Happy Halloween!

I got up bright and early today when my phone rang at 6:30am. It was the helpdesk calling to alert me that absolutely nothing was wrong on the servers (not really... they thought something was wrong, but as usual it was nothing). One more week of call and I'm out of the rotation for good. Yay!! I managed to go back to sleep for about another hour though before getting up to work on my to do list. First was the giant stack of receipts that I've been delaying entering into the computer (I'm trying to itemize sales tax this year -- thanks Mandy and James, you suck). Then I did a little yoga, had a little breakfast, and did a little reading in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Finally Eric got up so I started vacuuming like a crazy person. Ahhh nice and clean.

A little later I managed to get dressed and out of the house for another Baby Shopping Spree. I used almost all the coupons in the latest mailer to pick up: a baby monitor, changing table pad & accessories, newborn size diapers, huge pack of wipes, nursing pillow, a variety of bottles, and a baby book.


Luckily I had brought Auntie Natalie along and she chipped in for baby's first Swaddle Me blanket, and this really cute blanket.


I also did some grocery shopping and picked up a few other random things at BB&B to help me get the nursery nice and tidy and organized.

When I got home Eric informed me that we would in fact be making an appearance at the Halloween party that we were originally going to bail on because he was sick. So I got myself all prettied up and we headed out. And that is when I realized that Halloween parties suck when you are pregnant... especially when all there is to snack on is candy and you've just been told you're gaining too much weight. But it was fun dressing up and I was glad to have the opportunity to get my 31 week preggo picture in costume. I actually wore this same thing two years ago... but I'm filling out the top a little better this time :)

I'm over it

I think maybe I was just LONG overdue for a good cry today or something. Like I said, after my appointment I cried for like 45 minutes. Then when I got in my car after work I cried all the way home and then some. I got a big hug from my baby's daddy though, and we went to our childbirth class, and the grocery store, and I feel better now. Reality check - I have been working out like 4 or 5 days a week minimum. I eat almost exclusively whole grain carbs, several servings of fruit every day, I don't drink alcohol or caffeine, I don't smoke, and I drink a ton of water. I am doing a lot of things right! So all I need is to try to eat a few more veggies and a little more protein and I will be good to go.

Anyway, rewind a tad. Our first "prepared" childbirth class was really pretty great! I didn't feel like I learned anything *new* yet, but it was a good opportunity to actually sit down with Eric and be forced to practice breathing and relaxing. So I am looking forward to more of that, even if it is just once a week. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that the class agenda really does not focus on medical interventions. The teacher said we'll go over those things in week 4 but most of the class is about the mechanics of labor and other methods for coping with pain. I just hope that the girl and her mom who were giggling throughout the relaxation practice get a good talking to, that was rude!

Dr. Visit Drama

Ugh, so I went in for another prenatal checkup today.  My blood pressure was 120/70 and according to their scale I weighed 180, even though just yesterday at home I weighed 176.6.  I was 172 at my last appointment, and my pre-pregnancy weight was about 153 or 154.  So that puts me at MAX 27 pounds gained since this whole thing started.  To me, that sounds pretty good/normal, right?  Well no, apparently not according to "S" the Certified Nurse Midwife I saw today.  Pretty much the first thing she said when she walked in was "what's going on with this weight gain?"  I'm all, excuse me?  Anyway we had a talk about that and long story short she feels like I’ve been gaining weight a little too fast lately and I need more protein and iron in my diet.  So I was okay with that, sort of, at first.  She was not mean about it or anything, but stern enough that I felt like a little kid getting scolded.  And then I was just way too flustered about the whole conversation to think straight and I didn't ask any of the questions I had planned or even get the baby's heart rate or find out really what position he was in :(  All I caught was where his back was (sort of up high and on my left side).  I did also get a shot of Rhogam, *eek* an H1N1 shot, and scheduled out all my appointments for the rest of my pregnancy before I left.

Eric is home sick (just a cold) so this was my first appointment without him.  I called him as I was walking back to my car and had a complete emotional break down.  I cried for about the next 40 minutes, sitting in my car, frustrated about my alleged abnormal weight gain and that I didn't get to find out the baby's heart rate (although I did hear it).  I'm also nervous about the H1N1 shot… I didn't even ask if it was thimerosal free, that is how flustered I was.  But I said a little prayer and I just have to trust all the scientists and the CDC who believe that it's safe, either way.  Now I'm sitting here, hungry, wondering what I should be eating.  My next appointment is with "S" again so heaven forbid I should gain 4 more pounds between now and then and get another lecture!  Boo!!!  :(  I'm so not looking forward to next time.

