She's Here!

Mina Catherine made her grand arrival at 1:46am on December 29th after about 21 hours of labor and a forceps delivery. We're doing well, but we're stuck in the hospital for a few more days because Mina had a fever for a couple of her vitals checks. She seems perfectly healthy and we're getting the hang of breastfeeding. I'll post much more when we're home, but here are a couple of pictures to tide you over.

Milo had the winning guess for Mina's arrival so he gets a special present from her sometime soon. Click on the expectnet link if you want to see how you ranked. Notice that Jon and I did horribly. :)

Like Mike

Today is the due date and I don't think baby will come out in a timely fashion. I need to charge her some sort of late fee for every day she delays. Just because I have the stretch limo of a torso doesn't mean she should stay in there until toddlerhood! However, it would be great if she came on the 30th - it would still be December, 2007, family would be in town, and I'd get to celebrate Christmas on the 29th.

Anyway, my body is making some progress. I am so glad that my regular doctor is back from maternity leave. She's so much more approachable and she's all about getting this baby out since she freshly remembers how it feels to be so big and awkward. My blood pressure was slightly high again and I'm still puffy, but I was cleared for pre-e once again. Unfortunately the scale was set on pounds so I had to see my weight. Yikes! My belly measured 36 weeks since baby girl is so low and Dr. M thinks the baby will be somewhere around 6.5 to 7.5 pounds. Baby's heart rate was up to 145 today and Dr. M has the magic touch with the doppler. She always finds the baby immediately. Then we get to the fun stuff....the internal exam. My cervix is soft and dilated to about 1.5-2 cm so I'm making progress. She went ahead and stripped my membranes. Click on this link if you're wondering what that is. Hopefully it will help things progress more because it HURT! I couldn't help but make faces and I think I probably resembled the greatest basketball player of all time - Michael Jordan. I went ahead and made my appointment for next week (time still up in the air) and then we'll see where to go from there. In any case, I'll definitely have the baby by Jan. 10th since that's when I hit 42 weeks. It gets dangerous when you keep a baby in too long.

We'll take a picture this evening. Hopefully it will be my last official belly picture!

Another Missed Deadline

Obviously baby girl missed the memo that said she was supposed to come yesterday. I had some contractions that hurt (still not too bad), were 5 minutes apart, and lasted about a minute each yesterday morning, but that didn't quite pass the 5-1-1 rule (5 minutes apart, lasting a minute each, AND having that go on for an hour before going in to L & D). The contractions spaced out and stopped hurting right after lunch. She got my hopes up for a little bit there. I hurried up and did all the laundry and took a shower so I was ready to go. I even finished my latest project. I bought some Iowa State fleece and blanket stitched the edges to make a stretchy swaddling blanket. At least that distracted me yesterday. I don't know what we're going to do today. For some reason walking in the mall doesn't appeal to me.

I guess you could say I'm getting stressed out. Jon got his call schedule for next month and I'm scared of having a brand new baby and being alone a lot. Unfortunately, Jon has to sleep at the hospital four times in the near future - Dec. 31, Jan. 2 (nothing like practically two nights in a row), Jan. 15, and Jan. 18. I'm okay with the later two dates, but who knows what will be going on for the early dates. I will be alone from about 6am - 6pm the following day when he's on call at the hospital. I hope our baby is really good because 36 hours seems like a long time to take care of baby without a break. Maybe I should just hold the baby in until Jan. 3rd and stay in the call room with him in case I go into labor. He has vacation from Jan. 5-11 so that wouldn't be that bad of timing. The waiting is starting to get to me though. I'm torn between wanting baby to come out so I can see her, hold her, learn to take care of her, etc. and between thinking what have I gotten myself into.

James (our bestman) came to visit us on Friday night and stayed until yesterday late morning. We had a lot of fun catching up. He's the one we were planning to visit in California, but now it sounds like he's moving back to New York so we'll have to see.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sigh...

The natural, noninvasive approach of my doctor is really starting to chap my hide. She didn't do an internal exam so I have no idea if my contractions are helping me dilate or efface at all. In the whole scheme of things it doesn't matter since one can go from 0 to 10cm in a day or two or can stay at 2-3 cm for weeks, but I'm such a number person that I like to know everything I can. My blood pressure was fantastic this week (115/75), but the doctor was slightly concerned by my cankles and paws (previously known as hands) so she checked to make sure I didn't have protein in my urine. I checked out okay with that so there really aren't any health concerns. Baby's heartrate was about 130 and she's been pretty lively today so baby's health isn't a concern either. Next week I'll definitely have an internal exam done if I'm still pregnant on the 27th.

I don't think we're going to make my Thursday goal so the new goal is Sunday. Jon is on call on Saturday, but he has Sunday through Tuesday off so that would be great timing. I'll pencil it in!

Cankles

Yes, I finally have cankles. I wore regular socks yesterday and when I took them off it looked like I had been hogtied with rope. I only have a few pairs of ankle socks so this baby better come out soon. Plus, I hate to wear ankle socks because they never stay up. Last night Jon yelled at the baby and told her to come out and then took me walking outside and in the mall. Who knows what torture he'll have in store for me tonight. Just so he doesn't slip castor oil into my drink! I had some contractions during our walk, but haven't really felt anything much today. Maybe I should stop laying around to get things going.

I hope that my appointment is more interesting this week. Maybe she'll want to do an internal since I've been having some contractions. It's my last appointment with Dr. E before Dr. M gets back from maternity leave. Don't expect news early in the day because my appointment isn't until 3:30 and they sometimes run late with the afternoon appointments.

Single Digits!

