32 Weeks

Good gravy, 8 months today!!!  8 weeks / 56 days to go!

Things are going well.  I'm still having significant back/hip pain and it can be hard to walk, but it's all worth it.  Baby has been very active and my belly is moving all over the place.  If you push on him, he'll push back.  I hadn't really gained much weight in the 3rd tri until this week when the scale said I gained 2.5 lbs.  Baby is gaining a 1/2 lb a week, so I guess I have to claim the other 2.  I told Kerry it must of been all the left over cake and chocolate I've been eating from the shower.  When I opened my blog, my pg ticker at the bottom updated with "Mommy is gaining a pound a week.  Lay off the cake woman!  You're not REALLY eating for two.".  Kerry and I laughed so hard. The ticker is psychic!

We had our 3rd childbirth class.  We went over pain management options, epidurals, induction, forceps/vacuum, c-sections, pushing techniques and met the anesthesiologist.  I told Kerry that I think I'm underestimating how painful this event could actually be.  I'm blown away by the amount of prep taken (reading books, childbirth classes, practicing techniques, needing a support person) all for about a 1 day event.  It's like we're preparing for a triathalon.  I think I'm in for a big wake up call, but I'm happy to answer that call.

My 1st baby shower was amazing!  We had it at our house which meant all of our projects we had started in about every room of the house had to be completed.  We're talking drywall repair, caulking, painting, etc etc.  We worked around the clock all week and finished right before the shower.  We were exhausted but it is soooo nice to have it all done.  It meant not a lot got done in the nursery and all our guests who were excited to see it didn't get to see much, but oh well, at least they were able to maneuver around our house without tripping over tools.  Now we can focus all our attention on the nursery.

I thought I would share one of my non-nursery projects, a cherry tree wall decal.  This project took me 4 days as I had to transfer each blossom onto the wall individually.  It really brightened up the dining room.

So back to the shower.  My hosts Eden and Kal did such an amazing job!  They made me a memory board that made me cry, several times.  It took me forever to read it all because it was so emotional for me.  Every time I attempted to read, I had to walk away.  While I have survived infertility and made every effort to regain a normal life, I will never forget the painful journey.

Cute brown and blue giraffe balloons:

The coolest party favors, home made chocolate 7's!!!

Vases filled with some of my syringes/vials from treatment:

A perfect little chocolate/blue/giraffe cake with our 27w u/s pic on top:

Some of the best friends a gal could ask for:

Hilarious games like 10 diapers filled with different melted chocolate candy bars where you had to guess which candy bar it was.  Hysterical to watch every one smell these very realistic looking "poopy" diapers!

Wonderful gifts from wonderful friends:

The joy of a preggo chocolate addict receiving chocolate as a shower gift:

A goofy husband:

Huge belly laughs as the husband announces to the entire room that my pg induced farting has equalled 8 yrs of pay back:

How's this one smell hubby???:

A huge thank you to my twin hosts Eden and Kaleena for a wonderful shower!!!  Hey, we kinda look like sisters in this pic!

This week's belly:

Nursery update:

I made the liners for the storage tote and hamper which matches the basket I made earlier:

We assembled the crib and I made the crib skirt:

We started installing the crown moulding tonight but didn't get very far.  Lots of work ahead of us!

31 Weeks

9 weeks to go!  OMGosh, we're in the single digits folks!

So this week has been a little trying in the pain department.  I've been having horrible sacrum/posterior pelvic pain.  From the web - "This pain is caused by stretching of the pelvic ligaments, causing the pelvic muscles to attempt to establish stability by increasing muscle tension, leading to chronic pain in that area. Because the discomfort is primarily caused by hormonal changes, it cannot be prevented during pregnancy."  Some days it's quite debilitating and I can barely walk.  If someone offered me a wheelchair, I'd gladly humble myself and take it.  When I told Kerry my hips were spreading, he wrapped his back brace around them.  He laughed hysterically that it took all his might to get it around my butt!  Yes, that's spreading right along with the hips.  The pain went away and I could walk again, but it unfortunately put too much of a squeeze on the baby bump.  If anyone has had this and knows of anything to help, please let me know.  Chiro did help get me walking again, but it doesn't resolve the pain.  Oh well, I'll take it, I'm just so grateful to be pg.

