Today's the day....

I should be sleeping right now, gearing up for the big baby eviction that is set to start in 5 hours and 34 minutes.

But I laid in bed for nearly 2 hours and just stared at the shadows on the ceiling.

Praying for a smooth induction and healthy baby.

Crying about the idea that this is the last night its just the two of us in this house (tears of joy mostly, and a little bit of sadness).

Thinking about all the things we need to remember to do or grab on our way out the door in the morning.

Contemplating what I should eat as my "light breakfast".. last meal before mommyhood.

Running through all sorts of possible labor/delivery scenarios in my mind.

I just can't quiet my mind enough to fall asleep.

Andy and I decided we should celebrate our last night pre-parenthood with a lovely dinner, so we went to Carino's - the same place that catered our wedding. It had been a long time since we'd eaten there, and it was sooo yummy. I wish I could have ordered an Italian Margarita, but that's okay. I still very much enjoyed our meal. Andy was so cute.. I love hearing him talk about being excited to meet Camryn. It makes my heart melt to just listen to all the things he's looking forward to, and to imagine what it will be like to see him as a father.

After dinner, we decided to make a quick run to Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy of Baby 411 (the BEST baby care book ever), but they were out. Darn. We ended up getting a Baby's First Years Journal instead. I had high hopes of making our own (and a couple for some friends of ours) and even went so far as buying all the materials I would need.. but after getting so sick, and then having to scrap the studio in favor of a guest room/room for Sydnee, I just never got around to it. Boo. But that's okay. We have this journal now, and I am glad I will have it with us tomorrow so the nurse's can put her footprints directly into it.

Awww, her footprints. Tomorrow. TODAY! Today we will get to have her footprints made. Instead of kicking me in the ribs, I will be able to kiss and tickle her little toes in the real world. Eeep.

I can't believe today is the day.

I can't wait to hold her.

To see who she looks like.. will she have a full head of hair (I'd say yes if heartburn really is any indicator!)? Will she have Mommy's brown eyes, or will Daddy's baby blue's sneak through? Will she have that tell-tale O-Family mouth/smile? Mommy's long fingers? Oh I just can't wait.

Be prepared for some serious photo overload in the coming days!

Which reminds me, I will come back to this blog to post her birth story and a few photos, but that will serve as a closing post for this blog. This blog has chronicled our life trying to get pregnant and our life growing our sweet girl in my belly. But once we become that family of 3, we will be starting a new blog that will be shared with a wider audience (an audience that doesn't need to read about my cervical fluid and stretch-marked boobs).

That blog is here.

See you on the other side!!! :)

5 hrs and 29 minutes til the fun begins.

Fun.

Let's hope so.

T minus 13 hours.

Eeep.

I wanted to change gears for a bit, after being highly emotional all day today.

I wiki'ed "August 26th" to see what kinds of exciting things have happened on that day in history, and what kinds of influential people Camryn will likely share a birthday with.

Here are some fun facts about August 26th.

It is the 238th day of the year (239th in leap years), and there are 127 days remaining before the end of the year.

1858 - First news dispatch by telegraph. (what? no cnn.com?)

1920 - The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote. (Um, awesome event to share a bday with, Baby Girl!!)

1939 - The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds & the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn, NY. (Your Daddy will like that one, Camy.)

1970 - The new feminist movement, led by Betty Friedan (author of The Feminine Mystique), leads a nation-wide Women's Strike for Equality.

1971 - The US Congress declares Aug 26th as an annual Women's Equality Day. (Rock on!)

1910 - Mother Teresa's Birthday!

1937 - Richard Wayne McIntire - your late great-grandfather's birthday.

Camy, I am trying to convince your great-grandmother to agree to sit and write you a letter about what an amazing man your great-gpa was and all the amazing things he did for the United States Navy. I hope to be able to share that with you soon, and hold on to it for you to read when you are old enough to understand what it means.

