Hi!

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged here! Life has just been so crazy that I have slacked off in the blogging area. We have so much going on now. Andrew is now NINE months old - can you believe it?!?! I know I can't. He is totally on the move too. He crawls anywhere he can and if he meets an obstacle he either climbs it or pushes it out of the way. We are in big trouble, lol! He is also pulling up on the furniture so I'm sure that "cruising" will come soon. I expect he's around 20 lbs, but we'll find all that out at his 9 month appointment soon.

Most days I don't have the energy after he goes to bed to do anything as interesting as posting to the blog, haha. Between work, cleaning up, cooking dinner and taking care of Andrew, I'm exhausted! But in a good way :-)

So what else is Andrew up to these days? Well, he has at least 6 teeth (I say at least because it is dangerous to get too close to his mouth to find out, lol!), 2 on the bottom and 4 on top. He LOVES food. He makes hilarious faces with real food like pieces of green beans. He eats anything with bananas in it. He does love fruit, and most veggies are okay. He like chicken, turkey and ham, but is NOT a fan of beef. His favorite dinners are chicken & apples and mac n cheese. He still takes 3-4 bottles each day. We started transitioning to formula at 6 months and were totally switched by 7 months. He loves taking a bath. He would sit there and splash all day long if I'd let him! He also likes to watch Curious George and Cat in the Hat. Mostly he only pays attention to the TV if music is on. He is totally a momma's boy :-) He is finally getting some hair, but it is so blonde it's hard to see, tehehe. He has the bluest of blue eyes which I completely love. Actually, I completely love everything about him! He is the light of my life :-D

I think I covered a lot with a little post....Oh! And he says mama, dada, bubba, yaya and nana!

Be back soon.....maybe ;-)

Sunday Adventures

What a day this has been!

 

Andrew woke up this morning with a crusty eye :-( I immediately knew it was pink eye because his cousin just came down with pink eye a day or two ago. So, I went ahead and fed him and put him back to bed because I knew we couldn’t do anything about it at 5:00 am.

When we got up again around 9, I decided that I would see about calling his doctor’s office because I knew I had seen somewhere that they had Sunday hours for sick appointments. However, when I called, the recording said that they don’t do the Sunday hours in the summer. Seriously?! Okay, fine….

So, we decided to hit up CVS Minute Clinic. I looked up which one was closest to our house, and off we went. When we arrived, I went to sign us in. On the 2nd screen of the check-in, it said that Minute Clinic doesn’t treat children under 18 months old. Um…seriously?!?! Ugh! Couldn’t they have had that on the website when I looked up locations? Okay, fine…..

I called the doctor’s office back, hoping to talk to the on-call nurse. I pressed the option for that, and got through to the answering service. She asked me a bunch of questions that seemed crazy, and said the nurse would call me back within the hour. This is why I didn’t call them first, because I didn’t want to just sit around and wait for a call back, I wanted this taken care of. So we waited….

The nurse FINALLY called back about 40 minutes later. To summarize the long conversation: 1) They won’t call in a prescription for babies under 3 months old (he’s 2 1/2) 2) She thinks it’s a clogged tear duct, not pink eye, no matter what I say (I guess she thinks I’m dumb or crazy one) 3) He needs to be seen in the next 24 hours 4) Their office won’t be open again until Tuesday 5) Urgent Care won’t be open tomorrow so I need to go today unless I want to wait in the ER tomorrow. So, needless to say, I was pretty irked that the entire phone call and waiting was a waste of our time. So off to Urgent Care we went…

The check-in lady was not very nice. And when she saw his age she had to go to the back to see if they could even see a baby that young. REALLY?!?! Can no one see my child on a Sunday?!?! For freaking PINK EYE?!?!? It’s not like this is a huge medical emergency that needs specialized knowledge! It’s just pink eye! If it didn’t need antibiotics I would have just treated it at home! Ugh!

So, she came back out front and said they could see him (Thank-freaking-goodness), she just had to check with the doctor to make sure he was comfortable seeing him because a lot of Urgent Care doctors don’t like to see babies under 6 months old. Whatever. So, we waited another 30 minutes to even be seen. (The wait time online said 13 minutes…not so much)

Once we got taken back, the nurse was really nice. She weighed him…13 lbs, 4.5 oz! Holy Cow! We have a chunka-monka on our hands!! :-P We went into the room, and she did all the normal stuff like checking temp and heartbeat and such. Oh, and she said they were going to be open tomorrow, so the on-call nurse was wrong. Another reason to think that calling her was a waste of time. So then we waited for the doctor.

The doctor was super nice too. He didn’t once question my judgment, which was nice. He looked at Andrew, checked his ears and nose and throat and lungs and all, and then looked at his eye. He pretty much said, yep, it’s pink eye, let me see what I can give him. So he gave us a prescription to take to the pharmacy. THANK YOU! All of that effort, time, and frustration, and it took a nice doctor about 5 minutes to get us what we needed. If it hadn’t been pink eye, that would have been fine, but I just needed someone to get us some help without having to wait until Tuesday. And thanks to the nice doctor at Urgent Care in Matthews, we got what Andrew needed.

