Justin and Tamara Schwalbe

Though my due date is steadily creeping closer, the baby is making it a bit more evident that she might not be on the same timetable  That’s okay though - Justin and I are feeling remarkably patient.  We’re trying to soak up these last few days of quiet before change comes in the form of one newborn!

We’ve had the opportunity for some nice walks and extra Star Trek episodes - haha!  Under the direction of my wonderful hubby, I also had a pedicure yesterday (first time nail polish in 9 months!) and a hair cut today.  Might be a while before those opportunities present themselves again…

Justin has officially made it through his oh so busy night rotations, though he is having a very difficult time transitioning to days again.  After working over 80 hours a week on his night shift, his biological clock isn’t resetting very quickly.  We were both awake around 2 am last night, though for different reasons.  After some cereal and computer time, we attempted to sleep again.  But really, who doesn’t need to look at running skirts in the  middle of the night?

We’ll keep you posted if anything new happens.  I’m thinking we should start taking bets on delivery date and baby’s size.  I’ll just weigh in that I’m guessing Thursday of next week with a weight of 7 lbs, 8 ounces.  Height… now that one is tricky.  Depending on whether she takes after the Schwalbe side or the LeVan side, we could be talking about several inches difference!  I’ll play it safe and say 20 inches.

Any other guesses? :)

37 weeks! (Today!)

37 weeks!

Nursery

Nursery - note the lamp that is just like the one Justin had as a kid.

Baby Shower in Michigan

baby shower in Michigan (2)

32 weeks, 2 days

35 weeks, 4 days

3 weeks until the expected arrival date of our little one!

The last few weeks have been busy with baby preparation in between days of work.  It’s finally paying off!  The nursery is largely set up, clothes are in place, a preliminary diaper bag is packed, and the changing table is stocked with diapers (we’re using cloth, Thirsties brand) and wet wipes.  Having the big pieces come together has made a world of difference in my stress levels.  Now all I want to do is sleep!  haha  We’re increasingly both excited and nervous.  Every once in a while we get that “deer in the headlights” look, knowing that our baby is soon to change our lives dramatically!  Considering the fact that we planned to get pregnant and still have those moments gives me new sympathy for those welcoming children into the world in less ideal circumstances.  It’s all very exciting, but very new too!

We’re largely settled into our living space, which has added to the feeling of completeness.  We still have a few stray pictures to hang here and there, but when I just looked around, it looked like home :).  I suppose we haven’t added pictures of our house yet… I’ll try and fix that shortly!

Justin is winding down his month of busy hospital service and will be starting his 2 weeks of night float starting Sunday night.  That time is really busy and hard to get coverage for if I were to deliver, so we’re hoping that the baby decides to hold off until at least the due date.  If she decides to wait until a bit after the due date, well, that’d be pretty helpful too.  She’s due May 17, but his time off starts May 23.  Guess we’ll see how it goes!  So far, though, the doctor hasn’t found any of the signs indicating the baby is preparing for delivery.  That’s fine with me - considering I’m 37 weeks along, I’m still more comfortable than most seem to be.  I am having some swelling and some soreness, but nothing that makes me say, “let’s get this baby thing going!”  ;)  A few extra weeks to prepare sounds a-okay in my book!

Since the last post, we had a 3rd ultrasound.  I have been measuring small over the past several office visits (and the routinely shocked expression on people’s faces when I told them how far along I was started making me a bit nervous) so we had measurements taken of the baby size, amniotic fluid amount, etc.  Thankfully, everything was as it should be.  The baby’s overall size was right in the 50th percentile, so despite the fact that the doctor can’t figure out where all that baby is, everything is

Living Room

healthy!  Phew  As an added bonus, we had the sex of the baby confirmed - we are, indeed, expecting a girl!

We’re still trying to figure out childcare, so please be praying that something comes together with that.  Thankfully my position as a pooled optometrist, doesn’t require me to be set to go back to work at 6 weeks.

Living room toward kitchen

However, it’s still coming down to the wire.  I’ve been hoping that we could find someone that we know or comes with personal recommendations, but I still haven’t found much through those channels.  I do have one phone call I need to make though - I’ve been admittedly procrastinating on that one because I don’t have many details about the person.

Kitchen

Since the last post, we had our baby shower in Michigan which was just a great time!  I’ll add some pictures of that too.  I still have a few lingering thank you notes - sorry if you haven’t received yours yet!  I haven’t forgotten, I promise!  The residency is having a shower for Justin and I on Saturday so that will be so nice to have an excuse for everyone to get together.

Guest room

We’ve certainly been blessed with a great group of fellow residents and families.  Some of the residents chipped in to help purchase our cloth diapers.  I’ve had many people express lots of curiosity about the cloth diapers (Thirsties, specifically) so I’ll have to blog about that once I figure what we think about them!

Master Bedroom

At this point, I’m pretty committed because of the thousands of dollars it is projected to save us just for one child.  However, I’m also appreciating that I can be in control of what chemicals are used in the diapering process.  It feels traditional, and part of me likes that too.  Ultimately, though, I haven’t tried them yet, so I’ll have see if thoughts change once I do!

Master Bedroom 2

If anything happens in regard to labor, we’ll try and update on here - if we have time

29 weeks, 4 days

29 weeks, 5 days

I hit the 3rd trimester while I was in Colorado Springs a couple of weeks ago. I’m still growing steadily, and I can tell from all the kicks and movements that the baby is too. We’re still waiting on some moving details to start setting up the nursery, but that should be happening in the next 10 days or so. I think it will make the whole parenthood deal seem even more real ;).

