One Week?

I want to apologize up front for the spastic nature of this post.  I'm feeling very emotionally overwhelmed right now and need to get some feelings out.  I feel like my friends are probably tired of hearing me stress about all of this, so I'm posting here.
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As I mentioned in my 38 week update post, there are plans in place for a C-section on April 27th (one week from today--thus, the title of this post).  I, however, feel in my heart that I'm not ready to give in and have a C-section that day unless my doctor thinks it's medically necessary.  I'll re-assess this on Tuesday after my doctor checks me for progress; if I'm still "closed up tight" I think we'll have some serious decisions to make, but if I'm starting to dilate, I think we'll go another week.

The problem is, I don't feel like I have the support of the people closest to me.  My in-laws are planning their lives as if this baby is coming on the 27th.  My mom doesn't seem to understand why having a vaginal birth is so important to me.  My husband doesn't really think a vaginal birth is in the cards for us.  This last one is the part that is so painful for me.

We talked about it this morning in the car.  Because our doctor wanted to schedule a C-section and seemed very pessimistic as of our 37 week appointment about our VBAC opportunities, The Hubby accepted her word as gold.  This past week, though, I felt like she was a little more optimistic since my cervix did start to soften some.  I've also been feeling more optimistic based on some things I've read online--that it's really not that late for me to be dilating, that only 5% of babies never turn from sunny side up, although up to 30% are in that position at the beginning of labor--not to mention the fact that I've been feeling crampy, like maybe something is happening in there.  I told The Hubby that I was thinking that we'd probably cancel the C-section and he told me that he would support me in *my* decision.  The problem is, I want this to be *our* decision.  I don't want to be the one dictating everything.

I asked him if he had confidence that my body could deliver this baby vaginally and he was really unsure.  He said that based on the doctor's opinion, he didn't think it would happen.  I told him that I needed him to believe in me and my body and that we could do this or else I won't have to strength to make it through the labor that may be coming.  That's when he told me that he didn't think he could change his gut feeling.

We rode in silence for awhile and didn't really talk about it more before getting to work.  I just want to have my husband completely with me.  I don't want to feel like I'm pushing against him, or even just making the decisions on my own.  At this time, I need him WITH ME.  I'm already doubting my body's abilities enough--I need someone else in my corner who believes in me, my body, and this baby.  It doesn't seem like that person is going to be my husband.  I don't think he is fighting against me, but I also think he doesn't have any confidence that we'll get a VBAC and therefore just wants to take the scheduled C-section.  He told me that we can always reschedule it if I wanted to give my body the chance to make progress, but it definitely made me feel like he was just saying what I wanted to hear and that he was pretty sure the end result would be the same.

The whole conversation was really disheartening, to say the least.  I'm doubting my ability to birth a child and I don't have anyone who fully believes that I can do this--at least no one that's going to be in that delivery room.  How hurtful.

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I want to do an entire post about the emotional aspects of my C-section and the impact it's now making on my hopes for a VBAC, but am not sure I can find the words.  I'm going to leave you all with someone else's words (sent to me by a friend) that I hope help explain at least some of the emotions that I'm feeling right now: Do you write a scheduled c-section birth story?  Hopefully at some point I can find my own words to express the same ideas and incorporate it into how this impacts my hope for a VBAC.

38 Weeks

How am I feeling? I'm in a lot of pain.  I'm not going to lie--it's fairly miserable.  I have been feeling near constant pain whenever I move for the last 3 weeks or so.  I can't come up with a better way to explain the location but to say that if you imagine where the legholes of your underwear hit your legs, it's there.  It hurts whenever I move--when I change positions in my chair, when I walk, when I roll over in bed, when I bend over.  I cannot lift either leg independently without a large amount of pain, so I sit to put on underwear, pants, and shoes.  It's worse on the left side (I think Boomer is still a little to that side), but that evens out a bit if I sleep on my right side for a night.  I've also noticed I can relieve the pain a little bit if I take a full-sized pillow, double it over, and sleep with it between my thighs.


I've had VERY small amounts of swelling, but I think they can mostly be attributed to the warmer temperatures, eating a lot of ham this weekend, and doing a lot of walking.

I did notice this week that my complexion is changing.  If I don't wear makeup I can see definite darkening on my left cheek and back toward my hairline on the right side of my face.  It's splotchy and not really that attractive.  I'm just glad I've got a darker complexion so it isn't as noticeable.

Lastly, I am having contractions.  They still feel like Braxton Hicks, though, in that they don't hurt at all.  When I slow down and pay attention, I can notice them every 10 minutes or so when I'm having them.  I actually haven't noticed any this morning, which is a little odd, but yesterday I felt them most of the day, even though I was fully hydrated and didn't exert myself any more than normal.

Weight thoughts: As predicted, I gained like 4.5 pounds from last appointment.  I pointed out to my doctor that I'd lost 3 pounds between the two previous appointments and that just meant a 2 pounds (or so) gain over two weeks.  She seemed fine with that.

Doctor appointments? I had an appointment on Tuesday.  BP remains fine (102/60, I think?).  My doctor said that my cervix "is beginning to soften" and "is closed up tight".  Gee, those are some really encouraging words.  But she seemed a bit more optimistic and said that while it's good to have the C-section on the books, if I show more progress at my next appointment (next Tuesday) she'd let me go for another week.  So I'll keep on walking and praying.

She took my fundal length and sort of giggled.  I looked at her and said, "over 40 weeks?" and she just sort of chuckled and nodded.  Yep....I'm huge and so is this baby, I fear.

Regarding the C-section.  I want to do a larger post on the way I feel about a VBAC versus a C-section, but I did want to say that I'm feeling some pressure from my family to do a C-section.  They don't *get* why I wouldn't want to do it, plus it's so much easier to plan that way.  My ILs already took the day off for next Friday and have plans to come down that morning and stay for some of the weekend.  I feel like I should keep the appointment just for everyone's convenience, which seems so silly as I write it.  But then I was thinking last night while I was doing Baby Girl's bedtime how much I would miss it if I was recovering from a C-section.  I'll be in the hospital longer and won't be able to do nearly as much when I get home.  A VBAC recovery would be a lot easier with another little one already in the house.  So I'm still going back and forth with what I want to do.  The Hubby is being supportive with whatever I choose and I think we'll have more of a discussion after next Tuesday's appointment.

Movement? Boomer's movement has definitely slowed down, but he still gives me some reassuring rolls and kicks every once in awhile.  Yesterday he got stuck on my left side and was giving me some major pain during a meeting, but after I walked back from the meeting, I didn't feel him there anymore.

I also wanted to mention that Boomer now has hiccups at least once or twice a day.  It's so fun to feel, as I've only been feeling it for the last week or two.  I hope they continue.  I remember that Baby Girl had way more hiccups than he has and those continued outside the womb.  At one point this week Baby Girl and Baby Boy *both* had the hiccups at the same time.  Adorable!

Baby preparation? I don't think we've really done much since last week.  The hospital bag is constantly in whatever car we're in.  I think we're down to two names.  If I'm feeling up to it this weekend, I'd like to do some freezer cooking and we're also planning on getting our laundry caught up and our refrigerator cleaned out so if our parents are spending time at our house they don't have to deal with our messes.

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This morning I got two different comments about my pregnancy within about a minute.  When we were dropping Baby Girl off, the sitter looked at my and told me that I'd gotten huge.  I laughed and told her about how big my doctor is measuring me.  Then when we were leaving another mom was coming to drop off her little girl and commented on how I was the happiest pregnant woman she'd ever met and that I looked pretty.  Two very different comments very close to each other!  I can see the pity and humor in my coworkers' eyes, though, as they watch me waddle around.  

37 Weeks

How am I feeling? Physically, pretty rough. Since last night I have been crampy and have had some backaches. Nothing horrible, but it feels like something is going on. I hope I'm right, but feeling very doubtful.

I'm tired, achy, and really irritable. Last night my anxiety hit an all-time high (before any of the physical symptoms started) and it hasn't really stopped since. So yeah...I'm ready to be done, which is a place I NEVER hit with Baby Girl.

Weight thoughts: One piece of good(-ish) news...according to the doctor's office, I've lost 3 pounds in the week since my last appointment. LOL It was a regular digital floor scale, so I'm sure I'll gain 5 pounds by the next appointment if I go back to the other scale. But my home scale was telling me that I'd held steady, so that's good to hear.

Doctor appointments? This is where this is going to get really long. I had an appointment on Monday. It was scheduled for 3:30 to get a good ultrasound picture of Baby Boy so we could figure out how big he was.

The easy answer is that he looks healthy.

The longer answer is that we will very likely be scheduling another C-section.

The story:

My appointment was at 3:30 and I didn't see my doctor until 5:15, which means The Hubby missed the actual appointment because he had to leave to go pick up Baby Girl. I was already really frustrated (and weepy) by the time I went back to the room, then found out that it looks pretty sure that we'll be scheduling a C-section. My cervix hasn't changed whatsoever (still VERY firm and closed, she said), making the doctor pretty sure that it isn't going to enough to make a vaginal delivery easy or possible. I realize that there are many people who have progressed quickly after having a closed cervix, but I'm just going off of what my doctor said. Boomer's head is actually bigger than Baby Girl's, which is saying something. When the doctor measured it, it was the size of a 41+ weeker, not a 37 week baby. It was measuring in the 99.5th percentile. Combine those two pieces with the fact that he's face up (which is not the way you want to deliver a baby) and it just doesn't look likely that we're going to be doing a VBAC. I know a lot of people don't understand why I want one so badly, but I just do. And it makes me feel like my body is failing me, like it isn't doing something right.

