Thursday, December 26, 2013

31 Weeks!


Not the best picture, but it was the only one we got on Christmas day!


How far along?  31 weeks, 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: +23lbs...darn those Christmas cookies! haha but really things seem to be on track and my OB is happy with where we're at so far....

Maternity clothes? All the time!  Now I'm also trying to focus on nursing clothing and taking that into account when/if I purchase any clothing.

Sleep: Seems to be okay...getting tired and taking some weekend or evening naps here and there.  I've gotten a few leg cramps in the middle of the night which is not fun.  I'm having a little more back/hip pain as this bump gets bigger and bigger so sometimes it's difficult to figure out a way to lay that is comfortable.

Best baby moment this week:  Several!  Jake and I went to childbirth class on Saturday and learned lots about preparing for the exciting, yet dreaded, childbirth.  I have to admit that it pretty much scares the mess out of me.  But, I'm now feeling super informed and finding some confidence in myself and the choices that Jake and I will make for bringing our daughter into this world.  We had a great instructor and both really liked the class.  
 
On our way home from class, we bought little one's crib mattress!  Selecting one seems overwhelming and impossible to do with all of the choices available, but I did some research and we settled on the Lullaby Earth Stage 2 crib mattress from Buy Buy Baby [thank you 20% off BBB coupon!].  It's a huge matter of personal preference, but the important aspects came down to organic materials, firmness/support, and it's waterproof so it will be easy to clean and hold up well.
 
Also all the love and Christmas gifts for Ryleigh :)  She's already one lucky little girl.  She got some outfits and pj's, bedtime prayer board book, squeeze/teethe blocks, and two handmade quilts!  I had to hold myself together when I opened up the beautiful quilt from my friend Shanti, which she also had embroidered with Ryleigh's name and it has the softest minky fabric back.  That will keep her warm next winter for sure! 

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything?  Being able to sit down and get up quickly...being able to get dressed quickly...being able to do anything quickly...haha

Movement: lots, especially around meal times or after 7:30pm.  Night owl!

Food cravings: Still pasta, chocolate milk, and juice!  Trying out some out-of-the-ordinary flavors but not necessarily weird--like Hawaiian pizza.   

Anything making you queasy or sickNot really

Have you started to show yetOh yes :)  belly bump is measuring right on track at 32cm/32 weeks [I've been measuring 4 days ahead for a while now]

Gender: GIRL!  

Labor Signs: No, hopefully not until sometime in February!

Belly Button in or out?  In, but getting pretty shallow. 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but some days it's a little snug.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy/tired.  I do get emotional over sad/sweet things.  

Looking forward to: More nursery progress, and celebrating on New Year's Eve--closing out one pretty great year and looking forward to 2014 because I know it will be even better!  Also our maternity pictures and baby shower coming up in a few weeks!
 
 


Friday, December 20, 2013

If it's not One Thing, It's Another.

I think someone is trying to make it very clear to me that this little baby is going to be head of household come February.  I am so not in control.  It's a very weird feeling after being healthy, athletic, and so in tune with my body for so many years to be experiencing pregnancy where you don't know your body anymore.  How is it going to react to this?  What will happen from that?  Why do I feel pain here?  Why does it hurt when I lay like that?   Catch my drift?

Don't get me wrong, while I've had some different things going on [Hydronephrosis, sciatic nerve pain, failed the 1hr glucose test] I feel that I've been relatively healthy and I love being pregnant.  Feeling her kicks and movements, especially as she grows, is like nothing else in this world.

Well, to elaborate on what I've updated on facebook lately...I took my 1hr glucose test and failed.  My doctor wants you to have levels under 140 and I was at 157 from the 50 g(?) sugar drink.  I went back about a week later for the 3hr glucose test which brought back nightmares of my hypoglycemia test in high school.  They drew my blood beforehand, I drank the 100 g(?) sugar drink--or should I just say orange syrup, it was horrible!!--and then they drew blood every hour for the next three hours.  I'd like to thank the tech who found my difficult veins every time and didn't have to re-stick me any of those times! A rarity for me when getting blood drawn, maybe because of my low blood pressure?  Who knows.  Well, it's really almost funny with the results for that test. Before the drink, my glucose level was at 66, at 1hr it was 139, 2hr was 119, and 3hr was 98.  How I could consume twice as much sugar and have lower levels is beyond me.  Again, just showing that a pregnant body has a mind of its own!  Either way, I'm just happy that this means no gestational diabetes! Yay!