2009 - YOU will grace the world with your angelic presence. Hopefully. Being induced at 6am, I am really banking on the idea that you will be born on the 26th and not torture me with a labor lasting into the following day. Go easy on me, sweet girl, mkay?

T minus 18 1/2 hours.

Oh. My. Goodness.

After a week of fluctuating blood pressure readings and a stretch of about 4 1/2 hours yesterday where my BP stayed elevated, our doctor has decided to induce us tomorrow morning at 6am.

Our baby will (likely) be born on Wednesday the 26th of August.

My late grandfather's birthday.

6 days before her due date.

I am blogging today from the rocker in the nursery.

Listening to Sweet Camryn's Lullaby CD that we burned for her over the weekend.

Sitting with the laptop awkwardly balanced on my watermelon belly.. bouncing every few minutes from Camryn's little kicks and punches.

Looking up every so often, at the quote on the wall.. the changing table ready to go.. the chair rail her Daddy installed.. the window treatment her great grandmother got her, and the adorable bear her great grandmother made her.. her name spelled out in blocks on a shelf on the wall...

I am overcome with emotion today.

I am so eager to see her sweet face. To kiss her little head, her chubby cheeks, her tiny fingers and toes.

I am so eager to see her Daddy holding her, cuddling her tiny body in his strong arms.

The same arms that have held me through out this pregnancy, through out all of our hardships and days of worry and fear.

But I am also afraid.

Afraid of how the induction will play out.

Afraid of the transition from pregnancy to motherhood.

Afraid that we are not prepared for this monumental task that has been graciously given to us.

Afraid that we will get her home and not know what to do or where to go from there.

Afraid of how we will take to no longer being the twosome we've been the last 5 years.. now being a family of 3.

I waver back and forth between confidence and doubt, excitement and fear, relief (that the end is near) and mourning (the loss of my baby curves, squirmy movements, quiet moments just between me and the baby, my hands resting on my belly interpreting her movements).

I feel like I have spent so much time complaining about different parts of this pregnancy. Wishing for time to move faster to the end of this journey, the start of the next phase. Will I regret not savoring each moment, each doctor's visit, each hospital admission that ended with us [thankfully] being sent home with a clean bill of health, each ache and pain, each sleepless night....

Will I look back and wish I had made more of an effort to enjoy every little second?

I am so thankful for our sweet miracle.

I truly truly am... but as the hours are counting down, I feel like I have failed her and failed myself by wishing this time away so quickly.

Growing this little human.. its such an amazing process.

We created this little life.

My body has accommodated her growing self.. sometimes handling the process better than others, but regardless of how sick I was... my body held onto her, and managed to nurture this tiny little creature and keep her strong and healthy all this time.

How incredible.

How lucky we are.

And how sad to think that I only have 18 hours left, just her and I.

After that, I have to share her with the world.

I can't wait to introduce her to our loved ones, to watch her grow on the outside, to shape her into who she will become... but I kind of wish I had just a little more time, just me and her.

After all the posts I have written over the last 39 weeks, full of worry and fear and complaints.. I wanted to think of all the things that I am thankful for with this pregnancy (aside from her life, her existance, of course!).

-No stretch marks on the belly! woohoo!

-No hemmorhoids! woohoo!

-No health scares with the baby! woohoo!

-No swelling, no cankles! woohoo!

-No Gestational Diabetes! woohoo!

-No "weight talk" from the doctor! woohoo!

-No Pre-Term Labor scares! woohoo!

As terrible a pregnancy as I've felt like I've had.. there are so many ways it could have been so much worse.

***I walked away from this post before publishing because I couldn't get ahold of my emotions. I'm not going to attempt to pick up where I left off, but I wanted to post this anyway to always remember the flood of emotions I've experienced on this monumental day, this last day before I become a mommy to an outside baby.***

38w4d

See that post title?

Bet you can guess that means I'm still counting up the days/weeks of this pregnancy.. not yet counting up the days/weeks of my baby girl's age.

As the previous post title read, I'm still here, still pregnant.

My last post was Thursday morning.

