35 Weeks...

I had my 35 week appointment yesterday and all is perfect with Lily! Her heartbeat is strong and I'm NOT dilated so that is good news! We want her to cook for 4-5 more weeks. He tested me for Group B strep which some women are carriers of and don't know it. It's not a big deal if I come back positive with it; they just need to know in advance so they can put something in my IV to protect Lily from it when she travels through the birth canal. No worries either way. Knowledge is power.

David and I got to "play house" the other night while we watched Kelle and Brett's adorable little girl Lainey. She's almost 9 mos and what a joy it was to marinate in her love. David was so cute interacting with her and I couldn't help but fast forward to what it'll be like for us in just 33 days!!















For even cuter pictures of Lainey, check out her website at http://enjoyingthesmallthings.blogspot.com/ for some more soaking in the love!! I promise you'll be inspired!! It's a blog worthwhile of visiting daily!!

This weekend David and I are going to get a lesson from the police station on the proper way of installing car seats.

(pause, catching breath)

A car seat.

As in a car seat for Lily!

I truly can't wrap my mind around the idea that a wittle baby will be in that car seat, but doing things like this make it a little more tangible in my brain. Little things like getting her car seat installed amaze and humble me all at once! I know people have babies all of the time, but I feel like we're living a dream!!

If you'd like to peek at her, here she is in all her glory! Covered up a bit, but you get the idea. As much as I can't wait to meet her, I'm sure going to miss her rolling and kicking around in my belly everyday; right by my side all of the time!



Check out my newest ticker....I love this one!! :)







Some light reading about Wittle Lily...

http://www.3dpregnancy.com/calendar/35-weeks-pregnant.html
http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-35-weeks_1124.bc
http://baby2see.com/development/week35.html
http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-images-35-weeks
http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/calendar/week35
http://www.pampers.com/en_US/content/type/109/contentId/12889.do

Growing Along...

Well, people...we're now in the 30s for the countdown! How cool is that? It seems so close, yet so far away. We feel so ready, but yet not at all. I feel like we know Lily so much already, but not even close to after she is here! Such a whirlwind of emotions!!

D and I took a breastfeeding class on Sunday and it was TERRIFIC!! The presenter was wonderful and told us the realistic point of view of bringing home a newborn and trying to juggle it all!! It was only 2 hours, but I wish it was longer because she was so knowledgeable and spoke about more than just breastfeeding. It was 100% better than the 8 hour labor prep class we took awhile back!! That was not enjoyable!! Live and learn.

Lily's grandpa (D's dad) is in the hospital, but doing better now. It was quite the scare to get a call Saturday night at 3:00am to tell us they rushed him to the ER due to low blood pressure and feeling severely ill. Lots of tests, cat scans and nail biting, it turns out he had a severe blockage in his intestines that they cleared up and he's feeling much better. He's being monitored closely and should be released in a few days. Lily is so happy her gpa is doing better!! We love you Lare-Bear and want you to be as healthy as possible!! It's amazing how you take your health for granted until you get a scare like this to make you really think of how precious life really is!!

35 weeks on Wednesday!

Wow...

that sounds so...

...well, I dunno,

it sounds so pregnant!!

THANK YOU AUNT MOLLY, UNCLE DAN, & COUSIN GRACE!!

My adorable 2 year old niece was very generous this weekend! Look what she sent to Lily!!!

She is sharing ALL of her clothes with Lily! What a nice niece!! This is TWO YEARS worth of clothing!! Molly and I used to have "issues" sharing our clothes growing up (tee hee) so I guess they're teaching Grace early how nice it is to share!! WOW! To say we were overwhelmed and grateful for all of her ADORABLE clothes is a huge understatement! We've been doing laundry for 4 days straight, washing it all in Dreft and trying to organize it all! It's an exciting and overwhelming task all at once!! We're still in shock by it all!! Thank you sweet Grace! Lily will try to look as cute as you do in them!!

