Week 39 belly and nursery photos

One more week!  We wake up every day wondering if this could be the day!

The nursery is ready although we are using Jubu’s crib as a staging area for packing for the hospital.  We still need curtains but that can come later.  What a group effort the nursery has been!  In addition to Bonnie’s mural, Aunt Jennifer got Jubu the precious owl mobile hanging in the corner, and Hugh and Jack were so kind to give us their great mobile hanging over the crib.  GrandJan gave Jubu the alphabet caterpillar hanging over the window, and our friend Michelle made the most beautiful quilt that is hanging over the rocking chair.  Burke painted the lamp and the bedside table, my mom spent hours with me looking at rugs, and my dad vacuumed every spot of dust from the room (before he fell on the icy front steps and cut his hand open, but that is another story!).  We think the room is coming together…and we can’t wait to show it to Jubu! We will update the blog as soon as we can after Jubu’s arrival!

SNOW and Week 37 belly shot

Whew, what a week!!  We are going on day #9 of extremely unusual winter weather.  We have more than a foot of snow and it’s not melting anytime soon!  Last week really wasn’t so bad compared to what arrived this weekend, but I ended up having to work from home two days and Burke’s office was closed one day.  Friday was my last official day of work before maternity leave began but I still have a project I am finishing up so hope to make it into the office a bit next week.  Burke’s office was closed today and we are hoping tomorrow, too.  After being very cautious about venturing outside the house with my big belly, I finally had enough and convinced Burke to take me out on a walk today.  We walked for about an hour and a half (slowly!).  It’s so beautiful out!  I loved seeing all the people out skiing and snowshoeing and sledding and walking.  There are hardly any cars on the roads.  If Burke stays home tomorrow, I hope that we can take another long walk and enjoy this snow before it melts.  They say the last time Portland had this much snow was 1980, and that this might end up ranking in the top 10 snowstorms of all time.  My mom has been in Denver with Jennifer and Mike this past week and was supposed to get back Sunday evening.  No surprise that her flight was cancelled.  She’s now scheduled to arrive Tuesday night and we really hope it works out so that we can celebrate Christmas together.  Otherwise we will put off our Christmas festivities until she is back!

Here are some more pictures of our backyard and our neighborhood from our walk today.

Christmas tree and Week 36 belly shot

Burke after placing the star on the top!

We were debating getting a tree this year, but last Thursday we decided to go ahead and get one.  Burke promises to put all the ornaments away after Christmas! 🙂  As for the belly shot, well, let’s just say that Jubu AND Julia are getting bigger!  I’m glad that the photo is dark!

Week 34 update!

We had our third childbirth class last night…the first in 2 weeks due to Thanksgiving.  We noticed how much larger all the women in the class seemed, so we decided we’d better take a picture when we got home!  Whoa, we can really tell a difference in me too!

We had an ultrasound on Tuesday (my doctor is closely monitoring the baby’s growth due to my Graves’ disease) and it was perfect.  They estimate that Jubu weighs about 5 pounds 4 oz (within 5%) which is about the 57th percentile.  This is good news that she is on the bigger side because the worry with Graves’ disease is that she could have issues with not growing appropriately.  So, good!  We saw her lips, her tongue, and even some hair on her head!  We don’t have any pictures because at this stage of pregnancy, she is so big that the ultrasound shots are VERY fuzzy.

Then, I had my regular OB appointment today.  I found out that the baby has “dropped” in my pelvis and my cervix is starting to thin.  My doctor says this doesn’t really mean anything except that things are really starting to happen!  At our next appointment on Dec 18, we will start having weekly non-stress tests.  Apparently, the risk of having a stillborn infant is much higher in women over 35 after 36 weeks gestation, so by doing this test hopefully any potential problems will be discovered early.  By week 40, the risk of stillbirth is double that of women under 35, so she will induce me if I have not delivered by then.  So, if Jubu doesn’t come BEFORE January 12, she will likely come ON January 12!

Our Thanksgiving was really nice.  We had an early breakfast with my parents before they headed to the wine country for a few days, and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with Bret, Regina, MomJan, and Chuck.  We got to talk to Bill & Linda long-distance too!  On Friday, we had a nice day driving back roads, birdwatching, taking the Wheatland Ferry over the Willamette River (!), and exploring Willamette Mission State Park before meeting my parents for an early dinner in the wine country at the Joel Palmer House (great restaurant known for cooking with wild mushrooms).  The four day weekend was excellent, and it was hard for both of us to wake up and go to work on Monday!

We loved seeing the comments from the Missouri Stoll clan and are glad you are all reading the blog!  We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving–sure sounds like you did!

We’ll try to stay up on our postings as the big day approaches!

Week 32!! 8 more weeks!

Whoops, missed another week!  Baby Jubu has entered into a major growth spurt.  She will gain about 1/2 pound per week from here on out!  I definitely feel like I can notice her growth every day when I drag myself out of bed in the morning (and multiple times throughout the night!).

