Baseball Action Night! and Knitting!

Tonight, Sarah and I went to PGE Park to watch the Portland Beavers play the Reno Aces (AAA baseball). It was "Stitch and Pitch" night - local knitters got together (many with their non-knitting husbands and friends) and took in the game while working on their knitting projects. The Beavers lost 5-2.

Around the fourth inning or so, a foul ball came screaming towards us on the first base side. It headed straight towards Sarah, and literally straight towards her belly! I instinctively reached my left hand out to protect her, and the ball glanced off my finger and hit her thigh. It would have hit her straight in the baby otherwise, and the baby is due in three and a half weeks! She suffered only a small bruise on her thigh and is fine, but I sprained or bruised my finger and required ice for the rest of the night.

Baseball is so exciting! (and it's very hard to type with only one hand)

Baby Kurth almost catches a baseball in the face at Week 36! Sarah shows off her knitting project and the offending baseball, as the Beavers lose on the field.

Preparing for Baby

Today was our home visit with our midwives. We're at week 36 already, and the midwives needed to know how to get to our place and what our apartment looks like. It's their "practice run" for the big event. We made our hospital transfer plan (in case of emergency, we are within a few minutes of several hospitals), finished up all of our paperwork, and got our birth supplies ready. That's it! Now we'll just have to wait until the baby decides to arrive!

A quick exam confirmed that the baby is head-down and slightly dropped into my pelvis (preparing for departure!) and doppler confirmed the baby's heartbeat is still strong and steady. I love hearing the baby's heartbeat! I wish I could give you a picture for this update, because I'd really like to see a picture too, but we'll just have to wait and see what it looks like when it gets here. I know we can't wait to meet this little person!

As much as I've heard about nesting instincts, I either haven't been bit by the bug yet, or I have the mildest case ever. I haven't had any midnight urges to deep-clean the kitchen, or desire to paint any rooms. It does give me pleasure to organize all the sweet baby clothes and blankets and diapers. It makes me feel like a mommy finally!

In the meantime, when I'm not napping, I'm trying to finish up my sewing projects in the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck (and send more cotton thread).

Baby Supplies & Precious Gifts

Paul and I have already received a flood of thoughtful, sweet gifts for the baby. We've gotten blankets and toys and clothes and a HUGE diaper bag (an Amy Butler bag in green!!), so I think all we need now are diaper covers and some fabric for cloth wipes, and we'll be ready for baby's arrival. We still have a lot of unconventional items on our list, but I think we'll be able to survive the first few weeks.

Among the gifts are timeless ones we've already had chance to enjoy--books! Paul has been reading to the baby in the evenings, which is fun for us as well. So far, we've gotten these great titles:


Little Learning Books, from Green Start


My First Read-Aloud Bible, from American Bible Society


Dr. Seuss's ABC's


Things That Are Most in the World, by Judi Barrett


The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle


Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson


Do YOU Have a Hat? by Eileen Spinelli


Monkey & Me (Mono y Yo), by Emily Gravett


But No Elephants, by Jerry Smath


The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, by Shel Silverstein


Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, by Richard Scarry

I can't wait until our little one can read these out loud to us!