His Majesty Mr. Diminutive Bramble Bump

We had our 36 week check up today and the baby is doing great! I'm officially 36 weeks and 5 days today! So, these photos are really me - from tonight. I'm all belly!

All Belly!

They tested me for Strep (in my nether regions - who knew you could catch it there?!) and did a cervix check. We are 1 cm dilated and the Doctor could feel the baby's head. He has dropped!

Getting wider by the day ...

Other interesting things about the visit: I've lost 1 1/2 pounds. The Docs aren't worried about the fluctuation because of the very good growth ultrasound from 9 days ago. Baby is growing like a champ. I probably am just retaining less water than last week. For those of you keeping track at home, I'm up either 25 pounds or 26.5 pounds.

I switch to Heparin (blood thinner similar to the Lovenox I'm on but 2 shots per day) next Wednesday. This is for 2 reasons: (1) shorter life in my body - the Heparin is shorter acting and wears off faster. This especially useful if I go into labor before expected. (2) the Heparin has a reversal agent called Protamine. This reversal agent takes about 2 hours max to work. So, this means that an epidural during labor would be an option (not an option while on Lovenox) as well as a c-section.

I am so thankful to have our aggressively awesome Medical team who consult with the University of Washington perinatology team to keep me and our precious baby boy safe.

Hand Knit for our Baby

These were hand knit by our dear friend Christina Wright. Can you believe she knit these by hand?! What amazing love and dedication. I am in awe of her time invested and her talent. 

So adorable!

Which Outfit for the Hospital?

From Grandma and Grandpa Renoud for Christmas

From Lisa at Chris's Company

Ah, who am I kidding? I'm bringing both!Plus a couple white onesies, socks, diapers and more! This child won't be lacking in cute clothes for the hospital.

Washin' the Onesies

Almost all of our baby clothes are fully washed in special, infant-care laundry detergent only. Now we just need the baby to come and dirty up some of these. =) And, that was only ONE load of clothes. This kid has more clothes than most of the stores in Bellingham! My Mom (Grandma!) walked into his room and said, "My my, are you planning on opening up your own store?!" Thanks to the generosity of friends, our kid is stylin' big time.

Our First Hand-Me-Downs

Thank you Jeff (of Frogbox and 1-800-GOT-JUNK Seattle fame) and his beautiful wife Lynette for this awesome haul of clothing. They just had twin boys and we are the lucky recipients of their fast-growth baby boys. They barely look worn at all and we can't wait to see our son in these clothes. Thank you!!! We're feelin' the love and support for sure. 

My favorite things are the shoes! Soooooooo cute!

Growth Ultrasound Report

We had our baby positioning + growth ultrasound tonight. The ultrasound tech has seen us so much this pregnancy that she said, "Wow! I think I've given you more ultrasounds than any other pregnant woman ever!" And that doesn't count the extra 3 ultrasounds I got from my OBs along the way. We're so thankful for our amazing team of OBs who are taking extra good care to make sure my clotting disorder does not affect our baby's growth.

First, the good news: he's HEAD DOWN! Yay! He's in position for birth. Thank you Mr. Renoud Jr. for cooperating.

Second, also good news: he's gaining weight like a CHAMP! Our baby boy is now in the 60th weight percentile and is 5 pounds, 6 ounces (by head and by femur measurements). He is adding weight quickly. Chris, my ever loving husband, made sure to ask the Doctor if the baby was gaining weight so quickly because I was gaining weight so quickly. She pointed out, very sharply, that no, in fact I have gained the perfect amount of weight for the pregnancy and I was doing everything "perfectly." I have been holding that over him for the last six hours and plan on holding it over him AND our son for the rest of their lives. PERFECTLY.

Pictures of our SON!

Yes, that is a HUGE eye open at you.

See his little hand? It's up near his mouth. =) Thumb sucker, maybe?

This is a funny photo; Chris made the Ultrasound Tech turn the machine back on to check out our son's eh hem, nether regions. You will be thrilled to learn that Baby Renoud's testicles have DROPPED. And can we just say that they looked HUGE on the screen compared to his little buttocks? Chris was in awe over his son's obvious mastery of this one growth area.

The other important part of our son's genitalia

We go back again on April 1st to check vitals and everything else. With our son at over 5 pounds, I'm feeling great about his progress. Even if we went into labor early, almost 6 pounds is great. Phew! Just one more month until we meet our little boy.

Bramble Bump's 2nd Baby Shower

Me with the host, Jody Bergsma and good friend Erin Baker.

I am so lucky to have an awesome group of girlfriends in Bellingham who got together and threw me a fantastic girly baby shower. I'm in a Mastermind Business Group with Jody and Erin and it was fun to work on something besides work with them!

