Fat cheeks, braxtons & lamaze!

Well we had our last & final ultrasound on Friday so the next time we get to see our little beeb will be live and in person!! His little face is so pudgy & adorable, he has the fattest little cheeks & lips. I can't wait to kiss them! At the ultrasound they said according to his measurements, he weighs about 5.2 lbs. They're guess-timating that he'll be about 9 lbs, I'm hoping not too much bigger though! Things look good with my fibroid tumors, they're all out of the way and shouldn't cause any complications, no need for a C-section. YAY! We're still doing Lamaze & have about 3 weeks left. We learned a couple breathing techniques last week & Tom got to give me a massage while we practiced breathing - AWESOME! It made me so tired though...I mean hello?! Eyes closed, massage & deep breathing...ni'nite! I had to give Tom a hand & arm massage and man I suck. Thank God Tom's not the one that will be going into labor, I'd be worthless.

About a week or so ago I started having Braxton Hicks (we call them Toni Braxton's though). I wasn't sure what I was feeling at first, if it was the baby doing something uncomfortable or what. I didn't have them when I was preggers with Jake so I had nothing to compare it to. After Lamaze & our teacher explaining exactly what they feel like I realized that's what had been happening - my uterus tightening at the top and gradually spreading down. Tom got to feel my stomach while I was having one, it gets rock hard! They're kind of uncomfortable, not necessarily painful but just uncomfortable crampiness. I guess it's all just good practice for the real thing to come!           

 

Tom's gone in NY this week, boohoo. Tomorrow's his birthday so make sure to send him some extra love! Jake's Middle School registration is this week - totally exciting! My boy is growing up - awwwwwww!  And I only have 18 more days until I'm on maternity leave HOLLAAAA!!

 

Dr appt on Wednesday, more updates to come!

 

Love.

Donations!

I'm almost done sorting thru everything that I pulled out of the baby's room - VICTORY! I have thrown away more garbage, sifted thru & organized more stuff than I thought possible. We are now on our 2nd donation pickup!  The first donation pick up was mostly clothes & some knick knacks but upon yesterday's cleaning I discovered that we owned a plethora of hair dryers, alarm clocks & make up bags! Its amazing the stuff you accumulate over time. We have another donation pick up coming tomorrow...here's our pile of give aways! I can't believe this was all shoved in one room! One man's garbage is another man's treasure though so I'm sure someone will love my make up bags and our old vacuum! Adios garbage~

8 months

I just realized 2 things. First, I'm 8 months pregnant! I'm so thrown off by counting everything in weeks that it didn't even dawn on me that 32 weeks = 8 months, duh!!! Second thing I just realized is that the baby is due in 53 days. The chances of him being born on our actual due date are pretty slim but it totally tripped me out when I realized how close we are. Less than two months away! Tom said he can't believe that a baby is actually going to come out of me for reals! HAHA!

 

Right now the baby is about 17 inches and almost 4lbs. He'll be gaining 1/3 to 1/2 of its weight in the next 7 weeks - eeek, I'm going to be enormous! We started Lamaze last week too & it was awesome. We both got a lot out of it and really enjoyed it. Its fun being in a class with a bunch of other expecting parents and sharing our experiences with each other. We're really looking forward to our next class. Right now we're supposed to be working on a relaxation exercise twice a day for ten minutes each time. The exercise is designed to help you relax regardless of where you're at or what's happening. We've been very bad students though & have not been practicing at all! Now I'll have to set a reminder in my phone to remind me every day. The teacher also talked about due dates and letting go of any specific day. We're now supposed to consider it our "due month" and have an open mind for anything that can happen! Exciting!

 

Fun Facts:

* I've gained 22 lbs total now

* Sleeping the night thru is completely non-existent

* The baby is CONSTANTLY moving - he's a fiesty lil guy!

* I've figured out that if I sit on my stairs its easier to put my shoes on

* We're still not prepared - tons of work to do in the baby's room!

* Everything's been taken care of with my work & my maternity leave date is March 25th - 26 days to go! HOLLA!

* I love chocolate & sweets and hate brocolli & gum still, weird

* Possibly our last ultrasound this Friday - can't wait to see my little poppy!

 

Love~

oH MY ACHING bACK!

