I Hate Stinkbugs, and Other Assorted Horrors

A stinkbug just landed on my head. I got really upset until I finally found it and flushed it down the toilet. I'm not at all excited about the number of stinkbugs in the house, and particularly about them landing on me.

I had another appointment today. This should come as no surprise. I'm always at the doctor. Unfortunately my appointment didn't go so well. Fortunately E is fine. She passed her NST right away, though she's still difficult and insists on dropping off the monitor on the regular. Me? Well that's another story. I decided to ask what the deal was with the 24 hour urine I had done 2 weeks ago since no one ever called me with results. Why I assumed this was a proper course of action I will never know. I was actually pretty excited at first because my urinary protein is 3000, which, again, is way less than my norm. The problem is my creatinine has increased by about 30%. Urinary protein loss is indicative of problems, and in kidney disease usually indicates your kidneys are going to stop working right, not that they aren't filtering currently. Creatinine tells you how much of the crap your kidneys are actually filtering out of your blood. Mine's been stable for a few years around 1. It was 1.1 in December. It's now 1.4... and it sucks. Once again I didn't see my regular doctor, but the one I saw said something along the lines of the pregnancy is finally starting to take a toll on my kidneys but hopefully it's not permanent. Thanks for that.

I did some research and apparently creatinine is supposed to go down during pregnancy, and only about 16% of people with my level of renal dysfunction have a loss of renal function during pregnancy. Of course I'd be one of them. About 6% progress to End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) within a year. And it pisses me off because we did the IVF when we did in order to preserve renal function. We could have tried IUIs, but we didn't because we wanted to be sure we started while my kidneys were decent. And still I end up with problems. I just have to hope they're right and it goes back to normal after delivery. For now I'm pretty scared, and I don't like that they didn't make more of it. Tel me what I can do to help... something.

On the bright side, when I got home, the bassinet was put together! A had done it today, which is awesome because it's one thing we do need to have right away. It vibrates, plays songs and soothing sounds, and has a mobile with lights. She's going to love it! Here it is all put together:

 

It has a cool basket at the bottom so I can store a few diapers and wipes so I don't have to keep getting up to change her. It really is more perfect than I imagined it was! 

Behind it you can see the recliner where I'll be spending the remainder of my nights during pregnancy. It's hard to explain exactly what hurts when I sleep in the bed, but it's all sorts of parts that shouldn't hurt. It's more comfortable in a way... I fall asleep and stay asleep better in the bed. But it just hurts too much every time I try to get up. 

Oh yeah, my insulin dosage got upped today, too, 'cause my sugars suck. I kind of expected that. Still, it's been a not awesome day, and I have a lot of questions for my OB (finally seeing one of my regulars) on Friday.

Ups and Downs

Today was filled mostly with insanity. I've known for a while that A's work was planning to give him a baby shower and that I was going to head to his work around 11:30. Unfortunately it's 45 minutes away and I had an NST at 2:30, so I had to "flex" out of work. This meant getting up at 5:45 this morning. Thank God I work from home on Fridays, so I fell asleep in the recliner, woke up and plugged in the laptop and was ready to go. I left at 11:30 ish but I had to get gas and something to eat and I got to A's work about 12:20. I'd never met any of his co workers but they were so nice and it was cool to see where he works! They'd sent him out to get some food for their "pot luck". He actually called me on the way back to the building!! I answered and pretended I was home and asked if he'd be working late. I hid in the cubicle next to his so I heard him and how surprised he was when he saw his decorated cubicle, and then they told him the person in the next cube was having a problem he should check out, and he peeked over and it was me! He was so surprised and SO happy. It was awesome. They had a ton of great food and O M G they got us SO many presents. We got over 100 diapers (Size 3 - so now we have N-3!), 640 wipes (miraculously all the brands I actually wanted, too!), a really sweet little baseball figurine with a bear and a rabbit playing baseball (we're HUGE fans), a HIGH CHAIR, a couple of absolutely adorable outfits (I'm not a fan of animal prints but one is a zebra and has little ears and a mane lol), and a basket filled with clothes, a blanket, toys, baby lotion and soap, baby cereal, etc. I mean it was AMAZING. I can't believe they got us a high chair. It's a great pattern, and it's a space saver one that straps on to an existing chair, which is perfect for our tiny dining room. We were both just kind of taken aback by their generosity. I'm actually sitting here looking at the pile of gifts and it just gets me all worked up.

