This week

Yesterday we met with the pediatrician group that is next door to the birth center. They have a great reputation so we are going to go with it. We can always change our minds. We like that they are very pro-breast feeding. One of the MDs is also a lactation consultant. They are very holistic too. I hate pumping kids fully of drugs if there are other things that can be done. At the same time, they are not afraid to Rx if needed. It feels like a great balance. They will work with us on spreading out the vaxs too. I am not anti vax, I just dont want them all at once. The extra time off work and co-pays are worth it to me. Anyway, feels good to be done with that part.

This weekend we are going away for our babymoon. We'll stay in Charleston Saturday night then Hilton Head Sunday and Monday nights. We are really looking forward to some down time and relaxing. I have to go find a bathing suit so I can lounge in the pool. I am looking forward to being a little less heavy feeling for a little while. Jeremy is excited about touring the Yorktown so I am excited for him. He loves that stuff and has seen about everything made about the battle of Midway. We should be able to spend Saturday evening with Rusty and Shelly on a dinner cruise. He is Jeremy's college roommate and fellow race fan. They just moved to Charleston from Charlotte and haven't explored much. Maybe we will give them an excuse.

I am getting so excited for all the people that are coming to town for my shower. I spoke with my old boss and friend from Orlando last night and she is coming up. We are so blessed with people who love us so much. I can't wait to get to talk to everyone and catch up. I could care less about gifts. I just love knowing that my son will grow up knowing how loved he is not only by blood family but the family of friends we have been able to choose over time. It truly is an amazing feeling.

On a totally selfish note, I scored some great deals on newborn diapers this week. The ones I want run $11.50 to $12.50 each (plus tax and sometimes shipping). There is a rental program where you rent, send back and then get partial credit. It comes out to be about $5 per diaper for the actual cost, not the credit part. I got 20 gently used and 4 new dipes for an average of $8.41 each, total. So, as long as I can resell each for $4, I am doing great. Chances are I can sell them for $6 minimum and up to $8. If I can get $6 each for them, I will have diapered the baby for close to 3 months for under $60! How cool is that? These diapers have no stains, nothing sketchy at all. 12 were from a retail store that has a buy back program where they only take truly excellent used dipes and the others were from girls on a chat board with me. I have seen pics and am super excited. I dont think I will buy the rest of my stash used since they will be used for such a long time. I dont mind spending the money for new ones that will last 3 yrs. The newborn ones though only last a couple months since they outgrow them. I would have bought new if need be but why not try this route?

One more feet rant

Here are a couple pics from last week. The swelling has since gone down dramatically and I have been assured that my current level is normal and acceptable. The day I took these though, I was a little freaked out because my flip flops were cutting in. OMG, flops??? really??? Cant be a good sign. I will apologize now for my funky feet. I need a pedicure badly!

You can see the line where the flops cut in.

I think my obsession with my swelling feet has just about ended. Next up is trying to capture moving belly on my camera. We dont have a video camera so Im going to try to get it on the digital. I want to practice before the elbows really start flying.

Stroller =)

Its little things that make me happy. Having the stroller together and mastering how to fold and unfold it is one of them! Then, I mastered putting the car seat in and out. I know, it seems like this should be easy but it took us a few times in the store. Last night, we became pros.

Here it is:

I love the color! Notice the bear in the diaper back there?? hahaha its a BumGenius 3.0 for those following along at home. He looks happy in it, dont you think?

The handles adjust up so Jeremy is comfortable pushing too. Its one of the reasons we went with this stroller. That, the one handed folding, and being light weight sold us. His room is still being cleaned out but its way better than it was. I love how compactly this stroller folds up. The hood fell forward a bit in this pic, its actually a little trimmer than it shows here.

Something official feeling about a stroller in the house....

All is well in the world

Ok, my world anyway. I had my 28 wk check up this morning. I have been really anxious about it b/c I thought I was up 12 pounds since my last visit 4 weeks ago. About 1 pound a week is average so 3 is potentially a sign of not so great things. It turns out Im an idiot and looked at my weight 2 visits ago. I only gained 5 pounds, which is perfect. I am up 18 in all now and on a great path. She said my swelling is a normal level. I am eating the tar out of cucumbers and watermelon though. I'll pee an extra time at night to keep the swelling under control. Funny thing about that by the way. Its easier to shave now that Im swollen. Pulls the skin tight I guess.

