37 weeks 2 days

There was a point last week where i would have paid 1 million dollars to induce labor.

Luckily, the discomfort and anxiousness that caused all of that has dissipated and as of today (at 11am) i am ready to stick it out for the long haul and make it to my due date on December 18th.

Much of that feeling has to do with the fact that I got sick over the weekend - Lots of coughing, lots of nose blowing, lots of laying around like a bum hoping to feel better soon and i realized how awful it would be to start my shift as "mom" with this awful cold. I need to be well rested and healthy...so i need at least a week more of being pregnant to accomplish this....oh yeah and i have a hair appointment scheduled on the 10th. It would be tragic if i had these roots in all of the pictures from my little girls first week of life!

So yeah i need highlights and good health.

lets just hope it doesn't take a week for these symptoms to disappear. Coughing your head off while being this humongous has a whole new set of ramifications that i don't intend to discuss but just know, it isn't fun.

In other news: we had a nice Thanksgiving. Pats brother was in town with his fiance from DC and it is always fun to have them here. We got lots of time in with family and friends -watching Notre Dame finally beat USC and eating like it was our job all weekend.

Pat and i did some holiday shopping on Black Friday. It was kind of worthless to get up early but it ended up working out. We got some good deals....but i have a feeling those same deals were available at 11am vs. 6am. Nonetheless, we are now the proud owners of a very very fancy new desktop Mac and an elliptical that BETTER allow me to morph back into a normal sized post-pregnant human being. I guess it stinks that there wont be any big surprises on Christmas morning, but Pat and i are all about the practicality and it made more sense to just get each other these things we needed ahead of the baby being here.

Hopefully the new comp will contribute to some renewed inspiration for blogging. Once every 2 weeks kind of sucks - i know.

So that's it for now. I am hopefully optimistic that i can make it to my due date ( i swear i am trying mom ;) )..... there has been a little bit of progress made towards having the baby though so we'll see how this all ends up. i guess i can't change what happens either way.

i definitely am beyond excited to meet little Ashlyn O'B though!!....whenever she decides to make her debut.

Baby Katie - i'm 35 weeks now

My mom sent this picture to me this morning. We realized last night that when i was born my mom was 27 and my dad was 30....the exact ages that Pat and I are going to be when little Ashlyn (or the mystery 20% chance baby that happens to have a wiener) will be born.

I am just surprised to see how much hair i had. I was a total towhead blonde later on....and isn't my dads pink tie cute? No offense to my 2 older sisters but i was the only one that got a pink tie tribute :) ...love you dad!

SO anyways, my feelings at 35 weeks: it is getting so close....and we are ready to some extent but it still feels like there is just so much left to do. Anxiety has definitely set in, but overall I think i am confident that Pat and I are going to be great parents.

I am kind of in list mode with just 5 weeks left.

Yesterday i looked up hospital information - and made a phone list in my phone of numbers we might need.

I also sent my sister Kristen an email to find out what kind of things i would need to pack for my hospital bag. Thank god i did because the boppy pillow and big butt undies could have been forgotten. Ugggg - I hate those kind of underwear. I own like 2 and they are only worn as pajamas when no one is looking.... i guess times are a changing (temporarily at least)

This weekend we are tackling another list item- pat and i are going to finish out the practical baby purchases and head to babies r us for the pump the baby tub, a little bit of extra sheeting, and God only knows what else! I think we need more warm onesies, some cloth diapers (not for diaper business but for other stuff) pacifiers, a nursing cover.....ummm etc.

We'll see how that all goes. Pat "looooves" shopping.

As far as the "me" stuff goes -I am feeling pretty good, but this "pretty good" only comes after some hard work to get back to normal. A few days ago i was almost freaking crippled by a pinched nerve in my back. I have had sciatica on and off at different times, but this was the first time it didn't go away. The pain was constant and i was miserable. So for the first time this whole pregnancy I left work - for a non doctor appointment related issue. I got a prenatal massage, i took a bath, and i did baby yoga. That - my friends- is an unbelievable combination of greatness. I woke up the next day feeling like it was my second trimester again :)

All in all - things are good.

I am done decorating the nursery.

I am close to getting ready to leave work.

I am ready to decorate my house for Christmas.

I am excited for our baby basics class on the 29th.

I am ready to finish Christmas shopping on black Friday.

I am ready to pack a bag for the hospital.

...I just haven't finished or done any of that stuff yet.

Heres to hoping that some of these get crossed off my list now that they are in writing for the world to see.

Hope you all have an excellent friday! If you want....have a martini for me (one with a little champagne too). I really want/need one at this point but i am willing to live vicariously through you for at least 6 more weeks :)