Oy, its been hurting pretty bad & becoming a constant now. Its always worse at the end of the day, sleeping has definitely lost its appeal b/c rolling over and/or moving hurts it, getting up in the morning makes me feel like Granny Eileen down the street and bending over is just a big forget about it. I've always had back problems & kind of had a hunch that this pregnancy I'd feel some extra fun effects from it. Yoga & stretching definitely help though so I try to do that a few times a week. Its those moments when I sneeze or move wrong and WHAM I wanna drop to my knees that I hate. Tom's the best though & rubs it for me when we go to bed and tells me almost every night what a great job I'm doing carrying our baby! awwwwww - he's the bestest ever!

Other than the back, things are moving right along & going great. I'm becoming more & more confused with how far I am...30 weeks? 31? 32? (Losing my mind?) I don't know...geesh, the days are just kind of running into each other now. Baby boy is riding up high, lots of pressure up top now. Somedays I can literally feel my stomach stretching its pretty bizarre. He's super active too - I mean this kid is constantly at it....moving, kicking, punching, shifting, turning. Tom & I watch my stomach almost every night now & watch him move around. It reminds me of a waterbed when you jump on it and see the ripples - that's what my stomach looks like! Except its much harder than a waterbed and you don't jump on it.

Stuff that's been happening

*Tom's been working his butt off. I'm so impressed with his dedication to his job & think he's the best supervisor ever! (and yes, I'm totally biased but whatever!)

*Jake is moving up to an Orange belt in Karate - wahooo! Go Jake!

* My work is fighting me on my maternity leave - not so fun, lots of prayers.

*I've gained a total of 19 lbs now - gulp!

*I'm not getting enough calcium & have to force myself to drink milk if I'm not getting it from my foods....I'm not in love with drinking milk

*Elvy got his first cold! (Kennel Cough - even though he was vaccinated!) Awwww poor puppy - but he's on the mend now!

Stuff coming up

*I get new tires next week! Total big deal b/c I'm driving around on really shotty tires - super dangerous, not good!

*Dr appt on Wednesday, I go every 2 weeks now

*Ultrasound on the 4th, hopefully Jake can make it this time. Last time he was sick, bummer. Can't wait to see beeb again!

*And then....Tom's gone for a week in NY. That will be a sad week to blog...be prepared.

Love!

Just a start...

The baby's room has officially been EMPTIED! I'll have to post a picture of what our downstairs looks like right now because everything that was in the beeb's room is now in our downstairs front room & it's a freakin' DISASTER!!! Poor Elvis can barely get to the front window to look out because of all the boxes & crap strewn everywhere, what a mess. But its progress and even in the midst of the chaos there's some sort of reason to it all - reason that yes, only I can understand but oh well, it kind of became my project. While I emptied the baby's room, Tom worked on re-organizing the garage, we're trying to utilize our space as best as we can right now to make room for everything. So now with the room all cleared out we can finally paint and start decorating - the fun part! YAY! Our visions & plans for the room haven't changed since we've found out we're having a boy...in fact nothing really has. I'll leave it a surprise though what we're doing until we've finished it & we post some pics of our little poppy's lullaby land.

 

IT'S A ........ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We weren't going to find out the sex but there was a little slip at our last ultrasound appointment. Watch & find out, we're having a...........???!!!!!

Grooossss...Germs!

Oh boy do I feel like I'm dying. I've been sick for the last 5 days and I've been miserable. Finally saw the doctor today and it turns out that I have bronchitis and sinusitis. What is sinusitis you ask? Just fancy schmancy talk for inflammed sinuses and oodles of congestion, gross and not fun.
Pregnant + sick = YUCK.
I've also discovered that being pregnant & sick when your bathroom is all the way upstairs sucks! The last thing I feel like doing is running upstairs every 1/2 hour to pee when my body hurts all over, totally exhausting. I've also discovered that I hate daytime TV with the exception of Dr. Oz who has awesome health topics on his show. My doctor prescribed an antibiotic...not super excited to have to take it but my Ob doctor assured me that its perfectly safe to take and that if I don't take it I'm putting myself & the baby at risk of infection. Sooooo with that said - bottoms up antibiotic!

On a positive/exciting note - we signed up for our Lamaze classes! FUN FUN FUN! I can't wait. This will be totally new for Tom AND for me. I never took any Lamaze classes when I was prego with Jake so I'm excited for this new experience. Classes are 6 weeks long & start at the end of February - can't wait!

Love.