Daddy's Hands

The baby knows Adam's hands. I'm thoroughly convinced. On mornings when I wake up before my alarm clock, I put my hand(s) on my belly to see if she's awake yet - without poking her - and she hasn't responded to my hands much lately and doesn't fully wake up until later. Since Adam's been home Friday, he puts his hand on my belly first thing in the morning before we even roll over and she instantly starts playing with his hand. Sometimes the kicks/movements are big, sometimes they're smaller ones, but she always responds to his hand. I find this super intriguing b/c I wonder how she knows (even though I have an idea - he usually has a "heavier hand" on my belly when feeling for her) it's him...but she knows. We both think it's adorable and Adam thinks it's just the coolest thing ever. I love how it's their way of bonding before she gets here. She's already Daddy's little girl...

So I can't be sure but I think she might have dropped a bit since this morning. My friend Abbie thought that she looked lower in my most recent 33 week picture...but after seeing myself in the mirror this morning and then looking again later this afternoon, I think she may have gone down just a bit. I could be wrong - the rookie part of me tells me I might just be dreaming. BUT, there seems to be a little more space b/w the top of my belly and the bottom of my bust, so who knows? I was also able to sing in church a bit better without running out of breath, so she HAD to have moved down a little. Or maybe she was just positioned differently. A few hours ago Adam and I went to Menards/Walmart to run a few errands. When we were at Menards, she started moving around and I stopped to see what she was doing...and she was ALL different. I can't tell you where she is at the drop of a hat usually, but I have a pretty good idea. That said, all I know is that it was different and she felt different. This was AFTER I felt like she had moved into a lower position. All I know is this little wiggle worm has me confused. And in love. :)

Speaking of love, can I take this moment to say how much I love my baby's daddy? I have to write this - when we were walking into a store earlier today, I said wow, can you believe I'm 8 months pregnant? He responded with "Woah - that sounds much closer to her being here than 33 weeks!" I'd have to agree. So on to more reasons why I love my husband -

• He is helping me more and never gripes about it. (Ok, 1% of the time doesn't count in my book)
• He came with me on all my errands today and only groaned once (see, there's that 1%).
  
• He put the glider and ottoman together and they look phenomenol. And it's some of the most comfy furniture that I've ever had! So glad he agreed and said yes when I said this is the one I want!
• He reads stuff about first-time dads online without me even asking. Dedication. :)
  
• He randomly asks me how she's doing while I'm at work.
  
• He's going to be the best dad ever. I think we might have to repave the highway b/w our house and the softball fields if she wants to go ANYtime since I have a feeling they might be heading down there often... ;-)
• I'm the luckiest woman ever. That's pretty much all there is to say about that.
  

Now that I've been trying to post this for the past hour and finally finished writing it, I'm going to bed. Another long work week that will inevidably go too fast and we'll be another week closer to the baby and my leave. It makes me a little nervous to make sure all my work things are in order so that my subs have smooth sailing...but I think it will all fall into place. Uh oh, rambling again...g'night! And pictures this week from the new camera, I swear!

33 weeks...

Oh my gosh. We're at 33 weeks today. Officially 8 months pregnant. She's huge. She's been trying to crawl out the sides of my belly the past 3 days. I can push on/feel my stomach now and likely feel a bump of something baby without looking around too much - not much "empty" space anymore. She's awake more often. Her patterns and sleep/wake cycles are getting seriously on schedule now. And I still love her more each day b/c she doesn't wake me up at night. I love her more than words can say in general and while I want to hold her so badly, I want her to stay in there for a while yet b/c I'm just not ready quite yet. We don't have her nursery set up, she doesn't have the baby things she needs (although she's on her way) quite yet, and I'm not mentally prepared. Will I ever be the last one? I doubt it. But if you were to hand her to me right this minute, I think I'd be ok. I can feel her hiccups regularly. She makes my laptop move around from her wiggles when I'm just sitting here and not typing. So I guess I'm feeling rather sentimental this evening, no? I'm a lucky girl...soon to be lucky mommy. Happy me. :) Happy Adam. Happy family. xo

Crib - check. Reclining Glider/Ottoman - check.

I'm excited it's Wednesday already. Nice! Yesterday (Tuesday), my mom and her boyfriend, Lee, came down to visit so that Mom could take me to the 3rd birthing class in prep for this little kickmonster to get here. They got here shortly after I got home from work and after some touring (they'd not been to our house before) and chit chat, we realized we needed to make dinner hasta pronto or Mom & I were going to be late for class. We wolfed down a yummy dinner and left Lee to fend for himself with the two dogs. :) The baby was super active all day yesterday and continued to be as such all through class. Last night's class consisted of a pediatrician coming and letting us pick her brain about what to expect, watch for, not worry about (yeah right), etc. and it went well. After class, Mom, Lee, & I went to Tee's for ice cream and then we went to see the bridge over the Mississippi which lights up at night in Muscatine. It was such a good time but way too short as they had to leave this morning so Mom could work tonight. Can't wait for the next visit!! My stepmom, Susie, is coming next week since Adam will have class. It's the last one so I can stop asking people to make monster trips to come with me so I don't have to go alone.

Yesterday was really just an all-around good day. I'm going backwards but oh well. :) Yesterday was my first day back at my elementary school (they started on the 20th) and I had lots to do since I have a new (smaller) room that I'm sharing with another program at the school (for space only, not time) - needless to say, I had a day of organization on my hands - which the OCD part of me LOVES. It went so well despite the heat and I was super pleased by the time I left. It's odd but I feel much more at home in this smaller room that I had time to decorate and organize this year. I also knew better which papers from previous SLPs to keep, what to ditch, sent a few old tings back to the AEA to store, and just overall have a better feel for the building. I also feel much more at home this year b/c people know who I am, what I do, and (even better) my name! Needless to say I'm very happy and eager to start the school year...only to leave for a time. But it's a GREAT reason to leave in my book! The principal even came to help me move some big bookcases which doesn't always happen - sometimes principals don't care and won't do anything like that. Yay!

