One week before our big day, we spent the night celebrating our friends' big day - Phil and Jamie's wedding! Thankfully, Tyler cooperated and let us enjoy this beautiful ceremony and night. You can see how I look at 39 weeks and two days.

flip flop efforts

With Baby Campbell still breech, I've received much advice on "tricks" to get him to flip flop to the head-down position. I've been trying several that a couple of nurses suggested. Whether there is really something to these wives’ tales remains to be seen. But in the meantime, I'm feeling like a moron trying them out. As often as I can stand it (supposed to do it three times a day), I'm stacking up three or four pillows under my hips so that I'm nearly upside down. I stay in this contortionist position for about 20 minutes while I hold a frozen bag of spinach on the upper side of my stomach and point a flashlight on my lower abdomen. The theory is that he'll move away from the cold and toward the light. I'm thinking this is just the first of many ways that our baby during his lifetime will make me feel like an idiot! :)

aversion to version

Alex and I spent yesterday in the hospital, my first time ever being a patient. We were there to try version, a procedure where the doctor pushes on my stomach in an attempt to move the baby from a breech position to a head-down position. I was given a shot that relaxes my uterus, but it also causes heart palpitations and anxiety. Unfortunately, the procedure was very painful and unsuccessful. So unless our baby flips on his own, it looks like I will be facing a C-section in the upcoming weeks, which saddens me greatly.

On the bright side, we were able to check out the hospital (Howard County General is a division of Johns Hopkins Medicine) and see the types of rooms where we will stay. We were pleasantly surprised with how nice they are and how wonderful the staff is.

And because I had to be prepared as if I was having a C-section just to be on the safe side, Alex got to try out his OR outfit.

belly x 2

So I'm feeling like my belly is twice as big as it was recently, but the title of this entry is actually refering to the two pictures. The photo of me in the white shirt was taken Oct. 11 (35 weeks and 7 days) and the one of me in the brown shirt was taken on Oct. 16 (36 weeks and 5 days). Nine months. Women keep telling me that my belly is small for nine months, which is hard to imagine when I'm feeling rather round right now!

room in progress

The weekend following the showers was a busy one. We made the big push (no, not that one!) to make significant progress on the nursery. We picked up our crib, crib mattress and bedding. We installed the curtain rod and hung the curtains. The glider and changing table/dresser are in place. You can see lots of items such as burp cloths, diapers and clothes from the shower strewn about the room. The room is getting there! And of course Daisy is hanging out in the room - her new favorite place.

shower the dad-to-be

Early October was the week of showers for the Campbells. This time it was the dad's turn for some pre-baby attention at a Johns Hopkins University shower hosted by his boss, Christine S. Alex feigned surprise for the camera's sake and then opened gifts with not-quite-accurate descriptions (an incline sleeper for the crib received the comment "Oh, look it's a baby holder!"). Check out the cupcake cake and another adorable diaper cake! (Thanks Jennifer K. and Jennifer S.)

shower the mom-to-be

My "surprise" baby shower was Oct. 1, hosted by Joy Johnson, Stacie Howes and my mom. Unfortunately, my mother wasn't able to attend the shower because she was recuperating from surgery, but she was there in spirit and made the beautiful diaper cake!

It was great to see so many of my friends and family, especially those who made the long trip from out of town. We shared baby stories, guessed the diameter of my belly, and opened LOTS of gifts. Thank you so much everyone! I finally feel as prepared as possible for our son to arrive soon.

even bigger belly

This picture was taken Sept. 25, 2006 (33 weeks and 5 days). Getting bigger!

little bugger

Yesterday was my 2-week checkup (at 33.5 weeks). Baby Campbell's heart rate is great. He's been moving, poking and bumping me all the time. Last week it seemed as though his legs were kicking me near the top of my belly (meaning he was head down). Then during the past few days the kicks have been really low, suggesting he is breech. Well, the sonogram showed that for now, the little bugger is breech. Actually, transverse meaning that he is almost laying sideways. He will hopefully move back to his head down position on his own in the next few weeks. If not, the doctor might try to move him that way OR may just schedule a C-section at 39 weeks (a week early)! I'm a little leary of CHOOSING a birth date. Almost seems a little too God-like in nature. 39 weeks would be Nov. 2 (my niece's birthday); Nov. 1 is my brother's birthday. Or we could pick Nov. 3 and have 1,2,3 covered in the family. But Alex had also liked Nov. 11 (11/11/06). Who knows, maybe he'll move on his own and come when he wants to!

