30 Frickin' Weeks!

Yikes...and the 10 week countdown begins.

• Another good prenatal appointment. "everything is perfect" Dan jr is still head down and i guess he'll probably stay that way from now on. LaNette is estimating that he's about 2.25lbs, which is a little smaller than all the online resources are telling me (maybe 2.5-3lbs).

• I got my first shower gift this week too :) My Aunt Penny from Florida sent out a gift to mom's house. Mom gave me the option to wait until the shower or see it now...i chose to see it now hehe. It's a highchair!

• We had another doula interview this week (and another one tonight). Though it was better than the first one, it really didn't go that well. She seemed to have more confidence and i'm assuming this is coming from her background in nursing, but really she again only has maybe 5-7 births under her belt and they have all been at a hospital. however, this girl did have clients that she was not familiar with and seems to be moving in a more holistic direction. Overall, we still weren't impressed and at this point neither of those girls would be any better than just maybe having my mom there (and she would be free!). If these next few interviews go just as bad, I think i'm passing on a doula and will just look for an extra set of hand for dan from friend or family....

• Update: I had to stop writing this blog to take another doula interview. this one was great!! this lady was great, confident, experienced, knowledgeable, has homebirth experience, has worked with lanette before, and if affordable! she's bradely class instructor, certified in breastfeeding, infant massage, accupunture and herbal medicine, etc. etc. so cool.

• Dan's mom sent us an email early this week that she wants to "surprise" us by getting us a gliding rocker for a shower gift. This is a super sweet gesture, but it has ended up being a stressful one. Realistically, i don't think i want a glider. Vicki was adamant that we need one - a big comfy one. But when I think about it, it's just a big bulky expensive piece of furniture that I don't have room for and once i'm done with the bulk of the nursing, will just be something else I have to deal with. And if i'm really thinking that, it would be a waste of her money to get us a glider. We tried to tell her, but she said that she would just feel better knowing that we had one...the only thing holder her back was that the one we "wanted" was not in stock. So, that night (and during my lunch break) we ran out to the store to sit on all the rockers again and we weren't able to find one that was big enough and comfortable. So, we told vicki and she since has seemed to change her mind that if we really didn't want it, she wouldn't get it. so, now we are back at square one.

29 weeks

We were supposed to have our first pediatrician meeting this week. We are only interviewing two, one male and one female - and the female is also a lactation consultant. In both cases, we only have 15 min meetings with the docs. That really isn't enough time to go through all of the questions I have to ask. It's nearly not worth going - but w/e.

Anyways, the reason why we were supposed to me but didn't was b/c an hour before our appointment, I received a call cancelling the appointment! I was pretty upset for the extremely short notice - but i don't really know what's going on. we'll see.

We also had our first doula interview this week. LaNette gave me a few choices and the first option is already full, so I went to the second choice. Well, it was pretty horrible. The girl is very new (which is why we are seeing her b/c she's charges at least 1/2) but she's just seems TOO NEW. She's seems to be lacking a lot of confidence. It was almost awkward. As soon as she left, dan and I just had to look at each other and we new this wouldn't work. I fell a little bad not hiring her b/c I know what's it's like to need people to give you a chance, but in the case of my birth - I just can't do it. I will be probably in my most week and vulnerable state and I need everyone in that room to have at least as much confidence as me and preferable a lot more!! LaNette commandeered her and now i'm a little skeptical of the other recommendations. So, for the rest of the interview, i went out and did a search on my own. So, we have two more doula interviews next week. One lady actually sounds too good to be sure - she's been in the practice since 2008 and she's certified in infant massage, labor and delivery acupuncture, a lactation consultant, and she's a teacher in the bradely method. Yikes.

I'm that pregnant lady

Just this week I've noticed that I think i'm 'finally' being noticed at work. People who don't normally talk to me, are taking to me and people that don't normally say Hi, are saying hi. I'm wondering if it's kind of like MSOE, where a bunch of guys knew who you were and acted like we know each other...but really I had no idea who they were - but they probably knew me b/c I was one of maybe 2 girls in their glass.
It's a little awkward for me, b/c it's taking me off guard and i'm already pretty quiet around the office. It's almost like, "who me, [looks behind] are you talking to me?"

28 Weeks

• I was able to get over my sinus infection and I would like to give full credit to my Breathe oil :) Maybe a week after my first symptom and my urine test showed I probably had an infection. Fortunately, I was already getting blood work done that day so LaNette checked for an infection and everything came up great!
• Mom's birthday is coming up and we celebrated her birthday on sunday. it was her idea that instead of buying her gifts, we would all buy gifts for Dan Jr. I thought it was strange, but also cute. She also decided that I would open the gifts that she brought over for Dan Jr and she would open the ones that Dan and I bought her. It was awkward at first, but it ended up being pretty cool.
• It was actually pretty stressful thinking of something to buy. I thought a good compromise would be to buy a baby item but something that would be just for "grandma's house". I did a fair about of research and asking around and we ended up buying a changing table and changing pad/cover (both used) and then bought two storage bins for the table (new) and changing pad waterproof pads. 
  
