Wednesday, December 28, 2011

31 Week Belly

Please excuse the dog toys scattered about in the background :)

Christmas, Doctor Visit #8 and 31 weeks

Whew, so much happening!  It was a long, but nice weekend for us.  I was off work on Friday, so I ran last minute Christmas errands and hung around the house.  Saturday was Christmas Eve.  Chris and I went to Indiana to see his mom's side of the family for Christmas.  We ate lasagna and had a white elephant (believe it or not, the gift everyone wanted was a fire safe -- I even wanted it, but by the time it was my turn, it had already been stolen too many times.  But I got the softest blanket in the world, so it was still happy).  Then they surprised me with a mini shower.  I got some great gifts and I am so grateful for everyone's generosity!  We all hung out and visited (and ate waaaaaaay too much) for a while longer.  After the festivities wrapped up, Chris and I headed back home to Illinois.  After spending over 7 hours in the car in one day, we were beat!

Here are some pictures stolen from Jessica :)

From what we've heard, this little rocker thing is a lifesaver!
Chris checking it out
Christmas morning, we woke up and headed to church.  We got there super early expecting it to be packed, but there were less people there than on a normal Sunday.  We heard that midnight mass had been packed so I guess that's where everyone was.  After that, we headed back home to open our Christmas gifts to each other (we didn't get up earlier enough before church to do it before we left).  Chris basically already had is gift from me -- I got him the cover for his iPad.  But I also got him a gift card for the app store and his ornament (a tradition in our house).  He got me the perfume I wanted as well as my ornament (a pretty snowflake with 2011 on it).  Daisy, of course, got some presents, too...some new tennis balls and a new little toy.
Is it sad that I have like 5 pictures of the dog opening presents?  At least next year it will be a person (but I'm sure there will be a few of Daisy as well)

I think there's something in there!
Merry Christmas!


We pretty much crashed after that.  The trip to Indiana was tiring, especially for me since sitting in the car is super uncomfortable these days.  Later that evening, we stopped by my mom's house to give/get presents and eat some dinner.  While dinner was cooking, we had a surprise power outage (rumor has it a poor bird met a sticky end in some sort of power device) that lasted about a half hour.  Good thing Ritch is prepared for the apocalypse (which if occurs, I am not invited since I make fun of his stockpile of Costco goods :)  but no worries, Chris and Johnny are more than welcome) and had these little battery power things that he plugged the oven and crock pot into so that dinner would not be ruined.  After we ate, we headed back home for some more rest and avoided watching the Bears get creamed by the Packers.

Being lazy :)

Monday we were both off work and we decided it was time to actually start getting some things done for Johnny.  We went to Home Depot at 9:30 am to pick out paint for his room.  We decided on a nice green that matches the green in his bedding.  Chris then got to work painting.  He got it all painted, it just needs a second coat.  It looks so nice!  Now we just need to have the furniture delivered and it will start to look like a real baby's room!

Getting started -- I wasn't allowed to help

Tuesday I was off work because I had my next doctor's appointment.  Johnny is looking good -- his heart rate was 147 and I am measuring at 33 cm (at one day shy of 31 weeks).  My blood pressure was good, still no swelling, and I didn't gain any weight this time.  My doctor reminded me that I can still gain 13 pounds.  I assured her it wasn't for lack of trying...I ate plenty, especially over Christmas.  Maybe it will have caught up with me by my next appointment.  I get to have another ultrasound, too!  This one is to check growth and make sure everything looks as it should.  Speaking of, I need to call and schedule that today!  She also informed me that she is going to be out of the country from the 9th to the 30th!  Yikes!  I have to see her before she goes, so in just 10 days, and at that point she'll decide if I need to see another doctor while she's gone or if I can wait until she gets back.  I also got some pediatrician recommendations, so Chris and I need to set up appointments to meet with them soon.

And today is 31 weeks!  I am still feeling pretty good, but I have been assured by my doctor that the next couple months are going to get painful.  Apparently, my pelvis, which is currently like one bone and always has been, will begin to separate and rub together, which is going to hurt since it has never done that before.  Sounds like a barrel of laughs :)  Oh well -- I think all that makes mothers wish for labor instead of dreading it.  But I really must say, I don't really have any complaints that are serious.  Just minor aches and pains here and there.  He's been hiccuping a lot lately...it's kind of a funny, rhythmic tapping feeling.  When it first happened, I wasn't sure if that was it or not, but a quick google search confirmed that it was.  Now I feel like he gets them all the time.  His movements are really big now, too.  Less kicking, more pushing out, making it look like there is an alien inside of me.  Chris can't believe how visible his movements are.  But to me, it all means just one thing...he's growing like he should :)  A moving baby is a happy baby, so they say.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

30 Weeks

Only 70 more days to go!  Our furniture has arrived, so all we need to do now is schedule delivery.  We want to paint first, though.  Not sure when we're going to get that done...maybe Monday?  But once that's finished, we can start putting his room together, which will be so much fun.