Did you notice that we're down to 9 days today? I'm hoping for less since I've had some contractions today that have been somewhat painful. They still aren't too painful, frequent, or regular, but at least they're something. My goal is to have the baby on Thursday. I've accomplished some work today and gotten the house in pretty good shape so she's welcome to come earlier.

I think the labor watch is starting. My dad called today to ask how I'm doing. My mom emailed me to ask how I'm doing and to tell me those cramps are most likely contractions. Don't worry guys - I'll tell you when anything exciting happens like my water breaking or checking into labor and delivery.

Twiddling my Thumbs

I really wish I knew when labor was going to start so I could just deal with whether it would be soon or not for a few weeks. I guess I'm starting to get a little impatient. I've been really tired the last few days and I've even been able to take naps and then sleep at night. I feel kind of crampy off and on like my period is coming (hopefully that means I'm dilating some) and once in a while I notice a nonpainful contraction. Baby doesn't move nearly as much so she must be feeling kind of squished in there. She still passes kick counts when I check. I don't think my doctor will do an internal on Thursday unless I say I'm in pain or have been having lots of contractions. Jon continues to give my belly pep talks, but his daughter is just way too comfy to listen to him. I'm still enjoying my pregnancy and feeling pretty good so I'm not desperate at this point to evict her.

In other news, I feel it's safe to share some other baby announcements. My big sister Emily is expecting a baby on June 13th so she's in the second trimester already (14 1/2 weeks). I'm so proud of myself for keeping that a secret. I figure since Mom put it in the Christmas card, then I might as well spill the beans too. It will be so fun to have cousins that close in age. My friend Kim is also pregnant and found out yesterday. She's due at the end of August after going through IVF. I hope the first trimester scariness flies by for her.

I'm feeling much more myself now that I've passed Dec. 14th and 16th. Those were dates marked in my mind and now that they've come and gone, I can move on and just be excited about baby.

I suppose I should take a shower and do some laundry. I've had a very lazy day today since I didn't even make a to-do list. Yes, I generally have a to-do list every day. It's how I cope with so much free time. I had to get the furnace fixed today so that kept me close to home this morning. There's nothing like needing a $322 part in order to keep your home warm. Oh well.

For What Was Lost

This is such a time of happiness and excitement that I hate to bring people down, but I feel the need to honor my little one that I lost a year ago. This was the day that I had two shots of methotrexate in order to protect my health from the suspected ectopic pregnancy. My doctor determined that there was absolutely no way the pregnancy was viable and was concerned that I might have a tube rupture if the embryo was allowed to grow more. I'll never know what happened and if it was a girl or boy, but I know I would have loved her or him with all my heart. I'll never forget my joy when I found out I was pregnant for the first time. That first baby gave me hope that someday I'd be a mommy and very shortly that dream will come true. My empty arms will be filled, but I'll never forget my little angel that I never got to hold.

3rd Trimester Belly Slideshow

38 Weeks

I had yet another boring OB appointment today. I didn't even look at the scale because I figure ignorance is bliss. My BP was fine, belly measured the same as last week, and the heartrate for baby was in the 140s. The doctor says that I've dropped some since she can now plainly tell where the baby's head is, but I've not dropped all the way since she can still feel a good portion of the head. I didn't have an internal exam so I don't know if I'm dilated or effaced at all yet. At least she's making some progress in the right direction.

I made some delicious goodies today. Here's what you do: Get a box of semi sweet Baker's chocolate (8 squares). Melt it according to the directions and add 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract and mix it around. Dip Ritz crackers into the chocolate and scrape/drip off the excess. Place the crackers on waxed paper and top with crushed candy cane. Refrigerate for about half an hour and voila! A box of Baker's chocolate is enough for one sleeve of crackers. They taste a lot like thin mints from Girl Scouts, but they're more festive in appearance. Yummy!

If you look really closely you'll see why I've decided it's time for baby girl to come out - I finally have stretch marks on my belly.

Christmas Card Story

Hopefully people have received their Christmas cards by now. I'm sure you're wondering how we created our beautiful work of art. I have a craft projector that came in handy. We printed off some clipart and projected an image onto my belly in a dark room. Jon traced the image with eyeliner and then painted the picture with non-toxic paints. He even had to blend colors to create just the right shades of brown. It's a good thing I'm not ticklish! We had fun with it. Jon's vest is a woman's vest from Goodwill that I decorated with iron-ons. Even the back of it is covered with beauty.

Unfortunately, the official card was cropped kind of funny, but you can see here that we can take pictures without chopping off heads. My belly button is part of Rudolph's mouth if you're curious.

No Baby Today

Baby girl isn't allowed to come out today. It's way too icy! I hope our power doesn't go out. I haven't felt a whole lot of contractions so she shouldn't be coming yet. I felt my first semi-painful contraction on Sunday afternoon. I'd give it a 4 on the pain scale and all of the others have been 1's. The only way I can tell I'm having a contraction is if I happen to be touching my stomach at the time and I feel it harden. I'm still feeling pretty good and my back hasn't been hurting as much lately. I woke up this morning and I was sleeping on my stomach once again. Whoever says that it will get to the point where you can't sleep on your tummy hasn't met me. I don't sleep completely flat on my tummy though. Emily says she slept on her belly through her whole pregnancy with Milo and he turned out perfect.

We had to reschedule our Saturday Christmas party for this coming Saturday due to the weather. Jon's parents still came on Saturday and stayed until Sunday midday. We opened presents and had a couple of nice meals. Here's a picture of us with the excited grandmother-to-be.

Pure Holiday Silliness

Check this out! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1239549502

I think that Jon is the best dancer. :)

Am I Big Enough?

