ready and waiting...

 

I am so ready for this pregnancy to be over. Don't get me wrong overall I have enjoyed pregnancy as a whole and can confidently say I will do it again (granted this was written before the actual labor portion of the program). And up until about 3 weeks ago I didn't think it could get any more uncomfortable or that I would want him to come early. We were content and happy and patiently awaiting this guys arrival. Skip ahead 3 weeks later and I AM DONE. After 2 false alarms, constant contractions, working full time (until this week) and a kitchen remodel I am wiped out!

 

I have been having sporadic contractions off and on for the past few weeks but twice now I have had them get to two minutes apart and stay that way for several hours. Both times we went to the hospital and both times after a few hours observation we were sent home. Frustrating to say the least. But in my defense the nurses both said they thought it was the real deal too. They could just say that to all the crazy pregnant ladies though.  Now I tell Jim to be prepared for a home birth because I never wanted to be that pregnant lady who thinks its go time every time she feels a minor twinge. So either my water is going to break, I will be induced, or it will be a mad dash to get to the hospital in time.

 

This last week has really been the roughest. The contractions are more intense and seem to come on the minute I attempt to do anything. Everyone keeps telling me that's a good sign and that things are progressing and then I go to the Dr and he tells me I'm not progressing at all, so that sucks.  I have tried all the old wives tales...walking, bouncing, eating certain foods, drinking certain teas and nothing seems to help. So now I have just resigned myself to give in and and try and relax. Easier said then done of course but I am keeping my fingers crossed he will be here by the end of the week.

 

In the meantime here are my last 3 weeks of belly pics. Here's hoping there will not be another one!

 

 

Baby Stats:

He is the size of a watermelon or you know an actual baby

weighing in between 19-22 inches and 6-9 lbs.

My doctor estimates he is 7lbs 8 oz

He is head down but apparently content to just hang out where he is

He has 5 days to make his appearance or he will be grounded at birth

 

 

 

***the only bonus to him not coming early is that we have had time to get the kitchen functional. Its not done but we can cook and do dishes so I am happy. Still waiting on the floor, and microwave and a few cosmetic touch ups but as soon as its done I will blog about it. 

  

The hormones made me do it...

A little over three weeks ago the faucet on our kitchen sink broke and I got the brilliant idea that if we were going to replace the faucet we may as well replace the sink too. Easy enough fix, right? I picked out the faucet and sink and Jim and his brother Joe did the installation. In the process of taking out the old sink (which was installed incorrectly) the counter top to our kitchen sink cracked. So I had the idea of replacing that over spring break which happened to be coming up. Again, easy enough. I found one I liked at home depot and it could be installed fairly easily by Joe and Jim...and while we are at it since we doing that could we maybe add a dishwasher to make my life a little easier once the baby gets here? Sure. None of that seems too difficult and Jim actually agreed since its not going to be too expensive or time consuming.

 

After a few more talks with Joe and Jim about what my ideal kitchen would look like without going crazy expensive and labor intensive we came up with a plan to replace all the cabinets and add some storage above the fridge/stove to make up for losing some space with the dishwasher. Yes I know it sounds crazy but everything we wanted to do was in stock, it was spring break, I had people who knew what they were doing and I was told it could get done in a matter of 2 weeks, tops. And I shopped around and got a great deal for everything. It was like the heavens opened, the stars aligned and all was right with the world. It was meant to be and this will be easy, peasy!

 

Can you guess where this is going...

 

 

As is the case with any home renovation, things did not go according to plan.

We went from this...



To this...

 

Yep. 

That is what my house actually looks like. And will continue to look like for the next 3 weeks.

Oh yeah and did I mention baby is due in three 1/2 weeks.

I blame my hormones.

People should not let a 9 month pregnant woman make such crazy ass decisions. (Not that I could have been reasoned with).

 

The bad news:

electrical work from the 1940's is not to be messed with

no longer having spring break to work with

finding an electrician to work on short notice can delay everything else

working nights and sleeping days is really hard to do when people are working in your house

I will never live this down

 

The good news:

my husband did not divorce me

helpful family, friends, and friends of friends

Baby Jack seems to be content hanging out for the time being 

I will be the happiest human alive when it is all done

My husband does not have to buy my a push present, birthday present, anniversary present or Christmas present this year.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel

 

 

This phase of my life will from here on be called extreme nesting.

 

The room...

IT'S FINALLY DONE...

and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!

 



I was actually a good blogger and took pics along the way. It was quite the process but it is finished and fantastic.  Unfortunately, I cannot take any real credit for it. I simply had the vision and my mom brought the whole thing to life. I seriously dont know what I would do without my mother. She has been my little worker bee and angel sent from above when it comes to everything she has done for us.

 

Here is what I came home from work to. One day Mom came over and started the painting. The iphone pics may be difficult to tell but we chose a dark ish gray color, she is painting over a cream/tan color that you can see on the right.

 



Here is the test strip to see if we are going to have to use primer over the blue accent wall.

We did.

