Introducing....

Max :)

So after my last post, I'm now officially a mama :)


I'll get around to writing the whole birth story one of these days soon hopefully, but for now, this will have to do. The ECV was successful on the first try and I still got to have a natural, unmedicated childbirth. Considering he was breech, the whole process went as well as we could have hoped for. We are very very thankful and blessed with our little guy!!

I guess I'm ready

Yesterday I had my 39 week appointment. Remember last week when I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced? Well, I'm still 3 cm dilated and now 75% effaced, butttttttttttt baby is breech :(

I was really surprised by this. I don't know if at my 38 week appointment if he was head down or not; the doctor didn't say one way or the other. I'm thankful that the doctor that saw me yesterday was the doctor that has been in on all of our centering classes, so we know him and he knows us and we've talked a lot. He knows we were planning on a natural birth. But now that the baby is breech (I'm not sure what kind of breech, actually, if it's a Frank breech, complete breech or what...I was too surprised to ask what kind of breech it is).

So we started talking about our next options. If my water breaks and he's still in the breech position, I'd have to have an emergency c-section. That is very very very low on my 'ideal pregnancy wish list.' I can choose to have an ECV to have the doctor try to manually move him into the right birthing position, but that has risks too. They try three times to change his positioning, monitoring him after each try to see if he's in any type of distress. If he is, it's c-section time. If he's not, and they're successful in changing his position, I will have to be induced right away so he doesn't have the opportunity to move into a non-birth friendly position. Thankfully I have enough amniotic fluid in me that he's movable. This is the route we're going and I'm realllllly hoping and praying he moves into the right position. If he does, I will just have to get pitocin to be induced, and there's still a possibility that I can proceed with my natural birth plan.

I'm supposed to go to the hospital this afternoon to get bloodwork done and do a c-section prep in case the ECV doesn't work tomorrow. I don't have an appointment for the ECV tomorrow; I just have to call very very early in the morning to see if there are other emergencies going on (if there are, I'd wait at home instead of hanging around the hospital), or if I can get in right away to try for the ECV. Unless there's a miracle and he turns himself on his own sometime today, then I'll be having him tomorrow. My doctor will be the one performing the ECV and/or c-section.

I know the ultimate goal is for a healthy baby, healthy birth and healthy mom, no matter which way he makes his appearance.

I think that I'll always wonder what if....what if I didn't do the ECV, would he flip on his own? What if I don't do the ECV and don't have an elective c-section, would my water break and I'd have to have an emergency c-section? What if I do the ECV and chose not to get induced (although I'm not sure they even allow that), would he stay in the correct position and I'd let my water break when it was ready? There are so many possible what if's and it's hard to say what is the best route.

If you're the praying type, please say prayers for a healthy delivery, no matter which way it happens.

On Labor

The weird thing about being a first time mom going into labor is that you’re unsure. At least I am. Even though I’ve read up on all the signs online, we’ve talked about them in our centering classes, I’ve read about them in the books, my mom has lectured me, doctors have quizzed me…for me, it’s still: is THIS it?

Yesterday I had my 38 week (and 2 day) appointment. Seth and I were taking bets on if I was dilated at all; we both bet I wasn’t. Well well well, what do we know! I’m 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Seriously?!?! I was SHOCKED to hear that. We both were. Prior to getting my cervix checked, the doctor had asked if I wanted my membranes swept…I said heck no, because I’ve been told it’s painful and it’s not a guarantee that it’ll get labor started. Once the doctor said I was 3 cm/50% effaced, she asked again if I wanted them swept. Heck no again! I’m not ready to have him! I am, but I’m not. Now I’m having a mini panic attack. (Plus, I have a long list of things I need to accomplish this weekend!) I feel so unprepared for labor. I feel like I don’t know enough of what to expect. I’m sure part of it is that it’s the first time I’ve ever done this so I’m anxious for the unknown. Right now, as I type this, baby is moving around like crazy and it feels like he’s trying to bust loose, straight out of my belly button. I went pee less than an hour ago and there was a pink tinge to it and it was more mucousy (I’m sincerely sorry for the TMI!!!). What’s that a sign of? Yep, labor. Even though it may still be a few days away, I’m wondering if this is stage one. I’m not having any more contractions than I normally have…at least I don’t think I am. Right now, my brain is cloudy on all the stuff we’ve learned and read about and I’m just unsure.