On my way home, I talked with Adam (who's in Quebec again this week) and asked him to check the tracking status of the crib since it had shipped out last Friday. I had not checked it yesterday and had no idea where it was...until I drove in the driveway and it was leaning up against the garage!! :) SO excited! I was worried we wouldn't get her crib b/c many different places were out of stock. Not to worry anymore! And how convenient that Mom & Lee were here...they carried it upstairs for us since it was set to rain (and rain and rain and rain)! How great! Then today I got a call from Babies 'R Us saying that the glider/ottoman we ordered on Saturday is already in and we can pick it up anytime (which we will do Friday). It's all coming together and Adam's going to be busy building furniture this weekend. Can't wait! My plan is for him to put it all together and then sit in my new reclining glider/ottoman and read to my belly every night. Wow, I can't wait until she gets here. She's just going to be so tiny (for a while, anyway). I could just burst and shoot happiness everywhere thinking about it!!

Ok, now that I went all out of order yesterday, I forgot to write about her antics yesterday. Baby was super active and doing her regular big movement wiggles all over the place. Then, I was sitting at my computer just getting ready to leave work email and get back to organizing when I looked down and feel this little monster do one of the biggest movements I've ever seen/felt in my life. I swear she decided to completely vacate the right side of the belly and take up residency in the left side only. The belly got HUGE on the left side and I felt her pushing with all her might against my right side. It was cool (b/c it didn't hurt) but then I got all worried that she flipped breech b/c it was such a big movement and I couldn't tell where she was! I planned to ask the nurse who teaches birthing class if she could palpitate my belly and tell me where the baby was...but in the middle of class Baby got the hiccups and I could tell right where she was. Silly baby...

Today was my birth-3 day and I'm seeing each week getting a little more difficult getting up and down off the floor to work with the kiddos. I was kinda sore by the time the day was over and I'm starting to notice that soreness in places I was expecting but not experiencing yet. Sometimes by the end of a more active day (or the day after, apparently), I'm sore all over in my hip region. It's not bad, but it's noticable and not usual (prepreggo).

Ok, sorry this post was all over the place. Can you tell I'm tired? Was up a bunch early early this morning for some wicked storms that went through and just as I'd get back to sleep, another one would roll through just as loud as the last. So I'm going to ponder getting some ice cream, lying down, and calling Adam. He'll be home in a touch over 24 hours and we can't wait. He's traveled a lot these past 4 weeks and he doesn't have much scheduled b/w now and baby's arrival. REALLY looking forward to having the daddy-to-be home!

No more all day meetings, please.

Today was our all-staff meeting in Bettendorf which took...ALL day. I was sitting in the meeting for about a half hour this morning when I got a text from Adam. He had a minor emergency and needed me to send him something in Canada (he was b/w flights 1-2 of 3 at the time) so I had to leave, run to the airport (which was relatively close to the AEA), and drop the forgotten item off at the Post Office, and get back to the meeting. Thankfully, this got me up and moving and out of our LOOOONNNGG meeting for just over an hour. The speaker we had was fine, but the sitting kills me now. Actually, the morning went fast (likely due to the leaving - thanks again, Abbie!) and I wasn't sitting that much. Then after lunch, the UNcomfort began. I was wiggling, shifting, moving, and nothing was working. I finally gave in and got up to walk around for a bit but by that point, I was done. I was chugging liquids all day but that doesn't help if I don't get up and move. Needless to say, that means that my BH contractions were going rather strong by the time we left. I was feeling fine...until we got in the car. It was warm outside but for some reason the heat totally got me once I was in my coworker's car. She had the air on full blast, but I felt nauseous and icky pretty much the whole way back to Muscatine. Once I got home, I laid down and felt better within about a half hour. It's a little frustrating when my body doesn't agree with what I CHOOSE for it to do during a day. Like why on earth can I not sit through a day-long meeting without my uterus deciding to be tight a majority of the day? Or why does my body temp decide to de-regulate whenever it wants to? I know, I know, hormones, but still. Sometimes I wish it would listen to ME once in a while. I sort of miss that even though I know t's for a good reason.

It's a short post tonight...what!?Melissa not be long-winded?!? That's a big fat YUP for tonight.

Dresser - CHECK!

We officially have a dresser for the baby and it's completely assembled and in its spot in her room. To top it off, it's absolutely beautiful. Adam is a true craftsman...or at least can follow directions really well. The dogs even helped and I (per Adam) did a fairly good job of not giving any "verbal assistance." I asked at one point if I could just screw in one thing with the drill, and Adam informed me of this - "If you get to carry the baby all over the place, then I get to put all her stuff together." 'Nuff said. I was the spectator/photographer. Since I used the new camera to document the "event," I will put pictures of her dresser on here once I actually read the camera's directions and know how to do more than turn it on, use the lens, and push the "take picture" button. All I have to say is the color is cherry and it is very pretty. I'm excited to see it with the crib and...

Glider! We were in the Quad Cities today and had a little time to kill before an errand, so we stopped at Babies 'R Us (which was relatively packed) to check out gliders. As we made our way from the east side of town to the west side of town, we stopped at a few places and checked out recliners. The ones that we liked were all ridiculously expensive (say $500++) so we really weren't sure where we were going to go with that decision. So we get to BRU and I find this glider/ottoman duo that I'd seen before and liked but couldn't convince Adam of the price. So Adam sits in it, likes it, and then tries one of the smaller ones to attempt to convince me that these would be (cheaper) better - however, this one reclined AND rocked while it was in the reclining position. I take a seat in the one we liked and began convincing Adam that a recliner won't rock while reclined and this is sooo much better (the wood perfectly matches her furniture btw) when Angel #1 comes down from heaven and begins to tell us that the glider I'm sitting in is the best one here. She had gotten one of the smaller ones and if I planned on nursing, I'd be crazy to get any other one than the one I was sitting in. (yay! where did she come from!?) Thankfully, other things fell into place - it was 20% off both pieces, Adam also liked it, it matched the furniture, and the lady who mentioned that if I'm going to nurse then I need this glider set it off and we ordered it without thinking further. It should be ready in 7-14 business days and with some minor assembly, I plan to read to her in her nursery as soon as it's here. :) Then, as we're ordering it, Angel #2 comes out of nowhere and says "hey, you're buying something, use this coupon since I'm not going to use it at all!" She proceeds to pull out her flier and give us a coupon for a free umbrella stroller (if you spend over $100 - NO problem there)!! I was so excited b/c I had wanted one, didn't put one on the registry, and suddenly had on in my possession! Adam still doesn't know why we need it (quick trips in the store, planes, etc.) but it's ok. It was free so he doesn't need a real reason, right? ;-)