We do have our first "prepared childbirth" class tonight, so I am kind of excited about that.

30 week pics

Well here I am, 75% done… maybe more! Lots of people at the shower predicted December 19th would be the day baby Haynes will arrive, which would be fine with me. Although I just noticed that is a Saturday, and personally I'd prefer to go during the week. But ANY day in December would be preferable to January. Eric and I were both born early. I was 2 days early and Eric was like 10 days early or something like that. So I'm crossing my fingers.

Waffling

I'm getting more and more excited to have this baby all the time, and yet somehow still want him to stay in there forever. What a weird contradiction in feelings! I think all the "stuff" we've accumulated in the baby's room is upping the excitement level just a tad. But feeling him move is SO COOL too, I'm really going to miss that. Lately he REALLY seems to object if I lean against something or if my pants are too tight or when auntie Natalie pokes him in the head. He squirms around as if we're invading his personal space and it's making him uncomfortable. I can relate to that.

Saturday I had my 2nd and final baby shower, which brought LOTS more baby boy clothes and a few more items from the registry. Which meant that on Sunday we made the trip to Babies R Us and left with a HUGE hole in our wallet plus a dresser/changing table, crib mattress, crib bedding set, and pack & play (that was all the coupons I had). We saved about $140 by getting everything with a coupon so I'm hoping to be on hiatus from buying much of anything else until the next mailer. Although, Target has my breast pump on sale 10% off right now, and I get an extra 10% off of that with my Entertainment book, but it's online only and no free shipping. So I'm waffling on that as well. With the shipping charge, I'd come out paying just about a dollar less than if I got a 15% off coupon from Babies R Us and picked it up in the store.... what to do, what to do? A dollar is a dollar, right? OH and I found my final letter "S" to spell out Seth's name on the wall. Yay! I've had the E, T, H for awhile now but both Michaels' in town were all out of "S" until recently. So I need to paint those and hang them up.

The house is getting chaotic again :( It was so clean for awhile, especially the nursery... ahh memories of the nice, tidy, empty nursery. But now of course the nursery is full to the brim with stuff. We could hardly fit the dresser in the room last night. Mainly because there were boxes and toys and gift bags all over the floor, and ONESIES GALORE EVERYWHERE -- it's kind of overwhelming me. I just need to unpack everything and start putting it away, now that I have somewhere to put it all (the dresser). But then I start thinking of all the other stuff we STILL need that we have NO ROOM for. And then I start to panic a little. I just need to keep reminding myself that I still have a few weeks to get it all organized.

I am really starting to get freaked out about the swine flu. Not a lot of people at work have really had it, but I keep hearing about their kids being at home sick. So I'm sure they are just walking around with germs flying off of them in all directions. And when I hear people coughing at their desks it just reeeaaaaally bothers me. Don't they understand how serious this is? GO...HOME!!!!!

Spinning babies

I read last night in What to Expect… that I have 8-10 weeks to go.  OMG!  Part of me is sooo excited to meet this little guy, but another part of me is suddenly kind of sad that the pregnant stage will be over.  Maybe I won't feel that way in a few more weeks but for now I am really torn about the whole thing.  I'm really getting fascinated and obsessed over the baby's position lately.  I am still not really sure what's what in there --  I can just tell when it's different.  I will have to get the doctor to give me the lay of the land next week at my appointment.  Maybe if she shows me once where everything is I'll be able to figure it out when it changes.

I've got my house pretty much in order.  Or as good as it's probably going to get for awhile.  I will have to take a couple more pictures tonight maybe.  Even the basement is in good shape.  There are still some piles of random stuff here and there, but it looks pretty presentable.  Now that all the "stuff" has been put away throughout the house, the task becomes getting everything CLEAN.  I've never been real tolerant of the house being dirty, just messy.  So we're doing pretty good on the obvious stuff.  But lately I've been compelled to do things like wipe down walls and clean doorknobs, it's pretty wild.  I suppose over the next 8-10 weeks I'll find lots of things in the house that suddenly need to be cleaned or dusted.  It's invigorating!

