Still Pregnant

I went back to the doctor again today. I am now 3-4 cm dilated. He said that the baby could come anytime, but he wouldn't be surprised if it was another week. So, we wait....patiently.

Here's a picture of me at 38 weeks. I'm getting bigger by the second, I think!

We had a really nice visit with my parents over the weekend and Danny and Vicki stopped by to see us on Saturday night, as well. After everyone left, Ben and I put away all of our Christmas stuff. I always think the house feels so empty after taking down the tree and all the decorations. Oh well, back to normal, I guess.

Then, today Some of my co-workers had a shower for me. We got a pack and play, books, clothes, and other fun baby items! It was really nice and there were quite a few people there--especially for a holiday week. This baby is spoiled already!

Merry Christmas

Ben and I are sad that we can't come home to be with our family and friends this year, so we wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We miss you all and are thinking of you! We love you!

Tomorrow, we are going to go over and have Christmas dinner with some friends who are also here over the holiday. We made some brownies, homemade peppermint ice cream, and a couple of appitizers to share. It will be really nice, but it sure doesn't feel like Christmas. This month has just flown by. Then, my parents will be coming up to see us this weekend, so that will be really great. We'll get to have a little Christmas with them here and hopefully finish getting ready for Baby Schrant's arrival!

Update

I went back to the doctor again today. He tells me I'm now 3cm dilated, 50% effaced, and at a -1 station. We're moving right along. I continue to feel good and have maintained my exercise routine. I don't know what I am going to do the next week or so, though. The gym is closed for the holidays and it's way too cold and icy to run outside! I've thought about jogging here in my building at work, but I haven't decided what to do. Maybe, I'll just take some time off. We'll see how I feel, I guess! Oh, and I asked the doctor if he had an estimate of when he thought Baby Schrant might arrive. He says that when we get to 4cm, it's getting pretty close. I went one centimeter last week, so maybe we'll have a baby in another week.....or maybe not. We'll see!

Dr. Ben, Movie Star

Check out my cute hubby! They did some promotional videos of the hospital and the community. He made the cut.

http://www.nermc.com/About/Pages/Hospital%20Video.aspx

http://www.nermc.com/About/Pages/Community%20Video.aspx

Truffles

Ben loves his sweets, which is one of the reasons that he makes most of the desserts in our house. Last year he decided he wanted to try some truffles. He found a great recipe and we went to it. It really is a two person job and we made one of the biggest messes I have ever seen. This year, when he wanted to do it again, we decided we were going to be more organized and make the process somewhat cleaner. It's really hard to keep melted chocolate and especially cocoa powder from going everywhere! We put down tissue paper to catch some of the mess and got a box of gloves for me to wear while I was coating the truffles in their chocolate shell coating. All in all, we didn't do too bad and the candy turned out great. Ben said the other day that they are one of the best things he's ever put in his mouth! Ha! For Ben, it doesn't get any better than dark chocolaty goodness! Here are a couple of pictures Ben snapped of me after we finished our truffles. Don't you love the scrub top? Ben brought that home for me a long time ago, so that I could use it as an apron since I don't have one. It barely goes over my belly now!

36 and 2

Those are my numbers for today. I have now reached 36 weeks and the doctor tells me I am 2 cm dilated. Today was the first time that he checked my cervix. I have to say...that wasn't the most pleasant experience of my life. It's not really painful or anything; but not so comfortable, either. It is neat to hear that things are progressing normally, though! Here's a picture of me, now. I am really starting to feel huge and unwieldy! Over the weekend, some of my friends and I got together to celebrate Christmas and also the upcoming arrival of baby Schrant. We had such a good time! Here is a picture of Laura, me, Melinda, Lauren, and Teresa. Then, we took a corny pregnant lady picture. Lauren is due about 7 weeks after I am, at the end of February--so yes...I am WAY bigger than she is...don't judge me!

For other news around the Schrant house--Ben and I...well, honestly, mostly it was just me...I decided that we needed a new computer for Christmas this year. Ben's is about 7 years old and it is just moving so slowly. It can't even keep up with you typing. It's really ridiculous, but Ben says that it does everything that he needs it to do. Anyway, I told him that I would be using the computer a lot more now that I was planning to stay home with the baby, so we really should invest in something a little more up-to-date. Ben gave in and here's our newest purchase--a laptop, so Ben can still keep his old computer and we can have one that actually works ;-)

An afternoon off!