I'm really starting to get to the uncomfortable stage.  He's getting bigger, taking up more room, which means I'm getting bigger.  I have a lot more aches and pains and my stomach is upset a lot (but that could also be from me stressing myself out -- which I'm totally doing better with, I promise!).  But, like I've said before, it's all worth it if it means that the little man is healthy and growing in there.  In the past week I've talked to a couple girls who have had babies in the last few months, and they both said they have already forgotten about the uncomfortableness of pregnancy and the suckiness of labor.  So there's that to look forward to :)

It's great to see Chris really getting excited for John to be here.  We went and visited our friends Mike and Liz and their little guy, Matthew, this weekend.  He's two months old now and such a cutie pie.  Chris held him for a long time and he even fell asleep in Chris' arms.  That night he said he wishes that it was time for John to be here now so he could hold him.  All in good time, though.  I feel like the next 10 weeks are going to fly by.  And who knows, it could be less than that.  My mom, the great predictor, things I'll go in the beginning of February and Chris thinks it will be mid-February.  Just as long as he's healthy and ready, I'll just be waiting for him to come when he decides.

Here is a not so cute picture...bad lighting, bad hair, but at least you can see the bump.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Childbirth Class

This past Saturday, Chris and I took an all day childbirth class.  It was given by the hospital where I am going to deliver.  It was a pretty good class.  She went over what we'll go through during labor, pain coping strategies, pain relief options and several other such things.  Chris found out that he's got it pretty good, too.  At one point we separated girls and boys and he said that some of the guys have some crazy pregnant ladies on their hands who cry all the time and make crazy demands.  Truth be told, we both though I'd be that crazy lady, too, however, I'm actually a very well behaved pregnant woman (excluding a few weeks in the first trimester, but I felt awful, so I think I'm excused).

We also watched a few babies be born.  I was a little worried about Chris at this part, but he did great.  So great that he's decided that he wants to hold a leg while I'm pushing instead of staying by my head.  That's huge progress!  He said it wasn't as bad as he had imagined.  Although I will not be delivering completely naked like some of the women in the video did.  More power to those who do, however I feel like enough of me is going to be exposed to strangers, might as well keep some things mysterious.

After the teaching part, we got a tour of the maternity ward.  I have been in there before when friends have had babies, but Chris had never seen in.  It's fairly new, and soo nice.  The shower in the bathroom looks like it could be in a hotel!  The rooms are huge and private and have a pull out couch for Chris to sleep on.  He was very impressed and it made him feel more comfortable with the whole delivery process.  He is visual, so being able to imagine where we will be helped him out a lot.

The only down side to the class is that now I'm convinced every 5 minutes that I'm going into labor.  For those of you who know me, you know that I can be a little a lot paranoid about some things.  Well, my current fixation is pre-term labor.  Every pain I feel, I wonder if it's actually cramping leading to labor.  If my stomach is upset, it's my intestines cleaning themselves out getting ready for labor (when actually it's probably from me stressing out about everything, leading to nervous tummy).  Oh, my back hurts, that means labor is starting.  I think the main catalyst in all this are the braxton hicks contractions.  I get them fairly often, and despite having a talk with my doctor and getting a clear explanation of how real contractions feel and when to call her, I still freak out.  Which I know is not good for me or the baby.  So I'm trying to take deep breaths and calm myself down so I don't drive Chris insane with my paranoia.  Johnny boy is nice and cozy in there (and kicking me like nobody's business, like, all the time) and he's going to stay in a little while longer.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

29 Weeks, 1 Day

Only 11 weeks to go, how crazy is that?! He's all formed in there, now he's just maturing and gaining weight. I have a friend whose little boy was born at 29 weeks. It's crazy to think he about him being born at this point!

I'm feeling ok. Sleep is, as always, increasingly uncomfortable and interrupted which means I'm a lot more tired than I was it the second trimester. Today I was having pain right around my belly button, which apparently is due to the stretching of my muscles and ligaments and the lack of support around my belly button. It's awesome.  I've also noticed more Braxton Hicks contractions.  I've been able to feel them since very early on (like around 14 weeks), but they are more noticeable the bigger my uterus is.  They don't hurt and they aren't regular, so nothing to worry about at this point.  Other than the general aches and pains, I really don't have much to complain about. I'm still not swelling at all and the actual baby part of me is not too uncomfortable yet.

Since he's running out of room in there, I can feel him moving all the time, which is great :) Even when it's slightly uncomfortable (like when there is a foot wedged under my ribs), I still love it. It's just affirmation that he's doing what he's supposed to be doing.

Here is this week's belly picture. It's the same shirt I had on a few weeks ago, but a HUGE change in my belly :)


We had to change our background -- due to some re-arrangement to accommodate our tree, the wall we usually use is currently home to a bookcase...so, landing it is :)  And we're back to white socks.


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Holiday Fun!

This past weekend, we had a lot of holiday fun!

