Week 38 Image

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone is having an enjoyable holiday season. Christmas in the Hansen home was good... mostly just calm and peaceful. It was a chance for Trent and I to get a little rest and make some more preparations for Baby Hansen to arrive. We're getting very excited for her grand entrance! We're hopeful that she is as enthusiastic about meeting us as we are about meeting her. I've spent a lot of time the last few days trying to convince her, that no matter how hard she tries, she is not going to be able to break through my ribs and my stomach in order to get out. I keep telling her there is really only one way out... but she doesn't seem to be listening. I'm sure she'll be much more obedient once she's born (wishful thinking). I guess she'll come when she's ready. Despite having fears regarding labor and delivery, I couldn't be more ready for her to come. As my discomforts increase daily, I become even more anxious.

This isn't your traditional weekly photo... as there is no shower curtain. However, since it is the holiday season... I thought I'd pay a little respect to the best Christmas movie ever made. (The Christmas Story). I think I saw it a few times during the annual "24 Hours of the Christmas Story" which plays on TBS. In this picture, I feel like the little boy who can't put his arms down cause he's so bundled up. Good thing I didn't fall over (like he did in the movie)... because my guess is there would have been no getting up for me!

Certainly this picture (with several layers on) makes me look even larger than I am. But at this point... who really cares, right? I mean, I'm 38 weeks pregnant... so this should be expected. I did have another win on the scale this week at my doctors appointment... with no weight gain. I'm guessing I've peaked as far as the weight is concerned (could also be wishful thinking... who knows).

The nursery is getting much closer. Hopefully we'll have it all done this week. If so, I'll post pictures next week. Other than making final preparations and celebrating Christmas, the only other "eventful" thing that has happened this last week is that my emotions have seemed to spiral out of control. The last couple of days, just about anything can make me cry. It's horrible. I'm kind of tired of it... and am hopeful that it's only a "phase".

Here's to another good one!

Week 37 Image

Another week happily zips by...

We are visiting the doctor weekly now, which is exciting. Even though it is purely pscychological, it makes the time seem to pass a little more quickly. I get a little more cautious about the food I intake in the couple days leading up to my appointment... joking with others that I have to "weigh in" so I have to be careful.

Week 37 was a successful one, in regards to weight gain. 0.00 pounds gained... which was very exciting for me. Also, the blood pressure was really good. Physically, I'm feeling pretty okay. I seem to have some upper back pain somewhat frequently but other than that, nothing major. Baby Hansen's movements are becoming much more painful for me. There's just not a ton of room in there for her. This is what we (baby Hansen and I) are looking like after 37 weeks...

With the holidays upon us, I imagine the next few weeks will pass by rapidly. I hate to think that I'm "wishing time away"... I'm just really excited to meet Baby Hansen. Trent and I feel fairly prepared, in regards to having the things we think we'll need. I'd like the baby to come sooner, rather than later... and Trent is okay with her coming as late as she'd like. I would suggest that is because he doesn't get to live with the daily discomforts. I'm not going to complain about all of the little things... because I have no doubt that in the end, it will all be worth it. However, it will be nice to have my body back once she's born... and start to do some of the things I love so much but am unable to do right now. My sister went snowboarding last Thursday... and I was fairly jealous.

We're excited for Christmas this week and to have a couple of days off from work. Hopefully this post find you happy and healthy during this holiday season. Make it a great one! We'll be sure to do the same.

Week 36 - Wait... no image!

To start off, we neglected to take a picture on Sunday... so there won't be one of those this week. I hope you'll take my word for it... I'm still growing larger :) In the prenatal seminar we attended several weeks ago, we were told that while 37 weeks is considered full term, if I went into labor at 36 weeks, I wouldn't be stopped. Scary!

Baby Hansen is still fairly active, just with a lot less room to move around. It makes her movements much more visible for the random onlooker. I keep saying she's just trying to "break out". If you'd like to venture a guess regarding when she'll be born, there's a poll in the right column of this blog.

I spent most of the weekend "hevtej bna" (Mongolian for laying/resting). I wrote it that way because my weekend reminded me of something from Mongolia. In Mongolia, it is quite common for people to pay to go the clinic or hospital for a couple of weeks. Without anything seriously wrong with them, they would go to essentially rest... and lay in a bed for a couple weeks. I had some companions that were planning on going to "hevt" after they finished their missions. I always thought it was a bit strange that they would pay money to go to a hospital so they could rest. The clinics typically didn't provide much or any treatment to them... and they didn't provide food (the person's family or friends would bring them meals). I guess when a person reaches pure exhaustion, that's just what they do.