I was at work this afternoon and one of my co-workers came back from lunch telling me how snowy and slick it was getting. She convinced my boss to tell me that I should go home for the afternoon. People sure worry about you falling a lot when you are huge and pregnant, like I am right now! I felt kind of bad leaving work when everyone else had to be there, but hey...when you boss tells you to go home--who am I to argue?

This is turing out to be a busy week for us. I went to the doctor yesterday and he tells me that the baby's head is down, so that's good news. I get to go every week from now until "I agree to have this baby" (as my doctor puts it). A Bible study group that I belong to put together a baby shower for Lauren and I last night. It was lots of fun and we got all sorts of nice gifts. I think Lauren got a picture of the two of us, so I'll have to post it when she passes it along to me. I have a work holiday lunch this week and a few other events to go to, also. Poor Ben will be catching up on sleep most of the week. He was on call last night at the hospital and was really busy. Unfortunately, that means he didn't get any time to rest. The doctor he is with this month kept him Monday morning until noon--which normally would have been fine, except that he had to go help teach an airway lab for anesthesia from 1:00 until 5:00. So, he didn't get any sleep from Saturday night until Monday evening sometime around 7:00. I have no idea how he was even functioning at that point, but he made it though and is back to work again today. He is such a hard worker and here I am at home enjoying an afternoon off...again, I am feeling kind of bad here--just not bad enough to go back to work :-)

And I guess I will leave you with a picture of our Christmas tree, as promised. We have our little apartment all decorated and I enjoy plugging in the tree each day as I get home.

Three Generations

As I mentioned in the previous post, Ben got to go out hunting while we were home over break. One of the guys took a picture of three generations of Schrants. Don't you just love brown and orange?

Thanksgiving Vacation

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted. Ben and I took vacation last week and headed home to enjoy the holiday with our family. We won't be able to make it back for Christmas this year, so we wanted to have a nice, relaxing visit for Thanksgiving. We spent the first half with my family and then went on to see Ben's side. We ate way too much food and saw lots of our friends and family. It was just wonderful. Ben even got to go hunting; which he has been looking forward to for such a long time. We miss everyone already!
While we were at my house, we found a pile of limestone that was free for the taking. Back at home, people carve limestone posts with their names as outdoor decoration. Benj has been wanting to make a stone for one of his friends for several years now and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. He picked out a stone, smoothed it off, stenciled on the letters, carved it out, and then painted it in. I'm so impressed. It looks really good!


We made it here last night and are back to the old routine. Ben started a month of orthopedics today. He caught a nasty cold these last few days, so hopefully he can shake that soon. I continue to feel good and can't believe how fast time is flying by. We got our house all decorated for Christmas last night. I'll have to post pictures of our tree next time. Hope everyone had as good of a Thanksgiving break as we did!

Picture update--32 Weeks

I've been told it's time for another picture update of my pregnancy. I'm 32 weeks now and feeling huge! How much bigger can I possibly get in the next 8 weeks? I don't even want to imagine. I had a doctor's appointment last week and we are still looking good. I continue to feel great and am still able to jog (rather slowly, mind you) about 4 miles a day. Oh, and I don't think I have posted on here yet about my big decision. Ben and I have been talking and thinking about it for a long time and I finally decided to go ahead and quit my job after my maternity leave is over. We will only be in Kirksville for a few more years, and I want to be home with this baby. I am pretty excited and I really hope this is the right decision for us. Now that I have told people here at work, I am a little nervous about it, but I am glad to have this opportunity.

Anyway, here I am at 32 weeks...

Alpo apples

First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone who sent cards, called, posted, or said a kind word. My grandfather's funeral was very nice and the whole family was able to be there to celebrate his life. It was a very fast trip home for us, but obviously, we wouldn't have missed it.

Ben's parents were able to come up over the weekend and it was so nice to see them. We haven't been able to make it to Hays for awhile and we really appreciated having the company!

I also thought I would post a little funny from last week. I came home from work one day to find a huge dog food bag sitting on my porch. I could not for the life of me figure out why someone would bring us dog food. So, I opened the bag to find it full of apples! Ben's friend had brought us tons of apples. This is the second time this year, only last time we got them in grocery sacks. They are actually really good and we have been making several apple pies. But honestly, who puts apples in a dog food bag?? Anyway we have been teasing about eating "Alpo Apples" all week. I know we peel them and everything, but it's still a little odd to eat out of an Ol' Roy bag.

Happy Halloween

We had about 7 or 8 trick or treaters this year, which is more than we have had in the past, so I thought we did pretty well. Ben had to work on Halloween this year, but he did carve a pumpkin for the occasion.