Here is a recent picture of Lily covered in pink again. I kinda blended into the wall for the first picture so I changed the background color for contrast.


















I've been looking forever, but I just found a diaper bag I can "bond with" and am so in love with it!! David bought his own too after Colleen gave us that tip! :)


Some light reading....34 weeks. 41 more days. 6 more weeks. WO!


http://www.3dpregnancy.com/calendar/34-weeks-pregnant.html http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-34-weeks_1123.bchttp://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-images-34-weeks http://www.pampers.com/en_US/content/type/109/contentId/12888.do http://baby2see.com/development/week34.html http://www.babycenter.com/slideshow-baby-size

Turn On Your Speakers and Vote!!

I've included some of the songs that will be playing in the hospital room for the big day!! I need your help picking one song to play during the actual delivery.

You can listen to them all or click on a new song to preview it. Some may like to have it playing in the background while at work or home. I have the music set for "random" so the songs won't ever play in the same order.

Let me know which songs "speak to you" and any others that I may be missing. There are so many great songs out there that it's hard to narrow down to 20+ for a CD.

Is it too early to pack our bags for the hospital? teehee

33 Weeks!! :)

We're getting there people!! Lily will be here in 7 weeks!! If you take a glance to your right, we only have 48 more days! WOAH!! Too much for my wittle brain to handle!!

We had a small hiccup today. I don't want to call it a "scare" because that would be overstating it. Everything was great until about 2pm when I started spotting. Ruh roh! I haven't spotted since the first trimester. I felt Lily moving all day so I took a deep breath and tried not to go into freak out mode which I normally do when I see something suspicious. I was proud of myself for staying calm. I kept repeating, "everything is OK" to myself over and over. I had a parent conference in 5 minutes so I "speed walked" (ok maybe I jogged) to my office phone, shut the door and calmly called my doctor. The nurse said I needed to come in so they can check my cervix. "Everything is OK" was my mantra. I went to the parent conference and tried to form coherent sentences while thinking about my cervix in the background. Strange combination!!

Long story short, urine, weight, blood pressure was normal, and Dr. T checked my cervix which was NOT dilated!! I repeat...I was NOT DILATED!! Yahoo!! I threw confetti all over the office and was very relieved. Dr. Thompson told me he heard about my blog from another patient and planned on reading it tonight! OMG! Dr. T is reading my blog!! He could be reading this right now!! My doctor. Reading my blog. Hi Dr. Thompson. (waving at monitor giggling at idea of my dr. reading my blog) Thanks Jenn D. for sharing the address with him. That is way cool!

Anyway, then he ordered an ultrasound to rule out any placenta issues!! (throwing more confetti, blowing horns, doing happy dance) I went downstairs and got another peek at the beautiful Lily! I swear she is the cutest thing ever and I can't wait to see and smell her sweet skin!! She was licking her lips and in and out of slumber. U/s tech said everything looks normal, healthy and growing right on track! Oh yea, Lily is head down so she's ready to fly down the chute!! Yaa!! So she sent me on my way with a smile plastered across my face!! (doing the jig in parking lot)

All in all, if they're not worried, then I'm not worried. The spotting has subsided quite a bit so I'll keep my eye on it, but not terribly concerned. I go back in 2 weeks for another checkup. Maybe the nurses will start reading my blog too!! tee hee.

Here's an 8 month, 1 week picture of Lily!! She's kinda covered in pink, but you get the idea. :)

Some neat pictures from the family shower! Thanks Dottie (#1 MIL) for taking so many great shots!!
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=209529488/a=8080690_25294077/t_=080690;jsessionid=C178C6A1DC365342E4AF244CF62E97AD
Thanks to Rayna for sharing this beautiful poem with us!!! We heart you!!