Then we headed off to our last errand which was to buy our first set of Bum Genius Diapers since my friend, Abbie, informed me that August was buy 6 get 1 free month! Now we have 7 diapers (and are working our way up to about 20) and I'm really excited to start using them. We will likely wait until the diaper changes decrease from the initial 10-12/day (about 1 month old) but it's going to be great. And they're super cute!! She now has the following colors (but can def use more - like I said, we're working our way up to 20): light pink, dark pink, light blue, dark blue, dark green, light yellow, and white. They are so cute and get SO little for when she's a newborn. Then they grow with her until she's potty trained and voila! They almost (if not fully) pay for themselves (and help the environment a bit too).

Needless to say, Baby's budget has taken a major hit this past week with 3 pieces of furniture, diapers, and a new camera (Adam is claiming this as a baby expense).

Other things going on with baby and mom - my fingers are now too chubby to wear my wedding ring. :( To the naked eye they don't look like sausages or anything, but the other morning it took me a whole minute to get my ring off and I decided it's time. My right hand ring is a touch bigger so it's currently sitting on my (left) ring finger. Adam finally noticed on Friday night at the ball game and started freaking out - "Where's your wedding ring?!? This one makes me look so cheap!!" (clearly it's smaller) This made me laugh so hard...I'm pretty sure he was joking - a little.

I can no longer lie on my back for more than about 30 seconds. My face gets all red and within a very short amount of time, I can no longer breathe very well. Apparently this 30lbs basketball has some influence on my insides. Ah, the days when I could sleep on my back and belly. It's worth it not to get to do that, but wow. Sure do miss it.

But now it's time to get Adam all packed up to head out of town again this week. At least this week is only a 4-day travel event, which is better than the usual M-F. My mom is coming down with her boyfriend, Lee, to take me to birthing class on Tuesday since Adam is out of town and I'd cry the whole time if I went alone. I'm really excited for her visit since she hasn't been to our house yet. But off to get some sleep for another long week ahead. Tomorrow's another all-day meeting. UGH. I'll be the giant pregnant lady against the wall STANDING b/c I really can't take it if I have to sit all day...

Maternity Pictures Today

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to wake up with Adam next to me (should we be shocked? Not really...). For whatever reason, this week of him traveling felt more like a year so to have him right there when I woke up for the day was just really nice. We got up early and got ready to go up to our friends, the Pinters, as we were meeting Steph's mom Patty who was going to take our maternity pictures. I felt a little silly walking in with almost every black/white shirt and pants that I own (that fit) but I didn't quite know what she all wanted so I thought it best to be prepared.

We did several poses and at the end had taken 50 pictures. I asked her if that was considered quite a lot and she said no...to which I said, you're going to lie to me anyway, right? And she said yup. :) I was really impressed with everything she knew/did/etc. and think we got some really amazing pictures. We did a sihloette (sp??) picture of the two of us, head/nose to head/nose and holding the belly...another with just me looking down at the belly, Adam standing behind me with arms around the belly...a big pink ribbon on the belly with our rings tied in it...heart hands together around my belly button...me lying on my back (very briefly! don't worry!!) with some blocks on my belly and Adam lying behind me...me with a button shirt open from the top of my belly down....and the last one was on a whim - Adam was set to go for his softball tournament today and Patty got the idea of getting a baseball glove, have Adam put it on, and then put the glove "catching" my belly with a thumbs up. He's behind me and doing the arm wrap-around thing again...it was quite funny. All in all, we were SO pleased with how it went and are SO excited to see them. I should be able to put them on facebook and on here when they come, but cannot duplicate them or anything like that.

It's a base/softball weekend this weekend. Our friends, Denise & Travis, got tickets for the River Bandits game last night (like the Timber Rattlers for you WI folks) so we went with them and had a great time. I *finally* got that stadium hot dog I'd been wanting from there all summer along with green cotton candy (first time for that one!) that was ok...poor Adam was gone 15 minutes trying to find me some since they sold out and had to go hit up the stash in the back. :) What a great husband. Today Adam is at his softball tourny (I think it's state, but it might be nationals too...who knows) and I'm going to go watch the next few games since the house is relatively clean and I don't have anything pressing at home.

Mental note to self - we got our new camera last night (Nikon D40) and are VERY excited about it. Adam put it together but we have yet to find time to play with it. If Adam's team doesn't make it to tomorrow's portion of the tournament, I'm pretty sure that's what we're doing all day - figuring out that camera. Gotta run! Going to be late for the games!!

32 weeks

It's been a while...again. Oh well. We've officially hit the 32 week mark and by the math, you'd think I'm 8 months along, but I think I'm at 8 months at the END of 32 weeks. So we've got until next week until we'll officially call me 8 months I guess. Technicalities.


I went to the doctor today for a checkup and things went just fine. Baby's heart rate was 144 bpm and apparently I'm measuring fine since Dr. Coleman didn't say anything when she was measuring and I was talking. Update on some things: Adam and I are to stop traveling when I reach 36 weeks. I think I'll be able to sneak in one more trip to Des Moines for work, but that's it then. Adam made noises that he won't be able to get all his stuff done (traveling for work) in the next 4 weeks to which I said too bad, make it happen. ;-) He's told his customers/accounts about his inability to travel in the last half of Sept and Oct, so it really shouldn't be a problem. Plus, he's got some guys in tech service who can go in his place for trials if absolutely necessary, so that's a nice bonus for that time being. Other than that, only a 2# weight gain since my last appt which I *think* is ok. No one at the office seemed upset by it so I'm going to go with it. It's better than those 4 & 5lb gains in recent visits.

