October 31st – 38w5d

Celebrating my first day of vacation maternity leave today! Whohoo! I think the timing is perfect, even if Brooklyn decides to come a little late. Just this week I started to feel that whole “can’t wait to have this baby out of me” thing that everyone talks about. Of course that is all physical; mentally, I’m ok with her staying in another week or two. Or not. Whatever floats her boat.

Some notes:

• When I’m on my feet for any extended amount of time, I start to feel a lot of uncomfortable pelvic pressure.
• I woke up last Thursday morning with a distinct waddle going on; I’ve officially lost my normal walk.
• It’s pretty awesome to feel kicks and jabs all the way down in my hips, and up in ribs at the same time. She’s getting so big!
• I’m starting to notice her head down in my pelvis when I move around. It’s an odd feeling.
• It’s as if my minimally existent ab muscles from pre-pregnancy are now 100% non-existent. I can hardly lift my legs up and down.

I had my first vaginal check last Friday morning at the doctor. There isn’t much to report on about that other than – OWIE! Didn’t know they had to dig around so hard in there to feel the cervix. And for so long. Sheesh. Good news is that her head is totally down and “right there”, and my cervix is very soft. No dilation to speak of. And no contractions.

The only thing I HAVE to do still is get the hospital bag stuff organized and at least partially ready to go. Other than that, there are just lots of odds and ends that I’d like to take care of before baby comes.

Now, I just have to get through this evening.  As much as I'd like to leave the house, or pretend I'm not home, I think I just have to suck it up and pass out candy.  Ian is at work and the thought of dealing with the dog freaking out, and getting up and down a million times to get the door, sounds less than exciting. 

October 21st – 37w2d

I ended up taking the day off since, well, frankly I don't have much going on there lately and I had other fun things I could do instead!

I had another pretty typical visit to the doctor, but she was able to confirm that Brooklyn's head is down.... and it's way down. Which I think explains the minor cramps I'd been feeling a few days ago. I totally feel her new position. The doctor traced her from her head, along her back, to her butt and then her feet. I love knowing now exactly how she's sitting in me!

I went ahead and declined a cervical check and we agreed to do it next week, for sure. I just really didn't see the point. Does it matter if I'm 1 cm dilated? Eh.... no. And if I'm 5, well, I'll figure it out here pretty soon, right?

So then later this afternoon I got the most amazing massage. Ian surprised me with the appointment... Apparently he spent a whole day of work researching where to go in SD for a good prenatal massage. Very thoughtful. So I ended up at a place called Equilibrio in Bankers Hill. They specialize in prenatal and postpartum massage therapy and the prices are pretty good, too! 75 minutes for $90 -- Now, if only I could recreate the pillow concoctions at home I'd be in heaven.

From there I went to get my hair done (finally). I know it seems silly but I'd pretty much made this appointment so that I could be "safe" before the baby came, but still wait as long as possible because I know it will be a little while now before I can go back. This was 10 whole torturous weeks with a gazillion gray hairs showing everywhere. I'm happy it's gone... and Miss B can come whenever she'd like. Particularly now that I picked up some baby wipes and burp clothes. How the heck had I forgotten those items?!?!

October 14th – 36w2d

It’s sure been a busy last couple weeks in pregnancy land! I can’t believe we’re only a few weeks away from meeting our baby girl.

As you saw, the nursery is done, we’re done with our classes, I have a pediatrician that we will use (but likely won’t meet with in advance), I’ve learned about how baby insurance coverage works, sent in our hospital pre-admission form, and have made a hospital bag packing list. Still to do – pack the bag as much as I can and actually call the ped office and make sure they take our insurance, take new patients, etc. I think that’s it! We’re totally ready.

Totally ready in every way except mentally. Haha. If she decided to come today, I’d definitely be taken off guard… I really think I need the next two weeks to completely wrap my head around it all. I’d also like to finish a few more things at work, finish my thank you cards, get my hair and toes done, have the furniture and carpets shampooed, get our cars totally cleaned out, and relax. THEN I’ll be 100% ready.

Physically, things are getting to be much more challenging. Sleep is rough since my hips get super sore and I feel like I swap sides every 30 minutes. And turning over is NOT as easy as it used to be. I’ve learned if I quit drinking a ton of water by 8pm, I can still make it through the night with only one restroom trip, so that’s nice.

In the last week or so, Brooklyn has gotten more cramped and I don’t feel her jostle around quite as much. She stretches and wiggles around enough to keep my peace of mind, but it’s a totally different feeling. I’m already missing the huge hard jabs and watching my belly go nuts. Most movements these days are felt way up high, or very low.

I had a good Doctor’s appointment this morning.. Actually, the best one yet being that I was in and out in 10 minutes and even had an extra test! Yes, thankfully the butt swab was not nearly what I had made it up to be in my head. Heartbeat sounded great. Uterus measuring right on track. Weight “fine”. And even though she didn’t appear to do an official check, when I asked about B’s position, she said it did feel like her head was down.