So the day after being happy about that, I get a call from my urologist [the doc I've been seeing to follow my Hydronephrosis].  I had a follow up renal ultrasound to check on my dilated kidneys last week and while the scans came back good--no change, which means although I'm still dilated I do not need to get stints put in--they found bacteria in my urine.  They found this before, about 6 weeks ago, however now the levels were higher and they were concerned enough that they wanted it treated with an antibiotic.  So, after reviewing everything with my ob, they informed me that I tested positive for Group B Strep which is a bacteria that lives in the body and many people have it but may never know.  It doesn't cause any problems, sort of a "good" bacteria in a way, however the concern comes in because it can be passed to the baby during childbirth and the baby's immune system isn't built up yet so she could get sick.  Even though I'm taking the medicine now, they will give me antibiotics during labor as a precaution to protect the baby. 

So there you have it.  If it's not one thing, it's another, but I am loving this experience and getting closer to having our little one here to hold!



Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Decking the Halls

Or should I say Decking the Kitchen....because after 2 years our kitchen is officially fully remodeled.  Maybe we were just taking our time, maybe we I was a little picky, maybe it just wasn't a top priority...but let's take a look back at this remodel that started back in the Fall of 2011...

Remember that our kitchen originally looked like this?
Oak laminate cabinets and laminate countertops

Old flooring

No Peninsula dividing the kitchen & living room spaces
and the slowly but surely all of this happened...
New wood cabinets

Granite Countertops, new sink and faucet


New lighting over the peninsula


New Patio Door
Did a little painting...

And, the final piece, the backsplash...



Here's the final product!
 



It's been a labor of love, and we love the results!  Of course, we owe many, many thanks to my Dad and Mom for volunteering their free labor to help get these tasks done!






Tuesday, December 10, 2013

29 Weeks!




Whoa hello 3rd trimester!  I can't believe we are already a week in, and that I'm going to be 30 weeks next week! That number just makes me feel like I'm sooo far along! 

Had my Glucose test this morning for my 28/29 week appointment.  I guess it wasn't quite as horrible as I had built it up to be, but it was still pretty nasty.  I took the first sip of my drink [I had the red one] and thought "well, maybe this won't be so bad" because it tasted like really strong Hawaiian Punch.  However, by the time I got to the bottom of that bottle I was questioning if I'd be able to hold it down for an hour!  I was told to put it in the refrigerator so that it tasted better, but I think that made it thicken a little.  Yuck--makes me gag just thinking about it again.

Everything else at the appointment seemed good! Measuring on track, baby's strong heartbeat at 143 bpm, and got my T-dap [whooping cough] vaccine.  Also found out yesterday at my follow-up renal ultrasound--for checking my kidneys/Hydronephrosis--that baby girl is head-down.  Of course, it's early and she could still move, but that's a good sign for being on track for a "normal" delivery.

Me & hubs before my company Christmas dinner last weekend :)

How far along? 29 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: +20lbs...little bit of a jump in the past month! Let's blame it on Thanksgiving....

Maternity clothes? All the time!  With a couple pre-prego shirts and sweaters mixed in, although those options are starting to dwindle because they won't fully cover my belly. [And let's be honest--some of Jake's sweatpants and shirts for comfy lounge clothes and pajamas!]

Sleep: This past week, pretty terrible.  I think it's a combination of being extra tired from the weather, a growing baby, Jake's crazy work schedule last week, the dogs being unsettled because of the weird work schedule, lots of things to do.....I guess I've probably over-done it a bit.  I just can't seem to get comfortable, my kidneys have been acting up again [but still not as painful as 6 weeks ago-thankfully!], I've had more back pain from my ever-growing belly.....the list goes on.  I'm just glad that although I toss and turn all night long, the sleep I do get is pretty darn good--like when you've only been asleep for 45 minutes, wake up/toss & turn, and feel like it's been 5 hours--so I'm not walking around like a zombie all day. 

