We Have a Doctor!

Tonight we met with the pediatrician we had narrowed down to. She seems like a very nice woman and has been practicing for a long time. Also, she is a Dreyer doctor, and we've had nothing but good experiences with them so far, so she's a go :) and bonus, her office is about 4 minutes from our house.

Also, we received a gift in the mail tonight from Chris' aunt, Misty. How cute is this hat??

Can you see Daisy trying to check things out?  She's so curious about all the baby's things :)

Friends!

This weekend we had a great visit from some friends.  Dustin and Brittany, some of Chris' friends from Huntington, were in the area from Ohio visiting Mike and Liz and meeting little Matthew for the first time.  They all came over on Saturday for lunch.  It was quite a brood we had, with Chris, Daisy and me, Dustin, Brittany, their kids Violet and Ezra, and Mike, Liz and Matthew. 

Chris and I made a crock pot full of chili for lunch and we had a great time visiting.  Brittany's birthday was on Friday, so Liz brought a little cake for dessert (p.s...that piece that was left...you guys were probably not 5 steps out the door before I basically inhaled it :)  I love chocolate cake with chocolate frosting).  The kids were great...we got to try out a few of Johnny's things :)  Matthew took a nap in his crib and Violet ate lunch in his high chair.

We were a little nervous about how Daisy would do.  That was a lot of people and a lot of kids...she has never been around anyone as young as Matthew and Ezra.  But we were soooo proud of her...she was so, so good!  She took treats so gently from Violet and she didn't seem scared or upset by babies crying.  We took that as a very good sign of things to come.  She even tried to cuddle with Liz and Matthew, but since she couldn't find the position she was most comfortable with, she moved on :)

We were so glad to get to spend some time with such great people and we can't wait to see everyone again.  It was the first time the three future best friends were "together" (Ezra, Matthew and in-utero John) and we look forward to several more such occasions.

Child Care

Ummmmmm, holy crap, is it expensive to have your kid taken care of.  Chris and I are trying to figure out what's going to happen when my maternity leave is over.  Ideally, I would be staying home with the little man, but at this point, we don't really think that's a feasible option.  So the next option would be having someone else take care of him...either an in home day care, our own full time babysitter, or daycare.  I don't know anyone near us for in home day care, so that kind of makes me nervous.  We may have a couple options for a babysitter, but then the question is how much to pay them...I really don't know what's fair.  Plus, would an infant 5 days a week be too much for someone who isn't his parent?  And then there is daycare.  OMG, let's talk about that.  I called a couple of them to get some ideas of prices....one was $1596 a month...that's like $400 a week (I know, I have mad math skills)!!!  Are they going to teach my baby to pee in a toilet and read by 6 months or something?  Have his times tables down by a year?  Because something fantastic better be happening for that much money.  Suffice it to say, that one is sooooo off the list of possibilities.  I found a couple others that are more reasonable and have good reviews, but it's still a lot of money.  And then we'd still have to have our dog walker come for Daisy (whom I love...Bonnie, do you want to watch Johnny, too?).

Any advice?  It's kind of stressing me out.  I was totally cool about it before, all, oh yeah, it'll all work out...but now I'm kind of freaking out.

35 Weeks

So I'm there.  I've finally made it to the point where I can say I am uncomfortable and just about ready to have this baby.  The aches and pains that I have been lucky enough to be without for most of this pregnancy have set in.  My work pants don't fit me anymore (well they do, but they have a demi band instead of a full panel -- this was way comfortable before, but now that my belly is so big, it does nothing but hurt me all day long as it pushes into the under side of my belly -- I think this fact is actually leading to a good majority of my discomfort), so I'm pretty much wearing my leggings every day.  I don't have that many shirts to go with my leggings (I have a "my butt needs to be covered" thing...but I'm inching toward not caring about that too much), so I'm probably going to be wearing the same 4 outfits every week until this baby is born.  The funny thing is, I really don't care :)  As long as I can sit in my chair without being in pain from my clothing, I'm good.  I can wear jeans on Friday, so at least those days I can switch up my wardrobe a little bit.

