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!