hey poke-a-boo

Baby Campbell's newest trick: he is poking at my belly from the inside out. Maybe payback for the times Alex and I have tapped my belly so Alex could feel him move. This new trick though is more than just a kick or bump, he's actually making my belly visibly rise up! It is very bizarre and exciting at the same time. Seven more weeks until we get to see him in the flesh!

baby gear

Yesterday, my mom came over to help paint the dresser from her sewing room that will be Baby Campbell's changing table/dresser. We also put together our stroller and glider. Sounds easy enough right? The stroller came with illustrated photos with very curt instructions. However, not every picture was altogether accurate, so in those cases we were guided solely by our intuition. Thankfully we were successful. And the glider...we put that together with no directions at all! We have two extra parts (oops) but so far it seems to work without them. And it is SO comfortable, I almost fell asleep in it after all the work it took to get it together!

first hospital visit

Sadly we were not at the hospital for a more happy occasion or a BIRTH as would be expected. My mom, Auntie Ellen, me and the baby visited Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore last night to talk with Dr. Rosenshein, a renowned gynecological oncologist. Unfortunately, it looks as though my mom (Grandma Jones) has ovarian cancer. Surgery and chemo are planned in the near future. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

bigger belly

This picture was taken Sept. 9, 2006 (31 weeks and 3 days). Starting the countdown.

painted nursery

The big task of prepping and painting the nursery is now complete! We had to spread the project over two weekends because so much prep work was involved, but we're happy with the results. Now it's time for the furniture!

The first picture shows the room primed (and Daisy!) and the second shows the new wall color, apple blossom.

another sonogram

So we sweet talked our doctor into another sonogram since he was not able to confirm the baby's sex during the last appointment. This time the baby flipped and is now sitting breech for the time being. This usually makes it more difficult to see the sex of the baby since there is less room in my lower abdomen, but thankfully Baby Campbell was willing to share this time. We were able to clearly see that indeed he is a boy!

We were also lucky to get a clear picture of him since he was bopping around like a deflating balloon. Prior to the appointment I had to drink a glucose substance that tastes like a really sugary orange soda. They take my blood an hour later and this lets them determine if I have gestational diabetes. The routine is to take the test once at 16 weeks and once around this time. I'm at 29 weeks today and happy to report that the doctor just called to let me know that I'm completely normal. Well physically at least. No diabetes for me!

Take a look at our cutie! He's squished up against the left side of the picture. The long blue lines highlight his body and head (his head is tilted like lying on a pillow) and the short blue line shows his hand.

campbell crib

So I told you that we ordered our crib and glider several weeks ago. But now I have a picture of the crib from the store display. So ignore the other furniture and bedding (not mine).


We've almost finished clearing the nursery of its furniture from its phase as a spare bedroom. Then the room will get a makeover with a new coat of paint, new window treatments and wall décor. And my mom's dresser from her sewing room will now serve as a changing table/dresser in the nursery once it also gets a fresh coat of paint. Insert crib and glider and voila, the nursery will be complete!

heat wave

No, I'm not referring to the extremely hot temperatures in the Middle Atlantic region... I've finally found that I'm feeling slightly warmer than usual. I have begun my seventh month, so it's about time that I have some of those negative pregnancy symptoms that I've heard so much about. However, I've heard no complaints from Alex who is loving the ceiling fan setting on HIGH!

hey bugaboo

So, finally a picture of the infamous belly! This was taken on August 1.

Since then, Alex and I have found that our baby likes interactive play already. During his active hours we tap on my belly saying, "Hey Bugaboo," and Baby Campbell kicks back. It is so amazing that he can feel and hear us and, more remarkably, responds! I can't wait to hold this little guy.

cute cartoon

My mom sent me this cartoon from The Washington Post because it reminded her of Baby Campbell's "latest shy bit at the last sonogram."

registered

I've been asked by many where I'm registered and I've had to say "I'm not!" But I'm happy to say that the procrastination is over and one more big task is complete. We're registered at Babies R Us and Target.

After the very LONG day at Babies R Us with feet that felt like they were going to fall off, we tested gliders. The glider search has been the bane of my existance for the past few months. Originally I wanted a fully upholstered chair that, in my eyes, looked more contemporary than the traditional wooden ones with cushions. But I just couldn't find one that I liked that was also comfortable and a somewhat reasonable price. So I expanded my search criteria (Alex was so proud since I'm rarely flexible once I get my mind set on something) to include the traditional gliders as well. And we found the perfect one for us that was brand new in the store. We chose a light wood with a sage cushion. It glides, reclines, locks in any position, comes with a matching ottoman and fits our long legs just right. I wasn't sure if I was more happy to have another decision done or to be off my feet after so much walking!!