Yay for heading back home! We stopped by CVS and dropped off his prescription to be filled. We got some lunch/dinner (it was 4:00 by now, not really lunch or dinner but we were hungry!), and took that sweet baby home. We fed him and I went back to pick up his medicine. He did so good with it too! It’s an eyedrop, so I was afraid he would try and wipe it out or something but he didn’t even fuss! He’s so good :-)

I thought that once all that drama was over, it would be a good rest of the day…..boy I was wrong!

Andrew was playing on his playmat, and he was staring at/listening to this star that makes music and lights up that he just loves. We velcro it around the playmat arm-thingy’s. Apparently we didn’t velcro it good enough, because it fell off and hit him in the face. :-( It really isn’t big or hard enough to hurt him, but I guess it scared him because he cried and cried like somebody was trying to kill him! Poor thing!!! It broke my heart! It was the first time he had cried like that, and it made me want to cry!! He was inconsolable for probably 10 minutes. Then he wanted his momma to hold him for the next 2 hours. And of course he got what he wanted! I felt so terrible!!

He finally got calmed down, ate again, got his pj’s on, and now he’s fast asleep in bed. I have never been so glad for a day to be done. It has been dramatic and emotional, and I am ready to have a better day tomorrow! Yay – no work!

 

I hope everyone has a great week and a wonderful Memorial Day!!

Sleep like...a baby?

Hello!! I have been a neglectful blogger lately! Sorry :-)

I heard something on the news this morning that I just have to rant about. I've heard it other places too, and it gets under my skin when I hear it!

It's the phrase "Sleep like a baby".

Really? Have you ever had a baby in your house? The weather lady was talking about how a storm had come through the night before and she was saying that some people woke up with it and others "slept like a baby" right through it.

Last time I checked, babies don't sleep that great! (At least not mine) They sleep maybe 3 hours at a time and even if it's a little longer than that, it's definitely not all night. They have to wake up and eat. Or they just make noise and squirm.

Andrew is 10 weeks old today, and I have yet to get a full night's sleep. Don't get me wrong, I expected to be sleep deprived and I'm not complaining about that. It just irritates me to hear that phrase knowing how crazy a baby's sleep schedule is. So far, he was on a 10pm-4am schedule last week (which was GREAT), and this week his schedule is closer to 8pm-1am and then 2am-5am. I liked last week better. But I know that it will get better, I'm just waiting on that to get here.

So please, if you value my sanity, don't mention anyone sleeping like a baby. Thanks!

Happy Easter!

We hope that everyone had a great Easter, I know we did!

Here is the little man in his Easter outfit! :-)

We had a great lunch with family and an egghunt that he slept right through, lol! Then after lunch, mommy (me) went for my first run since having him, which was also my first run in 9 months! I'll have more on that in my other blog. Have a great rest of your Easter!! :-)

Kids will be kids?

This is a blog post from another blog that I follow, and I couldn't not repost....

See it here.

Really?!?!?! I most certainly don't think so!

Thankful Thursdays

This seems to be a popular topic for blog posts, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon!

I have so much to be thankful for so I'll try to keep it from getting too long :-)

My baby boy is 6 weeks old today! I can't believe that he's been here for that long already. I am so thankful for everything that he has brought to my life, my life is so much more rich with him in it. I love everything about that little man!

I'm thankful that HE SLEPT SIX HOURS STRAIGHT last night!!!!! Seriously -- I felt like a new person this morning! :-D That was a first for him, and I am begging praying that it continues.

I'm thankful to have such a great job, and also that I will soon (probably) be able to go full-time without having to wait to graduate. I will be sad to leave my Andrew all 5 days a week instead of the current 3 days, but it will be okay. I am so glad that I work at such a great place and work with so many awesome people.

I'm thankful for all the help I have with Andrew. I'm thankful beyond words for my family and all they have done for us.

I'm thankful that my grandparents are in town this weekend and get to meet Andrew!

I'm thankful most of all to be a part of my wonderful amazing little family! I love my boys!!

Happy Thursday!

Blah

I'm weepy today.




That's all.

Fit Me

Go see and follow my fitness blog, Erin's Fit Life! I'm excited to get back to fitness blogging as I have been neglecting it recently. Now that I've been cleared by my doctor for exercise again, I'm looking forward to getting back in shape. You can follow my journey and even leave some input. Go check it out :-)

Blog Award!!

I got a blog award a few weeks ago, and I have been so busy with adjusting to mommyhood that I haven't had time to accept it and pass it on!

Ashlee over at The Story of Us gave it to me. I found her blog on the March 2011 Mommies board over at The Bump. We both had baby boys in the month of March. Head on over and read her blog!

To accept this award you simply have to...

1. Post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted you this award and her blog link.

2. Pass this award onto 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered (I dunno if I have 15 blogs to pass this on to, but I'll try!)

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been choosen for this award.

