Happy Birthday Caleb!

Welcome to the world baby Caleb!
Caleb Steven Fisher
January 28, 2009
5:28 a.m.
8 pounds, 1 oz.
20.25 inches

Week 40

142 pounds.
41 inches around.
And still pregnant.

We'll let you know when that changes.

Week 38

39.5 inches around. 139 pounds. And still very, very pregnant.

Meanwhile, all our bags are packed and I'm ready to whenever the time does come for this baby to be born. This morning's doctor's appointment finally gave me a glimmer of hope that I won't be pregnant forever. Caleb's head has, for the last two weeks, been at 0 station (that means his big old head is pretty much as low as it can get in my pelvis for now) and the doctor confirmed today that he's still there. Also, the annoyingly strong and frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions are doing their job of helping my body progress toward labor...though it's still a guessing game at this point as to when the big day will arrive.

Other than the basic discomfort of slinging around an extra 23 pounds on the front of my body, I'm doing well and trying to catch up on all the sleep I'll be missing out on once our little boy arrives and we re-enter the world of nighttime feedings and irregular naps.

Please pray for a smooth delivery, a healthy baby, and that Caleb would not decide to be born during a blizzard or the inauguration or any other time that would make driving to the hospital any more of an adventure.

Week 36

At 39 inches around and boasting a weight gain of 22 pounds, I'm just one inch and one pound shy of my final tally when we went into the hospital to deliver Abby. Too bad it looks like I've got more than one week left...

Our doctor's appointment this week confirmed that the baby is in a head down position and very low, but so far no dilation. Things are, however, "softening up" as they should, according to my doctor, and she and I are hopeful that his low position will speed things up when the time comes for Caleb to make his grand entrance.

Caleb must be able to hear all our talk about our preparation for his arrival, because he has been jumping with excitement for the last week. His movements are violent and unmistakable and I'm certain that if he keeps this up much longer he will indeed kick right through the walls of my abdomen. Perhaps he's annoyed with all the intense Braxton-Hicks contractions I've been having lately (the fake ones that are readying my body for the real thing). While annoying and painful at times, these false contractions are a good sign that my body is doing what it should to get ready to push our little one out into the world where he belongs.

In other news, Caleb's nursery is officially ready for his arrival, though I'm sure we won't have everything in place for a while. I'm still waiting to hang a few very cool pictures of his grandfathers and great-grandfather flying fighter jets and need to ship some fabric to his Nana to make some curtains. Mimi's visit over Christmas yielded some bedding essentials that allowed us to get the crib all set up, so at least he has somewhere to sleep when he gets here, and Justin's hard work paid off to give us the perfect blue and khaki colored walls and, finally, some overhead lighting in the nursery.

In Mommy news, I'm officially over being pregnant, and the countdown to our arbitrary due date is constantly running through my head. I'm back to taking one or two naps a day as Abby allows, and have given up all hopes of checking things off my to do list in favor of sitting down and reading Clifford the Big Red Dog to my daughter while she tries to make room for herself on my ever-shrinking lap. We've tried to explain the impending arrival of a baby brother to her, but I'm certain she has no concept of what we're talking about. I have shown her some pictures of a baby inside the womb and explained that mommy has a baby inside her belly too, and that little lesson did end with her trying to kiss the baby...it's real cute to see my 16 month old plant a wet one on my stretched out tummy!

Please join us in praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy when the time comes. I'll be praying that the time comes very soon!

Week 33

It turns out "33 weeks pregnant" and "cocktail party" are not mutually exclusive phrases.

Caleb's weighing in at about 4 pounds this week and should be about 17 inches long. His skeleton is hardening and he's just packing on pounds for the next few weeks in preparation for his debut in January.

I've perfected the art of the pregnancy waddle and am getting increasingly less graceful as the days wear on. My knack for bumping into things with my belly is improving, but Caleb doesn't seem to mind too much. In fact, he seems to be doing quite well throwing parties and punches in my uterus! He continues to be extremely active, and it's fun to watch my belly take on a life of its own once in a while when he decides to start doing calisthenics in there.

The nursery is coming along slowly but surely...it's a lot more challenging to complete these home improvement tasks with a 15-month-old running around! Please pray that our hearts, and Abby's, would be prepared for Caleb's arrival in a few weeks and that God would teach us how to parent this precious son He's giving us!

Week 32

After a holiday hiatus, I'm back and bigger than ever! Coming in at just over 38 inches around (about a half inch bigger than I was with my first pregnancy at this point) and 22 pounds heavier than I started (just a pound lighter than my total weight gain in round one), I'm thrilled to be at week 32 and counting down the last two months of waiting on Caleb!

First, a huge thanks to everyone who prayed for relief from the sciatic nerve pain I'd been dealing with. Your prayers have been answered! The doctors gave us little hope of relief, but Caleb managed to ignore them and shift out of the position that was causing so much pain. I've been pain-free for over two weeks now, and it's made a world of difference!

The shift in position is a surprising one considering how big our little guy is getting. He probably weighs over three and a half pounds by now and is almost 17 inches long. That's a lot of baby in this little belly! I'm adding about a pound a week to my gross tonnage at this point and about half of that is going to Caleb, meaning he could more than double his weight before his birthday. His little body is complete with toenails and fingernails now, and whatever hair he's going to burst into the world with is probably already in place on his head.

Our most recent doctor's visit confirmed that he's still in his head down position, a good place to be at this point in the pregnancy. His movements tell me that he's laying on his side with his body on the left side of my belly and his tiny butt up under my sternum, which means my right side gets a fairly good daily beating as he continues to use the inside of my uterus as a punching bag.

Our eight-week countdown kick off found Justin hard at work with power tools cutting and hanging chair rail in what will soon be our little boy's nursery. Please pray that we would find time for all the preparations required for a new baby over these brief last two months and that our hearts would be prepared as well to welcome the newest member of the family of fish into our lives!

Week 29

We'll call this "The Week Mom's Toes Disappeared."

Caleb's the size of a butternut squash this week--over 15 inches long and weighing about 2.5 pounds. He's taking up just the right amount of space to cause my belly to completely obscure my view of my toes this week. That's a pretty big pregnancy milestone in my book.

In other news, his muscle, lung and brain development are picking up speed and his head is getting bigger to make room for that growing brain. I didn't really need a pregnancy book to clue me in on that last fact...his freakishly low position in my abdomen has made me painfully aware of the fact that his head is growing. My milk cravings are probably due to the fact that his skeletal development is kicking into overdrive and his tiny hardening bones are soaking up a tremendous amount of calcium each day.

Caleb's already proving to be a very active child, and seems to have enrolled himself in some in utero kickboxing classes. My belly is becoming less and less my own with each day that goes by, and Caleb isn't shy about making his presence known with some feisty kicks, punches and spins when I least expect them. Also, he's falling into a regular pattern of throwing dance parties in my belly from about 7 to 9 each night. (Just about the time dinner's starting to settle, I guess...)

Please pray for all the development that's happening in the third trimester. How awesome to know that God is intimately aware of every stage of our son's development, even down to the number of hairs on his tiny head that we won't see for weeks!