that we bought earlier in the year to fix up and sell. We aren't done remodeling it yet!!! So Sean made some phone calls and some wonderful friends have lent us some elbow grease in helping out with the house. Even in two days, their help has made a huge difference. THANK YOU!!!

Today's checkup revealed even more good news! The amniotic fluid level is back up a bit, which means we won't be inducing next Tuesday (6/3). We know that Squishee can decide to make her debut whenever she's good and ready, but we're back to looking at 6/10 as the probable date for inducing. We'll be at 39 weeks at that point and Sean and I are getting really excited.

More info (and some really fun pics!) to come in future posts... but I wanted to get this one out there since I told some of you to check back here after today's appointment!

37 week checkup

It has been a long time since I gave an update on little Squishee, so here are some details you might be interested in:

• As you can tell by the "pea pod" calendar at the top of your screen, we are 1 day shy of 37 weeks. Babies are considered "full term" any time between 37 weeks and 40 weeks, so the doc says we're all systems go if Squishee decides to make her big entrance. On the other hand, Sean and I still have quite a few things we want to get done before she shows up, so we're praying that she stays comfy for a couple more weeks!
  
• I am feeling great for being 37 weeks along... way better than I expected. I still have a decent amount of energy, I'm sleeping very well, and I'm still loving all the movements and kicks that are coming from our active little girl. Oh sure... there are some pains and strains here and there... but overall, I'm still loving this miraculous time.
  
• We are seeing the doc a couple times a week now. During these visits, we monitor Squishee via ultrasound or by doing a Non Stress Test using a fetal monitor. Every visit, Squishee (and I) have been getting A+ grades from our doctor, so we pray that continues to be the case for the rest of this pregnancy. So far, my blood pressure has been great (actually lower than normal), my amniotic fluid levels are excellent, and all the other signs point to a very healthy pregnancy. What a blessing!!!
  
• June 17th is the latest date that Squishee will join us. This is because the doctor doesn't want me to go much past our due date. Even if the blood pressure threat never rears its ugly head during the next few weeks, our doctor wants to induce when we reach 40 weeks. Reason? She doesn't want to push our luck and give the blood pressure a chance to create an emergency where there doesn't need to be one. There is something relieving about knowing I'm not going to go 2 weeks late like some women do on their first pregnancy, and it has also allowed us to have a little more info when scheduling family visits, etc. The craziest part about knowing the latest due date is the fact that we know our Orange Juice in the fridge has a later "due date" than our baby... so surreal!!!
  
• No, our hospital bags aren't packed yet... but that is on the agenda for tonight! I did spend all day yesterday washing clothes, bedding, blankets, etc. for little Squishee... so we are ALMOST ready for her to come home!
  
• Seems only fair to include some pics in this blog post, so here are some recent snapshots.
  

These are my dear friends, Julie and Stacey, who threw a baby shower for me in early May.

It was such a special day and I was thrilled to see so many wonderful friends. Although it's tough to "catch up" with so many loved ones at the same time, it meant so much to see all these amazing women in my life.

Even though Sean hasn't attended any baby showers, we both are SO thankful for the love and support we have experienced as we anticipate Squishee's arrival. We always knew we had special families, friends, and coworkers, and we are so excited to introduce Squishee to all of you!!!

So this is the fun part, right??

As we head into the home stretch of this amazing pregnancy, I have experienced some incredible words of inspiring encouragement and sage wisdom. As true as that may be, I think the words of DIScouragement and idiocy are FAR more interesting. So here are some examples of things I've heard over the last couple weeks... I hope you get a kick out of them:

• "Wow... you haven't had that baby yet?"
  Actually, yes, I did. But I think the maternity belly looks SO good on me, I decided to shove a watermelon up my shirt and pretend I was still pregnant.
  
• "You're due in 3 weeks? Just so you know, it hurts."
  You don't say! I had heard it was super pleasant and you just slept through the whole thing. Wow... thanks for letting me know that so I could prepare. By the way... did I mention that this brilliant information came from a MAN! So he must know!!!
  
• "You may feel good now, but you are going to be miserable soon. You're just going to be hating life until that baby comes out."
  Wow... you didn't do very well on the cheerleading squad, did you? Surprisingly, I have heard many versions of this uplifting sentiment. Although I reserve the right to start complaining at any time, the "misery" hasn't begun yet, so it's weird to have to convince people that you aren't depressed and "hating life."
  
• "Wow... you are huge!"
  Wow... you are ugly! Thank goodness I'll lose this belly when the baby comes out... too bad you'll always have that face! (No... I have not said that to anyone, but it doesn't mean I haven't wanted to.) :-)
  
• "Wow... you're really showing. When I was pregnant, I didn't show until I was about 8 months along."
  If you don't show until you're 8 months pregnant, that means you either wear clothes that are WAY too baggy... or you had way too much weight for that baby to hide under.

I hope you can see why I think these statements and questions were humorous. If you can't, then you were probably the one who said it to me! :-)

Is flying a cure for breech babies?

Well, we have no idea when it happened, but we had an ultrasound today and learned that Squishee has taken a dive and is now head down instead of breech! We are really excited! Sure enough, if it hadn't been for the need for ultrasounds to monitor Squishee's growth, we probably would have never known she was breech for a while anyway. So it was much ado about nothing! But we are so thankful that Squishee cooperated!!!

Speaking of growth ultrasounds, Squishee is doing really well. She's growing just fine and is currently in the 40th percentile for growth, which is totally normal and acceptable. The technicican predicts that she is about 4.5 lbs right now... and the ultrasound confirmed that she is pretty active (as if I needed an ultrasound to confirm that!).

Over the past weekend, Sean and I were in Boise for a friend's wedding. We're going to spread rumors that the flying is what caused Squishee to flip around and then maybe we can get speaking engagements on Oprah and free tickets on the airlines! :)

Here are some pics from our brief weekend in Boise

Sean and Lisa before heading off to the wedding

My 6 beautiful friends from High School
(Amy, Joy, Jaime, Katie - the bride, Caroline, Lisa and Carin)

Lisa and her mom

Watch Squishee grow in a slideshow...

Wish I'd thought of this sooner, but rather than doing a post every time we take another picture of Squishee growing in my belly, we've gone ahead and put a slide show to the right showing the progression. And to think there was a time when people couldn't tell Lisa was pregnant! HA!

After Squishee is born, not only will we burn the infamous pink pajamas and black tank top that you've seen so much of, but we promise to update the slideshow with pictures that are 1000 times cuter than Lisa's growing tummy!

SOME HINTS for viewing the slideshow:
- If you click on the scrolling images, then you can use the buttons in the bottom left to slow down, speed up, or pause the scrolling
- If you hover your mouse over one of the pictures that is scrolling by, it should pause it and tell you the caption for that picture. In this case, it will tell you what week that picture is from
- If you want to see all the pictures in this slideshow at once, you can click on the slide show or on the "View All Images" button. This may not be that exciting right now, but it will be more fun as we have more and more pictures up there for you to see!