Another one bites the dust

There goes one more pair of pants I won't be able to wear again until after I give birth. Seth seems to kick extra hard in protest when my pants are too tight, like today. I'm down to 3 pairs of paints suitable for work, possibly 2. And my rib cage is expanding too, making my bras work a little harder than usual. I don't know what I was thinking buying a 36 when I was already on the last hook! Ugh!

29 weeks and baby shower!!

Friday after work we packed up and headed West! We had tickets to the Seahawks game on Sunday and so we had planned a little photo shoot with Mandy and also a baby shower at my aunt Kim's house. We were a little late leaving because I spent 15 minutes looking through our entire house trying to find the charger for the camera battery. After looking everywhere, twice, and almost being in tears, I found it and we left. We got to about Cheney when I remembered that I left the Seahawks tickets at home. Booo. So needless to say we arrived at my mom's house in Renton pretty late.

Saturday morning we woke up and it was pouring rain. Mandy came over and we took a few pictures in my mom's "backyard" (basically a strip of grass between her condo and the driving range at the Fairwood G&CC). Then we went over to my old alma mater Lindbergh HS for a few more. Options were a little limited due to the rain but I know they are going to turn out awesome anyway, if my little preview pictures are any indication!



We headed over to Enumclaw then for my first baby shower!! Yay!! We had a really great turnout of family and hauled in lots of baby clothes and gear. We also played this game where you had to cut a piece of string that you thought would be as big around as my belly. Everyone guessed about 8-12 inches too big, but as my great aunt Jessie was leaving she said very matter of fact "you ARE going to get as big as those strings!" Haha. Hard to imagine, but I did save one of them so we can check in a few more weeks and see just how close everyone was.

After the shower we went to a late dinner at Chang's Mongolian Grill, YUM! Then back to my mom's for a short visit with the family and to bed, late again! Before bed I decided to take out my belly button ring because it was sore and angry red and seemed to be catching on everything anyway. After that I started sobbing uncontrollably. I didn't realize how attached I was to that little hole in my tummy, but I really am mourning it a little (even if the crying was a little pregnant emotional dramatic overreaction). I am still hoping it doesn't close up and I can put it back in when I go back to my normal size.

Sunday we headed downtown to the game, which was horrible. I don't know what is wrong with those Seahawks but they need to pull it together, man! The PUNTER had more passing yards than we had rushing yards the whole game. Sad, sad, sad. We still had fun though and Seth flipped and flopped around off and on throughout the game, so I guess he had fun too. I almost started sobbing again, when the crowd was roaring, just thinking what it must sound like to him from in there. Anyway, after the game it was time to go home, so we headed back East and once again I went to bed way past my bed time.



Not tonight though, I am determined to be in bed with the lights off by 9pm. Maybe earlier. Nighty night! A big thank you to everyone who helped with my shower and/or came bearing gifts (or sent gifts). Eric and I are very grateful :)

28 week labs

So I got another clean bill of pregnancy health today.  The results of my 1 hour glucose challenge were “well within” normal limits.  She didn’t say exactly what it was, but according to PAML anything from 50-129 mg/dL is good, so NO GESTATIONAL DIABETES, YES!!!!  YAY!!!  Just in case you’re not familiar (I know a lot of you are) with the glucose challenge, they make you drink this little sugar drink (which I thought tasted like Orange children’s Triaminic) and then sit around the waiting room for an hour before they draw your blood.  If your results are too high then they do a 2 or 3 hour glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes. 

I am very slightly anemic she said, which is pretty normal, and not bad enough that they want me to take an iron supplement, just continue the prenatal vitamins.  So maybe I’ll have to eat some more burgers and steak.  And spinach.  But that might explain why I’ve been so dang tired.  Anyway, I’m just really really happy about the glucose thing. 

I woke up today feeling so weird!  I feel like the baby has relocated or shifted or something.  The lower part of my uterus feels so empty somehow, at least compared to yesterday.  And it’s way easier to pee!  Before today it felt kind of like my bladder was getting pinched in half or something and I couldn’t quite … well anyway.  Hehe.  It’s funny though because just yesterday I was reading articles on this website (spinningbabies.com) about the best positions for your baby to be in for delivery.  It recommended practicing proper “maternal posture” and inversions and such to keep your baby head down as much as possible as you get close to “the end”.  So I was practicing some of that last night (basically downward dog in yoga), maybe that did something.  Although it seems like I am still feeling the kicks and pokes in the same places.  I *think* I feel hands down low below my belly button, around my hip bones, and feet up higher by my ribs.  But I’m not really sure yet.  Sometimes  it feels like there are hands and feet all over the place (and more than 2 of each), so who knows?!?

