Warning: Not suitable for small children or the faint of heart

AKA: 31 Week post

Here is a warning to everyone...the picture you are about to see...well, it's damn scary.

Consider yourself warned.....stretch marks and surgery scars in all their glory....but, yet I felt the need to document this. (I promise a return to fully clothed belly shots next week)

And, here it is. 31 Weeks:

And....we have a doula

When I look back at Mini Me's birth, there are many, many things I enjoyed about it. There are also a few things I wish had gone differently. In an attempt to perhaps minimize repeating those not so desirable items on the list, I knew before I even got pregnant, that I would be switching to a midwife.


With that decision, I have also carried a hope that I would be able to have a birth that did not involve pain medication, IV's, catheters, stitches, etc. To that end, I have been toying with the idea of having a doula present for the birth.


Generally, this goes against my philosophy of having as few people as possible in the delivery room. Not that I don't love all of you, but there is NO WAY, even if ya'll lived right next door, that I would choose to have any of you in the delivery room. No offense. Just not my thing. In fact, if I could give birth at home with only hubby and a midwife, I would be happy. But, hubby is really not cool with that, so we compromised.


However, as anyone who knows my hubby probably can guess, he's not really the "crunchy" type. He's analytical, scientific and cautious. To him, the medical model of birth is just fine. I respect his opinion, but we do have very different views. I don't believe that birth is a medical issue. I believe that women were designed to have babies, and while complications do occur that can and should be handled by doctors, in hospitals, that the majority of births should be able to happen as nature intended.


With that thought, I am preparing to have this baby, with as few interventions as possible. While hubby does not really understand my desire to do so, he respects my decision. However, he has also chosen to not actively participate in preparations to assist me with labor (learning massage techniques, positions for pain management, relaxation exercises, etc). So, I have decided that to give me the best chance of the birth that I hope for, I would compromise one of my preferences, and have a doula assist with the birth.


The glitch in all of that, is that a certified birth doula in this area costs a substantial amount of money and is not covered by insurance. Being a Stay at Home Mom doesn't really put a whole lot in the bank, ya know? But, thanks to my internet friends, I have been hooked up with a woman in a doula training program. She has completed the training and must now attend several births to complete her certification. She's not completely new at this. In fact, the first birth she participated in was a completely unmedicated home birth. Sweet.

And, so the stage is set. I will give birth to this baby, in the same hospital that Mini Me was born. I will have a L&D nurse present at all times. My midwife will be there for medical support (there is an OB supervisor who will not be present, but is available should there be any complications), and I will have hubby and a doula for emotional and physical support.

Now, we just wait....

30 week appt.

Just got back from my 30 week appointment. Really, nothing overly exciting to report. Baby still seems to be pretty much head down, although at times she has been a bit diagonal, which isn't the most comfy position for the mama. Heart rate (baby's) and blood pressure (mine) are still good. I weighed in at 170, which is perfect. I've gotten no lectures about my weight! Yay!

And, they confirmed that my blood work from my last appointment. was fine. No GD and I'm not anemic! Woo Hoo!

The highlight, once again, really was having Mini Me participate. She got to help with listening to the baby's heartbeat, and then the midwife put the probe on Mini Me so she could here her heartbeat. She thought that was pretty funny. I go back in 2 weeks...

The lamp saga is over

So, I was in Home Goods the other day, and randomly found a lamp. It's not super duper cute or anything special, but it will work. There is now a lamp for the girls' room. yay!

30 week pic

Sorry about the really streaky mirror. Guess I really need to do something about that before I take next weeks picture.

Don't get any bright ideas....

Let's just say it now: Yesterday sucked!

It all started yesterday morning, when little one was rolling around in there, and must have been laying on something important because I nearly passed out. I got short of breath, dizzy, hot and it just was not cool at all. And, for the rest of the day, any time I stood up, I started to get short of breath again. What the heck were you doing in there, little girl???

Last evening, I started having contractions every 2-3 minutes. NOT COOL AT ALL! Granted, they were not strong, but were just mildly uncomfortable. Still, they should not be happening that frequently. So, after drinking large amounts of water and laying down, they gradually subsided sometime during the nights when little one repositioned herself yet again.

So, little one. Don't get any bright ideas. As anxious as we are to meet you, you need to stay put for at least 7 more weeks.

Wall Letter Mania

Before I begin, let me start by saying, "see, I told you so". This post really could go either here on this blog, or on Mini Me's blog. Hence the earlier post about combining the blogs at some point. Anyway....

Today I have continued to make progress on the girls' room. I just spent an eternity an hour with my arch nemesis the iron in an attempt to make the curtains all pretty. After attempting to use the wrinkle release feature on my dryer, which made the situation worse, then the iron, I will simply claim that the fabric is just "crinkly". Yeah, that's it. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with my incompetence with an iron. Nothing at all. ::runs out to buy Downy Wrinkle Release Spray::

Mini Me's bed is all set, the wrinkled crinkly fabric curtains will be up once Mini Me wakes up from her nap, and the closet will be organized by the end of the day. After that, all that is left to do is get a freakin' lamp. Why is that taking me forever??? And, finally the wall letters.