Anyway, I also had my glucose tolerance test today. Normally, they have you drink a think sugar mixture that resembles thick, flat orange soda. Then you sit for an hour and they test. The birth center does a breakfast instead. I had 2 eggs, 2 pieces of buttered toast, 4 oz OJ and 8 oz milk. I show up 2 hours later and they prick my finger. voila! My glucose was 119 and anything under 140 is good. WHEW! passed that test with flying colors. Gestational Diabetes is something that can make me risk out of their care so I am super happy to be past that.

Then they used the same stick to test my hemoglobin. Over 11 is good and I got 10.2
=( Apparently low iron is common at this point so it wasnt a big shock. I have not eaten nearly my normal amount of red meat lately and Ive been sluggish so again, no shock that Im anemic. I have an iron and B supplement to start on now. Its liquid so I have to take it with OJ. No biggy. They will re-test in about a month.

I am now on a 2 week check up schedule. That makes it awfully real. They had a mom in labor while I was there and it just kind of struck me that it wont be long until that me. You would think I would have "gotten" it a while ago with all the reading and preparation for birth I have done. Not so much. I know he's coming but it just hit me that he is really coming. Its ok to shake your head at me, Im doing it to myself right now too...

Cool things: got my shipment from Children's Place today. Such cute things and all were on a great sale. Ordered the monitor yesterday from Amazon at about half off. I love a good deal!! Then today I was able to pick up the stroller. I bet I have it out of the box within about 15 minutes of being home tonight. Jeremy laughs that Im going to have the teddy bear strapped in and practicing taking it apart. You are damn skippy! I swear you have to have lessons to operate the car seat too. The bear is already in a diaper so why not have him in the car seat and stroller hahaha I'll post pictures for your amusement later.

Yay for cousins!!!

On my mom's side, there are 3 of us girl cousins. Alyssa, Emily and myself. Alyssa and I grew up somewhat together being that she lived in St Pete where the rest of the family lives. Em however, we didnt get to see very often as she was in Arizona for those years. Family dynamics what they are, we all had different thoughts on who was the favorite blah blah blah. Our grandparents (well, mostly grandmother) is a hard one to read shall I say so none of us never thought we were especially well liked but always thought the others were favored. Of course none of this came to light when we were younger b/c we didnt feel free to voice our "concerns".

Fast forward a good many years and the family has a blow up over me asking if the tea was sweet or not. I dont even know that blow up does the situation justice. It was the start of WW3 there for a few days. Good times. I will always remember standing with Alyssa in the kitchen and the look of Holy Shit, here we go on our faces. Fast forward again and grandma's bitchy tendencies are no longer a closet topic. In fact, most of the family gets a good laugh at how we all used to cower to her.

So, 2 years ago-ish, she has a birthday. The whole freakin' family comes in to town for it. We cousins decide to have a couple meals to ourselves since we havent caught up with each other in a very long time. Its different when you are kids and now we are all edumacated and working. We even got to hang out with the long lost Jeff and his wife. We had a blast! It was fun to look back over our childhood and see how we each saw things a little differently. The girls ended up in a slumber party (with matching PJs). We went to melting pot and this terrible Japanese place. Em and Alyssa just giggled at the memory of that place. I would have blogged about that god awful place had I been blogging then.

Anyway, the girls have stayed in touch since then and I just found out that Emily is coming to my shower in June!!!! I am so excited that she is coming. I know its a lot for her to be off work and to come from DC. Jeremy is afraid is going to be a big giggle-fest at our house for the couple nights they are in. Thats the idea! I havent always been able to say yay for family but growing older has helped me see that family isnt so bad when you can pick which parts you want to be closer to.

2 things

First, I have to tell you about this crazy dream. So I was back in high school on the first day of class. I was probably a senior b/c I was talking with my teacher, Paula Dean...., about what to do after graduation. She said that many guidance counselors were now suggesting beauty school. Um really?? Yes she said. Because even if you dont land a job, you will know how to be pretty and be able to at least get married. WTH kind of dream was this???? There was a lot more roaming the halls and what not but that was the gist of it. Are my dreams telling me to do my hair and make up more? I was amused and weirded out all at the same time.

Second, I have to say how proud I am of my friend P. She is 4 months and 2 weeks younger than I am (this is important as she reminds me every year!) and has never been to the gyno. I have been trying for years to get her to go but she has been very resistant. She really isnt a Dr person and is very modest so I get it. Last year her mom had a health scare that could have been helped, if not avoided, by getting routine check ups so I think it spooked P. She thinks she has a UTI and she bit the bullet and made an appointment. I know that is a huge step for her and I am just so proud. I have promised that it really isnt that bad so this Dr better not make me a liar!