I was on day 2 of "early labor" but my BP was staying stable.

Around 1pm Thursday that nagging headache started to really bother me, and by 2 I was worried about my BP again so I checked -- 135/99. Crap. Laid down for 30 minutes like the L&D nurse told me to do when I get a xx/90 reading and took it again - 134/90. We called the OB nurse and were told to monitor for 2 hours, checking every 15 minutes or so and if it stays up or gets any higher, I was to call back and go to L&D. My next readings were 137/94, 129/90, 132/83, 133/90, 124/82, 116/80, and 128/82. Since it came back down by the end of the 2 hours, we were told to stay home and keep me off my feet as much as possible.. and of course to continue monitoring (hourly at this point) and call if it spikes again.

Thursday night was rough.. I was exhausted, and still contracting.

I have about 3 contractions an hour most of the day, sometimes a little more, sometimes less.

The thing is, they are not intensifying and they are not speeding up. Who would have ever guessed I would be DESPERATE for my contractions to get worse?! I must be nuts.. because I am desperate.

I did not sleep well Thursday night. Not. At. All.

In fact, I spent a good hour sitting in the nursery, rocking in the glider listening to one of Camryn's lullaby CDs in the middle of the night.

I also spent quite a bit of time just pacing around the house, walking back and forth in our bedroom - amazingly enough, being on my feet felt better than laying in bed.

Yep, its official, I'm nuts.

Friday was pretty terrible.

Pregnancy stuff aside, it was my last day of watching my niece at home.

She starts preschool on Monday and I am going to miss her so much. I know she lives just 2 miles up the road, so I can still see her all the time.. but I just love the time I get to spend with her everyday, and I am so glad I was able to be with her so much during my pregnancy.

She loves my belly.

She comes up to my belly several times through out the day and pats my belly, talks to my belly, kisses my belly, tells my belly "Da da da!" while shaking her finger at the bump... which translates to "Get outta there, baby!", taught to her by me and Andy one day a couple weeks ago. ;) Its so cute!

I wish I would have been able to really enjoy my last full day with her.. go somewhere fun, sing and dance and play all day, laugh and talk and take in every minute.

But I was miserable. All day long.

My head hurt.

My back hurt.

I was contracting all day long.

And by noon my BP was creeping up again.

Her mama came to pick her up early because I really needed to be laying down and keeping my BP out of the danger zone.. and I was so upset (ugh, crying again just writing it).. so upset that I lost that time with her.

I was in touch with the OB nurse a couple times that afternoon and a couple times a trip to L&D was mentioned.. but ultimately my doctor thought it would be best for me to monitor at home until I hit 140/90, both numbers.

As terrible as this sounds, I was so frustrated when they said to stay home and gave me my next set of monitoring instructions.

Like I posted earlier in the week, I do not want to have to have any emergency procedures taken or the health of my daughter to be in any kind of jeopardy -- but when I was going on the 4th full day of contractions, little to no restful sleep, lingering headaches and backaches, and increasing anxiety of my BP fluctuations, the idea of being admitted to L&D again and induced sounded WONDERFUL. I felt like the end of this roller coaster was in sight and I would soon be holding my sweet girl.. and while yes, I was worried about my BP and a little afraid of what it meant, I was anxious to just cross that finish line.

But nope. Here we are.

Even though today has physically been another carbon copy of labor-limbo, emotionally I have been in much better spirits.

We woke up and had breakfast and then Andy offered to take me to Chedd's for lunch.

What? Really? Who *are* you?

Andy never wants to go out to eat anywhere unless a) we are out and about and have no choice, b) we are meeting friends, or c) there is a sporting event on a big screen tv that he can watch.

The fact that none of those 3 criteria applied AND this place is about 40 minutes from home, I was stunned.

And THRILLED.

So off we went.

We took a few belly pics before heading out the door, you know.. just in case. (hahahaha)

This was today:

This was Tuesday (38 wks even)... I feel like I look bigger Tuesday than I did today. Weird.