I'm picking up the dresser tomorrow (well, some manly retail guy will be doing the actual lifting) so I can finally get organized. Most of the big stuff on the list will be done by next weekend. I think I only have a few more weeks (which I will explain later) before E is born, so it'll be nice to have things ready. I'm washing her clothes tomorrow, we're hanging shelves soon, and making room for the pack n play. I'm ordering the swing this weekend so aside from little things, the only thing we really need is the baby monitor! I do want an ergo carrier, but I might get something cheaper depending.

After the shower I headed to my appointment, which really, really sucked. I didn't get to see my regular doctor, and though the other doctor was nice, I felt like she sort of... made a little too light of my situation. First and foremost, I'm wearing pretty much the same outfit as last week, and I gained 8 pounds. In 10 days!!! And my BP was 138/94. My ankles are super swollen, but she said it "isn't too bad". She also said my bp was better because it was 138 (despite my regular doctor specifically telling my the diastolic was more important). She said 94 was par for the course for me pre pregnancy and that's just not the case. 84 maybe. Not 94. And she said nothing of the 8 pound gain. Evie failed her NST, but passed her biophysical profile with flying colors, so she's OK. But the NST was awful because they could only get her heartbeat if I was flat on my back, which hurt and made me extremely nauseous. It was a long appointment, and while I've spent most of my pregnancy being nervous that they'd call Pre-E too quickly when it was actually my kidneys, I was nervous today that they were under-valuing the issues at hand.

There isn't much I can do about it, so I'm going to talk to MFM on Tuesday about my concerns, and I see my regular doc on Friday. I think 2 or 3 more weeks is going to be where we end up, which isn't so bad. It gives me time to finish everything up, keep working, and growing a healthy little one.

I'm pretty back and forth as far as emotions go, and I'm excited to get some things done tomorrow and to spend some time with my family and relax. I really need to pack that darn hospital bag.

5 More Weeks

Holy. Crap. Did I just write that? Meaning I really only have 5 more weeks until I am a momma with a little baby girl!? No way. And that's, like.. the max time left! Can I just say how happy I am that we got the painting and steam cleaning done now? I mean there are still only 4000 things left to do, but if baby girl came today, we'd be pretty ready for her. After my work shower I now have almost everything I need, and I'm going to order my swing. I'm picking up the dresser and putting it together this weekend and getting things organized. So we're almost there. And A's work shower is tomorrow. I don't know if there will be gifts, but if there are we'll just be so well prepared. I bought the diaper pail even last weekend because it was on sale for $22 at Target.

One of my coworkers who had a baby in November brought me a boppy today, too. She said she got one for Christmas but already had one, so she just gave it to me! It was so sweet and it feels awesome to have everything but the swing and dresser! Ok I still need the bottle drying rack, but really... we can live without that for now I think.

I've always had this... timeline in my head about when it would be "ok" for E to be born, and 34 weeks was kind of my minimum for that. Not that I want her born early, but there are babies that go home with mom and dad at that point, so it felt like a pretty safe place to say "OK, if she has to come early, by this point she's got a good shot at being pretty healthy". I'm 34 weeks next week. And I'm honestly so proud of us. I'm proud of my body for finally doing what it's supposed to and nourishing and housing this human being. And I'm proud of E for soaking up all her nutrients and just being such a good baby and hitting her milestones. This wasn't "supposed" to happen. I fully expected to be on bed rest and have an IUGR baby. But I'm not and I don't, and I kind of want to throw my own body up in one of those big "HOORAH!" cheers. Because it has a terrible history of doing everything wrong, and it has picked a good thing to do right. I know it's early. I know we're 4 more weeks to full term. But when you come into it thinking things are going to go downhill pretty quickly, and you get here with what looks like a very bright future.. it's hard not to get excited.

