Josh, Sharla, & Jackson - December 2007

Teeny's Updates
He's getting so big! He doesn't really make many big kicks or moves anymore -- more shifting and sliding around, and sometimes a whole body part or section pokes over to one side so that I really look like I'm housing an alien in my abdomen. I've heard other people say they can tell it's a foot or butt or elbow, but I can't make out individual parts and can only describe it as bony, pointy, or smooth. I think he has taken on a new position or maybe is slightly moving lower because I am suddenly feeling some odd sensations in the deep south :) I don't think he's completely dropped though, because I don't have that constant pressure feeling that I have read about.

Getting Ready for Teeny
My Type A personality is really starting to kick into gear, and I'm itching to get things ready. Before you go any further and exhale a big "awww....she's NESTING," let me quickly and bluntly correct you. My family has been quick to throw out that word every time I mention doing anything to prep for the baby or any household chore. I'm quickly becoming annoyed because, to me, nesting involves doing things outside of the norm. For me, shopping for things I know I will need is NORMAL -- geez, I'm surprised I've been able to hold off swiping my card for this long! And setting up his room in advance for me -- NORMAL! Josh can attest; when there is something sitting at our house, ready to be hung, repaired, or installed, I am eager to get it done. And as for chores, I'm no Cinderella and mice, constantly singing and sweeping; however, I do keep the house tidy on a regular basis and cleaning out the freezer after a glass bottle full of drink exploded AND considering it hadn't been cleaned in <<insert embarrassing time length here>>> a while, it was not NESTING! I will consider myself to be nesting when I start doing chores I detest, like cleaning every bathroom at a whim, scrubbing baseboards, or washing windows.

Now that THAT'S out of the way (yes, those are my hormones putting in those CAPS), we actually did get some things done in the baby's room this week! We had finally gotten together the art and figured out where we wanted to hang things on the walls (we've had most of the stuff for a while, but I was just hesitant on how I wanted to arrange it all). Our shelves are still on backorder, but should be coming in soon, so once we get those up and a few more decorative things set up in the room, I'll post some pictures to show the progress. I have to give mad respect to my Josh though -- he was very meticulous in measuring and hanging up everything perfectly, and it looks great!

How I'm Feeling
As of today, pretty good! But just like the weather, that can change, and has been rather volatile this week. I endured some stomach virus thing earlier this week, that started wreaking havoc on my midsection Wednesday night. I couldn't sleep, and had a few nasty middle-of-the-night encounters with the toilet. To get some relief, I wanted to take something, so we checked to see if Pepto Bismol was on my approved list of medicines (I keep a list of what's safe printed out so I can reference it). We saw PB on there, and I ended up taking 2 doses throughout the night. The next morning, I was looking over the list again, and realized that PB Anti-Diarrhea was on the list, not the regular kind. And Googling brought me to the awful realization that PB was actually considered UNSAFE (gasp!) and especially so in the 3rd trimester! Apparently, it has an aspirin-like quality (and aspirin is a super big no-no). So I called the OB's office, and they quickly assured me that a couple of doses was harmless and gave me some tips on how to cope with the stomach upset situation.

24 hours after it all began, I was feeling much better, and Friday was a good day! But then Saturday came, and I woke up feeling crummy again ---- the culrpit, my digestive system, again. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as the virus, and I have no clue what caused round 2 of the almighty abdominal beast, but by the end of the day, it was gone (and hasn't returned since).

And the back / hip / butt pains are in and out, so some days are bad, some are good. I still wear the crazy belly bra thing sometimes to lift and support, so it helps a bit.

Exciting Things for Next Week
Amy & Joel are coming back through tomorrow (they're visiting some friends in the area for New Year's Eve), and so Joel is going to be able to do some maternity pictures for us after all (my stomach virus had me thinking we had lost our shot, since it hit they day they came back through from Christmas travels)!!! I'll post some on next week's blog.

We have another prenatal appointment at the OB's office on Friday. It's almost time to start weekly appointments -- can't believe it!
33 Weeks Belly Pic:

We had a busy Christmas season this year, including five straight days of celebrations! Day 1 -- We visited Alan & Stephanie's house to hang out with some friends on Friday evening. Day 2 -- On Saturday for lunch, we headed off to Charlotte to the Loves' house for lunch with the Collins, Love, and Badgett families. It was great to see everyone (and my large belly surprised those who hadn't seen me in a while)!

