36 Weeks

36 Weeks. Wow.

Great news!

I've been dying to post this, but had to wait until she went public. Heather is pregnant!! I couldn't be happier.

36 Week Appt

Still the same. Closed up tight like Fort Knox. These annoying contractions are just that...annoying. They're not doing anything. I guess that's fine at this point. But it's frustrating to feel them ALL DAY LONG and not have them DO anything. Anyway. BP was good, no weight gain this week (woot!), baby's heartbeat was good. Got my GBS swab. No big deal.

Scheduled a sono for next week to check size, fluid, etc. They also want me to set an induction date for 39 weeks. I'm not entirely comfortable with that idea, but there are also things that make me say, "Okay, let's do it." But I'd be doing it for all the wrong reasons, and for reasons that I've judged other people for.

In other news...Chris is "going green." I'll let him explain. Hopefully he'll do a post today or tomorrow.

Just testing mobile blogging for when the Turkey comes.

Test

Hat

I made my first baby hat and it only took 2 days! Cute, huh?


And because Chris' fist is probably bigger than our baby's head will be, he modeled it for you:

35 Weeks

Yep, I'm huge.

Doctor's Appt

BP was good, heartrate was good, weight gain is now up to 20 lbs, got my flu shot, baby is still way head down and ready to rock. Only glitch...I need to reduce my work hours for the next two weeks to ensure that I don't go into preterm labor because of all the contractions I've been having. So, I'll be working 11 to 5 for the next two weeks and then back to my regular schedule. I'm looking forward to sleeping in every day!

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

How do you break up with someone you're not quite friends with, but they're trying really hard to be friends with you?

Odds and Ends

Got some random stuff to post about.

First, my husband is the greatest guy in the whole world. He knew I was having a rough day on Friday (hormones, I'm sure) so he came home with flowers for me. He's never done that! Seeing him walk in the door with them completely made my day and turned my mood around 180 degrees. I love that man. For my birthday present, he got me my Moby. I'm so excited to try it out! I practiced a little yesterday and the basic wrap doesn't seem that hard, and I'm hoping it's even easier when this belly is a little flatter. I can't wait for the Turkey to get here so he can lay in it. Scratch that. I CAN wait. More on that later.

Second, Girl sent the cutest quilt. She's such a talent! Chris was so excited to see a package for us that he started ripping it open and wouldn't even tell me who it was from until I got really mad and forced him to tell me. Then when I found out it was from Girl, I wanted him to rip it open even faster. I'm a dork, but I just adore that woman.

Here's a pic of the quilt she made us and a closeup of the pattern. It's so stinkin cute



Third, I finally finished the baby blanket I've been working on since I was 20 weeks. It's not that it took that long to do, because it's crochet and it's WAY faster than knitting. I'm just too obsessed with my fish game and Sims to make time to work on it. I suck. But it's done now except for weaving in the ends. I think it turned out really cute. I'm proud of myself. Now I need to find a pattern for a hat that would go with it.


And, last but certainly not least, we got to make our first trip to the hospital last night. I noticed around 6:00 that I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart. We were waiting for a table at Carraba's so I figured we'd eat and see how things went and then deal with it after dinner. Still no change about 1.5 hours later so we went home and put in a call to the doctor. It took about 40 minutes for Dr. Montilla to call back, but I told him what was happening and he told me to go to the hospital to get checked out. So, we packed a bag and brought some pillows and headed out, just in case. I didn't think this was the real deal so I surprisingly was very calm about everything.

We showed up at the ER and they rushed us through registration without having to wait. The girl at the front desk looked really nervous when we walked in the door. I had to assure her that I was not in any pain and did not need a wheelchair. It was just contractions, not labor, and I'm fine, but thank you. It was funny. After we registered, they escorted us upstairs to Labor and Delivery. All the nurses were at the nurses' station. I don't think there were ANY patients. We walked in and everyone turned around, smiling, and looked at us expectantly. I was like, "Um, hi everyone!" They laughed and one of them approached us and after I told her my name she knew who I was because the doctor had called and told them to expect me and she took us to a room. I was surprised I didn't go to Triage but I guess it was quiet enough in there that there was room for me in a real room.

She had me put a gown on and give a urine sample and then strapped me in to the monitors. Baby's heartrate sounded awesome. I loved listening to it. She checked me and said I was nice and closed up tight, which was great news. I'd been contracting about every 10 minutes, off and on, for a week so I wasn't sure if any change had been made to my cervix or not. Good to know that they didn't make any changes. So she had us hang out for a while with the monitors on. And of course, my contractions all but stopped. I had a few, but nothing huge. I felt so stupid, but after contracting every 5 minutes for 2.5 hours, you'd think they wouldn't just stop abruptly like that. Idiot contractions. So, after a while they sent us home with instructions to lay low today and drink a lot of water. And that's what I'm doing. Still contracting but I'm not timing them right now. I think they're about 10 to 20 minutes apart. Not sure though.

Some pics Chris took with his cell phone to document our evening:



Whew. That's the longest blog post I've done in forever! Now I need a nap.

On one of my mom boards yesterday, somebody posted making a joke about what all the July mamas (and there are a LOT of them) were doing this time last year (i.e., conceiving their babies). I felt left out. I couldn't ruin the thread by joining in and saying what I wanted to say, which was, "Yeah, we conceived our Nugget on my birthday last year" and then have that awkward silence that follows when they realize that's a different baby than the one I'm carrying now.

It's stupid that it bothered me, because I know it wasn't anything to where they were intentionally leaving anyone out. It was a bonding thing. I get that. It's funny. And I'd be all over that thread had our Nugget survived. But it sucks because she didn't.

