No News...

Just back from my 38 week appointment, with no real news to report.  The baby has dropped (not living on my sciatic nerve anymore) and my hives are under control, so I am infinitely more comfortable these days, so I guess not making and progress dilating is OK for now.  If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have been ready to schedule another C-section, but I am getting more used to the idea of being pregnant for another two weeks or so now.  We're just anxious to meet Brother Bear!

Trip to the Beach

I love living in Charleston.  This past weekend, while Detroit and South Bend were still wading through the final ugly, despairing, spring-snows, we had our first trip to the beach of the year

Thanks to Aubrey Anne, we are a fashionable family of feet outfitted in our authentic Havianas from Brazil.

Giganta-Baby. The apple in his hand was alternately in his mouth and the sand all morning.

Like Father, like son.

There are girl babies and doggies that way... lets go!

So happy at the beach!

And just for fun... 37 weeks (6 days ago).

St. Patrick's Day Leftovers....

Enjoy...

Yes, that is a green rosary in sean's hand. He went around shaking it at the babies in the morning.

I love being 6 months pregnant; not sick, not uncomfortable, lots of energy....

...but I am 9 months pregnant, with all the accompanying joys and miseries.  After suffering an intolerable rash for the last few days, I finally broke down and took an emergency trip to the allergist yesterday when all other remedies (benedryl cream, hydrocortisone cream, zyrtec, zantac, oatmeal bath, baking soda bath, aveeno oatmeal lotion (stolen from Brother's nursery)) seemed to have failed miserably.  By lunch time my rash had turned into full blown hives-- hot, burning, itchy-- very visible, to the point that everyone who saw me said "Ooh! did you know you have something on your neck?"  Hmm, no, what's that?  Anyway, I drove 30 minutes to see my allergist and he prescribed some steroids to bring the hives under control.  So far they are better...not great, but better.  I slept a bit more than i have been last night, and while the itching isn't totally under control, I feel like I am out of crisis mode because I at least have HOPE for relief at this point!  I am working very hard on trying to unite my suffering with Christ's during this Lent, and while most of the time I am not very succesful, it does give some purpose to my suffering that I can tune into when I am in my right mind. 

In other hopeful news, I had two church ladies tell me yesterday "you're low!, that baby looks ready!"  And who knows better than church ladies?  During the sign of the peace, Bobby Crimmins, head coach of CofC basketball (and daily communicant) looked at me, blew out his cheeks, put his arms out to mimick a huge belly and mouthed "you're still here?"  Just the same as the church ladies' sentiments, I guess. To confirm their wisdom, my doctor did say the baby is fully engaged, just waiting for my body to start the hard work of getting him out!  Since SB was a scheduled c-section, all of this is new and very exciting territory for us!  Cody and I are really looking forward to the birth experience...just (patiently?) waiting at this point! or should I say, we're just itching to have this baby.... ha.

What a Weekend!

I am just now getting to posting about our fabulous weekend -- last weekend.  As I mentioned before, Denise, Eva and my mom came to Charleston and we made the most of their three days here.  On Friday night Cody and I had our friends (15 ppl) over for a Lenten pizza dinner (sorry, no picture) and bonfire.  We have wonderful friends down here and we have been trying to get together for Friday dinners in Lent.  Pizza and a bonfire with good friends and family reminded me so much of our first days of marriage at Notre Dame-- a wonderful way to start :).  I was glad for D, E and Mom to meet all of our friends and baby friends.

On Saturday we got up early (well, Cody did, as he went for a long run at 7:00 with Peter), and made our way downtown to go to Blue Bicycle Books (no pic), and a walk at Waterfront Park (above);

Followed by a pinic; Then Mom and Cody played tennis for three hours (after his 6 mile run and walk all over downtown!), while Denise and Eva went to see Alice in Wonderland and Sean and I took a nap :).

Denise and Eva made a stop by the mall and came back with treats for all of us, including new stickers for Sean (he loves stickers).  Saturday night we actually got a babysitter (my boss's daughter, Julia), and we all went downtown for a nice dinner and dessert at Kaminskis...mmm.  Sunday found us at early mass, then....

We walked the Ravenel Bridge for a great view of Charleston and some frolicking dolphins!  It was such a beautiful day--perfect temperature, sunny, clear...great.  So, we finished up our exercsise with

a trip to Waffle House (what a great way to negate a 2 mile bridge walk!).  Sean is here with a full bowl of grits, which he did finish by himself.  Eva had her first WH experience with a classic chocolate chip waffle....mmmm.

Then we came home for some relaxing, sunning and painting our nails.  Eva chose bright blue for my toenails which my OB noticed right away at my appointment the next day!

Sunday afternoon brought us over to the Shahid's house for a wonderful baby shower for Brother.  Denise and AA pictured at the shower above, with Gretchen in the background.  We had about 15 people-- a good mix of my family, the Shahid family, work people and local friends to celebrate Brother's impending arrival. 

Finally, Sunday night, was of course, the Oscars.  And with pop culture afficianados Eva and Denise, we watched in style with a nice dinner by Cody, special cocktails by D, and mint-chocolate chip-oreo milkshakes by Eva.  I love this picture :). 

One of the biggest accomplishments of the weekend though, was Eva teaching Sean how old he is.  In one day Eva (blue fingernails above) taught Sean to lift one little baby finger when she asked "Sean, how old are you?"  By Monday Sean went into Eva's room to wake her up and just stood by her bed holding up a "1."  So sweet. 

9 Months Pregnant!

I am officially nine months pregnant today, but as I learned last time around, that means I have another month to go.  wow.   This picture is actually from last week, so I am a full 7 days bigger now. 

As of the date of this picture I was doing great-- walking a ton (even the bridge a few times), feeling good, not complaining.  Then this week came and I feel like I've been slammed with the discomforts of pregnancy all at once--including regular contractions, and an awful itchy rash all over my arms and neck, which make it pretty difficult to sleep these days.  Needless to say, we are ready for baby to make his arrival--just a few more things to do around the house this weekend, then we are ready!

Update

We had a great weekend with my mom, Eva and Denise here!  I will post pictures of our activities soon, hopefully, although we packed so much into three days I don't think I could have documented it all!

In the meantime, I am having a lot of contractions, pretty regularly, but so far no movement.  Last night Denise and Cody and I sat and watched a movie timing them and discussing whether Denise should move her flight from today until later in the week in case baby boy decided to come last night.  Sadly, she left this morning :(. We are exactly a month (by date, not weeks) away from our official due date.  Although, my due date was moved around a lot and the doctor contemplated moving it another ten days early, but decided to stick with April 10.  So, cody and I are ready to go and I am hoping for a little boy who is big enough and healthy enough to make his entrance whenever he decides to (earlier rather than later???? :)).   I'll try to keep you all updated if there is any more movement or reason to get excited!