But the good news is that Boomer is big and healthy and we're going to have a wonderful little boy sometime in the next 3 weeks. And I know that that's what is really important. According to her estimates (which could obviously be off), he's already 7 lbs 6 oz, which is bigger than Baby Girl was when she was born. His head was huge, his abdomen was measuring in the 77th percentile and the length of his femur (upper leg bone) was 21st percentile, which means he'll be shaped a lot like her--short with a big head.

The doctor said I could still have my water break and could still go into labor, but she wasn't very optimistic about our chances for a VBAC. So we're still waiting to see what's going to happen. I did get a message this morning that she's scheduled my C-section for Friday, April 27th at 8 a.m., just in case. After the cramping and then waking up to a belly that I think has dropped some, though, my hope is restored slightly that my body was just being slow. I have another appointment next Tuesday morning and will be praying for some progress.

Movement? Baby Boy is still moving all over the place a lot. I keep thinking it will slow down, but it hasn't yet. He has definite routines, though, and I typically know when he's going to be really mobile, so it surprised me last night when he was moving all over the place before and during dinner, which was also when the cramping started. It was really odd. He still really responds to peanut butter. I hadn't had any in awhile, then had some this morning for breakfast and he's been doing a jig in there since.

Baby preparation? Over the weekend we did get a hospital bag mostly packed. I apparently don't have a shirt to wear home in the bag, but that's a minor detail, right? :) Because we'd removed Baby Girl's car seat to put it in my mom's car while she was babysitting, The Hubby put it back into the car it came from behind the passenger seat (it had been behind the driver's seat). She's loving the new point of view and we decided that we wanted the infant seat where the passenger could get to the baby. After the cramping and things from last night, we put the hospital bag into the car this morning and even loaded up the base for the infant seat. It isn't installed, but at least it's with us. We also contacted the people who we're hoping will watch Baby Girl if we have an unexpected arrival and made a plan with that. So we could have this baby today (please....) and I think we'd be okay.

"I think it's time"

Alternate title: "Things you shouldn't say to your sleeping husband after having a late-night discussion about your plans for when you go into labor when you're not actually in labor"

Last night we sat and talked through all of the different options for what we're going to do when I go into labor (the discussion mostly centered around an unexpected water-breaking incident).  There are lots of complications--the biggest of which being our little lady who could very well be deep in sleep in her bed.  We tossed around all of our options and finally settled on our preferred outcomes, knowing that we can't control a damned thing.  At least we can prepare our family and friends for the possibilities.

This morning I woke up to use the bathroom and, based on my early morning calculations (I keep my clock approximately 25 minutes fast), noticed that The Hubby was late getting out of bed.  I said, "Honey, wake up.  I think it's time"....meaning that it was time to get up for the day.  He was groggy and confused and startled and asked "Time for WHAT?" and I told him that I just meant it was time for him to get into the shower.  But the look on his face told me what he'd thought I'd meant.

Whoops.

I later realized how that might have been received and retracted my statement and apologized.  I had to apologize on Friday, too, for calling him without leaving a message, then having my phone on silent (I'd thought I'd turned the ringer on, but I didn't) so he couldn't call me back to make sure I was okay.  We've since agreed that I'll text him with any baby-related updates.

Guess I need to be more careful about these things...

Meal Plan 4/8/12 - 4/14/12

I officially turned 37 weeks yesterday--full term!  I will have a pregnancy update tomorrow after our doctor appointment.  For now, though, you get our weekly meal plan.

This week is going to be fairly busy.  Tomorrow we have a doctor appointment at 3:30, so we might be running a little late getting home that day (I anticipate the doctor will be running late and we usually leave work around 4:30).  Wednesday night our realtor is coming to the house to talk about changes we need to make to be able to put our house on the market.  Thursday night a friend and I are taking a cupcake decorating class as part of my Christmas gift to her.

Sunday--Ham & Cheese Braid (based on a suggestion here)  We'll be celebrating Easter with my parents next weekend, so I'm going to leave the major cooking for then.  I might make up a cheesy potato casserole to go with the braid.

Monday--English Muffin Pizzas with Salad and frozen veggie  I've been wanting to do this for awhile, as I'm sure Baby Girl would love to make her own pizza.  I couldn't figure out any sides that would go with it, so we'll just be having lots of veggies.

Tuesday--Not So Dirty Dirty Rice  A carryover from last week that we didn't get around to making

Wednesday--Cayenne/Avocado Chicken  We made this a week or two ago for cooking club and when I saw avocados on sale and The Hubby mentioned wanting to grill on Wednesday, I immediately thought of this.

Thursday--Pulled Pork Sandwiches with mashed potatoes  I saw pork loin on sale at the grocery store and thought that would be good for a night we needed a crockpot meal.  It was between this and pulled pork tacos and the BBQ won out this week.  I'm going to buy those frozen mashed potatoes to speed up the meal.

Friday--Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Pasta Roni and cornbread 

Saturday--"Easter dinner" or just eating out with my parents

Becoming Adults

I've been wanting to write this post for awhile now and just haven't been sure how to frame it.  Do other bloggers get writing anxiety like this?  I don't consider myself a great writer at all, so I'm jealous of people who can easily express themselves eloquently and still include some humor to make the reader interested.  While the subjects of my blog posts are typically for record-keeping for myself, I want to make them interesting for my readers so I can keep my readers, too.  I'm an attention whore like that, apparently.

Anyway...

You would think that after being out of college and having a full-time job for 9 years, co-habitating (officially, that is...) for about 7 years, being married for 5 1/2 years, and being parents for 2 1/2 years, The Hubby and I would consider ourselves adults.

You'd be wrong.

You see, we'd fallen into some horrible habits, especially when it comes to housekeeping.  We just didn't really do it.  And there's no one to blame but ourselves, really.  It's not like it happened when Baby Girl arrived--no, we just never did much cleaning.  We'd clean: 1) when someone was coming over 2) when The Hubby got a bug up his ass randomly motivated 3) when we needed dishes to cook or 4) when we realized that we were living like those gross people on Hoarders.  For realz, people.  Gross.  And this went on for a very long time.  We'd let things pile up for weeks days, get really, really annoyed, and then go on a cleaning spree that would wear us out.  Then we'd want to take a break from cleaning because we'd just spent an entire day cleaning and doing laundry and the cycle would begin again.  We kept saying to ourselves, "isn't it nice to have a clean house?  Why can't we keep it this way?"  And then we wouldn't.

But that all changed toward the beginning of January.  It had nothing to do with a resolution or anything.  It might have been a teensy bit of nesting.  But something made me realize that if we just did a little bit each night, we wouldn't get stressed by the grossness that we were living in, we'd have dishes to cook with, and we'd have clean clothes without buying 30 pairs of underwear (which we each still EASILY have).  So I just started doing it.  And I've done it almost every night since.  While dinner is cooking, I'm putting away the dishes from the dishwasher and sometimes working on other cooking projects (like freezing fruits for my smoothies).  After dinner is done, we I put our dishes directly into the dishwasher (which is now empty!), then go in and clean off the counters, package up leftovers, and sweep the floor in the kitchen and dining room.

Am I exhausted most nights?  Do I miss out on some time with Baby Girl?  Do I wish I could just veg out and do nothing?  You betcha.

And do you think The Hubby caught on quickly?  Of course not.  It took until just this week the beginning of March (yes, I've been working on this post for well over a month) (I started this cleaning routine around January 6th...) for him to actually put his dishes into the dishwasher or to wipe off a counter.  But his contributions started at the perfect time because I've been feeling pretty rough these last few days (months?) and really needed the help.  It was really nice to see that the kitchen was cleaned when I went to get Baby Girl's milk before bed, even if I did notice that the countertop could have been cleaned a little better...  [edited to add: his contributions have been severely lacking recently, unfortunately, but he has been doing some things that I can't--namely, the lawn]

I finally, officially, feel like an adult.  I know what it's like to live in a house that I'm not embarrassed to have people see, generally.  Is our bedroom currently a wreck because we didn't put away a couple of loads of laundry?  Yep.  Has any dusting been done in the last 3 months?  Nope.  But our kitchen counters are clean, we don't have more than 2 loads of dirty laundry, and our floors are cleaner than they used to be.  We need to get into a better routine with changing our sheets and maybe start dusting, but it's definitely progress.  And that's what counts.

36 Weeks

How am I feeling? I'm feeling some not-so-fun things at this point.  Today I had my first experience with pain directly caused by baby.  I thought I had a stomachache because of some gas or something digestion-related, but found that it got better when I walked around the office.  After about 3 hours of pain, I decided to try some yoga poses to figure out if baby would move and make me feel better.  I got down on my hands and knees and did some stretching and felt better almost immediately.  Yes, it involved time on my gross cubicle floor, but it was totally worth it.  I haven't been in pain since.