Seth is ready for him now. Last night we were talking about me being 3 cm/50% effaced already and he said he was ready to meet his son now. I asked him if he was nervous and he said no, he is ready. I'm most nervous about the birth. Ok, and I'm nervous about bringing him home and how the dogs are going to react. 

So I’m continuing to work…and blog…because I’m not quite ready (mentally, emotionally, physically…) to push a baby out. Jimney Crickets.

Pre-natal massage

I redeemed my pre-natal massage and facial last Saturday. Oh it was heavenly! The massage was great and felt sooo good. I woke up with both of my hips hurting that morning so it was perfect timing. I was on my stomach and she had a special pregnancy pad for with a hole for my belly. It was very relaxing. I’d never had a facial before and was a little apprehensive about it. I actually dozed off and on for the facial and was sad when it was over. The only thing I didn’t like during the facial was that I was supposed to lay on my back for the duration of it (90 minutes) and obviously that wasn’t possible. I kept having to turn over but I did enjoy laying there on my back for a few minutes. I cannot wait to sleep on my back again.

The nursery is done! Now we just have to do a little decorating. Pictures to come very very soon!

I have a question for you other soon to be moms out there: I’m sure you’ve heard the controversy on the whole bumper issue or not in a crib. Are you using a bumper in your crib? Just curious who is and who isn’t. I registered for one then learned of the controversy and the day I went to remove it from the registry, it had already been purchased! The family gave me a gift receipt for it and I feel bad for returning it, but I am. I’m going to take pictures of the crib with it and send it to the family and then return it. (Is that wrong?!) Plus, I actually like how the crib looks more without the bumper, and a lot of the animal cuteness on the bumper are hidden because we have a few solid crib slats in the middle of the front, so it hides a good portion of it.

I’m going to clean out my car and vacuum the dog hair out of it this weekend and then we’re installing the car seat. The baby’s bag is packed and I’ve made a list of things I want to take for myself, but a lot of what I need to take will be last minute items that can’t be packed ahead of time. I’ve started washing the cloth diapers (you have to wash them multiple times to get them to be full absorbency) so I’ve been doing a load a day.


We have friends coming next week to visit for a few days. We're going to the zoo and just hanging out. We haven't seen them since last April in Germany when the guys got back from Afghanistan. And it's our god-daughter, so we're very excited to see her. Hopefully I don't ruin things and go into labor while they're here!


Last night, I had a dream that I had the baby. Except it wasn't a newborn: it was a 5 year old, fully clothed (jeans and a striped t-shirt), talking, adopted Russian boy! He spoke English and while I birthed him, he was also adopted from Russia. It makes no sense. I think I'm anxious for my 38 week appointment this afternoon to see if I'm dilated at all. I have a fear that I'll go in there, they'll say I'm 5 cm dilated and they'll ask if I'm ready to have the baby today. I've seen it happen on TV and in the movies, so that means it can really happen!

Here’s a picture of me at 38 weeks and 1 day. One day soon, I'll post non-self bathroom pictures. I'm lame. 

(Also, I would like to proudly say, not that it's even noticeable, but the pants I'm wearing here are pre-pregnancy work pants! They are even buttoned in the picture! I don't know how they buttoned, but they did. They weren't that comfortable while I was sitting, but I wasn't wearing them for long).

Birth plans

I worked on writing my birth plan this weekend. I was following a guideline that the hospital provided to us with check boxes of what we want and don't want to consider adding to our birth plan. 


In the "episiotomy" section, Seth asked something (I can't remember what exactly) but the next thing I know, I'm google imaging "episiotomy."


Please, learn from my experience: do not, under any circumstances...pregnant, not pregnant or trying to conceive...whatever, DO NOT google image an episiotomy. Just don't. Take my word. 


Consider this your warning!

Aches and pains of pregnancy

Off and on for the past two weeks or so, I've woken up with a really annoying pain in my hips. It's kind of like a shooting pain and it hurts with each step I take. My lower back has been hurting a lot too. Last week I was putting a warm bean bag on it throughout the day, but that didn't help it. Then I decided to try ice one morning when it was reallllly hurting. I think that helped it, because the next day or two, it didn't hurt nearly as much. As I type this, I've got an ice bag on my hip. I hope it helps today.