A Wish For A New Baby

I wished upon a star…
I closed my eyes and prayed,
I threw a shiny penny,
into a well each day.
The same little wish was wished,
upon my birthday cake
I asked the Lord…please hurry,
just for heaven’s sake! I was trying to be patient,
but I had waited long enough
my wishing well with pennies
was now completely stuffed!
I would start and end my days
repeating the same prayer,
I knew that up in heaven
they could see I really cared.
Just when I thought I couldn’t,
bear another day
it is that I learned,
you were on your way.
All the prayers and wishes,
finally did come true.
The blessing God gave me,
was my pregnancy with you!

~Christine Michaels
www.welcomebaby.com


Some light reading about Lily Grace...

http://www.pampers.com/en_US/tools.do?page=pregcal_details&contentId=12887

http://baby2see.com/development/week33.html

http://www.babycenter.com/slideshow-baby-size

http://www.3dpregnancy.com/calendar/33-weeks-pregnant.html

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-33-weeks_1122.bc

http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-images-33-weeks

8 Months!!

Somehow, someway, somewhere we turned 8 months pregnant! 8 months people!?!?!?! I feel Lily everyday kicking around so I'm actually starting to wrap my brain around the idea that she'll be coming home in just 7 weeks!! WOAH!! Julie F. got her haircut the other day and made her follow up appointment... it was for the first week in April!! That's when Lily will be here! WOAH!! She called me so excited about it! Too cute!

I've hesitated posting lately because I didn't want the family reveal video and all those pictures to get lost in blogland so if you haven't had a chance, check out the post from 2/4!!

Aside from some heartburn and swollen feet at the end of the day, I'm feeling great! We have a dr. appt on Monday, 2/18 (President's Day) for a checkup. No ultrasound tho, but I guess I can't complain since I've had 15+ thus far!! Boy, am I spoiled!! :)

Here are some current pictures...

8 months and proud!! :)

Fresh "Lily"s on hand :)

Cousin Bridgid (black), my Godmother Jan (green) and best friend Dottie (cream) surprised us and flew in from MN and IA! Woah, were we blown away! That meant more to us than they'll ever know!! It made it complete that they were here!! And of course you can't forget Grandma Stout(black/white) who coordinated the big surprise!!

Grandma Stout with her 3 girls!! The love in this picture is probably oozing from your monitor onto your desk!! We asked Jen(black) and Molly(green) to be co-Godmothers to Lily since there is no way to choose and we don't know what the future holds with Baby H #2. They were co-bridesmaids in our wedding so it seemed appropriate to carry on the tradition!! No brainer!! :)

Another family photo feeling the love!!!

Grandpa and new parents to be :) Isn't he cute? We always say he could be a JCPenny model!!

Where's Charley?

Where's David?

A girly diaper cake from Rayna. I don't know how I'll ever take this apart (or Jen's) to actually use the diapers!! Thanks Rayna!! We love it!!

Love these signs made by Kelle (probably in her sleep)!!!!

We'll use them again for the hospital room!

Those nurses don't know what they have coming!! tee hee

Some cute food titles...click on the picture to read them up close :)

This sign from cousin Bridgid says it all!! It is hanging above Lily's nursery door.

We wish we could carry it around our neck everyday!! :)

Thanks Bridgid! We love this sign!!

Some light reading about Lily Grace...

http://baby2see.com/development/week32.html

http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/calendar/week32

http://www.3dpregnancy.com/calendar/32-weeks-pregnant.html

http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-images-32-weeks

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-32-weeks_1121.bc

Family Reveal Video, Nursery Pix, and Family Shower Pix

Say Hi to Lily Grace!! She's even smiling in one of the pictures!! She's ready for her Sears Portrait!!! Dr. said she's a snuggler bc she was snuggling next to my placenta the entire time!! I think she'll enjoy snuggling in our arms much better!!! xoxo
(click on picture to see her even closer)

Hope this works! This will make you feel like you were there for the family reveal! It was heavenly! xoxo




Here is a link to some of my snapfish albums. Let me know if you are not able to open them and I can try sending them directly to you.