Except in my leg...  I have a band of pain that circles the joint where my thigh and pelvis meet.  My doctor today said she thinks it's sciatica, but I disagree.  I guess it's possible, though, as I've felt a teeny bit better after getting Baby Boy to move away from my left side and more toward the middle (this happened when I did the yoga poses).  Either way, it hurts to move my legs independently, which means putting on underwear, pants, and shoes when standing has been really painful.  Walking hasn't been particularly comfortable, either, so I've been hobbling around like...like a 36 week pregnant woman.  My doctor's office is in the hospital down the street from my office, so we always walk to appointments, but that took a really long time today.  We'll see how I'm feeling next Monday before we decide if we're going to walk or drive to the doctor.

Weight thoughts: Up 2 pounds over 2 weeks this time.  Not bad, not great.


Doctor appointments?  As mentioned, I had one today.  My BP is still great (102/62, I think).  Today was my Group B Strep test and my first internal.  The strep test was not pleasant.  The internal was even less so.  The fact that I don't have any dilation was the worst of all.  I didn't really expect any, but was sort of hoping.

My doctor also still seems to think that Baby Boy might be on the big side.  She asked if I was bigger than I had been with Baby Girl and asked how big Baby Girl was.  She also was hesitant when she told me I was measuring 38...leading both The Hubby and me to believe that it was probably closer to 39 weeks.  She was able to tell during the internal that Baby Boy is definitely head down, which is good news.

Next appointment is next Monday (the 9th) for an ultrasound to get a more accurate estimate of Baby Boy's size and position.  I'm hoping to get him more engaged over the next week, but we'll see--I need to make myself realize that this is not something I can control.

Movement? Of course.  The doctor keeps asking about how his movement is and I keep telling her that I don't even feel the need for kick counts because he moves so much.  He was a little quiet after I got him repositioned, but then perked up while I was driving home.

Baby preparation? We have still done fairly little, it seems.  The last things I want to do are: pick a name, pack a hospital bag (got scolded by my doctor for not doing this yet), and do some freezer cooking so we have some meal prepared for the first few days (weeks?) after Boomer arrives.  Oh, and I also want to get him a gift from Baby Girl, get her a gift from him, and The Hubby says he's going to buy Boomer's coming home outfit.  So yeah...a few things to do still.

Meal Plan: 4/1/12 - 4/7/12

Yes, this meal plan is late, but it's been done since Monday afternoon because of our crazy Sunday.  It's a little haphazard, but I didn't spend an exorbitant amount at the grocery, so I think that's okay.  I can't wait for produce to become more readily available and, therefore, cheaper!

Sunday: We technically ate at our nieces' birthday party, but because the main dish was cold cut sandwiches, I ended up with a Taco Bell taco around 9 p.m. to top off my day of horrible eating (also had cold cuts for lunch at a baby shower....).  I ate chips, cake, and desserts most of the day.  ~sigh~

Monday: Pizza Hut pizza (grocery shopping didn't happen until after Baby Girl's bedtime that night and she'd requested pizza.  Remind me next time, though, that no matter how cheap it is, don't eat Pizza Hut pan pizza.  It just doesn't agree with me and never has.  I like their hand-tossed crust, but the buttery crust is just too much for me.

Tuesday: Taco Chicken Rice Bowls: My mom is watching Baby Girl Tuesday and Wednesday of this week so we needed something that made plenty since they'd both be eating it for lunch on Wednesday.  This was a recipe from my cooking club that we really enjoyed, so we decided to make it again.  My mom liked it enough to ask for the recipe and we all ate plenty of it, so I'd call it a winner!

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Pizza: We have leftover chicken that was grilled last week that needs to be used ASAP, so I bought a shell and we'll make a pizza out of it.

Thursday: Grilled pork chops & corn on the cob: The grocery store had corn on the cob on sale this week.  I doubt the quality will be very good and the ears were really teeny, but we're going to give them a shot!

Friday: Coneys and tater tots

Saturday: Not-So-Dirty-Dirty-Rice: This is another one that we tried recently and loved and I made a point to bring it back to the meal plan.  It's pretty easy, really yummy, and I want to eat sausage until I don't feel like I should anymore (ie. after Baby Boy arrives).

For the record, I have no idea what we're doing on Sunday.  I'm tempted to make a nice dinner, but it'll just be the 3 1/2 of us, so it seems like a waste.  We'll see.

35 Weeks

How am I feeling? Very uncomfortable.  I'm still sleeping okay, so I can't complain there.  I'm waking maybe twice per week to go to the bathroom and I'm not even sure that that is what is waking me.  I'm not able to sit or stand or do anything for long, though.  I'm feeling aches and pains pretty much everywhere, especially from the waist down.  Over the weekend (right as I turned 35 weeks) I started feeling a pain just below my butt cheek.  I thought it might be sciatica, but I don't think so after reading and after it persisting all this time.  The pain has expanded and, for lack of a better description, I think it feels like Baby Boy has his head rammed against the left side of my pelvis, as the pain as moved a bit.  Either way, it's definitely inhibiting my ability to walk waddle.  

Weight thoughts: I have none at this time.  I'm sure I'll see another gain at my next appointment, but I'm just eating what I want at this point.

Doctor appointments?   We have all of the remaining appointments scheduled:

     Wednesday, April 4th
     Monday, April 9th (growth u/s)
     Tuesday, April 17th
     Tuesday, April 24th


Let's hope that's all of them!

Movement? Baby Boy is still really active.  For the most part, his butt is under my left breast, his back goes down my left side, and his head is just to the left of its goal.  I get kicks on my right side and there are also times that he gets his legs bent enough to kick me up high.  Whichever side I sleep on, his head rotates to that side, making me spazz a bit, but by the time I get out of the shower his head is usually back down (I can feel the pressure on my bladder).  So he's still not engaged, but I've been reassured that engagement typically doesn't happen until later and that baby can be a little tilted and contractions will put him in the right position for exit.

Baby preparation? I think at this point the preparation is just mentally.  Our sitter is closed tomorrow through next Friday, so The Hubby and I are going to spend some special time with Baby Girl (as much as possible, anyway).  I still feel the need to read some things about relaxation techniques, but I'm not sure how much good reading is going to do.  My goal is to get the hospital bag packed over the weekend, just in case, and to start deciding if I want to do some sort of playlists of music for labor.  Otherwise it'll just be getting prepared to shift my work to other colleagues and making sure our family is on board with care for Baby Girl.  And then we just wait.

Meal Plan 3/25/12 - 3/31/12

I'm posting this late, but the meal plan was created before my grocery trip that happened late Sunday afternoon. I did learn this week never to go to the grocery that late on Sunday--there were a lot of things that were out of stock.

Sunday: I think we had a frozen pizza, but I honestly don't remember...how sad is that?
Monday: Rotini, jarred pasta sauce, and frozen meatballs--one of our go-to easy meals
Tuesday: Spicy Bean Soup: This was a new meal and I'm glad I waited to post this meal plan until after we'd eaten it.  This was seriously delicious and something we'll make repeatedly (without the lima beans again, though).  We calculated that it was about $1 per serving and I'm pretty sure Baby Girl actually ate more than I did.  We all loved it!  The Hubby and I agree that the only thing that would make it better would be a pan of warm cornbread.
Wednesday: Avocado/Cayenne Chicken (for cooking club)
Thursday: Mozzarella Baked Gnocchi: another new recipe.  I bought some vacuum-packed gnocchi at Aldi a couple of weeks ago with this recipe in mind.
Friday: Easy Pork Chop Skillet
Saturday: I have no idea...I accidentally only planned 6 meals this week.  We'll figure something out :)

34 Weeks

I have all of the rest of my doctor appointments scheduled through my due date.  Four appointments.  Next week is our last week that we won't see my doctor until after the baby is here.  Holy shit.  This is real.

The Hubby isn't freaking out nearly as much as I am and I can't really figure out why, but I wish some of his calm feelings would rub off on me!


How am I feeling? Pretty damn huge.  Still lumpy, though.  Reflux hasn't gotten worse yet, so that's exciting.  Moving REALLY slowly at this point and having Braxton Hicks contractions quite a bit, which makes walking even harder.  I asked my doctor about these and she said they weren't a problem and that if I were to go into labor today they wouldn't stop it.  Talk about freaking a girl out...

The hot weather we're having in Ohio (for the first day of spring today it's going to be over 80 degrees) makes me really nervous about the summer temps, so I am feeling relieved that this baby will be out by May!

Weight thoughts: Well....  It hasn't been a good two weeks, weight-wise.  We hosted a fabulous party (blog entry almost entirely written) on Saturday, but I ate A LOT.  And a lot of it was cheese.  And you might have some idea of what cheese might do to a person's digestive system.  In short, I haven't pooped since Saturday morning.  So when I saw a 5 pound weight gain in 2 weeks, I can't say I was horribly surprised.


Doctor appointments?  Like I said, I had one this morning.  I love the early morning appointments because they usually aren't running late and there usually aren't a bunch of people in the waiting room.  My blood pressure is still great (108/56, I think) and everything looks good.  Baby is still head down, but still very high, according to the doctor.  I already feel like I've been riding a horse, so I'm not sure how much I'll like the feeling once his head drops down!