I'm at a point where I'm starting to get excited about labor rather than dread it because I didn't know how Evie would do. I'm getting ready to pack my hospital bag and just be totally pumped to get to the hospital. I'm discussing with my mom about who I want with me when (and she told me she'd be completely OK if I needed to kick her out at some point, which is a huge relief to this momma's girl).

And among other things, today I'm grateful to God for my blessings. I haven't had an easy road in a lot of things regarding my health. And while I can complain about that until the cows come home, I do have one thing I always wanted that I was never sure of, and that's my baby girl. It sort of feels like I was just wondering if I'd ever get to feel my own baby moving around inside me. In a way I was mourning because I just didn't think my kidneys could handle it. And no one could have ever prepared me for how amazing that feeling is. Being here at 33 weeks is literally a dream come true.. an answered prayer.. and a miracle I spent a long time thinking would never happen. No matter what other issues I may have, I'm lucky and blessed to have this little one. And that she's healthy. And I think as sad and hard as life can get sometimes I have this to pray in thanks for every night. I'm in love... with 2 people. One that was a stranger for 23 years and one that we made. We made a person! And she is in every way a miracle. And I can't wait to see her.

First NST Almost Failure and Shower #2

Today we had our first NST! I felt very sick to my stomach this morning so I didn't eat, and it became very clear very quickly that E was not going to cooperate. The ultrasound took forever, but we did finally get measurements, and my worries were quelled as she's not getting smaller for gestational age, she's getting bigger! She was in the 51st percentile again at 4lb 10 oz! We were also able to confirm again that she's a girl, and that she has hair!! And apparently it's pretty long. She did pass the NST but it took forever because, as I've mentioned, she HATES monitors, and they can't keep her on one for long.. certainly not 20 straight minutes. The nurse had to stand there and hold it on. And she wouldn't move until I ate some crackers, so it took a while anyway, but we finally got out of there. I did talk to the peri, and she prescribed insulin for me to help with the sugars. But she said that with E's size and gestational age, she's not so much worried about her anymore, and now we have to focus on my health. Meaning that if my BP gets high or anything we'll be inducing because E's at a point where she should be pretty healthy. I want her to stay in for 4 more weeks and 2 days just to get her to full term, and from the looks of things we should be able to do so. My BP was fine, and cervix is closed and fluid is great.

A was with me this time, and he kept getting super antsy at the ultrasound. He looked incredibly frustrated and it was starting to upset me a little. We parted ways and I got to work and said hi to my boss. We had a luncheon scheduled for today so she sent me down right away. And when I got there, there were way more people than are in my group... because it was a baby shower!! I was SO shocked I sat down and said I was confused lol. They had to tell me it was a shower for me, and I started looking  around trying to piece it together. And then they brought in A and my mom! A had been frustrated because he knew about the shower and didn't want me to miss it!! Since I work in a government building, people can't just stop by, so it's really cool that my mom got to come see where I work. A has been here for my wedding shower a few years back. And the theme was sea creatures! Check out this AMAZING cake my coworker made:



And another coworker made the cupcakes with sea colors and sea animals in them! Isn't this the coolest? And there were centerpieces, too. The picture is a bit blurry but it's a mini goldfish bowl with little goldfish in it!!

And various colors of these were hanging.

Plus they got me the baskets from my registry (mystery solved!) filled with tons of stuff like diapers, wipes, and bath toys, and some other "mom-approved" things like a frozen treat feeder for when they're teething. and a gift card to BRU so I can get the swing! AHHHH! I mean it was really so cool that they did all that for us. And A's work shower is on Friday!!! It's also a surprise so it will be so cool to surprise him since he's gotten me twice. And I've been SO good about not letting him in on it. He might expect something, but he won't expect me!

All in all, it's been sort of an awesome day, and I hope that continues. I get to go home to A and hang out and go through some baby stuff and watch tv and organize. It should be so nice. And Friday I get another NST. Plus I found out I have ultrasounds every time I'm at the MFM's to check fluid so I get to see my baby girl all the time! I'm so incredibly fortunate to have so many people to love my little girl, and that with all my health problems she's growing perfectly and looking great. I couldn't ask for more.