Day 3 -- On Sunday, we packed up for Kings Mountain to go to Josh's grandmother's for dinner with the Collins & Badgett families. Here are some pictures from the festivities:

Josh & Sharla

Alan & Stephanie

Alan, Stephanie, Emily, Sam, & Denise

Day 4 -- On Christmas Eve, we picked up my mom and nephew, Timothy, and went to Dallas (NC) to visit my maw-maw (she had made some super cute things for Teeny, including a quilt, a play pillow, and some rear-facing car seat cloths to give him more to look at than the leather seat back). After seeing her for a bit, we headed back to Gastonia to pick up my other nephew, Dustin, and then back to my house to begin getting ready for dinner. Mom was a huge help with prepping the potatoes for me while I worked on getting other things in order for the meal. Angie (my sister), Wayne (my other nephew), Nathan (Wayne's son) also joined us for dinner. Here are some pictures from the evening:

Dustin, Josh, & Angie

Angie, Nathan, Wayne, & Timothy

Josh

Nathan & Dustin

Melinda, Nathan, & Timothy

Day 5 -- On Christmas morning, Josh and I did stockings from Santa.

Josh looking through his stocking

Mocha enjoying her rawhide bone

Then we headed over to Josh's parents house to have Christmas with them, Alan & Steph, and later Josh's grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and the girls. Alan brought over their new puppy, Janie, and she was so adorable! Here are some pictures from Lynn & David's:

Lynn working on the food

Stephanie & Alan

Grace & Amelia

Josh, Abbey, Vickie, & Sydney

By the time all the festivities were over, we were so tired and eager to come home and spend a lot of time relaxing! After we had time to recuperate, I came down with a stomach virus which plagued me with 24 hours of abdominal upheaval --- this also coincided with the day Amy & Joel had planned to visit on their way back to GA, and to do a maternity photo shoot for us. Since I wasn't feeling well, I had to pass on the pictures, and was pretty bummed about it, but they are also planning to come back to Concord for New Year's Eve, so we can try to reschedule for Monday - YAY!!! Even though I wasn't feeling well, I was glad to get a chance to see my Ames, and they gave us some awesome Christmas gifts -- a monogrammed yoga mat bag for me and a onesie that says "that's what she said" for Teeny.

We're looking forward to spending the rest of our weekend and time off from work relaxing, but it was fun to get to see everyone, to eat great food, and share gifts :) It's REALLY hard to believe that next year at this time, we will have a 10 month old little boy!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and wishing you all a happy new year!

Highlights from this week:

Baby Beginning Class
We took our final class at the hospital, Baby Beginnings, which centered on what happens to the baby after he is born and basic care of a newborn. Most of what was taught we had already heard about in the Birth & Beyond class, but there were a few new tidbits of knowledge. For example, it's recommended that you not use nail clippers on infants until 8 weeks of age, and that prior to that age, you peel (gross!), file, or bite (yuck!) their nails.

Prenatal Checkup
We had another prenatal appointment this week (we're going every 2 weeks right now). This time we saw a midwife, Pam Givens. She was really nice, and definitely had a different style than most of the doctors. She took extra time to explain things and didn't seem at all rushed to get through the check up. I'm up about 30 lbs so far and Teeny's heart beat was about 148 - 152 bpm. She also told me my uterine height measurement (which none of the other doctors have), which was 31 cm -- it's the length of the uterus, and as the midwife explained, helps to measure growth and at this point should be the number of weeks of the pregnancy, plus or minus a couple of cm, so we are right on track.

At the end of the visit, the midwife mentioned that there was a reminder on my chart to schedule a third trimester ultrasound at the perinatal specialist. We were confused, because we thought we didn't need to go back (for the CP cyst). So Ms. Givens checked my chart more thoroughly, and said there was a note from the specialist regarding our ultrasound at 25 weeks (which ruled out any issues with the CP cyst) and indicated something regarding the "stomach bubble" and that she wanted to do a follow up to check on it during the 3rd trimester. I was a bit thrown off, because this was the first I had heard of needing to back or anything regarding the stomach bubble, but the midwife assured us that it sounded as though it wasn't anything to be concerned over, and they probably just want to follow up to be 100% sure. She said we should appreciate the chance for another ultrasound (it will be our 7th! .... certainly not the norm), so we'll get to see a 3rd trimester Teeny after all. The appointment is yet to be scheduled, but it will probably be sometime in early January.