Oh! I meant to touch on our two classes. I’ll go ahead and make this super long and bore you with that information now ;)

We opted for the one-day Childbirth Preparation Class. THANK GOODNESS. I can’t even imagine 2 days of that, or even 6 evenings… Both of us would have never made it through. To be perfectly honest, it was pretty much a total waste of time. Anyone who has read ANYTHING about labor would have already known about what to expect – the signs, the stages, etc. Maybe if your husband was totally clueless, I could see it being helpful to expose him to this stuff, but Ian had already learned about it.

So then we briefly went in to some breathing techniques and laboring positions. 1 – If you are planning a natural labor, you’d probably want more than this. 2 – If you are not planning a natural labor, you probably don’t care much about this. 3 – If you’re undecided, or unsure which way you are going to go, you could google and read about this and be just as well off. BUT, I’ll admit having Ian give me hand and back massages the whole time was nice.

I was most excited for the hospital tour and that fell pretty short of my expectations as well. I’d seen a recovery suite before, and we didn’t get to see a delivery room because none were clean. But what can you do? At the end of the day, we wouldn’t have known what we already knew unless we went to the class, right? And I’m happy with the few tid-bits I did pick up and can feel sure I did what I needed to do to prepare for the birth of my girl.

Last night I drug Ian along to the breastfeeding class. I could understand why his expectations were pretty low at this point… Turns out this was a thousand times better and we really did learn a lot! The instructor was fun, the couples were fun, and who knew that 3 hours could so easily be filled with information regarding breastfeeding? I’d highly recommend this class to everyone. So yay, happy ending!

Guest Bathroom - DONE!

Man, it feels awesome to have all these projects done.  Especially this bathroom, as it was really the only shabby space left in our house.  Now it's be-u-ti-full like the rest and I just love it!  

Ok, so maybe it wasn't really my project since all I did was pick stuff out, buy it, and watch as my dad worked his magic.  THANKS DAD!!!!!

Here was the bathroom before, as it was when we bought the house.  We thought we could probably make do with it for a while longer, but at the end of the day, it wouldn't have been super conducive to having and bathing a baby.... slippery tile, tub shower doors, etc. 

And here was the demo shot I posted a while back.  It was totally gutted.

And TA-DA!  This is what we have now!

We selected this shower head because it seems handy for spraying down poopy/dirty kiddos

We hadn't realized how shallow this vanity actually was until we got it in.  And now, it's perfect!  Doesn't take up too much space, and there will be plenty of room for a step stool.

We also went ahead and got porcelain toilet seats for both bathrooms and they are awesome!  Both have a soft close feature so they don't go slamming down when you're finished.  Bonus -- the one in this guest bath has a removable toddler seat insert for a teensy butt.  We are so happy with how everything turned out.

Baby Bedroom - DONE!

I'm relieved to say that we are officially done with our girls bedroom.  There is still one bare wall that will one day be home to some bookshelves but for now, we are all set with everything we could need and more.

Remember what the spare room was being used for a few months ago?  Junk storage...

And TA-DA, here is what we have now! 



Crochet blankie I made

Closet FULL

FLOR tiles.  Love how they turned out!  Furbabies like it too....

I go in this room almost daily just to hang out, look at the itty bitty clothes and think about how much life is going to change so very soon.  <3

October 3rd – 34w5d

I went ahead and made some decisions on nursery décor. I figure if I just went with cheap, I won’t feel bad if I have to re-arrange or change it up later on down the road.

First up is 2 custom prints. I think they’re cute even though Ian says “it’s stupid to frame the alphabet”. Huh? Since when does he care? So if he had his way, I’d only be using the one on the right… but do you honestly think he’s going to get his way? =P

Then I got a bunch of 3D paper butterflies that just stick to the wall. As long as they actually stick, they should prove to be a good space filler on the crib wall and not pose a threat to the sleeping baby in the event of a quake or something.

We’ll still have one blank wall that will be home to some bookshelves at some point, but I think these things will complete the main part of the room. They should arrive in the next couple of days and then I can finally post some pics! Our bathroom should also be finished any day. Whohoo!!

Now, on to the subject of fat fingers. I wore my engagement ring and wedding band for the last time on Sunday. Well, last time until post baby at some point. Ian was just in Vegas and said he almost got me a $200 giant cubic zirconium ring that he saw but I told him I was glad he didn’t. I was definitely thinking of spending closer to $5 for my temporary ring.

I found a set of 5 bands for $9.75 at Claire’s and was just going to use the plain one. Ian carefully chose this one instead and I think he’s totally right… it looks much more expensive. LOL.

I wish I’d taken a photo of my ring finger when I tugged the nice rings off – it was seriously indented and all red, with dry skin flaking off. Really awesome. So far today, the redness is gone and skin less dry. I wonder how many days my finger dents will remain?