 

Lovely Blogs I Read:

On Loan From Heaven

'Coupon' Is A Verb

Launching Project H

Thriving Is Elegant

TheMaginnisLife

The Molyneaux Family

Surviving A Two Year Old

Fond of the Silliness

Jules Out Loud

Always in Wonder

House of Smith's

LIVE IT OUT

 

Hope you enjoy checking out these great blogs! I know I do :-)

Back to work :-(

This has been a sad week. I had to go back to work on Wednesday. I miss my baby boy so much!!! At least I only have to work Monday/Wednesday/Friday for now.

Tuesday night was really rough, I only got probably an hour of sleep combined. He was really needy and wanted his momma. It warms my heart even as it completely drains me of all semblance of energy. Last night was pretty good though, he had a 4 hour stretch of sleep again! Who'da thunk I'd be excited about 3 hours of sleep! Haha!!

I am working really hard at getting him on a consistent schedule. I have started trying to make sure to wake him up every 3 hours during the day, and trying to keep him awake after every other feeding. I'm hoping that this will help him sleep at night, and hopefully sleep longer. I'm willing to try almost anything! Lol....I'll let you know how that works for me, it's only the 2nd day now. If you have any suggestions, feel free...

The reflux medicine that the doctor gave Andrew seems to be working. **Knock on wood** He has not been so upset in the afternoons/evenings, and he is pooping more consistently. Seriously, the kid is a pooping machine!!

Even though being back at work means being away from my sweetie, coming home is the best part of my day! He recognizes my voice and looks for me when I come in and start talking. It is so sweet! And it makes it easier to be away from him knowing he's in such good hands. We are very lucky that both sets of grandparents live close by and his Mimi and Nana take care of him on the days I have to work. I'm so thankful that he can stay with someone he knows and doesn't have to go to daycare. Of course, I'd love to stay home with him, but that's just not something we can do right now. So, he gets some quality family time :-)

I also had my post-partum doctor's appointment this week. They take that post-partum depression  stuff seriously! I think between the nurse and the doctor, I got asked how I was emotionally and if I had enough support about 15 times. It's great that they do that though, because I know it's a problem for many women, but thankfully I could report no problems and lots of support. Also, I'm now cleared to get back to running!! I can't wait to run again. I also plan (in my spare time, ha!) to get back to my other blog, Erin's Fit Life. Lastly, we talked about me getting Mirena. My doctor thinks that's a great option, and it seems like it to me too. Anybody love/hate it?

That's it for today...Andrew's almost asleep so it's bedtime! Hallelujah!

Month 1

Wow, what a whirlwind the last month has been! It has been the best month of my life :-D I can't believe he is already a month old though!! Sunday was his birthday, so here's an update of what's going on...

-Andrew's 1 month doctor's appointment was yesterday. He now weighs 9 lbs, 13 oz!! He has gained over 3 lbs in his first month! I hope he doesn't get to be a chunk....lol! He measured 21 1/4 inches long, but the nurse said she thinks he's taller than that but he wouldn't let her stretch his legs out fully to get a better measurement. He was in the 50th percentile in all his measurements, so he is right on track. He got his 2nd round of the Hepatitis B shot....he screamed so bad, and I had tears in my eyes! It was really hard, and he was not feeling great the rest of the day. We also got a prescription for a medicine to help his belly (see below about screaming in the afternoon), so hopefully that will start helping in the next day or two. Otherwise, the doctor was very pleased and said everything looks good and we're doing great!


-I think I'm adjusting to the sleep deprivation. I'm still exhausted, don't get me wrong, but it is becoming more bearable than before. I feel like my head is in a fog sometimes and I hate that. But I'm adjusting.

-Thank God for the Moby wrap. This is usually the only way I get dinner (or something that at least looks like dinner) on the table in the evenings. After his late afternoon feeding, Andrew gets really fussy and won't let me put him down, so I put him in the Moby and can at least do a couple of things. It kind of makes my back ache after a little while, but I'd rather deal with that than the screaming.

-I don't know what it is about the afternoon, but he doesn't like that time of day at all. He just cries and cries and screams and screams. It seems like it is his belly hurting him, but not totally sure. Anyway, most days it is over by bedtime (9-10 ish) but this week has been later than that. I was up the night before last for a really long time. So long in fact, that I have no idea what time it was! Ha! And then last night, I think I got about an hour of sleep. Not fun. Like I said earlier, this starts right in the middle of dinner time, so fixing and then eating dinner is a challenge. But we are getting through it.

-We have (mostly) successfully transitioned into the pack-n-play for sleep this week. He was sleeping in the bed with us, but I knew we had to stop that pretty soon. So since he was doing so well sleeping in that during the day, we decided to move it into the bedroom and try it at night too. The first night, he ended up with us again once, but for the most part he was in the pack-n-play. The second night was even better, he didn't sleep with us once! So I am considering that a success. Hopefully that will continue being successful. If so, it will be much easier to transition to his crib once his nighttime feedings get less frequent.

-I have been fighting some kind of sickness. I've had horrible head congestion, and a pretty rough cough. By some miracle, Andrew hasn't gotten sick. Being sick and taking care of a baby sucks. I even lost my voice! I have never lost my voice before! It was very strange. But I feel like I am somewhat recovering, and I have my voice back for the most part, so I hope to be over this crap soon.