Thoughts on siblings

I have always thought I would be one and done. I enjoyed being an only child and think I turned out ok. I have my moments but don't we all? My cousin is also an only child and she commented back on my post about mom. She gets it b/c all the weight is on her shoulders too. But her comment about considering more than one child got me thinking. Nothing personal Em, I promise. Is it really wise to have multiple children just so they can have someone with whom to commiserate about me? Is it strange to have an extra child for that reason? She isn't the first person to raise this point but its always struck me as strange. I would HATE to know that I was born to make my sibling's life down the road easier by having another person to dump Jeremy and I on. Maybe thats a skewed way to look at it though. I guess in my limited experience, it tends to be one sibling or another that gets the bulk of the responsibility regardless.

My IL's for example. They live next to my MIL's parents. The other siblings are within about 2 hours each. MIL goes to all Dr's appts, does everything for them. Gladly no doubt but still. Does a phone call to her brother's really help anything? Its still on her to help their parents.

I don't know, I just don't buy having more kids b/c they will be lonely or to have someone help them with aging parents as a valid reason. It is what it is and you deal with it. Aren't cousins for bitching to anyway ;-) I know Alyssa and I have our share of moaning about parents! Maybe Mr Mint and Kira can be close and whine about us too. Em, we need you to throw a 3rd in the mix ok?

Most amazing night

We had our 6th birth class last night and it was amazing. One of the girls was 39 weeks so we knew she would be going any time. We got there and the parking lot was full and Hope, one of the midwives, was there. Must be a birth! When we asked, turned out one was already in labor and Jennifer, from class, was on her way in "to be checked". She wanted a home birth but b/c someone else was already in labor, she had to come in. Well, she gets there calm as can be. Gets checked and is 8cm!! 27 minutes later, her daughter was born. Holy fast birth. The tub was still filling as she was crowning. Her husband came out to tell the class the baby was here and mom was well. Our teacher had to run out during class since she is the birth ass't. So neat to see how calm the whole thing was. You would never know there were 2 laboring women in the center.
He brought the baby out for us to see after about an hour and she had latched well. So precious. I can't even believe that will be us soon.

What a great night.

Happy 3rd Trimester to me!!

Had a great weekend. Forrest, Carrie and Forrest's brother Brent came in for The Players. The 4 of them had a great time and even made it on TV a handful of times. Watching the replay with them was like kids at Christmas. I havent heard that much squealing in a long time!

While they were at TPC, I went with Nancy to BabiesRUs to finish and thin the registry. It was SO helpful to have someone with me who had used this stuff before. Mr Mint got all excited a couple times while we were shopping and I thought he was trying to stretch his way out.

Jenn and Keith were able to bring Aiden home on Friday. It was also Jenn's birthday so what a great gift!! The monitor is a huge pain for them so hopefully they can come off of it pretty soon.

Jeremy brought me pretty flowers and a sweet card on Sunday for mother's day. Next year will be so great!! Carrie, Forrest, Jeremy and I went into St Augustine yesterday for the afternoon. We had a great time walking around St George Street, had a good lunch at a mexican place on the water then wandered around the fort. I got a little burned but nothing tragic. Best part was I drank a boat load of water and ditched the flip flops and I think it helped the ankles. I read that flops can increase swelling so as much as I hate to, I am going to give them up for a week and see how it goes. Im wearing sneakers today and I think my feet are very confused.

Thats about all the news from around here. Exciting, I know! My next check up is the 22nd and I have my glucose test. As long as I pass, I can stay in their care. I am not too concerned. Then I go to check ups every 2 weeks. We have a meeting with the pediatricians on the 27th too. I really hope we like them. They have come highly recommended for the things that are important to us like cloth diapering and breast feeding. They are open to alternative vax schedules too. I want to vax but maybe not everything and not so many at once. I just like knowing they are open to discussion.

Tootles to the ankles! Hola cankles...