Few quick baby things to note:

• Her dresser has arrived! It came in a big, flat, square box this week, so I'm assuming that Adam has some serious assembly ahead of him as there is no way that's a dresser in that box as is. :) The crib (I finally called today since the orders were made at the same time) is set to ship in the next day or two so it should be here next week. CAN'T wait!! Then after the showers I can buy whatever else we need to decorate her room and voila! A nursery will be part of our household - officially. :)
  
• In the past week or so, I've experienced several occasions of BH contractions where I get a series of say, 3 of them, rather strong (but not painful or symmetrical), all in the span of about 10 minutes. That's kind of a lot in a short amount of time, but Dr. Coleman didn't seem worried after I told her that after a set of them, they stop and don't come back for a while. So we're good there. :)
  
• Fatigue - still hasn't really hit me like it was in the first trimester which is what I was expecting it to be like again at the end here. Maybe I need to be closer to the end for it to come back. Either way, it can wait until she gets here to come back for all I care.
  
• Getting up/rolling over: It's almost comical now. At least to Adam it is. I find that I have to scoot to the front edge of the couch or recliner now to get up b/c the belly gets in the way, or my abs don't work, or whatever other reason comes up that it just doesn't work. Fabulous.
  
• My cousin's wife, Amanda, sounds like she's getting very close to delivering their first one, a little boy. Can't wait!
  
• This was my first full week back to work. While it wasn't a traditional week due to meetings, scheduling, and the like, it was still work and it was still a whole week long. Tomorrow shouldn't be bad either but then it's the WEEKEND! Adam has a softball tourney all weekend in the Quad Cities so I'm sure we'll be spending some serious time there. Hopefully I'll get to go do fun things while he's not playing so it will be a good weekend all around.
  
• Adam had an all-around GREAT week at work where he was in Quebec and then Toronto. I'm super happy for him b/c his job is NOT easy - I don't think I could do it. I know I couldn't if I had to know a lick about chemistry (and he knows his stuff). So consider this my rousing round of applause for him. YAY!!
  

Ok ladies and gents. Off I go. Baby and I are hungry, the house needs to be straightened up before Adam gets home tomorrow so I don't have to worry about it all weekend, and then maybe a quick run to Walmart for "something" for our pictures on Saturday. We're having maternity pictures done by our friend, Steph Pinter's, mother, who is a professional photographer Saturday morning. I think maternity pictures are some of the most beautiful ones out there, and hopefully mine turn out alright. Adam (much to his chagrin) will also be participating but then going fast as lightning to his softball tourny. Later gators!

PS. Here's a picture of the Lopez family (Joe & Casey) with their
new little 19-hour old bundle of joy, little JoJo. :)

Ups and Downs

So yesterday and today have been filled with ups and downs...let's start with the downs b/c ups are more fun to end with:

Downs:

• I couldn't jump up on the tail gate of Adam's truck yesterday, in public, to sit. I tried and looked like the silly puppy that's too uncoordinated to jump on a pillow straight. Made me cry.
• Speaking of crying, I've cried twice in about 18 hours...for stuff I wouldn't ordinarily cry about. Such as not making it up on a tail gate. Or Adam asking me to not tell him the same thing 4 times (which I wondered why I was doing it as I was saying it the 4th time...). I guess the emotional button has been temporarily (hopefully) turned on. Anyone know where the "off" button is on that one?
• I woke up at 4am early Saturday morning to roll over (much more laborius now) and realized I might as well get up to use the bathroom. So I get back, stretch out, and it happens. Let me back up first - usually when I stretch like this, I point my toes and just before I get some major cramping I pull my toes toward my shins and don't get the cramp. Well, last night I didn't pull back fast enough on my right foot and before I knew what hit me, my right calf was in full on cramp mode (which of course hurt like he!!) and I could NOT make it stop to save my life. So as I'm yelling, I whack Adam awake and tell him my right leg won't let go! Help me! Pull my toes up!! It hurts it hurts! So as he's still waking up (he's a trooper and amazing while half asleep) he grabs my foot and pulls it up which gets me out of the cramp in about 4-5 seconds...but wow. That really hurt. Then Adam finally gets fully awake and thanks me for scaring the crap out of him. I in turn thank him for taking me out of my agony so quickly and give him a re-kiss goodnight. My calf was still pretty sore today and it took me a while to walk on my whole foot instead of my toes this morning. Yikes! I really really hope that doesn't happen when he's traveling next week. So I drank extra milk and water and got some bananas from the store. Potassium and fluids...hopefully it does the trick.
  

Ups:

• Our friends had their baby, Joe III, yesterday!! I posted about it but it was still super great b/c we got to meet him today when he was about 19 hours old. Casey looked amazing for having just given birth and we were amazed to hear that Joe (who recently graduated with his RN degree) got to deliver his son. They were so happy and we left with light hearts and smiles and can't wait for it to be our turn - once she's done "baking," that is.
  
• I made a ton of Amish Friendship Bread this afternoon/evening which went right to the freezer for when we have visitors and helpers once the baby gets here. Even better - the kitchen is relatively clean afterwards. :)
  
• I had my first ever prenatal massage today. It was a mother's day gift from Adam and the baby and I plan to get the pedicure that went with it Monday (they couldn't squeeze them both in on short notice and I was too excited to wait). The only thing I was sad about was that they didn't have the kind of table where there is a belly hole and I could actually lie on my stomach. But a massage that lasted just over an hour on my sides was JUST fine and felt so good. The baby was quiet during the whole thing except for one foot or fist that went across almost 1/2 my belly. SO relaxing. :)
  
• I'm starting to get less hungry now. Well, quantity wise. I ate a bunch of take-out food the past day and a half so we've been back on the healthy bandwagon since supper tonight and it's going to last several days if not at least a week. We can't be eating like that and still have a decent preggo bod. :)
  
• I'm finally going to bed now. Instead of waiting awake for Adam to get home from his bachelor party outing with Jason and the boys (Jason's wedding is at the end of Sept if you don't know), I'm going to wait in bed, asleep. :) And I can't believe it but I think 8 of them piled in to our 7-seater Highlander...which really should only fit about 6 adults. Must look like a clown car when they all get out...g'night....zzzzzzzzz...
  

100th post! 10, 20, 30 week comparisons

Wow, can you believe this is my 100th post? Sheesh, makes me feel like I'm on the computer too much...

One thing I need to quick mention is that the next baby in the baby succession has arrived!! Our Muscatine/GPC friends, Casey & Joe Lopez, just welcomed their little boy, JoJo, into the world about three hours ago. He was 19" long and 7.5lbs I believe. Congrats to the Lopez family!!