Our last month has been crazy, as predicted. We went to Disney, moved, conference in Colorado Springs, and then a residency retreat this last weekend. I leave Friday morning for a baby shower in Michigan (Sadly, Justin can’t come) and then we’re home free for a while. Baby prep, here we come!

In the midst of the busyness, we weren’t the greatest on belly pics, so here are two from the last two days. Hey, we figured we could make up for it a little bit

Justin is working night float (pray for him to make it through the sleep deprivation safely!) so he’s staying very busy. I’m trying to seize the day and get lots of work done around the house.

I officially turned in my 30 day notice for HealthDrive, the nursing home care provider that I work for part-time. It requires me to drive over 200 miles away at times and we decided it wasn’t a good fit for mommyhood. My last day will be April 6, after which time I’ll be working for Mayo alone. They’ve been keeping me pretty steady in my pool position, which has given us some comfort in backing away from HealthDrive.

All’s well, but busy. We’ll continue to keep you posted!

The double digit countdown begins tomorrow!  It’s coming so quickly!  We’ll be moving into our new place next week so that will be exciting to be able to start acquiring baby stuff and putting it into place.  Wondering if that will make it seem even more real…

Justin and I have officially moved to La Crosse, WI!  We arrived (with much help from our wonderful parents) on Saturday and moved most of our belongings into our apartment that evening.  We settled things in a bit on Sunday and then promptly left for a 4 day trip to Custer, South Dakota.  The trip was a combo celebration:  2 year anniversary (today!), 2 graduations, and the beginning of residency.  Exciting stuff!

Our first day we drove 11 hours to Custer, SD, arriving around 7 pm.  After checking into our hotel we took advantage of the hotel hot-tub and fell asleep after vegging in front of the TV.

The next morning we discovered that we had neglected to find and bring an inhaler for Justin amidst the moving rubble… oops!  We made a few pharmacy phone calls, picked up the inhaler, and were on our way to a full day of hiking!  We spent our time in Custer State Park, beginning with Harney Peak and finishing with Little Devil’s Tower.  It took us about 7 hours to finish the hikes, but they were BEAUTIFUL!  You can see some pics here We finished the day with a few more hot tub soaks and then a nice dinner outside at Sylvan Lake Lodge.  It was a beautiful day - we only wished we could have a few more weeks of days like that!

The third day we slept a wee bit later (apparently our out of shape bodies protested the strenuous exercise ;)) and took on a shorter hike called Sunday Gulch.  Though this trail didn’t boast a stunning vantage point, the trail itself was our favorite.  The gulch descended adjacent to a waterfall so we made our way down the slippery rocks with the welcome assistance of hand rails.  (Thank you park rangers!)  With the weight of our bodies supported almost entirely by our arms, we were able to gingerly pick our way down the ravine.  It was a fantastic hike, but the precarious positions coupled with water at our feet didn’t allow many pictures of our adventure.  You’ll have to take my word for it or go see for yourself!

That evening we visited Mt. Rushmore and stuck around to see the lighting ceremony.  It was a fun time and gave us a new perspective of the monument.  Did you know that they had initially planned to make the sculpture extend beyond the faces and include their shoulders and suit coat/military coat? They ran out of money and the sculptor died so it was “completed” as you see it today.  That factoid left me preoccupied, trying to imagine what it might have looked like.  Either way, it is an impressive feat!

Our last day we woke up a bit earlier and made our way back home.  We made a pit stop at Wall Drug, of course, and then proceeded to Sioux Falls, SD.  We had heard that the falls there were pretty impressive and we were not disappointed!  Definitely a worthwhile stopping point if you’re driving by.  We arrived back to our apartment in its full glory of moving disarray, just in time to crash

Now that we’re home, Justin is starting orientation today and I’m continuing to settle in.  I’ll post pictures of our new home once we’re a little more presentable

Let the Residency Begin!

Justin and I had the blessed occasion of several “snow” days due to the large ice storm that came through. We had each recently finished an extremely busy season with rotations (70+ hours per week) so it was sorely needed! I have to admit that I could happily accept a few more days of relaxation, but Justin was getting a bit stir crazy after 3 days straight in our little apartment

And in other news (since we’ve been slacking on the updates), Justin and I are nearing graduation and beginning to plan for our next step. We’re still not sure where we’ll be beginning in June, but we’re leaning toward La Crosse. I’m working on job searching and Justin just submitted his residency rank list today. We’re anxious to see what God has in store for us - we’ll know more on March 17!

Justin and I have both passed part 2 of boards (Justin had a second part of part 2 - don’t ask me why it wouldn’t be considered part 3 - that he just recently found out that he passed) so we’re moving on to the final stages of our doctorates. I’ve just begun a new rotation in Indianapolis and Justin was able to arrange an ophthalmology rotation down here as well. I’m so thankful that we are able to have one more month together before our final 2 month separation!

It’s time for bed in preparation for our last day of a short week Thank you, ice storm!!

I wanted to make a quick update about a very noteworthy accomplishment: Justin passed his boards test with flying colors! I’m so excited for him and proud! He worked really hard studying for it and it paid off.
(And I’m stealing a quick break from my own boards studying so I better get back to it before Justin catches me procrastinating ;))