Random Updates at 29 weeks, 6 days

I think for the most part, I'm not too clumsy of a person. When I eat, I rarely drop food on myself and rarely get stains on my clothes. What a difference pregnancy makes! Maybe it's the big target of a belly or the fact that you can't sit as close to the table, but I am constantly dropping food on myself now! I think God has a sense of humor, and as my boss put it, it's just preparation for what's to come - years of the baby spitting up on you and staining your clothes. I guess it's good to get used to it now. LOL! There are a lot worse things in the world.

As many of you know, I don't slow down very well - I'm pretty much an "always on the go" person and I don't sit still. I got hit last week with a typical cold, but it just about knocked me out. I had to actually take a sick day, which I haven't done in forever. I'm doing fine now, but my energy is just about depleted now. I knew that would come in time, but it's hard to not always be running around. I took it very easy over the weekend and the end of last week, so I'm doing better. Just having to deal with the remnant coughing and sneezing now. I'll survive!

This weekend we did manage to make it out to BRU and order our furniture. We ended up ordering the same crib set that we picked out in the first place. It should be here within a week or two, so pretty soon Pea's room will actually have something in it - I'm so excited! We ordered a chair and ottoman too, but changed the fabric from pink to green gingham, so it could take up to 10-12 weeks to get it. I was hoping it wouldn't take so long, but ultimately it just won't matter if there's no chair in her room for awhile. As long as she's here, who cares about everything else!

I did finally take some room pictures and I was going to post them here, but I shrunk them first at home and now the color looks really strange and blotchy. So I'll have to work on that later.

My most-of-the-time-insensitive friend just told me over the weekend that she is pregnant with her second. She is 9 1/2 weeks along. I am happy for her, but at the same time jealous. I know she was targeting for another one in September or October - she is due August 30th. So she obviously had no trouble getting pregnant. It just still makes me jealous, even though I'm where I am now. I also have a lot of unresolved issues with her from when I got married (long, long story) and so now it frustrates me that she is pregnant while I am. I won't get into it any more than that because I'll sound really selfish.

That's it for now. Just some random thoughts and updates.

A New Respect

On Sunday, I actually managed to paint Pea's room. Going into it, I thought it would be pretty easy. John wanted to hire someone to do it, but when the original guy never returned our call, I decided that I wanted to do it myself. John was busy over the weekend, and since it was my project, he left it all to me.

I started taping the room on Friday night, then continued a bit on Saturday morning before I went out of town, and then finished on Sunday morning. I probably spent about 2 hours taping. There's a vanity area attached to Pea's room that is pretty open, so that had to be painted as well, and provided many extra nooks and crannies that I didn't think about.

So finally around 11:00 or so on Sunday morning, I got started with the painting. I did the hard wall first (the one with the windows) and am glad I did or else I never would have finished. I painted most of the day and only took a few breaks for snacks and such, and did not finish everything until about 7:00. Then spent another 45 minutes cleaning up and helping John put back on the plates for the plugs.

Three days later, I am still sore. On Monday I felt like I ran a marathon the day before. I haven't really worked out or exercised much since being pregnant, so that was one extreme workout! I will never again think that a painter's job is easy - they have my respect. Although I'm sure it is much easier for a professional than me!

All in all, I'm very happy with the way the room turned out, and there's a sense of pride in having done it myself. I hoped to be able to post pictures of the room, but those that know me on here know that I am notoriously bad about showing pictures. I actually took some though, so I will try to post them later.

The color we ended up with turned out a bit pinkier than we had originally thought, but it's not too overwhelming or "pepto" colored. It still has a bit of a lavendar tone to it, but I think most people would call it pink. John was a little shocked by it at first, but I know he's happy with it too.

So this weekend we'll order furniture and start trying to fill up the empty space. Progress!

Is it Weird I Liked the Glucose Test Drink?

Today was another doctor's appointment. I went in the morning since I had to also do the glucose test and my doctor didn't want me to eat before it. So I went in at about 9 and chugged down the drink. I actually liked it just fine - tasted just like Orange soda to me - and I like just about anything Orange flavored anyway. Yum!