Friday night, my mom's side of the family celebrated Christmas since many of us are not able to make the traditional Christmas Eve celebration this year.  Almost everyone was there (there are 5 kids in my mom's family with their spouses plus 15 grand kids (and one great grand kid on the way ;) ) so it can be challenge to get everyone in the same place at the same time.  We had a nice dinner, played an ornament exchange game and had a great time :)  As soon as my Aunt posts pictures that I can steal from her, I'll add them to this post since I only managed to take one :) 

Cocktail Weenie Wreath :)  We were proud.  Tiffany made an excellen bow out of dough.

Saturday during the day we ran some errands and cleaned out the garage (well, Chris cleaned out the garage) so that we had a place to put all the stuff we took out of John's room.  That evening, we put up our Christmas tree.  We had the fireplace on and the snow falling channel on the tv.  It was a nice little evening :)

Not the most flattering angle, but then again, what is when you're 7 months pregnant :)  I swear I took a picture of Chris haning up ornaments...I think that maybe when he took this picture he deleted it.  Tricky, tricky :)
Sunday, we went to church and then to breakfast for my Grandma's birthday.  After that, we came home, took a nap and watch the Bears lose.  Sunday night, we had our annual Chrismas cookie decorating at Janet's house.  The girls made nice cookies, the boys made inappropriate ones.  My mom and Janet put a puzzle together like they usually do.  Janet had snacks and chili for us.  It was a fun night with good friends and family.

Lots of cookies!



My very appropriate cookies (I won't show you the inappropriate ones)

Maggie and Christopher

Bethanne and Maggie hard at work

Chris enjoying his cookie



My mom working on the puzzle and Ritch relaxing
 I had Monday off from work.  I had lunch with Jessica, her mom, Patty, and her two boys.  It was great to see them all.  Everyone has such busy and different schedules, it's sometimes hard to see people, even if they live close by.  After that, I went home and just took it easy.  It was nice to relax a little bit after such a busy few days.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Counting Kicks

So all the books and websites say you should start counting kicks at 28 weeks. My doctor didn't say anything to me about it, but I thought I'd give it a try for fun. It said to pick an active time and then time how long it takes to feel 10 kicks, and that it shouldn't take more than an hour. I made it to 12 in about a minute. I think we're good, and maybe even in a little trouble :)

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Belly, 28 Weeks

Look, black socks! :)

28 Weeks

I am officially in my third trimester. Now I'm really starting to think about meeting our little guy. Who will he look like? Will he have Chris' eyes or my hair. All things I'm so excited to find out, but at the same time content to wait. I know he needs to cook a little more before that day comes :)

So a lot of people complain about pregnancy...and it's true, there is plenty to complain about (I've done my fair share), but there are some things that are so cool, they make it all worth it.  My favorite thing, the best part for me, is feeling him move.  I was nervous that I would be creeped out by it, like I would feel there was an alien inside me or something (and it for sure feels like it sometimes!), but it's not weird at all.  It's so cool.  I think, too, it's a confirmation that he's ok in there.  When he kicks, or rolls around, or does whatever he's doing in there, I want everyone to feel it, to share that moment (except random strangers...random strangers are not allowed to touch my belly...luckily I haven't had this happen yet, but I've heard stories).  And no matter what, it makes me smile, even if I flinch first -- bladder kicks are not the most comfortable.

Belly pic coming soon :)

Monday, December 5, 2011

Whoa Baby!

Kicks so big, my belly is rolling!!  Watch to the left around where the wrinkles in my shirt are.  There are some especially big ones toward the end.  Just for perspective, this is a top down shot...I'm sitting in a chair.  The black in the top left corner are my pants...you can see the white tank top sticking out from underneath the bottom of my sweater.



Sunday, December 4, 2011

Success

Now we just need to pick out paint...and I won't show you a picture of our guest room right about now.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Belly, 27 Weeks 3 Days

Doctor Visit #7

Note: I meant to publish this yesterday, but like many things in my life these days, I forgot...so here it is :)

I had my next visit today. All is progressing well. I gained 4 pounds (so adhering to the pound a week rule this past month) and grew 4 cm, putting me at 30 cm total. His heart was good and strong. I can't remember his heart rate, but I know it was in the 140s (I'm proud for remembering that much. I swear I lose more brain cells each day). My blood pressure was a smidge high, but I had just run in, so no one was concerned. I have no swelling, which is good news.

I go back for my next visit in 3 weeks, when I'm at 30 weeks. I think after that I'll start going every 2 weeks until we hit February, then it's every week 'til the little man makes his arrival.

Chris and I are making a big push to clean up John's room today.  We got some bins and are armed with trash bags.  Here is a shot of the room, mid clean up...it will soon be empty, ready to paint and fill with baby things :)
Seriously not as bad as it was...you literally could only open the door.  That pretty painting has been destined for the space above our fireplace for over a year.  We really need to hang it up.  There is also a very large bookcase packed with books just to the left of this shot...still trying to figure out what to do with it.