Secondly, I wanted to do this post as my friend, Abbie, did this once and it was pretty neat to see her progression every 10 weeks of her pregnancy. Her pictures were of a flat tummy, almost flat tummy, and then basketball under her shirt, but mine are a little different than that since my belly started going out "just a bit" sooner. :)

10 weeks

20 weeks

30 weeks

Woah! What a difference!! Let's just hope that it goes like everyone says it will and we return to the pre-10 week picture in a reasonable amount of time postpartum... ;-)

31 weeks down, 9 to go...woah.

So today marks the 31st week of pregnancy with this little kickmonster. :) I hope and pray that she keeps her sleep schedule as my schedule changes back into the swing of things at work...as in gets up with us/me either just as we're waking up in bed (usually when Adam puts his hand on my belly), kicks a bit before sleeping the morning away, wakes up for lunch either to remind me it's lunch time (FEED ME!) or that I ate too much (I'm squished in here!) for a few hours, then sleep, then intermittent sleep/wake until night time when she gets real active b/w 9-10pm and tuckers herself out just in time for us to crawl in bed at 10pm. She gives Adam a kick goodnight and then doesn't wake me up all night long. See why we beg the medical staff we see that she keeps the same schedule? Will we get as lucky as my mom did with her first 2 children who slept 22 and 20 hours a day? I might be able to handle that...my mom informed me last night that I slept through the night at 2 weeks old. Wishin', and hopin', and prayin', and plannin'...

Let's see, anything new about this week? Per babycenter.com, Baby should be around 3.3lbs and 16" long. My guess is she might weigh slightly more than that, but I'm stickin' to it that my doc said I'm on track for a 7lbs baby. I'd even take an 8lbs-er than the 9 & 10+ lbs babies my mother had...although she went 2-3 weeks late with 3/4 of them, so maybe she would have had lighter babies if she had been induced earlier. As for me, my last doctor's appt (a week ago?) I think I was up 28 lbs. I hope that wasn't from the earlier doc appt. Anyway, I'm heavy. And slowing down on the eating I think b/c it feels better to not be hungry than to be super full for hours on end. If that makes sense.

Tonight Adam and I took the dogs for a walk on the riverfront. He decided about 1/3 of the way through that we were going to pick up the pace...and I could almost not keep up with him! I was doing my best waddle and thought I was doing alright...but we slowed down just a bit so I could keep up. Thinking back on it, I could breathe a lot better on this walk (about 2.5 miles through bugs, so it was fast) but I think it's too early for her to have dropped yet and I was walking way to comfortably for her to be much lower. Who knows. It was a nice walk despite the awful tiny bugs, so I'll take it. :)

PS. I'm on the losing end of a battle between the baby and my innie belly button. It's not popped out or anything, but little parts/folds are slowly sticking out further and further. While it's still flush with the rest of my tummy, I don't know if this will last much longer...please pray for my belly button! :)

1st Birthing Class Last Night

Last night was our first birthing class. We walked in and it was SO quiet...I think there ended up being 7 moms in there with coaches, husbands, or boyfriends. I was quite shocked at one point when this teeny little person walked in with her boyfriend and I had to wonder if they were able to drive themselves to the class. Anyway, the class focused on fetal development (which I really knew most of), what we all expected out of the class, and how to tell when you're in real labor vs. the braxton hicks contractions I/we get regularly on a daily basis. So we end the class with a "relaxation" exercise which involved all of us (moms and coaches) lying on the floor (SO comfy, right? those two pillows we brought did next to nothing for comfort) and listening to relaxing music (which we just so happened to have at our wedding! Canon in D if I remember correctly) while the nurse talked us through relaxing ourselves. Here's why I could NOT relax during the relaxation exercise:

1. Adam kept trying to flip my lip (annoying thing we do to each other to make the other one laugh) while I was lying there.
2. Baby was kicking and kicking and then strreeeeeettttcccchhhiinnnnngggg out bigger than I think she ever has since the belly was just lying/hanging there and not supported by anything. She even made me suck in my breath b/c it was both unexpected and kinda uncomfortable! But not terrible.
   
3. Adam kept whispering junk to me just when I was about to start relaxing.
4. The cardiolgy team was called to the ER stat over the intercom. Self-explanatory. :(
   
5. Couldn't stop smiling b/c it was our wedding music.
6. Kept thinking about how some of this might be bogus when it came time to do the actual labor/delivery bit. But if I focus on it, I WILL do it. It's just hard to do when nothing's happening.
   

So we get to leave and before we're even out the door, Mr. Craving (aka. Adam) asks me, no, wait, tells me that he wants to stop at Taco Bell since he didn't eat supper as he ate a super late lunch that day. So we stop and make it through the drive through in record time (the TB here really sucks for time of service). We make it to the end of the night, and all of a sudden I hear Adam whispering in Maddie's ear (this is the dog, mind you) to breathe in through her nose, breathe out through her mouth...I almost die laughing when I realize he's practicing his "coaching" skills on the dog. Nice. At least he's practicing I suppose. And the nurse told the coaches that if we're pretty sure I'm going in to real labor, DON'T feed me. She explained why (my body won't digest it b/c it's focusing on L&D which can lead to some icky results) but still - try not feeding me when I'm hungry, pregnant or not. It DOESN'T go so well, usually. That might be one of the harder parts of labor for me!

Another thing we learned last night is that the baby will likely calm to Adam's voice rather immediately after birth, so start talking to her! We're starting tonight where he's going to read to her and actually, while she hears me all the time, I'm going to start reading to her daily too. I know, some of you are probably thinking, "what?? She hasn't already??" but nope, no formal reading to her yet. I have the old bible stories that my parents used to read to us when we were little, and I plan to read those to her now and when she gets here (which reminds me I need to go on Amazon to see if I can find the missing volumes). They smell like my childhood and I love them dearly. Yay for making Baby's brain synapses go bonkers and grow!

