39 Weeks!

My baby is due next week. After today, I can just say Monday when I'm asked. Or the 7th, since it'll actually be May. Apparently, using the date for a month that we're not in, even if it's the next 7th on the calendar, is confusing for some people. If this pregnancy ends similar to Jeffrey's (and I'm guessing that it will), this will be my last weekly pregnancy post! Save for a company picnic on Saturday, we spent the weekend doing all of the last minute preparations for the tiny guy's arrival. There's still a little bit left to do, but we got the nursery finished up (including the art that Jeffrey did for Gavin- adorable) and the major cleaning accomplished. Basically, we just need to pick up in the living room. That's a pretty impossible feat, though. It's amazing how toys just reappear all over the floor! Plus, Jeffrey will be playing during the birth, so it's not a huge deal. It feels pretty amazing to have everything marked off of our baby to-do list. Last thing? Insert baby. My contractions are for sure picking up- averaging about every 10 minutes. Some are closer and some are farther apart. Some only last about 20 seconds, and some go on for about a minute. It's all a guess since I haven't started timing anything. It's pointless when I know that this could go on for days. Oh, wait. It has been. Sigh. They're not painful, although some of them make me stop what I'm doing until it's over. I have to admit that my biggest fear is not realizing that actual labor has kicked in. I had no idea with Jeffrey and don't know when I would have realized it, if not for having my 39 week appointment that day. Our current joke is that our midwife will tell me that I am in our appointment tonight. Since we're having a home birth, it wouldn't be a major disaster. I want to use the birth pool, though! Jeffrey and I have a super busy week, so it'll be interesting to see what we actually end up doing!

Well, hello truck!

Thanks for hitting me :) You just have to love the last few days/weeks of pregnancy. All of this prodromal labor/contractions/pressure is really catching up to me, as is the lack of sleep. I'm constantly trying to free the trapped gas that seems to be in my belly at all time, which is lovely. Not quite as lovely as all of the bathroom trips I've been taking, though. I swear that my vagina is literally bruised from how low he is; it hurts to even touch the bottom of my bump! Not to mention that it's made my stretch marks so much worse this time than I had with Jeffrey. Still no linea negra, though, which I find super strange. I'm interested to see how the belly will look as we enter into the summer. It's not a major concern, but I'm interested nonetheless. I know that my body is doing everything exactly as it should be and is gearing up for the big evacuation, so that makes it so much easier to deal with. I still can't help but throw a little pity party for myself every so often, though! It's all absolutely worth it, but it still sucks a good bit every so often. I actually had a dream last night where I was laying in my own bed (I sleep on the couch now) immediately after giving birth and just kept saying "I'm so comfortable!" over and over again. haha! The exciting part? I'm fairly certain that I'll be having this baby this week :)

A Lazy Day

Our life and schedule have been a whirlwind lately, so I decided that we were going to take the day off today. Neither of us have gotten dressed, and we've just been lazy and lounging around. There's been lots of TV, but it's been nice. I'm not allowing myself to feel guilty today. The likelihood of us getting to have a day just cuddling around together with nothing else to worry about happening again in the near future? Pretty slim. So, we're taking advantage of it! I imagine it's not going to hurt me to have a good day of rest, should this baby choose to arrive soon. Since our to-do list is about finished, it'll be a pretty relaxing weekend, as well. It'll be good to just soak in what is probably going to be our last weekend of a family of three. We have a company picnic tomorrow, and Jeffrey should have a blast there. He's been loving his special "Big Brother" days. Last night was the members only night at the zoo, and he had SO much fun. We got to see the Dinosaurs exhibit for free, and, of course, he was super enthralled. He was scared of one of them, but it wasn't the huge and loud T-Rex. Strange child, lol. I cannot wait to take him on his first special Big Brother day when he's actually a big brother. :)