32 Week 4 Day Survey

How far along? 32 weeks, 4 days

Next Appointment: My first NST is tomorrow!

Weight gain/loss: 16 pounds as of my last appointment. I thought I was up to 20, but then I got on the scale with my shoes on, which I never do, and it still went down 3.

Maternity clothes? Definitely in maternity clothes, and they're getting tight. Some days I look at my belly and I feel like it has grown a ton overnight.

Stretch marks? Yes

Sleep? Sleep is awful. Last night I fell asleep at 7 (yes, 7!) and woke up at 11 and was up until 2. My bed is comfortable but it hurts so much to turn over in the middle of the night. It's like the ligaments that hold up my ute are just not handling it anymore. And I get up to pee a few times so I can't avoid it. I try to sleep in the recliner but it's not as comfortable. It hurts less, though, so I don't know what to do at this point.

Best moment this week? Last night for sure. I was having trouble falling back asleep because E was so active. So A offered to come over and try to calm her down. He started rubbing my belly and telling her jokes and she pressed up against his hand. He yelled "OH MY GOD!" and jumped up, and then put his hand down again and she did it again. He'd thought he felt her once before, but he didn't, so this was the first time he really felt her move. He got really choked up and just kept saying how much he loves her. Such an amazing moment.

Food cravings: Everything. I'm trying to stick to the GD diet. I did well the first few days but not so much the last two. I need to talk to the peri tomorrow because it wasn't getting my numbers down.

Odd pregnancy symptom of the week: Serious cramps. They've been coming and going all day today. And I've been getting a lot of stomach cramps, too. I guess my body is preparing, but it definitely hurts.

Gender: Girl

Belly button in or out? Part of it is popping out. I HATE it. But, it's still in, really.

Movement? Oh yeah. She's crazy. She's particularly active at night, and just this week started making it tough to sleep.

What I miss? Good sleep, not being in pain, and feeling stable emotionally.

What I'm looking forward to: 34 weeks, and my next ultrasound. And giving birth! My mom took one look at me the other day and said "You won't go another month".

Weekly wisdom: Apparently your pediatrician comes to the hospital to check out your newborn. I had no idea this was the case until I took the birthing class. So I kind of need to get a pediatrician.

Milestones: I don't know if I've hit any. It's a pretty big one to see her movement all the time. It's nice to hit 32 weeks, which is a point where a lot of hospitals with lower level NICUs will let you keep the baby there. Mine has a level 3 anyway, but.. still.

Things Are Looking Good!

I finally got a chance to look at the nursery now that the carpets are dry. We don't have the furniture placed where we want it yet, but I took some pictures just because it's so cool to see it empty of all the crap and starting to look like a baby's room.

This is the wall the crib is going to go on. I just love seeing the floor empty!

 

This is from inside the room looking at the door and closet. The bookcase still needs to be painted, but we finally got the lamp hooked up so I can turn the light on by the switch! Yay! Most of the stuff on the shelf is actually books, and we have an entire box from when I was a kid to put on there as well.

This is the changing table and the crib all put together. They're just gorgeous. You can't see it well but the sheet and dust ruffle my mom made are on there. They look awesome with the wall color. I'll take a better picture of that later, too when the bumpers are in (no, I'm not using bumpers when she's little, but I like the complete look). There are a few things on the changing table I need to take back, but it's definitely looking better.

Just another view. My dad put up the curtain rod, so as soon as my mom finishes the valance that will go up and we'll get a shade to put in there. It's weird how small the room looks in the pictures. It feels pretty big when I'm in it.

And this is our room. It's overflowing with toys and other baby things. Everything else is stuff A and I never put away. We need to do this before Evangeline is born, too. We need to fit a bassinet in here and we need to get as much clutter out as possible.

This is still our room, complete with laundry basket that has nowhere else to go. I'm really hoping to find a new place for that. And her little rocking chair, which will be relocating back to her room shortly.

And finally, my latest belly pic. This is actually from a few days ago.

