32w0d - Spare Some Change?

Baby girl already has her first piggy bank. This was a fun project that I did a couple of weekends ago. There's a paint your own pottery place here in town and I was able to customize the finish to match the room and decor. The base color is the palest yellow which matches the crib blanket (you can see it sitting on the blanket in the pictures) and the polka dots also pull the rest of the colors from the bedding. It's fun having a few of these projects to help personalize her space.

Just for reference, here's the bedding:

Believe it or not, we are still waiting on the nursery furniture. When we ordered it, we were told 6-8 weeks. This Sunday will be 12 weeks. Turns out the people who are making it are just a small 2 person company and they found themselves swamped with orders and have gotten way behind. Unfortunately, at this point, we can't even get an estimated arrival date. Now that we're down to 8 weeks! and the weather is nice, we're itching to get the furniture so we can get it finished. Oh yeah, it's coming unfinished, so even after it comes, it isn't going straight to the room. At least baby girl has a crib to sleep in. We might just have to make due without the dressers and book shelf for a while.

Next week it's back to the doctor. Hopefully it'll be another quick appointment with nothing but good news. For the most part, I'm still feeling fantastic. Every now and then baby girl stretches out and uses up every bit of space she has, and that hurts a bit, but other than that, still no real complaints. I just can't believe I'm down to about 8 weeks left.

31w0d - Window treatment is DONE!

That wasn't so bad. A couple of weekends worth of time spent and we have a pretty decent looking Roman Shade for baby's room. Not bad for our first attempt, huh? We used a heavy outdoor canvasy material that had our bedding colors (almost perfect!) in it and then a white flannel type of thermal lining for the shade. These are a few pictures taken early this morning. While it isn't room darkening, it really blocks out a lot of light and there is never direct sunlight coming in as it's a northern exposure window.




Here's another little project that we worked on. I may have mentioned this a while ago when we were working on the wall letters. This is a replica of a wall plaque that my aunt had made for me for my baptism. It's a verse that I have had memorized for years and years. I thought it would be appropriate to recreate it for my own daughter's room.

I know it's hard to read, so here is the text:

A daughter's a blessing from heaven above
First sent as a precious small bundle of love...

A blessing that grows in both sweetness and size
Through years that so soon are a memory to prize...

A blessing of happiness when she is grown
And proving her worth in a life of her own...

A blessing that always can brighten the day
Regardless of whether she's close or away!

As a baby, a tot, a teenager, a wife,
A daughter's a dear - She's a BLESSING FOR LIFE!

This was week 4 of 6 in our child birth classes. We went on a tour of the hospital and got a good feel for where everything happens. Hopefully we won't have any false alarm trips before the big day!

As for me, no appointments this week or next. I've been sleeping pretty well again lately. Being awake for 2 hours after getting up to go to the bathroom seems to have stopped...at least for now. Sometimes breathing becomes a challenge as baby is definitely using all the room she has in there. For the most part I'm still pretty comfortable, but every now and then she gets into a position that nearly takes my breath away. Unfortunately, both driving and riding in the car is getting less and less comfortable. Not to mention when we are out running a bunch of errands and I have to get in and out of the car multiple times. Oh well, still not complaining, just giving some facts!

Next weekend is my shower. A shower? For me? Wow! I'm really excited and so thankful for my friends that are hosting it. I can't wait to see everyone. We're having it at our house, but unfortunately the nursery furniture still hasn't come in, so we don't have a cute finished room to show off. Oh well, what can you do?

30w1d - Alien belly

This week is marked with another first. Alien belly started a few days ago. It's so weird to look down and see my belly moving. She must wake up from a nap around 1pm and shortly after is moving all about. This has been the case for the last 3 or 4 days now. Today I was at my parents when it happened. Boy did they think that was the coolest thing. They both put their hand on my belly and felt some good movements. Wasn't it nice that she cooperated for them!

I had an OB appointment this morning. Unfortunately I couldn't get in to see my regular doctor and ended up scheduling with someone different. This doctor definitely lacks in the personality department...I hope she isn't the OB on duty when it comes time to deliver. She wasn't running late by any means, but didn't really make any time for anything outside the scheduled visit either. Short, sweet and to the point. Blood pressure, good. Weight, good. Urine, good. Measurements, good. Baby's heart rate, good. Any questions?

Being that I didn't see the doctor after the results of the Glucose test last time but the nurse told me my Hemoglobin was a little low and I should take iron, I did ask about that. My number was just over 10, which falls into that borderline category. She said I could probably get by with taking the Iron supplement once every three days, but definitely don't need to take it daily. That's a relief that I'm not in a dangerous category.

My next appointment is in 3 weeks, then we are looking at weekly appointments from there out.

Next week as part of our child birth classes we'll take a tour of the hospital. If how close we are doesn't feel more real after that, I don't know what it'll take!

There is still so much to do over the next 10 or so weeks. Crazy how fast the time has gone so far and I'm sure that will continue right up to the end.

29w0d

Not much new to report this week after I snuck in a quick post on Monday. We had child birth class #2, but that's about it. Things just keep chuggin' along.

Baby is definitely moving around so that I feel her a lot more lately. My OB doesn't teach "kick counts" but says to pay attention to when you feel baby and if you know they are usually more active after meal time, be aware of their movements at that time. A lot of people say cold water or sweets will get the little one moving, but for me it seems to be warm stuff. She sure likes hot tea and hot soup. Those are for sure to get her going. I'm starting to notice that she's often awake when I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I'll come back to bed and feel her moving around. This could be contributing to the hard time I've been having getting back to sleep, but it's fun to be able to feel those movements too.

