Changes In The Combs Clan: October 2009

This past week has been a busy one! Sunday, October 25th was my baby shower, and it was beyond anything I had imagined! My mom did such an amazing job with all the planning, decorations, and delicious homemade food. The menu consisted of bread bowls with broccoli cheese soup, salad, caramel dip with tons of fresh fruit, donuts and apple cider… pretty much all of my favorites. We ate lunch, played a couple games (trivia game, baby food guessing game which I was horrible at, and a memory game), opened gifts, and devoured a delicious cake. We received so many amazing gifts and are truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives. I do have to say Jaiden is one spoiled little guy. I can’t wait to see him exploring each and every one of his new toys.

Tuesday was our 32 week appointment which lasted for a whole 5 minutes! The further along I get, the faster the appointments are. This one consisted of me weighing in, listening to babys heartbeat, and then measuring my belly. Kevin and I both had a little look of panic on our faces after we were told that the heartbeat was 128 bpm. The lowest it’s been since I was 12 weeks along was 158 bpm so we were definitely a little nervous. Our Dr reassured us that it was within the range of it being right where it should be. Up until this week all of our appointments have been in the morning and this one was at 1:50. Our Doctor said that there is a good chance that he was in a ‘food comatose’ from me just eating lunch and that he was simply taking a nap. He assured us that there was no need to worry about a thing.

Our house is starting to look more and more ready for baby to come. When taking a step into our front door it’s hard to overlook the swing, bouncy seat, activity gym, pack ‘n play and so on. Kevin sure has been busy this week! Who knew there would be so many things to put together?! I should have taken a picture of our living room before we set up all the baby gear because it’ll probably be awhile before its neat and tidy again!

32 weeks... only 8 to go!

Tuesday morning was my 30 WEEK appointment!! Only 9 and a half more weeks until our little monkey arrives. I was a little nervous after the Dr measured me because usually I have measured to the exact day… if my 28 week appointment landed on 27 weeks 6 days I measure 27 6/7 cm, which always amazed the Dr because not a lot of people are right on the dot like that. I was measuring smaller than normal at my appointment, but was quickly reassured that from here on out the measurements will differ depending on the way baby is positioned. Jaiden’s heartbeat was still strong as ever beating away at 158 bpm. As much as I’ve hated standing on the scale and watching the numbers go up, I’m right on track with that as well. I’ve now gained 19 lbs since becoming pregnant. I know there will be more added on to that, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed it comes off after baby is born. It might be a little rough with all the upcoming holidays. My mom and grandma are quite the amazing chefs, and I’m already drooling over this new recipe I found for a pumpkin cheesecake…

I’ve encountered a new lovely symptom of pregnancy this past week… crazy, wicked, annoying heartburn. Yuck!! I guess I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed and believe in all the ol’ wise tales that it just means that Jaiden’s going to come out with lots of hair on his cute little head. We debate this constantly… I really didn’t have a lot of hair as a newborn and Kevin came out with more hair on his head than a gorilla has on his whole body. Look for upcoming posts with both of our newborn pictures. Who will Jaiden look the most like?!… Be careful when you answer this. Just remember who will have carried him around for 9 months…

I shot my last wedding until baby comes this past Saturday. From the time I left my house to the minute I walked back in through the door it ended up being just about a 15 hour day. Keep in mind I’m on my feet the entire day with the exception of driving to and from. Needless to say when I got home I was hurting. I always get Braxton Hicks when I’m on my feet for long periods of time so by the end of the night my stomach was hard as a rock and my body was telling me take it easy the next day. I hibernated for the next couple days, but am back to feeling great.

My mom, Kevin and I drove up to Grand Rapids yesterday to do one last ultrasound with Amanda. At first Jaiden was sleeping ever so peacefully, but not for long. He is getting so big! It was amazing to be able to see the change in the last few weeks. He is looking quite scrunched in there, poor little guy! He kept stretching out with his arms above his head and trying his hardest to kick his feet out for some more room. Only a couple more months and he’ll have all the space he needs! We have the cutest video of him yawning; I’ll try and upload it at some point. You should have heard all of us watching him move around yesterday, he already has everyone completely wrapped around his little finger and he doesn’t even know it yet.

I think I have officially experienced “the popping out” stage in pregnancy. My family hadn’t seen me for about a week and was completely blown away by the new and improved bump. Alisha came up from behind me at her volleyball game and as soon as I turned around her eyes popped out, jaw dropped to the floor and she said whoa! Your belly is getting so big. Haha It’s hard to imagine what the next 9 more weeks will do to it!

28 weeks