The end is near!

I'm not sure how many of you have heard the news, but I am going to be induced next Wednesday night. June 4th at 10 p.m. is when we are scheduled to go in. We were instructed to call in an hour before that to make sure there was room. If there's not we'll be pushed back - how far, I don't know, but at least we know that this pregnancy is almost at it's end and we get to meet our little girl! And it looks like, depending on how quickly labor goes, that we will have a due date baby. When we went in for our appointment this week I was still only 1 cm and it seemed like he had an even harder time finding my cervix than he did last week since she is still REALLY high up. Her butt is right underneath my sternum. That's good though because it means she is head down and facing backwards. The right way to be.

When we first go in they will start me on Cervadil, which is a cervix softener. Often that's all that needs to be done to get labor going, but if I need more they'll start me on Pitocin after 12 hours on the Cervadil. The Cervadil is usually in pill form that they insert and let work, but they can also use a gel. I'm not sure which they'll use on me. So it's possible that labor may not even get going until Thursday late morning or early afternoon.

I am planning on working Monday through Wednesday, although I'm going to try to work from home on Wednesday. I am also planning on getting a pedicure on Wednesday night. I know, priorities! At least my feet will look pretty if the rest of me doesn't. Speaking of the way I look, below are some pictures. I was 38 weeks 6 days in them.

I realized that I didn't really have a front shot in here, so I thought I'd put one in. Most of the baby is out front, so although I've gotten a little wider, it hasn't been so bad. My belly button has not popped completely. Only a little bit of it at the top is poking out. You can kind of see it in the picture on the right.

John and I are planning a quiet weekend at home. It will be the last one we will have with just the two of us. So we're going to watch some WCWS softball and go to dinner. We are also going to make sure everything is ready for the baby. We have to get the carseat base into his car and just this morning I finished up cleaning the table we put in the nursery, so the room is ready to go except for some wall hangings. We really don't have enough room! Here are some pictures:

My mom is coming in to town on Monday afternoon to clean the house for us. I really do try to keep it clean but I am no where near as good as my mom. Then she'll be hear for the birth and everything. John's mom will come out on the 9th. It looks like Erin, and possible Ryan, will be flying out from Tulsa with her. She has never been on an airplane before and we thought it would be nice to have someone with her on that first flight. She seems really excited about coming out here, and now we know that the baby will definitely be here when she gets here.

We see the doctor again on Monday afternoon. If anything changes, which I highly doubt, we will update!

1 CM

That's it. 1 cm dialated. Seriously. Actually my doctor said "about 1 cm" so whether that means not quite or a little more I'm not sure. The baby is still really high up, which is still really obvious by looking at me, but he did say that my cervix was really soft. And that's what needs to happen so that's a good thing. I will get checked again on Thursday. The Dr. did say that on that day we would talk about getting me "unpregnant". I told him that I would like to discuss that. I'm hoping to have a better idea of when things are going to happen after that appointment. I will be 39 weeks that day. John wants her to be born on 6/7/08 because of the 6-7-8 thing. I think that 6/6 or 6/7 would be fine. I'm trying to avoid having her on a day where someone else we know already has a birthday/special day. I know, not much I can do about when she decides to come, that's just my preference. So that leaves us with May 30th or 31st, June 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th or 10th. We'll see what actually happens. My mom says she's going to be born on the 10th.

I am still working. I now work from home one day a week which is really nice. Especially since most of my clothes don't really fit anymore so I'm wearing almost the same things every week. My coworkers are going to get tired of seeing the same things over and over again.

The Memorial Day weekend was a quiet one for us. I left the house one time. To go to the post office. That's it. And that was on Saturday morning and I was gone for about 1/2 an hour. I pretty much sat around and watched TV all weekend - but it was a good weekend for that because of the lacrosse and softball tournaments that were going on. John did a lot of yard work. I cleaned some. I did some knitting. We got the car seat base in my car but not yet in his. We are still waiting on our mattress and I have to stop at Target to get another set of baskets, but other than that I think we are ready. Well, as ready as we can be. Although I still don't have a diaper bag. I need to get on that. My mom has called me three days in a row to see how I'm doing. I think that she and my sister are getting a tad bit excited. =)

Full Term

Alright, I am a day behind. Sorry. I got busy at work all of a sudden and didn't have time to get on here and post an update. I thought maybe I'd write a poem with title: Pregnancy, how do I love thee . . . let me count the ways. And then I realized that the first line would probably be: Oh, I don't. So I scrapped that idea and thought I'd list my complaints. Don't get me wrong here. I would gladly live through the third trimester than go through the first all over again. Here you go - what I "love" about the third trimester:

1. Sore tailbone - apparently her head is pressing on it causing pain when I sit for too long, so now I have started carrying my Boppy in the car in case I need to sit on it at work. Which leads us to:

2. Painful heels/swollen feet - if I stand for too long my heels begin to hurt - so I can't sit or stand for extended periods of time without pain. Nice. And my feet are swollen so now the only shoes I can wear are slip on heels or flip-flops. It really limits what I can wear (which isn't much anymore because a lot of my clothes - including maternity tops - are getting too small). I am having to get very creative with my clothing choices every week.