Our childbirth class went well.   We went over labor, comfort measures, breathing patterns, support person's role and pushing techniques.  Everyone was so serious during the practice breathing but Kerry and I could do nothing but laugh through it.  Hee hee haaaa, hee hee haaaa...  or Kerry's version, hee haw, hee haw... sounding like a donkey.  The teacher said our labor is going to be quite comical.  I'm sure I'll regret laughing at it when I'm in labor.

I had my OB appt at 30w5d.  Everything is perfect.  I had the nurse tell me what position the baby was in and he's head down for the first time.  Glad to know he can go upside down as he seems to love being breech or traverse.

I guess it's quite obvious that I'm pg to the public now.  I constantly get asked when I'm due, what's the gender and if we have a name picked out.  Oh why can't I pick out a name!!!???  I guess because he's a very special little guy and I want a special name.  I still have time, but my family is going nuts waiting on the name.  Sorry fam!

This week's belly:

We've made decent progress on the nursery.  We're not as far along as we had hoped as every project ends up taking twice as long as we planned and the hours after work are so limited.  But we will prevail and just keep working at it until we finish, or keel over.

We finished cutting and painting the moulding:

We picked up the crib and night stand, but have yet to assemble it.  We still have to pick up the dresser and chest.

I installed the blind and made the curtains:

I made giraffe appliques and added them to the toss pillow:

I made the liner for the basket.  I'll be making the same liner for the hamper and storage tote.

And lastly I made a boppy cover:

A few thank you's are in order... thank you Eden for loaning me your boppy, bumbo and maternity tops!!!  Thank you Maggie and Phylis from Hawaii for the surprise box of goodies!!!  Thank you Tarryn for the early shower gifts that allowed me to work on a couple more sewing projects!!!

I'm really excited about this coming Sun.  It's my 1st of 3 baby showers!  The 1st one is a friends shower, the 2nd a church shower and the 3rd a family shower.  I can't even believe it, a baby shower for me???  Someone pinch me!

30 Weeks

10 weeks or 70 days to go!

Everything is going great.  No more heartburn, no more back pain, finally sleeping through the night and no more braxton hicks other than that 1 day last week.  Must have been dehydrated that day.

So while I've enjoyed being symptomless in the 3rd tri, I found that boring and decided to fall and pee myself to spruce it up a little.

I don't know what it is about being pg, but I choke alllllll the time!  I swallow my water/spit wrong at least once a day.  The other night was the worst episode to date.  Just sitting on the couch watching a movie with hubby and out of the blue, I swallowed spit wrong and choked really hard.  This time there was no leaking, no siree, I fully peed my pants.  Kerry always finds it hysterical watching me run to the bathroom while holding myself.

With arms full, I had my first fall.  I stubbed my toe on a chair leg and flew across the kitchen.  Everything went flying out of my hands except my husband's iPhone.  Kerry came running to see what the ruckus was and as soon as he saw me sprawled out on the floor and his iPhone in my hand, he quickly asks, is my phone ok?  Yes honey, I held onto it for dear life as I knew I wouldn't live if I broke it.  Luckily I somehow managed to fall in slow motion and somewhat gracefully (as graceful as you can get for a fall) and avoided landing on my belly.  My middle toe didn't fare so well...

We really enjoyed our childbirth class last week.  We are only 1 of 4 couples attending.  We just happen to have the same exact due date of June 23 as another couple in the class.  Totally different stories though as they announced their pg was an accident.  We covered the 3rd tri, what to expect, how to cope with discomforts, warning signs and nutrition.  Kerry and I looked at each other and cracked up when the topic of hemorrhoids came up.  Yep, check, we discovered that one last week!  We attend our 2nd class tomorrow.

We've kicked into high gear on trying to get all our reading done.  We have designated at least 30 mins each night for reading.  I have 3 labor/birth books to read.  We have 3 infant books to read.  Lots to read, lots to learn!  We are determined to be the best parents we can be.

