30 years and 30 Weeks!

This has been a pretty easy week for me (thank god!) especially after the little scare that we had a few weeks back.  I'm feeling good and not getting any crazy aches and pains.  Brandon has been a good boy and giving his mom a break!

I think that after our trip to the hospital the reality has really begun to set in.  It's a bit scary to know that B will be here before we know it and that our lives will be focused solely on this little person. We're excited to meet him, but we're also ok enjoying the calm before the storm.

His nursery is starting to come together!  We really wanted to wait until after our baby showers to begin putting his room together to help see what else we needed.  With all the generous gifts from our family and friends we really don't need a lot!  We're so thankful for to them...they've made our adventure into parenthood an easy one so far!  We will post a picture of the nursery when we are all done with it.

My sweet husband...oh how thankful I am to have him.  This part may get a little sappy, but I just really want to give Josh a shout out for how amazing he's been.  Ok so, when we found out that we were pregnant I bought him a daddy to be book.  I was really hoping that he would prove me wrong and begin reading it.  Well, just like I expected I sadly saw the book collecting dust on his nightstand.  I would give him a hard time and say "well good thing you're really putting that book to use..." I tried not to let it get to me cause I know that men will just do things on their own pace. Although, it did make me double guess whether or not he was truly into this pregnancy as I was...it's so bad to think that way, i know, but hey I'm a woman and add that with an unnecessary amount of hormones, I can't help but over think.

Anyway, after chalking up the book situation, Josh tells me the other day that he took his book to work (to read!) ...I was really surprised that after so many months he finally decided to start reading it.  I'm not sure what got into him, but hey, I'll take it!!  It's so funny to have him so excited to tell me all the new things that he's learned so far.  It's quite cute and I just love him more and more because of it.  The other day I came home to the nursery rearranged and organized...Oh god, talk about waterworks!!!  He later told me that his book said that this new arrangement is the most efficient way for a nursery.  Ok, I've always felt that when it comes to baby knowledge, that I knew a lot more than Josh, but after this new information, I was left picking my jaw up off the floor.  God, there's nothing worse in life than your husband proving you wrong!!

Brandon so far at 30 weeks:

Length: 15.7 inches about the size of a cabbage

Weight: Almost 3 pounds!

According to thebump....His skin is beginning to smoothen out and is now able to grasp a finger!

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Just.Be.Nice...

Just the other day I got to catch up with one of my favorite regulars from work that I haven't seen in a while.  She happens to be labor and delivery nurse and it was so nice to pick her brain about everything!  I felt kinda bad at first about bombarding her with so many questions, but it seemed like she didn't mind at all.

I've had such an amazing experience thus far when it comes to seeing my Dr and nurses for my appointments.   They've always been very supportive with my decisions and very patient with any questions that I've had.  Being that my job focuses very highly on customer service I try to make sure that I don't make their job any harder than it already is, because I know what it feels like to come home and be emotionally drained after a long day of working with people.  It's no fun and it makes you want to pull your hair out!!  I've been working in customer service for a long time now and I've learned that it is so easy to hate your job, but the only way that keeps me from jumping that ledge are the people who truly go out of their way to be appreciative of your hard work.  Those people may not come along as often as I would like, but those are the people that make me love what I do!

Anyway, so with that mentality in mind and after talking to my regular your ATTITUDE does go a long way when dealing with others.  So be nice to your Dr's and nurses people, and say your "please" and "thank you's!!"

Now, because I worry about what other people think and feel a little too much, I also asked her what her biggest pet peeve's were when it came to women delivering their baby?  She said that the only real thing that bothered her are the women who come in with one option of delivering their baby.  She hates to see women HATING their birthing experience because they didn't want help.  Um, I totally understand that delivering a baby is no walk in the park, but isn't that why we go to seek a Dr or a nurse? To help ease the pain?! DUH!

With that being said it made me think of my birthing plan a little more.  Like I've mentioned before, my main goal is to TRY to do it naturally, but if it comes down to the health of Brandon and I.  I will make sure to put my pride on the side and ask for help if I need it!
 

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29 weeks

I realized that from my last post I forgot to add how the little guy has been doing.  Other than the little scare that we had he's been doing great.  He's been letting me sleep pretty soundly at night, with a little help of adding a few more padding under my tummy.  I still get up about 2x's a night...which is sooo much better than 4x's in the beginning, although I feel like I go a lot more during the day!  Especially at work, I feel like I've earned to have my name engraved in one of the bathroom stalls at my work!

