Father's Day, Baby Shower and more

We had an eventful weekend this past Saturday and Sunday! On Saturday, a friend of Neils' mom threw me a baby shower in Santa Rosa for some of his parents friends. Peggy has a beautiful home and the shower was so much fun! It was really nice to get out of the house and be out in the sun. Meanwhile, Neils treated his dad to a round of golf for Father's Day. All in all, it was a great day! I have posted a couple of pics from the shower below so you can see how big I've gotten. I can't imagine getting any bigger - how can there be any more room????!!!!!! My ribs and lungs beg for your mercy Mr. Baby!!

On Sunday, we celebrated Father's Day by taking another baby class. This time the subject was Newborn Parenting - a 5 hour class about changing diapers, car seats, bathing, soothing the baby, etc. It was good information, but uncomfortable for me to sit in a classroom type chair for that long!

This week we will have our final baby class, interview a Pediatrician and go for my last ultrasound!! Hopefully everything will go as expected and Mr. Baby will not try to arrive early! I have a good feeling that he will stay put for at least a few more weeks.....we really need to get to 36 weeks, so that's 1 more month.

Update

We went to get another ultrasound today to check my cervical length and it HAS NOT changed!!! This is exactly what we were hoping for! I guess the bed rest is good for something. I am now at 30 weeks, so the Dr. ordered 6 more weeks of bed rest. I go back in 2 more weeks for another check and hopefully we'll have the same results. We also got to see how large the baby is and he is at approx. 3 lbs 10 oz., which is good. Big, but not too big!

We were supposed to go to Lake Tahoe this weekend with our friends Ernest and Ozzie (who are in from Houston), Justin, Ryan, Erin, Jason and Amy, but doctor's orders prevented us from going :( They will have a good time regardless, but we sure wish we could go!

Bed Rest

Neils and I went in for a 28th week ultrasound today and got some good and not so good news. Good news - baby Goodwin is growing and weighs approx. 3 lbs! He looks good! Not so good news - my cervix is shortening, which is something that happens toward the end of the pregnancy when you are about to go into labor. What this means is that I have been put on bed rest for the next 6 weeks. Hopefully, this will keep the baby boy at bay. I will know more after I see my doctor on Monday so stay tuned.

Belly Picture

After much prodding by friends and family, I finally had Neils take a picture of me so everyone could see how I'm progressing. Until this week I still had people telling me I didn't look pregnant. Well, there's no hiding it now! I am at 25 weeks and we have 3 more weeks until our next ultrasound. I am excited to see a better picture of our little boy. He is moving around pretty regularly and that always makes me feel happy!

Me at 25 weeks

In other news, we will be visiting Texas in 2 weeks and I can't wait! Neils will actually get to participate in the annual Polka Fest that happens every Memorial Day weekend in Ennis (my hometown). We will also fly down to Houston to see some friends who are so sweet to throw us a baby shower while we are there. I am so excited to see my dad and Dale, my grandparents and all my old friends from R&C and college! I am secretly hoping that it's hot, but for Neils sake I will pray that it's not over 90 degrees.

Baby G is a......

We found out yesterday at the 19th week ultrasound that the baby is a normally progressing BOY! This will be quite an experience since it's been all girls for me growing up (even the pets). Neils and I are so excited and now I finally feel like we can begin to plan for the baby's arrival. We have some time left until the due date of August 20th, but the weeks have been flying by so I have a feeling August will be here before we know it.

On another note, my dad and I ran the Emerald 12k across the bay on 3/15. It was fun, but rainy and during the duration of the race I began to realize that I am just not quite the same physically as I was before being pregnant. But, my dad stuck with me (just like I stuck with him at the SA RNR 1/2 marathon in Nov) and we made it, rain and all!

Prayers for The Acords

Sadness filled my heart yesterday when I learned little Addison Acord passed away at noon. She was in this world for a mere 3 weeks, but she touched the hearts of so many before she even arrived. Please say a prayer for her parents and my dear friends, Marion and Jason. You can view thier blog via the below link.

http://virginiaaddisonacord.blogspot.com/

Delayed News

It has now been 2 months since I've blogged....bad me. But, I do have a good excuse. Or many of them. Our biggest news is that we're expecting a baby this August! We found out in early December and I am now 15 weeks along. We are so excited to expand our family! The one person who is possibly more excited is my mother....she has told every person that she has come into contact with - friend, stranger, what have you. She will be really excited in 3 weeks when we get to find out the sex of the baby!!!

Also, my friend Marion delivered her baby last Tuesday night here at UCSF. This is the baby I mentioned in my previous blog. Marion and Jason's baby girl, Addison, is in the NICU at UCSF and her stats are up and down daily. As soon as she is stable for a few days, they will have to operate on her. Please keep their family in your prayers.

Ultrasound of Baby Goodwin at 13 weeks