While I am really tired, I don't think I'm quite to that point yet. The main struggle has been that when Baby Hansen wakes me up between 4 and 4:30 each morning... I've really struggled to fall back asleep. Besides spending much of my time resting, Elizabeth and Alaris were nice enough to have a baby shower for me last week. They did a great job putting it all together. My Grandma Sharp hosted the event at her house. Since I didn't provide a 36 week image (disappointing, I'm sure!)... I have a couple pictures from the shower.

Yummy Food...

Kelsi had a great time playing in the tissue paper afterwards

Two out of three of my favorite nieces :)

The baby my sister made me... so cute! I just keep hoping that Baby Hansen doesn't come out quite that big (this baby is extra stuffed with diapers)

Yay for 36 weeks! Another week will surely provide another adventure. We've got no big plans for week 37... just taking it easy!

When will she come??

I often find myself wondering when Baby Hansen will make her entrance into the world. The idea of her joining us really excites me. I can't say the same about the "how' she will come. That still terrifies me.

There's not a day that passes that I don't wonder when it will be. So, just for fun... join me in wondering. I have a poll on the blog that will allow you to guess the general date of her entrance. If you want to be more specific about a date, feel free to leave a comment with your guess.

Her due date is only 30 days away. Considering the fact that I've been alive for 9,649 days... and I've been through 30 day segments 321 times throughout my life, 30 days seems really soon!

Week 35 Image

One week closer... thank goodness! It's taking longer than anticipated to recover from the Thanksgiving adventure. Note to self: "Don't play football past 30 weeks of pregnancy." With the snow starting on Saturday, I've really had the "snowboarding itch"... but have wisely opted not to scratch it. It certainly helps that none of my snowboard pants/coats fit me nowadays :)

Although the due date is still five weeks away, we spend time thinking about Baby Hansen on a daily basis. It's hard not to think about her when I'm sitting in a work meeting and I get a sudden shot to the ribs... sending shock through my entire body. I have to exert every ounce of self control I have to not "yelp" out loud. My mom and I spent time on Saturday painting letters to hang on the wall of the nursery. It was a lot of work... but will add more prettiness to the room. We just have a few more things to do before we can call the nursery "complete". When (if) that point comes, I'll be sure to post some pictures.

I officially got my FMLA paperwork filled out... meaning that I'll be taking 12 weeks off from work after Baby Hansen is born. I'll be attempting to work right up until that point. I think it'll be good for me to help time pass quicker. Before I went on my mission, I had a week and half where I didn't work at all and just waited for time to pass so I could go to the MTC. Calling it quits early from work made the time pass painfully slow. I certainly don't want to repeat that experience, if I don't need to.

We're looking forward to seeing what week 36 brings to us!

Week 34 Image

Week 34, as expected, was a good one. I'm surprised at how quickly it slipped away. I'll get to the excitement of the week momentarily... but first the dreaded weekly photo:

This week I decided to do a comparison photo. One picture is from week 34 and the other one is from a short 19 weeks ago... week 15. Without any hints, I'm guessing you can't figure out which is which.


On a very positive note... I had a doctor's appointment last week in which I discovered I only gained one pound in the last two weeks! That felt like a pretty big personal accomplishment to me :) I am looking forward to baby Hansen coming in part so I can adequately exercise and start taking some weight off. I did try some limited exercise on Thanksgiving day... in the form of a football game. I played as the designated quarterback... but that turned into scrambling away from the blitz, running a couple of routes as a receiver, playing defense. My body just isn't built for running right now. As soon as the game ended, I knew I would be hurting... and I'm still sore... four days later. Live and learn, right? I'll think I'll refrain from playing football until after the baby is born.

We had a great Thanksgiving and started a shopping shortly thereafter with a trip to Michael's Thursday evening. From then... it didn't stop. My mom, sister, cousin Rebekah, and I went to Park City at midnight to do some shopping... and then Elizabeth and I continue all night long until 9am. She was super tired around 7am so we went and woke up my mom and Rebekah to continue. Elizabeth bowed out after breakfast around 9am and the rest of us continued... until about noon, when I basically crashed. I guess I don't function incredibly well without any sleep. It didn't help that I woke up at 4:30 am on Thursday... and couldn't go back to sleep. In all, it was a 31 hour marathon for me... with no sleep. I napped for two hours and spent the rest of the weekend trying to recover physically. I think I have a better understanding of swollen feet now!

Despite the fatigue, we enjoyed some super deals, worked on the nursery, and watched a little football over the break. Those components are all it takes for a great week!

Now that I'm a little more uncomfortable physically, I'm becoming more mentally prepared for Baby Hansen to come. It still scares me to think of how she has to make her entrance into the world... and what that means to me... but I'm guessing that over the next several weeks as my discomfort increases, the actual birth will seem less and less scary. At least that's what I'm hoping for!