This week's belly.  It's getting bigger and bigger.  I had 3 ladies at church separately ask me how I was feeling and I told each of them that I felt like I was going to burst.  They all said the same exact thing, oh honey, you just wait till the last month, you have lots of growing to do.  So far no stretch marks or the brown line down the belly, but I'd be shocked if I make it through this without them.

Nursery update.  Not a whole lot to report this week.  We spent most of our time on drywall repair and caulking on the rest of the house than we did on the nursery.  We did get the crown moulding measured and cut.  OMG, it practically takes a genius to figure out those inside/outside corner angles.  Not your simple 45 degree cut since crown doesn't go flat against the wall.  But alas, we prevailed.  Now to measure/cut the chair rail and then paint and install.  I haven't done anymore sewing other than 2 burp clothes, but I have ordered 9.5 yards of fabric for the curtains, boppy pillow, diaper organizer, tote liner and hamper liner.  So lots of sewing coming my way.

We finally got the call yesterday that our nursery furniture is in.  They told us 8 weeks and it took 11.  Kerry is going to pick it up tomorrow.  Wahoo!

Homey G is living it up and still thinks all this baby equipment is for him.  He now sleeps in the pack-n-play.  I turned on the vibration thinking it would scare him out of it, nope, he loved it and laid down on it.  I filled it up with toss pillows thinking it deter him but instead he said thanks, I needed a pillow.  Oh well, he better enjoy it while he can.

That's it!  I wrote this post earlier and I guess I jinxed myself, the braxton hicks are back!

29 Weeks

11 weeks or 77 days to go, oh my!

I had an OB visit a couple of days ago and all is good.  It was the standard urine, weight, blood pressure, belly measurement and heartbeat doppler (170 bpm).  I asked about my swollen ankles and she said it was completely normal and nothing to worry about since both ankles were the same size and my blood pressure was low.  I asked if there was anything I could take for the heartburn as it has become almost unbearable.  My esophagus feels like it's on fire for most of the day.  She gave me a script for an acid blocker, it's 1 pill/day.  After 1 dose, I am completely free of heartburn, what a relief!  I was told to start kick counts.  After dinner and sitting down to chill, I have to count 6 kicks within an hour.  Definitely no problem there as I can get to 6 in a couple of minutes.  If I don't get to 6, I have to drink something sweet, lay on my left side and count 6 kicks again. If I don't make it to 6 again, I have to call the doctor as it's the first sign that maybe something is wrong.  I now have OB appt every 2 weeks.

A trip to the chiro helped my back pain significantly.  He said my hip area was locked up pretty bad causing the pain.  Hopefully a couple more visits will get me walking upright again.

I have a new pg induced symptom.  This may be TMI, but for anyone that knows me or has read my blog for awhile, you know by now that I'm quite the open book.  Kerry and I were finishing up our shower (we have a double shower, and no this is not leading to any hanky panky type of TMI).  As I was rinsing the soap off my nether regions, I felt a fluid filled sac protruding externally.  The panic that came over my face was as if I had seen a ghost.  I stood there frozen, practically unable to speak.  Kerry kept asking me what was wrong, all I could get out was that I felt something very disturbing and I needed to get out of the shower.  I rinsed off as fast as I could as I was sure my bag of waters was bulging out.  Kerry stopped me and insisted on looking.  I bet it was quite the sight with him down on his hands and knees looking between my legs.  He said it's ok honey, it's further back, it's not coming from your lady bit.  I just kept asking, are you sure?  It rattled me bad and I just wanted to get out of there and see for myself.

As I was about to get out, with both arms raised putting a towel over my head, Kerry stopped me.  He said you're not going anywhere until you shave those pits!  Yes, I admit it, I've neglected the pits.  I told him I didn't care and just wanted out.  He said oh no, you look like a lumberjack and he proceeded to shoot shaving cream on both pits.  LOL!  This lightened the mood and I started calming down some.

