Week 38

HOW FAR ALONG?    
38 weeks, 2 days.
Only 8 days to go (c-section is scheduled a few days before actual due date because baby is still breeched)

THE PLAN    
The section is scheduled for 11am. Pending everything goes well, the baby should be delivered, all checked and cleaned and me sown up by Noon at the latest.  At this point, expect a mass text from Michael to say mom & baby are healthy (God willing!)

I will be in recovery for 1 hour max. Thanks to the new hospital and their policies, we will be with baby the entire time (IF all is well and IF baby doesn’t need to go to the transition nursery or NICU).  During this hour, we’ll be partaking in a lil special time between just the 3 of us. I will also attempt the first feeding at this time (thanks again to the wonderful Woman’s Hospital and their excellent prioritizing to mom and baby – their mission is to have the baby to breast within 1 hour of delivery – c-section or not. Love this!)

After my recovery and when we are all settled in and comfortable, we are going to at that time invite the family into our room for Michael to do the big introduction. The intro to my family will come next – because of the distance, they will not be able to be at the hospital – so, virtual introduction it shall be.

Shortly thereafter, any of you wonderful friends who are available to be at the hospital that day will be welcomed into the room.  The majority of you (or shall I say 99% of you) that live out of town who won’t be at the hospital, expect to rec’v another mass text with pictures…..accompanied by name. Boy or Girl??? Ahhhhh

So….sometime around 1:30ish is when all of you will be ‘in the know.’   This time table will undoubtedly be off cue, but this way, at least y’all know what we’re thinking in terms of the rough plan for announcing the big news to everyone.  Also, for those of you who do plan to come to the hospital, I’d hate for you to be there at 11am, but not get to see us for hours after that. 

HOW AM I FEELING?

Emotionally:  I think I’m nearing the end of my freak out (anticipatory anxiety anyone?) and feel the excitement phase creeping along.

Michael?  He’s been more than excited for a while now.  His main concern is that we haven't picked the name yet!!!!  Ahhh. I cannot believe we're waiting til the last minute on that one!

Physically:  better than I’ve felt in 2 months!  This must be that last kick of energy pregnant women are flooded with in their last couple weeks.  (Granted those kicks of energy are followed by extremely tireness, but I’ll take it!).

I am sad to announce, however, that I have officially reached the end of my working out while pregnant rein.  I have not had a true “work out” in a week.  As I suspected they would, once hitting month 9, my workouts have been deduced to just walking Pepper every day (some days faster than others) with long stretch sessions afterward.  

I’ve been using those energy reserves for other things – like stocking the freezer with delicious, healthy meals like this:

TOTAL WEIGHT GAIN?

33 pounds.  Whew. Cutting it close with the 25-35 pound healthy gain range. Remember those pounds in the bank I wrote about early on?  Good thing! Because I’ve been rocking out 2 pounds a week playing catch up.  Have I mentioned how fun it is to tie my shoes?  I should have invested in those velcro ones we joked about, Reagan!!!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK?

Being finished (for the time being) on all house projects. There are still a few things to knock out (drapes in dining room, throw pillows for living room, pictures to fill frames in breakfast area, lots of things in the keeping room), but at this point, I’m over it.  Had a little productive/nesting weekend and am satisfied enough with the status to throw in the towel.  Sounds funny for that to be a highlight, but trust me – it is!  Peace of mind is priceless.

Speaking of…

OPERATION DECO – UPDATE

We finally finished painting our shutters and door. And by "we" I mean Michael!
You see, when we first moved in, the builder wouldn’t allow us to have the color choices we wanted, so we settled for a bad maroon’ish color that looked horrible with our bricks.  Bricks, that mind you, came out NOT looking like the ones we choose at all.  Anywho - it was time to repaint (due to normal weathering) and we received permission to paint them a darker shade to look a little better with our bricks. Here goes:

We also made a little further progress in the nursey.   (sorry...again, I can't figure out how to rotate the picture!)

 

Ole Pep – gotta get in on the action!!!

 

LOOKING FORWARD TO?

Enjoying our last week as a married couple sans kids?  Soaking up as much relaxing, quiet time as possible.  Since I’m not really capable of doing a whole heck of a lot and neither is Michael for that matter (his back is still recouping from an unfortunate incident with the tailgate trailer), we’ll probably be soaking up a lot of sofa time! 

 

Until next time....and by the way, the next time will more than likely be post baby! 

Week 36

HOW FAR ALONG?    

36 weeks, 3 days.

9^th month!

SAVE THE DATE

After having another check up and ultrasound (will continue to have ultrasounds with weekly appointments to keep tabs on fluid levels), things have not changed since last week.  Fluid levels are pretty much the same, but baby is still healthy (yay!) and is still breech (which it’s pretty much guaranteed to remain).  I am not dilated one bit (yay²).

We officially have a birth day selected for the big delivery.  The doc gave us the choice of Oct 29, 20, 31.  All along during the pregnancy, I said I had a feeling it would come the last week of October and commented numerous times how cool it would be to happen on the 30^th.  That is a very special day to us, as it was my Mom’s birthday as well as the day Michael proposed.  One of those ‘meant to be’ gigs I suppose. 

So, October 30^th at 11am it is!   (Unless of course I go into labor beforehand). 

O M G that’s only 21 days away.

