Doctor update

I had my appointment this morning and I'm 70% effaced but still only 1cm dilated. We even walked a total of 6 miles yesterday and it didn't help me dilate at all! My dr also said that AnnaBeth's head is a lot lower than last Thursday. We told her we had decided we wanted to schedule an induction (we're emotionally ready but I'm near tears every time I have to roll over at night--the pain in my hips is nearly unbearable now). She said for me, based on my effacement/dilation progress, the best thing to do is have a catheter balloon thing inserted into my cervix and then when I check into the hospital, they will hook up some tensioner thing and basically it will mechanically stretch/dilate my cervix. This is explains it better http://pregnancy.about.com/od/induction/f/foleycatheter.htm. Then at some point in the night, they'll start pitocin. I have to go on Wednesday at 11am to have the balloon inserted and we're scheduled to check in at the hospital at 10pm. She also stripped my membranes today and ever since I've had lots of menstrual like cramping (I'm starting to feel it in my lower back now too).It doesn't seem to be going away so I'm really hoping that this is early labor!! Whether I'm in early labor now or we end up getting induced, AnnaBeth should arrive sometime on Thursday at the latest!

One stubborn baby...or is it my body...or both?

We had another appointment today and I didn't really have much progress from last week. My dr said that I was 1cm but my cervix is still tight and only a little thinner than last week. She said that AnnaBeth's head is also a little lower than last week but she still hasn't fully dropped. I asked if she thought I would go into labor on my own and she said "yeah but not before next week." Then she asked if we wanted to schedule an induction today for either Monday or Tuesday (she wont induce before 39 weeks which for me is this Saturday but she also doesn't do weekend inductions). We weren't really sure so she said to come back on Monday and she'd check me again and if we wanted, we could schedule an induction at that time. So that's what we're going to do. It's exciting to think that sometime next week we will be having our baby! We could get scheduled as early as Monday night or as late as Friday, it just depends on what the hospital's schedule is like as far as inductions/c-sections. Until then though, I'll keep walking so hopefully my body will dilate some more so I don't need to rely as much on the meds to get me to 10cm.

The last set of maternity photos

Kent's sister Laura was kind enough to take some more maternity pictures for us today. This is totally the last of them, I promise! Any pictures I post from now on of AnnaBeth will be after she has entered the world. These came out pretty well despite the block fence in the background of some of them. Arizona just doesn't exactly have any good backdrops for outdoor pictures. Anyway, these are my favorite ones =)

38 weeks and more maternity photos

Kent took some belly photos today and they turned out pretty well! He had a hard time not having stuff in the background of them and wanted to be more artistic with them. He took quite a few but these turned out the best (of the ones I can post...he took two others that turned out really, really well but they are not for other eyes to see).

AnnaBeth's Room

We finally have AnnaBeth's room pieced together! The lighting in the pictures isn't that great but we were quickly running out of natural light when I took them. I tried taking them with the light from her ceiling fan on but it made the walls look a really weird green. So, this is pretty much it. Now we just have to wait for her =)

Baby shower courtesy of Tammi and Lenore

Last Saturday (2/28) I had my third and final baby shower. Tammi and Lenore did a fabulous job planning it and making it all come together!!! Here's my cake that one of Tammi's friends made. It was chocolate with pink frosting in the middle. Tammi had emailed her a picture of AnnaBeth's bedding so she could decorate it based on the theme. She did an amazing job!

Tammi had another friend make a diaper cake. She must have spent HOURS rolling up the diapers and tying them together with pink string (it took me quite some time to untie them all). Also inside were some bottles, hand mittens, socks, a rattle, and mini shampoo and lotion bottles.

Here are some pictures of most of my guests

Sarah won the "guess the size of Ann Marie's belly" game. She was DEAD on! She won a $5 gift card to Hollywood video.

Here, Oliver decided to help me open gifts.

I think he really just wanted the bow to play with.

I had registered for the turtle bath towel set at Target. Apparently multiple Targets were out of these so three different people decided to get me the frog one instead. I almost ended up with four, but at the last second, Carolyn decided not to get it.

One of the neat things Tammi and Lenore did was ask that people bring books to help start AnnaBeth's library. This Shel Silverstein book is from Tammi and the picture on the back reminded me of that Wooly Willy Magnetic Face toy of the 80's. See the resemblance?

Here's all of my gifts.

"Aunt Sarah" can't wait to meet AnnaBeth!

I was thrilled to see Jen since we haven't seen each other in about 4 years.

Mischa's mom and her two sisters came to celebrate.

And finally, my two wonderful hostesses!!

Awaiting her arrival

Bondo and Rufus know that something is up and things are about the change. However, they both have different attitudes about it. As you can see, Rufus is totally laid back and seems to think that his life isn't going to change at all. He's quite content with sunbathing in AnnaBeth's room. I've also caught him jumping in her crib or on the changing pad on her dresser and taking a nap in one of the empty cubbies in her closet.

Bondo on the other hand seems a tad more concerned with what this will mean for him. He tends to give us his sad eyes whenever we are in her room. He doesn't seem to be concerned with any of the other actual baby items (although he is interested in trying to put diapers and stuffed animals in his mouth), just her room. In this picture, I felt as if he were saying "wait a minute, you mean I'm NOT going to be the baby any more???"

And here it's as if he's looking to see when she's going to burst through the door and take over his life. In both pictures, he doesn't look very pleased that in a very short period of time, he will no longer be the center of attention.