My doctor measured my fundal length and I'm currently measuring at 37 weeks, which she says is still within the acceptable range, but getting a little big.  I assume it's because of my pre-pregnancy size, but she did request a growth ultrasound at my 37 week appointment the week of April 9th.  She says she's just projecting that I'll likely keep growing, plus she wanted to get a better look at his positioning at that point.

I also discussed the next few weeks with my doctor.  We don't go back next week, but will then start going every week and will begin the internal exams on April 4th.  She validated my feeling that if we have to discuss induction that our decision will be between a scheduled C-section and just letting me go naturally and that if I go late enough that I would need induced that we would just do a scheduled C-section (unless I'm already dilated to like 4 cm and having some contractions).  This is what my instincts were telling me anyway, so I'm fine with that decision.  She said that everything those last few weeks will be a game-time decision and will be based on how my cervix dilates and ripens and if my body seems to be preparing for birth.  I like the "wait and see" approach, even though it goes against my planner tendencies.

Movement? Baby Boy is all over the place, but almost all kicks are on my right side, either toward the top or just on the side.  I can usually feel his butt rolling around at the top of my left side.  There are times I feel arms or shoulders (presumably) on the lower left side as well.  At least I don't have to worry about kick counts (yet).  He actually hurt me for the first time last night!

Baby preparation? Physically, I think we're as ready as I think we're going to get.  I am going to be buying a used Rock n Play from a friend to keep by our bed for the first few weeks (it's much smaller than the Pack n Play we used with Baby Girl).

Emotionally, however, is a whole other story.  I'm pretty much freaking out.  But that isn't anything new, really.  I'm freaking out about how Baby Boy is going to get into this world and the decisions we make pertaining to that and then I'm also freaking out about what our lives are going to be like once he gets here.

Meal Plan: 3/18/12 - 3/24/12

We decided to try to have a cheaper meal plan this week than we typically do and The Hubby advocated for some crock pot meals as well.  We also had some meat left over from both last week (which I froze but wanted to use) and from our fondue party on Saturday (which I will blog about in the next couple of days), so we're making good use of those ingredients.  We went to the grocery yesterday to pick up everything we need and paid only $24.41.  If we can avoid hitting up Aldi or having to make another grocery run this week, that's great!

Sunday: Pizza (at Baby Girl's request) with my parents
Monday: Beef Stir Fry: using some pre-marinated steak from Saturday
Tuesday: BBQ Shrimp Over Buttered Noodles: using leftover shrimp from Saturday
Wednesday: Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops: using pork chops from last week.  I found pork loins on sale for $1.79/lb and had the guy at the meat counter cut it into 1/2" chops and got 17 chops out of it for less than $8!
Thursday: Spicy Bean Soup: a crock pot meal from a hard-copy cookbook
Friday: Easy Skillet Pork Chops
Saturday: Whatever my mother-in-law decides we'll have

32 & 33 Weeks

How am I feeling? 32 Weeks--pretty good.  33 Weeks--pretty humongous and uncomfortable.  Sleeping is bad more than it's good.  Reflux has generally been under control and can be tamed with some Tums if necessary.  I'm moving more and more slowly now.  I'm also having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions, especially when I have a full bladder and try to walk somewhere.

Weight thoughts: Nothing particularly interesting.  Gained 2.5 pounds in 2 weeks, which is fine.  I haven't done a check at home since my appointment 3/6.


Doctor appointments?  We had an appointment on March 6th and it was really good.  The best news?  Baby Boy is head down.  Woo!  She said she thinks we're in a good position to go for the VBAC.  Which makes me....anxious.  Do we need to go through birthing class again?  A scheduled C-section, while risky, is at least familiar to me. I feel like I should be more excited that he is head down, but find myself reeling with anxiety.

Everything else from the appointment was good--good fundal length, good weight gain, great blood pressure (I'm amazed that my blood pressure is always quite a bit lower when I'm pregnant).  Next appointment is this coming Tuesday the 20th.

Movement?  I thought by now I would be feeling a decrease in movement, but I'm not.  I'm pretty sure I can still tell that he's head down because of where I'm feeling kicks and hits.  Worst (best?) of all, I can feel pressure pretty low, which makes me waddle.


Baby preparation? Baby Boy's nursery is done, I think.  We ordered the glider and bedding the weekend of the 3rd and were able to get it all the following week.  We cleaned out a lot of gear.  The only thing up there that we'd like to do is clean out the bottom drawer of his dresser, which is full of summer 2T clothes for Baby Girl that I was hoping would fit this summer.  I'll try to get a picture soon and post it.  It's not horribly exciting and I'd like to do something more personalized, but I'm not sure what.

Out of the Mouth of Baby Girl

Sunday evening I was getting ready to pass Baby Girl off to her daddy for bedtime and she decided to start being stubborn.  She sat down on the top step and wouldn't yell for Daddy to come upstairs and tuck her in, so I told her I was just going to go on downstairs.  I was standing a couple of steps below her and admonishing her when one foot slipped off the step and down a couple more.  I caught myself with the railing but still elicited a response from The Hubby.  He came to see if I was okay.  I sat down and told him that I was fine--more startled than anything.

Baby Girl then rushed to my aid.  She scooted down the steps to me, wrapped her arms around my neck, kissed my cheek and kept repeating, "Are you okay, Mommy?"  She then started to stroke my hair and tell me that it would be okay.  I, of course, started to cry which made her even more concerned.  I told her, "I'm just crying because you're so sweet.  I'm not hurt."

After a few minutes of cuddling on the steps, The Hubby and she went on upstairs.  Apparently, though, she wouldn't fall asleep until she was sure I was okay, so I had to go back up and tell her I was alright.

Meal Plan 3/11/12 - 3/17/12

I've been a major blogger slacker this week.  It's been a weird week at work, so I haven't even had a lunch hour to write posts.  I have a few unfinished entries written that I need to post...and I will, I promise.  I'm officially 33 weeks pregnant and never wrote a post for 32 weeks, which is a shame since that was my last week feeling that happy, comfortable pregnant feeling.

I'm feeling really uninspired this week, but am still trying some new recipes.  We'll see what happens.  I wouldn't be surprised if one of the recipes gets postponed to next week and I take a night off, but I don't want to plan on that.  So without further ado...

Sunday: Quesadillas.  We went out to dinner last night, unexpectedly, so we still have the chicken from the chicken bowls leftover and will make those into quesadillas tonight.  If I thought the chicken would still be good tomorrow, I'd save it as a quick dinner tomorrow night.  So, as always, the night we cook things is open to change.

Monday: Easy Jambalaya.  This is our recipe for cooking club this week and I'm really excited to make it. It seems like our type of meal--easy, quick, and yummy!

Tuesday:  Sloppy Joes with tater tots.  'Nuf said, I think :)

Wednesday: Key West Grilled Chicken.  This was a Pinterest find and it sounds like a great marinade for our first grilling of the season.  I'll serve it with some rice and maybe some pineapple.

Thursday: Stuffed Cabbage Casserole.  This is the recipe that could end up being made tonight if I don't make quesadillas since it has a bit longer cooking time.  Unfortunately, though, I'd planned on making extra rice with the grilled chicken to use in this dish, so I'll need to cook some rice first.

Friday: Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops.  We've had these before and really enjoyed them.  When I saw that pork chops are on sale this week, I knew I had to make them again.  I'll make them with mashed potatoes.  Great comfort food!

Saturday: Fondue.  Last June we had a gathering with our closest college friends to celebrate our collective 30th birthdays and, to celebrate, we went to Melting Pot.  I want to recreate that food at home (it's *got* to be cheaper....) and get together those same friends before we're a little more restricted (we'll be shipping Baby Girl off to my parents' house so we can have some adult time and I have a feeling adult time will be at a premium for awhile once Baby Boy is here).  I'm really excited, but need to start looking for recipes--we'll do cheese, meat, and dessert courses!

Meal Plan 3/4/12 - 3/10/12

This week I'm making an effort to re-visit some recipes that we've tried just once before but really enjoyed.  Apparently I'm feeling really motivated since I'm planning on a full 7 days of meals.  I'm also apparently feeling good about the status of my reflux, based on how many of these meals contain some sort of tomato product.  We'll see what happens!

I'm getting ready to head to Aldi this morning.  I didn't see any amazing deals at Kroger or Meijer, so I'll see how my experience is at Aldi.  The lines can get really long, so I'm hoping that Baby Girl will stay home with The Hubby to reduce stress for all of us.

Sunday: Cheesy Sausage Penne

Monday: Pork Stir Fry (with a different kind of fried rice since we still haven't introduced nuts to Baby Girl)

Tuesday: Taco Chicken Bowls

Wednesday: Cajun Shrimp Pasta--I'd planned on making this last week, but never remembered to thaw out chicken.  I'm going to see if I find shrimp at Aldi today.

Thursday: Tacos

Friday: Leftover Cheesy Sausage Penne (The recipe makes quite a bit.  Last time I made it, I thought I might make it into two pans and freeze one, but it sounds so good to me that I think I'll just make the whole thing and eat it twice this week.)

