Week 36 & 4 Days: Baby Shower, Nursery & 36 OB Appointment

I feel like there was a lot of accomplishments in the week 36! 

Nursery:

We put a lot of fun thoughts on our nursery and LOVE how it turned out!  I am glad that we had a theme "Teddy bears in the woods" because it made it easier to pick wall paint colors and decorations.  We originally thought about painting a bear on the wall by ourselves, but I am glad we didn't and ordered a wall decal instead.  The steps were simple, but it took us a bit to put it up becuase the stickers weren't sticking to where there were supposed to.  This is the site I ordered the bear decal.  http://www.etsy.com/search?q=wall%20decal&view_type=gallery&ship_to=US&ref=auto1

I think we kept the nursery room pretty gender neutral.  We definitely want to have another baby, so I didn't want to make it too girly.  It's really nice to finally see where I will be spending my time with my girl :) 

Now, I need my mom to bring my teddy bear collection and buy some more stuff like crib & changing mats and sheets.  My BFF let me borrow a bassinet, so we will have the baby in our bed room for a couple of months.  Technically, she will not be here sleeping right the way, but this is where I will be BFing her and completing a nursery is one of the fun projects during the pregnancy!

Baby Shower:

My in-laws and friends wanted to throw me one, so I decided to have a back-to-back showers over the weekend.  Both showers were amazing and I could tell they put so much thoughts into planning showers, so I was so thankful and loved everything they did for me and our baby girl!!!  I am glad that I didn't combine family & friends because I got to talk to everyone at my showers.  We did get a lot of nice gifts...tons of baby clothes!!!!  My BFF told me not to put outfit on the registry and she was right.  People love to get you cute baby clothes.  Miss H already has 10 newborn sleepers & 12+ onesies!!!!  I know a baby grows so fast, so she has to have a fashion show every day so that she can wear all the clothes she's got.     

My mother & sister in law got us a very nice photo session as a gift.  They were so excited, but it actually created a problem :(  I found this photographer who does a series of session called "Belly to Baby" which includes newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months & 1 year for a great price.  We just did an optional maternity session and loved her work.  I felt really bad telling them that we already got the photo sessions taken care of....I hope we can get a refund and use the money towards bigger items on our registry. 



One of the baby shower games.  Hand made designer onsies by girls!!



Those are all for 0-3 months.  Time to wash and put away!

 36 Weeks OB Appointment

My OB wanted to do additional tests for this appointment.  After this, I will have an appointment every week, eeeeks!!

NST (Fetal Non Stress Test)  -  This test is usually conducted if your pregnancy is at high risk.  Due to my age, my OB wanted to conduct this test to make sure the baby is healthy.  A nurse hooked me up on a bigger doppler monitor to check the baby's HB.  It lasted for 20 minutes and they told me to push a button whenever I felt baby moving or contractions.  She gave me a cup of water to stimulate the baby and it worked.  The baby moved and HB went up when I drank water.  Basically, the nurse wanted to monitor the HB rate going up while the baby was moving.  My OB said the result was EXCELLENT and wants to do this every week from now on.  I had a wishful thinking that I might get to see her on U/S, but nope....it was such a soothing 20 minutes to listen to her HB though! 

Cervix Check - My OB did a cervical exam to check whether my cervix has begun to open (dilate) or soften (efface) in preparation for birth.  He said, it's soft, but not dialated.  He also said the baby dropped and he can feel her head!!  I was really happy to hear that because it means she is head down now. 

Group B Strep Test - My OB swabed me down there for this test.  This test is conducted for a bacteria, which can cause complications during pregnancy and serious illness in newborns.  He said 40% of his patients get it, so it's pretty common.   If the group B strep test is positive, I'll be given antibiotics during labor to prevent group B strep disease in my baby.

Maternity Photos

The photo CD finally came in!  I was very happy with the photos and decided to use some of the photos on  my baby shower thank you card.  Yes, that's right.  My next task is to send off thank you cards!!