3. Food is not really of interest to me - those of you who know me well, know how much I love to eat good food. Or just eat in general. I can be a food snob. But now nothing really sounds good and I'm not eating much because the baby is taking up so much room. But I think that I am probably still gaining weight. Whatever. Plus I think I'm getting a little bit of morning sickness again.

4. Not sleeping - I toss and turn all night. I can't get comfortable and then when I do I have to pee. I guess I should get used to not sleeping though.

5. Painful hands, specifically the knuckles - because of swelling at night when I wake up my fingers kill. They sometimes hurt to bend until I get up and get moving and the swelling goes down.

6. Swelling - I am down to just my wedding band on my left hand and no other jewelry on my fingers. I don't sleep with it on because I would not be able to get it off in the morning if I did. Plus, I am almost at the point where I have to put another link in my watch. I am desperately trying to avoid that.

7. Kicking - it can get downright painful when she decides she wants to really let loose on my insides. She likes to stretch her right leg out which then presses my left side out, and that does not feel good. Plus she enjoys using my bladder as a squeeze toy which is also lots of fun.

8. Going to the bathroom every 1/2 hour - actually it's not too bad considering she hasn't dropped onto my bladder yet. I guess I should be happy but when you go to the bathroom 3 times between when you get up and leave for work it can be a little time consuming. But also feeling like you REALLY REALLY have to go only to get to the bathroom and barely anything comes out.

9. I can't get up - I have a hard time getting up off the floor, off the couch, out of bed, etc. I can do it, it just takes a little longer than it used to.

10. Anxiety - about everything: the room not being totally done, labor (specifically tearing or episiotomies), what the hell I'm going to do with a child, all the normal stuff. Anxiety over this being over. Anxiety about my Dr.'s appointment this week because we start the internal checks and I'm scared that I am not going to be dilated at all or effaced at all. I will be 38 weeks and 1 day at the appointment. I don't want to feel like I'm going to be pregnant forever anymore.

11. Questions from people - I've been pretty relaxed about this, it hasn't bothered me much, and it still doesn't, but the constant questions from different people over and over can get tiring. There are only so many times I want to tell people when my last day of work is or how I'm feeling. Like I said, most of the time, not a big deal, but this week I have been irritated by everything.

12. Having my ass look as big as my stomach - Ok, I know I'm going to get crap for this but sometimes I look in the mirror and, depending on what I'm wearing, I feel like my butt is as big as the belly. I know it's not, but body image this far into pregnancy is not always the best. But what can you do - it's just the way life goes.

13. Itchy stomach - my skin is so stretched it itches pretty much all day long. And no, lotion/oils/whatever did not stop me from getting stretch marks.

14. Being completely and utterly uncomfortable - no matter what, no matter how you sit or lay down, no matter where you are.

Alright, that's about enough of that. Some good things: the baby moving, knowing that she'll be here soon, all the attention (I know I whined a little bit in one of the complaints above, but people are generally pretty nice to pregnant women), time off soon! The ultimate though is having a baby once this is all over. And I have to believe that everything that I've gone through (which I really shouldn't complain about because it really HAS NOT been that bad) will all be completely worth it when she finally makes her appearance in the world.

The pictures below are from last week, at 37 weeks. I am wearing some new nursing pajamas that I had just gotten. I had to order some more stuff because they didn't have my size, but I should have those soon. She is still really high.

My awesome co-workers threw me a surprise shower/party last week that I had absolutely no idea about. Almost all of them were convinced that I knew about it. I must have been pretty oblivious to what was going on around the office because they had been planning something for about a month! They had breakfast and lunch, decorations, the whole shebang. Their gift was awesome too and it really went a long way in allowing us to complete buying the remaining items on our Babies R Us registry. The only thing we're really waiting on now is our mattress because we had to order it since they didn't have it in stock. We should have it in a week or so.

On a completely different note, New Kids on the Block are coming to town in October. October 13 at Jobing.com Arena to be specific. Anyone who wants to come down and go with Erin and I are more than welcome to. Tickets go on sale June 9 so let us know. John is in charge of getting them because I am hoping to have a baby by then.

Alright, I have to make another bathroom run.

Renovation

I'm a little behind in getting these pictures posted, but better late than never. The first picture is of our guest bathroom before the new tile. The linoleum that is in there was in the master bathroom and kitchen as well. We replaced all of it. I put the picture in so you could see what we replaced.

This picture and the following pictures are of the tile that was installed. This is the guest bathroom completed.