Saturday: Use meat from Taco Chicken Bowls to make quesadillas

Meal Plan: 2/26/12 - 3/3/12

For some reason, I failed to bring out many favorites in our meal plan this week and we're, instead, going to make three new recipes (or two...maybe).  I think I've been feeling guilty because our really old-school favorites all are processed junk (hot dogs & mac and cheese; something with tater tots, etc.) and for some reason I can NEVER remember our favorites of all of the new recipes we try.  We try at least one new recipe a week because of all of the cooking blogs I read and, of course, Pinterest.  I just can't remember which were our favorites so we can try them again. Hopefully I can come up with some new favorites for next week so life is a little simpler!

Sunday: Burritos with The Hubby's family.  The Hubby's mom makes her own meat sauce that the family has in shells with refried beans and other normal toppings.  My brother-in-law hosted everyone at his house and he made up a batch of it--yum!  I'm paying for it today, but it was delicious while I was eating it.

Monday: Not So Dirty Dirty Rice.  I'm excited to try this--I think the family will enjoy it and it could become a new favorite!


Tuesday: Brinner (Pancakes, Fried Potatoes, and Turkey Bacon) This was on the meal plan for last week but we didn't end up making it, so we'll be trying it again this week.  I need something quick since I need to leave the house by 6:40 or so for book club and this is usually a pretty quick meal.  We'll see, though, since this meal doesn't typically yield leftovers for the next day's lunch--we might end up making some else.


Wednesday: Panda Express Orange Chicken Copycat This is our cooking club recipe for the week (and a possible candidate for Tuesday's meal).  I think it sounds delicious, although I don't know if I'll deep-fry the chicken.


Thursday: Cajun Shrimp Pasta (except with chicken) I saw shrimp in the Kroger ad this week and thought of this dish immediately (I'll double it), but then couldn't find the shrimp I'd wanted.  Since I don't cook with it often, I'm not comfortable with having shrimp that isn't tail-less and deveined (WTF does that even mean???) and whenever I find bags that are tail-less and deveined, they seem to be already cooked.  Can someone help me figure out what I should be buying?  In any case, I might just make this meal with chicken instead of shrimp.

Friday: Smoked Sausage, Potatoes, and Cabbage One of our tried and true meals that might get cooked earlier in the week due to the large amount of leftovers it generates.  Sometimes I wonder why I even assign days to the meals.

Saturday: No Idea  I got into the bad habit of only planning for 6 meals a week so we were able to go out one night, but since we don't have any plans for the coming weekend, I don't know why I didn't plan on cooking Saturday night as well.  We'll either make something up from all the food in our house or end up going out/ordering in.

Allergist Appointment

I talked about our appointment with the allergist last year here and it was time for a check-up for Baby Girl today.  As a recap: we thought she was allergic to milk, but has no milk allergy and a very mild contact allergy to eggs.  We were told to hold off on nuts until she turned 3.  She hasn't had any pure eggs since our appointment last year and we've only seen one breakout from a stovetop macaroni and cheese that I made that had an egg as a binder.  I've made dishes like this where you bake it and it was fine--I'm wondering if the egg didn't get warm enough or something.  The nice thing about her allergy is that as soon as we wipe off her face, the breakout goes away.

Baby Girl was tested again using the skin prick test.  She reacted much more poorly than she did last year--she listened SO well and didn't move, but was laying on the table (I sat next to her and rubbed her hair and face) crying big tears.  As soon as I was allowed to, I picked her up and snuggled her.  She was fine within about 30 seconds, but I felt horrible for her after seeing those tears rolling down her cheeks.  We were left alone for 15 minutes to allow the spots to react and she did GREAT not touching her back.  She even told The Hubby and me not to touch her back when we were picking her up.  She played with the toys they had there and was very sweet to everyone, as usual.

The doctor came back in when the timer went off and checked her out.  The egg spot hardly reacted at all, which is great news!  He said that in a few months we can start to slowly introduce some egg to build up her tolerance and to help encourage her body to outgrow the allergy.  He also said we could introduce peanut butter whenever we want.  Because The Hubby and I eat a fair amount of it, Baby Girl has been interested in trying it for awhile (but will say "I don't like peanut butter" or "I don't like eggs" when asked--we've tried explaining to her that it's just that they don't like her very much...).

I did have a revelation this morning about how different things like this will be once Baby Boy is here.  We always schedule appointments as early as possible so we can just go straight from home, but we won't want to have to take Baby Boy with us in the future, so we'll either have to divide and conquer (The Hubby and I have each only missed one doctor appointment for Baby Girl and both were sick appointments) or run Baby Boy to the sitter and then go to Baby Girl's appointment (or vice versa).  The things you don't think about....

31 Weeks

How am I feeling? A development that I wanted to make sure to mention in case there are other women who might be pregnant in the future are reading...for the last few weeks I've been seeing specs of blood in my tissues in the morning.  I haven't had a full-blown nose bleed like I know some women have during pregnancy, but I have seen some.

Last night I struggled some with a foot cramp.  My toes cramped, the top of my foot cramped, AND the outside of my foot cramped.  The Hubby tried rubbing it (of course he was already sleeping when it happened...) and it helped until I tried to lay my leg back in its original position.  I ended up having to rub it really hard myself and then get up and stand on it for a few minutes.  It didn't cramp again, but that was really painful and something I hope doesn't keep happening!

Also, I'm confident that I'm waddling now, especially at the end of the day and ESPECIALLY when I need to pee or Baby Boy is pushing down near my bladder.  I find myself walking with my feet turned out and try to fix it, but it doesn't stay fixed for long.

I've also been working on trying to find a comfortable way to sleep.  The last two nights have been relatively successful with a knee support pillow between my legs and another pillow wedged behind me.  It means that I'm taking up more room in the bed, but I think The Hubby is going to just need to deal with it at this point.

Weight thoughts: NO WEIGHT GAIN between doctor appointments (3 weeks)! (as I sit here stuffing a Reese's Cup in my face...)


Doctor appointments?  We had one on Wednesday and it was awesome.  It started with no weight gain.  Oh, did I already say that?  It was my very first prenatal appointment where I didn't gain any weight between appointments in either pregnancy.  Woo!

I had a fairly low blood pressure again, which the nurse was very excited about (but it was unnerving to me).  It was 98/56, I think.  I know the top number was in the 90s and the bottom in the 50s.  When I'm not pregnant, I hover right around 120/75 or so, but I did maintain a lower blood pressure while pregnant with Baby Girl--just not THIS low!  My doctor told me it wasn't a problem and that it would probably rise through the remainder of my pregnancy.

I told the doctor that I was pretty sure Baby Boy was still transverse and she started feeling and couldn't tell at all.  She said I have "hard lumps all over my belly"--haha.  She was fairly confident she felt a butt on my upper right side, so she thought she'd find the heartbeat closer to my belly button and was right about that.  She couldn't tell, though, if I was feeling movement on my lower left side from hands and feet or if it was the head.  She used the doppler to measure his heartrate and it was in the 130s, which was pretty slow for him.  I commented on it and as we listened, it went up to the 150s.  LOL  Silly little man!  He moved around some more and his heartrate jumped into the 160s.  Crazy kid.  It was fun, though.

The last thing she did was measure my fundal length--I'm measuring 2 weeks ahead, which I'd guess means I was measuring at 32 cm (I was 30.5 weeks at the appointment).  She wasn't concerned at all and I'm pretty sure that's because of the extra padding I carry on top of baby.  She did say we'd do an ultrasound as we get closer to make sure he isn't too big and we talked a bit about how inaccurate those are--apparently she says it has an error rate of up to 10-20%.

I go back on March 6th.

Movement?  Oh yes.  As I've said many times, this little guy loves to move!  He responds to peanut butter and seems to calm down when his daddy puts his hand on my belly.  He loves to kick Baby Girl when she's laying on me and do a lot of rolling and moving throughout the day.  Today he was kicking/hitting the underside of my right boob!


Baby preparation? I went and met with a friend on Tuesday to pick up some baby clothes and things--amazing!  I don't think she reads the blog, but if she does....thank you!!!!  We are going to go through it tonight to see what's in there and assess what we might still need.  I've been stocking up on diapers when I find deals, so I feel fairly set there, at least for a little while.  The Hubby looked at the boxes I'd purchased and tried to estimate how long they would last...and I laughed at him.  Apparently he doesn't remember the newborn stage as well as I do.

Conversation with Baby Girl

From this morning in the car

Baby Girl: Daddy, I want you to tell me a story, please.

Daddy: Okay.  Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little girl named...

Baby Girl: Baby Girl (except, of course, she said her name...which she can finally pronounce entirely)

Daddy: And she spelled her name...

Baby Girl: [insert letters of Baby Girl's name here]

Daddy: One day, Baby Girl's mommy and daddy told her she was going to be a big sister.  That meant she was going to have a baby brother.  What did they call that baby brother?

BG: Boomer

Daddy: And what was his real name going to be?

BG: [insert name that Baby Girl has decided upon that we'll probably go with since how can you deny a sweet little girl who says the name so well in that little girl voice of hers????]

Daddy:  And where is that little baby?

BG: In Mommy's tummy

Daddy: Right.  He's in there growing big and strong.

BG:  Like ME!

Daddy: And that little baby is going to come in late...

BG: April!

Daddy: What's Boomer going to eat when he comes out of mommy's tummy?