So the to-do list now consists of putting her furniture where it needs to go (and picking up the dresser), putting up shelves and organizing her room, putting up the artwork, putting together the Pack n play and bassinet, moving a dresser out of our room, moving a desk into our room, organizing our room, and organizing the pantry to make room for stuff that's out in the kitchen so we can fit bottles somewhere.

That's not much, right? And I still need to buy her swing, which I want here and ready for when we come home. Her baby book came, and it's absolutely gorgeous - even better than I thought - but the binding is coming apart so it has to go back. I hope we get the new one soon. I also got her coming home outfit and these adorable burp cloths, which, surprisingly, I had none of at all!

 

I've been following the gestational diabetes diet for a few days now and it's not doing much. My sugars are still high. They're not astronomical or anything, but I have so many risk factors I need to talk to the doctor about my numbers. I see MFM on Tuesday and I'm nervous. I want to know how big E is and I'm not sure if I'm getting a growth scan or not. Either way, the closer I get to delivery the more I fear the dread "bed rest". Especially with how crappy I've been feeling. I just have to see what she says but I hope everything looks good. 

So the OB said there's nothing they can do for the sciatica but heating pad and tylenol. Tylenol doesn't touch it. He did give me a note to get a temporary parking pass at work so I can park closer to the building. That will help, but I still have a long walk to my desk. At least it's something though.

Unfortunately when I got to the OB my bp was 146/90. The 146 was pretty normal, but the 90 was higher than it has ever been. That combined with the pain under my ribs and the nausea caused him to send me to L&D straight away for monitoring. I was there for about 4 hours hooked up to monitors. E looked awesome, and my bp was ok on my side, but the doctor did a few tests and said she was worried and wanted blood work. Urine tests tell them nothing since I have so much protein all the time. It took a while, but the labs came back fine. I'm doing a 24 hour urine tonight though. I'm pretty exhausted from the day I've been having. I'm so glad I don't have Pre-E and my baby gets to keep growing on the inside.

I can't wait to meet her but it's just too soon. I hope some of these problems go away soon though. And I really want to get some sleep. Fortunately hubs has taken on every job there is around the house so all I have to do is.. well.. nothing. Nothing but have him bring me things and give me heating pads.

I'm taking it easy tonight and probably not going to work tomorrow. I don't want to use up more sick time but I just need to relax and try to let some of these problems heal and work themselves out. I'm so glad my baby girl is feisty as ever (she HATES the fetal monitor) but hoping we don't have to test that out again for another few weeks.

Ow

I hope this post doesn't rub everyone the wrong way, but I have to say this. I am so ready for this baby to come out. As in.. I wish I could miraculously be full term and she's come out. Or... I wish I could give birth today and she'd be 100% healthy. I don't know that I have ever experienced such pain for such a prolonged time in my life. Whether it's SI or sciatica, it's awful, and there are times I just want to carve out my hip joint and put in a mechanical one. Right now would be one of those times. I just got stopped 4 times on the way back from the cafeteria by well-wishers and those who wanted to help me. I stopped every few steps, wincing and holding back tears. I wish I could say I was exaggerating, but this is what the word excruciating means to me. I'm ready to cry walking down the hallway and scared to pee because it hurts so much to sit on a toilet. I don't think I have a really low pain tolerenace, and I almost wish someone could hop into my body for a few minutes to tell me if I'm being a big baby or not.

A is coming to the OB with me today and we're going to talk to him about it. I cannot live with this pain for 6 more weeks. And for the last few days I've been getting awful stomach cramps, pain under my right ribs (where I'm supposed to call about if it happens, but I didn't since I see him today anyway) and I threw up this morning.

I hate, HATE complaining because I am SO lucky to be pregnant and expecting this beautiful little bundle. But no one should have to go through this much pain. I hope something can be done to help. I can't take the walk in from the parking lot, which took me a good ten minutes this morning. I can't do a damn thing to help my AMAZING husband who is doing everything around the house. And than God for my wonderful parents for doing the painting and steam cleaning in the nursery. I'm so glad and thankful to have such a support system. I just need to speed up the next 6 weeks or I'm going to fall apart.