Here's the dilemma with the wall letters:

I need to move Mini Me's wall letters over to her side of the room. OK. That presents 2 issues:

1. The nails in the wall where her letters used to be, need to be moved because they are not centered over the crib in it's current position. And besides, the number of letters may or may not match up for the new baby's name. Of course, in my obsessive state right now, that will also involve at least touching up the holes so they are not as obvious. Otherwise, it will drive me nuts.
2. The letters I painted are OK, but I don't *love* them in the newly decorated room. The colors are a little off from the rest of the scheme. So, I'm thinking about repainting them. But, of course in true pregnant hormonal fashion, I tear up at the very thought of "destroying" her original wall letters that I painted days after coming home from the hospital with her. I seriously need to get a grip. Everything is making me cry these days, and it's getting out of hand.

I think I will end up painting new wall letters. I will keep her "original" ones, and just paint new ones for her. That's the best solution I can come up with to satisfy both the perfectionist/nesting side of me, and the hormonal, sentimental side. Because, every kid needs 2 sets of useless wall letters, right? Right?

Also, while we have not officially named this baby and won't until she is born, I do believe we have come to agreement on a likely name for her. It is taking everything in my being to resist running out to get the letters to start painting. And, yes, I know there are several of you reading this that are now practically drooling at the possibility of learning her name. Sorry, we still aren't sharing. Not even with Mini Me. Imagine the confusion for her, should we tell her that her sisters name is going to be "xyz" and we come home with a baby named "abc". We wouldn't want her to think we came home with the wrong kid and insist we take it back, now, would we? No, I think not.

Not much new to report

So...

Here we are, approaching 30 weeks. Holy Cow!

I feel like I've been saying that a lot, lately. Perhaps it's the fact that I am officially doing the pregnant chic waddle, the fact that I can't comfortably sit anywhere, and I have to literally roll out of bed to get up that has me realizing that this is all coming to an end, very shortly.

Today, I have been making lists of the things that still need to be bought for this baby, things that need to be done to finish the girls' room, things that need to happen before the baby is born, plans that need to be made, hospital bags that need to be packed...etc. It's a bit overwhelming. But, at the same time, I am completely anxious to do it all...TODAY.

Realistically, I know that I have around 10 weeks to get it all done. But, 2 thoughts keep haunting me: 1. Do I REALLY have 10 weeks? What if this little girl wants to make an early appearance? 2. The past 10 weeks have flown by so fast, that the next 10 weeks don't seem nearly long enough to get everything done.

So, as I said. Not much new to report. Just the panic inducing realization that this wonderful experience is winding down, and soon our little girl will have a little sister.

29 Weeks

Here's the 29 week pic. Fortunately, I feel like I am not growing at the alarming rate of the past 10-15 weeks. Some days I even look smaller, depending on how she is positioned. Here is what's going on inside these days: 29 Weeks

No news is good news

Sorry for my absence the past week. And, I'll apologize in advance that we missed last weeks picture. I'll be sure to get one tomorrow.

But, here's the scoop:

I have heard NOTHING about my test, which was a week and a half ago. So, I'm taking that to mean 'no news is good news', and assuming that I passed the glucose test. Excuse me while I brush the cookie crumbs off the keyboard...

Let's see, what else...

Oh, little one has maneuvered herself very low, and is trying to break my pelvic bones apart. Good times. Not sure if she's planning to stay down there, but she's been asked (by daddy, who is very busy at work) to stay put until Oct. 1st. Mommy isn't as particular. Anytime after mid-September would be just as good for me.

And, in other happy news....her crib is here! I'm still working on decorating the girls' room, but the crib and Mini Me's big girl bed are set up. It's a little strange seeing a crib in the room again. I will post pics of the room once it's finished.

That's all, folks.

27 Week appointment update

I have to be honest. I was dreading today's appointment. Not only was I having my 1 hour glucose test, but I had to bring Mini Me to that very long experience.

For those of you who aren't familiar with what that means, let me explain:

My appointment with my midwife was scheduled for 8:40. Before I could see her, I had to check in and go across the lobby to the lab and get this orange flavored drink, which basically tastes like flat orange soda, drink it within 5 minutes and have the time noted on a chart. Then, I got to go see my midwife....at 9am. OK, so Mini Me has already put up with being at the office for 30 minutes at this point, so the fact that she was still in a great mood was...exciting.

Highlights from the appointment:
Weight 165
BP 106/68
Baby is measuring right on track, heartbeat is strong, and she is head down. Yay!

Mini Me got to "help" hold the probe while they were listening to the heartbeat. That was sweet.

After the appointment, we got to sit in the waiting room for almost 40 minutes, waiting for my hour to be up so that I could have my blood drawn. Mini me was a trooper. She did SO well, and I was able to get the blood work done and get her back in the car, at 10am without incident.

Yay for Mini Me deciding to have a good cooperative day! On the way inside, she decided she wasn't going to go up the stairs at home and needed to be carried against her will. Once she got inside and had a snack, all was right with the world again.

All in all, today went MUCH better than I had anticipated. I don't have the results of the test yet, so I am going to continue to pig out on sweets until further notice...just in case I receive a phone call in the near future informing me that I am banned from sugary goodness. Let's hope that call never comes, shall we? Because that will make for one very cranky mommy for the next 13 weeks....

27 Weeks

July 1

3 months left....