I waited for THAT?

Yesterday was my 36-week appointment. My doctor had an emergency delivery with complications, so she wasn't there. They were shuffling her patients around, so it took almost 2 hours of waiting for a 5-minute appointment. I really didn't see what the point of that visit was. I learned that I gained 3 pounds in one week, and that I am nowhere near dilating. I could have gone another week, or forever without knowing that. In my defense, I don't know how accurate that weight is--she did it so fast, she didn't even wait for the thing to stop moving up & down. She just slid the weight bar thing over and said OK, good enough. So I choose to believe that I didn't really gain 3 pounds in one week. :) But, there's not much I can do about it at this point. It is what it is. Oh, I did learn that I tested positive for group B strep, so I will need an antibiotic IV during delivery. Next week when I go in at "full-term," I hope there is some dilation or effacement, but I won't hold my breath.

On another note, we did get some bad news about our boy (dog). He is only 6 and has had 2 bladderstone surgeries, and was diagnosed last year with diabetes. He went through a very extensive (and VERY expensive) hospital stay to get past the initial diabetic shock he was in. Now he eats prescription dog food and NOTHING else except the occasional baby carrot for a treat. He drinks distilled water to cut down on the mineral deposits of our hard water, and he gets medication with every meal to treat his urine acidity to keep the bladder stones down. He also gets an insulin shot with every meal to manage the diabetes. So to say this is a special needs dog is an UNDERSTATEMENT, but he's our baby and if you didn't know all that, you wouldn't know there was anything wrong with him. Anyway, today he had an x-ray to check the bladderstones that were present, but tiny the last time he had an x-ray. Today they were not tiny. Apparently the prescription food and expensive meds have done nothing for it, so he is going to have to have a third bladderstone surgery. Poor little guy has been through a lot, and so has our bank account!!!!!!!!! I wonder if our perspective on this will change once his baby sister is here? Nah...

The sweetest husband

Last night, Jay decided to read to baby. I had told him before that the baby can hear his voice, so he's thinking that would be cool if she knew his voice when she's born. So last night he read 3 stories to her. One was about a bunny who wanted to run away, but his mom kept telling him she would find him. One was The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and one was The Tortise and the Hare. It was so cute! He's going to be the best dad. I can't wait to see him read stories to her on his lap.

The last month

Look--the little baby on the counter at the top of the blog moved to the last space! The birth is getting close. Very close, yet so far. I can't wait until she's here, but aside from having her here and holding her, I have been thinking a whole lot about the things I am so looking forward to doing when I'm not pregnant:

• Working up a good sweat
• Losing weight
• Walking without pain (though that may take a while!)
• Laying on my stomach
• Tying my shoes
• Wearing regular clothes
• Losing weight
• Painting my own toenails
• Using my laptop on my lap
• Drinking beer!
• Eating raw cookie dough (though I guess I won't do that, hence the losing weight)
• Losing weight
• Going longer than an hour without peeing
• Crunches/sit-ups (yes, I'm serious)
• Have I mentioned losing weight?

I am convinced that being this uncomfortable is God's way of preparing us for labor & delivery!

Yay for showers!

Again, I'll say how blessed we are to have such great people in our lives. Yesterday we had a shower and it was so nice and we got so much stuff! This baby is officially ready to come out! Well, I guess she could use a few more weeks of cooking, but we are so close to being set with all the STUFF. This girl has so many clothes! Here is one of the 2 gift tables:

Here's the cake table. It was so pretty, and I'm ashamed to say that we took home the leftover cake and have eaten most of it already. Well, I'm ashamed to say it, but not too ashamed to blog about it, I guess. :)
The flowers are now a pretty centerpiece on our kitchen table, too! I just love those hostesses--they are the greatest.

One thing I loved about this shower is that it was a couples' shower. So, J got to open gifts with me and it was relaxed. I am still blown away by how much we got. We are so grateful!Before the shower, family came into town and my mom brought the cute valance she made for the baby's room. I love how it pulls the room together! Thanks mom!!!

OK, as long as I'm putting all these pictures on here, I may as well put my 26-week belly pic. I'm a few days shy of 36 weeks, but we had the camera out, so why not. She's growing by the minute! I feel like I've got a basketball attached to my tummy, but I won't go into the thighs & butt...

Now I get it!

I had my 35-week appointment today (since it had been 3 weeks since my last one) and there is nothing to report. Everything looks good, I didn't gain too much weight (well, maybe a pound too much), and from now until she's born I'll be going every Thursday.