Wordless Wednesday

38 Weeks!

Woo-hoo! We are closing in on the final weeks, and I'm pretty thrilled about it. I'm not anxious to get him out (way different than with Jeffrey) since we still have so much to do and plans this week (lol), but I'm really looking forward to meeting and loving on my newest little man. It makes me smile to think that it'll probably be next week! I'm predicting a May Day baby (aka- May 1st). Only he knows, though! We had our home visit yesterday, and it went amazingly. She had no issues finding our house, of course, since it's pretty easy to get to. We're now loaded up with the birth pool and all the rest of the birth kit/supplies. I also had to restock on some of my supplements that I take. We talked about Friday morning and how strange it all was, and she said that she wanted to do a vaginal exam since she has a midwifery conference this coming weekend. She was going to cancel her attendance if I was showing a ridiculous amount of progress. I was bummed since I didn't want to have any this time, but the knowledge isn't affecting me the same way. So, that's good. Turns out that I'm 2cm, 25% and at 0 station. He's super duper low, which is not surprising to me in the slightest. She felt confident that I'll still be pregnant past the weekend due to my history of being dilated early, but she is leaving me the information for a midwife who is not attending the conference. Just in case. I have to say that it's pretty strange to be getting an internal in your own house. I don't view the actual birth as a medical event, but I do think of internals that way. So, it was odd. It was also a bummer that the group B strep test that she had turned out to be expired, so I'm getting a visit by her apprentice tomorrow for that. Yay. She was going to just wait until next week's appointment, but I guess she changed her mind. I got a call from the apprentice just a little bit after my midwife left setting up a time. We have a busy week ahead of us, and I intend to make the best use out of potentially my last full week of a mother of one! That means lots of naps :)

A Special Day

We're trying to fully utilize our last weekends of a family of three, so we've got some fun activities planned for the next few weeks. We told Jeffrey that today was one of his special "big brother days" to celebrate him becoming a big brother. He was pretty excited about it, and we had a really fun day. It started with his first trip to the Museum of Natural Science with the intent of seeing the dinosaurs (which we're fully closed for the renovation, much to our surprise) and the butterflies. He LOVED the butterfly exhibit, and, out of the three of us, they landed only on him. He was walking around in awe, pointing to them and saying "look! Beautiful!" and just fully enjoying himself. Jony and I found it pretty neat, as well, since it's been years since we've been there. He was also pretty into the chemistry part of the museum, the animal exhibit, and a giant clam. After lunch and a short nap at home, we spent the afternoon at a Gymboree birthday party. Cupcakes, juice, and running around like a crazy fool? That's a great time for the little guy. Tomorrow will be a bit more laid back since we need to get the house cleaned and ready for the birth/postpartum (aka- not wanting to clean the house). We have our home visit in the afternoon, so he'll have fun with that since he loves having visitors. Next weekend, we'll be going to Zoobilee! on Thursday and then a company family picnic at a ranch on Saturday. At least, that's the current plan :)

An Interesting Morning

This morning was the strangest thing that's ever happened to me. No question.

I woke up to pee about 5am and was all proud of myself that I'd been sleeping for six straight hours. Of course, then I couldn't get comfortable at all again. I was having minor pains. They kept getting worse and worse, but there was no break. I tried a ton of different positions, but nothing worked. I was thinking hardcore gas pain, but it was getting pretty bad. I did the toilet thing and went to the bathroom, but it was no relief. I woke up Jony about 6am, and things got intense super fast. The shakes had come one, and I couldn't stop them. I was starting to have to moan to get through the pain. I was contracting 2 minutes apart, but there was still no break inbetween. This is what had things confusing. My midwife told me to get in the bath and see if that would slow things down while she called the assistant. After about 10 minutes in the bath, I threw up. Hardcore. Afterwards? Instant relief, and the contractions started slowing back down to every 10 minutes or so (otherwise known as my normal, lol)

My midwife thinks I either ate something that didn't agree with me or that it was the baby dropping (which he absolutely did during all of this). She never actually got here, though, although I have a hefty amount of texts between her and Jony on my phone! My mom did come over, though, and then took Jeffrey over to her house so I could rest when he woke up.


I'm glad it turned out to be nothing because that would have been a freaking intense birth. Real labor should be nothing now, if it has breaks ;)>

Also, I'm pretty glad to not be having a 4-20 baby. Hopefully. Ha!