As for John, he's rocking and rolling in my belly, pushing out in all directions.  I think he's just about out of room in there, too.  Can he really keep growing for the next 5 weeks?  I can feel him stretch now, and it pushes against my pelvis and the top of my belly already -- where is a bigger baby going to go??  Everyone has ideas on when they think I'm going to have him.  Chris thinks around mid February.  My mom had a dream that he will be born on February 7th -- that is my parent's wedding anniversary, and since John is named after my dad, she has a feeling that's when it is going to happen.  Pretty much everyone on my mom's side thinks no matter what, he's coming early, mostly because they all had their babies early, too.  We'll see.  I just hope I don't go into labor while I'm at work...it could legitimately take me 3 hours to get home if I have to wait for a train.  And seriously, how much fun would it be to have contractions on public transportation? 

All we can do at this point is wait.  We're ready for him to come when he decides to make is appearance :)

Here is a belly pic finally...this is actually 34 weeks and 6 days, since we took this picture last night, but we're so close, we'll just call it 35 weeks :)

Dasiy got in on this one :)  And you can see my belly button poking through my shirt

 

More Baby Stuff

This weekend we got some more baby stuff accomplished!  We went to BuyBuyBaby to pick up some things we still needed -- we got another car seat base so that there is one in each car, burp cloths (so essential and we didn't have any!), a waterproof pad for his crib mattress as well as a sheet saver and a few other essentials.  Chris picked out a little outfit that says Kiss Me, I'm Irish for St. Patrick's Day :)

I started packing my bag for the hospital.  I'm not thinking I'm going to be needing it in the immediate future, however it was recommended to pack it in advance so that you don't forget anything.  So it's as ready to go as it can be.  I made a list of things that will need to be added before we leave (like things that I use every day) so that 1) I don't forget and 2) if for some reason Chris needs to do it, everything is clearly laid out.  I also picked out a little outfit for John to wear home from the hospital.  It's crazy how close that day actually is! 

I also made an appointment to meet the pediatrician we will most likely go with (she's come highly recommended -- even the receptionist I talked to was gushing about her), so we'll be meeting her on January 30th.  If all goes well, we'll be set for the little man's care :)  Plus, she's a Dreyer doctor, so in the event that she's not available, I feel good knowing that there are several other doctors available nearby that would give him equally good care.  There is also an walk-in clinic at the same place as the pediatrician's office, so we'd still be covered on off hours (they are open 7 days a week).

Doctor Visit #10

Today I had my next doctor's appointment. Everything still looks good. I weighed in at 152 and my blood pressure was at 126/60. His heart rate was 150 and I measured at 34 cm, so right on track. They also did my strep b test. Dr. Patel said it's fairly normal to have it, but if I do, I'll need to be treated with antibiotics when I go into labor so I don't pass it on to John. She asked me if I was contracting at all and I told her I was. She said that, along with the pressure I have been feeling are completely normal at this time. She said pretty much as long as I wasn't leaking any fluid, wasn't bleeding or in pain, the contractions were fine.

So, one more appointment down. My next one is in two weeks :)

34 Weeks

One more week down.  Hey, remember when I was freaking out about pre-term labor 6 weeks ago...guess I'm still pregnant :)  It is nice to know, though, that a baby born at 34 weeks, while may have some short term health issues, most often does just as well as a full term baby in the long run.  Example, my brother was born at 34 weeks and he's just fine :) I can tell I am getting closer to "D Day" though.  For one, the little man is definitely getting bigger.  I've also noticed over the past few days an increase in the amount of pressure down there from time to time (especially in the morning).  There hasn't been any noticeable drop to my belly, but honestly, I've been so low this whole pregnancy, I don't even know if I will notice anything.  I have a doctor's appointment on Friday, and I'll definitely mention the pressure, but from what I've read, it's pretty much par for the course at this point.  And again, not worried about it since I'm not in any pain, bleeding or not having regular contractions.  It's amazing how much the BH contractions have eased once I chilled out about them (and have really tried to drink as much water as I can fit in me).  I mean, I for sure still get them, but they are not happening nearly as often as they were. 