I did get an answer to the question I've had for well over a month now though. I have been wondering what all these lumps are, like which one is the butt, what is the other curiously large one, is the head really down, etc. So my doctor pressed on everything and was able to identify those curious lumps. Now I know baby's head is down, the butt is usually right around the middle, just below my ribs, and the legs/feet are waaaaay off to the right side. That's why I'm always lopsided. I knew those were feet I was feeling, but I didn't realize the legs/knees were so big. What can I say--this is all new! My fear that this baby had 2 heads or 2 butts is now gone. :)

Magic 35

Well, really there's nothing magic about it. I just thought it was cool that I'm 35 weeks along today, with 35 days left. 35 days. Doesn't seem like much. 5 weeks. Somehow, that seems a little longer. Maybe I'll stick with the day countdown.

I was just upstairs meeting with some engineers, and one of them (who I had never met before) asked if I was expecting. I thought that was pretty brave. Usually people ask when I'm due or how much longer I have. What if I had said no? No, I'm not expecting--just gaining weight. I keep meaning to do that to someone, but somehow I just don't have the heart. :)

Butterfly kisses

A while back, I was set on a frog theme for the baby's room. While I still love all the frog stuff and still plan to get more, we have migrated towards butterflies to match the bedding we got. It was meant to be an animal theme anyway, so all animals (and insects, but not real ones) welcome! Anyway, yesterday we went to Pottery Barn Kids, which we had never been to before. Uh-oh, I think I will have to bookmark their website because they have the CUTEST stuff! They had a butterfly mobile that we just HAD to get. It looks so cute with the bedding and will give baby lots to look at. We have tried not to buy much, but I just couldn't resist!


They don't spin like the battery-operated mobiles, but when the fan is on (which it always is), they float around.


Baby girl is getting BIG. I guess I've got 38 days left (and hopefully not another hour). Over the course of this weekend, I now have a few lovely stretch marks, my feet have swollen so that only my flip-flops fit, and if I put my wedding rings on, it's likely that I won't get them off.

Green all around!

Everyone at work is wearing green, which I usually do on St. Patty's Day, but I have nothing green that fits! Well, except a fleece jacket, but it's in the 70s. I tried to squeeze myself into a green button-down this morning, but I decided that wasn't happening. So I've got a green post-it flag stuck to my black shirt, and that'll have to do.

That's not really the reason for this blog--the reason is to do a little complaining about the neighbors. Like I said--complaining has gotten to be a trend, right? Well, our lovely next door neighbors have had a big pile of crap sitting in front of OUR house for a week. They put it out there last Thursday night, I think, and then Friday the garbage people didn't touch it. It sat there, and then Tuesday rolled around and the garbage people took some of it. Then Friday rolls around again today and it's still sitting there. When I say pile of crap, I'm talking about an old kitchen sink, some kind of big pump, a cabinet, and a bunch of other unidentifiable, but big, trash. Instead of putting it on the left side of the driveway so it's in front of their house, they put it on the right side so it's directly in front of ours (it's a round curve in the street so there isn't much curb in front of our house). Well, we have been annoyed by it, but what sealed it was yesterday when I got home from work, there was a letter sitting on the counter from the HOA saying we were violating the deed restrictions with all the trash sitting in front of our house for several days. WELL, J was out walking the dog, and I didn't want to wait. I assumed he hadn't yet done anything about it, so I marched my big self next door, and when the wife answered, I showed her the letter and she said "I know, your husband already came by to chew me out." Well, we had some friendly chit-chat and she said she couldn't understand why they sent us the letter and not them. I said because it's sitting directly in front our our house--everyone thinks it's ours. Then she walked out and looked at it and said "Oh, I guess I can see that it's more in front of your house." Ya think??? So, by tomorrow this stuff should be gone and we will again be able to look at our blooming azaleas when we drive up, instead of a big pile of garbage.

Here's another perk to living next door to these people--their stupid dog barked NON-STOP from 2-3 am. This time, he was on the other side of the house so it wasn't as loud for us. Usually he's right outside our bedroom window, but fortunately, he doesn't always bark in the middle of the night. I definitely prefer listening to their 17-year-old son practice with his garage band than hearing that dog bark continuously for an hour in the middle of the night. It would be a shame if there was an unfortunate accident...

Maternity clothes

Sadly, I had to buy 2 maternity shirts yesterday. I have plenty of long-sleeve shirts that I either borrowed or bought a while back, but it's too hot for that now. I'm not used to being hot while other people are comfortable, but that's what's happening. Temps in the 80s don't make long-sleeves very comfortable, and I have already outgrown most of my short-sleeves! With 6 weeks to go, I hate to buy anything, but I figured I'm going to need more than 3 shirts in the rotation to get me through.

