A Whole Lot of Nada

So, I was all set to hear from my doctor at today's appointment that I was well on my way to an early delivery, since I have this large baby and all. But, alas, there is nothing much new going on down there.

The baby has turned, so at least the head is down and pointed in the right direction (a quick ultrasound verified that). But, still very high and just all too comfortable kicking my ribs and lungs. Also, the baby's size seems to have regulated a bit. The doctor estimated that if I were to have the baby tomorrow, it would weigh about 7 1/2 pounds. I guess there is still time over the next 3 weeks to end up with the 10 pounder he was predicting, but he didn't seem concerned enough yet to schedule an induction.

Which is ok with me - I have too much to get ready for at work and at home. The thought of a baby as early as Sept 10th was kind of freaking me out. Probably not as much as that first internal exam did... but that's another story that requires a private audience...

Two front teeth!

My niece McKinley has her two top teeth now - and she is pretty excited about it from the looks of the pics my sister sent to me. I miss them both - they are out in Washington, DC while Becky's husband Danny is doing a short 3-month nursing assignment out there. If I wasn't almost 37 weeks pregnant, I would love to go visit them. DC is a cool town.

Back to School

Matt started at UNLV yesterday for the Fall semester. I decided to try to be a good wife and cook every now and again so I made some strawberry pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast to start him off right. But no amount of hot breakfast can match the chaos that is UNLV.

I have to say that I'm starting to realize why he is down on formal education sometimes. UNLV is a mess! They have him taking all of these upper division credits that have nothing to do with his major simply because he has to have so many upper division classes to graduate from UNLV. For example, they recommended a 300-level Finance class, but when we looked at it, we saw it required two previous finance classes that he hasn't taken already. So, to get to the finance class, he needs two others... not worth it!

Anyway, he did run into a guy he knew in high school who is also studying Communications, so he made a new (old) friend. :) Hopefully they can get through a boring Rhetoric class together.

I am sooo glad to be out of school! Good luck Matt :)

Reunion Slide Show!

35 Weeks, but who's counting?

I am exactly 35 weeks pregnant today, and I had a doctor's appointment where I thought we would discuss if the baby is still large and if inducing is still an option... but, my doc was called away to deliver a baby so I just met with the nurse. I have to say, that was the fastest appointment I've had... no waiting, I practically just walked right in there and got everything checked out. It was great!

Every time I go I sit and wait and think about my idea for an invention - a system for doctor's offices that would allow a patient to check in online or over the phone and then ask for notification via email, text message or phone call when they are going to be actually seeing the doctor. If it works for restaraunts, why not the doctor's office?

You could give them your info for how far away you are from their office - for example, my office is only about 10 minutes from the doctor's office, so I'd just need a 10 minute warning to get over there. So much more efficient! I get so frustrated because I just sit there and think about all the things at work I could/should be doing. Can you tell I've thought a lot about this? :)

So, today I had just taken the whole day off to get things done instead of squeezing it into my work day. And of course, this was the fastest appointment yet! Anyway, no news on the delivery date, but we do know we are blessing the baby the Sunday after Thanksgiving since we'll have family in town already. Anyone who will be here is welcome to attend.

Hiller Family Reunion

I have a lot of pictures to add from the family reunion, but really, I look so miserable in most of the pictures that I don't even want to post them. My favorite comment of the reunion was from one of the cousins with 4 children - "Oh Shannon, you are bringing back so many uncomfortable memories for me!"

Yes, I was very uncomfortable. But what do you expect when you're pregnant, trekking around in the heat? I guess it's just part of the drill.

Anyway, I wanted to show a few pictures at least of the Hillers in our family t-shirts (that's me in the XL tee, right up front!), and you all need a good view of Matt's mountain man beard. These pictures capture it perfectly! Matt out in the woods of South Dakota...

But this just in - he has shaved the beard! More pictures of the new, clean shave baby-face Matt should be posted shortly. I will have him write about his beard, or lack thereof.

Growing Families

Here are some cute pictures from my brother Erick and his wife Megan with their baby girl Lily. It will be fun to have the cousins so close together. It seems crazy that my little brother and little sister both have kids already.... when you are the oldest you get used to doing things first, I guess. But now I can call them up for advice when Baby Hiller comes along.

Baby Name Poll Closed

So, our baby name poll has come to an end - thank you to all those who voted! Not to say that we will definitely go with the winners, but the top names were Quinn and Kate. But they were all pretty close - none won by a landslide or anything. Kate is still my top choice for a girl's name, but I'm not sure for a boy. We will probably do a combination of the names on the poll for first and middle names.

I guess we should start getting pretty serious about this name thing... we only have about 6 weeks to go, maybe less if the doc still thinks I should be induced early (I hope!). I got a wake up call when I asked my insurance how much it was to add a baby to our policy - it was as much as adding a spouse! So now I'm on a search for private insurance that isn't through my company. The cost of the insurance alone has made us step back a bit and realize that we haven't budgeted or really wrapped our minds around just how much a baby will cost. I guess it's better to realize this now when it's too late to change our minds :)

We have so much to get ready for still - even though we do have all the basics ready for those first few weeks with the baby, I am starting to get that crazy "nesting" feeling that all the books talk about. The house is a mess, things aren' t organized, I want everything taken care of so when the baby does come I can just focus on him or her and not worry if things are clean. But it's starting to really bug me that things aren't organized, and I am just too darn big to do some of the housework anymore - my feet are too swollen to get down on the floor to clean things. So, lucky Matt gets to do some of the fun stuff.... he has always been good about helping though, now it's a necessity.