38 weeks, 6 days - Dr. Appointment & Baby Pool

Well, the doctor appointments ended with good, better, and best news!  The good news is that I am 0 cm dilated and 0% effaced.  Which means Baby -- whom I have now re-named ole Lumpy -- is likely comfy and cozy and hopefully not going anywhere for a while yet.  I know many women are chomping at the bit at this point, but we still have quite a bit of stuff to get done before ole Lumpy comes so I'm happy with that news.  My blood pressure is still great and the weight fluctuation continues.  I'm down two pounds from last week, but I suspect it's the scale.  Back when I still had a bedroom scale, I'd weigh myself at home every morning before I went to the doctor.  One scale consistently weighed me heavier than the other.  Anyway, last week's scale was the heavy one and this week's was the lighter.  Two weeks ago, I was weighed on the lighter scale and I'm up one pound from that one, so I feel like that's a better measure of actual progress.  As I keep mentioning, though, the doctors aren't worried about it, so I'm not either.  I just wanted to drop that info for those of you guessing on baby's size.  I can't believe we're going to find out so so soon!

The better news is that, so long as I'm still pregnant at the time, I'll have a sonogram on 8/10 which means that Aunt Stevie will be there for it!  I think that will be fun for her.  I'm not sure if she's ever seen a sonogram or not, but the sonogram tech at my doctor's office is wonderful and will for sure show us whatever we want to see, whether it be face or spine or thigh bones or stupid little rib kicking feet.  I would think that would be awfully fun for someone who is interested in nursing as a career.  Not to mention that it's her little niece or nephew that she'll be seeing for the first time.  Let's hope she's gracious enough not to rub it in Nana Deb's face that she got to see the Lumpster first.  :)

The BEST news, though, is that as of 9:30 this morning, I am officially boot free!  Woo-hoo!!  After Lumpy's appointment, I saw the orthopedic doctor about my foot.  He asked me how I was feeling and I told him that I hated the stupid boot and that I was really hoping to not have to wear it anymore.  He squished my foot a bit and poked my toe, had me stand on my tip toes and felt my other foot, then decided I didn't need it anymore.  Hooray!  He did tell me to wear sneakers or a hard-soled sandal or get one of those elastic braces from an athletic store because I still need support but he wants me moving around and to have my stride evened back out.  He then asked when I'm due.  When I told him that I'm due next week and that I came to see him earlier than he'd asked since I didn't really want to have an orthopedic appointment on my due date, he laughed and told me about a time he had to deliver a baby for one of his patients because the OB couldn't get there in time.  It was cute.  He seemed pleased to be able to retell the story and I enjoyed hearing it.  What nice doctors I have.  :)

As the title suggests, with ole Lumpy's due date being this close, baby pools are being arranged.  There's one here at work and Aunt Amy organized one within the Rehbein clan.  I thought it would be cute to record the results for posterity:

Looks like popular opinion in the Rehbein clan has us missing our due date and having a little tiny boy in the PM sometime.  I was surprised to see how small the weight guesses were.  I guess I'm envisioning a big, fat, 8-9 lb baby like my mom had.  Of course, I guessed a 7.5 lb baby because I'd prefer to deliver one of those, but I was really surprised by how small the expectation is considering everyone expects Lumpy to be late.  Pieper clan?  Shirley?  Aunt Holly?  Anyone wish to weigh in with your thoughts?  If ole Lumpy hasn't come by next week on Friday, Aunt Stevie and I will find out how big technology thinks he/she is.  So fun!  Oh man, I cannot BELIEVE Baby is due next week!  As you can see by my guess, I don't expect him/her to come next week, but holy moly, I can't believe we're so close!