Here are this week's pictures. I'm not sure what's worse - the double chin or the almost shut eyes. Where's my glow?



The Schwans man hasn't arrived yet. I hope he doesn't skip us this week because I preordered a bunch of stuff. I didn't go to my baby wearing meeting because I didn't want to brave the roads...but he should know how important his ice cream is to us.

37 Weeks

I just got back from my OB appointment and it was probably the most boring appointment yet. My blood pressure was good, weight was what I expected, fundal height measured right on this week, heart rate was in the 140s, and they didn't even make me pee in a cup. Yay! That becomes very awkward in later pregnancy if you can imagine. Sorry for the TMI. Also, I don't have Group B Strep so I don't have to have antibiotics when I'm in labor.

It's snowing and beautiful outside right now. Hopefully the roads won't get too bad. I'm planning to go to a meeting tonight about baby wearing (slings, wraps, etc.) and the Schwans man is supposed to come with lots of yummy stuff I ordered. We have three Christmas parties this weekend if the weather permits. Friday night is the hospital party at the Marriott. I'm going to wear my black dress that I wore back in October at a wedding. We'll have to take a picture to see how different it looks on me now. Saturday is the Cedar Rapids party with Jon's side of the family. Sunday is Christmas with Lee and Cathy at our house.

This week I got my Christmas cards sent out. Jon and I spent the afternoon on Sunday getting the cards made. Hopefully most people will receive their cards today. I can't wait to post the pictures on the blog, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. I have all of my Christmas shopping done and everything is wrapped and under the tree. We put the pack n' play together and everything is ready for baby girl. I bought the ingredients for a few casseroles and I made one casserole and froze it yesterday. I'll probably make another today or make a couple tomorrow. I made a brunch casserole and I have pizzaghetti and Italian soup (Jon's family recipe) in the works. Plus, I have the ingredients for tater tot casserole. I probably won't make that ahead of time though since it's so easy and quick to make.

I'll post later once we have a belly picture taken. I should note that last week's picture in an XL shirt was an XL nonmaternity shirt. I still fit into most of my maternity shirts.

New Links

I've added some internet links on the left to some sites that I've shared throughout the last year and some others that I've found interesting. If you don't remember what your baby prediction was, then check out the ExpectNet! link and you can look it up. I really hope that Jason has psychic powers even though I'm enjoying pregnancy. However, I think that either Lois or Claudia will win. Most of the people predicting an overdue baby guessed boy and I really, really hope they're wrong. I don't want to deal with the returns and I don't think my little boy should have to wear pink the whole first year just for my convenience.

I'm friends with the Mommy & Me Necklace business owner. You should check out her stuff if you're looking for a unique gift for showers or if you're planning to nurse.

I know some of you enjoyed listening to the Rockabye Baby! music. It's much cheaper to buy the songs from iTunes and put them on your iPod. Whenever I work on projects in the nursery, I always have one of those CDs playing. I have three or four.

The Baby Name Wizard is fun to play with because it shows the trends for names. Feel free to play around, but don't share your guesses with me anymore. We all know her name is Sally Minnie. Plus, I go psychotic at times so do you really want to test me? I'm bigger than you!

Pregnancy Week by Week just goes through what's going on each week. I suppose that would have been more helpful earlier on, but I know that at least a couple of my readers are preggers.

Contraction Master helps people time contractions without having to write it down with pen and paper. You just have to be able to press the spacebar. If Milo's guess is correct, then it might be my family's entertainment for when they come to visit December 29th and 30th.

Griddlers are the puzzles I talked about the other day. Sudoku and kakuro puzzles get a little old so it's fun to play something new.

Rocking Chair

The rocking chair is complete! I picked it up this afternoon. It's incredibly comfortable now and it's so much prettier. Jon did a great job with refinishing and the upholsterer did a great job also. Here are the before and after pictures.

Before:

It felt like I was sitting on straw and had stains.

After:

You can see the nursing stool in the second picture. My handy dad made it for me. The wood in both the chair and stool are really pretty in person (and match better than they look in the picture).

The nursery is ready so baby is welcome to come now.

Cervix of Steel

Apparently baby girl is showing no signs of wanting to come out anytime soon. I had my first internal exam today and baby was high and my cervix was completely closed. The doctor did a quick ultrasound to make sure that she's head down (she is), but she didn't look at the goods. Shucks! My blood pressure was a little high, but not high enough to worry the doctor. We don't need to talk about my weight. I had the Group B Strep swab test and will find out the results at next week's appointment. I hope I'm negative or I'll have to get antibiotics during delivery. According to fundal height, I'm measuring slightly ahead (37 weeks). That goes to show that all of those people that think I look too small are wrong because I'm slightly bigger than average right now. It's just that my extremely long torso is good at hiding baby.

Here are this week's belly pictures. I've included a bonus picture that shows how I don't fit into my shirt. It's an extra large, but it looks like a doll shirt.

A Funny

I was forwarded this email and I found it very amusing as a former teacher.

New York City Report Cards
These are actual comments made on students' report cards by teachers in the New York City public school system. All teachers were reprimanded but, boy, are these funny!

1. Since my last report, your child has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.
2. I would not allow this student to breed.
3. Your child has delusions of adequacy.
4. Your son is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
5. Your son sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.
6. The student has a "full six-pack" but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together.
7. This child has been working with glue too much.
8. When your daughter's IQ reaches 50, she should sell.
9. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming.
10. If this student were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week.
11. It's impossible to believe the sperm that created this child beat out 1,000,000 others.
12. The wheel is turning but the hamster is definitely dead.