Best baby moment this week:  Feeling her STRONG kicks.  Some so hard that they move my whole body.  Jake was talking to my belly the other night, and she kicked so hard my belly hit him in the face! haha...Also, had a great time Black Friday shopping!  I found some great deals on things like picture frames and a bookcase for her nursery :)

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything?  Being able to sit down and get up quickly...being able to sleep on my back or my stomach...putting on socks or underwear without difficulty...

Movement: tons

Food cravings: Still pasta.  Always TONS of milk, chocolate milk, and juice!  Ice cream/milkshakes--not necessarily a craving but it's the only thing that seems to help my terrible indigestion/acid reflux or whatever it is. 

Anything making you queasy or sickThe drink for my glucose test made me super queasy.  I think the worst part was having to have an empty stomach.

Have you started to show yetOh yes :)

Gender: GIRL!  

Labor Signs: No, and better not for a while!

Belly Button in or out?  In, but getting a little shallow. 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but some days it's a little snug.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy/tired.  I do get emotional over sad/sweet things.  My lack of sleep has made me a little moody/irritable this past week though.


Looking forward to: Childbirth class, Christmas, and getting the crib set up!
 
 



Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Bits & Pieces....and coupon codes!

Bits & pieces of the To-Do list are getting checked off!  One item down:  crib mobile.  I was checking my deal blogs and found that diapers.com is having some great discounts right now for Black Friday week.  The Tiny Love brand is 30% off [with code JOYTINYLOVE], and while perusing some of their items I found the cutest little mobile that will match perfectly to Ryleigh's nursery:

 
At least from what I can tell from the photos, the colors of the mobile are spot-on with her giraffe fabric!  Also, the mobile arm can detach and once she's too big for it, we can keep using the sound machine.  The sound machine also has a remote control, which might turn out to be handy.  The only thing I'm a little worried about is that a few of the reviews said they had a hard time fitting the mobile to their convertible crib, but eventually made it work with some Velcro or similar straps.  Hopefully it fits just fine, but if not it looks like we will need to get creative!
 
Here is another deal code for my momma friends and mommas-to-be!  Use my friends & family referral code at Diapers.com and you will get an additional 20% off your order!  code:  STAC0250
 
 
Yay for decorating, sales and progress!!!
 



Friday, November 22, 2013

Fiasco Avoided!

Well, let's take a peek at the nursery progress, shall we?!


Paint selection, Behr Premium in Botanical Tint
Accent Wall painted! [BIG thanks to my parents for helping!] 
And the big fiasco that was thankfully avoided...furniture lead times.  Let me tell you.  I've read several different things before about how some nursery furniture takes 4-6 weeks to come in, and we already picked out the set that we wanted, so I figured it was about time to order.  Thankfully I called and checked on that this week.  Of course, the set that we chose--after much research and discussion--has a lead time of 16-18 weeks!?!  what the #(*@#%$?! Just in case you need a refresher....we've only got 13 1/2 weeks left until our due date!  Well, we were extremely lucky and the Charlotte location of BuyBuyBaby had ONE double dresser in stock, but no crib.  I called the Columbia store, and they, by some act of God, had two cribs on order that should be arriving within two weeks.  One was already sold, so I snatched up the other one as quick as I could!!  We should be getting a call by December 5th to be able to go pick it up, so by mid December it should be all put together :)  I think seeing her crib [although it won't have sheets or anything yet] in the room will definitely make reality sink in a little more!

P.S.--Jake decided that as soon as I got the dresser home it had to be unboxed and brought up to the nursery.  My stubborn husband was determined to get it upstairs and in place.  It was my  job to carry the individual drawers up [and down and up and down] the stairs...talk about  a workout! haha...At least he knows the proper way to move and carry furniture since he had to pretty much get it upstairs himself.  I would help to "stabilize" while we maneuvered it around the staircase, all while he would fuss at me every two seconds not to pull or hold any of the weight.  Then, once we got it up in the room and the drawers back in, I walked back in the room to find him doing this:

...Those would be all of the beanie babies and stuffed animals that my parents had saved from my childhood for my children to play with.  We went through the boxes this past weekend and picked out a few bunch that were cute or girlie or she could possibly be obsessed with after watching a Disney movie [i.e. the Gorilla beanie baby if she likes The Jungle Book or Tarzan, the baboon beanie baby if she likes The Lion King, or the fish beanie baby if she likes Nemo].  I know that's a little silly but hey, we're first time parents :)  He also decided to take it upon himself to put the pants and onesies that are not being hung up in the closet into that top drawer...and he tried to throw away two little skirts that he deemed "too short".....ohhh, this little girl is in for some rough teenage years.