BG: Broccoli.

[pause]

BG: Smooshed up broccoli

Daddy: (laughing) Right.  But when he first comes out, he'll only eat milk.  Do you know that when Boomer starts eating real food that you can help feed him?

BG: Yeah!  And I can teach him to play games...

Daddy: Eventually, but at first he'll be sort of floppy and not do much other than eat, sleep, and cry.  But once he gets bigger you can lay on the floor and teach him how to roll over. Like a dog.

[pause]

[pause]

BG: I'm going to put this sock on my hand.  (in high-pitched voice) Hi, I'm a sock puppet.  My name is LaLa.

End scene

Green Smoothie

Last week I started doing some research about how I could increase the amount of folic acid I'm taking in through foods, rather than through my vitamins, as my trusty old Flintstones had started making me slightly nauseous.  I found that quite a few of the folic acid-rich foods are also acidic and they were therefore quickly crossed off my list--I'm struggling enough with my reflux these days!  Through my reading, I found that spinach and kale are great sources of folic acid.  Upon reading that, I remembered seeing posts about green smoothies floating across my Google Reader.  I asked friends, searched online, and chatted with some people and got a good idea of what, exactly, goes into a green smoothie.  The answer?  Just about anything with some spinach!

I gathered information and, armed with that, headed to the grocery store.  I decided on my grocery store when I saw that Meijer had spinach and strawberries as part of their $10 for 10 items and get the 11th item free promotion.  I picked up some wheat germ at the suggestion of a coworker and passed on a flaxseed (which apparently has mixed reviews for pregnant women) and grabbed some Greek yogurt.  Last night I took some almost-spoiled strawberries, washed, and froze them.  They'll be perfect for smoothies.

This morning in the midst of running around getting Baby Girl and myself ready for the day (The Hubby had to go to work very early, so I was totally thrown off--he usually does most of the prep in the mornings!) I retrieved my smoothie maker from the basement and started tossing in ingredients.  It took awhile to figure out the proportions of ingredients to make it into an actual drink, but once I got there, it was actually pretty yummy.  I'll be trying more flavors in the future (only used strawberries today) and also might try my actual blender.  The smoothie maker didn't do a great job chopping up the spinach or strawberries in places.  Although the chunks of strawberries weren't unpleasant, the chunks of spinach sort of were...

I'm pleased to report that this also gets the Baby Girl Seal of Approval.  She saw my drink and wanted to try it, so I let her.  She even came back for a second drink!  Her only complaint was while I was blending.  She came into the kitchen and said, "I can't hear the TV."  Kiddo, Mickey Mouse can wait--mama is making something yummy!

Have you ever had a green smoothie?  If so, what do you put in yours?  If you haven't tried it, it's a great way to get extra nutrition into your breakfast and you can't even tell there's spinach in there except for the green color!

Meal Plan: 2/19/12 - 2/25/12

Our meal plans are becoming more and more uninspired.  I'm sticking to them and we're cooking at home most nights, which is a nice change for our wallets.  We did have a treat on Saturday night, which I will blog about very soon.

I got home from the grocery this week and found that I'd only planned on 6 meals this week, including the one out on Tuesday night, so I looked through the cupboards and the refrigerator and improvised.  And then of course that was the meal that The Hubby chose for last night, although I forgot (AGAIN) to heat up the sauce that I'd bought to make our hot dogs coneys.

Sunday: Coneys Hot dogs and Mac & Cheese with broccoli--we had buns left over from last week (just steam them over the hot dogs to soften them up!), I found the mac & cheese recipe online and I'd bought the hot dogs at the grocery this week because they were only $1
Monday: Homemade pizza
Tuesday: Out before Baby Girl's last swim lesson and to use a Groupon
Wednesday: Taco Chicken Bowls (for my cooking club)
Thursday: Chicken Fried Rice with Steamed Broccoli
Friday: Breakfast (pancakes, fried potatoes, and turkey bacon)
Saturday: Spaghetti & Meatballs

30 Weeks

I was gasping at 29 weeks last week, but now 30?  Seriously?  It feels like a major turning point for me having that "3" in the front of the number.  That also means that we're moving into the territory of having a single digit number of weeks left.  Eek!  Panic commencing.


How am I feeling? Generally okay.  Nothing majorly new since I last posted.  I've been having some major hip pain from laying on my sides all night.  My preferred sleeping position is on my side but with one leg slung over the other, putting pressure on my belly and Baby Boy doesn't seem to like it when I do that.  It's when I accidentally do this that I realize that he's still likely transverse.  I've got a pillow for between my knees that works to help keep me in the correct position but also means that I've got a lot of hip pain when I wake in the morning.  I should really probably fire up that yoga DVD that I bought for $1 at the beginning of my pregnancy...


Weight thoughts: Meh--it is what it is.  We'll find out on Wednesday how bad it is.


Doctor appointments?  This Wednesday--woo!

Movement?  Oh yeah.  I'm getting a LOT of movement up VERY high these days and I remember feeling that with Baby Girl, too.  Some of the movement on my right side is starting to get a little painful, which I never had with Baby Girl.  He still has his nightly dance party while I watch TV--I think sometime this week I called it "a rave" on Facebook.  I've found that he loves to kick his big sister when she's sitting on my lap.  Tormenting her already...


Baby preparation? We went to 4 thrift stores and a discount furniture store on Saturday morning searching for a rocking chair and found nothing.  I did figure out which of the thrift stores near us are nicer, though, and may head to it when I need to fill in Baby Boy's wardrobe.  But his room still sits the same as it has.  We'll get to it eventually... :)

What Do You Need?

We've had a few people ask recently what sort of things we need for Baby Boy.  We're quickly realizing that there's very little that we need, thankfully (which is why people don't have showers for second babies).  I think I'm going to get some hand-me-down clothing from a friend, but don't have any idea yet what sizes, seasons (her boys were born in August) or quantity for those. :)  But otherwise it's just replacing the pink with blue.  So much of Baby Girl's clothing, bibs, blankets, and everything is pink. PINK!

We need to work in the nursery very soon, as I'm getting more run down by the day and want to have the energy to decorate the way I want.  In there, we just need some sort of rocking chair and then would like to buy some bedding and wall hangings.  Luckily we do have some general-neutral sheets and swaddles that will be fine for awhile, but I would love to really decorate the room and enjoy it like he's my first child (I don't want him to start getting a complex already!!!).  The walls are already tan and we are leaving up the vinyl lettering with the words to "You Are My Sunshine", so that just means a few wall hangings and bedding.  Here are some themes that I like, although we probably won't buy a full set unless it's cheaper that way:

From Target

Also from Target--I like the geometric stuff a bit better

Also Target (are you sensing a theme?  I actually really like some Walmart, but am having trouble linking the photos here...)

I'm finding myself drawn more to greens than blues, but am not opposed to either.  I do like muted colors more than bright, though.

I also need to buy a new cover to my nursing pillow because I broke the zipper last time.  I have some Amazon gift cards thanks to Swagbucks, so I think I can get it for free that way.

I did realize, though, that there was one thing that I am going to start telling people we'd love if they ask what they can get us--restaurant gift cards and frozen meals!  Until I started putting myself into this situation, I never would have thought of it, but I remember how overwhelming the thought of cooking was last time and realized that this would be perfect (and it will be my go-to gift for parents from now on, I think).  

After doing our assessment, I'm actually fairly surprised at how little we need to buy to be prepared for Baby Boy.  I've been buying some diapers and will need to stock up on size 1's when I see deals, but we're otherwise doing really well!

29 Weeks

Twenty-nine weeks?  Seriously?  How did that happen?  Last I checked I was still safely in the 2nd trimester!


How am I feeling? Besides the sickness, pretty good.  Acid is still flaring up sometimes for reasons I can't determine (like this morning...).  I'm getting to the point where I'm pretty sore when I wake up in the morning, even when I use my pillow that goes between my knees.  I'm finding that my hips are sore from laying on them all night.  My limbs are still going numb regularly, which is disconcerting, but not troubling (it usually means I've been laying on them too long).

As far as new developments, my belly button is doing the crazy thing where it stretches out horizontally.  It's getting really shallow and very wide.  It never popped out with Baby Girl, so I'm hoping it won't this time either.  I also noticed recently that my stretch marks from last time are extending (as I told The Hubby, my stretch marks are getting stretch marks).  I'm not too worried about it, surprisingly.  The one change that has been bothersome to me, though, is that I have a freckle.  This sounds weird, but I have NEVER had freckles in my life and I found one on the right side of my nose on my cheek.  I know people talk about lots of skin changes that can happen in pregnancy, but I didn't have anything like this last time.  Weird.


Weight thoughts: I'm aiming for 3 pounds or less for the gain between last appointment and the one next Wednesday.  Not sure if I'll make it.  I'm just not eating that much but still seem to keep gaining.  I've given myself license to eat a few more treats, but my portion sizes have honestly been pretty small.


Doctor appointments?  Nothing until 2/22.

Movement?  Yep--Baby Boy is definitely still scooting around in there.  I've noticed that he LOVES peanut butter.  Baby Girl actually asked me if Boomer was kicking me and I told her "Yep!  He loves peanut butter." Her response: "He's doing a peanut butter dance".  Adorable.