T Minus One Month

I can't believe how close we are to the end/beginning! We're getting more excited every day. Last night we watched The Happiest Baby on the Block and we enjoyed looking at all the cute babies and learning techniques to get them to stop crying. I have a feeling that Jon is going to be really good at it since he's the person with more patience of the two of us.

I'm working on getting as much of the baby book done as I can before baby girl gets here. There are lots of spots for pictures so I got some pictures developed yesterday to use. I had a bit of an emotional/psychotic episode at Walmart yesterday, but I'm better now and I didn't go to jail. It's fun to fill out the story of us as individuals, how we met, our wedding day, how we found out we were expecting a baby, etc. I'm going to work on the book some more today since it's going to take a while to place all of the pictures. I'm feeling a little stress to get everything done and ready for baby. My next project will be to make some meals to freeze to put in our chest freezer for after baby gets here. I don't really love cooking so it's better to make stuff now than later or we'll be living on frozen pizzas, hot pockets, and takeout.

Fun Pictures

We took a few pregnancy pictures yesterday. Jon was very enthused.


On Saturday my mom made Euclid a new cover for his dog bed. We're hoping that we can get him to sleep on it so we have more room in our bed. Last night he laid on it for a while, but he ended up in bed with us eventually. However, he laid on the dog bed for the whole car trip home and didn't seem to want to get up when we got home because he was so comfortable.Thanks mom for doing such a great job! I really appreciate it. Here he is posing on the bed.

We had a great visit with family even though it was short. I'm scared to see how much I weigh after all the yummy food!

Cool Toy

If anyone wants to splurge on baby girl, then I found the coolest toy. Here's the link to a musical hot air balloon mobile. I bet she won't be here until after Christmas, but you never know.

Jon is on call today and it seems all of the pysch patients are having tooth pain. They're probably more lonely than anything. I hope he doesn't have to go in to the hospital in the middle of the night since we're leaving for FD at about 6:30am. Why anyone would go into the ER on a Friday night for something that could wait until the morning is beyond me.

We had fun putting up the Christmas decorations today. Every year Jon wears a Santa hat and I wear the tree skirt while we decorate and it was a challenge this year. I can't believe I could ever get that thing to tie around my waist. I couldn't even get the ends of the ties to touch, let alone make a knot. Maybe next year...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all of you had a wonderful celebration! We had a great day even though we didn't get to see family. It was our first Thanksgiving without our families. We slept in, watched the Macy's parade, cooked and ate Cornish game hens together, watched the Packers beat the Lions, took a nap, and we're getting ready to watch a movie. This could quite possibly be the last holiday we celebrate without our child so we're making it as relaxing of a day as we can.

I'm not going to do any shopping on Black Friday since I have most of my holiday shopping done. I get really hostile towards strangers that get near my stomach so for the safety at all, I'd better stay out of the mall. We're going to decorate for Christmas tomorrow as long as Jon is able. He's on call, but he won't have to go in unless there's an emergency. I hope the decorations are all in good order because I took them down in a huff last year instead of my normal tender packing. Usually I keep them up until January 2nd or 3rd, but I don't think they made it past a couple of days after Christmas last year. With our new addition, we might not have the energy and time to take them down until late this year. What a difference a year makes.

Here are my 35 week belly pictures.

A Year of Blogging

Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog. A lot has happened this year! I looked back at my old posts and it reminded me how lucky we are to have our little one on the way. Sure, we'll have our tough times ahead, but hopefully life will continue to be much more good than bad. It was fun to look back at the belly pictures too. I remember feeling really big at the beginning of the 2nd trimester, but I barely had anything going on at all. I loved looking back at the posts in April and May. I was filled with so much hope, anxiety, happiness, and fear all at once. I'm so glad that things are turning out the way they are. Soon enough, my other blog will be actively circulated and will be devoted totally to baby, but this blog will always be here for our infertility adventures.

Pain and Childbirth

I should have updated sooner, but I had a lazy day yesterday (other than grocery and Christmas shopping). I'm addicted to a game. Here's the website: http://www.igridd.com/pages/home. Whenever I play griddlers time flies. I'm going to try to stay away from the computer today though because my back hurts really bad. On Saturday I felt better than I had for a long time. I got lots of massaging at the childbirth class and I was able to walk without a limp. I was also able to go up stairs without using the handrail. On Sunday night I had the bad idea to lay on the floor and I wrenched my back when I twisted to get up. Euclid was a little helper and stood in front of me so I could support my head on his back until Jon helped me get up. He doesn't like it when his mommy hurts. Anyway, my back has hurt since. I feel like a nerve is being pinched. Nothing seems to help so I'm just trying to take it easy and tough it out.

Our childbirth class was great and definitely worth the time. We learned some relaxation and massage techniques for labor. My favorites were effleurage (light, circular rubbing on the sides of the belly), rolling pin massage to my back while on all fours, and another back technique that involves sitting in a chair and having your labor partner push against your knees (which feels surprisingly good since it kind of settles your back). We also learned some breathing techniques, but I felt like I was hyperventilating when I tried those. Our teacher went through the stages of labor, when to call the doctor, when to come to the hospital, how to time contractions, medical interventions that could happen, and what to expect after. We got a tour of labor and delivery and of the mommy/baby suites. Also, we learned what the different protocols are concerning episiotomy (not standard), pain management (up to the patient), breastfeeding (strongly supported), plus some other stuff that I can't think of right now. The rooms are really nice and have whirlpool tubs. The mommy/baby room has a double bed so Jon will have the option of sleeping there if he wants. Now, we just need to talk them into letting Euclid come to stay also. I'm feeling up to the challenge now that I can visualize where I'll be when baby decides it's safe to come out. I haven't had any competitive labor dreams either. You'd have to sleep more deeply than I have been in order to dream.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. We're going to cook Cornish game hens and start decorating for Christmas. Jon has the day off so we'll get to spend time together. We're still planning to head west on Saturday. I'll probably be pretty sore after the car ride, but I want to see my family. We're bringing my hospital bag and we installed the car seat so if I have to have the baby there, then we're prepared for it. At least it would be easy for family to visit then. However, I'd probably want to make a mad dash back home because of the chance of needing a NICU at that point. I can just imagine the caravan of my family all heading east. That would be memorable. We'd have two minivans, two Avalons, and our Pacifica. I really don't think anything like that will happen. If I did, then I would stay here and not risk it.