I'm definitely starting to get worn down and I'm definitely slowing down.  It's hard to put on socks and shoes.  However, for being 34 weeks pregnant, I think I'm in pretty good shape.  Still no major swelling (just some minor hand swelling every once in a while), no stretch marks, my weight gain has remained steady.  While sleeping is not constant, I am at least sleeping.  I only get up once, and every once in a while, twice a night to use the bathroom.  The thing that's killing me the most, at least at home, are all those dang stairs.  It's such a chore to take both flights at the same time.  Probably the thing that bothers me the most, what I definitely complain about the most, are the tummy aches I get all the time, most likely caused by the inability to use the bathroom regularly.  It's something I was not prepared for at all -- people don't like to talk about that sort of business, so I didn't even know it was headed my way.  I cannot wait for that part of myself to be back to normal, that is for sure. 

John's room is just about ready to make it's debut.  I think we found some shelves that will work and the pictures for the wall are ready to be hung.  Once that's done, I'll take some pictures and post them.  It's so nice to have a real place for him!

I will try and get a picture up by tomorrow...I totally missed last week's, my bad.  But the picture from the shower is basically a 33 week picture :)

Date Night

Sunday night Chris and I had a little date night :)  We had some gift cards for Lettuce Entertain you restaurants, so we decided to go to Mon Ami Gabi for dinner.  It was soooo tasty (probably because they had my favorite food from France, duck confit.  If you've never had it, oh jeez, you need to eat it) and the chocolate pudding cake that I got for us to share for dessert but ate myself was heavenly.  Chris discovered he likes espresso, too.  It was a nice night out, probably one of the last few that is just the two of us.

Monday was a holiday, so we were all home and took care of a lot of business.  My mom and sister came over to help finish getting John's room ready.  Can I say, my mom is a one woman tornado.  In a few short hours, we got John's room cleaned up, set up and his clothes washed (or at least in line to be washed...I finished them up last night) and our guest room, which was holding a lot of stuff that used to be in Johnny's room, all cleaned up as well.  We can now leave all doors in our house open without fear that Daisy will find something to eat that she shouldn't be eating. 

While we were doing John's room, Chris put together both pack and plays and the umbrella stroller.  Earlier this weekend he also put our high chair together (it looks so cute in the kitchen...and it matches :)  I'll post a picture later)

For now, all that's left to be done in John's room is hang the pictures (I got frames at Michael's -- they were buy one, get one free!!).  We still need to get a bookshelf, too, but I don't consider that an urgent matter.  I still need to wash/sterilize his bottles and pacifiers, but that won't take me too long.  His little world is coming together :)

Ultrasound

Note: I wrote this post yesterday (Saturday) but didn't get it published until today...oops :)

We had our last ultrasound today. What a difference from 20 weeks. He's quite a bit more cramped in there, but we were able to see his face, arms, legs, little fingers and toes :) His heart rate was at 148 and his estimated weight is 5 lbs 5 oz. He was moving all around during the ultrasound and if the lady pushed on him, he would push back. Quite the feisty little guy we have :) At the end she was trying to get another shot of his face for us, but he kept turning his head and covering his face with his hands. I guess he had had enough. Here's a great face shot.

