I think that with each passing week my "bumpies" are taking on a more casual look. This time I was busting out all of the style with my grey-on-grey sweat pants duo....lovely. I'm sure I'll look back with regret but perhaps I'll maintain perspective that at least I got documentation of the bump!
These past few weeks have truly flown by because of the holidays and what not. We even had one of the medical students rotating through OB/GYN help us celebrate Hanukah in the hospital, complete with readings in Hebrew.
As we cited on Facebook, Tom and I celebrated the milestone of being 37 weeks and that I officially crossed the threshold of being a term pregnancy. As of that moment, if I went into labor, no one would try to stop it from happening or "keep me pregnant" any longer, because little kumquat has had plenty of time to grow!
Tom loved his eggnog filled doughnut :)
You can see the joy on his face
Like a little kid in a candy store (or an adult in a donut shop!)
Tom and I got to practice a little bit about what it will be like to haul around an infant when we babysat Ali the other day. We walked over to ChiFong and Karen's house and picked up Ali in her snow suit and walked back to our place.
Tom felt like he couldn't put his arms down because he needed to give her arm rests...
And at home she got to explore some exciting new toys now that she is mobile and WALKING! I can't believe how fast she has grown, and it only makes Tom and I ponder what it will be like to watch our own kumquat growing!
I feel like I'm growing more and more each day. And, ever since the ultrasound last week that showed an estimated fetal weight of 7lb15oz it's no surprise that I feel like I'm growing! It literally could be any minute now. I go through waves of total excitement and bliss to waves of complete fear, anxiety and palpitations over all of the things I don't know how or what to do. But we're both college educated with graduate degrees--that has to mean something right?
Christmas this year was particularly special. I never really imagined I'd be pregnant at Christmas, let alone THIS pregnant. It was so wonderful to snuggle up by our tree and feel our baby moving about. Since I was going to be term on Christmas I had the whole holiday weekend off allowing for some much needed rest and relaxation. I know rest will be short to come by in the next few months with a newborn so I took advantage of winter-time naps for sure!
We celebrated as a class with a class dinner with our associate program director
We had a secret santa gift exchange among all of the residents
And we had a pajamas and movie night with just a few of our classmates from the 2nd year class.
I joked because I was gifted a pajama set that I never would have picked out for myself or worn prior to pregnancy, but it turns out it was pretty comfortable.
We laughed the night away drinking cocoa and hanging out.
Tom and I started out the holiday weekend crossing something off of our bucket list that we've been meaning to do since we moved to Providence - go to a Providence College Basketball Game. It was our first time in the Dunkin Donuts Center
And of course, post-game we had to top it off with an Awful-Awful. Seriously, if you all didn't think I was putting on enough weight this pregnancy, I tried to make up for it in the final weeks of my pregnancy with all of the eating that took place over the holidays!
I hit 38 weeks on the 22nd. And, for the first time since we started taking "bumpies" Tom remarked: "oh my gosh, your silhouette actually takes up the entire space on the screen! I never thought I'd see that!"
So, just to prove to him that I could take up less space, I had to try to "suck it in", just for funsies...pretty crazy how a baby is hiding in there somewhere right? P.S. it is NOT comfortable to do this.
We celebrated Christmas eve a bit early with ChiFong and Karen with our traditional steak and crab dinner (yum!)
And, we made our little "forest" of cookies for dessert.
Ali got to open her gift--a giant penguin. At first she seemed terrified, but she warmed up to the idea. Really, I just wanted to buy it for myself, so I made up the excuse that it was for Ali so that it could be in our lives for a bit :)
On Christmas Eve itself, we were blown away by the generosity of one of the members of the intern class who helped take all the great photos at my baby shower. Jennifer Ding offered to take maternity photos and the only day that worked in both of our schedules was Christmas Eve! Despite her parents coming into town that morning and her being on call the day before and the day after, she was willing to do it.
We went to Roger Williams Park and took photos in the greenhouses so we could have outdoor lighting but with indoor temps (because in case you haven't heard, it's freezing in New England right now).
We even found a kumquat tree! What kismet :)
We came home and settled in to watch the Seahawks game (it feels like the first one all season that we were able to watch ON TV, LIVE at a reasonable hour of the day). We dined on our pretzel jello and snuggled by the tree
After the game we dropped by the local church in Cranston for their Christmas Eve service.
While it's usually an experience filled only with joy and warmth, I couldn't help but tear up this year. Diana was ever-present on my mind. As we sang silent night and Kumquat kicked along with the tune all I could think of was how we had hoped that Diana would have made it to her due date.
We toasted the evening in her honor, and I left the church with tears, both happy and sad, streaming down my face. I'm sure that everyone in the church thought I was just some crazy hormonal pregnant lady
We finally ended the evening at a light show that left A LOT to be desired in Cranston, but it was a good end cap.
Christmas morning we opened our stockings
Then dined on my FAVORITE breakfast of the year: carmel sticky buns!
We felt spoiled in so many ways and loved by all our friends and family--particularly when we opened this little kumquat outfit lovingly knit by our friend from medical school Brianne!
We spent the morning lounging on the couch while we watched the snow fall for our white Christmas!
Then decided to try to walk off some of the sweets we had devoured over the weekend. It turns out that while it was sunny when we left the house,
by the time we made it around the loop of the park it had turned into a full-on blizzard! It was blowing sideways and freezing!
Our Christmas vacation ended at the home of the Connolly's--Tom's old boss where we spent Christmas last year. It was like coming home this second time around.
We again feasted like kings with prime rib (AND brisket) and all of the fixin's.
I never wanted to leave my cuddled spot by the fire.
Now we await our little kumquat. Will it be New Years? Will it be later? Or will it today? No one knows and that is sort of crazy right?! All I know is that I'm excited for my parents (Pappa and Nanna) to arrive tomorrow and be here for her arrival.
There's only one thing I'm certain of, it's going to be a wild ride and an adventure as we transition into the role of "Dad and Mom" and not just "Tom and Deanna." (Although the jury is still out if we'll go by mom/dad or mamma/pappa/mommy/daddy or some other combination therein.
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