I best go make dinner since Adam will be home soon and likely starving. Oh, and btw, one of my (and Baby's, I'm convinced) new favorite things to do is to wait until the baby is doing big, slow movements across my belly and telling Adam to come feel her b/c she's kicking so much at the moment...and then she does a big, sweeping push against his hand and he freaks out b/c it feels weird to him. Ha ha! And I have to experience that weird feeling all the time! If you didn't read about the u/s yesterday, check out below. 31 weeks tomorrow! Down to single digit weeks until she's here!! :)

4D ultrasound! (30 weeks 5 days)

Yet another picture of this poor kid's giant foot. She inherited the Seefeldt skis, I swear. Better than the giant Seefeldt nose? ;-) Just kidding, Dad.

Today is....my last day of freedom. And I think it came at the perfect time too, since I'm starting to get a little lazy (ok, little might be an extreme understatement) while Adam's at work and then as soon as he gets home all tired from running all over the place at GPC, I get all this energy and want to do stuff with him around the house until 11pm. Yup, time to go back to work and attend meetings (gag), organize for my subs (yikes), and get my kids' schedules together (eek). I had a fun day today after I got going though, as I went to the Quad Cities for a speechie luncheon with 2 of the regulars and the 2 newbies to the dept. For some reason the half sandwich and fries I had quadrupled in size once it hit my stomach, so I was (and still am) pretty full. Really good though! Then I stopped and ran a few errands before realizing I best high-tail it to Muscatine or I was going to be late for our 4D ultrasound (u/s) today at 3pm! But before leaving the QCs, I stopped and got the mattress for Baby's crib, a few cami tanks for me (love JCP $10 off purchase coupons!), and a VHS (yup, oldschool) tape to record the ultrasound. Then off to the races! I made it with 2 minutes to spare. ;-) I don't know why but these pictures didn't show up in the orange/black that I thought most 4D u/s pictures usually do, but I think you get the idea in the later pictures. Most of the pics are traditional u/s pictures.

Profile pictures above/below. The bubble above her lips/nose is the umbilical cord.

So we go in for the u/s and have two technicians...I am pretty sure the one who did it was in training. Crap. But she did fairly well and seemed to have more questions about the buttons than doing the actual u/s, which leads me to believe she knew her stuff...for the most part. Baby had been sleeping for the better part of at least 3 hours by then, so on the way to the hospital she stuck her bum out to where I could feel it really well so I patted her for a bit and low and behold, yup, WIDE awake and kicking/moving like CRAZY for the u/s. I mean so much/hard that there were several times where I felt and saw (on the monitor) her do a movement at the same time! Kinda weird...but since she was so active, it was sort of hard to get that "really great" 4D picture that you usually see on TV/internet. The one we have looks pretty good...but it makes her look like she has the hugest upper lip ever, which she does not, as we've seen in other u/s's or even at today's on views not given to us in still pics. She frequently put her little arms/hands up in front of her face and on her head to which one of techs said to watch when she's here and how she sleeps...apparently babies who do that a ton in the womb will like to sleep that way once they have all the room to do so. Another comment that made me happy was when the tech was taking measurments of the baby's heart and commented that she had a "great looking heart." I mean really, would you expect anything less out of our baby? :) She's perfect no matter what to us, but it's nice when others acknowledge that too. (Note the sarcasm in the latter portion of that sentence...)

I'm going to try my best to figure out a way to post some, if not all, of the u/s video for you to see. Not sure how I'm going to go about that yet, but I will try. Or watch the blog and I'll let you know if I give up. I really need to learn how though so I can post video of her once she gets here. Enjoy the pictures!!

Profile picture and 4D face picture. Her upper lip is not that big, but the picture sure makes it look that way, doesn't it? And no cleft lip! Woo hoo! :)

Up close and personal - there's our little girl! See her little hands tucked under her chin? Aww...

2 days left... :-(

So I'm getting a little bummed that the school year is just about to get started even though I know this is a good thing as it will require me to get into a better routine again and pass the time quickly before the baby gets here. I have a summer contract day on Wednesday, but then Thursday I'm going to start back full time (some in Musc are waiting until next week) b/c the more I work now means the less I'll have to work in June when I'm eager to spend more time with the baby. She'll be 7-8 months old by then! Can you believe that?

For no apparent reason, I'm kind of tired today. I had plans to do some things around the house and I still intend to do at least 2-3 of them, but I think I'm going to plan some lazy time too since that time will end after tomorrow. :( Unfortunately I got an email this morning that we're getting new cell phones (for those of us that have them) at work so I had to turn mine in asap so it would be there by Wed at 10am. Therefore, I had to go into work today for ~15 minutes to take care of that...not fair! Wasn't supposed to "work" today. I know I really didn't work, but I had to go there nonetheless. Ok, I'm done whining about that now. I also ran a few other errands including going to the farmer's market where I got a ton of yummy veggies for the week. I'm currently waiting for some squash to get done so I can put butter and brown sugar on it before I have a "healthy" part of my lunch. Yum!

Highlander Pics

I realized I hadn't posted any pics of our (new to us) Highlander since we got it about 3 weeks ago. Here they are! The interior is tan/leather with wood trim. Pretty sexy if you ask me, but I might be biased b/c it's mine. :) We're still looking for a pet guard to keep the dogs in the way back part, but we have until Christmas really, since that's the first time we'll travel with the baby and dogs together. Wow, that will be her first trip to WI!


Yesterday, Adam and I went our separate ways in the morning and met back at home around 1pm. He went golfing and I was working on the rummage sale, which was a bust that day. Then I did some light housework while Adam mowed, weeded, and some other things outside before we went to Saturday church at 5:30. While we were at church, things were fine and dandy until about 15 minutes in...and then the BH contractions started...and continued...and all of a sudden I had two very separate ones in about 5 minutes and decided I better get up and walk around to see if that would help. It must have, b/c I likely hit the 6/hr (then call the doctor) before they finally subsided for a while. Got a little nervous there...but I'm fine and they haven't come back that active since. Whew! Then we had a nice, quiet fire outside where it was almost too hot out to have a fire until about 10pm when we gave in and went to sleep...long day I guess.