Here are pix from the 4D u/s today! It was incredible!!
She was yawning, stretching, sucking her thumb, blinking and even smiled at us a few times!!! The u/s tech said she is a snuggler and a smiler! She said everything looked normal and VERY HEALTHY at every turn!! Music to our ears!! She's weighs approximately 4.2 pounds!!! OMG!! She was measuring a week AHEAD of our dates so she estimated a 3/28 due date based on Lily's measurements.

Um, note to self....that's NEXT MONTH!! Yipes!!! So Lily will probably be here at the end of March/beginning of April! How exciting is that?? I turned in my maternity leave forms today to my work. That was surreal!!! :)
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=215055662/a=8080690_17727670/t_=8080690

4D pix and 4D VIDEO too!!!!!
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=210493956/a=8080690_23190114/t_=8080690


More amazing pictures from the family shower...we're so blessed!
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=210493956/a=8080690_23190114/t_=8080690
;
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=215052189/a=8080690_17727670/t_=8080690

Here are more pix of the nursery and some 31 week belly pix :)
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=214973681/a=8080690_17727670/t_=8080690

Family Reveal Pictures:
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=215051657/a=8080690_17727670/t_=8080690

It's a...

After much anticipation and excitement, we are proud to announce we are having a....

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...Do you have a final guess before you find out??

...

...

...

...

...

...

...It's a...

...

...A BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL NAMED LILY GRACE...

("Lily" is David's mom's maiden name and Grace is my grandma's name, as well as my niece's first name)

Dr. Thompson is pretty happy as well...

Our little embryo has made it a long way...

And now for the nursery reveal!

(Email me or post a comment if you would like to see more pictures and I can email you the snapfish album we have of the nursery. There are too many to post!! :)

We feel our Lily loves her nursery already and will make lots of memories in here.....

Kelle HAND PAINTED these canvases for our "daughter" that are above her crib...yes, she hand painted them!! WOW! She was our secret Nate Bertkus in the nursery!! :) (no one knew she was the only other to know the gender)

The inspiration for the room came from these beautiful "strength bracelets" I received as a gift many years ago from Jen. I wore to them to every endless doctor appointment for added strength, hope and comfort.

Kelle "free hand" scripted the words from the bracelet bordering the room, then we surrounded Lily with "love bubbles" on the wall so she always feels loved no matter where she is in her life. Yes, Kelle did these words in FREE HAND! No stencil, no pencil, just Kelle and her heart. Kelle, there are no words for helping us make our dreams come to life in this nursery! We love you.

Here is a close up of the bracelets along with a letter to our "daughter" at the bottom that I retyped below to read...wow, I just said "daughter"...

Lily,
We knew you would be here someday, but there were moments where we wanted you so badly, it hurt. During those times, we held on to the dream of you and to the good things in our hearts--strength, love, peace, faith, and so much more. The inspiration for your room lies in this beautiful bracelet. It symbolizes our dream to bring you into our lives to know you, hold you, love you, and be your parents. Mommy wore this bracelet while we waited so that we would be reminded of those things, and now all those things surround you not only in your room, but in the hearts of all those that love you. We are blessed beyond belief to have you a part of our family where you will be loved beyond measure.
Love you Forever,Mommy and Daddy

Here is a video clip to make you feel like you were there! This is our family in blindfolds on their way up to the nursery. (no one was injured in the making of this film...haha)

I'm working on uploading a 2nd clip with a lot of hooting, hollering, tears, surprise and excitement for Lily Grace Hutcheson, but I'm having technical difficulties (anyone know how to upload a 118mb clip to a blog?)...it was a moment we'll never forget!! Thank you Jan, Dottie, Bridgid for flying all the way from MN/Iowa to SURPRISE us and be there for this indescrible moment. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Hutcheson for coming from SC to love us and the baby. And thank you to my family for being there for us as you have every step of the way! Lily Grace is one lucky baby to be loved by you ALL!!!