I’ve got less than 5 weeks left of work, and one of those is next week’s short holiday week.  I’ve got a lot to do…and not much energy.

We had our first childbirth class last Wednesday night and really enjoyed it.  One class down, 6 to go!  My awesome coworkers threw us a shower last week and gave us so many needed items like a car seat and stroller.  There’s a bit more organization to do, but we are getting close to being ready.  Our friend Bonnie is painting a mural on one wall of the nursery the first weekend in December, so we are really thrilled about that.  We’ll post pictures, of course!

Burke and his friend Jim are working hard on their kayaks and seeing lots of progress.  I will have Burke put a post on here about that!  They are both so excited and Burke thinks there is a really good chance that he might be able to finish it by the time of Jubu’s arrival.

Week 30 Belly Shot

Here is our week 30 picture!  Sorry, we skipped a week!  Only 10 more weeks to go…crazy, crazy.  We have had such a busy week.  The shower last weekend was SO much fun and we got wonderful gifts and beautiful clothes.  This morning a few of my girlfriends had a brunch for me and we got even more goodies, and my belly got a good workout from all the laughter.  I have loved getting to be around so many friends these past two weekends.  Baby Jubu is one lucky baby to be born into a world filled with the great friends and family that we have.  We really do feel SO blessed.

The pregnancy is still going very well.  Lots of blood tests at the doctor’s office this week but everything looks good except for my continuing anemia.  I move on to every 2 weeks doctor’s appointments now, and we start our childbirth education classes on November 12.  We have 4 weeks of those classes, and then we are taking a few other classes on breastfeeding, infant safety/CPR, and newborn care.  There is one week in December right before Christmas where we are going to be in one class or the other for about 12 hours!

A big week with Election Day on Tuesday!  Don’t forget to VOTE!  We are off to a cabin in Welches, up near Mt. Hood for a long weekend on Friday with our Dusty Dog group of friends.  It might snow on us, which would be great.  We’re looking forward to lots of fun with our friends by the fireplace…

Week 28 belly shot

Here’s the week 28 belly shot for you!  We’re having a beautiful week here in Portland.  The leaves are gorgeous and the weather is clear and crisp.  It looks like it will hold up through the weekend too!  This weekend is Herman’s birthday (you know who you are!) so we are planning on going to brunch on Sunday to celebrate.  We also will be doing more chores and spending time with friends.  Two of my coworkers from my previous job are throwing a baby shower for us on Sunday and we can’t wait!  Also, three family friends in Longview, TX are having a book shower for the baby this weekend with me in absentia.  They are having people bring unwrapped books and then they will ship a box of books to us in Portland.  What a wonderful idea, especially since we know reading will be such an important activity in our household, just as it was for both of us when we were children.  We are so blessed to have the friends we do.

Week 27 Belly Shot

Hmmm, this belly shot posting may have to end soon!!!  It’s not such a cute little belly anymore!  We are officially in the third trimester and I’m really not sure where else this baby could go in the next three months!  I think things are going to start getting really interesting!

Everything is going well.  Jubu is a super active baby!  She woke me up at 4 AM this morning having a little early morning exercise and it was quite difficult to get back to sleep after that!

Burke and I are in town for the next several weeks.  We have lots on our to do list, mainly of the organizational sort.  We also have a few house projects that need tackling, like cleaning up the yard for the winter, painting some repairs on the front porch, etc.  This past weekend we went with 4 other couples to Ashland, OR for a long weekend and had a fabulous time.  The weekend before that I was in Denver visiting my sister and Mike.  Mike was still in the hospital while I was there, but now he is home recuperating.  I really loved getting to spend time with my sister and just wish that Mike had been home also.

So, here is the week 27 shot for you.  We’ll see if I can stand posting the next few months of shots!

Week 26 belly shot (we are behind)

We are halfway into week 27 and still haven’t posted the week 26 shot!

So, here it is!

Camping plus almost week 25 belly shot

We went camping this weekend with Tom, Sharon, and Julie.  I’m so glad we got out of town to enjoy probably the last warm weekend of 2008!  I was really wishy-washy about going but now I’m so glad I decided to go.  We drove up Saturday morning and met the group at their campsite on Walupt Lake in the Goat Rocks Wilderness area.  From the shores of the lake, we could watch osprey dive and catch fish, and the group heard elk bugling on Friday night.  We hiked on Saturday up to the Pacific Crest Trail, near where we usually take an annual backpacking trip.  It’d been a few years since we were in the area so it was great to visit again.  The hike was 9 miles with not an insignificant amount of elevation gain, so I think it may have been a little overambitious for me, but I made it.  I think I can safely say that was my last hike this year, however!  We couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a week 25 belly shot at a PCT trail junction, with Old Snowy in the background, even though it was a day or so too early.