After a lovely lunch, we headed to Austin Baby to check it out. I have heard a lot about it and have wanted to check it out, but haven't been in the area recently. Well you better believe I was taking full advantage of having Andy out of the house.. and of having the opportunity to walk this baby out in as many air-conditioned places as possible.

From there we met up with his sister to run a few more errands.. despite my exhaustion, I was determined to walk as much as possible today, so I was not about to turn down shopping with my SIL.

When we finally made it back home, Andy decided to hang the new window covering my grandmother bought us for the baby's room. It was delivered yesterday and we thought we better install it now, before the baby comes. (Again, hahaha. Like this baby is ever coming!)

So now I am sitting at home, while Andy is at a Benefit Poker Tournament for a friend of ours... and I have no news.

Everything is the same.

Yo-Yo BP.

Spaced out, mild-moderate contractions.

Blah blah blah.

I'm boring even myself these days, with these repetitive reports.

I do have to say though - its pretty amusing to see all my loved ones on high alert.

If I miss a phone call (you know, because I can only waddle so fast!!), I immediately get a text asking what's going on with baby.

If I call anyone, I am almost always met with "Are you in labor?!" Hey, what happened to "Hello?"

If I so much as blink funny, Andy says "What? What?"

I think if this goes on much longer, I'm gonna start really havin' fun with this at everyone else's expense.

bwahahaha

I'm getting ready to head to bed, which means pace around the house til I'm so tired I can actually lay down without being in so much pain.

But before I go, let me just put this out into the universe--

I have been told that thunderstorms lower barometric pressure, and that some believe that drop in pressure can put women into labor.

We just had a lovely summer storm... this silly little theory better prove to be true!! ;)

Come oooooon, Camy.

Still here. Still Pregnant.

I'm going on 35 hours of sporadic contracting/cramping.

I'm over it, really.

I thought for sure things would get to happenin' yesterday, but no dice.

Thankfully I was able to get some decent sleep last night, where as the night before I was up at least every hour in pain and needing to pee.

I spent the day yesterday trying to find some way to get comfortable.. laying on my left side, laying on my right, laying on my back propped up with pillows, sitting in the recliner.. nothing brought relief.

The only way I was comfortable sitting down was if I was rocking back and forth, but that got old quick.

I spent the majority of the day moving around - sitting to standing, standing to swaying, swaying to walking around, walking around to laying down, laying down to sitting, repeat.

I had no appetite, but periodically force-fed myself just in case that meal might be my last for a little while.

Ha, wishful thinking much?

By about 2pm I was frustrated and emotional..

When Andy got home from work we agreed to go for a walk around the neighborhood in hopes of speeding things up.

The fact that Andy agreed to walk with me without any begging and pleading is HUGE! It so goes against everything I have ever known him for, and I have never in my life been more excited to go for a walk. :)

Believe it or not, rather than kicking things into high gear, there was actually a good hour and a half after the walk that I didn't have a single cramp or contraction.

I only *thought* I was frustrated and emotional earlier in the day -- insert breakdown here.

Once we resigned ourselves to the reality that nothing was going to happen yesterday, we were able to enjoy our dinner and relax for the rest of the evening.

Around 830, the cramps/contrax returned, and so began my little labor-limbo-dance once more - sitting and rocking and walking and swaying and laying and tossing and turning... good times.

When we finally decided to call it a night and try to get some sleep, Andy shocked me for the second time that evening by giving me a wonderful back rub without me even asking! Who is this man?! Rather than try to enjoy a back rub while laying on my side, I sat on the bed and piled a bunch of pillows in front of me to lean on, and Andy sat behind me to rub my back. It was heavenly.

Then off to sleep we were with our silly hope and anticipation that we'd be woken in the night by my water breaking or contrax getting serious. Andy gave Camryn a little pep talk, but apparently she was already sleeping by then... because here we are, still pregnant.

This morning has been much of the same.

Cramps/Contrax.. whatever the heck they are.