Energy:   When I entered my 3rd trimester it seems like it went on a decline.  I've found myself sneaking in a nap a few times a week.  It's been nice surrendering to a nap, but I always feel so guilty shortly after. I have so much I want to get done before he comes, so I decided to go back into the gym and get the heart rate back up again.  I believe that staying active and being on my feet really helps me get my energy back, as well as having an easy pregnancy.  Although my work out is very limited these days, I try to at least get some good time in and get my sweat on!

Appetite:  I've never been a snacker, but I think that this time around it's a must!  It's funny cause when I leave the house I always make sure I have the following: Keys, cellphone, purse, and snacks (which is usually a bag of wheat thins).  Having a snack in between my meals really helps with not over indulging come lunch or dinner time!  Along with my appetite I've been experiencing with a little heart burn.  It usually happens after dinner or when I turn in for the night.  I get this acidy taste around my throat and it's just disgusting, so I've surrendered and have decided to not eat too close to bed time.

Appointment:  I had my last monthly appointment last week and I have been really dreading it because the last time I went in my Dr was a bit upset about the 7lb weight gain that I had!  It totally wasn't my fault though!!  I was on vacation!  So since then I've just a bit more cautious about how much I eat and really understand that just because I'm pregnant it doesn't mean that I'm ok to eat whatever I want!  Anyway, the appointment went well blood pressure is good and I was only up 1lb. HALLELUJAH!!  Wich puts me at a total of +14lb from my pre-pregnancy weight!  I got to listen to his heart beat and it was nice and strong!  After this appointment I am now going in every 2 weeks!  I still can't believe that I'm so close to the end.  It makes me so much more excited to meet him!!  AAAHHH!  I'm so excited!!


Brandon so far:

Length:  15.7 inches about the size of a squash

Weight: 2.75 lb

He's growing white fat deposits under his skin, and his energy is surging because of it! You may feel some playful kicks, and jabs, and a little hiccups!

29 weeks and 6 days

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Practice makes perfect...right?

I'm 29 weeks and 6 days today!  It's hard to believe that in about 10 weeks Brandon will be here changing our lives for-ev-er.  There's still not a day that passes that I think "Oh wow, Josh and I are going to be parents!"  I was just looking back at my pregnancy journal the other day and I just started crying!  This week has been such an emotional roller coaster, I feel like since the end is near that there's just so much that goes through your mind.  The number one being whether or not we're going to be good parents.  I've accepted that I will make mistakes as a Mom and that I wont always have the correct answers, but I will promise him that I will try my hardest to raise him to be a good man.

Secondly, I worry whether or not I will know what to do when he's here...like changing his diapers when he needs them changed, feeding him when he's hungry, consoling him correctly when he has a tummy ache...  

It's so easy to start worrying about all the little what if's, but I just hope that once he's here I will magically know how to do all those things :)

So, I've mentioned before that I've been having some serious round ligament pains lately...well on Friday it got the best of me and it lead to a trip to the hospital.  It was such a reality check for me, the whole process from the beginning until the end was so exhausting!

Here's how it all went down:

Friday night after dinner as we were walking to our car I felt this super sharp pain running down the side of my pelvis and my stomach all of a sudden started to get hard!!  It was so painful that I had to stop walking and breath it out (holy scary right?!).  It stopped after about 10 seconds and once we got to the car all I wanted to do was get home and lay down.  I thought that it was just the ligament pain, but since my tummy began getting hard I thought that maybe I was just a bit dehydrated.  When we got home I immediately drank a glass of water and laid on my left side.  A few minutes later it happened again.  This time I told Josh that I was gonna start timing these so-called contractions.  We counted 5x's in 1 hour.  I called my Dr and she said that if it continues that she wants me to come in.  At this point I began to panic, I didn't care that I was in pain...the only thing that was on my mind was "No, he can't be come yet, he's still too little!!"  We continued to count after we talked to the Dr and when we got to 4 I ask Josh "should we maybe pack a bag?" "Ya, probably"  10 minutes later we were out the door and on our way to the hospital.  I had so many things running through my mind...I probably could've toughened it out, but I just really wanted that piece of mind that he was ok.  I probably asked Josh about a 100 what-if questions and bless his heart he was so calm and answered every one.