But really, I can't complain. I've made it this far (35 weeks today!!) with very little aches, pains, and nausea and a relatively easy, uncomplicated pregnancy. I've only gotten three stretch marks (that are bright red, one is right above my belly button and the other two are on each side of that one, almost symmetrical), and I don't have the dark line down the middle of my stomach like a lot of women get. I've only gained 5-7 lbs, depending on the scale I use and the time of day I weigh myself.


On the bright side, for Christmas, Seth got me a "blissful experience" spa package to a day spa in Seattle. I'm going to redeem the facial portion (90 minutes!!!) of it this weekend and the 90 minute prenatal massage in two weekends. They didn't have any massage openings this weekend, so I have to wait a little bit. I already can't wait. That will be about 2.5 weeks before my due date, so it will be much appreciated at that time. While we're in Seattle this weekend, we're going to a cloth diapering store and deciding what we need to buy for that.


I've been painting my own toenails this pregnancy...and I think that came to an end yesterday. I usually give myself manicures and pedicures during my "work day" since I work from home but yesterday it was prettty difficult. Thankfully Seth wasn't home so he couldn't see how ridiculous I look.


I spent last Sunday sorting, organizing and inventorying all the clothing items we have and what we still need. We only need basics, and it really isn't that much. I'm definitely in the nesting phase though. We have the boarder/trim to finish in the nursery and then we'll be done. I bought the laundry detergent to wash all his little clothes, but I forgot dryer sheets, so I haven't started that yet. Oh I can't wait to start folding his little baby clothes!!!!

Good news!

I just had a phone conference with my boss and got some good news! He has me budgeted in to be working 20 hours per week starting July 1st (after I take maternity leave). Last we talked on the phone in February, June 30th was my last day, so I've been slowly and sadly counting down how many paydays I have left. Seth and I both have a habit of stressing big time about money, but we both know deep down we could do without my income, it'd just be an adjustment. Worrying about finances has kept me up late a few nights recently and has woken me up in the middle of the night and kept me up then too. Preparing for a baby is EXPENSIVE WORK. Holy crap. Let's not talk about how much money I spent this weekend. 


Speaking of this weekend, we got a lot accomplished baby wise:

• Finished painting. Just need to finish the chair railing in the middle, which will hopefully be done this weekend.
• Bought a bunch of big items for baby: car seat, stroller, pack-n-play, baby bedding and the crib and dresser. We ordered the crib and dresser last weekend and paid half at that time, so we paid for the other half and Seth put them together this weekend! It actually looks like a nursery in there now! Pictures to come soon, as soon as the chair railing stuff is done in the middle :)
• We also got a few smaller yet still important things such as the changing table mattress, changing table sheet, a hanging toy for the car seat and some clothes. I feel like I'm missing some things, but I can't think of what right now.

Thankful for productive weekends! Oh, I'm 34 weeks today. Holy crap, where does the time go?!?! He's also been having the hiccups quite a bit lately! I've felt the feeling before and wondered what the heck it was. Last week, I finally realized it was the hiccups! I haven't found a food or drink that seems to give him the hiccups yet, but he sure is very very active when I eat guacamole. Which is good, because I love me some guacamole. 

It was also the first Memorial day that Seth and I got to spend together and I'm thankful for that, too. We've been together for 4 years, and this was the first in the 4 years that he's been in America for this holiday. Iraq, Germany, Afghanistan, Germany and now finally Washington. 

Baby stuff

We painted more of the baby's room yesterday and I love how it turned out! No pictures this time because it's not done, but once we get it finished, I'll definitely post them! It's a really light blue on top, with a darker turquoise blue on the bottom. We're going to put a crisp white railing around the room which will tie in very nicely with the white crib. We ordered the crib and dresser last Saturday and I can't wait till it arrives at the store for us to pick up and put together! 