Today we decided to research some things we've been looking at - cribs and a nice camera to take pics of the baby - before heading to the Quad Cities for some shopping. We (well, mostly Adam) learned some great things about cameras and we decided we'd just order her crib and dressers when we got home. The camera thing...whew. My friend, Abbie, has the Nikon D60 and loves it. She's let us play with it a bit and it IS amazing. Completely. I can see us using it to take pics of the baby and her siblings when they're in sports in high school, it's that good. However, the price is sort of killing us b/c we both have a set limit of what we'd like to spend and we'll probably end up going about $100 over that easily if/when we go for it. We've also looked at Canon and Sony, but I think we will like the D60 better. The picture quality is just SO amazing...anyway, just another decision we're grappling with. Secondly, I hit the maternity clothes JACKPOT at JCPenny today! I got three pairs of capris, 2 tanks, 2 tshirts, and 3 dressy work shirts that should all work until the very end - for next to nothing! Some of the shirts I had before today that are nicer for work are just starting to get to the point where they are just too short in the belly (again!) so it was time to find a bit more. To top it all off, a clerk told me while I was looking that it was "friends and family" day so our entire bill was an extra 20% off! Thankfully Adam also found the running shoes he wanted there so we saved almost $40 on top of all the great deals! I love that kind of shopping...makes me happy. :)

Now Adam is playing in a softball tournament in the Quad Cities (we dropped his truck off there) in this extreme heat. I would have normally stayed especially since he's playing early and I don't have to work tomorrow, but it's roughly 90 degrees with heat indices of 100-105 so I decided to just go home to the a/c. He's going to roast, poor guy. They play until they lose so who knows how long he'll be in that heat.

On a sidenote, the upper left belly nerve is really giving me a hard time today. I really don't want to buy a belly support, but am guessing that this is what Dr. Coleman is going to tell me to do if I whine about it since it's mostly a gravity/stretching thing (it doesn't hurt when I'm lying down). Ugh. That just makes me feel fat. Lastly, I've attached a picture of the dogs in their kennels when I came home this afternoon...pay special attention to Jessie (on the right). Apparently 78 degrees in the house was too cold for her...I love our dogs...fuzzy little furbabies... :)


PS. I'm a little sad that Tuesday is my last day off of work before the school year is officially kicked off with meetings and organization days. It will be great, I know this, and I'm sort of looking forward to it, but it's just another step that's going to take a lot of thinking/organizing and such and gets us to the baby's arrival that much sooner. Whew. It's getting closer faster, isn't it? :)

Pictures to go with 30-week post below

30 week belly pictures (self-portraits, don't mind the quality)

30 week belly

Casey & I at Jason & Julie's wedding shower
(Melissa=30 weeks, Casey=38 weeks with Little JoJo)

After the Bubble Gum game...Julie=6 pieces, Jason=7 pieces...Julie's the winner!

Probably the yummiest cake I've had in quite some time...mmm.

Jason, Julie, me, & Adam after a successful couples wedding shower. :)

30 weeks

We're 75% of the way there...30 weeks. Hard to believe she's going to be here in less than 2 digit numbers now (since technically it's 9w6d away from my due date). I'll say that every week. Just to warn you.

We put on Jason and Julie's wedding shower tonight which consisted of just under 20 of us (guys and gals) going out to Port City Underground in Muscatine for dinner, the Bubblegum Game, dinner, amazing cake, and presents. It went really well, the waitstaff was awesome and catered to every need I/we had to make it go smoothly, and I was just overall really pleased with how things went. I'll be posting pictures tomorrow since it's late and the thought of being on my feet more than a trip to the bathroom and bed makes me cringe right now. I also have a cute one to post of a fellow preggers friend, Casey, and I. She's due in 14 days. Little JoJo and Baby Schmidt got to duke it out for a bit...just wait until tomorrow's pictures. :)

I went to the doctor today for a routine check up (which now happens every other week until week 36 when we go up to weekly). I felt sort of bad since 2 seconds after she walked in I totally interrupted her to have her quick feel my belly since I was pretty sure I was able to tell which way the baby was facing - and wanted confirmation. Turns out that she WAS on my right side...ok, her butt was on my right side, she's head down, and then Dr. Coleman found a foot on the left side that she said "was just about to kick her." That was the first dr. visit that I can recall that Baby was wide awake and moving like crazy during our appt. Adam did not accompany me to that appt b/c he was flying in from Vancouver/Chicago. He will be there next week for my 4D ultrasound on Tuesday. We will be taping that one so if I can figure out how to post a video sometime in the next 3 years, I'll post it for all to see! I'm really excited. Since we've been getting all these u/s, I asked Dr. Coleman how that works with insurance b/c usually we are only allowed 2-3 for a routine pregnancy. Turns out that only the 2 done in radiology (20 weeks/28 weeks) were charged to my insurance. The first one in Dr. Coleman's office (internal/8 weeks) and the 4D one (also done in her office) are free!! She said that's just how she likes to practice so she doesn't charge for them. And that's why I love my doctor. :)

I think I've mentioned the pain I get on the top left side of my belly just under the rib area and asked Dr. Coleman about it. She said that likely it was a nerve that's being stretched and (as she's palpitating it) said she could probably reproduce it...and did! Small ouch! Her suggestion was heat/cold compress if needed and basically (and nicely, b/c she's great) said it's part of pregnancy. Since lying down makes it better, I'm ok with that. :)

Ok, it's late, I'm tired, and have to be up at a decent hour tomorrow for Round 2 of the Benner/Schmidt/Pinter/Lopez rummage sale. Today went well...but there's always more stuff that needs to go! :) Watch for pictures tomorrow...or Sunday...depending on how Saturday goes. ;-)

I need to post more often...

Otherwise these entries get sooo long!! The rest of our weekend was good, productive, and crazy busy. I ended up sort of losing my marbles a bit on Sunday afternoon b/c I was going going going the entire day and only sat for about 30 minutes post-breakfast until around 5pm...which turns out is too long of a day to keep going that much and not lose it. But after a good release of "eye water" and a little "I'm too tired! My feet hurt! I don't wanna!" Adam suggested I sit for a while with my feet up while he finished the rest of the time sensitive work that needed to be done. Check and check. It helped, but it was a long day. Adam's mom, grandma, and cousin came to spend the night and we had a really nice visit with them. It was great to have them and see Parker as we hadn't seen her in quite some time. She had great fun with the dogs who then slept all day Monday. I loved Monday. We did nothing. I was in PJs until 1:30 while the dogs slept...there was a great big dent in the recliner from where I didn't move a majority of the day. Adam also left for Vancouver on Monday and is there until Friday this week.