We checked in and they had me hooked up and monitored within 15 minutes of getting there.

They monitored Brandon's heartbeat and my contractions

She took a few samples one of them being a fetal fibronectin.  It predicts preterm labor and if it's positive then the chances of going into labor within 14 days are high!  As we waited for those results they just continued to monitor Brandon and I.  We were there for about 3 hours and she reassured me that everything seemed to look good that I wasn't dilated and that I haven't had any contractions since we've been there!  

It was getting late and from the excitement and anxiety we both began to start getting a little tired.  Josh was wonderful, he was so calm and made jokes when they were needed.  He alleviated a lot of my stress just by being there.  As he was dosing off I just looked at him and thought "I wouldn't want go through this with anyone else, but him!"

A few hours later we got or test results back and they were all negative.  Our nurse said that although it was all a false alarm, that it was good that we still came in, because now we have somewhat of an idea of what to expect when the real thing happens.

The whole experience just made everything feel so real, I can't even begin to explain all of the millions of emotions that went through my head when I was laying there...just the thought of  possibly delivering your baby right then is completely indescribable!!!  We don't even have a car seat to take him home in yet... 

The next day, I look in the bag that Josh packed for us and saw that the only thing he packed were my things...I asked him how he knew what to pack and his response was "I Googled it."  

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Paging Dr. Doogie Howser....

Josh and I took the day off to meet with a possible Pediatrician for Brandon today. Like getting an oil change, it made me feel like such a grown up! I've heard a few parents say that they never actively looked for one and that they just used whatever "Doogie" that their hospitals recommended. That's totally cool by me, but we felt that it is very important to meet the person that will be poking, prodding, and drugging (i hope not) up our baby. Josh and I have a pretty laid back personality about a lot of things, but when it comes to our future child we expect nothing but the best...as all parents should.

We really want a Doogie who is very knowledgable and experienced. They don't need to have gone to an ivy league school (although it would be a plus) but would like them to be very confident and passionate about their practice. We also want a Doogie who is open to giving us suggestions as supposed to just telling us what to do.... to let us make our own decision when it comes to his well being, but will also be quick to tell us "No, dummy that's not going to work!"

Anyway, we met with our first candidate today her name was Dr. Giselle Falkenburg. She was such a sweet little lady. She came in with her laptop in hand and a crocheted purse strapped across her chest. Ummm, wasn't really sure why she needed her purse, but she had about 8 pens hanging on the side pouch...Maybe she was just getting done with her Divination class, who knows??

Dr. Falkenberg

DO YOU KINDA SEE THE RESEMBLANCE?!!

Professor. Trelawny (from Harry Potter)

But anyway, she had a very quirky demeanor about her and seemed very outgoing. She sat down and was ready for Josh and I to read off our list of questions. We asked a lot of the basic questions, but one of the big questions that we had was what her approach was on giving children medication/drugs for when they get sick. Josh and I are big believers on letting your body work it's magic when it comes to getting sick. We try to prevent getting sick by just living a healthier lifestyle and eating right. Ok, just for the record we're not health freaks by any means, but we just believe that just because we have a little cold that we need to drug ourselves up with medication! Josh's and I's cure when we were sick was Mom's cooking, hugs, and kisses :)

There's nothing worse than being a germaphobic parent and we are trying to stay away from becoming one,  we are strong believers that "A little dirt wont hurt", and that children need to build their immune system in order for them to not be so susceptible to becoming sick.  I may be saying this now, but who knows?  Maybe when Brandon is finally here I'll change my thinking and he'll be the boy in the plastic bubble...

The dog days are over...