One Day I'll Finish the Nursery

I can't believe I've actually made some progress. I spent part of today going through everything from the shower and getting rid of all the bags and paper. There's a lot more room in the nursery now. My parents are coming up on Monday to steam clean (they absolutely would NOT let me do it!) so I had to get as much out of there as possible. A is going to bring the desk downstairs so they can take it with the when they leave. I already moved some of the totes to my closet, and the pack n play and bassinet are still in boxes and will sit in the closet for now. Thankfully we have a huge closet in that room. We'll throw the mattress in there for now, too, so they'll be able to get to the entire room. We still have a ton of things left to do before E arrives, though, so A and my dad are going to come together one day and put together the crib and hang the new curtain rod and paint the bookshelf. And I ordered the dresser today! I found a 20% off nursery furniture coupon in my email so It was originally $269.99 and I got it for $232 including tax. Or something like that. Plus, they let me return my extra play gym and I got $55 for it, so I feel like I really cleaned up getting this dresser!

It's supposed to come next week, so I can put it together and start organizing. Right now I have no place for all the blankets and towels and onesies and things. A said he'd make sure they got it all done by around 02/01, which should give me time to get it all straightened out in there.

I bought some size 1 diapers today and some extra wipes. I don't know how long she'll be in newborns. Probably longer than the 96 I have, but she might surprise me and be big, so I wanted to have size 1s on hand, too. I was given a tub of 60 something wipes at the shower, and I realized that if babies go through 8-10 diaper changes a day, that'll barely get us through a week, so I got a bunch more. I know I could have A go out and get some if we need them, but we're all going to be tired so I figured it would be easier to just have it on hand.

I'm so excited that I feel like as long as she stays in just a bit longer we might actually have things set up for her. The next thing we have to do is move the dresser and then put the other desk up there so we can set up the pack n play, but that means first organizing all the crap in our room. And there's a lot of crap. Boxes still out from when we moved in 2 years ago. Have I mentioned that we need a bigger house? So I'm going to try to work on that on Monday while my parents are steam cleaning and A is at work. I really have no idea where it will go, but the room needs to be cleaned if we're going to have a bassinet in there.

So in other words, I still have a ton of stuff to do, and I'm hoping to get as much of it done as possible this weekend, but tomorrow is the Raven's playoff game, and I'm going out to watch it. But at least we're close. At least all the furniture is ordered. Except the rocking chair. A didn't know I had a glider on the registry and decided by himself he wanted to get me a rocking chair. I told him that's fine, but I really need padding since I'll be recovering from either a C-Section or pushing a baby out of my lady parts. He's working on it with my mom and it's just so sweet. Plus one less thing we have to buy (I still need my swing!).

So far no signs of baby girl coming early, and I start NSTs the week after next. Our birthing class is next Sunday and that should be really neat. Less than 7 weeks now!!

Dilemnas

A and I are officially struggling with this whole middle name thing. Does she really need one? My dad doesn't have one and he turned out OK. I mean she does have a ten letter first name and an 11 letter last name. That's enough, right? OK, I do want to give her a name. But A thinks Noelle is just too long. He wants a 3-5 letter name, which I can get down with because.. holy hell, I wouldn't want to have to make calendar appointments just to write my name down either. We both really like Ivy (since before the whole Beyonce thing, I can assure you), but then I realized that her nickname is Evie and.. Evie Ivy? Even I can't do that. So I was thinking of other flowery/plant names and came up with Lily. Evangeline Lily? Yeah, as much as Lost was the best show ever to be on television (and as much as I mourn its loss :() I'm not doing that to her either. A likes Leah, and while I like the name, it doesn't flow well. So.. we're at a loss. We like Claire (can you tell we like Lost yet?) but it's become so popular it seems like more of a "filler" middle name (sorry Claires. It's a beautiful name but there are like 8 billion Claire middle names right now!). We decided that whatever we come up with we'll be keeping it to ourselves because everyone has an opinion and.. I don't want to hear it.