We didn't take a 34 week picture, but we'll definitely take a picture this week. I'm sure I'm growing. It was funny how different all the pregnant women looked at the childbirth class. My long torso seems to hide a lot of baby. The only person that looked less far along than me was due in February. There was a woman there that's due a day before me, but her tummy stuck straight out in front. She was short and looked like she could tip over. I seem to be carrying my weight all over. In fact, my latest stretch marks are on my thighs. Yuck! They'll fade (I tell myself). I bought some wine at HyVee yesterday and got carded because the girl didn't notice I was pregnant until I joked about not even getting to drink any of it. I'm due in a little more than a month and I'm still not obviously pregnant to everyone and I'm apparently not obviously over 21 either. I guess neither of those things are bad. The checker was a little embarassed about carding a 28-year old pregnant woman though.

Competitive Breastfeeding

So anyone that knows me well knows that I'm a little competitive. I like to be the best at things and I'm a perfectionist (not in all aspects of life, but in some). After coming home from the breastfeeding class, my personality really shone through in my dreams. I had never ending dreams where I was in competition with the other women in the class - from latching to hearing the baby gulp down milk to losing the baby weight and putting weight on the baby. I was so jealous if someone was doing better than me. I hope I'm not like that in real life and it was just magnified in my dreams!

Other than the bad dreams, I'm very, very glad that we went to the breastfeeding class. I'm also glad that Jon went with because there were four other couples and I would have felt funny alone. He even admitted that he was happy that he went. It was a three hour class so I won't get into all of the details, but I did learn some great stuff. Our teacher is a lactation consultant at the hospital and she was wonderful - bright, funny, experienced, and realistic. I'll most likely get to see her when I stay in the hospital after baby girl arrives. That gives me some comfort. She also told us about the hospital's breastfeeding practices. They try to get a baby to breastfeed within the first hour after birth (everything I've read says this is very important). They don't supplement willy nilly and if they do need to supplement, they don't use fake nipples. Instead, they finger feed with a syringe so the baby is less likely to get confused. Basically, the hospital is VERY breastfeeding friendly and there are a lot of people there to help. I can even go in and see a consultant later on (free of charge) if I'm having problems. We practiced holding fake babies in good nursing positions and also got to see videos of good latching vs. bad latching. We went over the score card that the hospital uses to assess how nursing is going (hence the cause of my bad dreams - rubrics make me want to outperform). We looked at breast pumps and she told those of us that work for the hospital how we can get the pumps for free or basically free. I won't have to use mine that much since I'm not going back to work, but it will be nice to have some backup milk in case I want to go somewhere or Jon wants to feed his daughter. Oh, and I found out for sure that I can have a glass of wine or beer now and then while breastfeeding. White Zinfandel, yummy...

I hope Saturday's class is just as good. It's going to be long! Hopefully I'll get the same thing out of it that I did last night - Our hospital is great. They have a family-centered approach that will allow the baby to room-in with me. Hopefully that will really help with the transition home.

We didn't get around to taking a picture last night and Jon won't be coming home until late tonight so expect belly pictures for 34 weeks sometime tomorrow. I'm going to lay around and be lazy today. I did too much yesterday and my back really hurt. I want to be in top form for the class from 9am-5:30pm tomorrow.

34 Weeks

I had an OB appointment and everything was good. The doctor told me that if I go into labor from this point forward they won't stop it. Hopefully that won't happen for at least 3 more weeks because I don't want baby girl to have to stay in the NICU. Plus, I'll miss her kicking. Her heartrate was 140 today and we heard an acceleration in her heartrate when she started moving around. The doctor was pleased by that. I'll get tested for Group B Strep and get my first internal exam at my next appointment on November 29th (36 weeks). I accidentally let it slip that our trip to Dallas was for a concert when she asked about the trip. Oops. I think she was displeased that I had considered it "necessary", but we didn't go anyway and all was well (and would have been if we had gone).

The breastfeeding class is tonight from 6:30-9:30 so I'll be leaving shortly to meet Jon at the hospital. The poor guy has been there since yesterday morning and he'll also have to spend all day Saturday in a class with me too.

Here's an unofficial belly picture in case we don't get a picture done tonight.

A Break from Monotony

I substitute taught today for one of my old colleagues. I got to do some math proofs and use my brain a little bit. I also got to see all my favorite kids/young adults. I even got a few hugs and a lot of kids told me they missed me. I really enjoyed my day, despite having a junior high study hall for about 45 minutes. However, I have a feeling I'm going to be pretty sore. My legs are tired and my shoulders hurt from writing on the board. It really felt good to be active though. I have a feeling I won't stay away from teaching forever because it is fulfilling and I miss it. High school kids are fun.

