My countdown has begun.........

We have entered into the third trimester and started to count down the weeks and days until we meet our beautiful little princess. We are just past 32 weeks and since the last week update I have entered into the uncomfortable stage. I am still having contractions, they still are not consistent but they are starting to be a more painful. I am feeling larger by the day and have become increasingly short of breath making it somewhat difficult to do about anything that exerts much energy. We had our regular two week appointment which was really informative in how we proceed from here. I have instructions about the number and severity of contractions I can have before I have to go in to be monitored. If (or when) the contractions do start to put me in labor Dr. K will let me go any time after 35 weeks and medicate up until that point. (Yikes that is less that 3 weeks away!!) If the contractions continue to be unchanging then we may talk about induction at one of the next couple appointments. The chance of induction is also due to the fact that I am or Livi is measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule. At 30 weeks she was right on schedule and at 32 weeks she is measuring at 34 weeks. She went on a major growth spurt. If she remains ahead of schedule at 34 weeks we will have an ultrasound to determine if there is a reason she is measuring big. Although we would love to see a little glimpse, I don't like that we would be doing this to determine if there are any issues. We pray that she is still healthy and just growing fast!!

After the appointment I walked away in a slight bit of a panic. We have a couple of important loose ends to tie up such as choosing a pediatrician. It has been on my list but I wasn't super concerned when I thought we had 8 weeks. Now that Dr K has stated that there is a chance that it could be less I figured we had better get cracking, not to mention at our first Prepared Child Birth Class this week the question of whether or not we had one was one of the first the instructor asked. We now have 3 appointments scheduled with pediatricians recommended by friends. The first class was pretty basic but still informative non the less. Our next one is a Saturday all day class that we will go over the details of our big day!!

We have also started to do a few odds and ends around the house to prepare. My mom came into town this weekend and we are organized the kitchen cabinets to make room for bottles and other baby things. One of the next things I have planned is to get a bag packed. I am sure that it will change over the course of the next few weeks but if for some reason Alivia decides to grace us with her presence sooner than she is scheduled Tom won't have to guess what to bring or figure out what I will want. I know........I do have time but then again I have been ahead on almost everything else so why not this as well.

So this is where we stand at 32 weeks 4days and I will leave you with this........

Cravings.........Crushed Ice, Red Beets (so weird), potato oles, Coke, watermelon

Aversions............can't think of too many things

How I feel...........Large and In Charge, full of anticipation for Livi to be here!!

How I look.............

What I love............seeing her move all the time and my long natural nails (most of you know I don't usually have long natural nails)

Interesting fact.............4 of our family members have Holiday birthdays....Livi could be a 4th of July baby, making it 5

Something fun.........We have a couple of baby shower coming up in the next few weeks!!

Next Appointment.........June 16, 2009 at 34 weeks