Could I have made a more labor intensive nursery?

Here is mom doing a test of the stripes I wanted to add, and trying to figure out the best way for the best results. 

First coat of red stripe done...Just 2 more to go :)

Here are the finished stripes.

And check out that crib that Jim put together all by himself (with only one phone call to Snyder)

Great job Hon!

 Thanks to a Christmas gift from my BFF, Kristen, a couple years ago, (and the WSU mobile) this was actually the inspiration piece behind the whole room.  

I did not want the room to be overly coug; I just wanted accent pieces here and there. And I think we pulled it off, for the most part. Here are a few close ups of some of the details and decor.

 

My sister in law, Cassie, had the sign above his crib made and I am obsessed with it. It makes me cry just looking at it. 

Remember this dresser? I bought at a vintage/2nd hand shop downtown and while I loved the size of it I wanted to make it a little more kid/nursery appropriate. Mom added some white paint (it was originally cream) and then I scoured the Internet looking for sports themed knobs and handles. Eventually we settled on these and I love them!

Here is my mom hard at work, trying to get the drawer pulls to fit. Me? I'm supervising :) In my defense this was the weekend I was supposed to be on bed rest and was having contractions. Have I mentioned my mother is a Saint?

 

Here is the finished piece. The plan is to use this as the changing table/dresser. I still have to hang up the rest of the artwork but for the most part everything else is done. The red basket I found at walmart and the baseball basket was a gift from Diane. Not sure she knew it fit so perfectly with our decor or not but I love it!

I have found myself already migrating to this corner of the nursery, and will sometimes just go and sit and rock and relax. Its so peaceful and cozy and the glider is so comfy. I found the glider for sale on facebook for $20 (can you believe that) and mom had the cushions recovered as a surprise for us. The growth stick was made by one of my dearest friends, Shannon's husband. The curtains we found on sale at Ikea and then my mom sewed the tie backs to match the stripe on the wall.   



 

Check out the amazing WSU quilts we received as gifts for our showers! Seriously I am so jealous I want one for myself. Maybe he won't mind if I just steal one :)

The crib bumpers and skirt was made by my Aunt, and the WSU bed sheet was made by one of my Mom's best friends. The baseball lamp I have had for years and years and the little end table was another find at a vintage store that my mom painted and fixed up for us. We added baseball knobs to match the dresser.



 Here is a panoramic of the finished product (Minus the cushions to the glider)

Love love LOVE!

Almost there...

Here are my most recent bump pictures

As you can see things are really starting to take shape...pun intended.

I am at the point now where nothing is really comfortable. Sitting, sleeping, standing, it really doesn't matter.

 

I started having real contractions at week 35. I went to the doctor and was told to take it easy for the weekend and try to get them to stop. So I spent the next two days in bed, doing absolutely nothing besides going crazy. I kept thinking about all the things that still needed to be done and made list after list of what I could be doing. Thank god for March Madness or I really may have gone insane. Eventually the contractions stopped and I am now able to do stuff again. I Just have to be careful not to do too much and to stay off my feet as much as possible.

 

I am now on weekly doctor appointments and so far everything looks good. I am still measuring right where I should be and besides the contractions everything else seems good. I am far enough along now that even if Mr. Man did decide to come early all should be just fine. My goal is to just keep him comfy where he is for the next 4 weeks. We have enough going on that an early arrival may make things slightly more stressful. But that's for another post all together.

 

A couple things to note:

Baby is as big as a watermelon

about 19 to 22 inches in weight

approx 6.5 lbs

As I said I started having real contractions at week 35

he is still most active late at night but I don't think he is sleeping much at all these days

I think he has dropped at least a little and I am feeling more pressure, down low

I have been craving McDonald's french fries and McFlurries as well as any and all ice cream varieties



Gettin bigger...

I just realized it had been quite a while since I posted my bump pictures. I am definitely at the point in my pregnancy where you can tell I am pregnant and not just fat. People at work have even started to comment that I am looking WAY more pregnant in the past week or two and one person even told me I have the pregnancy waddle when I walk. So I got that going for me :)

I really think you can start to see the difference in week 30 and 31. I feel like I doubled in size. 

Don't mind my pajamas :) 

 

Stats:

32 weeks (aka 8 months)

7 weeks to go!

The baby is as big as a honeydew

approx 19 inches and 4.5 lbs but lets be honest we all know our baby is going to be short and fat...and I wouldn't want it any other way :)

 

Other things of note:

 ~ week 26: I took a fall at work and sprained my wrist and cracked a rib. Being pregnant in the winter can be dangerous for a klutz like me.

~ My belly's growth spurt is causing more discomfort in my hips and lower back

~ The fall at work resulted in an Rx for weekly massages...they have done wonders for my back pain!

~ The fear that my 1st trimester nausea was making a comeback proved true. Its back with a vengeance but another Rx from the doctor seems to make it at least tolerable.

~ heartburn is also giving me a run for my money but my trusty Maalox and tums have proven more valuable than my MasterCard...I don't leave home without it.