I think he has my nose :)

PS...In case this looks like nothing but a gray and black blob to you, let me try and explain so you can see him...The black circle towards the top/center is his eye.  Ok, so starting just above that is his profile, with his forehead (the brigher white arc) on the right side.  As you move toward the left down his profile, you see his little nose, and then his lips.  It looks like he may have been sucking on his lower lip, or had it in his mouth somehow because his chin is back a little bit.  Hopefully you can see it now :)

33 Weeks

49 days!  Oh my goodness!  Things are continuing to progress.  The little man is getting bigger, and since he's running out of room, his antics are very visible.  My stomach is constantly jumping around.  But every movement I feel makes me happy...a moving baby is a healthy baby :)  And he is a wiggle worm to be sure.  I swear, he never sleeps.  I hope he starts sleeping when he's born, or I'm going to be one tired mama (well, I probably will be anyway, so I guess I should say even more tired)

We have our final ultrasound on Saturday, so we get another glimpse of Johnny before he is born.  While I know weight prediction in an ultrasound isn't very exact, I think they can tell how long he is with some certainty, so that will be fun.

This weekend is a three day weekend so I think Chris and I are going to try and get Johnny's room as organized as possible.  I'd like to have everything in place and waiting for him when he gets here :)  At least his laundry is little and I can fit a lot in the washer at once.  And speaking of washing, have you all smelled Dreft?  It smells wonderful, just like a baby should :)

We still need a chair for his room (I think).  If anyone has any suggestions/opinions on having a chair to feed in, let me know.  Those buggers aren't cheap, and I don't want to spend money on something we aren't going to end up really using.  We also need to get something for the windows.  I'm thinking longer drapes so that we can block out the sun during daytime nap times, but I also found a valance that matches, so I don't know what I'm going to do.  I found some prints from an Etsy shop called FieldandFlower that were made to match his bedding.  How cute are these?  I ordered them this week and they are on their way!

So now it's time to sit and be patient.  He will be here within the next two months, but not knowing when is frustrating.  I can't wait until I get to see his little face!

I'll have a belly pic up tonight :)

Weekend Excitement

This was a big weekend for us.  There was so much going on! 

Saturday started out super busy.  I was out and about running errands (or maybe I should say waddling errands) while Chris touched up the beige paint (tan, light brown, whatever you'd like to call it...) around the brown around our fireplace (there was some overlap between the two colors), and painted the mantle white.  He did a great job and the paint is all even and smooth now.  We even were able to hang up the picture we got for our wedding shower...almost a year and a half ago.  Better late than never, I guess :)

Doesn't it look pretty!

And then, John's furniture was delivered!  It looks so great.  We had a small hiccup -- one of the drawers was cracked in one corner (we have the WORST luck with furniture -- our kitchen table split and had to be replaced, I think 3 of the chairs had to be sent back because they arrived scratched, and then arrived scratched again -- so really, we should have expected this).  We called the store, and they told us they would replace it without a problem.  The lady thought it would have to be a special order, and said she needed to speak with her manager and call us back.  When she called back, she said to get a whole new dresser would take another 8-12 weeks, but they had the same dresser that had come back with damage to the top, but all the drawers were perfect, so if we just wanted to swap a drawer out, we could.  What a perfect solution!  She said they would send someone out to our house with it sometime during the week, but I asked if we could just come get it that night ourselves.  That was fine, so we did, and now is furniture is all whole :)  I didn't take any pictures yet because his room isn't all put together yet (we still need to get a chair and a bookshelf), but as soon as we're done, I'll post them.  We put his crib skirt on and his little whale sheets...they are so darn cute :)  It all makes having a baby so much more real when you can see where he's going to be :)

Sunday was my shower!  My mom, my sister, my aunts Cathy and Lynn, my cousin Tiffany, Janet, Denise and Bridget put on a beautiful shower for me.  We had good food, good cake and a good time.  Chris and I were overwhelmed by everyones generosity.  Johnny is set for quite some time!  And oh my goodness, did we get some cute little clothes.  I have a lot of laundry to do!  Our house kind of looks like a baby bomb exploded in it right now because we need to figure out how we are going to organize everything, but it will all come together soon!  I will have some pictures from the shower soon, and when I get them, I'll add them to this post.