So while I waited my hour before the bloodwork, I went ahead and had my appointment. Amazingly, I didn't gain any weight from my last appointment. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am usually weighed in the afternoon and this was morning. But my doctor was a bit surprised by it due to my previous weight gains and even asked me if I was still eating ok (I am for sure!). I did gain 3 centimeters in my belly though, so Pea is growing just fine. No worries there. I think my belly grew those 3 centimeters this week alone. I swear my belly on Tuesday was much larger than it was on Monday.

It was pretty cute when the nurse was trying to listen to the heartbeat on the doppler. As usual, Pea wanted nothing to do with it and tried to move out of the way. The nurse held down the other side of my belly with her free hand so Pea couldn't escape, and in retaliation Pea gave her a swift kick, which the nurse felt and laughed about. It was really funny to me - I guess Pea is stubborn!

Next week I guess I'll hear if I failed the glucose test. I'm not too worried - I don't think I should. He also checked my iron again to see if he wants to bump me up to iron every day instead of every other day. It's not bothering me to take it and I just got a 90 day refill from the mail, so whatever.

So I'm happy to report that all is good in the land of baby!

Maybe I lied...

I said yesterday that I didn't have much to write about and then I proceeded to just ramble on and claim that I didn't know what I was feeling. But I realized that I do know a lot of feelings I am having and I just wanted to express them - I'm all about "capturing the moment"!

I'm excited about having a baby in my life. No questions there - I can't wait.

I'm frustrated with people always telling me how much my life will change - I realize this, although I obviously don't know the extent of the changes.

I'm sad that John can't experience more of this with me. I wish he could be in town and I wish he could feel all the little kicks and squirms that I do.

I'm jealous when I read or hear of people getting pregnant with no problems - even now. Even though I completely appreciate my situation and wouldn't change it for the world.

I'm scared that Pea will turn out to be a boy. I would be perfectly happy with a boy, just as much as a girl, but at this point, Pea is a "she" and I would feel a loss if I found out otherwise.

I'm confused at how to decide how long to stay at home with the baby. How do I make a decision on how long is enough time? How do I know?

I'm frustrated with my mom. My mom asks me every day how the baby is. It's not like the baby changes emotions or attitudes or personalities every day. She is the same! I'm glad she's taking a huge interest, but I just think that's a dumb question.

I'm frustrated with my in-laws. They never mention the baby because they are too superstitious. I know they will love the baby when she is here, but it would be nice to hear that they are excited or something! It is their first grandchild.

I'm scared to death of labor. No explanation needed here.

I'm tired of people at work making jokes that I won't come back after the baby. Career will never be as important to me as Pea, but it is something I totally intend on coming back to and something I want to continue to pursue.

I'm frustrated that I have to do almost all of the baby preparations. I enjoy doing it all, but I wish John would sometimes play a bigger part. I know this just isn't as real for him yet.

I'm scared the baby will come early and that we won't have everything ready.

I'm scared that even though I'm 28 weeks along that there will still be a problem and I will lose my baby. I guess that fear never goes away.

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Well, the list could go on and on. But I just had to get more of that off my chest. I feel better now. I know this is all completely normal.

What Am I Feeling Anyway?

This is probably going to be a strange post. Probably because I don't really have much to say, but I feel like I should be saying something throughout this journey. How is it possible that I'm just not feeling anything right now?

Let's see what's going on first: Pea is kicking pretty consistently. She kicks the most in the mornings while I'm sitting at work and in the evening when I'm watching TV. Some days I feel her about a dozen different times, some days I may only feel her once or twice. Those days I worry a little bit, but then she gives me a nice swift kick and I'm ok again. She never wakes me up in the middle of the night or anything like that - but I'm sure that will come soon (or at least when she is born!).

I've continued to play her music each night for about 5-10 minutes. I have a Mozart CD and I just rotate it. She ends up hearing the entire CD in a week. Some nights she kicks and some nights she doesn't seem to want to be bothered by it.