Getting our place ready for Brandon has been such a long process now that I think about it. We started to get the place ready a few months ago and just the past few weeks it has turned our quite little household to a work in progress. Between work, spending time with family, and getting the place ready, it's been kind of a zoo trying to get everything organized. With the baby stuff that we will be accumilating over the next month it will take a lot of patience to figure out where everything should go...It's going to be crazy and not just for us, but for Russy as well. We've had Russy since he was a little puppy and we consider him as part of our family, almost like our first child (sorry Brandon). We love him dearly and he's been such an amazing dog to us throughout the years...but lately he's been such a needy little pill!! He's typically a very laid back and well mannered dog, but just the other day he just decided to do his "business" in the middle of the kitchen!!! Josh and I didn't really know what to do at first, because it's been years since he'd had an accident like that. We felt bad after we scolded him, but we had to do what we had to do :(

I mentioned it to Merrie, who is a dog owner herself and she told me that she believes that dogs along with other animals have that natural instinct when it comes to change. I never thought about this, and the more I think about it the more it makes sense! Josh and I have already readied ourselves to how to properly introduce Russy to Brandon when we take him home, but I didn't think that we would have to ready him so far in advance. Josh and I love Russy very much and the more we thought about this the more we tried to see ourselves through his hairy eyes. I'm sure that lately with how busy we've been with everything, we have been really sucking at paying attention to him. So since now that we have actually acknowledged the problem, we have been putting extra effort in paying more attention to him. I just hope that he doesn't decide to runaway on us...eh, who am I kidding, he's too lazy to run away!!


BUT just incase he does here's a recent picture of him...if you happen to see him wandering around aimlessly in your neighborhood, call me!!!

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28 weeks and growing...and boy do I feel it!

Oh, god I can't believe that I'm 2/3 done with my pregnancy already.  I feel like it has gone by so fast!  Especially the past few weeks, getting ready for Brandon has been the big priority for us these past few weeks.  So much on our to do list that it's starting to get a bit overwhelming at times.  I try to not worry too much about it, but it's just impossible.  I wish I could just snap my fingers and everything on the list will be crossed off, but I know that planning is part of being a grown up...it's ok though, going through it with Josh has been great and pretty entertaining at times :)

I feel that finalizing our registry has been on my mind 24/7!!!  I find myself just staring at this huge list and thinking "how many of these things do we really need?" or "Oh god, I wonder if I've gotten everything I will need?!"  Damn you internet and your "List of must have baby things!"  I find myself double guessing A LOT!!  Cause seriously how the hell am I supposed to know what things he'll need when he's not even here yet?!?  It's like packing for a vacation.... but for a complete stranger!!  Oh god, I think I'm giving myself grey hairs over this!

We crossed off 2 huge things on our list this week.  One was who's insurance Brandon will be under and second, finding him a pediatrician.  I was putting off the insurance thing for a while cause I'm not really polished on my insurance education.  But It was a lot easier than I thought, so that was really nice! Plus I've learned that my insurance sucks compared to Josh's! Oh, and we also signed up for our birthing classes which I'm pretty excited about...


So, now that I'm getting even bigger... I can no longer see my thighs or knees when I'm standing up.  I attempted to cut my toe nails the other night and let me tell you...It has become a work out...I found myself having to stop and come up for air a few times.  Josh walked in on me with a confused look and asking if I was alright....oh and I'm not even going to talk about shaving my unmentionables...that's just not even funny... I think that it would be in my best interest if I get serviced for those things now!


Stretch mark free zone (for now)  ok, so like I've mentioned before stretch marks are my biggest fear (in life), and I honestly don't know why?  It's not like I'm going to be rocking a mid drift top or a bikini after he's born?!?  I just have this thing about having flawless skin.  GOD, I sound super vain right now, but I believe that I've kept Aveeno lotion in business with how much I use it!  As well as Charmin toilet paper for how much I go pee!!


Round ligament pains!!  I've been experiencing these horrible pains the last few weeks,  I thought that Brandon got a hold of a knife somehow and has been stabbing me in my pelvis.  It usually happens when I get up from sitting....switch position when I'm laying down and sometimes when I'm doing the cupid shuffle.  I seriously thought that I was having contractions, but when I talked to my nurse she told me that I wasn't.  What happens is there are round ligaments surrounding your uterus in your pelvis area and because it's growing so big (imagine your uterus growing from a size of a pear to a soccer ball) the ligaments begin to stretch to try to accommodate for your growing uterus! The stretching of the ligaments is what causes the sharp pain aka Brandon stabbing me!  I'm not really sure how to prevent this, but I feel like cursing eases it sometimes....


Brandon so far:

Height: 14.8 inches about the size of an eggplant

Weight:  2.25 lb

According to the babycenter  he can blink his eyes, which now sport eye lashes (wink, wink).  With increasingly developed eyesight, he may be able to see the light that filters through my womb.

27 weeks and 6 days