August 7th - 38 weeks
We started anticipating the arrival of Wyatt a wee bit early. I predicted he would come on August 11th (10 days before his due-date). This prediction was based on some loose logic and some major wishful thinking! This logic (or lack-there-of) was that he moved all the time in the womb. He kicked, turned and wiggled more than he stayed still. So I thought this meant he was eager and unafraid to move on down the birth canal and out to the world. Also, my sisters and I were all born two weeks early so I thought I was likely to follow my mom's pattern and deliver early. WRONG - he was a late little bugger and because we started anticipating him too early, the wait felt like forever... but it was so fun nonetheless!!!
Here are a few pics of me and Will at 38 weeks - Tuesday August 7th. Based on my prediction, Wyatt would be arriving a mere 4 days later haha - NOT! I guess Will felt left out so I took his 38 week photo too - haha.
My last day of work was Wednesday August 15th and I started maternity leave on the 16th! I originally thought I'd work up to my delivery date but, I didn't realize how anxious and tired I would get as my due-date drew closer and closer. I work a LONG way away from my house and from the hospital so every afternoon I'd play out the scenario in my head of going into labor while in rush-hour traffic... I was literally doing breathing techniques to calm myself down as I inched SO slowly down the interstate. Plus... every time I got out of my chair at work, I'd get achy and out of breathe. So, I decided the 15th was a good time to leave work and do a little more 'nesting'. My mom flew down on the 16th for the wait! I was so relieved when she got here - we were both spending a lot of time worrying she wouldn't get here in time - in retrospect, she got here in plenty of time! Plenty of time to scrub my base boards and front porch, wash my curtains, read two books, shop and eat eat eat... we had a great time. Here's a photo of me & Will on my first day of maternity leave...
Me & mom hanging out the day she flew in. As soon as she got here, we went shopping - Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross, Kroger. We bought a few new rugs for my house and loaded up on some groceries.
On Friday morning, mom, Will and I went to my 39 week checkup. We were hoping for some progress since my 38 week appointment, where I was dialated barely one centimeter and effaced about 60%. The doctor confirmed I had made 'some' progress - I was somewhere between 1 and 2 centimeters dialated... and we got really excited about that news despite the fact that many women sit at 2 centimeters for weeks before going into labor (but, we ignored that fact and chose to celebrate the progression). After the appointment, Will went to work and mom and I continued our shopping escapades. I by no means felt like shopping for myself but, I was eager to stay busy and active in hopes that Wyatt would be motivated to travel south. So, we headed to the mall where we scored some good purchases for mom. :)
On Saturday, mom and I headed out one more time for some home goods shopping and Will went (??) somewhere to run errands and whatnot. The day came and went and I felt great; I had one small contraction on Saturday morning but otherwise, no cramping or labor-like pains at all. I was starting to feel the pressure for labor to start happening. Will and mom consistently asked 'how I was feeling'; April and Dad were calling to ask if anything was happening and I received several text messages from friends asking what my status was. I certainly appreciated all the inquries but it made me more eager for Wyatt's arrival... we definitely didn't think it would be another full week before Wyatt would come. haha.
We went to Kevin & Hana's wedding shower on Saturday night. Although I was happy to have made it to their shower, I had hoped to be in the hospital during it. No such luck - here's a pic of us heading out...
I don't have any pictures of all the cleaning efforts but, on Sunday mom and I got our buckets and scrub brushes out and started cleaning base boards. They were gross... amazing how dirty a house gets when you live with a big black lab. Mom instructed me that I need to have a cleaning 'schedule' to make sure deep cleaning (like scrubbing base boards) doesn't go undone for a year(s). Ugh... domestication sucks sometimes. Let me tell you - scrubbing base boards 9 months pregnant sucked! Mom got three times as much work done as I did. I was a bit slow. The deep cleaning went on into Monday and Tuesday and I think we finally quit on Wednesday. We cleaned base boards, bleached curtains, scrubbed the front porch, got cobwebs out of hard-to-reach places, dusted every piece of furniture and decor in the house, vacuumed and mopped (even got under the furniture)... and we FINALLY got rid of the Buddha wall art that hung in our living room and found some new decor to take its place. It's on craig's list if anyone wants it.Anywho, April arrived on Wednesday. She about killed herself trying to get here in time for baby's arrival. She worked five 12 hour night shifts in a row (Friday-Tuesday) and flew out on Wednesday morning when she got off work - crazy determination. Even though she got here nearly a full week after mom, she too arrived in plenty of time. Since all the cleaning was done when she arrived, we spent the next several days going out to lunch, shopping and relaxing at the house. Here are a few pics of us passing the time:
These were taken on Thursday at 'Front Page News' where we ate lunch and Morelli's where we had ice cream:
Reading on the couch after we ate lunch and had ice cream:
Getting ready to go on a walk with mom on Friday. I was so over trying to look cute. I was tired of wearing Will's shirts so I found this one large t-shirt of mine. It was fitting since we were planning to cook out and watch the Nationwide race that evening - Go Biffle! As we were huffing and puffing up the huge hill in my neighborhood mom said to me 'Girl, you sure don't look like a hip Atlanta girl right now' - haha nope... i decided on this slightly trashy look.
This is us on the couch watching the Nationwide race just a few short hours from going into labor. I had been feeling really crampy all day on Friday. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up or have anyone getting prematurely excited so I only told Will how I was feeling. I felt pretty confident that labor would start on either Saturday or Sunday. Because I was telling April and mom that I felt 'fine' I think it was a total surprise when we woke them up middle of the night with the news...