Ironically, Seth loved this crib and dresser set from the first time we went to Babies R Us to look at things but I didn't want white furniture. It seems kinda girly to me and I wanted an espresso colored crib. After a long time researching cribs, we settled on one and went to order it in the store. We had decided then that the "french vanilla" color of the crib would match best with the bedding. However, when we got there, we were told that the dresser no longer was made in the "french vanilla" color. I don't like mismatching furniture - it would drive me crazy to have a dark dresser and a vanilla colored crib in the same room. So back to the drawing board. (Mind you, this was after a long day of volunteering for Armed Forces day - I was exhausted and was excited to finally order the crib, only to be very disappointed that it wasn't possible). We wandered around for a little while and looked at our choices, looked up reviews online and then finally settled on this one. 

This is the bedding we got to go with it. Oh I can't wait to set it up!

In other important baby news, he's been moving around quite a bit. Last night we were watching TV and he was moving around so much you could see my stomach moving all over the place while I was sitting still. It's a pretty bizarre feeling. Last night, I was laying on my right side (I know, I know, you're supposed to lay on your left side...I toss and turn all night long) and I kept getting sharp pains in my uterus. If I rolled over, he would calm down and I wouldn't get the sharp pains. I read in one of my books that he's getting so big and the amniotic fluid is diminishing so I'll start having more painful kicks and punches (because the fluid isn't there to cushion the blow, so to speak). I woke up this morning with really sore hips. My buttocks hurt pretty bad too, like I had done 20390 too many squats. I had this same feeling frequently during the first and second trimesters and it was just him going through growth spurts. I get up to go pee 3-4 times during the night and when I sit up, there is an intense pressure on my bladder and I feel like I'm going to pee the bed right then and there. Luckily, I haven't done that, but it feels like I can. Sometimes right around my belly button (which is going to pop any day now, I think...) it gets reallllly hard and it's a little tiny foot or heel or knee or something right now. I can't make out body parts yet, but hopefully soon we'll be able to! I pushed back on it a few times and then it moved away. 


I'd like to go on record right now saying that I plan on going into this delivery (in 7ish weeks, holy crap) intending to do it natural. I want to give it my best shot without pain meds. We aren't taking birthing classes (they're not covered under TriCare and they don't offer any classes of any sort at the hospital). I bought a few books and DVDs on Amazon and we're going to start watching and reading those in the evenings. My mom said all the women in our family have had really fast births, and haven't even had time for an epidural. Here's to hoping I can keep with that tradition! 


We're going to be cloth diapering (I really need to order those...gah, so much to buy!!!) and I will be breastfeeding. I'm getting more and more excited each day to meet this little guy and I know Seth is too. 


Now, I must go tend to a pathetic dog (Woody) who got neutered today and is still pretty high on drugs. Poor Patrick, he so badly wants to play with his big brother, but he can't. Patrick has been in his cage for a few hours now and has been crying the whole time. I let him out and held him to Woody's face so they could  kiss each other (like they always do) but I know if I let Patrick run free, he'll be on Woody's back, biting his neck, wanting to wrestle. And poor Woody is in no mood (or shape) for that yet. 


I wonder if we have another boy if they'll be like the dogs and just wrestle all day. 

31.5 weeks, Updates and Pictures

It’s been a crazy busy few weeks.

Let's see...

I went home to Michigan for a few days and saw friends and family for the surprise baby shower Seth had planned!  Two families that I used to babysit for when I was a teenager were invited, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to make it to the shower. I still saw one family though and we hung out till almost 1 AM! It was awesome. We all cried when we said bye. I hate seeing their little broken hearts when I leave. It kills me. Each of the girls (13 and 8) picked out a gift for our new baby that would remind us of them whenever we used it. The older girl has had a little blue elephant since the day she was born that has a blanket attached to it (it looks more like a cape with an elephant head. That might sound weird and creepy, but it’s actually a really cute toy). Anyway, she has taken that thing with her everywhere since she was born and still sleeps with it now, even as a teenager. After not being able to find a replica for our baby, she settled on a little blue elephant teether toy! If our baby doesn’t automatically like it, I’m going to force it upon him until he loves it! I’m kidding. Sort of.  The younger girl LOVES soccer and picked out an orange soccer outfit. Seth also loves soccer so this was a perfect gift. Also, I learned while I was in MI that when Seth was younger, he would only wear orange colored clothes, so it was even more appropriate :) We got a lot of gift cards and I only had to mail back a few boxes of stuff. I went shopping and got the baby a lot of Detroit Tigers baseball clothes per Seth’s request. He’ll be decked out for the end of the season and hopefully the Tigers make it to the play offs this year!!!