What else? Baby girl seems to be getting bigger and stretching out because she's been hurting me occasionally when she gets near my ribs. Even my super long torso is starting to run out of room. The other night I dreamt that I gave birth to an alien baby that was trying to kill me. Yesterday I slid down the stairs on my rear end, but managed to not even get a bruise. I guess I'm getting even clumsier than usual.

Jon was home at about 5:30 tonight and we cooked and ate supper together. That's even better than getting to eat together. He made the bacon and eggs and I fried up the hash browns. He should be home early tomorrow night too so maybe we can have a date or something.

Here are the pictures from this week. I feel very different in size, but I don't know if it will show up in the pictures. No one is scared to ask me when I'm due anymore so I guess I'm very obviously pregnant now. Yay!

A Mule?

Funny story. We ended up going to the ISU game yesterday since the weather was so beautiful. Anyway, as you enter the game, they make sure you aren't smuggling in anything you shouldn't be (beer for the most part). I've never been stopped and I've never smuggled anything in. The same doesn't go for some of our friends, but that's another story. I had my coat zipped up and was pretty proud of myself for fitting into it. It's so tight that I can only zip it when I'm standing up. For the first time I was stopped at the gate. The girl at the gate asked me what I had in my coat as she stared at my straining zipper! My response was "a baby." She kind of laughed and said that she couldn't tell. She let me pass without frisking me, but that would have been funny - especially if she got kicked. I guess I looked like a shifty character yesterday.

Resolution

Well, Euclid's reservations have been cancelled, our concert tickets will be refunded, and our plane tickets are transferable (unfortunately not refundable) so all is not lost. We decided to not make the trip to Dallas since it was going to be such a short trip. Instead, we're planning to go to California some time in the spring to visit our best man James and see the sites at a more leisurely pace. Jon will take some vacation days so we can do more than a weekend. Plus, I won't be pregnant so I think I'll enjoy traveling a little more. Also, I've been to Dallas before, but never been to California. Baby girl will be 4 months by then so even if she's colicky, she should be over the worst of it and will be able to travel to see "uncle" James. This might end up being a more fun vacation in the end, despite traveling with a little one. I already have pictures in my mind of dipping baby girl's feet into the Pacific Ocean at the same time her mommy dips her feet into the Pacific for the first time.

I had a very vivid dream about the baby last night. I was calling her by name and breastfeeding her like a champ. I washed all of her clothes, towels, etc. so I'm feeling ready for her (kind of). My sister Claudia reminded me that both of her kids were born within a few weeks of the stage that I'm at now. That's kind of fun...especially now that I don't have a plane ride ahead of me!

We might go to the ISU game on Saturday since we won't be out of state. If I would have known, then I would have bought a Halloween costume for the Halloween party that's following. However, I doubt I'll feel too excited about staying in Ames after a day at the football game. I'll probably be pretty sore and tired and just want to go home.

Here are the pictures for the week:

I really look a lot better in green than red.

Say it Ain't So!

I just found out that the Smashing Pumpkins concert is postponed until November 18th because the drummer had some heart problems a few days ago. I'll be too pregnant at that point to make the trip. Plus, we have our one and only chance at the childbirth class on the 17th so we would have a hard time making it there anyway. I guess I'm not meant to ever see the Pumpkins live. The last time I had tickets (about 11 years ago), the concert was postponed because the drummer died from an overdose and I couldn't go because I didn't want to miss school. What was I thinking? Now, we need to attempt to sell our tickets on eBay, cancel the boarding for Euclid, and figure out what to do about the plane tickets. We're out a lot of money with nothing to show for it. This was kind of our last splurge. Oh, it sounds like Jon just got home so I'll post again later.

Uneventful 32 Week Appointment

It looks like the trip is on. My doctor says I'm in fine shape for the trip to Dallas as long as I get up and around when the seatbelt sign isn't on. My blood pressure was down to 120/69 (still higher than pre-pregnancy, but lower than my last couple of appointments). I gained 3 pounds since my last appointment and the baby's heartrate was around 150. Her heartbeat was right behind my belly button so it took some searching to find it and the doctor felt around and figured out that she's head down. Hopefully she'll stay that way! I got a flu shot also. My next appointment is in two weeks.

I'm so hungry for Papa John's pizza that I can't go on with my blogging...must order pizza and get it FAST!!! I'll post more later when I have a belly picture.

Name Woes

We've happily had a name picked out for over two months now and have been diligently keeping it a secret. Yesterday I was reading some birth stories online and I came across an interesting story. The birth wasn't all that out of the ordinary, but the name was...the same name that we've picked out. Now, that doesn't seem weird for people that have names picked out like Emma, Jacob, Ava, etc., but our name is VERY unique (I thought) and they're using the same middle name also. The name is spelled slightly differently, but it is such a weird coincidence. I happen to know this person from an online community and she had kept the name secret until after the birth also so it's definitely not a case of either of us "stealing" a name from the other. However, it's going to look like we're name stealers to people that "know" both of us since she had her baby first. It's a good thing no one in our real life has this name and we're unlikely to meet, but I'm still a little disappointed. I was so excited about our name choice and now I feel like a thief. I wish we would have told everyone what we were naming her so there was proof that we aren't just copy cats.

My next appointment is Thursday afternoon. Hopefully I will get the all clear for our trip to Dallas on Friday or we'll be out a lot of money and fun. I haven't been feeling any contractions or anything so we should be good to go. If I'm still feeling good at the end of the month, then we might even be able to travel for Thanksgiving. Jon is on call the day after Thanksgiving, but he has that Saturday and Sunday off. We'll see. I'm getting huge so travel might become too uncomfortable.