Last night I got home and decided to do some weeding in the yard. Apparently the fertilizer part of the fertilizer with weed control worked... I get in and my hands and feet are itching up a storm. I scrub my hands and it helps. I go to scrub my feet and see my ankles are swollen like crazy. hmmmmm, is this pregnancy or allergy?? Of course I take a picture :-)

Normally I have pretty boney ankles but there was nothing left to feel. The left foot shows it better although this picture does it no justice haha

I got up this morning hoping to see bone again. No such luck. Its down a bit but still pretty swollen. Looks like its pregancy. At least its fun to play with seeing how much pressure it takes to leave a dent =)

This next picture has been a huge source of amusement for me. When I lay down, I have a blob of a belly. Nothing too exciting, except when he moves around. But, when I try to sit up, I get teepee belly.

I know, I have too much time on my hands to be taking silly pictures. And yes, I am fully aware of the reflective nature of my skin.

Last thing. Why must people tell me how hot the summer is going to be?? I have lived in Florida all my life. I am fully aware of the misery that 98 degrees brings and how it will be worse pregnant. Do they think they are telling me something useful or novel? Frankly, I would rather have the baby inside me all summer than have to lug around a stroller and baby gear in the heat while worrying about keeping him cool. ok, we all know darn well that I would gladly have lugged around the stroller and all had our first pregnancy made it but you know what I mean.
I just laugh the weather off and say thank goodness for air conditioning b/c what else can I do?

Just a reminder to keep Jenn and her baby in your prayers. They have had a rough week but will hopefully be able to bring him home with his monitor in the next couple of days.

last week of 2nd trimester

First things first. Jenn had Turtle last week at 37 weeks. Just barely full term. He has been having problems and could use your prayers. Jenn's blog has the full story but please pray for a healthy baby so he can come home soon.

Grandpa is out of the hospital and getting better at home. We went down this past weekend but he was napping every time we stopped in. He needs his rest so its ok. Mom's house was a bigger disaster than I have seen in a long time. She started getting upset about her depression meds not working and what not. Not having been through her level of depression, I can't relate. I just dont see how someone can let dishes go undone for close to 2 weeks. Rinsing doesnt make it better mom... I expressed our concern for her and offered to help however I can. I just feel like she has to be a grown up and take some responsibility for her life. Its times like this that being an only child is hard. I have no one else to share the burden with. Not a reason to have more than one but I can see the upside of adult siblings.

She apparently is not over the divorce... um its been 18 years!!! She still makes ugly comments about my dad which are totally unnecessary. I told her about my shower being June 21st. Her response "oh, that day huh?" "Yes, is that a problem?" "Well, its just an anniversary you know?" "Yes, I know. its an anniversary of a marriage that no longer exists. let it go, its been long enough" I know, Im heartless.
Then this weekend, she started crying over giving up breast feeding me after 2 weeks. OMFG are you kidding? Its been 30 years and I turned out fine. As a child, the extra 4 IQ points would not have boosted me, I was already at the "genious" level worthy of Mensa for the love of Christ. (mind you, I would not take an IQ test if paid now...) Oh no, I had to hear all about how my grandfather questioned how she knew I was getting enough milk and how when he left my dad questioned it. She she got pissed and just told him to go to the store and by the formula. I explained that without education and research, most anyone would have those questions. Breast fed babies lose up to 10% of their birth weight the first week. Its normal to question it. What I dont get is why she didnt have answers for them. Why give up when you can give answers. She just got so indignant about my father not supporting her back then. My only response was maybe she needed to talk to her therapist b/c its ridiculous to be upset and cry 30 years later.

On an upnote, we bought a couple cloth diapers this weekend. We got a FuzziBunz and a bumGenius 3.0. There are others I want to try too but at least I can start messing with these. My grandmother, who is usually the crankiest person I know, thought they were adorable and didnt understand why you cant get them at Penney's. Maybe one day grandma! My aunt was a total douche about it. I was all excited to show her and she just crapped all over it. Fine, don't like them! My cousin thought they were cool too. Her daughter named the baby Mr. Mint. We really arent sure why but it has since stuck. She wanted to feel him kick and sat so patiently (she is 4) waiting. Then she shook my belly gently to wake him up. So cute.

Birth classes are almost done. We have one more week then a breast feeding class to go. We hired a Doula, Heather, this week too. I am excited to work with her. I think she will be a great resource for both Jeremy and me. She also teaches natural family planning so it will be nice to know her for that too. I really dont want to go back on the pill. Hopefully my other symptoms/signs will be clear and I wont have to temp. I cant see that working with an infant.

Anyway, thats about it for this week. Next Monday will mark the 3rd tri. Its flown so far. Im under 100 days left too which is crazy. We have so much coming up before he gets here.