I think the baby liked the plane rides; he was very active on the flights! He’s only 7 months old (in my uterus) and he’s already been on a plane to Michigan twice! He’s a little traveler already! Seth splurged on the seats with extended leg room, and they just so happened to be right in front of the bathroom, which was an added bonus. They were really good flights (minus the first flight where I was seated next to an off duty flight attendant who was on stand by. He was a jerk…I was texting Seth as we started pushing back from the terminal that we were getting ready to take off and the guy asked me if I knew I was committing a federal crime by continuing to text after they said phones needed to be turned off. I told him yes, and he shook his head no at me, and then continued to read my text over my shoulder. Then I silently cried because I was mad at him. Ironically the on duty flight attendant who was seated directly across from me didn’t seem to care at all and didn’t ask me to turn off my phone).

We started painting the nursery last weekend. We’re going with two colors – a dark bluish/turquoise color on the bottom and a light blue almost gray color on the top. The colors match the bedding and it’s going to be sooo cute once we get it done. We’re going to put chair railing in the middle to separate the colors (that's why it's all uneven right now). Hopefully we can finish up the painting this weekend. We just settled on which crib we’re getting, so we’ll be getting that this week or next weekend. I’m excited to get furniture in there and start washing his little clothes and making it look like a REAL nursery!

Since I have yet to post a picture of myself, here you go. This picture is from last week when I was 31 weeks and 2 days. I can’t believe in about 9ish weeks, he’ll be here. It’s CRAZY to think about.  

These two are crazy together. Patrick stands underneath Woody and pretends he's one of those little Russian stacking dolls, and Woody tries to move every which way to get him. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We're working on training Woody right now; he's developed some not so great habits that need to stop immediately. They love each other though.

Seth planted gardens in our backyard the other weekend and they're doing really well! The dogs were getting into them and digging stuff up so we had to get the little fences to keep them out. We have a bunch of stuff: lettuce (a few varieties), spinach, carrots, red onions, celery, garlic, brussel sprouts, lots of different tomatoes, bell peppers, a few types of squash, carrots and jalapeno peppers (I think that's all of them!) We also have two blueberry plants and one thornless blackberry bush. They're in planters behind the gardens. We also have tons of blackberry bushes coming up along the bottom of our fence. Hopefully they produce lots of fruit this year and we'll be able to can some.
     

(ever since he was a puppy, he's loved "working" in the garden. and by "working," I mean "digging")

And because I'm obsessed with Mt. Rainier and take pictures of it ALL the time, here's a pretty picture from today. Ahhh, I love it so much. The last several weekends we've had great weather. I LOVE it. It makes me look forward to the summer, big time. I can't wait- it's definitely going to be the best summer yet  :)

Husband of the Year

Can I just say I have the best husband and if I knew where to nominate him as husband of the year, I would?! He is always so full of surprises. I like to think I usually know when he’s got something planned, but I was pretty damn clueless this time. However, looking back, there were a few signs between him and my parents and I didn’t really think too much into them. Silly me!

So it’s no surprise that I really haven’t made any friends here (yet). He kept asking me if I was going to have a baby shower here and I kept telling him I really don’t have friends to have a baby shower with.

Back in February (FEBRUARY!!!!!), he emailed one of my best friends from home, Molli, and asked if she would want to help plan/coordinate a surprise baby shower and he would buy me a ticket. Being the super good friend that she is, she agreed to take on this task! (She started a new job in the fall and has been insanely busy with that AND she’s planning her own wedding for July, so I know she’s super busy). I don’t know if it was her or Seth that got my two other favorite coworkers/friends involved in the planning of this, but the same girls that threw me the wedding shower last year are now throwing me a baby shower!! I am soooo excited and literally cry…like right now…when I think of all of them planning this for me. I get to go home to see all of my favorite people in about 2 weeks to have a baby shower.

My parents and brother came up last week from CA and my sister came up from Oregon and spent a few days at our house. We had a bbq with some family friends and my cousin on Saturday and little did I know, it was also a little baby shower then too! They both brought gifts, which I wasn’t expecting. We got a baby bouncy seat (that Patrick just loves!!!!) and a baby swing (which Patrick sooo doesn’t love!!), some clothes, socks and other little toys!