Hiccups!

The other day a guy at work was telling me how it would drive his wife crazy when their baby got the hiccups during her pregnancy.  I guess it is fairly common and then what do you know, I am pretty sure my little Napa cabbage had the hiccups last night.  Of course it started immediately after I laid down to go to sleep.  But there it was, a relatively faint, rhythmic bumping.  I think it only lasted about 5 minutes so it wasn’t bad, but I can see how that would be very distracting.  So cute though!

I’ve already had to take the charm off my new belly button ring.  It was way too heavy and annoying.  Much better now though, and I’m not all paranoid about catching it on something and ripping the whole thing out.  Oww!!

What a difference 10 weeks makes!

Oh my! And I almost forgot... we picked up our glider yesterday, yay! This took about 5 minutes:

28 weeks pics

Well 28 weeks officially starts the 3rd trimester I guess, according to babycenter.com. Baby Seth is the size of a Napa cabbage now, but with appendages. He still moves around all over the place, but mainly just when people aren't touching my belly waiting for him to. I guess he is shy like that. Last night I played him some music with the headphones on my stomach. It really didn't seem to make much of a difference I don't think. He moved a lot during DMB Ants Marching but I'm sure it was just a coincidence.

Anyway, not a whole lot to share today. I'm still waking up. Eric got up early to go play in a golf tournament (brrrrrr!) so I'm all alone with my messy basement. I will try to make some progress on that today just so it's not a death trap for small children and animals like it is now. In the meantime, here are some lovely pictures for your viewing pleasure.


And here's a lovely close up of my new baby bling (Dr. H mentioned I might want to get something a little more flexible). Sorry if this is kind of gross, I am not skilled with airbrushing in Photoshop :)


I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. It's all long and dangly and I'm afraid it's going to get caught on something. Eric said if we were having a girl he might make me take it out (bully!). But since it's a boy I can keep it for now.

Healthy as a horse

Where did THAT expression come from? What about unhealthy horses?

Anyway… I had my annual health risk assessment at work today. They’ve been doing it every year since I’ve been with INHS, but this year there’s actually a financial incentive for participating and scoring well on the various “risk factors.” I was a *little* worried this year about my results. One of the risk factors is body fat percentage – clearly that one is a little out of whack for me, and I’ve noted that at the Dr.’s office my blood pressure has been a little higher than normal. So I had to have Dr. H fill out this little form and fax it in saying that I’m a perfectly healthy pregnant girl. I went ahead and did the onsite assessment too, just out of curiosity. To my surprise I still passed everything (except BF, which they didn’t bother measuring) with flying colors. My B/P was 118/62, and my blood glucose was 74!!! Sweet!! That makes me a lot less nervous about next week’s glucose tolerance test. My total cholesterol was 234, which for a non-pregnant person is borderline high. However, pregnancy makes your cholesterol go all crazy (who knew??) and since my HDL was 63 they wouldn’t have counted that as a risk factor anyway. The other risk factor is tobacco use, so that was a no brainer. So I am in good shape, yay!

Aside from that… my energy level has plummetted. By the end of a 9 hour day just sitting around at my desk I am thoroughly exhausted. And forget about doing anything at the end of the day, like shopping. Yesterday I had to go on an emergency hunt for pants after work and by the time I finally made a purchase at the 4^th store I visited I wanted to put my head down on the credit card machine and take a nap. So no more of that. Straight home to do yoga or straight to the gym from now on! The good news is that I seem to be sleeping better at night. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Last night when I was getting ready for bed I stood in front of the mirror for a long time putting lotion on my ginormous belly and staring at myself in shock and awe from all different angles. Thankfully I still do not have any stretch marks (knock on wood), but I still have 3 MONTHS TO GO! How is that even possible?!? Another thing that is so shocking is the force with which this child can press on the inside of my uterus. Not a lot of sudden kicks, but a lot of slow pushing and stretching. He’ll like push his foot (or something, I still can’t really tell for sure) out as hard as he can and then drag it from one side to the other. Pregnancy is so weird!! And cool. I feel so lucky and blessed to be able to experience all of this, I really do. Sometimes I feel bad that Eric doesn’t get to feel what I feel, but you know, he says he’s not jealous at all :) Men are funny like that.