-Last week was the first week since bringing him home that I haven't been to the doctor. I probably should have gone though considering how sick I was. First I saw the doctor for the UTI that wasn't a UTI....then for the rash that turned out to be PUPPPS (I'll explain that in a minute) that I actually went in twice for. And I think there was something else too....but I can't think of it right now. It's that sleep deprivation thing again...lol

-PUPPPS is no joke! For most people, this rash shows up only in the stomach area (it actually begins in the stretch marks) and it shows up during the 3rd trimester and goes away at delivery. However, for my weird self, it didn't show up until AFTER delivery, and it spread to my whole body. If you don't remember chicken pox, it MAJORLY SUCKS when your ENTIRE BODY itches!! It felt like my skin was on fire and had creepy crawlies at the same time. It was awful. The doctor started me out on a prescription lotion that had several different things in it to help with itching and with healing. That did nothing at all, so I ended up with a steriod prescription for 6 days that finally cleared up most of it. I still itch some though. Ugh. It is finally starting to heal too, where I had scratched the skin off in lots of places. Thank goodness that is mostly behind me.

-Andrew is doing great in the development area....he can hold his little head up during tummy time for a good amount of time. It is the cutest thing! He moves his legs really well too, and the nurse actually said that she thinks he will crawl early...watch out! He is REALLY close to smiling and I can't wait for that!! He pulls up one corner of his mouth, and it is utterly adorable. He is also more aware of sounds. If someone else is holding him and I say something, he will cut his eyes over at me like he's looking for me :-) And he is starting to notice the toys above him on his swing and bouncy seat. I love how aware he is when he is awake.

-Overall, the first month has been great! I love my sweet little man so much that I had no idea it was possible. He is a cuddly little sweetheart, and he just loves his momma. We love taking walks in the nice weather we've had lately. The mornings are the best time of day for us, because he is sweet and laid back. He is growing like a weed, and I wish I could memorize every moment so that it doesn't seem like my baby is getting way too big way too fast. And even though I don't want him to get big, I am so proud when he does something new or makes big strides in development. Of course, he loves his daddy too :-) And daddy is doing so great with him! He goes down to sleep or play better when daddy puts him down, so sometimes I give him to his daddy so that he'll go down better, and of course so they can have "man time", lol! I love to see them snuggling having man time!

To sum it all up, I'm just in love! :-D

Update

I have seriously neglected my blog recently! So sorry!! I have been so consumed with my sweet Andrew that I have had NO time or energy to write. To update what has been going on in the McEntire household:

-Andrew is doing so great! He is growing like crazy, and I dislike it! Lol....I don't want him to get big, he is so sweet like he is now. Although it would be nice to get some sleep...oh well!  He is eating about every 3 hours or just over. He is up to around 3 1/4  oz at every feeding. He sleeps for about 3 hours at a time, with one longer stretch at night sometimes. He was getting a 5 hour stretch for a couple of nights, but we reverted back to only 3 hours at a time.
-Thank God for my mom coming over during the day and letting me get some sleep :-)
-We have his 1 month appt next week....how has this come so quickly?!?!?
-I have about 3 lbs to go and I'll be back at my pre-pregnancy weight. Now if only I looked like I did pre-pregnancy....oh well...maybe soon!
-Andrew apparently has a sensitive belly. He spits up a lot and cries a lot when he is trying to poop. Mylicon works miracles. His belly has greatly improved since I have started using that.
-My little man is really the sweetest thing ever! He loves to cuddle with his momma, and his momma loves to let him :-)
-He sleeps in the bed with us for now. It is so far the ONLY way he will sleep at night. During the day, I'm having some success getting him to sleep in his pack-n-play, so I hope to transition him into that at night, and from there move to the crib. This may be a long process, but I'm okay with that.
-I know that some of you want to hear our birth story, and I am working on that. It's a long one, and I can only type a little at a time, and sometimes only using one hand, haha!
-I have so many pictures to upload but I haven't had time to get them together in an album and sorted out to get them uploaded.

So, long story short, we are surviving, doing well, and loving life :-)

He has arrived!

My sweet little Andrew arrived on March 10, 2011 at 8:17 pm. He weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz and was 20 inches long. He is the most beautiful handsome amazing perfect adorable sweet squeezable wonderful little boy in the whole world! The feelings and emotions that I feel for him changed indescribably the instant I saw him. I can't even tell you how full my heart is with love for this child. I will post more later about the delivery and our first days at home, but for now I wanted to just post a quick update and photo. Everyone is doing wonderful and we are so incredibly happy!!