This also means that – barring everything happens normally and mom & baby are happy and healthy – Michael is going to the Bama game Nov 3!  Unless our offense gets a major kick in the butt and changes pace by then, we may all still be healthy, but definitely not happy post game.

HOW AM I FEELING?

Emotionally:  Much better than last week, that’s for sure. After the much needed breakdown, I’m feeling pretty good about everything now. Despite the lack of sleep!

Physically:  same ole same old with my ribs in my back right side. Other than that, everything else is still good to go. My energy levels are still up there which is good.  Still doing my 3^rd trimester workout plan 3 days a week and walking Pepper at least 5 days a week. (I am going to miss our walks so much during recovery).

OPERATION DECO – UPDATE

Everything is about as good as it’s gonna get for a while. We have some stuff ordered that’s on the way and other that that, we’re nearing the point of completion for now.  A few biggies are postponed until after the 1^st of the year (patio, banquette, gutters), but I feel okay about that because the hard part (planning, vendors, quotes, designs, etc.) is done. It’s just a matter of pressing ‘go.’

Here are some shots on the nursery progress.  *Warning* this is NOT the cutest, most complete nursery you’ve ever seen. We sought out to keep it simple across the board, so there aren’t a lot of bells and whistles to make you ooh and ahh. So…just keep your expectations low;)

 

Dresser/Changing table 

BEFORE                                                              AFTER

 

          

 

IN PROGRESS

 UP CLOSE

I love the knobs!

 

 

Crib and Window Cover

 

 

 

Thanks for the owl frame,Max Neal!

 

Pepper's new favorite hang out spots

sorry...can't figure out how to rotate the pics

 

 

Checking on 'her baby's" stuff

 

 

 

Keeping an eye on Megan and Brandon's house 

 

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK?

An impromptu trip to Lafayette to visit the Harris'.  Even though Michael and I were engulfed in the game the entire time, it was nice to get to spend a lil time with some of our most favorite peeps. Thanks for being such a great hostess, Heather!

LOOKING FORWARD TO?

Tailgating in this beautiful weather this Saturday for the South Carolina game.

Week 35

HOW FAR ALONG?    
35 weeks, 3 days.  Tail end of 8^th month.

NEWS:

Had the big doc appt this morning….

The good:  Baby G is healthy, despite a small fundal height due to lower amounts of fluid.  It is in the 60^th percentile for size measurements.  Weighs 5 lbs 14 oz with….wait for it……a FULL HEAD OF HAIR!  I am so excited about that because I was a very odd looking baby to say the least and didn’t have hair until I don’t know when. Baby G will apparently not have that problem. The hair was visible on the untrasound. The tech would bump my stomach with the wand thing to make the baby move up and down and you could see the hair floating around from the motion. 

The bad:  Due to the aforementioned lower amounts of fluid, the baby has no room in there whatsoever.  Which means whatever position it’s in….it’s pretty much stuck in.  What position would that be?   BREECH!  That’s what. 

Great.  Just great.  That means, we’re in for a c-section.  This is by no means the worse news we could have received today by far.  I am aware that it could be much much worse.  Nonetheless, I am extremely perturbed and am allowing myself the right to be upset by the news. I am disheartened by the fact that my body isn’t going to get to go through the birthing process.  That’s what it was designed to do after all. Sure, I was terrified out of my mind to go through labor and delivery, but now I feel like something been taken away from me or something.  I will eventually come to terms with it, but for now, it’s still sinking in and I haven’t accepted it yet.  

I go back for another checkup this coming Monday, after of which the situation will be reassessed with another ultrasound and a date will be chosen for delivery.  For now, the doc is thinking just a few days early, but that could be pushed to an earlier date depending on fluid levels next week.

The Precious:

Disclaimer: the nose did not look like that in every frame.  lol.  It kept putting it's arm across its face, making taking a picture very difficult (you can see that an arm is still covering half of the face). It had just brushed that arm across its face when this picture was taken, making the nose look all huge.  Don't get me wrong, still cute as hell! 

 

 

Profile:

So, yeah, that first image is 3-D. We didn't sign up for that, but I guess that's where a little small talk about LSU football will get cha.  The tech just offered to do it for us so of course we were on board!

 

HOW AM I FEELING?
Emotionally:  still swallowing the news of the c-section and still a little freaked and in shock at how fast time is flying by.  Everyone said pregnancy would take forever and that by now, the whole “I just can’t wait to have the baby” feelings would have taken over…neither has been the case for me (yet!).

Physically:  my ribs in my back right side are still killing me and all signs still point to a fracture.  It gets worse by the day.  The only relief found is by avoiding sitting down.  Laying down in one of two spots in the house in my “pillow palace” with my best friend-the heating pad is about the only place you’ll find me.   Oddly enough, it doesn’t bother me while I’m exercising, thank goodness.

My doctor actually offered to write me a note to be freed from work from now until delivery, but luckily I don’t have to take her up on that (there is WAY too much to do between now and maternity leave).  I cannot be thankful enough that Horizon is totally on board with whatever I need.  I am working from home now everyday (in my pillow palace that is!) from lunchtime through the end of the day (well, most days, when it’s feasible to do so per afternoon meetings that cannot be reworked).  

Despite the rib pain, everything else is good to go. Still have lots of energy and have no swelling, no heartburn, etc... no other complaints. I’m very grateful for that. Instead of having a bunch of little nagging things going on, it’s just one big one for me.