more hiccups!

I was so busy the last week and a half, I have not taken a 31 week belly photo. :( I'll probably just wait and do the 32 week one on Tuesday. I do have a couple of fun photo sessions coming up though. On the 13th, my stepmom's friend Diane will be painting my belly and I'll have photos taken. I still don't know what to do for a design.... any suggestions?? I'd like to get Brian incorporated into it too somehow... hmm... Then on the 15th, a friend of ours agreed to take some nice belly photos for us. I'm excited. :)

My desk is now in the bedroom, so the "Nursery" transformation is under way. I still need to figure out the closet situation and find a home for one of the sets of bookshelves in there. We also need to get paint and start that. I'd like to have it painted before the baby shower which is in a few weeks. That way, we can plop all of our baby stuff in there after the shower and get to work on organizing and decorating! I changed my mind and am thinking of doing the walls a sunny yellow, with some green accents. Maybe we can go look at paint colors this weekend...

Brian goes away to AZ next weekend to visit with Jon. We figure it will be his last chance for a while because we'll have the baby and it will be tough to travel. So I'll have the weekend here alone, but there are a few things going on that will keep me busy. Our friends Andy and Kris are having their wedding celebration (they got married on a cruise a couple months ago) so I'll be going to that.

I really wanted to try to plan a little weekend getaway with Brian before the baby comes, since we have a gift certificate for BedandBreakfast.com but I'm not sure we are going to have time to squeeze it in.... We've both been run down and kinda stressed lately, so it would be nice for us to have some alone time, even if we just get away for one night. We'll see if we can work it in... Our weekends are really filling up quickly for the next 6-8 weeks!

Next thing I want to think about is packing a bag for the hospital. Eeek! I also want to try to do the Waterbirth class at WDH just in case, in the moment, I decide I want to give it a try. They won't allow you to do it unless you've taken the class. Luckily, it's free.

I've been listening to my Rainbow Relaxation CD every night when I'm falling asleep. I swear, I'm passing out quicker and quicker each time! I don't even get to the part about the rainbow colors! I suppose that's a good thing, so that when I'm using it for labor, my body will be used to relaxing really well when I hear it.

My temp job has been going well, but boy am I burnt out. This past week, I've worked there from 8am-4pm and then gone straight to MusicalArts afterwards until 6:30 or 7:30 pm. Phew! Talk about tired. I've also had a sore throat most of the week... I'm hoping it won't progress to much more than that. I'm trying to catch up on sleep this weekend and get extra vitamin c, drink lots of fluids, etc.

Heartburn is still plaguing me like crazy. But a newer development, and the name of this post, has been lots of Super Bean hiccups!! Brian had his ear on my belly this morning to see if he could hear the baby at all, and after a minute I felt a little bump. He said it sounded like she burped! Then, she had hiccups! Hehe, so cute. Of course, I know how annoying hiccups are when I have them, so then I feel bad for her. She got them again a little while ago, and several times in the last few days.

Alright, I have to get back to a few more chores I'd like to get done... Be back soon!

pictures and stuff

There ya go!

Had my midwife appointment today. She said my glucose and iron tests came back awesome. I'm at about +26lbs so far.... and they say I should gain about a pound a week from now on... so it's looking like I should end up in the +35ish pounds... which is good. We'll see what actually happens.... :) I'm craving lots of sweets these days!

She poked and prodded around my belly a little to see if she could tell the baby's position. She said she thinks she is head down with her back along my left side and her extremities to the right. I'm guessing she was the opposite until recently because I was feeling lots of pokes on the left side for a long time. Now I'm feeling them all over and just the last few days, I've felt them up high near my ribs for the first time. After the poking and prodding, she listened to the heartbeat. It was a little fast, around 155, and she said it might have been because she was just poked and prodded. :)

We plan on moving my desk out of the office this weekend (the office will become the nursery). Brian's desk is down in the basement now. Then we have to sort through the bookshelves and other junk in here and figure out what to do with it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all the stuff in the closet.... hmm... I think I'll need one of those portable zip-up closets to put in the basement and I can move most of it down there. It's mostly dresses, jackets, sweaters - stuff I don't wear all that often.

Still working out our paint color ideas... I'm not sure what bedding we will end up with so it makes it hard, but I'm leaning towards a pale pastel green with yellow accents... Then maybe later, after we know more of our theme, maybe some wall decals. We'll see.

It's going to be so fun to decorate once we start getting all the pieces together. I can't wait until our shower! :) :) :)

30 weeks!!

EEEKKK!!! Time is just flying right by! A new development this past week - sciatica. At least I think that's what it was. On Sunday, my ankle felt funny, kind of like it had to crack or pop. It felt that way all day and by the evening I was feeling it through my calf and behind my knee really bad too. Almost like a tingling, kind of numb feeling like your leg is going to fall asleep. It was just my left leg and that's the leg I've been having really bad RLS in at night too (Restless Leg Syndrome).

I'm still having groin pain as well. There will be times when after sitting for a while, I get up and it "goes out" - that's the only way I can describe it. Like a really horrible groin pull and I can't walk. If I do some deep squats/sumo stretches and butterfly stretch, it seems to be ok again. It will just come on really bad out of the blue and then after a couple stretches, it seems to go away a bit. My groin still is always a little sore, but when it "goes out", boy does that suck!