Doctor's appointment update

My doctor's appointment today went really well. I am about 2cm dilated and still about 50% effaced. I was told last week that we would talk about induction this week, which we did. However, we decided against it for this week. The doctor said that since I'm only 2cm, that I'm not quite the best candidate for induction because I still run too high of a risk of c-section. He said that if I was closer to 4cm then he would feel better about inducing me because my risk of c-section would be decreased. I was disappointed and happy at the same time. I was a little disappointed because I was really hoping that I'd have my sweet Andrew by the end of the week. However, I was happy because I have been really worried about the chance of c-section. It is something that really freaks me out, even though I know lots of people that have had one successfully and had no problems. But personally, it's something that I really would like to avoid unless absoultely, medically necessary. It makes me feel better knowing that the doctor doesn't just send folks over to L & D without taking the risk of surgery into consideration.

Since we decided against induction, the doctor did go ahead and do another thing to try and help labor come on naturally. He "stripped the membranes", which means he separated the amniotic sac from my cervix. Let me just tell you, that was not a fun experience. I'm sure that it's nothing compared with labor, but I'd hate to do that one again. Ha! BUT I'm told that it should start labor in 24-72 hours, so I have my fingers crossed that it'll work!! I can tell that it's doing something, because the crampy contractions that I've been having have changed to being really sharp and pretty painful. They don't quite take my breath away yet, but they're definitely more intense than before. I had some spontaneously throughout the morning and early afternoon after my appointment, and then starting at about 3:00 they have been coming every hour. So, I am really really hoping that they will start getting closer together and stronger so that I can go to the hospital soon! :-) However, if not, I have another appointment next Tuesday and we'll see what happens then! But I hope I have a baby before then!!!

Week Thirty-WHAT? 38?!?!

Holy crap it's week 38! 14 days down to 8 days! I really hope that this is my week though....I'm crossing my fingers (and toes tehehe!)!!

He has seriously dropped. In fact, there was a moment on Monday when I actually felt his head all of a sudden drop and hit my pelvis and stayed there. And most people have told me they can tell he's dropped. Since he weighed 6 lbs 5 oz at his ultrasound, and he should be gaining about a half of a pound a week, I'm going to guess he's just under or right at 7 lbs now. They didn't give me a height but "normal" is 20-21 inches by now. His lanugo and his vernix caseosa should both be gone by now, and his fat cells are continuing to grow (aw). Neural connections in his brain are still rapidly being made. He is also still making surfectant, to keep the air sacs in his lungs from sticking together when he is born and starts breathing air instead of amniotic fluid. Fun fact: his head should be the same circumference as his abdomen!

That's pretty much all that's going on with the baby this week, but I think I have more than enough going on to make up for it. First off: I feel strange. I have periods where I just feel really restless and can't get comfortable no matter what position I sit/stand/lay in. Both my stomach and back feel weird. I can't really describe it...I just know it's different than normal. That's all I can really say about that. I don't know what it means, if anything, but there ya go.

Also, I have been having contractions. I have had a few every day, but Wednesday was the day I had the most. They were actually coming about every hour to hour and a half. They feel a lot like menstrual cramps, and I confirmed with the doctor that they were really contractions and not just Braxton Hicks. So that's progress! But now it's Sunday, and I still haven't gone into serious labor. Maybe soon....my hospital bag is packed, just in case! :-)

I *think* that I lost my mucous plug! That's progress!! It's exciting and scary all at the same time. I am not sure though. The doctor said she couldn't really tell.

Some other "symptoms" I'm having: tired, hot flashes, moodiness, nesting, heartburn, aching hips, hard to move around, stress, and aching in general. I try to sleep but I have to get up so often, and I can't find a comfortable position to sleep in so I am super tired. I have days when I am hot all day, and days when I'm cold with periods of hotness. I am seriously moody, and most anything can set me off, lol. The nesting instinct is in full force. I have been doing so much baby laundry in the past few days, I'm sure our water bill is going to be sky high. I love it though! I look at the cute little clothes and blankets and towels, and I can't wait to use them for the baby!! Some of his little outfits are so cute they make me want to cry (see, anything sets me off, haha). I have been cleaning non-baby stuff a lot too. My house is by no means sparkly clean but I just want to clean when I can get the energy to get off the couch. One thing that keeps me on the couch a lot is my achy hips! Oh they just hurt some days so bad I can hardly walk. Sitting doesn't help a whole lot, but it's better than standing. I know it's because Andrew is sitting so low, but I sure hope he comes soon so that pressure will be relieved. It's really hard to move around too, I can't fit through a lot of places, and I'm just slow-moving now. I have found myself stressing recently about everything being done in time. This is part of nesting I guess, but I just make myself crazy sometimes thinking about what is left to be done. I've gotten a lot done this weekend that makes me feel better though. Lastly, I'm just achy in general sometimes. This goes with the general strange feeling I talked about earlier, and the contractions I mentioned as well. My feet ache too sometimes, I can't wait until they are back to being unswollen.