Becoming a Big Brother

It's been a rough few days around our house. Jeffrey has been very difficult. I imagine it's a lovely combination of staying with my parents overnight this past weekend (we all know that ends up, yes?), not getting as much attention from me since I'm large and exhausted, and our general schedule being all screwed up. No doubt- he feels lost. Knowing the reasons for it doesn't make it easier to deal with, though, and being so pregnant does not make me the most patient mama that ever was. It's especially hard since he's usually so calm and mellow. In fact, I'd venture to say that his "being difficult" is still pretty easy in comparison to other kids. So, I'm working on channeling through the exhaustion and discomfort and giving him the extra attention he deserves, as well as working to get us back to somewhat normal before we throw it all away again. These are his last few days/weeks as our only child, and I don't want them to be spent with him being dramatic and in trouble. For the first time this pregnancy, I'm feeling some guilt over being pregnant. Not guilt over having another baby, though, since I know things will be easier (although harder in some ways, for sure) in terms of what Jeffrey is craving. I'll be tired, but I won't be exhausted. I'll be able to play on the floor and push a dump truck around the house. I'll be able to come up with a fun activity instead of just turning on the TV since I can't make myself get off the couch (at least some of the time). I'll be able to play with him outside and on the playground without dying of heat (it's only 80 something right now- I'm such a wuss) and having to waddle after him.

I know that all of that is coming, but I'm still trying to enjoy these last moments of being pregnant with my 2nd child and fully take in these last moments with my first as my only. He is such an amazing kid who is so smart and caring, even if he does also have my wit and stubborn side! I'm trying to remember that this is a huge transition and adjustment for him, too, and he doesn't get to understand it nearly as well as Jony and I do. All of the talking we've been doing about his little brother coming really means nothing to him until he actually sees that boy come out of my belly. And then realizes that he's not leaving.

So, here's to hoping that these past few days have been a fluke and that we can start taking advantage of these last days together as a family of three!

Wordless Wednesday

37 Weeks!

Ah, full term. It's lovely to be here, albeit super uncomfortable. I'm still not ready for him to arrive and still secretly hoping he'll hold out until May. It's a much different circumstance with Jeffrey since I wanted him out asap to avoid a December baby! I have a feeling it will mean a much calmer demeanor instead of walking around thinking "I hope it's today; it's going to be any time now!" Obviously, it still could be, but I'm thinking that wanting to be 39+ weeks and not knowing the state of my cervix should make it easier to handle.

I'm actually not feeling too bad. I have moments when I can't breathe or find a position that is comfortable at all, but it's not terrible. Sleep is not too great, but it's better than it was a few weeks ago now that I've just accepted the fact that I need to sleep on the couch. I went to the chiropractor today and was informed that my pelvis is super wide, so I know that things are moving in the right direction. He's not engaged yet, which is super strange to me since I dropped at 36 weeks last time, so he still moves around quite a bit. I don't like when he goes transverse, since I'm nervous he'll get stuck. He usually only does it for a few minutes, though. I'm getting BH contractions all the time, especially at night. Every so often, I'll feel one on it's own instead of just realizing that my stomach is super tight.

Our goal is to get the bedroom (finally) completely cleaned out this week. Our home visit is on Sunday, so we want the house looking presentable for that! I'm really hoping that Gavin waits until after that so that I can have my birth tub! No matter what, though, the good news is that my baby is full term and healthy AND my midwife is back in town from a conference, so we'll be ready for him whenever he chooses to make his appearance. He knows when his birth day should be, even if his mom and dad are pushing hard for a Cinco De Mayo evacuation :)

Fixing the House

You may recall that we remodeled our bathroom last year- finished it right before Jeffrey's birthday in November. The last step that we needed to was to call someone in to refinish the bathtub. Well, we finally got that done today! Our house smells now, but I'm so glad that we finally got it taken care of. Now, we'll have a bathtub that we can use for the baby, and Jeffrey is stoked to finally take a bath will all of his toys! He's been taking showers with us since last April! He loves his showers, and it's convenient enough that we'll probably still do that most of the time for the next few months. Once Gavin is big enough, though, it's joint bath time for the boys!

We also have our appointment all set up to take care of the termites that we found lurking in our bedroom window sill the other week- this upcoming Thursday. While I'm not looking forward to shelling out all that cash, I'm glad that we're going to get those nasty bugs dead before the birth of our child (hopefully...still counting on a  May baby!).

With these two things (practically) marked off of our To-Do list, we're starting to feel really good about our progress! All we have left is to put our new bed frame together, hang the shelves in Gavin's room and then super clean the house! There are a few art projects for Jeffrey, as well, but those aren't super crucial and can also be done in those two weeks that Jony will be home after the baby. Might be a good idea for him to have something fun to do, anyways.

