New Chapter, New Friends

So one of the most important items in preparation for a new baby is to meet new mom friends. Katie told me it has been her saving grace.  She said after the initial shock of bringing the new baby home wears off and your schedule is set there is nothing better than sharing your ups and downs of new motherhood with your new mom friends.  She would put her little one in his cutest outfit, put some lipstick on and get together with her gal pals once a week.  Most of the time they would just meet at someones house, lay the babies on the floor together and swap mom stories.  

So after some prenatal exercise classes and some new mom websites I have met a great group of new first time moms.  I put together a "Meet & Greet" at a local bagel shop so we could all meet each other.  We met today and and had a great time! All the girls are due between  Feb and June.  I am really excited to share stories as we all begin our new journey into motherhood.

Love the sound of that beat!

This was a big week for a lot of people, most were very focused on Washington DC and politics. Barack Obama officially took office this week and made history as the first black president. This is very exciting but selfishly I was much more interested in my day at the doctors office.  I went in for my normal check up (weigh in, stomach measurement and heartbeat) It was a quick trip and i was able to hear our little baby's heartbeat.  It was 140 bpm, right on target. Yes Loren and I have heard the heartbeat a handful of times but there is always something so magical about hearing it again.  

The Doctor told me I am measuring about a week and a half bigger than where I am at.  This is not surprising considering in a 2 week time frame i have gained 9 lbs.  Yes!  9lbs!  When I saw those numbers register on the scale I started to gets tears in my eyes!  Are you kidding me? how is that humanly possible to gain so much in 2 weeks?  The doctor assured me the majority of that weight is water weight.  I am starting to get swollen now :(  not too bad but my rings are definitely not fitting anymore.

For those of you who cannot read the small print, it says 168!!!

So today we are officially 36 weeks, but my measurements are that of 37 1/2 weeks.  I have a slight increase in amniotic fluid which she says is fine, my mom also had this when she was pregnant with me.  I go in next Wednesday again and they will determine if I have begun to dilate.  Oh I sure hope so!  I am just so excited to meet our little man!

Look at it as a journey not a destination

What a busy busy week and a half we have had!  Last Friday our nursery furniture was delivered (Finally!!! It was ordered in October!) last Saturday was my baby shower that was thrown by Grace and Emily and we spent all of Sunday hanging pictures, building bookcases, organizing drawers etc.   

My shower was at the Melting Pot in downtown Chicago which is a fun and cozy fondue restaurant.  My dear friends Emily and Grace threw the shower and it was absolutely beautiful! It was a perfect day for warm fondue with all my closest girlfriends.  The day was a total blizzard and the city was so beautiful. Grace and Emilly had rented a private room that they set up just for us.  It was so cozy and I must say they did not miss a detail.  They had special flower arrangements made, had a place setting for each girl at the table and each seat had a homemade cookie individually wrapped with a baby blue ribbon.  We had fruits, rice krispy treats, cheese cake, brownies, white cake, cherries, chocolate and cinnamon covered marshmallows and dipped them all in a variety of fondues.  Milk chocolate, chocolate-peanut butter and bananna-carmel.  Yum yum yummm!!!  I am such a lucky girl to have such great friends who not only threw a beautiful party but also "showered" baby Raber with so many adorable gifts.  Loren came at the end of the shower to help pack up the car to take all of our gifts home.  As soon as we got home Mystery wanted to try the baby booties on - look at this "puss & boots".

So now fast forward to today, Saturday Jan 17th,  we have been busy tying up loose ends and crossing off our final "to do's" before baby arrives.  One big thing we have finished as of today is the baby's nursery.  Take a look at it below...

 

This morning we went out to breakfast with our neighbors Matt & Kendra.  Loren actually works with Matt and they too are pregnant with their first baby and due in February.  I am excited to have a new mom friend so close by, it will be fun getting together with our new babies.

We are laying low for the day and then heading out for a nice dinner at Naha downtown tonight with Katie and Scott.  We are taking advantage of these last few weekends and going out before we are home bound for a while.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

34 Weeks and 2 days

So I have talked to a lot of you and you keep asking me to send a picture of my pregnant belly... Well here it is ...

Enjoy!

Chubby Cheeks

As of today, we have a 5lb healthy baby boy still waiting to make his appearance sometime next month.  The ultrasound was amazing! He was so big and so cute! He is in the 67th percentile for weight and height and his measurements were right on.  We also got to see his little heartbeat which was 134 bpm.  If everything continues as is, the Doctor says we should expect our little boy to weigh in around 9lbs when he is delivered.  Yikes!!!  He will be gaining approximately 1/2 lb a week from here on out.  The doctor said he is in the head down position (as he should be at this point) which is good.  She said that is probably adding to the leg soreness that I have been having.  With him head down now he is putting more weight and pressure on the tendons/ligaments in my inner legs. 

We were able to see a lot of him especially his karate kicks!  During the ultrasound they switched the picture to 4D which let us see an actual picture of his face.  Unfortunately he would not move his hands out of the way for us to snap a picture of him but we did get to see him.  He looks so much like Loren!  He has really big cheeks and really big lips, I just can't wait to kiss them both!  It was fun watching him move around, he was yawning, swallowing and licking his hands (yes we saw his tongue).  I tell you, for so long i have been feeling this little guy kick and squirm and hiccup etc and I can only imagine what he looks like and guess which body parts are protruding out of my stomach when he kick.  But when you actually get to see him as he is moving around it is just an absolute miracle.  What a little angle he is!

Stay tuned...

Back to Work

Tomorrow is is big day!  We have our 32 week ultrasound (although we are actually 33 wks 3 days) and we will get to see our little man.  The last ultrasound we had was at 20 weeks and we thought he was just so big then so we can only imagine how much he has grown in the past 13 weeks!  We will also be able to find out how much he weighs at this point.  I am getting a little anxious because big babies run in our family. I am just hoping he will come out ok :)  Our appointment is at 1:00pm tomorrow with Dr. Hakimian (who delivered all 3 of Katie's babies) hopefully I will get some good pictures and I will post them tomorrow so you can see how big he is.  

So we have a little less than 7 weeks to go and I must say just this weeks things have started to get a little uncomfortable.  I have been extremely blessed in having a very easy pregnancy, not many aches and pains except for some morning sickness in the beginning.  Lately I have been feeling tight pains in my stomach, heartburn, charlie horses in my legs, bathroom trips around the clock and I have an appetite like no other.  But again if this is the worst I have to go thru I am very very lucky.

Loren and I have had a very relaxing 2 weeks for the holidays. This year we did not travel far because of the pregnancy. We spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Katie and Scott.  We had an amazing dinner both nights and had a lot of fun hanging out together. 

Tomorrow both Loren and I go back to work and start up 2009.  We are both used to very busy schedules and lounging around the past few weeks has given us a bit of cabin fever.  We are looking forward to getting back into our schedules and putting the finishing touches on our nursery.   

47 days and counting...

Welcome to the official Raber Family Website!

Hello to all our family and friends!

As many of you know we are nearing the last few weeks of a very exciting time.  In just 7 short weeks we will be adding a new addition to our family.  Our baby boy is due to arrive February 20th.  Since many of our family and friends are not local we thought it would be nice to to put something together where we could keep everyone updated on the happenings as we begin this new chapter of our lives.

Time goes by so quickly and we know things will also be changing quickly so we have created this space to share with all of you where we are and where we plan to go.

You are all very special to us and we look forward to keeping in better touch in 2009!

Happy New Year!