On Saturday night, we all drove down to Oregon for Easter. I was adamant on having an Easter egg hunt with my siblings and our significant others – we colored eggs and stuffed plastic ones with candy. My dad and Seth hid the eggs and off we went to hunt for them. After they were mostly found, Seth was patrolling the yard to see if we missed any and he gave me a plastic one. I figured it had the wrappers of the Cadberry Crème Eggs that I bought specially for him, and didn’t open it right away because I thought it was trash. He told me to open it and I saw it was a piece of folded up white paper and then I figured it was the hotel receipt from the night before. I unfolded it and it was a plane ticket itinerary to go home to Michigan. I was very confused because it was for two weeks away and I didn’t know why I was going…I was seriously clueless. Then he told me that he had been planning a baby shower with Molli and Sarah’s help and he bought me the plane ticket to go home! Damn pregnancy hormones, I’m literally bawling right now! I’m so so so excited that I get to go home and see all these people AND it just so happens to also be a baby shower for me (us). After the Easter egg hunt, we went inside and there was another mini-baby shower with more gifts from my parents, brother and sister, aunt and gramma. And we had delicious cake that I may have had a few bites too many of. 

It was a very good Easter and nothing at all of what I expecting. I'm a very, very lucky girl. :)

It's a.....

We found out the gender of our baby the other day! It’s a…

BOY!!!

We have pretty much settled on a name and have been calling him by his new name all weekend. I’ve also started feeling him move around and he’s been using my bladder as a trampoline. It’s awesome, yet totally weird, feeling him move inside of me. It’s surreal really. It feels like popcorn popping inside my belly. He’s pretty active throughout the day. (He’s actually moving right now – maybe he can sense me talking about him?!) The movements aren’t strong enough to wake me up at night though. We were bowling on Saturday night (one of Seth’s favorite activities) and the baby was moving around. Seth was excited that the baby seemed to like the noise of the bowling alley. 

Which leads me to....

Sunday morning I woke up with a bladder infection. Ever had one of those?? They SUCK soooo bad. I really didn’t want to go to the ER…last time I went, it was a 6 hour wait. It was terrible and people in the waiting room were annoying. Sunday evening, it was getting worse each time I went pee and it became pretty painful. And I had to go every 5 seconds, but literally it would be a teaspoon of pee. I called the ER room and asked if there were a ton of people and about how long a wait would be (apparently, I thought it was like calling ahead for a reservation at a restaurant) and was disappointed that she couldn’t give me an answer and all she could say was “it’s been steady.” I figured a bladder infection would be low on the list of priority things in an ER room. Eventually, I sucked it up and went to the ER, where I was pleasantly surprised when I checked in that I would need to go to the Labor and Delivery ER room because I’m 20 weeks pregnant and if there’s any pain in the ab or girly part areas, I have to go to that ER room. After getting lost in a creepy, quiet, dimly lit hospital on a Sunday evening, I found a janitor who pointed me in the right direction to where I was supposed to go. There wasn’t a wait whatsoever and I was in a room immediately! Hallelujah! I was feeling the baby move so I really wasn’t concerned that he was in danger, but I was in pain and that’s the only reason I went, instead of waiting to go to my regular DR on Monday morning. I got some meds, got lost in the hospital again on my way out and then was home at about 8:45 pm. I was only there for about 3 hours and I’m so thankful that it wasn’t all night long like the last time. Seth was home though, so I was bored as hell in the hospital by myself. We were in the middle of making a bunch of cookies for some of his friends that are deployed and I was making mac and cheese for dinner, using a recipe I was sooo excited for! He said he would finish the baking and cook dinner while I went to the ER.

i parked here. because i could! and because i knew it'd be dark and late by the time i left 

I saw this recipe on pinterest on Saturday morning and we decided to make them on Sunday. They didn’t turn out nearly as pretty as they are in the pinterest pic but they are very good. Very rich too. Ours turned out ugly. 

proof ours were ugly!

We put a little dab of brownie mix on the bottom of the cupcake pan, but clearly the original picture indicates just put the Oreo on the bottom. We also overfilled them so they overflowed from the cupcake pan and were really difficult to get out. Oh well, they tasted good and Seth’s coworkers are enjoying them for a while.