It's going to be a crazy and hectic weekend around here in which nothing will get done around the house, so I'm glad that we have such little to do. Although, I'm not sure anyone would classify the cleaning as little...

Wordless Wednesday

Prepping for a Home Birth

Things are so much different this time around. About this time with Jeffrey, the top items on my list was getting the car seat installed and my hospital bag packed. Neither of those are an issue this time. We'll probably still get the car seat installed sometime soon, but there's no rush since we can just do it after the baby is born before we leave the house for the first time. Instead, I'm ordering the few items that we'll need and making plans to get our house nice and clean! I'm so much more calm about everything; I truly find that there is nothing that can make me stressed or nervous about the upcoming birth. I'm SO excited about it.

Our plan is to have my mom come over to be with Jeffrey and to take pictures. They're going to bake and decorate cupcakes for Gavin's Birth Day, play, watch TV, go to the park, or basically do whatever he wants to do. We'd like him to stay close to home, but, if he starts to freak out during the birth, she'll just take him somewhere else (likely her house- 5 minutes away max). I'll labor wherever I want to be in the house, but the goal is to actually deliver him in our bedroom (that way, Jeffrey still can have his space since that will likely be the most difficult part for him to watch, potentially). The shower I'd use is in the master bath, and we'll have the birth tub set up in there, as well. I'm hoping for a water birth- makes for a quick and easy clean up! Afterwards, I'll cuddle/nurse him for the first time while we wait for the cord to stop pulsing and the placenta to come out. This is when Jeffrey will come to meet him, as well, if he isn't already in the room. It's so important to us that he's the first to say hello to his brother (with mom and dad). Then, it's off to daddy and the midwife to be weighed and bathed while I take a shower and get cleaned off. Once I'm in bed, we'll call the immediate family to come say hello to the newest little arrival. It should all be super low key and wonderful.

To get ready for that, there are a few things that we have to do to prepare. I've already ordered most of it, and I just need to figure out how to organize it.

This is the list of items that we need for the birth:

• 2-4 large bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide (for clean-up)
• 4 oz bottle of almond oil (to help prevent tearing)
• Bottle of Pedialyte
• shower curtain (to avoid mess)
• heating pad
• trash bags
• 6 towels and wash cloths
• cotton baby blankets
• cotton infant clothes
• fish strainer (for pulling out any unwanted objects that may come out during pushing...)
• package of Depends
• large bowl (to catch placenta)
• birth pool liner
• Tucks pads
• Sitz bath
• garden hose (to fill the birth tub)

Everything else (including the birth tub) will be provided by my midwife, who will bring it all during our home visit on the 22nd. After that, we'll be all set to go to birth a baby boy! Hopefully, I can get the house clean before then :)

36 weeks!

All systems are a go! This week brings about a lot of milestones. I'm officially entering the 9th month of this pregnancy (yikes!) and our plans for a home birth are now in action! Now that I've reached this point, I'm feeling a lot more comfortable about all the contractions that I'm having. I still don't think I'm going to be delivering in the next week or two, but I'm glad to know that I can still have the birth I've been envisioning if I do! Now, I need to get off my butt and start getting the house ready! There is lots of cleaning/organizing to do in the next few weeks. Our table is filled with all the birth supplies that we needed to order, so I've got to figure out how to organize that stuff so that it's easy to access when we need it.We'll be getting the rest of the stuff during our home visit in two weeks.

I'm feeling pretty uncomfortable, unfortunately. Sleep is pretty tough to find a position that doesn't hurt; I've been attempting to sleep on an incline the last few nights, which has helped a little bit, so that's good. I'm not a fan of having trouble breathing, though- didn't ever experience that with Jeffrey. I'm also getting those lovely rib kicks. Now that we're in the home stretch, though, it's a lot easier to handle. I did get my first charlie horse on Saturday morning, and my calf is still ridiculously sore from that. I hate those. I also got to experience my first hemmorrhroid- yay. 

We had a great Easter weekend at my parents' farm, but I would not recommend driving at almost 36 weeks! It was a rough time, even though it was only two hours. Having the seat warmer helped tremendously. It was nice to be able to just relax and enjoy the nice weather; I basically just sat on the swing on the porch the whole time! The next time we make that drive, I'll be more comfortable, but our Coco dog will have much less room :)

We have a pretty low key week ahead of us. We're taking it super easy today, and then Jeffrey and I will start really prepping the house for the arrival of Baby Gavin! Full term in ONE week.