I got out of the shower and bent over in front of the wall mirror to see what the heck that fluid filled sac was.  Kerry was right, it was further back and was on my butt.  It didn't hurt at all, so I guess that's why I never noticed it.  I said to Kerry as I was bent over, can you see that???  He said, how can I not???  I asked him to exam it as it looked like it was going to burst. He had me bend over and spread em'.  I could see him intently examining it as I watched between my legs.  I was belly laughing uncontrollably through the whole thing and dang near lost it when he touched it.  I stood up and was laughing harder than I have in my entire life.  My belly was shaking, the tears were rolling down my face and then I proceeded to throw up in the sink.  My first puke episode this entire pg, not from morning sickness, but from laughing too hard.  But it didn't end there, then I started choking while continuing to laugh hysterically.  I crossed my legs and exclaimed oh no as the pee started to dribble down my leg.  Kerry grabbed the nearest wash cloth and wiped me down before it hit the floor.

So that's the story of my very first hemorrhoid!  Oh the joys of the 3rd tri!  We looked up hemorrhoids on the internet and found this to be very common in pg due to increased blood volume, decreased circulation and the increasing weight of the uterus.  It was described as a cluster of purple grapes protruding from the anus on one website, what a lovely description, and the photos that went with them, oh my!  I felt much better after seeing those disturbing photos and content with my 1 measly grape.  It went away by the next day and hasn't come back since, though I won't hold my breath.  It's now a running joke, at my expense, as Kerry talks about my blowout or calls me baboon butt.  LOL!

I attempted to put on my pre-pg jeans with my belly belt the other day, no go!  I could get them on unzipped, but couldn't move afterwards.  Since the weather was really nice, I decided to get out my maternity capri jeans that I bought from a friend at 4w.  Well, they didn't fit as well as they did at 4w.  I decided to make it work and headed to church.  I ran into a friend as I was walking in.  She said, oh look at you, you're starting to waddle, how cute!  I had to tell her it was because my pants were too tight.  Oh well, I only paid a $1 for them and I guess I got a $1 use out of them.  With the hot weather coming up, I'm going to have to buy myself a new pair, in a size for my enlarged baboon butt!

I think I've been experiencing my first braxton hicks.  My books state that this would be starting and is totally normal and considered practice contractions.  I feel a slight crampy sensation and my belly gets really hard.  Had quite a few yesterday but none today.

This week's belly:

Nursery update:

We ordered the glider/ottoman:

In this fabric:

We then matched our neutral wall paint to this fabric.

1st coat of neutral paint done (notice how easily tall dude reaches the top of the 8ft ceiling):

2nd coat of neutral paint done:

The 4 paint colors for the stripes have been selected:

Crown and chair rail moulding have been purchased.  We still have to cut, paint, install and caulk it all.

I made a toss pillow for the glider.  I still have to sew on the giraffe applique I made, but here it is so far:

Our pack n' play arrived and I really like it, but OMGosh, it's huge!

I think this model should be called the setup n' stay.  It's too big to even fit through the door and you have to remove the diaper changing station, bassinet and electronic gadget before it will even breakdown in order to "pack" it up and move it to a different room or take it to say, grandma's!  Good thing my plans for this were to stay in the bedroom.  I'm going to have to rearrange some bedroom furniture now.  What's 1 more item on my 2 page honey do list, right!

I rec'd a box of baby clothes from Hawii from my SIL.  Thanks Sheree!  His closet is now busting at the seams!  He officially has more clothes that me.  I need my nursery furniture to arrive soon so I can utilize some drawer space.

To answer a few commenter's questions:  Yes, we will be incorporating giraffes in the theme, you'll see! No, we're not any closer to picking out a name.  We've been calling him a few of our names on our maybe list just to see if we like them.  We hope to have a name picked out before he's born.  How did I learn to sew or become crafty?  Well, I'm self-taught and honestly, I'm really not that great at it and definitely don't enjoy it as a hobby.  It's the frugalness and pickiness in me that drives me to go to the extent of making my own items.  Like my mom commented; "OMG, who makes their own sheets?"  LOL

Tomorrow we start our childbirth classes!  Gonna go get some education on how to get this little human out of me.  Hopefully it will be easier than what it took to get him in me!