Great start to the 3rd trimester

We have had a fabulous weekend, I must say. The carpets were clean and dry when I woke up (early) on Saturday morning. I picked up Eric from his sleepover and we went to breakfast at Frank's diner. Then we came home, ran the vacuum one last time and got to work putting the upstairs back together. Actually, Eric and Ruff put the upstairs together while I put the CRIB together:


Yay! I love it so much! So now we have a stroller/carseat AND a crib. We can officially take the baby home from the hospital and put him to bed. I guess we better get a mattress first, but anyway we're getting closer! Here I am at 27 weeks:



In the afternoon we went on a Costco run, and stopped by the mall to pick me up one more bra. 36DD. That's right, I am officially the same size as Pamela Anderson. Yikes. Saturday night we watched Gran Torino, which was surprisingly entertaining. I was very amused by Clint Eastwood snarling throughout the movie pretty much every racial slur in the book. Which was ironic given the relationships he ultimately develops with his neighbors. Anyway, good movie.

Today I got up and made blueberry muffins and put a chuck roast in the crock pot to stew all day. Eric just brought me a taste and it turned out very good! Yukon gold potatoes, leeks, celery, baby carrots, and Lipton onion soup mix. Yum (and so easy)! Then I got my computer set up in the new office, finally. I had time to upload a few pictures before I had to hop in the shower to get ready for our trip to Green Bluff! Grandma and Grandpa Haynes picked us up and we headed to get Auntie Jen before stopping off at Babies R Us so I could check the price on the dresser I've been eying. Still not on sale :( However, while we were there, we managed to score.... our GLIDER!!!! G&G decided to buy it for us for Christmas!!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!!! I can't even freaking explain how happy that makes me. Thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU Ted and Marci! Eric and I went ahead and ordered the matching ottoman too since it was on sale. Yay! YAY! YAY! So that will be here in 1-3 weeks.

Then we went to Green Bluff, got some salted caramels, mmmm, some pumpkin doughnuts, mmmm, and a caramel apple. Delicious! On the way home we went to "not" Qdoba and had a very mediocre burrito. We tried to go to Qdoba but their power was out so they were CLOSED! It was devastating.

Tonight I did some major work cleaning and organizing our little storage space under the stairs. I think we might actually have room to put all of our junk, er, I mean STUFF away. I consolidated several boxes of Eric's random stuff into just a couple (one of which contains a big stack of letters from his old girlfriend Traci -- hee hee, more on that later). I still have a LOT of work to do down there but I feel really good about the progress we're making. Serious nesting going on around here and it feels awesome! My house will have never been so clean and organized. The prospect of which I find so comforting. Something tells me that once Seth arrives it is going to be pretty sweet to know exactly where everything is.

Well, time for bed. I'm sad to see this weekend come to an end. Next weekend I have to work, so Saturday won't be nearly as productive since I'll be very short on sleep I imagine. Then to Seattle the weekend after that, and THEN *hopefully* Mandy will be coming to visit the weekend after THAT! Can't wait!!

27 weeks - can't sleep

This whole waking up at the drop of a hat thing is reeeeally a drag. Wouldn’t really be a problem except that Eric gets home from work at like 2am EVERY NIGHT. I know he tries to be quiet but just the act of climbing into bed wakes me up just enough that I realize I have to pee, so I have to get up. Which wakes me up enough to feel Seth squirming around a bunch, as he has decided that 2am-4am is a good time to do his baby yoga. By then I am so wide awake that just Eric’s breathing is enough to keep me from falling back asleep. This morning I finally went up and slept on the couch for awhile from about 3:30-6:30am, at which time my alarm going off DOWNSTAIRS woke me up. Good grief. Those were the good old days when I could sleep through a category 5 hurricane if I needed to.

Incidentally, I looked into birth centers in Spokane, mainly out of curiosity. I really have no intention of switching providers at this point and I am pretty comfortable going to the hospital and practicing what I learned in 5^th grade D.A.R.E – “Just say no” to drugs. Anyway, there is just one birth center in Spokane and the next closest is 40 minutes from our house in Hayden, ID. The one in Spokane, well, it seems fine. But I’m going to be honest, this isn't the Seattle area by any means. I mean, seriously, some of those places have birthing suites that are FAR nicer than the hotel room I stayed in on my wedding night. And that is saying something. So bottom line, my options are pretty limited as far as that goes. I haven’t actually seen the birth suites at Sacred Heart yet but I have heard they are divine. I can do this. WE can do this. Damn the torpedoes!