The nursery hasn't made too much progress. We did test out paint samples and decide on a color and we are now waiting to see if we can get the guy to come in who painted our bedroom. If not, I'll just paint it myself. The room isn't that big and I've painted before. We ended up going with one of the light purple colors. It looks the best on the wall. The yellows just were not working at all!

I made it through a weekend without making any purchases for Pea except for two Dr. Seuss books at Target because they were 2 for $10. I loved Dr. Seuss and I want her to have a collection of his books too. We'll save those for when she's a little older though!

Ok, so that's it. Not too much to report. So now onto the feelings:

Has this really hit me yet at 28 weeks? I'm not sure. Some days yes, some days no.

Am I excited about her coming? Definitely!

Am I ready to no longer be pregnant? No - I've had a relatively easy pregnancy journey with very little to complain about. I want her to be here, but I'm not dying of misery or anything. Getting a little more uncomfortable, but not too much. Noticing that I walk a little slower and need a little more support to get out of the bathtub.

Am I totally distracted every day by baby stuff? Absolutely.

Can I even begin to imagine how different my life will be in 3 months? I don't think so. All I know is that it will be better than I could ever guess (so everyone tells me and so I truly believe).

Am I scared? Mostly just about labor and giving birth. I'd personally rather skip that part.

Am I ready for it all to start right now? Nope - I don't think so. There's a lot to prepare and I just feel like there's still so much to know. So many "do"s and "don't"s. I'm sure I will never feel totally prepared, but maybe if I had a crib and a car seat or something I'd feel a little better.

As I predicted, this post is very random. I guess I'm just trying to document my confusion and my unknown emotions since I'm pasting all of my blogs into my journal to read back on later. I just thought at 28 weeks I'd have so much more to say. I guess it's not a bad thing that I don't - just unexpected.

But no news is good news. And so far we are just fine.

Still so much to do!

I guess there's a reason that women are pregnant for nine months - it's because there is so much to do to plan for the little one's arrival! It reminds me of planning a wedding. I have lists of tasks to complete and checklists of things to do. The only problem is that you don't have a really firm deadline!

I got some more things accomplished over the past week. One of the most important things to me - getting Pea registered for day care. There are not many day care choices downtown where I work, so I really wanted to make sure she got into the one I wanted. Luckily I called and did my visit early enough and there is no waiting for a July/August timeframe, so she's in. I put down a deposit on riday and even got her little backpack from them - so cute! I feel good about getting that done. It's important to make sure I feel comfortable and happy about where she will be.

Over the weekend I registered. Definitely not as important, but fun nonetheless! I was a little worried because I somehow managed to agree to let one of my friend's come along who wanted to give me lots of advice - this is the friend who I have blogged about before who has not been very supportive until I got pregnant. She kept warning me before we went that I couldn't get mad at her if I took her advice and didn't like it. Like I would do that! Anyway, it turned out to go better than expected. She was VERY helpful (she has a 16 month old) and most everything she recommended fell in line with my research. I was glad to have her there in the end, even though I was worried about it.

Besides registering, I was able to pick up a lot of the little things I will need - burp clothes, wash clothes, nursing pads, bottles, etc. Things to check off my "to buy" list. It's still got quite a bit on it, but I made a nice dent.

Last week I registered us for our birthing/parenting class. I wasn't for sure if we should go, but decided to in the end. My doctor has mentioned it several times, so I thought it would be a good idea. I couldn't get an all-day Saturday class at my hospital though, so we will be going to a different branch for the class. But before that, we are signed up for a tour of the hospital I will be delivering at. So we'll be ok in the end. John talked to several friends who went through the class and he didn't really know it was optional - and I never volunteered that it was. Since he thought it was the norm, I didn't even have to persuade him!