~ Baby seems to be quite a night owl (like his mama) and really wakes up between 9-12pm, making the last few hours of work a bit more uncomfortable than the first.

~ I have had numerous people tell me that nausea and heartburn mean the baby will be born with lots of hair. 7 more weeks and we will see if that is true. My guess is it will be.

~ Solid, restful, sleep is becoming more and more difficult but i guess I better get used to that.

~ He had his first set of hiccups (that I could feel anyway) yesterday. It was cute/funny but also a little weird feeling.

~ still not many cravings (nor appetite ) besides the fact that I could eat ice cream, milkshakes or froyo for every meal and be 100% happy.

~ I am also loving sweet tarts and carry them with me everywhere. Not sure baby likes them as much as I do though :)

 ~ I am really hoping the weather decides to stay nice soon because putting on shoes is becoming increasingly difficult and I could really go with just throwing on some flip flops and calling it good.

~ all the nursery furniture is here and the walls are almost finished being paintied. I am hoping to have everything done by the first week of April.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favorites...

The first weekend of February I drove over to Seattle for weekend with my girlfriends and their babies. I am at a loss for words on how to describe how much these women mean to me. This was the first time in forever, virtually all of us were together, and as per usual a great time was had by all! Things may have mellowed a bit now that 3 and a half (me) are mom's but no matter what we do you can guarantee there will be laughter and great memories made.

Now on to the pictures:

Megs and Stone checking out Cooper



Jbass, Stone, Fuller, Dawn and Cooper catching up



Cooper getting some snuggles from Auntie Fuller

Auntie Jamie feeding Coop

I love this pic- Dawn and Stone doing what we do best :)

Love these Faces!

Megs, Dawn, Stone

Jamie and Fuller

Happy Megan

The whole team (minus Landis)!

Fuller, Stone, Jax, Sienna, Megs, Cooper, Me, Jamie and Dawn

These ladies fill my heart with such joy and happiness and I am eternally blessed to have them in my life. I know they make me a better person on a daily basis. I love them oso much!

Bump it up...

Now that I have officially reached the six month mark I thought it was time to post some new bump pics.

I finally feel like I am starting to look pregnant and not just bloated and fat :)

At this point baby is is:

as big as an eggplant

about 9-12 inches long

approx 1.7 lbs (or more!)

has a heartbeat of 157 bpm

 

Sorry for random/ugly backgrounds in these {iPhone} photos as well as the gap in weeks. 1-its awkward to take a picture of your stomach by yourself. 2-we don't have a full length mirror in our house (dogs broke the old one and have yet to replace it) so I have to remember to either take one at work or take one when I'm at my mom's house

A couple notes about the past 6 months:

• 2nd trimester kicks the 1st trimesters ass! If this is what pregnancy felt like the entire 40 weeks I could do it over and over again.
• Around the 13th or 14th week my nausea went away and my energy sky rocketed.
• I have not noticed any significant or weird cravings. There have been times that something sounded real good and if I ate something else instead I was not nearly as satisfied;  however I have not wanted anything I would not normally eat.
• The only food aversion I've noticed is beef. Can not handle even thinking about having a hamburger.
• Smells are definitely more pungent. I can tell when Jim eats or cooks with Tuna fish, peanut butter, or pot stickers for hours afterward. (i really wish we had some sort of kitchen fan)
• I thought I started feeling him move around week 19 or 20. I knew for sure it was him around week 22.
• He is moving and grooving all the time now and it seems like the majority of his body is settled on my right side. At least that's where I'm feeling the most discomfort.
• My celiac disease seems to have virtually disappeared with this pregnancy. Not sure if that is normal or not but I have not noticed any of the side affects I normally do when I eat/drink certain foods. *here's hoping this is a perma change post pregnancy*
• Around week 17 or so i started having severe back and hip pain and it has continued since. I would say this is the most uncomfortable thing I've experienced with pregnancy, thus far. I did get a Dr referral for massages but have yet to find a place that takes my insurance.
• The heating pad and the bathtub are my best friends and constant companions.
• Accomplishing normal, everyday activities are starting to become a tad more difficult: Tying shoes, bending over to pick something up, lifting things, pushing heavy shopping carts, all require a little extra effort.
• I have a suspicion the nausea I felt during the first three months wants to try to creep back into my life. Fingers crossed its a temporary thing  and does not take over full force again in the next couple weeks.
• Winter pregnancy bonus: I don't even have to PRETEND like I would be helping with the snow shoveling this year:)

So there you have it the past 6 months of my pregnancy at a quick glance. We are working hard on cleaning, organizing, and setting up the house. I finally feel like we are making some forward progress and will hopefully have some pictures to update with soon. Oh and if you are wondering what we were up to over the holidays please check out Megan's and Jacquee's blogs and they both had great recaps and I would have just stolen their pictures for my blog anyway :) Hope everyone is enjoying a happy new year...here is to a happy healthy 2013 filled with more blessings than you can count!!!