Big Sister Class, 27 week ultrasound and 28 week visit

Kaitlyn recently attended sibling class at the hospital to learn what to expect as a "Big Sister". The instructors taught Kaitlyn and another sibling that attended the class about why the baby cries, how to support the baby's head, and they even got to go to the nursery and see a newborn. The instructors gave Kaitlyn a baby doll and had her change the diaper. She did quite well at changing the diaper. She removed the dirty diaper and wiped the baby and even got the clean diaper on correctly, then she flipped the baby doll onto its forehead so she could fasten the sides of the diaper. Up until that point we were pretty impressed with her diaper changing skills! When the instructor talked to her about supporting the baby's head she picked up her baby and cradled it in her arms and sang "Rock a Bye Baby" to her baby doll, then proudly announced "My mommy taught me that".  She also informed them that "We have a dog, her name is Emma but we call her Emma Bean and she is my big sister and we are both going to be Collin's big sisters!"

Her are a few pictures of the proud "big sister" before her sibling class.

I don't know where she gets these poses from!

I had my 27 week ultrasound on Dec 15th to check the position of the placenta. Nothing has changed so it looks like we are still on for a c-section in mid-late February. Also, Collin is now breech, not that it matters since I am already having a c-section. There is a possibility he can flip around still since he is not "engaged" but it really doesn't matter at this point since it is pretty much a guarantee that I will have a scheduled c-section. I was able to get a few more pictures of Collin from the ultrasound.

You can see his little hand resting on his head in this profile picture.

And this picture of his feet leads me to believe he is going to have big feet like his sister!

We saw Dr. Olemacher on Dec 22nd (one of Dr. Jurney's partners) for our 28 week visit since Dr. Jurney is out on maternity leave.  When they tried to check Collin's heartbeart with the doppler you could see him moving all around in my stomach. Chris could see it from where he was sitting. It was cute. His heartbeat was a strong 156. At this point he should now weigh around 2 and 1/4 lbs and should be around 14 inches long, I don't know how accurate that is, but that is what my weekly newsletter from Babyzone says :-).

I asked the Dr. what a typical birth weight would be around the time I will deliver at 36-37 weeks. She said probably around 6-7 lbs, I have to say I think she has some high expectations on that one because Kaitlyn was only 5 days early and weighed a whopping 6 lbs 3 oz at 39 weeks and 2 days! Chris and I took her to the Dr. this week and at just a month shy of her 5th birthday she now only weighs 34.8 lbs! I also had the blood test to check for gestational diabetes this week and the results were normal.

Speaking of Kaitlyn' s birthday...we are going to have her party this year at a place called "Sweet & Sassy". I played dress up with her the other day and had Chris take pictures so we could use them for her birthday invites. It is going to be a small "girls only" party this year with her friends from school. They are going to have makeovers and get dressed up and then they turn on the dance music and let the girls go out on the runway and perform. I will definitely have to upload video of this occassion but here are some of the pictures from our dress up session the other day at home. She has on the necklace I wore on our wedding day and the hair comb from my veil!

And last but not least, here are some of my most recent belly pictures! I am now officially 7 months so I am in my third trimester! Collin will be here in approximately 8-9 weeks!

26 weeks

27 weeks

I go back to the Dr. on January 13th. Stay tuned for more updates!

24 week appointment

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving was our 24 week appointment with Dr. Jurney. I had an ultrasound immediately before the appointment with her to check the position of the placenta. Not much has changed in that regard since the last visit. The placenta is still covering my cervix and has not moved much at all so it looks like having a c-section is still in my future. Dr. Jurney said that she wants to do another ultrasound at the 28 week appointment, which will be Dec 22nd. At that visit I will see Dr. Olemacher because Dr. Jurney will be out on maternity leave herself.

Dr. Jurney will return in mid-January and when I see her for my regular appointment we will pick a firm date for the c-section...

So it seems as though Collin will be arriving mid-late February rather than March. Being that he will be delivered 3-4 weeks early we only have about 12 more weeks until we get to meet our baby boy!

Since we had an ultrasound again this time we were able to get a few more pictures of him.

Collin's Hand

Collin's Foot

Collin's Profile

We also toured the hospital over the Thanksgiving holiday, although most of the tour didn't pertain to our situation since I won't be laboring and delivering...I have to say I won't miss that part!

I figure the c-section will also make the "how did Collin get out of your tummy talk" with Kaitlyn go much easier! If she ever asks how Collin got in my tummy or out the answer will be very simple "The Dr. put him in and the Dr. took him out." :-) See IVF does have it's advantages it makes the birds and the bees very simple to explain!