On Saturday night, John and I finally went to browse paint samples. We compared them to the bedding and narrowed it down. John totally threw me off on this though. I knew he didn't want pink or green, so I had assumed yellow. But when we got to Home Depot, he wanted to look at light purples. Purple? Where did that come from? He didn't want pink because it's too girly, but purple is just as much so. I love light purple, but I wasn't sure it would work with the bedding. So we took some color squares, but of course none of them look good with the bedding. Except one that is really light and almost pink. So today I ordered some samples online so we can test them out (John won't buy until we test the color - it took us about 3 weeks to decide on a color for our bedroom). I ordered light pinks and yellows. So I have no idea what we'll end up going with in the end. Hopefully we will get them this weekend.

Anyway, I feel like we are continuing to make progress. I think just about every day I walk into the closet of the empty nursery and browse at the growing assortment of baby stuff. I can't help myself. :) It's getting so exciting! 27 weeks today - 13 to go!

26.5 Weeks - Belly Shot

Ok, you've all been asking for another one, and here it is. Taken at 26 1/2 weeks.

The Doctor is Back In

I had my 26 week appointment today, and things went much better than last time. Maybe my doctor was just having a terrible day last time and indirectly took it out on me. Needless to say, I feel much more comfortable today than I did three weeks ago.

First off, I did gain 2 pounds. However, my doctor actually said that I did a great job managing my weight and that I did better than all his other patients over the holidays. Well that's finally some good news in the weight department! That definitely set a better tone for the rest of the appointment and made me feel much better.

I asked about the iron and why he chose to start me on iron last appointment and not sometime before. I felt comfortable with his answer - he had some concerns about the Thalassemia and wanted to think about that, plus he thought that earlier in the pregnancy my stomach might be more sensitive. He wanted to wait until I was farther along so my stomach could handle the extra iron. Ok, not a bad answer. I'm ok with that.

I told him I wanted to stay on the extra folic acid, and he was fine with that. He admitted that it could not hurt.

I asked a few other things, and all was fine. Pea was measuring right on again (according to my stomach size) and her heartbeat was 148 bpm. She must have moved in the last couple of days, because instead of distinct kicks, I'm now getting twitches that I can tell are from her and a little farther inside. She must have burrowed in a little or something!

Next appointment I do the glucose tolerance test and I am now officially going to see the doctor every 2 weeks. Wow! This is starting to move along.

I feel much better than I did last time. I'll have to see how the whole birth experience goes before I make a decision on whether or not I stay with him long term, but I feel more confident now about staying with him throughout the pregnancy.

99 Days

Holy cow - I made it from triple digits to double digits! Considering my ticker started at 251 days (4w1d), this is a huge accomplishment in my mind! It's so exciting to finally be able to say that the baby will be here "this year". And in just about 3 months or so! I still don't think it's gone very fast as a whole though. It seems like forever ago that I found out I was pregnant - 5 months tomorrow, to be exact.

So I'm feeling better about where I am as far as getting things done. I did meet my goal and I have the nursery completely cleared out now. Not a thing left in it. Only the closet has stuff in it, and it's all baby related. Several times this weekend I just sat on the floor of the empty room and smiled, thinking about how the baby will live here. I mentally planned where I would put everything and tried to picture my little girl. It was such a pleasant feeling.

I got John out again to look at furniture. We still didn't find anything we liked better than the set we found at BRU. And yesterday we went back to BRU to look at it again. We're still not 100% sure, so we didn't order it. But we did ask questions and find out how long it takes to come in and such - that won't be an issue. We still have time. I also showed him the chair I liked and he liked it too, so we will probably get it. I wasn't sure how he'd feel about pink gingham, but he's ok with it and thought it was really comfortable.

While at BRU, I bought the bedding. I had picked out this pattern a long time ago for a girl, and it's still my favorite. So I bought it.



The green comes out darker than it really is in this picture - it's really more of a mint green. I think we are probably going to paint the room in a light yellow (there are a few yellow accents in the bedding). I think it will look ok, even though the bedding is mostly pink and green. I just don't want a pink room and we already have a green room, so I want something different. Next weekend we are going to look at paint samples.

I'm happy to see things in progress because last week I was starting to get nervous. I still haven't registred, but I did spend a LOT of time on Amazon last week reading product reviews and making decisions about what I want to register for. So I'll be going in with a very good list to start with.