Baby News

• Today is my 32 week check-up with my Doctor and we will be having a 4D ultrasound done today!! Yay!! The last ultrasound we had was at 20 weeks when we found out that I was carrying a girl. We are SO excited to see Ilah and how big she has gotten!! This ultrasound will be recorded on DVD so we will have a precious keepsake of this special time in our lives.

• My belly is getting ginormous. I feel it. My husband sees it. More pregnancy pictures to come. For the past three weeks I've been gorging on food that isn't so healthy. Can't help it. I've been giving into pregnancy cravings more than I probably should. But heck, with all that I'm going through I feel I deserve it!

• For the past few weeks I've been feeling Ilah hiccup. I think it's so incredible to be able to be in tune with my baby as she continues to grow. I have a feeling that she is most likely in a head-down position now; when she hiccups I feel it in my lower pelvis. We will find out today if she's made the turn!

• Ilah's nursery is nearly completed. Her custom crib bedding is in the works and I should receive it in about 4 weeks. It was fun going with my mom to pick out all the fabric {thanks Mom for buying it all! I've loved all the moments of sharing this pregnancy with you!}. The bedding is going to be so beautiful; I can't wait until it's in place! Pictures to come when her room is all completed!

• I have posted about being on the fence about taking childbirth classes. The location that the classes are offered at aren't real close to our house and we dreaded sitting through an 8 hour weekend course. I was going to skip childbirth classes all together but then I thought that labor and delivery isn't something that I should go into blindly. So while even though I haven't taken "lamaze classes" per-say, we have been watching a series of online classes that are really informative and have proven to be beneficial to watch.

• About two weeks ago my husband set up our travel system and the car seat is about to be installed in the car!

• My mom and I went to Babies-R-Us last Friday and purchased SO MUCH STUFF!!! I feel truly blessed that even though I decided to forgo a baby shower that little Ilah is being showered with every single necessity that she needs...big and small {thanks to our parents}. Every time Ilah gets something I tell her to look through mommy's peep-hole {my belly button - ha!} to get a sneak peak at all her goodies!

• Last Saturday we did a tour of the labor and delivery unit at the hospital where I will be giving birth. I highly encourage every expectant mother to do a tour; it really put my mind at ease to visually see where I will be delivering and to hear the processes of what will go on when "that day" comes. It was also great to able to ask lots of questions...and get answers directly from hospital staff. They shared SO MUCH information. It also built our excitement all the more to soon be welcoming our little girl into the world!!

• I have filled out all hospital pre-registration forms and will be mailing them today {one less thing to have to worry about on the day of. Just wheel me into my room because all forms have already been filled out!}

• I called my insurance company yesterday to get answers to my list of questions, some of which were: Is epidural covered? Is all costs covered if baby ends up in NICU?, How long can I stay in the hospital if having a vaginal delivery or a c-section? Do I need to pre-certify before my hospital stay? Are hospital meals covered?, Do you require a copy of baby's birth certificate to prove delivery?, and some other questions. Doing the hospital tour really prepared me for what questions to ask my insurance company; the tour guide emphasized that the above questions were most imperative to find out since you don't want a surprise bill when it comes time to check-out. It's imperative to know in advance what insurance does and does not cover and I wanted to get all this verified sooner rather than later because you never know when baby could decide to want out and I'd rather have a peace of mind going into the hospital. Thank God that I have great insurance. Aside from a $250 deductible, everything is 100% covered {yes, EVERYTHING}.

As the weeks continue to pass, and I get closer and closer to my due date, we are all so anxious to meet this little girl who will bring so much love into our lives! While there is so much to do to prepare for a baby, I don't think you can truly prepare for how much your life will change in such an astounding way. The miracle of life is an extraordinary thing to partake in. To finally hold in our arms the child that God allowed us to create will surely be an overwhelming feeling. Ilah has our heart, and unconditional love, already - and we cannot wait to begin cherishing her.