He carved a character from one of his favorite internet cartoons--the Homestar Runner. Really, I think it's a dumb cartoon, but he did do a good job carving out "the Cheat."

In case you were curious here's a picture of him from the cartoon...

On another, sad note...Ben and I will be heading home tomorrow for my grandfather's funeral. He passed away yesterday morning pretty unexpectedly. It is the first grandparent that either Ben or I have lost. We're definitely going to miss him. Thankfully, we were able to see him just a couple of weeks ago when we were home for my baby shower. Here's a picture of me with Grandma and Pop.

My first purchase!

We got tons of really cute clothes for the baby at our shower, but I couldn't resist buying a couple of outfits for him myself. I got a pair of corduroy pants, some overalls, a long sleeved bodysuit, and my favorite--a flannel shirt. I just couldn't help it. Anyone who knows Ben, has seen him in his flannel. And normally, I give him a hard time about wearing it out in public, but when I saw this cute little flannel shirt, I knew that little Schrant needed one just like Daddy!

P.S. I made Ben put on his flannel shirt, so I could take a picture of him in it...he wasn't very excited about it, as you can tell!

Pregnancy Perk

I have had a really easy pregnancy so far and I can't complain at all, so for me there have been many perks. I have honestly enjoyed the whole process. But, on the way back home over the weekend, I noticed something that made me laugh. Being 7 months pregnant, I have to stop and use the restroom several times over the 6 hour trip. Normally, I just run in and run out and no one says anything to me. Well this time I must have looked desperate or something. At one stop the restroom was occupied and I was the third person in line. Before the next lady went in, she stopped to ask me if I really needed to go. I just smiled and told her I could wait. How nice of her to offer her spot in line, though! Then, at the next stop I walked into the gas station--one that I have stopped at multiple times over the years I have lived here--and just as I entered the store the clerk says "The bathroom is straight back." How did she know that's what I came in for?? So funny...anyway, evidently when you get pregnant enough people are willing to help you find a bathroom quickly!

A Shower for Baby Schrant

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we went back to my hometown over the weekend for our baby shower. We are so fortunate to have such a great group of family and friends. There were about 30 guests and we got so many cute and useful things for the baby--lots of clothes, blankets, a stroller, car seat, and lots of other fun things! I had no idea that so many people would be able to come. Beloit is a long way to travel for a lot of people, so I am very grateful to everyone who made it! It was wonderful to see you all. The girls who hosted it did a great job; I just couldn't have asked for a nicer day! Here are a few pictures from Saturday.

Here I am with Megan, Becca, and Amanda. Thanks for everything girls!

How cute is this cake?!?

Here are some pictures of me with the Grandmas and Great-Grandmas.

(One of my grandmothers wasn't able to make it for the shower, so unfortunately she isn't pictured.)

28 Weeks

It's time for another picture update of the pregnancy. Here I am at 28 weeks.

I went to the doctor and everything is still looking good. I am at the point where I have to start going to see him more frequently now. My next appointment is in three weeks!

Just a week...

This has been one of those weeks where nothing really happens. You know, the kind that you have nothing interesting to say. So, please excuse the lack of bloggable material! Next week should be better. We are heading home this weekend for my first baby shower. Three of my friends are throwing a shower for me and I’m super excited (Thanks Becca, Man, and Megan!) It’ll be fun to see everyone and get a few things going for the baby’s room! I just kind of started realizing how little we actually have. We are less than 3 months away from our due date and really, we are not even close to being ready! It’s time to get started. I have been feeling the baby move around a lot! He’s going to be a little wiggle worm, I think. Often, you can even visibly see my belly move when he kicks me, which is always funny to watch. Anyway, hopefully I’ll get some good pictures of the shower to post for next week.

Fall fun

On Friday, the hospital hosted an event out at a farm south of town for all of the residents and third and forth year student families. It was perfect fall weather and we had lots of fun. They had a corn maze, hay ride, corn cob cannon, plus lots of little activities for kids. We went through the corn maze with Lauren and Erick. It was cut into the shape of a locomotive and was actually pretty hard. They give you a map to follow and a phone number to call in case you really get stuck. Ben did a great job following the map, though and we made it with no trouble! Here are a few pictures of the evening.

Baby Bouquet

I decided to try to be crafty this weekend and made a baby gift. I found an idea online for a "bouquet" of onesies. Here's a link, if you're interested: http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/04/08/onesie-bouquet-for-a-boy/

Anyway, I got a little bucket and filled it with 5 onesies rolled to look like flower buds and then I filled in the empty space with plastic flowers. Benj seemed to think it was okay. He almost had to ask where the onesies were. I guess it's a good thing if he thought that they were really flowers. Let me know what you all think....cute or questionable?