That's one dilemna of many. I spent ALL DAY yesterday at the doctor. 3 hours in Quest getting my 3 hour glucose test done.  This was followed up immediately by my endocrinologist, who heard my 1 hour numbers, did a finger prick, and said "I don't know why they even bothered putting you through the 3 hour test". Joy. She also doesn't think I can control it with diet, but my OB still does, and we'll see what happens when the official results come in.

Immediately after that I had an OB appointment. I explained that E didn't seem to be moving nearly as much, and he couldn't find her heartbeat! So he did a biophysical profile and she's breech. Of course. He couldn't find her heart because he expected it to be in a completely different spot. While he said she does still have time to turn, he was obviously not completely convinced. He clearly expected her to be head down, and mentioned twice that she is breech, and even brought up the "C" word!

The good news is OMGWEHAVESOMUCHSTUFFFOREVIE. But We do still need a lot of expensive things, like the vide monitor, dresser, and rocker. So that'll be fun to try to collect. All in all things are going better than I expected all around. I hope E is comfy and sticks around for at least another few weeks. For now everyone seems to be content, and I hope it stays that way.

Baby Shower Day!

Today was my baby shower and it was absolutely amazing. It was the same kind of feeling at my wedding where I just couldn't stop smiling, and the time went by faster than I thought possible. When I came in and saw the pile of gifts I was just amazed at just the generosity of people and how much people love this baby! Here are a few pictures I took.

This is the cake. It was beautiful and it looks just like the invitation!

 

A little baby rocking chair from one of my longest time friends' moms.

 

Some of the gifts. It seemed like so much more in person. It took 7 trips from the car!!!

 

These are the balloons my mom got. It's kind of hard to see, but the top one is a giant stork!!

 

And this is hubs with the pile of gifts at the house. See? Amazing!!

 

We also got the changing table which is absolutely gorgeous. I really need to get the dresser now for all the adorable things she got. And she got TONS of blankets and towels and washcloths. I don't know where I'm going to put everything but it's so cool to have all this baby stuff in the house. And cool that she's going to be here to enjoy it soon.

More New Purchases

After fumbling around for most of my pregnancy trying to decide what kind of baby book we wanted, I finally purchased one. Andy has been wanting one for a while, and I don't like the ones I've seen in stores, so I found one on Amazon. I told A what the pages were (including that it has a spot for a letter from dad) and we went through all the covers and picked one. A's favorite was a night time theme, but it was overwhelmingly boy, so we decided on this one.

I also had an OB appointment yesterday, and everything was fine. BP looks good (for me) and I haven't gained any weight since my appointment two weeks ago. I knew it was because I was water-logged! So 30 weeks and 16 pounds. Not bad! I did ask him when we should talk about delivery, but he said I'm doing well and he doesn't want to jinx it, so we're going to wait until 34 weeks. He also made an odd comment about how "With all [my] problems, [I am] doing really well!". He definitely expected more issues. But we're still being defiant.

I did get the opportunity to record her heartbeat so A could hear it. And when I can figure out how to post an audio file, I will!

Crib Sheet and a Survey

A insisted on bringing the crib and mattress in tonight when he came home. The crib is still in the box, but the mattress is out! I'm not 100% sure how I feel about that because it smells a LITTLE bit like pot and/or skunk. Seriously. It's ridiculous, and I really hope it airs out before E has to sleep in it. But.. it is REALLY FREAKING COOL. I put the crib sheet my mom made on it to make sure it fits. She really wanted to see it yesterday but we were just too tired to bring everything in. It fits, and it's absolutely perfect. My mom is amazing. So... bedding sneak preview!

I can't believe how perfect the fit is. I need to wash it, but I wish I had more of these! Unfortunately the valance is coming out of this fabric, too, so I don't have enough to make another sheet. PS: Welcome to the cramped living room that is barely going to hold the pack n play and swing.

And because it's been a while, a survey!

How far along? 29 weeks, 4 days

Next Appointment: Tomorrow - OB

Weight gain/loss: 16 pounds as of my last appointment

Maternity clothes? Yep. Starting to almost grow out of some of them!