I can't really tell what his position is now.  I think it's probably the same, but today I've been feeling more movement straight up from my belly button and even a bit in my upper left quadrant (previously most had been in my upper right quadrant), so it's possible that he's turned some.  I've actually been feeling movement almost everywhere today, so who knows.  My doctor is good about being able to feel, so she'll probably be able to tell me next week.


Baby preparation? With all the sickness, we've just been trying to keep our heads above water and not end up in the hospital.  So no, no more prep has been done :)

Valentine's Day

Like everyone other person across the blogosphere (or so it seems), I want to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day isn't really a holiday we make a big deal out of in our household.  Sure, I love loving my husband and telling him how much I love him, but I don't need this special day to do it.  I definitely don't need overpriced flowers or the hassle of crowds and reservations for dinner.  In the past (even before kids) we've cooked nice dinners at home and generally just enjoyed some time with each other.  I wear a ring almost daily that The Hubby got me on our first Valentine's Day--10 years ago today.  He didn't know at that time that the gemstone would match our first child's birthstone (a ruby)--he was just going for the Kay special!

Special days this year have been a bit of a bust for us.  Our fifth anniversary came and went last June without much ado, as we chose instead to spend that weekend celebrating the collective 30th birthdays of our close-knit group of college friends and just never remembered to plan something else.  My birthday was when I was feeling some morning sickness and wasn't able to enjoy the food.  So it just seems fitting that both The Hubby and I are under the weather and busy all day on Valentine's Day.

We did, however, make time to go to lunch together.  We split a $5 footlong at Subway--romantic, right?  We both agreed that it matches our personalities perfectly and that it's a great thing that we didn't make big plans and then end up sick.  We'll spend the evening with the product of our love taking her to swimming lessons.  Because of the time of the lessons, we can't get back to the house to cook, so we'll be eating out again tonight.  Baby Girl made a special request for dinner--"Mc-Dack-Donalds"--which I think we'll fulfill.  I also have a coupon for a local restaurant, but The Hubby is skeptical whether we'll be able to get in and out of there quickly enough on Valentine's Day, so we'll likely defer that choice until next week (the coupon expires next week).

So there you go--my thoughts on Valentine's Day.  Whether you celebrate with a $100 per plate dinner or nothing at all, I hope you tell the people in your life how much you love and appreciate them.

Sick, part 2

(I apologize in advance for the scattered nature of this post.  You'll discover at the end why my brain isn't working terribly well.)

My mom came up to watch Baby Girl on Thursday so The Hubby and I could go to work. We are incredibly grateful that we have someone who can come in relatively short notice and who we know will give Baby Girl everything she needs to feel better.

When we left in the morning, the fever was still hanging around at 102. Baby Girl got plenty of snuggles and some applesauce and apple juice. She fell asleep in my mom's lap around 1:30 (naptime is typically between 12:30 and 1:00, so it's no wonder...) and slept there until just before we got home at 5:00. Wow. Lo and behold, when she woke up, the fever was gone! Thank goodness. She was still coughing and her nose was running a small amount, but the fact that the fever was gone was a huge victory.

By Wednesday of her fever (day 3), Baby Girl was acting slightly lethargic and didn't have much interest in eating.  I can honestly say that this was the very first time in many sicknesses that her eating has been affected.  It was scary and frustrating at the same time.  By Saturday, though, her eating was already returning to normal.  We found that she lost 2-4 pounds over just a few days.

Friday the sickness seemed like an average cold with an ugly cough.  The snotty nose appeared after the cough, but by Sunday both were in full swing.  I think the cough was slightly better yesterday, but am not sure.  She's back at the sitter today.  If this had been an average cold, this would probably be a day we'd keep her home, but since she'd been out for 5 days already, had been getting really bad cabin fever (she'd been in the car three times since last Sunday and only got out somewhere other than home once--at the doctor), and the sickness came from the sitter, we think she'll be fine.

Friday night, though, I noticed that The Hubby's eyes were very red.  It wasn't abnormal for him--he has REALLY sensitive eyes that get really red from being tired or sick or just dry.  Saturday they didn't look much better, which had me concerned.  I asked about them, but he wasn't concerned, so I let it go.  Sunday morning, though, when I woke up with Baby Girl at 5 a.m. (!), he told me that his eyelids were crusted over.  Great.  So I took Baby Girl to the recliner after failing to get her to go to sleep in her rocking chair in her room, and we both finally fell asleep at 6 a.m. and slept there until 8:30.  The Hubby got out of bed around that time as well and I found out that the clinic inside our local grocery store opened at 10 on Sunday mornings and suggested that he go there.

Around 11:30, he texted me with his diagnosis: ear infection, sinus infection, and pink eye.  Awesome.  I'd already snapped at him that morning for touching his eye then touching something else and told him that the reason pink eye doesn't usually spread between adults is because adults have the common sense to wash their hands after touching their eyes.  So it was a great morning all around already.  He got three medications and came home and we ate lunch.

The day went fairly normally until 9:45.  Baby Girl had been in bed for almost 2 hours and was suddenly crying.  I went to her and she wouldn't tell me why she was crying, but fell asleep immediately in my arms.  I had a hard time transferring her back into her bed (she was facing the wrong direction), but she didn't seem phased by turning around and laying there awake.  We went to bed and she woke up at 10:30 (The Hubby went in--same sort of thing), 11 (I went in--same sort of thing), and 11:30.  When she cried at 11:30, I asked The Hubby if I should just take her to the recliner and her stomped out of the room.  Neither of us is at our best in the middle of the night and sick, apparently.  I didn't hear from him again all night and when the alarm went off this morning and I subsequently turned it off and overslept (I don't know how to work his stupid alarm clock!), he still wasn't there.  I woke them both up at 7 in the recliner.

Aaaannnddd....when I woke up I had a not-so-pleasant surprise.  I now have the cold portion of the sickness.  I'd been coughing some over the last 5 days, but never felt sick, but now it's definitely a head cold for me, complete with sneezing, coughing and snot, just in time to start a work week.  Great.

If we can keep the pink eye contained to The Hubby, though, I consider it a victory.  Keep your fingers crossed for rapid healing in our household!

Meal Plan 2/12/12 - 2/18/12

This has been a really rough week for us (although we didn't go out to eat once--I'm really proud of us) and this next week will mean a lot of rest and recuperation, hopefully, as the sickness still persists (an update on all of that will come very soon--I started it on the iPad, but didn't like the interface there, so I want to use the actual laptop to type it up).  You'll see that I picked some pretty easy meals--I just don't have the energy to devote to dinners, although I did get motivated and made a loaf of bread from scratch yesterday and hope to make some sugar cookie bars today (I'll share them at work--we're taking some fruit to Baby Girl's sitter for the Valentine's Day party since someone is already bringing cupcakes). :)

Sunday: Tortellini and Garden Vegetable Bake--this is the recipe this week for my cooking club I'm doing.  It's a lot longer preparation than I can typically handle on a weeknight, so I'll make it tonight and then plan on reheating it for lunch Monday and then for another dinner later in the week.

Monday: Slow Cooker German-Style Pork Roast with Sauerkraut and Potatoes--I had half of a pork roast left that I wanted to use in a new way and have some potatoes hanging out with no plan, so this is the recipe I found.  This is another meal that I'm hoping will work for lunch (we always plan on having leftovers for lunches) and and another dinner.

Tuesday: Assuming Baby Girl doesn't get worse or a secondary illness, we'll be going to her second week of swim lessons (we missed the real second week last week).  This means we will be eating out--I hope we'll eat early enough that we don't run into a bunch of people dining out for Valentine's Day.  I have a Groupon that I'd like to use.

Wednesday: Pizza--I had a leftover pizza crust from last week's BBQ Chicken Pizza and already need to buy some mushrooms, so I'd guess it'll be a mushroom pizza.

Thursday: More Tortellini and Garden Vegetable Bake

Friday: Coneys & Tater Tots--I'm lazy and just use canned coney sauce, even though I found a great Skyline copycat recipe I'd like to try someday.  Someday.  Maybe once Baby Boy is at least 6 months old...

Saturday: More pork roast

(We might also, if everyone is feeling fairly healthy, go out for a friend's birthday that was 2/6.  If that happens, any of these meals can easily be deferred to the following week.)

28 Weeks

It's been a rough week for sure (see my previous post), which sort of explains my delay in posting this update.  Sort of.  I'll be 29 weeks on Saturday.  One of these days I'll post these in a timely fashion but for now this is what you get!


How am I feeling? Not horrible.  Baby Boy is starting to crowd my lungs, which is causing some breathing discomfort.  As I mentioned in my last update, I keep forgetting that I'm 28 weeks pregnant.  I just got back from taking a walk (to get a bagel...don't think I'm actually going out for my health!) and had some major discomfort in the left side of my abdomen once I realized that I was walking too quickly for my body.  I've also suddenly been having some sleeping trouble.  I had a hard time getting comfortable last night and am still waking very regularly (at least once per night) with a body part that is numb.

Weight thoughts: Still frustrated, but trying not to think about it.  I'm eating when I'm hungry and I'm trying to be smart about what I'm eating and eating lots of fruits and veggies.  And a Shamrock Shake.  Try not to judge.