New outfit my mom got for me :)  Whoa, getting bigger!

Chris and my brother (well, mostly Chris) put together the stroller yesterday and I separated all the clothes out so I can start washing, but that's pretty much as far as we got.  Big adventures are ahead of us!

Belly, 32 Weeks 2 Days

If you're wondering, that's a light switch emerging out of my chest. Also not sure why my shirt is pulling up at the bottom...it wasn't doing that all day.

Doctor Visit #9

I had my next check-up this morning. Too bad I don't have the rest of the day off, which means right now I'm at the train station waiting for my train to take me to work.

Anyway, another good check-up. As far as stats go, I'm at 151 pounds (made up a little for what I didn't gain last time :) ), my blood pressure was 116/63 and I'm measuring right on track now at 32 1/2 cm. His heart rate was at 167, which is higher than it has been, but she assured me that it was still just where it should be. She also told me he is head down but not engaged, which is the position we want him in right now.

I let her know that I was doing better with drinking enough water and that I thought it was helping but that I was still getting Braxton hicks contractions, especially when I worried about them. She told me that I'm going to get them, but that you can think yourself into worse contractions so the more I stress about them, the more I will get and the stronger they can be. Awesome. At least I know that now. It will probably help my crazy brain a little :)

I go back again in two weeks and will see Dr. Patel, my doctor's colleague, since my doctor will be in India. I've never met her but have spoken with her on the phone before, and she seems very nice. There is also an off chance that she could end up delivering John, so it's probably good that I will at least get to see who she is.

I will take a picture tonight so you can see my ever expanding belly :) sorry for slacking this week.

32 Weeks

8 weeks left...we are really getting close.  I'm still continuing to always think I'm in labor, but I guess since nothing is getting worse and my doctor continuously tells me I'm fine, I suppose I should relax :)  But HA!  You try that.  I have decided that is the thing I like least about being pregnant.  The constant uncertainty and worry.  Everything feels wrong to me, and since I have never been pregnant before, I don't know what "wrong" feelings are actually right.  And I'm constantly worried about the baby -- at least now he is big enough to be ok if he were born...I was born at 32 weeks and I turned out just fine (cue all the family jokes that say the opposite).  I'm looking forward to knowing my body again after John is born.  Although I'm sure breastfeeding will usher in a whole new list of challenges and weird feelings.  I feel like my next pregnancy (don't worry, not even being planned or anything, just musing) should be less panicky because I'll at least know what feelings are what. 

As far as the little mister is concerned, he keeps getting bigger and kicks ALL DAY.  I think he is going to be a judo champ or something.  My next ultrasound is scheduled for January 14th, so we'll get to see him again :)  I also have my next doctor appointment this Friday.  Hopefully I've gained some weight (when do you ever utter those words??) so that I don't get yelled at.

32 week belly picture coming soon...

Happy New Year!

Hello 2012 -- the year of our son's birth.  I was talking to my mom yesterday and she was like, wow, he's going to be here next month.  And I was like, oh my goodness, you're right.  Sounds so much closer that way!  It's exciting and a little bit scary that his day of arrival is almost here.

This weekend was pretty calm, but our New Years' tend to be that way.  Saturday Chris put the second coat on John's room, so it's all painted and ready to go now!  The furniture will be delivered this coming Saturday, so we'll be able to put his little room together :)  That night, we ordered pizza from Lou Malnati's (Chris' favorite) and just hung out.  We actually both made it to midnight (I'm pretty sure the past two years I've fallen asleep on the couch by like 10) but were in bed shortly thereafter.  Both Sunday and Monday were low key, as well.  Chris has had a cold for the past week so he took the time to get some rest and feel better.  We did a few things here in there, but nothing exciting enough to report.  Just to make this post more exciting, here are some pictures of Daisy and her rough life this weekend :)

Hope you all had a safe and happy new year! 

Such a lady