24 weeks

Well, we’ve made it to 6 months. I can’t believe how fast this pregnancy has gone. Of course, I might change my mind about that in a couple of months! I've been feeling the baby more and more all the time. Ben was able to feel him move for the first time a week or so ago, too. I think feeling him move around has been one of the most exciting things for me! I had a doctor’s appointment today and everything looks just fine. Here I am getting bigger all the time…My parents came up over the weekend to bring us a crib and then they took us out to get a mattress, too. The crib is mine from when I was a baby. My Dad got it all fixed up and it looks good as new! It’s fun to have the baby’s bed in the room now. Funny story about the crib—when we were setting it all up, I accidently broke one of the metal pieces and it needed to be re-welded together. My Dad took the piece off and went to go to my local auto mechanic shop to see if he would be able to do it for us. About 5 minutes later he showed back up with the piece all fixed. He happened to drive by someone in our neighborhood (about two blocks from my house) welding in their front yard! So, he hopped out, paid him three dollars, and had him fix my crib! I bet that man was thinking my Dad was crazy, but what good timing for us!

Just Call Me Grace

Here's my funny/embarrassing story for the week. Each morning I go running--well, really it's more of a slow jog at this point. Anyway, I was going along just fine when I tripped over a curb and down I went, right into the street. Fortunately, there aren't many people out at 6:00am to witness my clumsiness. I fell straight onto my knees and caught myself with my hands. So, no worries--I stayed off of my belly. I got up really quickly and didn't even check over myself until I got home. Even though no one was around to see me (at least I hope not!), I still felt pretty embarrassed. So, now I have really bruised up knees and one of them is all scraped up, like I'm a little kid again! Yeah, I'm pretty graceful!

My Husband, the Model

Yeah, so Ben's decided to become a model. I know...hard to believe, right? Well, actually we have a friend who works for the admissions office at school and he volunteered for a photo shoot several months ago. I'm a little short on blog-worthy news this week, so I thought I would show off my cute hubby.

I don't know if he'll end up on any promotional material or not, but here's his debut!

Diaper Cake

Yesterday Ben and I got the cutest baby gift from our friends Andrea and Jason! They brought over the most adorable diaper cake! I've seen these before, but never one this elaborate. She should seriously start a little business. We were both so impressed! There's three layers of diapers and all sorts of baby goodies mixed in, including washcloths, powder, lotion, diaper cream, pacifiers, teething toys, and lots of other fun things. I want to open it up and explore everything, but it's wrapped up so pretty. I think we'll just display it for awhile!

Labor Day Weekend

Ben and I decided to go to Kansas City for the weekend. It was nice to get out of town for the weekend and fun to spend time with Danny and Vicki. We were even able to go to both Wal-Mart and Target to get registered. That was hard work....I don't know what I'm going to need! Oh, and that lady better have been right about the gender of our baby! Otherwise, we'll have a lot of stuff to return!

We came back home on Sunday and decided to stop by a little place near Macon. We saw signs for a West Winery and wanted to go check it out. They have a little wine set up and an orchard. It was really neat and the people were so nice. They let us look all around and ask questions. Ben got to taste their wines--I, of course, did not. But it was still really fun. Plus, we got to go pick our own apples, which I absolutely loved. I get apples every week, so it was great to go pick my own. I decided to pick a half peck which was more than enough for me, but with that purchase you get another half peck for free. So now we have apples running out of our ears! Here we are apple pickin'. Ben had a picker that he could use to reach the apples at the top of the tree.

Then, yesterday, Ben called up a guy he met the other day to see if we could come over to buy some of his fresh herbs. He has a great garden in his backyard and gave us a ton of herbs for super cheap. We got rosemary, thyme, basil, and oregano. I've never even seen fresh oregano. He also gave Ben a couple of hot peppers to try out. Everything looks so good--it's so much better than we can get in the stores. Oh, and in the background of the picture you can even see the apple crisp that I made yesterday with all of my apples. We enjoyed that last night with Ben's homemade vanilla ice cream. What a great ending to a fun weekend!

20 Weeks and the Ultrasound!

We had our 20 week appointment yesterday and the ultrasound today. The appointment was pretty uneventful. He just checked the heartbeat and asked if I was doing okay. The ultrasound was really fun, though! We had a great tech and she seemed really sure about the sex of our baby. This is your warning--At the bottom of this post, I'll tell you what we are having....so don't look if you want to be surprised in January!!! I am definitely starting to show now. It seems like just over the weekend my belly got quite a bit bigger. I really have to start wearing those maternity clothes now! This isn't the most flattering picture, but here I am at 20 weeks.
The baby was really cooperative and fairly active today. We even got to see a big yawn! They gave us a cd of some of the baby's movements during the ultrasound. Here are just a couple short clips and a picture:

Here it goes...