We went to our Newborn Care class on Sunday. It was alright. We learned how to swaddle, heard about scary stuff like SIDS and Postpartum Depression and we got the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD and CD. I was really excited to get that. It made it worth the $25 we spent for the class.

Super Bean has been kicking and bumping around like crazy. She's getting super strong. :) I was laying on my side the other day with my arm draped over my tummy and she kicked so hard she nearly knocked my arm off!

We had our taxes done and found out we OWE this year. So Not Fun. Last year we got a fabulous return so we were thinking we'd get something back this year too. NOPE. And on top of that, since the lady who did our taxes didn't hire me for work this year, she didn't do our taxes for free like she usually does. So we owe her money too! Such bad timing! On top of all the vet bills and everything else, having this extra cost really sucks. I have to try not to think about money because it really depresses me and I get very upset. I know we'll find a way to manage but it's so stressful.

Alright, that's all for now, I think. Lots to do. I'll put up my belly pic for today in a little while after I take one. :) Tootles!

Hiccups!

I think I just experienced Super Bean hiccups for the first time! Hehe, it made me smile and giggle! I love "firsts".

I got a copy of my Baby Shower invite in the mail yesterday. They are so darn cute! :)

Here are some more pictures....

I also talked with Pat's friend Diane about getting my belly painted. She does body painting and I'm excited to have it done and get some cool, unique photos. I also would like some professional photos done with Brian, but I haven't nailed down a place to get them done yet. Oh and maybe do a plaster mold too...

We have our Newborn Care class this Sunday. Our weekends between now and June 28th (due date) are quickly filling up with plans! Agh! Running out of time! :)~ But I'm loving every minute.

xoxoxoxox

Catching up

Sorry it's been a little long since I've posted.... Let's catch up... I'm almost 29 weeks now! Whoa! Here are a couple photos from the last 2 weeks ~

(I decided to be all artsy-fartsy last week...)

I had my midwife appointment on Thursday and I had to do the glucose test. It wasn't that bad. I had to drink this red drink that tasted like ridiculously sweet fruit punch kool-aid. Then I went and had blood drawn. They said it takes about a day or so to get the results and that if I didn't hear from them then everything is fine... I haven't heard from them so far. :) My belly measured perfect, my blood pressure was ok (top number was slightly high - 128/60-something). It was hard to find Super Bean's heartbeat because she was bouncing around in there so much. Once we found it, it was around 140, which is just right.

This time, I saw the midwife that happens to be the same person who bought the land next to us. At the end of the appointment, she mentioned that she is interviewing contractors so she can get started building her cottage. If you haven't heard how I feel about a house being constructed practically on top of us, I'll tell you - I'm not too happy. Arg. Anyway, I think she has sensed that we aren't excited about it, but I've been nothing but friendly and nice with her. Just as I was leaving she said in a jaunty manner, "We'll be making a mess of your yard soon!" giggle, smile. Ummm.... why would you say that??? She then said that she is excited to get the construction started this summer. Perfect. Right when I am due to have a newborn. Fabulous. There will be construction guys and noise and crap going on right outside our nursery window. I'm so thrilled. Needless to say, I went right over to city hall to find out the regulations on putting up a fence. Problem is, we really don't have the money for one right now, but I don't want the contractors, who will have no clue where the property line is, "making a mess of our yard" so we have to do something. I also don't want them to be able to see right into the baby's room! *sigh* We bought some grade stakes, twine and fluorescent flags to put up marking our property line. Maybe we'll do that today.

On a happier note, I went to the library Friday and got a book on breastfeeding and the Happiest Baby on the Block book. Also got Baby Laughs by Jenny McCarthy, and a bunch of baby music cd's. I always forget how much I like going to the library. :) Hopefully I can find time to do some reading in the next several weeks. There are so many things I still want to get accomplished before Super Bean comes and I'm feeling the time crunch now! I wanted to crochet a couple things, like maybe a hat, a blanket, some booties... we'll see how that goes... :) I even bought a book with lots of cute patterns for baby stuff.

I fell asleep last night to my Rainbow Relaxation (Hypnobirthing) CD. I need to start doing that every night. My friend Jodi took the class too and I'm excited to find out that she is either having the baby right now or the baby is here today! I can't wait to talk to her and see how her Hypnobirthing practice went. She'd be the first person I know personally that used it.

We had a busy week this past week. Tuesday night was the Flatbread Benefit for my stepmom. It went great! Then Thursday night we went out with some friends to celebrate a birthday. Friday night we saw Entrain at the Stone Church. I danced a bunch but not as much as I normally would. I got a little sore, but it was still a great time! I feel like I'm already starting to do the pregnant-lady-waddle. Hehe.

Things are really coming together for the Coat of Arms Benefit Concert. We've got our 3 bands now, and we are going to start getting all of our donated raffle items in hand so we can organize them all. There are going to be 100's of dollars worth of prizes! I'm so excited. Keep an eye on http://patdonation.blogspot.com for all the info.