I'm trying to figure out whether or not to take the "Parenting a Newborn" class that is offered through the hospital. We're definitely doing the all day Saturday seminar on "Childbirth Preparation/Lamaze Techniques", but I don't know if I then want to spend the next afternoon at another class. Here's what's covered in the parenting class: normal newborn appearances, physical, social, and mental abilities, basic baby care, safety, choosing baby's health care provider, and general information regarding infant feeding methods. Some of that sounds like common sense so I don't know. Keep in mind that I'm a youngest child married to an only child so I'm not the most confident mom-to-be. I'm planning to take a breastfeeding class and join La Leche League so I don't need the info on feeding methods. I think we can pick out a doctor just fine. Jon is a pro at the safety stuff and I'm planning to take the Infant CPR class that's offered. I guess I just fear that I'll miss out on some tiny nugget of knowledge that could come in handy. I plan to watch "The Happiest Baby on the Block", have read most of "What to Expect the First Year", I'm partway through reading "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding", I'm a member of a very large online community of moms where I can go to for advice, and of course, I have my sisters, moms, and friends. With all of that support and education, everything will go perfectly smoothly, right? Okay, so I thought you could use a laugh with that one. :) Well, the class is free so it's just a matter of whether I think it will be worth my time or not. I feel like I'm preparing for war.

I really don't like Trista from The Bachelorette. I liked watching that show and cheered her on when I found out that her and Ryan had infertility problems, but now I find her annoying. If you want to know why, then check out the latest US Weekly. Basically, she wants to feel hot again after having her baby this past summer. She weighs 116 and won't feel good about how she looks until she's down to 106. She wears baggy clothes to cover up her ugly body. I suppose I could feel pity for her obviously low self esteem, but it's irritating. I'm up almost 30 pounds and I still have 8 weeks of pregnancy to go. When this is all said and done, I'm going to have a lot of work to do without a physical trainer or dietitian. Poor Trista.

Jon will be done with his general surgery rotation after tomorrow. Woohoo! We survived. It really hasn't been too bad in the last couple of weeks, but I'll be glad when things are back to normal. He'll enjoy working on oral surgery patients again.

Euclid's Rough Life

Here's The Buddy AKA Euclid AKA Mr. Irresistible. He was taking a nap while I was playing around on the computer. I just want to love him and squeeze him! It's hard to believe that I'll love our child more, but that's what people tell me. Our poor child. She's going to be bruised from all of the kissing and snuggling.


Last night I think I experienced the first case of baby hiccups. There was a rhythmic thumping about an inch to the left and below my belly button. Luckily Jon was home so he got to witness it. There seems to be some sort of party going on in my uterus today. Whenever I set something on my tummy, it gets moved. Pregnancy is wonderful some days. Did anyone watch My Name is Earl last night? I really hope I don't experience anything like that. Gross! Jon will be home in a few hours and then we'll get to spend some time together at home. It's so nice to have a weekend of not traveling!

31 Weeks

Here's the belly. All I can say about the front view is WOW - I didn't realize I was THAT lopsided.


Jon's been getting home earlier lately and it's been delightful. We've had supper together every night this week. It does a lot for my emotional well-being and it inspires me to cook. We had tater tot casserole tonight. Yummy!

Great News Today

The infertility financial services lady just called and gave me some great news. A few weeks ago we received a letter that informed us that we had used up almost all of our infertility benefits with the first two IVF cycles. We only had about $1500 left out of $25000 so obviously that wouldn't have paid for much of anything. Baby-making is expensive! I knew that couldn't be right because I still had health insurance coverage through my job and the "house staff" coverage was just supposed to be used as back-up. It concerned me because our plan has been to go for baby #2 at some point during Jon's residency and we'll most likely need fertility help again. Anyway, I called the lady and she refigured everything by hand, taking into account what the hospital had actually paid for versus my other insurance and we have an amazing amount of money left over. We've only used $3200 so that leaves a little under $22000. That should pay for a couple of frozen embyro transfers (remember that we have 8 frozen embryos for the future) and possibly even a fresh IVF cycle or two. YAY! Hopefully we won't even have to use much of the coverage, but it's comforting to know we have it. We're EXTREMELY fortunate to not have to worry about the financial aspects of infertility. I wish everyone had such great coverage, but Jon is definitely earning every benefit we get. If Jon would have matched to any other hospital, we'd most likely still be struggling to get pregnant. UIHC is the only hospital that he applied to that has this kind of health coverage for its residents and there is no way we'd be able to afford IVF at this point in our lives without assistance.

We're going out to eat with Jon's sister Claudia and her husband on Saturday. We haven't seen them for a long time. They're coming to our house so they can get a look at the nursery and everything. It's strange that we both have sisters named Claudia when it's not a common name. Anyway, Jon has the whole day off on Saturday so he should be able to get some of his "honey do" projects done. He's getting a life insurance health screening at 7am so that will be fun for him. Maybe I should feed him fish for the rest of the week to improve his HDL. Too bad I can't stand the smell right now.

I'll add a belly picture tomorrow. I don't feel any different or bigger this week. However, baby girl wakes me up at night when she changes position. Hopefully she'll change to head down and stay there soon. She's probably mad because I'm always laying on my back or belly no matter how hard I try. I barricade myself in with pillows and lay on my left side when I go to sleep, but I still end up in no-no positions. I never realized how much of a back sleeper I was until I couldn't anymore. I limp around from my nerve getting pinched when I wake up on my back. That's not good. I'm assuming baby girl is surviving just fine despite the circulation issues.

We're Back!

We had a great time at the wedding. Wisconsin is beautiful at this time of year with the trees changing color. I survived the 6 hour drive pretty well and didn't kill any of the three guys in our room so all was good.

