Progress Was Made!

Here we are, past our due date by 3 days. Clearly miss thang wasn't ready to join us on her estimated birthday. Apparently she is already dancing to the beat of her own drum. Today we've hit a few milestones. I started having contractions this morning, finally ones that caught my attention with some pain. There is no real pattern at this point, but they are coming on a regular basis which is a good sign. We had our regularly scheduled Monday appointment this afternoon, and finally got some new news. I'm dilated to 3, and still effaced at 50%. Heartbeat is still strong, and she is still pretty active even though I'm not sure how she has any room to move in there. If Baby H doesn't grace us with her presence before Thursday, we'll have an ultrasound so they can make sure the fluid and everything is still looking good. At that point, we would possibly schedule to be induced. We will see what he next couple days bring.

Since Friday was our due date, but no baby... we decided to try to convince her to join us by doing a little shopping. We headed to Ridgedale after work and walked around for a couple hours where we finished up our Christmas shopping. We had a nice dinner at Solo's (gosh I love that pizza!) and headed home. Pretty sure I was cuddled up in bed watching re-runs of 'Say Yes To The Dress' and officially sleeping before 10pm. I know, I know wild and crazy Friday night! I knew we had a busy little Saturday planned and wanted to get as much rest as I could.

Saturday morning I woke up and headed to Mitch's parents house to make Christmas cookies with Deb, Jennie, Mitch's Aunt Tracy and Scott's girlfriend Cari. It's a Christmas tradition we do every year, but really it's just an excuse for us ladies to get together. It's usually a morning of enjoying each other's company, chatting, and snacking on our cookies. Jennie and I stuck around after making cookies and volunteered to be Bob's taste testers for an appetizer he's serving for Christmas. Let's just say, it wasn't a bad job to have! After all the fun at the Helleen household, I headed home to get ready for Amanda & Jayna's ugly sweater party. When Amanda originally planned this party, I assumed I'd have our baby by then. Yep, not so much. That meant we got to join in on the Holiday festivities. My parents were also attending so we picked them up and headed to the themed party. I was so excited to see my Dad actually participate, he's not usually one to "dress up" or enjoy "theme parties." How my Mom convinced him to wear a sweater vest and turtleneck, I'm not sure but it was awesome. Amanda & Jayna sure know how to host one great party! I know a good time was had by all! Pictures below prove it!

Getting ready for the par-tay!

Kathy, Mom and Rachel at the shindig.

Dad & Mike, love this! 

My BFF and hostess of the party!

Sunday was a lazy day! We slept in a bit, saw a great service at church, and headed home to watch some football. Since I'm not a huge football fan, I spent most of the day napping off and on. Unfortunately I was awake to see the Vikings lose yet another game. It was not a good week for me in our Pick 'Em league. I must point out, I've won twice this season. I consider this amazing since I have zero interest in the NFL. I guess you could say the sport is sort of growing on me.

Well, fingers crossed that next time I blog... I'm blogging as a new Mom. 

Until next time...

The Helleen's