Headache.

Stable BP *yay!*.

Crazy amounts of discharge.

Lightning Crotch like you would not believe.

Back pain/pressure.

No baby.

No signs of baby being in any rush to get here.

I do not enjoy Labor Limbo.

I really wish things would just ease up so I can relax, or speed up so we can get this show on the road.

:sigh:

Eventful Morning!!

Oh, Camryn.

What are you doing in there?

We had our 38 week OB check this morning, so let's just start at the very beginning with this story....

All OB checks begin with the weigh-in. Remember last week I gained 3 lbs in 6 days and was not thrilled.. this week, I only gained .4 pounds! Woohoo!!!

Next up is the urine sample.. didn't pee on my hand! Woohoo!

Then the nurse comes in and checks my blood pressure.. while she was putting the cuff on my arm, I told her that we had a momentary BP spike on Saturday. During a yucky headache, I took my BP at home and found it to be 132/95.. but 30 minutes later it was back down in a safer range so I didn't worry about it.

She took my BP and noted that it was 140/90. Crap!

She tested my urine and said there were no proteins, so we'd just have to wait and see what the dr said about the BP.

Nurse left, I assumed the pants-off-sheet-on position and we waited.

And I worried.

Dr came in... asked how I had been feeling, ran through a list of pre-e symptoms to make sure I wasn't experiencing the headaches, blurred vision, etc.. checked my hands and feet for swelling (a little puffy, not "swollen") then gave us a big talk about pre-e and the dangers and what I needed to do to monitor my BP. He wants me to take my BP throughout the day, and if I ever get a reading that is xx/90, I need to wait 1 hr and take it again... if its still over 90, I need to call. If we discover that my BP does not want to come down, we'd have to induce.

::insert major collision of conflicting emotions::

I know I have been encouraging my sweet girl to make her way out of there, I have been anxious to meet her and eager to get this show on the road.. I even had every intention to ask my OB his thoughts on elective inductions at today's appt (that we would have scheduled for the 26th or 27th if he let us), BUT, but... I never wanted things to happen this way. I never wanted to have to *worry* about her or force her out due to medical necessity. So while the idea of meeting her this week sounded exciting, the circumstances surrounding that potential induction were certainly not favorable and very scary.

After chatting for a while about pre-e and BP, he listened to her heart - which still sounded great.

Then he did another internal - 3cm this week (up from 2), and still 80% effaced. Good progress!! He said she was "very very low" and then proceeded to "stretch" me a bit. Not sure exactly what that means, but it was not fun for me.. he explained that sometimes that can trigger contractions, so we'll see what happens. I have had a few mild contractions since then.. but who knows if its because of his "stretching".

To finish up the appt, he asked me to take my BP at 1030 (about an hour after the 140/90 reading) and let them know if it was still elevated... then he sent me to the in-house lab for a "PIH workup" to make sure my platelets weren't low.

We hit the lab, then hit the road.

We went and picked Syd up, came home.. and Syd and I just relaxed a while before getting ready for naptime.

At 1018, Andy called and reminded me to take my BP in a few minutes.

Laid Syd down, took my BP - 148/96. Crap Crap Crap!!!

Called the OB nurse, she said she'd relay the info to the Dr and call me back.

Called Andy, told him what was going on..

Got the call back from the dr - instructed to go to L&D for monitoring.

Called Andy and told him to come back home (he had just gotten to work!)..

Called my sister for her to come pick up Syd..

Completely broke down in a panic.

Andy got home in a hurry, we loaded up and headed up to the hospital..

The whole way there we were going back and forth between worry and excitement...

Worry about my blood pressure and what it might be doing to Camryn (though she's been a wigglin' machine today, so I knew she was fine!!)..

Excitement over the potential that we'd be meeting Camryn sooner than we thought.

Worry about an induction based on medical necessity..

Excitement over the potential that we'd be meeting Camryn sooner than we thought.

Worry about whether or not we were really as ready as we thought we were...