Easter!

We had a blast this weekend, especially Jeffrey. I think Easter may be one of his favorite holidays :)

Happy Easter!

I'm just finishing up packing up all the clothes, toys, blankets, pillows and food that we're going to need so that ,as soon as Jony gets home from work and the tiny guy wakes up from his nap, we are off on our last trip before the arrival of the itty bitty one. My parents bought a farm almost fifteen years ago for weekends just like this. My entire family (I'm one of four kids) is going to be there, so it should be a great holiday. We haven't all been together since the Christmas after Jeffrey was born! Times sure have changed since then. My mom is thrilled and really looking forward to getting a good family photo while we're there.

With our ever extending family, the house that was there was quickly outgrown. So, this past year has been construction and renovation. It's been almost finished for a few months now, but the contractors are officially gone now, leaving us with a farm that is 3x the size that it was. It really is a fantastic getaway that's only two hours away. I'm really looking forward to a very lazy weekend while my little boy has the time of his life. He loves playing outside and LOVES playing with my niece, so I probably won't see him all weekend except when I'm sitting on the porch. It's surreal to think that we'll be bringing our two boys up with us the next time we head this way.

Oh, and we are taking the infant car seat with us. Just in case :)

Wordless Wednesday

The Wrong Direction

I had been doing so good about continually dropping/limiting TV time. It got to be so much of a crutch while I was nauseous and exhausted in 1st tri while Jony was working out of town, and it got out of hand. Jeffrey far prefers to watch TV than to play a good portion of the time, and I'm not comfortable with that. Since I'd been feeling so much better, things were getting back to our pre-pregnancy normal. It's all gone backwards in the past week since I've been so lethargic and trying to take it easy due to all of my BHs. I guess I should accept it since it'll probably be like that for the first few weeks after the baby is born. Mommy guilt, though. It is some powerful stuff!

Next week, though, when I reach that 36 week milestone, I'm putting him to work right alongside me. No TV for him- all cleaning ;)

35 weeks!

Gavin is growing big and healthy, but I can't say I'm much of a fan of 35 weeks right now. I took it super easy this weekend while Jony was home and felt fine, but I'm back to feeling some contractions again today. Still not painful, but I can tell that they're occurring. I'm fairly certain they're just strong BH, but you can never really be sure. Sleep has gotten horrific. As soon as I lay down, my back starts throbbing. Moving from one side to the other is pretty much like stabbing myself in the hips. Unfortunately, we don't own the recliner that was my lifeline when I got to this point with Jeffrey. Any tips? The Snoogle is pretty much crap this pregnancy, and I'm bummed.

The worst thing, though? We saw traces of termites in the window sill of our bedroom last night. Freaking termites. In the very room where our baby is supposed to be born in about 35 days. I'm really not sure that there could be worse timing. We've got four inspections scheduled to come out, and I'm really hoping for good news. Thankfully, research shows that they're super slow moving, so I imagine that we don't have to rip any walls out (if we even do- let's hope not) before the birth. It's probably going to be ridiculously expensive to have it all treated, so that sucks. Just when you're commenting on how comfortable we are with this baby's birth financially, life laughs at you. Sigh.

A Day of Nothing!

These don't come around too often, and I'm pretty sure it's the last time it's going to be here for awhile (unless you consider those first few days after the baby is born...). Jony is, of course, working on our to-do list most of the day, but it's all stuff that he wants to do. It's so nice to have zero obligations and be able to just enjoy the day. For him, that means keeping busy. For me, it means being extremely lazy. I am helping with my portions of the to-do list, but that only involves getting up every hour to replace an item in the washing machine ;) Jeffrey is getting some good bonding time with his daddy and is outside getting dirty, so it's a pretty awesome day for him, as well.

It's very likely that, by the end of this low key day, we're going to have the garden border put in, the garden mulched, shelves hung in our bedroom, curtains hung in Jeffrey's room, all of the baby items washed and put away and, potentially, even get the headboard put on our bed! Lots of things checked off of the list, which gets smaller and smaller every day! A good thing since we'll be gone next weekend for Easter and then full term will sneak up pretty quickly on us.

Hope everyone else gets to have a super relaxing day!