I could have done an entire post on the yummy food at the shower. We even had a cupcake decorating station.

The food was insane - absolutely over the top delicious. In addition to the guests bringing treats, Jody had little mini crepe-y things brought in from a delicious local creperie (Magdalenas in Bellingham). The cupcake decorating station was, of course, my favorite place. The always-fabulous Erin Baker baked the cupcakes using only organic ingredients and love and they tasted delish!

Decorating in process

We had a onesie decorating station that made fast and creative friends of everyone at the party. And look at the haul of creative little onesies for our little Bramble Bump! The talent among the group was stunning.

Baby's first original painting by the talented Jody Bergsma.

Onesies! The "Happy Camper" one is mine =)

Amber from Bramble Berry Marketing made the advice book.

The final station was an Advice Station. I really wanted a chance to talk to everyone at the Shower and have a heart-to-heart to learn about everyone's advice but time was short and I was worried I'd forget the excellent advice from friends so I got everyone to write their best feedback for us down. I spent the next day reading the advice and was absolutely blown away by the wisdom and grace of my friends.

 

Baby's first piggybank! And look, my Mom is back from New Zealand!

Our baby Bramble Bump will be here in about 4ish weeks and we can't wait to meet him. Buoyed by the excellent fun and joy from the showers, he's going to be riding high on a lotta love.

FSE Baby Shower - Shower Number Uno

FSE Baby Shower

 In December, when Chris's company, FSE, found out I was pregnant (he announced it first thing in his annual "Message to the Company"), two of the engineers' wives immediately offered to throw me a baby shower. It was so kind of them to organize a couple's shower for me, Chris and baby Renoud. I kept trying to help but they wouldn't let me. All we did was show up and enjoy our special day; there was lots of laughing, lots of advice and lots of anticipation.

Of course there were cupcakes!

But not just ANY cupcakes! Baby Cupcakes!

They had fun games that mostly involved making fun of Chris. He was a really good sport though.

Notice his practical footwear? High heels, size 11!

Eeek! Cradle the baby's head!

There was also a game where people had to guess the circumference of my waist. Obviously, I don't look as petite as people keep saying because some of these men picked sizes that could have spanned a kitchen table! My husband did it right though and picked the smallest size he could.

Wise man!

We got some adorable gifts. And we felt so thankful by everyone's generosity. We're just thrilled to have a celebration of our impending arrival and then to get gifts? It was very sweet.

Just a little small for Chri

We were especially delighted with one very practical gift that came from the youngest inspector at FSE. His name is 'Guy' and he's also expecting a baby girl - just one month after us! He bought us a Pack'n'Play in a great color - gray and black.

Look at the pile of clothes off to my left! And the adorable bouncer to the right. (swoon)

Some of the other hightlights were a hand-knit blanket, handmade bibs + receiving blankets and of course, another cute outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Renoud.Our little baby boy will be the most stylin' newborn in Bellingham with the amount of snazzy outfits his Grandparents are getting him.

Ha! Baby's on the Table!

Anyone else notice where my bump is as I'm making this batch of soap at work? And funny thing? This was taken a few weeks ago when the Bramble Bump was even smaller!

Baby Renoud is doing well - he's remained head down, weighs over 5 pounds now and happily shifts and moves around actively at night and sleeps most of the day. I'm looking forward to resetting his internal schedule soon! Less than 5 weeks to go ...

8 Months!

We were 8 months LAST week but it's been such a whirlwind at work that I haven't even found an extra 10 minutes to post these belly photos. =) 8 months along, 3/5/2011

I also have baby shower photos from last weekend's awesome FSE baby shower to post. =)

Just trying to get the sticker on straight!

He was still sideways in this photo which is why the belly looks so tight across

Weight gain report: 25 pounds. I am nourishing this kid!

Babyproofing the House

Putting together the amazing Baby Rocker

We've been having a good time getting ready for Baby Renoud - the amazing rocking chair (thank you Grandma and Grandpa Renoud) is set up in a perfect position in the living room (complete with a dimmer switch to not startle nursing babies). Though, I'm thinking I may need a lamp over the chair for light night reading (errm, I mean, breastfeeding) sessions.

Settling right in...

And it's right by the cozy fireplace!

Installing childproof locks in the bathroom

The childproof locks are already driving us BOTH crazy. Neither of us are admitting this though and are instead waiting for the other one to cry 'Uncle!' and admit that the childproofing locks aren't needed for at least 7 more months.

If we weren't so stubborn, the childproof locks wouldn't have lasted but a day.