I have gotten so much done this weekend getting everything ready for Andrew's arrival! I spent the majority of Saturday out with my mom and sister shopping for the last of the things I need for him. I got things like bottles, pumping accessories, nursing bras, extra carseat base, newborn size diapers, a lamp for his room, and lots of other small stuff. I've had all the big stuff, but I just needed some last minute small stuff that made me feel better and prepared. All the time walking around and being on my feet didn't help with the hip aches, in fact it made it worse, but I still had lots of fun. I'm really glad I got it done, I feel so much less stressed and definitely more prepared than I did before. Plus I got to hang out with my mom and sister :-)

So, another big thing that happened this week is that I got laid off from one of my jobs. I work 2 part-time jobs (1 on M/W/F and 1 on T/Th), and the company I work for on T/Th is going to close in a few weeks, so they went ahead and laid me off on Thursday. It was sad, but not unexpected. Since I was going out on maternity soon anyway, my time there ended only about a week early. And quite honestly, I knew how bad the situation was there so I was probably not going to go back after maternity anyway. I am hoping that my M/W/F job will let me go full-time after I come back from having the baby, but we will see.

I think the last thing I have for this week is my doctor's appointment that was on Thursday. It went really well, but we had a LOT to talk about. She checked my cervix, and I am still only 1-2 cm dilated, BUT I am about 50% effaced! That's progress from last week. Also, I could tell that there was progress from last week because the check didn't hurt quite so bad, which I knew meant I was more effaced than last week. I came prepared (as usual) with some things to ask about how it worked when I actually made it to the hospital. I was worried about preregistration, because when I went online to do that (because I thought you had to), it said to only preregister 2 days prior to your check-in. And we all know there's no telling when 2 days prior to a baby coming is! But the doctor said that you don't have to do that at CMC, they will just get you checked in while you're getting set up when you get there. So I feel better about that now. I was also worried about how long I could stay in my own clothes versus a hospital gown once I arrived. I was thinking I'd rather be in my own clothes and that I'd feel better that way, but once the doctor explained it, I realized it would be better to just get into the (awful) gown. She said that it's easier because they hook you up to an IV pretty immediately and that things could get messy with water breaking, possible bleeding, and etc so it would just be better to go ahead and get out of your own clothes before any of those things start happening. And I can imagine it would suck to try and change clothes once that IV is in. Ew. In fact I don't even want to think about it. Okay so the last thing we talked about was pretty big and actually unexpected for me. At my next appointment (on Tuesday) the doctor is going to want to talk about inducing me in week 39 because of the gestational diabetes. I really don't know more about it than that, but I will update after my appointment! I was excited before I found that out, but now I'm even more excited! And also a little scared. Knowing that it could be so soon just made it all real in an instant, but I know that it's going to be amazing, and at the end of it I will have my sweet baby boy!

I will update soon, after my appointment!

Week 37 -- The Week of the Watermelon

21...20...19...18...17...16...15 days lefft?!?!?! OMG IT'S SO CLOSE! We are now officially "full-term"! And I'm also now toting around a WATERMELON! And I look like it too!!! And according to several people, I'm definitely "dropping", so he is getting closer and closer.

My sweet baby Andrew is getting more and more ready to come out...and his momma and daddy are ready for him too! This week he is should weigh around 6 1/2 lbs, and according to our AWESOME ULTRASOUND this week, he weighs approximately 6 lbs 5 oz right now. They didn't give me a height measurement, but he should be somewhere around 21 inches tall. He can do everything that a newborn can do now, he just can't breathe air and stuff until he's actually on the outside. He is practicing everything from breathing to gripping to sucking to inhaling & exhaling so that he'll be all ready when he arrives. Plus there's not really much else to do....haha! He should be gaining about a half a pound per week, but I sure hope he doesn't put on that much more weight! That could get difficult....yikes! He's busy rolling around too, pretty much going crazy in there. He isn't disturbing my sleep or anything, but during the day he sure does get a lot of exercise in! He is supposed to be gaining fat, but I don't know how he's gonna do that with all the exercise he's getting in ;-)

I got some really great pictures of his amazing little face at this week's appointment. He was not happy about being looked at, and he kept making faces. It was so cute! He would poke his little lips out and pout, lol! I also got a video but I can't for the life of me figure out how to transfer it to my computer and post it or email it. The tech said that everything looked really good, and his heartbeat was 158, which is about what it normally is. I'm being told that he looks a lot like me already :-) I can't wait to see him face-to-face and see what he'll look like. I think he has Curt's lips, and my nose. Of course, he kept scrunching his face up so it's kind of hard to tell, haha! He really hates that ultrasound machine, so I guess it's good for him that that'll most likely be the last one.

This week has brought major hormonal-ness. I am turning into the stereotypical moody, snippy preggo lady that is ill all the time. Okay, not all the time. But I am definitely ill a lot of the time. Things get under my skin really easily and I get irritated at little things. My "filter" is gone too, so I just kind of say whatever is on my mind, lol. It's kind of funny, really, except when I'm actually irritated.

I'm having lots of blonde moments too...I guess I should dye my hair, lol! The other day, I was completely convinced there was a 29th of Februray....but this year, there's definitely not. There was something else too, but now I can't remember what it was....I'm super forgetful too! Haha...