Getting Ready for Teeny
We bought our car seat! I'm excited to have this checked off my list, in case Teeny comes early. And we got a pretty good deal too!

I also bought all the basic supplies we will need if Teeny comes early. So we're all stocked up on a few onesies, diapering supplies, blankets, etc.

I still need to get the hospital bag packed up though, so hopefully I can accomplish that next week while I have time off from work for the holidays.

Oh -- and Teeny got his first Christmas gift this week, from the Loves --- a super cute and funny holiday bib that says "Result of Mommy Kissing Santa."

How I'm Feeling
.... (((HUGE)))) and not too great most days. My back has the standard aches and pains, and the sacroiliac pain in my butt / hip still hangs around too. I sure do take it out on Josh with my bad moods, and he's such a super husband, he does his best to make sure I'm comfortable and just deals with my crankiness and complaining without getting annoyed. He's so patient - he's going to be a great dad!

32 Weeks Belly

We updated the belly pics gallery --- it's crazy to see how the belly has grown!

Another busy week....and hard to believe....but another week closer to Teeny's arrival!

We had a dr. appointment this week and saw Dr. Holman. Everything looked fine -- I'm up about 28.5 lbs so far and Teeny's heart rate was 152 beats per minute. I also had to do the 3 hour glucose test at this check up, which involved eating a carb-loading diet 3 days beforehand and fasting prior to the appointment. I arrived at the office at 7:45 and gave a blood sample and then had to drink the nasty orange drink (for the 3rd time in this pregnancy). Then I had to give a blood sample three more times --- one each hour for the following three hours. It was annoying being hungry and waiting in the office, but I got my results a couple of days later, and I PASSED! So I won't have to deal with any modified diet or insulin regulation :)

We had our final Birth & Beyond class this week also, which focused on postpartum care of mother and baby. We learned a lot of interesting things in this class, like how to swaddle, the most soothing way to hold baby, and other general tips for after delivery. We're almost done with our education load -- we have one more class, Baby Beginnings, this week.

I'm still uncomfortable most of the time in my rump and back -- but the doctor did shed some light and informed me that my constant pain is most likely sacroiliac pain and not sciatica. After some research online, I agree with him because the pain seems to get worse with movement (not like sciatica) and it has shifted from one side to the other once before (now it's on my right). Also -- I had a mother*!@ of a leg cramp the other morning. I have had a few throughout the pregnancy, usually in the middle of the night, and had read that I should flex my foot as soon as I feel it, and that motion has always instantly made the cramp go away. The one I had the other morning happened as soon as I awoke from the alarm, and flexing my foot was doing NOTHING to help it. I was almost in tears. It went away after 20-30 seconds of war-prisoner level torture....but my calf muscle hurt for 2 days afterwards! To top it off, it was also on my right leg, so it added an extra "oomph" to my already awkward waddle limp that takes the pressure off of that side.

Realizations are starting to set in with us that it's really getting close to time for Teeny to come. I have a checklist of things I should start doing in the 3rd trimester, and by week 30, we're supposed to complete our birth plan (which we've done, but I need to type it in a better format) and stock up on essentials in case the baby comes early (yikes! ....haven't even started with this, but I'll do so at my next Target run some time this week).

Here's the 31 weeks belly pic...how can I get any bigger?!

It's been another busy week! We had our third Birth and Beyond Class, which focused on medical interventions and included details around inductions, fetal monitoring, vacuums, forceps, and c sections. It was the "scary" class where you pass around all the instruments and learn about how an induction can easily last for 3 days. I think the teacher had some fun pulling things out of her torture chest (as Josh described it) and passing them around for us to look at.