Excitement over the potential.. you get the point.

Somehow my mother (who I had just spoken to!) beat us to the hospital even though I insisted she didn't need to leave work quite yet since we didn't know what was going on...

Got checked in, and sent up to the L&D wing that we are, sadly, all too familiar with.

Our room was AP2, third time we've been in that particular room.

Changed into a gown, gave another sample, strapped on the monitors and BP cuff.. and got cozy.

Camy's heartrate was perfect.

I was showing some little-tiny contractions, and it was interesting to see that these little crampy feelings I've been having for a while now actually show up as little contractions. So everyone who doubted me and said "Oh you'd KNOW if you were having contractions..." - you were WRONG. I knew they meant something, and they do! So HA!

Took my BP.. and guess what.. it was almost perfect. A little elevated (especially compared to my normal BP), but muuuch better than 148/96!

Kept checking my BP every 15 minutes, and while they did stay a bit above "average", they were stable.

UA came back clean.

PIH Blood work came back clean.

So after 2 hours in the hospital, we were sent home.

No pre-e. YAY!

But no baby either. Kinda Boo.

Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful that my health and Camryn's health are not in jeopardy.

I am so glad that we were not having to go the emergency-induction route.

But it was a little frustrating that after so much commotion, we were being sent home with "0 babies" per my discharge paperwork. Zero babies.

So I'm back at home. Putting my feet up. Keeping an eye on my BP (still stable) and hoping Camy decides to come on her own soon.. without complications or worry.

I'm exhausted after today's roller coaster!

How far along?: 38 weeks.

Total weight gain: 44.4 pounds total, a gain of .4 from last week.

How big is baby?: Approx 6.8 lbs, 19 1/2 inches, per babycenter.

Maternity clothes?: Of course. Of course.

Stretch marks?: ::knock knock knock on wood:: I am thinkin' we've dodged the bullet on this one. Still SM-free.

Sleep?: I could use some. Right this minute. In fact, I think I'll take a nap once I post this. I have NOT been sleeping well at night. Its hard to fall asleep, RLS is kickin' my butt.. and once I am zonked, I wake at least every 2 hrs to pee.

Best moment this week?: Hearing that we do not have to worry about pre-e right now. Whew. I was really scared there for a while..

Movement?: This girl is nuts! She doesn't seem to stop. Ever. But I'm lovin' it!

Food cravings?: Grilled Cheese. But not just your run of the mill grilled cheese, anything from this place sounds devine.

Labor signs?: 3 cm, 80% effaced. A few very mild contractions today, a few strong contractions Sunday night.

Belly button in or out?: Out.

What I miss: Still pretty much just missing sleep.

What I'm looking forward to: Meeting Camryn. Any time now. If I am feeling well enough (and my BP cooperates), I will be going to meet up with some pregnant pals tomorrow evening... we'll see.

Milestone: We are in the 2 week final countdown. Wow. Its hard to believe we've already made it this far!! And that we really could be having a baby any day, any minute now.

Tres.

Can you tell I am desperately searching for ways to pass the time on this fine day?

Just wanted to give a little visual proof that when we say we are ready, I really mean it.

We are ready.

One of the final things on our checklist for baby was to pick up our cloth diaper order and get everything prepped before we come home from the hospital. We would have been able to get by if that wasn't checked off the list in time, but I was really hoping we'd be able to complete that task BEFORE coming home because what new first-time mother wants to mess with cycling cloth diapers through the washer and dryer a minimum of 6 times while adjusting to life with their precious newborn baby? Not this one!

So here they are - overnight diapers in the top left corner, diaper covers in the bottom left corner, prefolds in the second section from the left, cloth wipes in the next section, and our NB sposies for those lovely first days of meconium poop and for the first few nights while we're still figuring things out.

See?! I told you!

We really are ready.

We even bought a small CD/clock radio yesterday to put by the rocker so I can play Camryn her sweet lullabies while I rock her to sleep.. and so that I can see what time it is for all these midnight feedings that are in my future.

