The Kohlmans

I am starting to write this post on Monday morning. It might take a while. While my entire pregnancy was blissfully uneventful, a fact for which I am eternally grateful, Lincoln's birth was anything but. This is going to be a difficult story to record (I'm already tearing up with this first paragraph), but I think it will start to help me heal emotionally. Warning: this post is not censored. It includes pretty much everything I can remember, just so you know in advance.  At 37 weeks, Dr. Fullerton sent me in for a measurement ultrasound. I had been measuring small since about 30 weeks, so we just wanted to check on the due date. Surprisingly, Baby K was measuring in the 89th percentile. This was a concern because, let's face it, my body is not exactly built for child-bearing. These hips are narrow. We, after a long conversation with the doctor, decided on the 13th that our induction would start the evening of the 21st. We told our parents and siblings and that was abo...

Well, here we are. 40 weeks. Still waiting. We are so ready to meet this little one. It's going to be tough to keep ourselves occupied this week while we wait. So far we've done yard work, installed a new garage keypad, cleaned up the garage, bought a new microwave (although Lowe's gave us the wrong one, so it's sitting in the dining room waiting for them to bring us the right one next week), gone for a long walk, done more laundry than necessary, vacuumed the clean house, watched lots of Law & Order SVU...  We go back to the doctor tomorrow, so we'll see what the plan is after that.

I feel like I haven't been to the doctor in a really, really long time. Both my 36 and my 37 week appointments were snowed out, so by the time I see her on Wednesday it will have been over a month, right at the time I was supposed to start weekly appointments. I hesitate to tell anyone how I really feel, because everyone is convinced that any symptom I list is a sign of labor. And, even though I've never experienced it before, I'm pretty sure that I'm not in labor or even on the verge of being in labor. This whole pregnancy I've had a feeling that we're in it for the full 40 weeks plus more (but I could always be wrong), which is absolutely not a problem for me. Most of the time I tell people I'm fine, just tired. In reality, and because I don't have to nod and smile when I read blog comments, I've woken up with some pretty bad back aches over the last week or so. My stomach has been bruised for several months and feels sore a lot of the time - k...

Baby's room is almost done. There are just a few details left to finish up (some of which you don't get to see quite yet), just a few things left to get, just a few things to wash... Here's the current state of the room from the doorway: Brad just finished painting the dresser and replacing the handles with knobs on Monday. The dresser will double as a changing table, once we get a changing pad. It's amazingly large - we've fit blankets, crib sheets, towels, changing pad covers, swaddle blankets, burp cloths, newborn clothes, 0-3 month clothes, cloth diapers (about half of what we hope to have eventually, but the rest will fit once we're out of disposables), a couple packages of newborn disposable diapers, some wipes, and a few random things that I don't know where else to put in there. I'm so glad my parents were willing to pass on this piece of furniture (along with a number of others in our house)! The 8x10 frame will eventually go on the wal...

This week we've been showered with love and baby goodies by Brad's family and my co-workers. We are feeling like we're just about set, and we know we're very blessed by all the support. This was Sunday in Cottonwood Falls. Leah & Barb planned a great shower. My favorite part was the game we played where everyone guessed baby's name, birthday, birth time, weight, and length. I love seeing what people think, especially about the name. Feel free to comment on this post to join in the game! My school shower was Tuesday. We had lots of yummy food; it was great to get to hang out with lots of my teacher friends outside of the normal school day. The nursery is pretty much ready to go, other than a few things we still want to pick up before baby makes his appearance. I'll take and post some pictures of the room soon.  Tomorrow we have a snow day... but we were both planning to take the day off since we have an ultrasound at 8 and a doctor's app...

We've made a little progress since last week. On Friday when I got home from work the crib parts had come and Brad had the whole thing put together. (He did not have the crib skirt on, though. We added it later.) Then on Sunday he cleaned the garbage disposal and dishwasher - I told him I think he's nesting.  After I made a quadruple batch of laundry detergent (I just used up all the ingredients I had on hand so we don't have worry about that for a while) on Sunday, I washed all baby's newborn and 0-3 clothes, blankets, sheets, diapers, etc... Now we just need a dresser to put them in (and I'm trying really hard not to nag anyone about that). There is a three-day weekend coming right up! We still have a little ways to go on the cloth diaper stash, but we now have two different brands. Is it lame that this is exciting to me?! Tomorrow we meet with daycare. We have two showers in the next week (yes, we have been completely spoiled), and an ultrasound a...