30 Weeks

Jon had the day off yesterday and it was one of the best days I've had in a long time. Sure, I've had fun showers and football games, but I got Jon completely to myself for a whole day. We didn't do a whole lot. If only I got to see my favorite person more often. We get to spend the weekend together (plus others) since we're going to a wedding in Wisconsin. I'm not looking forward to the 5+ hour drive with three guys, but I'll have a pool waiting for me so I can stretch my muscles. We'll take some pictures at the wedding so you can see my cute dress.

Here are the belly shots for 30 weeks. I've been extremely lopsided lately. I don't know if you can tell that from the pictures. My body seems to be slowly falling apart. I ache all over and I'm very tired. I'm enjoying all of baby girl's movements though. She can make ocean waves at times. Last week she was pretty still so it's been much more fun this week since she's been moving so much. It sure makes me worry less.

Nice and Clean

I'm back from Fort Dodge and my final baby shower (or baby wash as Macy calls it). It was a fun, relaxed shower. I was so pleased that one of my friends from Kansas City made the trip. I hadn't seen her for about 4 years. The hostesses did a great job. Also, my registry is looking pretty well accounted for. I can't believe how generous people have been with us. It will definitely help out, especially with me not working right now.
Here I am with Lynelle. The shower was at Lynelle's house. She's also responsible for the beautiful diaper cake pictured. Lynelle's house is kind of party central. My shower was the third shower I've been to since August held in her home. She has it down to a science.
Here I am with my sisters. Claudia is on the left and Emily is on my right. Sorry Emily, about the closed eye picture. I'll replace it with another if someone sends me one where you look like your normal self. :) I was so glad that my sisters were there to celebrate with me. Plus, Emily came up with some really fun shower games that I hadn't done before. She had a name meaning test that was based on the names of the shower invitees and she also had us make predictions of what the baby will look like based on Jon and my baby pictures.
Here's my mother-in-law Cathy creating her dream grandchild with the collage game. Some of them were really frightening. Claudia gave our future daughter a beard! Jon had a good laugh when I showed him the pictures last night. I'll have to save them...although I hope no one is right since the pictures were disturbing.

29 Weeks

We took these pictures last night since I'll be out of town tonight through Sunday. Here's my belly at 28 weeks, 6 days. I promise it looks the same today.

Jon got home early last night (7:30) so we were able to work on the patio. We filled in as much sand as we're going to until spring and moved all of the furniture into place. That involved tying the furniture and lowering it from the balcony. It was kind of fun. I'll be excited to see what the patio looks like next summer once we have flowers planted and grass growing in the muddy spots. So far it looks great.

I'm not looking forward to my appointment this afternoon. I'll get to hear baby girl's heartbeat and meet my new doctor, but I'm not too excited about the sugar drink or the length of the appointment. I hope I pass the test! I don't think I'll find out for a while whether or not I passed.

Veto

Jon vetoed my little plan to visit Waves. He is absolutely convinced that our baby is a girl since there were three ultrasound techs in the room at the big ultrasound and they all said the same thing. I just didn't see the three lines that mean girl. Now, to remove tags or not to remove tags from the clothes. I know there are some other pregnant women in Iowa that read this. If your husband isn't a big meanie, here's the website for Waves if you'd like a 3D/4D ultrasound: www.waves3d.com . Jon isn't truly a meanie because he has a point that the money could be better spent on diapers, wipes, food, etc. I'm just paranoid. He pointed out that I'm always paranoid about something and I guess I have to agree. There's always something on my mind.

I have my gestational diabetes test on Thursday afternoon and then I'm heading to FD to spend some more time with the family while I can still travel. I want to see how my niece is doing with her foot and I'll help nurse her on Friday. We have an ISU football game to go to on Saturday and then my last shower is on Sunday. I will be plenty busy in the next few days. Thank goodness my cold seems to be improving!

Yesterday I did some nursery organization and I had a very fun time putting away the baby bathing supplies. There is a special drawer for hooded towels, baby washclothes, rubber duckies, etc. That might seem not so interesting, but what is really neat is that the drawer used to be FULL of IVF meds and needles. Now I feel like things are the way they're supposed to be. I almost cried I was so happy. It's hard to believe how lucky we are and that baby girl will be here within the next few months.

Saturday's Shower

Saturday's shower was a great success. The food was wonderful, the setting was ideal, the family was fun and generous, the presents were overwhelming, and I truly enjoyed myself. I'm so lucky to have such a great family - both my family and the family I've gotten through Jonathan. Some of my highlights were Laureeta's cookies, having people write notes on diapers, and receiving a silver musical carousel from Grandma-to-be Cathy. After the shower I put together our vibrating bouncer chair and I really wish I had one my size. Today I'm getting the baby monitor set up and organizing presents along with writing thank you notes.

I'm feeling a little paranoid about Thunder being a baby girl since we've received so many wonderful baby girl gifts. Maybe I should go to Waves in Hiawatha. I might be able to talk Jon into it since we could have some family come to enjoy it with us and we could confirm boy or girl. They have a session that is about $140 and we have received some money so.... I'll ask my doctor what she thinks on Thursday. If only I could talk the hospital into doing another one since it would be free. I'm not going to lie and say something bad is happening just to get another peek though.

Here are a couple of pictures from the shower:
The beautiful woman on the left is my mom. She's sitting next to Janice and Mary. I thought the table decorations were cute. Notice the cookies!

Here I am holding the prettiest little dress I've ever seen. See why I want to know if she's a she? It has satiny bloomers that came with it.
Here I am with the carousel. I'm wearing a dress from my sister Emily. You can see Grandma R. in the background.