• And mom and dad bought Dan Jr a radio flyer bike, a few cute shirts, a memory book, and a piggy bank. 
  
• We started rearranging the dressers between the rooms. It's a pretty small/easy step (and there's a long way to go) but it kind of seems like a big deal - another visual change.

Changes

• My inner thighs are killing me!! It feels like i've been using the thigh-master for days on end. I had originally thought it was from my ballet squats i need to do to reach the ground. however, i've been paying attention to that and I really don't do it that much and I finally looked it up and it seems to be related to the stretching of my pelvic bone. It's been going on for a little bit but only recently has it really become a problem. It's very hard to get up and start walking from my desk (or any sitting position). The pain lessons but doesn't go away. And per google, it will stay trough the birth.
• A number of people tell me that I should document my belly. Well, I haven't been very good at it, but I've been taking occasional photos and have profession photos being take soon. However, even though this will document the size/growing of my belly, it doesn't document by belly button! i was worried that it would pop out..and it hasn't but it still looks pretty strange (it got all flat and squishy and looks like it's going to implode). ** I took a picture of it, but it really doesn't prove my point.

RLS

I've had RLS (I like to call it Sleepy Leg) for a while, but it's pretty infrequent. Also, I tend to ignore it b/c it sounds like a bogus condition. However, in the last month or so I've noticed it happening pretty frequently - maybe once or twice a week. It's pretty annoying when it's frequent. WELL, my 28 week pregnancy email told me RLS is very common in pregnant women! Dang, I went from no symptoms to all of them!

27 Weeks

• I finally got to go swimming this weekend. I thought it was going to be awesome but really it wasn't much different than swimming any other time. the only difference is that when I first got out of the pool I felt I i had just instantly gained 40lbs!
• I ordered my thank you notes this weekend too. Mom said that I should probably only order enough for the people who RSVPd to my shower, but I ended up ordering enough for every person I invited. 
  
• Mom and I finished up my registry this weekend too. There wasn't too much too add, but that's done and out of the way now.
• I just took a quick glimps into our finances for while on maternity leave and it's a little scary. There will be a little bit of money coming in but essentially i'm planning on only having dan's money coming in and it's not enough to cover all of our basic expenses (mortgage, groceries, bills, and gas) - no including any baby items or doctor visits....::sigh:: I always hear that "you'll make it work"...but I don't really know how.
• I got another massage. It's not really taking away my pains, but it seems to give me more energy for the next day or so. I could really use one weekly :)
• I mentioned to dan that come sept we need to give the kitchen floor a really good scrub. Well dan jumped on it right away :) He spend most of the day scrubbing on his hands and knees. The floor looks great now, but the probably will be keeping up with it. I'm thinking of investing in a full size floor cleaning. once we have a little one on the move, we cant' have such dirty floors.
• UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I finally bought a handful of maternity clothes. I actually was able to find a few cute options! I bought maybe 4 tops from Motherhood Maternity, and two tanks and one dress from Old Navy. However, the Old Navy items weren't maternity specific, they were just maternity friendly. I was able to stay withing in my budget though which is great! It's surprisingly a lot more conformable than I thought it would be. So far, worth the money.

Week 26

I'm glad I do this blog. For the past few weeks i've been thinking of skipping b/c there isn't really much to write about. however, when i take a moment to really think about it, I have relatively a lot to say - it may not be that important, but it might be interesting later.

• We held our first rummage sale to help make room for baby. We only made about $200, but we were able to get rid of a number of large items. Running the rummage was pretty boring, but it was kind of nice to get a chance to get the know the neighbors a little bit more. they invited us over to their house for a BBQ, it was surprisingly fun.
• Speaking of making money, I decided to keep the rug and of course right as I do, I get a few more inquires. However, there's probably a good chance these would have fallen through too.
• I had put an ISO (in search of) for that fabric and someone found and it told me! So, I went to 2 different joann fabrics and was able to get 3 yards of the stuff :) so, I think i'll pass on buying the stuff from that lady and just try to make the stuff myself.
• my belly is really getting big. I think this weekend i'll have to give in and go get some maternity tops. This morning I dug into the bag of clothes that Sarah sent me and wore one to work. I didn't feel comfortable in it, I don't like the style, and it very much looks like a maternity shirt - so much so that the ladies at work mentioned something. They asked if it was a maternity top b/c they have been noticing that I haven't really been wearing anything that looks maternity. My boss thinks it's cute.
• The RSVP's for my shower were due...with quite a few missing responses (in either direction). only 50% of people responded, and a few of those were follow-ups my mom had to chase after the due date.
• I have another sinus infection coming and literally just got over one! However, I remembered that I had some breathe oil blend that I thought i would try diffusing at night and in the shower and putting it under my nose - and I don't know if it's a coincidence, but it really seems to be working! I've totally noticed a difference. I've only had a sample of the stuff, so today I picked up a full bottle. Hopefully this will keep away any more infections for the rest of this pregnancy!
• I have been experiencing quite a bit of stiffness in my hips that only seems to happen when I try to stand up after sitting down for maybe 1/2 hour or more. It takes a few minutes for it to clear up but on a few occasions I haven't even been able to stand up straight right away.