We took the hospital tour during our B&B class. The Birthplace is really nice! I'm excited to be able to labor and deliver in a new state-of-the-art and beautifully designed facility. We'll have our own room, and will be in it from beginning to end (after admitted), although C-sections are obviously performed in the OR. Our baby can also "room in" with us the entire time, and even the pediatricians do rounds in the room. Other things we love -- wireless internet in the rooms, pipeless jacuzzi tub (no risk of contamination), and sofa bed for Josh to sleep on.

We also had our Infant CPR & Safety class this week. We watched a video that gave step-by-step instructions on how to perform CPR and choking relief on infants, and then we practiced with plastic dolls. All the information was a little overwhelming, but we have our notes and will probably do some more practicing so we can become comfortable with all of it.

I'm still achy most of the time -- my back and the sciatic pain. Sometimes the sciatic pain is so bad that I can barely turn over in bed. I bought one of those Prenatal Cradles from someone who barely used hers on eBay. I just received it this weekend, and unfortunately, it must be an older or different model than the one I've tried on at the hospital, because it doesn't have the adjustable hooks for the belly strap. So it's a lot more difficult to put on, and it isn't as tight as it should be, so it's not giving me an optimal level of support. I have decided that I'm destined to never find anything that fits well in this pregnancy (khaki pants, jeans are prime examples), so I'm over it. I'll just deal with it.

We have a lot going on again next week--- another doctor appointment (this one with the dreaded 3 hour glucose test), another Birth & Beyond class, and Josh is taking a Dad's Class at the hospital as well. I'm exhausted just thinking about it :)

I noticed that I'm wearing the same outfit in my 30 weeks belly pic as in my 26 weeks one, and there is a HUGE difference in belly size. THIS is why my lower half hurts all the time!

26 weeks 30 weeks

Well, I typed up a huge typical blog post, but accidentally lost it all. So due to my annoyance, it will be the Cliff's Notes version of my original post.

Amy & Joel visited last weekend.

* Glad to see the Ames!
* They brought us a super cute set of outfits with dinosaurs on them for Teeny :)
* Joel, even though sick, did a photo shoot for us for Christmas pictures. Will post those later.
* Breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and they must be breaking me, b/c it wasn't that bad!

Me & Amy hanging out on the couch while the guys watched TV

Amy & Joel before a wedding

We've had fun playing with our new camera.

Here are some of our pictures:

We finally sold the Audi!

All the paperwork is done, the new owner has taken the car, and my Altima is back in the garage!

It's been a busy week! We had another Birth and Beyond Class, a prenatal check-up, Moms in Motion classes, and Amy and Joel visited!

Birth and Beyond this week was all about pain relief, and included an overview of analgesics, epidurals, and also other natural methods, like massage and positions, for early labor or for those who choose to do it without the drugs. It was a really informative class -- I didn't know I could get an analgesic via IV before the epidural, so that's going to be part of my plan. And I also learned that I can make a homemade heating pad out of rice and a sock, so I took it a step further and sewed up a large dish rag to make a nicely sized heating pad -- throw it in the microwave for 3 minutes, and it's an hour or more of nice soothing heat for my achy back! Next week we will be discussing medical interventions (i.e. c-sections, forceps, etc) and taking the hospital tour - looking forward to getting to see The Birthplace! We also have our infant CPR class at the hospital next week -- December is baby education month for us :)

Amy and Joel also visited, but I'll tell more about that in a later blog. I was glad to get to see my Ames!

There's nothing new at this point to complain about, but I'm sure I'll find some things soon. That darn Teeny is just so cute in his ultrasound pictures, I can't stay annoyed! :)

Here's the 29 weeks belly pic:

Birth class Q & A

Q: Will keeping a hand in a bucket of ice during class really approximate labor pain? A: Yes, more or less — just imagine the ice is the polar ice cap and you're slowly being crushed under it while somebody jabs an icicle in your spine.

Q: Will there be men in the class who snicker every time the instructor says the word "vagina"? A: Yes.

Q: Will my husband be one of them? A: Probably.

Q: Will it be annoying when he and the other men in the class high-five each other during the break and say, "Our boys can swim!" A: Yes.

Q: Will there be snack breaks? A: Not enough. Put small pieces of food in your hands and pretend you're biting your nails.

** from my 28 week BabyCenter email

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