I feel like I'm overdue for an updated belly pic. It's been 5 weeks already. Here's a new one taken just today. This sweater was one of the first maternity purchases I made, so I'm glad to see that it still fits. It's getting shorter and tighter, but I think it's still cute.

We're into a new month now, so finally an update on baby's status.
What's happening with baby: Weeks 29-32 (month 7): Squash 15.2 - 16.7in, 2.5-3.8lbs

Baby’s energy is surging, thanks to the formation of white fat deposits beneath the skin. (Have those kicks and jabs to the ribs tipped you off yet?) Baby is also settling into sleep and waking cycles, though -- as you’ve also probably noticed -- they don’t necessarily coincide with your own. Also this month, all five senses are finally functional, and the brain and nervous system are going through major developments.

28w4d - It's Here!

And as Gretchen said about her new laptop, "It's Pink!!!!".

It's the new Bella pattern from Chicco. We were able to pre-order from an online sales company in California. I had called to check on the status of our order and found out that these are so new that the store hadn't even seen one yet. Apparently lots of people were doing the same thing. We were the 7th order in their original order of 8, and they were getting in another shipment of 28 that were also nearly all spoken for already.

Most importantly, this travel system came very well packed, with no broken parts or pieces laying at the bottom of the box.

Mr. Brown, as I like to call our UPS man, is so nice. I had a little warning from our dog that he was coming so I met him at the door and he brought it in and set it in our entry way. He's nice that way if we get a real heavy or large package delivered.

Assembly was nice and easy, maybe took me about 20 minutes total. Our little lady has a pretty awesome looking ride waiting for her, don't you think?

So, if you spot a cute little pink and gray stroller out and about this summer, it just might be us. I am so excited for the time of year that our little girl is expected. Hopefully we'll be able to get out and take some nice walks before it gets too hot for her.

28w1d - I Passed!!!

Today was my Glucose Tolerance Test and I passed. They were looking for 140 or under, and my number was 101! I'm so excited! My hemoglobin is a little low though, so I picked up a bottle of Iron to help with that. I made sure to ask the pharmacist if there is such a thing as too much Iron in pregnancy and she assured me that since my OB said to get extra Iron, that the extra 361% in 1 tablet wouldn't be too much as some people actually take 3 tablets a day. That number just sort of freaked me out for a second!

Despite what my mother keeps telling me, Baby Girl is measuring right on (well, at least the belly is) at just over 28cm. My mom keeps saying that I'm huge. I don't feel huge by any means. Baby girl must have gotten a bit of a sugar rush after I drank the Glucose drink because her heart rate was a bit higher than it has been lately at 156/bpm and she was moving quite a bit while I waited for the test hour to be up.

The doctor felt around a bit trying to find her, but couldn't tell what position she is in. So now I'll actually be going back in 2 weeks because when I scheduled the next appointment last time, it ended up being 5 weeks out and being firmly into the 3rd trimester, they don't like to go so long between appointments. So, we're adding an appointment in 2 weeks, I'll go 3 weeks after that, then only one more 2 week appointment and then the weekly appointments start! I have appointments booked through the end of May! That only leaves two more weeks before her due date! Eeeks! Time is really starting to go fast now!

And finally, the quilt is done! I didn't end up quilting it like I wanted to. Instead, it's just tied. So while I'm happy to have completed my first quilt, it isn't everything that I had hoped for. Next time I'll have the experience of this one behind me and that should help with the overall project. One thing we noticed was that there wasn't enough contrast in the colors so I added the applique butterflies to the center piece to give it a little 'pop'. Here it is.

27w0d - Leaping into the 3rd Trimester

Wow. 3rd tri? Already? I realize I still have approximately 13 weeks to go, but that just seems crazy! I'm seriously 2/3 done with this pregnancy? Not sure what kind of changes to expect over the next 13 weeks, but I guess I'm ready. At least I'm feeling baby and actually feel pregnant now. I was starting to feel like a fraud with a big ol' bloated belly!

Last weekend I took the DVD and pictures of the 3D/4D ultrasound over to my parents so they could see them. Poor grandma was just a mess and couldn't hold back the tears. She had never seen a 3D ultrasound before, and just couldn't stop looking at the photos. She must have gone through them at least a dozen times. Grandpa thought it was pretty cool too, but he wasn't nearly as emotional as grandma. It's just amazing to see how loved this little one is already. Seeing their reaction to the video was incredible. Grandma kept saying how cute she is.

For the most part, it's been a pretty quiet week for us. No appointments or fun ultrasounds. Next week I have my 28wk appointment which will include the Glucose Tolerance Test. Hopefully that goes well.

Next week we also start our childbirth classes. That'll keep us busy one night a week for the next six weeks. By the time classes are over, that will bring us to almost 33 weeks! Eeeks!

So my new thing lately is that my body has gotten into this horrible pattern where if I wake up to use the bathroom between 1-3am, I'm probably going to be awake for a good hour, maybe even two. Is this some crazy way that my body is getting ready for midnight wake up calls or something? It isn't that I'm uncomfortable or in pain. I just can't get back to sleep.

Our furniture should be coming in anytime now. It's been 6 weeks and they said 6-8 weeks. We really need to get some warmer weather to come our way. We won't be able to do any staining if it doesn't start to warm up. I don't think it's advisable to stain in 20º weather.

No new updates on baby now that they are for a month at a time. All I can say is that I am definitely feeling her a lot more. This morning before I got up was the first time that I had a really high "kick" that made me think that maybe rib pain would be coming soon. Oh the things to look forward to.