I love these women and don't want any of them that read this blog to feel awkward or bad about it. You shouldn't. I'm just venting. And fighting these damn hormones that threaten tears about every 3 hours.

It's my birthday!

I'm now officially IN my 30's. Ugh. I thought turning 30 was bad...31 might just be worse!

Happy birthday to me!

34 Weeks

Hospital Tour

We had our hospital tour last night. One would think that it would ease my worries and make me more comfortable, but in fact it had the opposite effect. We were in the L&D room and I was fighting back tears. I just kept picturing myself on that bed, with doctors and nurses all around me, and got very, very scared. And then Chris and I talked about why that scared me on the ride home and it made me cry even harder. I'm truly terrified about giving birth. And I don't think I was scared before last night. It was more of an abstract thought, I guess.

The L&D room was very nice. Very big with shiny wood floors. Private. But the Family Centered Care room (postpartum) was TINY. I don't know how the Turkey, Chris and I are going to fit in there, especially with visitors!

And I'm sorry to report to my online friends that the wireless internet will not yet be available by the time I'm there. They'll have email through their tv system thing, but I won't be able to post like I'd like to. I'll have Chris send a pic and info to Girl if she doesn't mind and have her do my dirty work for me.

Weekend

What a weekend!

Friday night I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and didn't go back to sleep until 8:30 a.m. I took a 2 hour nap and then Chris and I ran some errands before heading out to Leesburg to have dinner with his parents. We went to my favorite restaurant and got a Dutch Apple Pie from my favorite pie place. The meal was fantastic and life was good.

Until about 11:30 that night. Chris woke up to a nice case of food poisoning. Liquids flying out of all ends. It was violent and horrible and I felt so bad for him. There wasn't much we could do but ride it out, and it finally ended around 3:30 a.m. Poor guy lost about 3 lbs from the whole ordeal.

Meanwhile, while this is all happening, I'm having contractions 10 minutes apart. I'd been having them all day off and on. I started timing them and they were fairly regular, but as soon as I started to worry a little, they'd stop or switch it up to 20 minutes apart. All I could imagine was Chris and I in adjoining hospital beds. We both went back to sleep and woke up at a fairly reasonable hour and he was feeling better and was hungry so we knew it was over. But we spent all day in bed...him recuperating, and me trying not to go into labor. Good times. I got nothing done around the house that I wanted to do, except laundry. Another weekend gone with no progress on the state of our madness that we call home.

Today, Chris is feeling normal again and I've only had a few contractions today so far.

Uh, that's weird

I'm the #2 site that comes up when you search the following term: wife shocked son's penis is bigger then

I don't know why someone was searching that, but they found my blog that way. Very, very weird.

Very excited!

Bloomin' Belly Soaps is sending me some samples to review for this site. Can't wait to try them out and let y'all know what I think. Thanks Anne and Marcie!

33 Weeks

And these are for Heather, to illustrate the sheer madness that is my right foot and ankle. If my left foot weren't slightly swollen, you'd be able to see how bad it really is. Personally, I like the foldover lines. Makes me look like an elephant.

Weird

I know, blog post overload today. And I still haven't even posted my belly shot! But I had to share this.

We had clients in the office today in the waiting room and I could smell their breath in my office. Not that it was bad breath, but I just smelled their breath. Then, they went into the conference room next door to my office and were in there for an hour, and when they just left they kept the door open and I smell it again! Really freaking weird.

Fun News!!

Little Miss Carley's going to have a baby BROTHER!!! I'm so excited!

Doctor's Appointment

Had a great appointment this morning. Gained another 3 lbs, which brings the total up to 17. Not bad considering the crap I eat. BP was 110/70. She felt around and pronounced him HEAD DOWN. Woot! His head's right on my bladder, she said. Then, she took out the measuring tape and went to measure me and then paused and said, "Let's wait a minute." I asked what for and she said I was having a contraction. What??!! Really?? I didn't feel it at all, but when she showed me what it looks like and feels like from the outside, I'd felt and seen that before, but we thought it was the baby moving around in a weird way. After it was over, she measured me and I'm measuring perfectly. So, now my homework is to lay down after work and see if I'm having any contractions and call her if I'm having more than 8 in an hour. I'm fairly sure I'm not.

Shower Pics

Just a few pics from our shower this weekend. I'm not going to bore you with any "opening presents" pictures. And there are LOTS of them.

Baby Shower

We are humbled and grateful for everyone's love and generosity.


This picture does not include some of the other items we've gotten in the past few weeks, including our stroller, glider, crib, carseat, etc. It's pretty amazing how generous people have been. It's a bit overwhelming.

Thank you to everyone who came and those who couldn't come but either sent gifts or their love to us and the Turkey. We love you, too. :-)

More pics to follow of the actual event.

32 Weeks

This is what Chris came home to...me and Rico cuddling on the bed. I was EXHAUSTED.

I wanted to use this as my weekly belly shot so I wouldn't have to get out of bed. But I realized I needed a "good" one to put in my book, so I had Chris help me out of bed. And he got this picture (hot, right?):

So...here are the real ones:


And then we washed some baby clothes. Yippee! I still need to wash toys and loveys, but the clothes are all done. Very exciting.

Come out, come out, wherever you are...

Who are you? I know I get about 70 original hits a day (which is pretty pathetic but exciting to me), so there are more of you out there than just my mom (and the few "regular" commenters). What's your name? Do you have any children? Any advice you can offer a FTM with absolutely no clue what she's gotten herself into?

3 a.m.

3 a.m. I'm wide awake but exhausted enough to sleep for another several hours. This blows.

And if anyone tries to comment anything along the lines of "Just wait until the baby's here!" or "It's your body getting you used to being up at all hours", you're going on my shitlist. Just so you know.