This is the kitchen in process and completed. I am really glad that I did not get to see what was underneath the refrigerator and oven. I'm sure it was pretty nasty.


We had our 36 week appointment today which consisted of listening for the heartbeat (149 beats/minute) and then my Group Beta Strep (GBS) test. That will make a difference when I go into labor. Group B can be very serious to the baby and cause all sorts of problems so we need to know if I am positive. If I'm positive I'll have to have antibiotics when I get to the hospital. We also scheduled the rest of our weekly appointments through my due date. Only four more weeks.

Last night I think I had my very first Braxton Hicks contraction. It didn't hurt at all but my stomach was rock hard for a while. I couldn't tell if it came and went because I couldn't feel it without touching my stomach but it definitely happened at least once. John felt it too. It was really strange to feel how hard my stomach was but have no pain at all. I guess I should appreciate the fact that there wasn't any pain. That is not always the case with BH.

Daycare

Kids are freakin' expensive! I have been very negative about the whole daycare situation from the beginnning because I didn't want to have to utilize it, but we're going to have to. I knew that daycare was going to be pricey but it is more than I thought. After our visits though I have a more positive impression of the facilities. John and I have visited 3 daycares so far. Actually, he's only been to two but I am taking him to the one only I have been to tomorrow. That one is for State of Arizona employees but is associated with La Petite Academy. We get a reduced rate which is awesome and it is within 5 minutes of my office which is also nice. It offers many of the same programs and features as the other places we've been. It is in an older building but it looks to me like they really try to take care of it. The downside is that I would be the only one to drop her off in the morning and pick her up in the evening since John doesn't work any where close to me. That would entail daily rush hour travel, except for the one day that I will be telecommuting. So that is a little disconcerting. But with everything else being equal it's an awesome price that would save us a ton of money. And I'd be able to go over there and check on her at lunch time if I wanted to, which I'm sure that I will.

On another note, my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, Ryan, are all going sailing starting Friday. I am very jealous because John and I would be on this trip if I weren't pregnant. They fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico tomorrow and then on to Tortola, BVI. They get the boat Friday and are out for a week. They are going to have several flags flying from the boat including a pirate flag, a U.S. Navy flag, and a Texas flag. The pirate flag is Erin and Ryan's contribution. Ryan has some sort of odd infatuation with pirates that I don't get. Kind of like John with his monkeys and midgets. It makes no sense to me. The pirate flag was going to be a surprise for my dad but I didn't know that and let the cat out of the bag when he was here last week. Oops. Oh well. We will definitely be going the next time they schedule this trip.

4 weeks to go as of tomorrow!

Another baby update

I hit the 35 week mark last Thursday. As you can tell by the picture, I am a house. I probably have my own gravitational pull because, like Juno says, I am a planet. At least I feel that way. I am still getting around pretty well. Stairs are not my friends anymore and I've noticed more problems with my SPD in the recent week or two but I'm still able to get up off the couch and out of bed without any help. I'm sure John appreciates that. Everyone at work is asking when I'm going to start my leave. I'm trying to go up until I go into labor. But I think that if I don't have her by June 6, which is the Friday after my due date, I may just stop working then because my doctor did say that he would not let me go more than a week past my due date. Our next doctor's appointment is this week and now we will be going in once a week. I also wanted to get a picture of the cat in here again. You can see in the picture where his back legs are being pushed out by my stomach. Nice.

We've been using the cat to test out all our baby equipment because, since he is 18 pounds, we figure if it can hold him it can hold the baby. I don't think that he appreciates it very much. I barely got the picture of him in the stroller before he jumped out. I suppose it's a good thing that he doesn't like being in any of the things because we really don't want him to get in the habit of being in there.

I realized yesterday that we do not have a diaper bag yet which kind of freaked me out. I think the reason being that I am an organizational freak and the fact that I am not ready to transport the baby around or have all the stuff I need to travel with her really bothered me. That, along with a crib mattress (kind of key) are tops on the list of items needed. Plus mattress pads, sheets for the Pack N Play, and a diaper Champ. We finally got all the boxes that my parents shipped with our shower gifts and I started going through them this weekend. We do not have enough room for it all! I am putting the clothes in size order and trying to get all the bath items in one area, all the changing items in one area, and all the toys together somewhere. It's crazy how much stuff a baby needs.

The pictures below are of the "chair rail" that I did with leopard print ribbon. I love the way it looks. The pictures don't really do it justice. We have some things we are going to hang on the walls, we've set up the stereo system, and will be finishing off getting the crib all ready to go in the next week or so.



I was going to get my hospital bag ready this weekend but that didn't happen. Maybe this coming weekend I'll get to it. Later on this week I will post the pictures of our new tile. We had it done last week and it is awesome. We are so glad we finally hired someone to come in and get it done. John is working on baseboards and transitions. Once those are done we will totally finished with the floor renovations! I can't wait.