Doctor appointments?  Nothing until 2/22.

Movement?  Yes!  Baby Boy is VERY active, especially in the evenings.  I have a feeling we're going to have a definite witching hour in the evenings with him.  I had my first experience with painful movement right at 28 weeks--it felt like he was trying to bruise me from the inside.  I'm pretty sure he's still transverse, based on a very emphatic flourish of movement that I got last night when I must have rolled too far toward my stomach.  It was like he was letting me know that I was squishing his head--he was flailing on both sides of my stomach, waving his arms and kicking his legs.

Baby preparation? Our basement is done, which means that the nursery is the only huge project we need to tackle before his arrival.  We haven't even thought about it much, though.  If we're healthy this weekend, maybe we'll go shopping and see if there's anything that we really like.

The biggest news, though, is that we are about 90% sure that we have a name.  We had narrowed our list down to about 3 names and had said them all to Baby Girl to make her feel involved.  Now when we ask her what Boomer's (our nickname for Baby Boy) real name is going to be, she'll respond with one of the names consistently.  We question her about the other two and she says, "No..." and tells us the name she likes.  We could obviously convince her of a different name, but listening to her say it has convinced us that we like it, so I'm guessing it's going to be Baby Boy's name.  And no, I'm not sharing with anyone.  Hopefully Baby Girl doesn't either!

Sick Days

I've been delaying this post until I had some sort of resolution...but we're still just not there.

Saturday morning Baby Girl coughed once or twice.  We assumed a cold was coming on--no big deal, especially since we hadn't been sick since prior to Christmas.  We still shipped her off to her Grandma and Papaw's for the night for Grandma's birthday (yes, a night off for us is a birthday gift for my mom).  They came back Sunday night and we went out to dinner and nothing seemed off.  When I took Baby Girl to bed that night, she felt a little warm.  She was still acting normal and since she always feels a teeny bit warm to me, I didn't worry too much.  She was coughing a bit more, but again, nothing to worry about.  Something in my Mommy Gut told me to take her temperature before she fell asleep and I'm glad I did--101.1 orally (the first time she's ever had her temperature taken that way, actually--she did remarkably well).  I gave her some Tylenol and she slept a normal night.

I went downstairs to talk to The Hubby.  I know a fever isn't a big deal for most kids, but the only fevers we've seen have knocked Baby Girl out and were due to double ear infections.  She's cut almost all of her teeth and we've never had a fever from them.  She's had 6 (I think) single ear infections and no fevers from them.  She's had countless colds...no fevers.  So for her to have a fever of 101.1 was a fairly big deal.  We decided to wait and see how she was feeling Monday morning to decide what to do, but did compare our work schedules and The Hubby concluded he could stay home all day if I could stay home on Tuesday.

Her temperature was between 101 and 102 on Monday.

And Tuesday.

And again today.

WTF?

Yesterday the cough got so bad that it woke her from her nap, which hasn't happened very many times, no matter how bad her coughs have been.  She'd been sleeping for about 45 minutes when she woke up.  Once I'd concluded that she wasn't going to go back to sleep on her own, I gathered her up and took her into our bedroom to snuggle.  At first I didn't think she'd fall asleep, but after just a few songs, she was breathing heavily, stirring only to cough.  At some point, I dozed off, too, and woke when she'd shift or cough.  Around 4:00 I was done napping and turned on the TV quietly.  It wasn't until 4:20 that she woke up--she slept with me for 2 hours and 20 minutes!  Wow.  The only bad part about it was that she kept coughing in my face...I'm sure it's inevitable that I'm going to end up with this cold.  I just hope it doesn't come with the fever. But getting a snuggle with my busy 2 1/2 year old was blissful.

I called the doctor yesterday and the nurse thought that we should wait out the fever and keep treating it if it was over 101.  She said we should call back today if the cough got worse or the fever didn't subside.

Today I stayed home for the morning then did the switch with The Hubby at our place of work at noon.  After Baby Girl's nap, her temp was still 102, so she was given acetaminophen and The Hubby and I decided that he should call the doctor again.  He took Baby Girl to see a doctor and was told that her lungs sound perfect and her ears look perfect.  He said to keep treating the fever with acetaminophen and ibuprofen and to give some cough medicine at bedtime to help her sleep. If she starts getting thicker snot, we're supposed to call and have an antibiotic called in.

So I have no resolution.  I'd love to be reporting that the fever has broken or that the cough has subsided, but the cough just seems to keep getting worse and the fever is still there.  I'm facing The Working Mom Guilt--juggling both my responsibilities at home and at work and feeling guilty for not being able to give 100% to either one.  On top of that, while we have The Best Sick Leave Policy Ever, I'm feeling stressed because I need to have 240 hours banked by the time Baby Boy arrives.  I'm around 250 as of the end of January and while I will keep earning hours over the next few months, I already know I'll be burning time for my doctor appointments, staying home with Baby Girl, and then for myself if I end up with this.  It will all be okay--just another thing to worry about.

27 Weeks

How am I feeling? Physically, fairly good.  I'm definitely feeling more and more pregnant, but still have moments of forgetting how pregnant I am.  For instance, I jogged down the street with Baby Girl yesterday and when I was done was shocked at the tightness that I was feeling.  I also will walk at a quicker pace, but then realize how out of breath I am and how much my ankles hurt.  My reflux is mainly in check and I've been able to even enjoy some salsa and tomato-based foods.  I did try to drink a Diet Coke last Sunday and had a REALLY rough evening.  No more of that until after Baby Boy arrives!

Emotionally, I'm worried about bonding with Baby Boy.  Now that I know his positioning and have heard his heartbeat again, I feel a bit more connected to him, but I just find myself wondering how I can possibly love him as much as his sister.  I'm sure it will all be okay once he's here--just anxious about it for now.

I'm also having trouble with my weight gain, which I'll discuss below.

Weight thoughts: I've been weighing myself sporadically at home and had headed to the doctor feeling fairly optimistic and hoping for a weight gain of about 3 pounds.  Unfortunately, what I got was a weight gain of 9 pounds!  That means I'm up 27 pounds since my 7 week appointment--not what I was hoping for.  I thought something was wrong and expressed that to my doctor and she agreed that it was unlikely that I'd gained that much.  I've been a lot more careful about my portion sizes because of the reflux, so I'd assumed my weight gain would be minimal.  However, when I weighed myself this morning at home, the scale reflected the same weight gain.  In fact, I now weigh the same as I did when I delivered Baby Girl, which is also the same weight I was when I got married.  And it's only going up from here.

I'm really upset about this.  I know it's not the end of the world, but I had thought I was doing really well.  I'm now going to cut out some of the peanut butter I've been eating (it's been an easy protein for me so I've been having it twice a day--once on toast in the morning and also in the afternoon with an apple) and hope to start getting out for more walks.  I'm obviously not going to starve myself or obsess *too* much, but it's painful to see another large weight gain.


Doctor appointments?  I just had one yesterday, which is why I waited to post (I'll technically turn 28 weeks on Saturday).  My appointment was at 1:45 p.m., so I finished my glucose drink at 12:55 and told the receptionist when I arrived.  At 1:55 they still hadn't called me back, so I approached the receptionist and she immediately knew why I was there.  She ran and got someone to draw my blood and we did the glucose screening.  My number was 103 and they wanted it at 134 or below--what a load off my mind!  I went back to the waiting room to wait for awhile longer, then the nurse took us back to a room.  She took my weight, urine, and blood pressure (crazy low for me--98/54, I think, because I hadn't had much food since breakfast in anticipation of my glucose screening), then left us alone again.  I'm lucky The Hubby brought our iPad to the appointment because we didn't actually see the doctor until after 2:45.

Dr. S was apologetic about being late and then asked how baby's movement is.  I told her about my suspicion that he might have turned to head down, but then that he might be transverse again, so she checked my stomach and confirmed that he was at an angle--his feet/bum toward my right shoulder and his head toward my left hip.  She immediately found the heartbeat (154 bpm) and reassured me that he has plenty of time to turn.  We talked about my candidacy for a VBAC (she thinks I'm a really good candidate) and my reflux issues.  She suggested I try some Mylanta if I think I'm going to have something that might really upset my stomach on top of the Zantac that I'll continue to take twice per day.

Movement?  Oh goodness, yes.  As of Wednesday the 25th, I was very sure that Baby Boy was transverse.  I was feeling kicks and hits on both of my sides at the same time.  Then Thursday night (the 26th) I had a lot of steady pressure and for the next 4 days or so only felt fairly light movement down very low.  I thought maybe he'd turned to a head-down position.  Then on Tuesday the 31st I started feeling movement on both sides again.  Since our doctor appointment yesterday, I've been very aware of what I'm feeling.  I'm feeling LOTS of kicks under my right breast and some more rolling-type movement in the middle of my stomach (likely either a shoulder or his butt).  I'm also getting some movement on my lower left side and some light movement down very low (which I would assume would be a hand).

Baby preparation? We've been working hard at getting better habits in regards to keeping our house clean (more on that very soon) and have also been organizing our basement so we can create a 2nd living room with more toy storage down there.  But we haven't touched the nursery recently.  We're shipping Baby Girl off to my parents' house this weekend for my mom's birthday, so maybe we'll work more in the nursery then.