Stretch marks? Yes

Sleep? I'm sleeping OK. I wake up a lot to turn over because my elbows and shoulders hurt. MIL got us a memory foam mattress topper, though, and that seems to have helped my hips.

Best moment this week? I THINK I saw my belly move when she kicked. Getting the nursery painted was awesome.

Food cravings: Nothing really.

Odd pregnancy symptom of the week: Pain where my legs meet my body when I turn over when I'm sleeping. It's so weird. That's the only time I have it.

Gender: Girl

Belly button in or out? Part of it is popping out. I HATE it.

Movement? Yeah all the time. She does this weird thing where it feels like she's sticking out her fingers and wiggling them against me on either side. It's nuts. She wasn't moving much at the ultrasound last week, and I discovered she's head down, but still folded over with her toes on her forehead.

What I miss? Not being extremely hormonal and emotional. I'm out of control. I miss stability.

What I'm looking forward to: Getting to 30 weeks. That was one of my milestones. After that will be 32, then 34, then 36.

Weekly wisdom: Try not to stress about all the weird things your body does. Most of the time it's OK.

Milestones: She's almost 3 pounds. 2lb 15oz and I'm SO close to 30 weeks.

Belly pic: I think this is 29 weeks 2 days. I'm really starting to see a difference as the weeks go on since she's growing so fast.

The Finished Product

Well, of the walls, at least. It was an interesting time picking out the color. We brought the bedding fabric to Home Depot and couldn't seem to find a good color. We even thought about switching to this lime green but it was really not a good color, so we kept looking. The search took me to the Disney colors, and I found one called "Pooh's Favorite Things" which was cool because A LOVES Pooh. It is in the same family as the color on the fabric, but a little lighter. The end result was this!

It looks a little lighter in the top picture than it really is. It's more of an aqua/teal and is really girly in person. My mom said she wouldn't even put it in a boy's room. So we still have some things to get rid of but the desk will be gone this weekend and that's most of it.

I'm so happy that this big step is finally out of the way.

The Nursery is Finally Coming Along!

Today was nursery day. To be honest, we still had a ton of stuff in there. We never took the desk apart, and we had all the totes in there. My parents came over and A took three of the totes out to the car, and took the desk apart. We've decided to keep it, and will be taking it up to my parents' house to store along with the Christmas stuff which is 3 more totes. They couldn't take all of it, so we just moved a bunch of it to the middle of the room and they painted around it. They didn't really seem to want us to help, so they just painted and Andy moved stuff around and I sat and watched. I didn't get much of a chance to take pictures, but I got a few "before" pictures of the nursery.

As you can see, there's still quite a bit of stuff there, but we really did send a lot home with my parents. The color on the walls is the same color that's in my entire house except my bedroom, and it's kind of terrible. The window in the picture is a mess because the screen they put in doesn't fit the window. It's really old and the dry wall and sealant is falling apart. But we're doing our best since it's a rental and our complex has the WORST maintenance department (the ugly plastic molding they pass off as a baseboard in the bathroom broke. They glued it back together and used their foot to push it back against the wall. The footprint is still there, and the glue came off again. Just one example. Who puts a footprint on someone's house and leaves it there?). Basically, we're ready to get out of here and hoping we have our own house by this time next year.

I will have some "after" pictures of the nursery tomorrow when there's light. We're really happy with the new color.

I was looking through my registries today thinking about how much I'll have to buy if people don't buy more from them. There really is a lot the I actually need to have, and plenty that would just REALLY help me out. And I don't mind doing it. I'm actually excited about it. I just want to know so I can get cracking! I am excited to shop for whatever I want for her without worrying someone else might get it. So don't think I'm complaining. No one owes me anything. I'm just ready to go shopping! Things are finally coming together and I'm so thankful that my parents painted the room. I'm ready to actually put it together. A is bringing the crib in tomorrow, and I have a crib sheet to put on the mattress. We have enough fabric to do a valance and some art work, and it's just the coolest thing to finally have so much. My mom's boss is bringing the changing table to the shower so I'll have that in there as well.

Just a few more days and I'll be 30 weeks, which seems like such a milestone. I'd guess my baby is coming next month, and things are coming together.