The rest of my doctor's appointment (after the ultrasound) went normally. I am GBS negative, which is good. They won't have to give me any antibiotics when I go into labor. Not a big deal really, but one less thing to think about during a really hectic time. Also, they checked me for dilation & effacement. The doctor didn't tell me how effaced I was (so I'm assuming that means it was a negligible amount), but I'm 1-2 cm dilated. By the way, if any of my preggers friends haven't been checked for this yet, be prepared, it is NOT comfortable. I was definitely not expecting that. I've been told that the more effaced you are, the less uncomfortable it is though. So, if you want details, send me a message and I'll tell you privately. So anyway, I have started dilating, but that doesn't really mean anything. You can walk around dilated for weeks, and dilation can even go back down. It's effacement that really means something. It doesn't go back, and it makes the dilation stay up. I guess we'll see this week if I've progressed any more.

I should be getting my pictures back soon from my maternity shoot last week :-) I'm super excited to see them, and I hope they are awesome. I will share once I get them! I was a little surprised at how cold it was though...I'm hoping that my face doesn't look like I was super cold, lol.

Okay so what else is going on this week.......nesting is definitely making me crazy. I have been trying to get everything done, but it's going slowly since it annoys me when something isn't just perfect. My hips hurt like crazy. There is no comfortable position to sleep in, and standing or sitting for too long is not comfy either. And too much walking around makes me miserable. I still have to pee, maybe even more often than before, if that's possible, lol! My stretch marks continue to look ugly :-( I went for so long without any and now they look just terrible. My belly button is STILL not popped out...well, when I stand up, the top of it looks pokey-outey but not much. Haha! Maybe next week. I still can't sleep well, but I may be getting used to it. I definitely can't sleep in on the weekends, I am uncomfortable and my head starts hurting if I lay there too long.

I have a lot of friends who have had their babies recently. It is so exciting to see that their little ones have arrived and I love seeing their pictures and updates! However, it makes me really jealous! I want mine to be here so bad!!! I want to hold him in my arms and be able to kiss his little cheeks and dress him in cute little outfits and take adorable pictures of him! I know it won't be long, but I still want it to be here! Until about the last week or so, I have wanted him here, but I haven't wanted time to speed up because I was enjoying having him to myself, lol! I still don't want to share him, but I want him here in person SO BAD! I can't wait to meet my sweet baby Andrew. I want to see him look at me and recognize my voice and his daddy's voice and bond and snuggle with us. Okay I better stop this, I might start boohoo-ing! (I'm only a little emotional nowadays)

Well, I think that's all I've got going on this week. I'll try to get pictures from the ultrasound and the maternity shoot posted soon! (And go me for getting this posted before the week is over! Hahaha!!) Have a great week, everyone! :-)

Finished nursery

Yay! It's all done :-) I just love it so much!! Here's all the pictures.....sorry, there's a lot! But I couldn't resist and wanted to share all the pictures!!

Door to his room

Chest of Drawers w/ Air Force Colonel Bear

Passy with his name on it!!!

Crib

Toy Chest

Dresser/Changer

Airplane and calendar

Airplane in the clouds

Cross-stitched by his aunt!

Above his crib

Stoller! (Has a matching carseat)

Crib with bedding, love it!

Sheets...little airplanes zooming around

John Deere wagon w/handmade blanket made by his great-aunt

Little model airplane on top of the dresser

Up close

So, that's his nursery! I absolutely love it, and I can't wait for him to be able to use it :-D

Week 36

Only 28 days! I am anxiously anticipating the day we welcome Baby Andrew into the world! I want to meet him so badly, and hold him in my arms. Now that we've gotten his nursery ready for him, he is welcome to make his debut :-)

In week 36, my little man should be 20" to 20.5" tall and weigh around 6 lbs. He is definitely head down, and rolling around like crazy! He gets hiccups all the time, and sometimes I think it makes him mad which is really funny. It's like he gets frustrated and starts thrashing around like crazy. So cute! As far as development, his growth is starting to slow so that he doesn't get too big and so that he can store up energy for delivery. Also for the ease of delivery, his bones and cartilage are still soft and his skull bones are not fused together yet. I might beg to differ on that, his knees and elbows feel pretty sharp to me, haha!! His digestive system is not perfected yet, but it's as done as it's gonna get in there. Since he can't use it yet, it won't start perfecting until he gets here and starts using it. It actually doesn't finish perfecting until a year or two after he is born. So, the only things left developing are his lungs! He is so close to being ready :-D

Friday was a busy busy day for me. I had a half day of work, and then i had my OB appointment and a diabetes appointment. I saw my most favorite doctor, I love her to death and I'm crossing my fingers that she will be on call when I deliver! Of course, I know that may not happen, so luckily I have liked most of the other doctors in the practice that I've seen. This week was my test for GBS, which tests for a bacteria that many women have. The purpose of that is to be able to administer antibiotics during delivery so that the baby doesn't get it, so it's not really a big deal, it just gives you some info to be used later. The best thing that happened at this appointment was that I can get an ultrasound next week! I am SO happy about that!!! I can't wait to see my little one's precious face! Now I get to go back to the OB every week until I deliver, and starting next time (the same appt as the ultrasound) internal exams start to see if I am dilated or effaced at all. It doesn't really mean much unless I'm really dilated or effaced, since you could be slightly dilated/effaced for weeks. But they do it, so whatever. The diabetes appointment went well also. The nutritionist is happy with my blood sugars, and especially happy about my fasting blood sugars, which have been really good. I have an occasional high blood sugar after lunch or dinner, but nothing drastic. I may not even have to go back if my sugars are still good in two weeks when I'm supposed to go back. Hopefully that will be the case!