Wednesday, November 13, 2013

25 Weeks!

How far along? 25 weeks, 1 day!

Total weight gain/loss: +14lbs

Maternity clothes? All the time!  With a few pre-prego shirts and sweaters mixed in. [And let's be honest--some of Jake's sweatpants and shirts for comfy lounge clothes and pajamas!]

Sleep: Usually pretty good!

Best baby moment this week:  Feeling her move so much more nowadays.  I went to the doctor last Friday, and while we were listening to the heartbeat we could hear two big kicks and my doctor and I both laughed!

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything?  Being able to sit down and get up quickly...being able to sleep on my back or my stomach...shrimp...sushi...

Movement: Yes! I think we've got a soccer star growing

Food cravings: Still pasta.  Baked beans was one this week.  Always TONS of milk, chocolate milk, and juice!  I could drink 3 giant Tervis cups full of juice and still want more.  At least I'm drinking "no sugar added" :)

Anything making you queasy or sickStill staying away from red meat and Chinese food.

Have you started to show yetOh yes :)

Gender: GIRL!  Ryleigh Marie. 

Labor Signs: No, and better not for a while!

Belly Button in or out?  In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy/tired.  I do get emotional, but I wouldn't say "moody"

Looking forward to: More nursery progress! and Black Friday shopping! [and unlimited holiday desserts!!!!]
 
 


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Mid-week Randoms...and an exciting purchase!

Well, first let's start with the update from my doctor.  Hydronephrosis confirmed, and the safest way to move forward is pretty much do nothing.  They can put in a stint to help my kidney drain, however in pregnant women stints need to be replaced every 4-6 weeks.  That means having several surgeries between now and the time I give birth--no thank you.  The stints also tend to cause more discomfort in pregnant women, and have been known to cause pre-term labor--again, no thank you!  I'm perfectly fine with managing and dealing with the pain if that means little miss gets to cook all the way!  So, course of treatment now is a follow-up renal ultrasound of my kidneys and bladder in 6 weeks so that they can make sure the dilation is not getting to unsafe levels.  Over the past two weeks I have learned certain things that help the pain to subside and have been able to manage it pretty well.  I just plan to continue with that so that I don't need to resort to any pain medication. I'm allow to take Tylenol but I'm not crazy about putting medicine like that in my body that will get to the baby. 


So, on to more fun and exciting things, let's take a look back at Halloween:
Pretty cute for being thrown together in about 5 minutes, huh?
I had several costume ideas but procrastinated a bit and put this together at the last minute by cutting up some old
cotton t-shirts and pinning it to the outfit I wore that day.


 And now a peek at the Nursery progress:



Room cleaned out, floor mopped, rug laid down, diaper shower goodies brought upstairs, and washed all of the baby clothes that we have so far.  The two green and two clear plastic bins in the picture above need to go up into the attic, but we did not have our ladder so couldn't get that done this past weekend. 

We also changed out the electrical duplex in our hallway upstairs [to the left of the nursery door].  All we need it for is one plug-in to vacuum, so we put in one of these:
LED Nightlight and Receptacle
For about $9.00 at Home Depot, we got this nifty receptacle. The nightlight has a sensor so when it is a certain level of darkness it turns on, which will help tremendously during all-hours-of-the-night trips to the nursery so that I don't have to turn on any brighter lights in the hallway.



While that was an exciting purchase, that's not the one this post title is about.  No, that would be Ryleigh's "coming home" outfit!!!  I'm a little obsessed with paisley and mint green, and this cute little set was too perfect to pass up [plus it comes with a cute little bunny rattle]...
Tutti Frutti Layette Set from Vera Bradley Baby
[I found this set on sale from Zulily...still a little pricey but it's her coming home outfit so I'm justifying it!!]


Also, two good sales going on right now for you mommas and mommas-to-be!  Apparently, with the code THANKSGIVING you get five free pairs of baby leg warmers at www.babyleggings.com, you just pay $12.95 shipping.    The other is at www.Crazy8.com, where they are doing a B1G1 for 88 cents!  This is only for regular priced merchandise, but you can still get some great deals. 


That's all for now!