I hate maternity clothes! Why do the designers of maternity clothes think that all pregnant women want to show their boobs? 90% of the shirts that I see are so low-cut and have such huge necks that they don't even stay on the hangers. I didn't wear low-cut before and I don't intend to start now. I don't want to be sitting at work, worrying that I'm flashing something that I don't want to be flashing. And why are the t-shirts so small? When I am wearing a large or even XL maternity t-shirt, you shouldn't be able to see which way the baby is sitting in utero. I mean really--I am not THAT big. that an XL should be that tight. Do they think that we all want to go the celebrity way of showing off our "beautiful pregnant shape?" Bleh. I won't even go into the pants because I've got enough to get me by, but I sure can't wait to wear pants with buttons & zippers again! Pants that I don't need to pull up every few minutes if they sit below the belly, or pants that I have to pull down to sit comfortably if they sit above the belly. OK, so I'll go into pants a little. :) If I was a person who normally wore skirts or dresses, now would be a great time to do that. However, I won't because my thighs have gotten so fat that it's hard to sit with my legs crossed or even with my knees together.

I suppose that's enough complaining for now...I've noticed a trend. The further along I get, the more complaining I do. Well, just imagine how fun this blog will be a month from now.

The name dilemma

I'm not going to post the name that we have almost 100% picked out for baby girl, but most people who know me already know what it is. Why though, does EVERYONE and their dog want to know the name? We picked a name that we loved but that wasn't too common. We passed over other names we loved because we were afraid she'd end up with 5 other classmates with the same name. Now, when people ask and I tell them, they feel compelled to tell me about their friend/cousin/neighbor/sister's husband's neice who has the same name. I really don't want to know that because now I'm having fears that this may also becoming common. I kind of think that would happen with any name we pick though, because people like to tell me about anyone they have ever known who has that name. Just like when I tell them my due date, they tell me that's their grandmother's birthday or their parents' anniversary. I don't really think it would be all that special to have her born on the same day as the Kroger cashier's birthday, but that's just me. I guess people just get excited about it, and I should appreciate that.

As for being irritated--I have no problem telling friends & family what the name will be, but why do complete strangers or acquaintances always want to know? I know it's just curiosity and conversation, but if I say we haven't decided 100%, they ask what our favorites are. Is it rude to say I don't want to tell? Can I make up something like Anastasia or Beatrice? If I say we haven't picked a name, they look at me in shock and say I better hurry up. Well, I guess that would be my concern anyway, so maybe I'll stick to that. ???

Hiccups and karate kicks

Almost without fail, this baby gets hiccups every night when I lay down to go to sleep. Also without fail, she kicks A LOT at the same time. Kicks, punches, claws, rolls over...I think she'll be born a black belt. I think I'm going to lay down to go to sleep about an hour before I really want to go to sleep, just to give her time to settle. It's starting to be painful sometimes--almost feels like she's clawing to get out! Thanks to Brigitte, I now have a visual of Freddy Krueger's nails clawing at the other side of a wall! Sometimes at night it makes me jump (the feeling, not the visual), and her little feet are starting to kick under my ribs. In the next few weeks, I may get creative with my sitting & laying positions.

Here's what I want to know: Why is it that she waits until I lay down to go to sleep before she really gets going? All day she squirms and shuffles, but at night she's dancing in there. I'm starting to wonder if maybe somehow a little soccer ball got in there. I hope this isn't an indication of her schedule after she's born!

Here's something interesting that probably everyone already knows, but it's exciting! Babies are no longer considered premature at 37 weeks. I am now 33 weeks, so technically that means I only have 4 weeks left!!!! OK, so really I have 7, but that's so fun to think I could have this baby in 4 weeks and she would be full term!

Are you KIDDING me???

OK, so I'm glad yesterday was my birthday and today was my 32-week doctor appointment, because at least last night I got to enjoy one last big, yummy piece of carrot cake. I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I gained 6 pounds in 2 weeks!!!! Yes, I typed that correctly. 6 pounds in 2 weeks. I didn't even know that was possible. So for the next 3 weeks (till my next appointment), I'm going to cut waaaaaaay back on the empty carbs and see what happens. I have said that before, but I've never had a threat like this. I knew I had gotten significantly bigger recently, but that's just wrong. Dr. said some of it is probably water retention, but that I need to watch the carbs. Until now, "watching the carbs" has meant looking at them to decide which ones I'm going to eat. Blehhhhh!!!!