So much is going on with me this week, I don't even know where to start. I am SO exhausted. It is really hard to sleep because it is so uncomfortable and I just hurt by the end of the day. My feet and back hurt, and my hips are killing me! My hips hurt for a couple of reasons -- of course the relaxin hormone is making them hurt, but also Andrew has settled back into that spot he liked so much in the late 1st tri/early 2nd tri right on top of a nerve. My heartburn is FEROCIOUS! Some days, it doesn't even matter that I took medicine, it feels like I am on fire. It doesn't help that I am also really hungry all the time! Since eating is difficult with heartburn....oh well! Another all the time thing....high-tailing it to the potty! Holy crap I constantly have to pee....and sometimes the urge hits suddenly and I HAVE. TO. GO. NOW! Lol! At least if I'm at home, it's not a big deal, but if I'm at work or out somewhere, I've got to get to a bathroom quick. On top of that, the waddling slows me down trying to get there, haha! It's kind of hard to get around, and I definitely can't fit through small places or get anywhere fast. My swelling is slowly increasing as well, but it's still not too bad. I feel like my feet look like sausages by the end of the day, and I'm afraid to take off my wedding band now because I'm afraid it won't go back on. One thing I'm slightly disappointed about is that my belly button is STILL not popped out...haha! I was really hoping it would, and I have no idea why. Although it is surrounded by tons of stretch marks......hopefully they'll fade quickly. The Braxton-Hicks have continued, but I'm not getting them every day like I was, thank goodness. I think I did have one real contraction, because it took my breath away! But it was just the one, and I haven't had any more like that one.

On a positive note: The nursery is DONE!!!!  OMG I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT IT! It is beyond adorable and it looks so great!! I'll be posting some pictures of it soon. With the nursery being done now, nesting has set in full force, and I have been going crazy trying to organize and go through all the baby stuff. I'm sure it drives the hubby crazy, but he'll get over it :-) I will post pictures soon!

Wow, this has been a long post! But I had a lot to say, and I think I got everything in....I'm a little forgetful, so if I forgot something, I'll put it in next week's post :-)

Nursery Progress

The construction phase of the nursery got finished today!!! Andrew's daddy has worked so hard and has done such an amazing job of getting it done and making it look beautiful. The floor finally got finished around mid-afternoon today, and shortly afterward we got started on the furniture. Most of it wasn't too bad, but the dresser was a beast, haha! We finished the furniture around 10:30, and we are pooped! It looks so awesome though, it makes me so excited!! Tomorrow, we will be putting shelves in his closet, and putting everything else together...I can't wait! I'm in the middle of washing sheets and stuff now to put in his crib, since it's finally together :-) I'm exhausted now, so I'm going to bed, but just wanted to update. I will post pictures tomorrow, hopefully!

February Challenge Days 6-9

Day 6 was Monday, aka Valentine's Day. The challenge was to do the unexpected. I would say that I did, but it's kind of hard to do on V-day, when loved ones are somewhat expecting the unexpected like gifts and cards and such. I surprised my sweet hubby (who sent me unexpected flowers) with a big cupcake for the occasion. I think that he probably only expected a card, but because of a little thing that happened last week, I thought that a cupcake would surprise him and make him laugh. It's a little inside joke, sorry to not explain but you know how it is to explain an inside joke.....it's just not as funny when it's explained. Anyhoo....so success for this day! :-)

Day 7, Tuesday, brought the challenge of writing a letter the old fashioned way, ya know--with pen and paper. Yeah.....I didn't do this one. I'll be honest and say that I didn't have time for this on Tuesday. I had work all day and then a test in my night class so the little time I spent at home between the 2 was spent studying. And afterwards, all I did was come home and go straight to bed. So, maybe I'll try this another day since I didn't get to this week.

Day 8, Wednesday, had a challenge to lighten the load of someone you love. I don't know that this really counts, but I did put some of hubby's clothes into the dryer after he washed them. He normally does his own laundry (yes, I know, I'm a lucky girl for him to do his own, haha), but this night I thought I'd be a little helpful and finish it up for him. So this day I count as a success as well!

Day 9 is today! The challenge today is about food. The forum says "Cook something from scratch, buy something, order take-out...quite simply eat a meal with your special someone." Okay so we all know by now that I am in no way a good cook. So I think I'll go for the simply-eating-a-meal-with-my-hunny part of the challenge. That way I can have a success! :-P I will have to say though that I tried a new recipe last night that I thought was pretty good. (He thought it was a little weird though, lol.) So I must be psychic or something since I attempted this challenge before I even knew about it! Haha, just kidding about the psychic part....

Well there's only 1 day left of the February SITS challenge. Hopefully I can be successful tomorrow in spreading the love :-)