Baby Schrant is a

BOY!!!

Here turkey, turkey

Ben and I went over to one of the other intern's house yesterday evening to see some turkeys. They live on the edge of town where a bunch of new houses are being built. I guess that they regularly get to feed these 5 turkeys that come around. He says they usually will come running when they see the bread and will eat it out of your hand. They must have had plenty to eat yesterday, because they were a little more tentative, but we did get one to come in and have a little snack. Ben was so excited to see these turkeys so close up. And I even thought that it was pretty cool. We'll have to go over again when they are a little more hungry!

Trial Run

I got a call last Thursday from one of our friends, who is an intern with Ben. She was scheduled to be on call all night Friday and her husband had some work obligations come up. This left them with no one to care for their 8 month old daughter the next night. She was in a little bit of a panic, to say the least. Ben and I didn't have anything going on, so we babysat for Clarissa all night Friday! This was the first time either of us had taken care of a baby all night long. It was definitely good practice for us. It's amazing all of the little things that we didn't know about caring for a baby! Clarissa did great for the evening. We fed her, played, and changed her with no problems. She even went right to sleep at 8:00. But, she was up about every two hours after that until 6:30 the next morning! Ben and I both got up each time. If she needed a bottle, he would try to calm her down while I went to warm her milk. It was so nice to have both of us there. Poor Clarissa...I'm sure it was just being in a new environment and we didn't do things as well as mom and dad usually do! Ha! We had a great time, though and it was a really good learning experience for both of us. After a nap on Saturday, we both recovered just fine!

Shopping

Well, I decided that it was time to get some maternity clothes. I can still fit in my old clothes, but the shirts are getting a little short and the pants a little tight. I couldn't find anything, and I mean nothing, here in Kirksville. Really, Wal-Mart had about 2 small racks and that was it. Crazy! So for the first time ever, I ordered clothes online. I really prefer to try things on first, but I went for it anyway. They came in yesterday and I guess I did okay on the sizes because they all seem to fit. I definitely look more pregnant with the shrits on. I don't know if I am ready for that or not! Ha! Check out my loot.
On another note, Ben is now on family practice this month. It seems like he will have better hours than he had on surgery and he is enjoying the doctor his is working with, so that's always a plus. He was on call last night, so hopefully he can get some sleep today. He really does an awful job of sleeping the day after call. I don't understand it. I could sleep all day if I were him, but he is lucky to get 4 hours in.

16 week appointment

We had our second doctor's appointment on Monday. We thought that he might do an ultrasound, but we're going to wait until next time. Everything looked good. Ben was there and got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was a pretty easy appointment, nothing exciting to share, except that all is well.

As I was leaving the nurse told me that I needed to go do a blood test, though. For those of you that don't know, I hate doing that! I get so nervous and I've almost passed out a couple of times. I know that's ridiculous, but I can't help it! I hadn't prepared myself mentally for it, however I decided to go down and get it over with anyway. I was fine until she started taking out all of the different vials that they needed. She took 7 vials of blood! I couldn't believe it. Luckily, the lady did a really good job and was quick. It seems like I am fine, as long as I don't watch.

The doctor asked me if I had felt the baby move yet. And really, I'm not sure. I guess I don't know what I am feeling for. I've had some odd sensations, but who knows if they were actually the baby moving. Hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll learn to recognize it. I am just starting to get a little bit of a bump. It kind of depends what shirt I'm wearing if you can tell or not, but my pants are definitely tighter! Here's a picture of me that we took after church on Sunday.

We're Moving

When Ben and I found out that we were adding to our family, we started to worry about the small space that we had to work with. Luckily, about a month ago we found out that our neighbor was going to be moving and we quickly contacted our landlord to see if we could take over his place. The back side of our duplexes have an extra bedroom. We figured the extra space would be worth the hassle of moving. So, we will be moving this weekend and/or early next week. Our move isn't far....in fact, it is probably only about 30 feet down the sidewalk. Here's a picture from the porch of our current apartment looking down towards our new one.Obviously, no moving truck will be necessary. We really haven't packed very many things. We have a few boxes full, but mostly we'll just take armfuls of things down the sidewalk! Anyway, if you have our address on hand, just change the number from 1602 to 1608. Everything else remains the same!