I don't think I've posted this yet, but I can now feel when she has hiccups if I'm sitting/lying down/relaxing which is kind of cute. I get sad for her when they last more than a minute or so, but it's perfectly normal while she's practicing swallowing/breathing the amniotic fluid so it's really nothing to be concerned about. This has been happening for about a week, week and a half or so that I can really feel her do this. Let's see, what else is she up to...nothing much outside of the regular (but strong) kicking/punching, some rolling around, and the like. She has continued to maintain a great sleep schedule (meaning she doesn't wake me up at night) although sometimes I wake her up when I roll over...that's quite a feat sometimes but not impossible to do independently. :) Yet.

Today I had orientation for the job I've had for a year now. It was brutally slow, completely boring, and by the afternoon I was contracting more and more from all the sitting (which we're not used to at all) we were doing. This seems to have continued into the evening even though I stayed hydrated pretty well. Thankfully tomorrow's session is only a half day for me (it's 3 days total for newbies!!) but then I'm heading back to Muscatine to write up an eval from Tuesday and then complete another one. Why did I say I'd do these at the end of the last school year? Oh yeah, b/c I can't say no to something that makes sense. :) Oh! And tomorrow is the 75% done mark, or 30 weeks. I'm so excited about how far I'm getting with the baby, as I've said before, b/c heaven forbid she come tomorrow, she'd have even better odds then she did last week. I don't know why I am stuck on that, but crazy things happen and you just never know. Friday and Saturday will be spent helping some friends run a rummage sale that we have quite a bit of stuff in. I love getting rid of clutter...and with the "lists" that I've been working on, there is a lot of it now GONE. My favorite. :) Adam will be thrilled when I tell him he better find a golfing date for Saturday morning. I actually already told him this, but I think he might have forgotten. Jessie wants to go out so I best get up so I actually get through my clothes for the rummage sale. Tomorrow night I'm playing "Susie Homemaker" and making another round of Amish Friendship Bread and then puppy chow for the rummage sale. I'm tired just thinking about it...

Very productive Friday

Yesterday was one of the most productive days I've had in a while. I could tell by the time I finally stopped that it was time to sit and relax a bit, but I was so proud of my accomplishments that it took all I had not to tell Adam a hundred times all the things I did while he was at work yesterday. What can I say, throwing out another list of "to do" stuff is almost as good as a birthday present to this pregnant mommy-to-be. Let me just give you the low-down as I am still rather proud:

1. The internet guy came early so while he was doing his thing, I cleaned up the kitchen and finally went through the pile of things I took out of the Murano so I could put some of it into the Highlander, some in the trash, etc.
   
2. I priced, packed up, and dropped off a huge amount of rummage sale stuff to a friend's house (Nancy) to prep for the rummage sale we're all putting on at her house next Friday and Saturday. Felt REALLY good to get that stuff outta here. Whatever doesn't sell is either going in the trash or to Goodwill. I don't want it back in this house. We don't "do" clutter very well. :)
   
3. Met Adam at the bank to sign some papers and then went out for lunch. Yes, at China Buffet. Oh well. It was good and I was starving.
   
4. Went back home, and I moved the futon (by sliding, not lifting; relax) out of the farm room and into the nursery, along with anything else not a bed to prep for carpet cleaning. I hauled the vacuum, spot cleaner, and soaps upstairs and got to work spot treating the carpet in the farm room and upstairs landing. Took me a bit to put the vacuum/shampooer together again, but got that going and shampooed the carpet.
   
5. By this time I could tell I needed to take a break, so while the suds were working their way into the carpet, I had a small bowl of chocolate ice cream. And then realized I was going to be a bottomless pit for the rest of the day...Baby must really be growing or needing more nutrition or something...sorry it was ice cream, Baby! :) Then back upstairs to finish the carpets and wait for Adam to come home and see my work. A quick vacuum over the shampooed area and I had a happy husband, although not quite as happy as I was.
   
6. TOSS OUT THE FARM ROOM LIST!! Best moment of the day at home.
7. Had a snack (yes, another), took a shower, and then we headed out to Moline for the first meeting of the QC Dining Club at the Brown Bottle. It's a club that my friend, Abbie's, friend started to get friends/couples together to try new/different restaurants in the Quad Cities. I was a little nervous b/c I only knew 2 couples out of the 25ish total people that were there, but it turned out to be really fun and everyone was easy to talk to. The food was good, but it almost hurt to watch my friend, Denise, have my favorite wine in the whole wide world...I love the atmosphere that the restaurant offered and in that setting, I am the happiest camper ever with good food and a glass of wine. My non-alcoholic margarita was good, but I'm telling you, I can't wait to just relax and have a glass of wine after this little one gets here and all is well with her feeding schedule. I'm telling you - can't WAIT.
   

So it was a great day and night for Friday. Adam was scheduled to golf and work for about 4 hrs today before we went crib/dresser shopping and back to Muscatine in time for Saturday night church. The reason we have to go to Sat night church is b/c Adam was banking on the fact that his golf would get rained out this morning and he'd be into work earlier and could then golf Sunday morning...except it didn't rain until they got 3 holes in, golfed another 3 in the rain, and then came home. So while he's at work earlier than he would have been had it not rained, I'm not so sure how we'll squeeze everything in unless church magically got switched to 7pm instead of 5:30....we shall see. I think I've rested enough now this morning and am headed back upstairs to move whatever I can to the farm room and prep for shampooing the carpet in the Baby's nursery. Then it will be a matter of putting her furniture together and I will feel much better about where things stand in terms of having the right "stuff" for her. I'm also tempted to stop by one of the places we registered for our Bum Genius diapers and pick up one or two of them so I can see what they're like. She's still going to use disposable ones at first, like I've said earlier, but it would be nice to have some on hand. That said, I'm off to upstairs. Oh! And Adam's mom, grandmother, and little cousin Parker (who we haven't seen in a long time!!) are coming to visit briefly overnight tomorrow night. Am really excited to see PJ...and just hope the dogs (ok, Jessie) behave. Happy Saturday!