34 weeks doesn't seem that close to the end of pregnancy, until I add that this means my due date is only 6 weeks away. I honestly don't feel like I'm getting any bigger - just more uncomfortable. Baby K definitely is; most movements are pretty forceful, like he just doesn't have enough room to move around.  The pregnancy aches have kicked in full force, letting me know without a doubt that my body's getting ready to have a baby. (But not for another six weeks!) I have no idea if baby has turned or not. My next doctor's appointment is tomorrow. We'll find out if she's going to have us go in for another ultrasound before the due date - insurance companies can be picky about these things. I can't think of any other random statements about pregnancy to make here... Yes, I did finally get a hair cut. :)  Brad picked out the fabric and helped me figure out the pattern, then mom and I whipped up this little dinosaur blanket. I love, love,...

I've been waiting for prints to go on sale at Walgreen's so I can order these: Several months ago, we chose this verse and quotation for Baby K's nursery. One of the reasons Brad got me Photoshop Elements for Christmas was so I could make these (Microsoft Word just wasn't cutting it). I had so much fun making them. I can't wait to see what they look like framed and on the wall! This morning in church, someone was asking how I'm doing. I mentioned that this week will be #34. It doesn't sound like I'm that far along, but then I added that this means we're only about 6 weeks away from the due date. And that sounds really, really soon. We have a lot left to do, but I know the time will pretty much fly by.  In other life news... I passed my licensing test on Friday. Now I just have to wait for the official results to be mailed to me, the state, and ESU, so I can apply for my new endorsement. I'm pretty excited. I'm also excited that ...

This week Brad's school threw a baby shower for us. We received lots and lots of clothes, books, toys, and other baby goods. We're so grateful to have this many people showering us with love and support... and gifts!

I just saw this article on Jenn's blog , and I had to post it, mostly as a reminder to myself. This was written a while ago, but it so well sums up so many of the things I wish for my future as a mom. Am I Mom Enough?

Today marks 30 weeks into this pregnancy. I feel like I really shouldn't complain at this point. I mean, I made it 75% through without truly feeling pregnant (other than nausea or fatigue, but I'm thinking more of the physical body changes part of feeling pregnant) and this little guy is still safe and sound and growing on the inside... but I kind of want to complain sometimes. Just since going back to work after the break I've felt really pregnant, like my body has definitely changed. Obviously it has... but I wasn't quite this aware of those changes before. It's been hard to be back at work because of this feeling. I'm mostly just achy and tired and short of breath at weird times (the third trimester is like that, I hear). It seems like my "baby belly" has become less long and more round. Or maybe that's just me, with some wishful thinking about weight shifting instead of increasing... I've also decided that I'm pretty much done wit...

One of the projects I really wanted to get done over Christmas break was this rocking chair. It was about the only one I actually accomplished. It belonged to my grandma's grandma, Freni Zerger, which would make it a good century or so old. When my grandparents downsized, this was one of the special things we got to bring home. For a 100-year-old piece of furniture, this is amazingly comfortable, so I knew I didn't need another rocking chair or a glider for the nursery.  I just needed a new seat cover, preferably one that wasn't disintegrating burlap. This is the only before picture I could find. You can kind of see how one corner was torn. On New Year's Eve, we ventured into Wichita. I think most people must have been at work or resting up in preparation for their big parties, because every store we went to was pretty empty. I was expecting chaos but it was actually kind of calm for Wichita shopping. We knew we wanted gray fabric for the seat. At JoAnn (than...

I know I just posted three times yesterday, but I'm so excited to share what I made this morning! (Maybe my sort-of resolution to post more often is already coming true!) I started playing with Photoshop Elements yesterday evening when we got the new computer all set up. This is one of the things that I've put together so far - the only one that's actually finished. We chose a Bible verse and a quote for Baby K, and I'm working on those as well to print and frame for the nursery. They're a little more complicated than this alphabet one. I made the ABC's actually for Baby's name (you know, like M is for Megan), but I'm not going to share that one until he's here. :) Sorry. I totally stole the name idea from Pinterest . I really like this version, too, and am brainstorming what others I could make.