I sat in her room yesterday, in her rocker, with her Erin Ivey Lullaby CD playing, just singing softly to her.. wondering how long it will be before I can sing to her with her cradled in my arms... wondering if she will love these Erin Ivey songs as much as I do.. wondering if she will find her nursery as soothing and peaceful as I do.. just wondering. And wishing.

Been a while since we had a 2 post day!

Does it count as a "2 post day" when post 1 was posted in the wee hours of the morning? I think so.

Here it is, 3:24pm on August 17.. the day my sister in law has declared will be Camryn's birthday.

She's been saying this for weeks and weeks now. Well, I actually think she started laying odds from day one, but I brushed it off in the beginning and fully expected my child to go past her due date.

But as the summer forged on and I became more and more uncomfortable, I began to not-so-secretly hope for a baby born sometime in the 37-40 week safety zone.

However, I didn't alter my expectations (much), until my 32 week appt when the doctor let us know that Camy was definitely head down and would likely stay that way.

Woohoo! Head down. That's good news. It means she's headed in the right direction (bwahaha, no pun intended, though it did make me chuckle).

Then at my 36 week appt, when we learned that we were already 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced AND that Baby Girl was low enough for the doctor to TOUCH HER HEAD (reiterate: touch. her. head!), my expectations began to shift a bit more.

Our first baby, and I'm already dilating? AND I'm already halfway to full effacement. That's GOTTA mean somethin', no?

One week later.. another centimeter dilated and 80% effaced.. gettin' antsy!

Doc Man said he was very impressed with that 80%. Said that wasn't easy to do, and will probably mean things will move quickly once they actually kick into gear. WOW. Four words stuck in my head, "things will move quickly".

Nurse lady (who we adore) asked us several times if we were sure we were ready.. bags packed? Car seat installed? House ready? Yup, yup, yup. Oooohh.. this is getting exciting.

Then last night's contractions....

Oh boy. Or girl, as the case may be.

There was a good hour and a half last night that I was pumped and SURE that our little love would make her appearance sometime today. I couldn't believe my SIL was going to be right.. but I was so excited!!

Bwahaha.

Not so much.

3:28 pm... not a contraction felt since about 230am.

Water's still in tact.

No signs of imminent labor.

I have had some "lightening crotch" and definite uterine tightening (for lack of a better description), but nothing painful.. nothing time-able.. nothing to lead me to believe I should put the bags in the car now.

I know things can change on a dime, and SIL still has 8 1/2 hours left in the day for her oh-so-sure-of-herself prediction to become a reality, but I'm not holding my breath.

Not practicing my labor breathing either.

We have our next appt bright and early tomorrow morning and I am hope-hope-hoping for more progress. Or better yet.. SO MUCH MORE progress that the dr will joyfully instruct us to go on next door to the L&D wing.

Wouldn't that be lovely?

Lovely.

But not likely.

I think we're in this for the long haul.

You've got about 10 days, Baby Girl, before I start the eviction process.

A letter to my daughter.

Dear Camryn,

Let me go to sleep.

I promise I can be a much better host to you in there if I am well-rested.

And these random contractions?

Not a fan. At all.

Daddy and I went walking today (at the mall.. because it has air conditioner) in an effort to get things moving along. So you need to make up your mind baby girl.. either you agree with us and want to give it the green light, or you don't.

No more of this back and forth stuff.

Contractions coming at random intervals for an hour and then disappearing?

Why? Why are you doing this to me?

Contractions that wake me up from a dead sleep and get my adrenaline pumping and excitement up so I that I can't fall back to sleep even after you've changed your mind and the contractions have subsided?

REALLY?!?

I am exhausted, baby girl.

My back hurts.

My hips hurt.

My head hurts.

Please, if I should be so lucky as to crawl back into bed and fall asleep once more.. let me stay that way for a while.

The next time you feel like turning the contractions back on, let's have it be the real deal? Mmkay?

Whether that happens tomorrow (like your Aunt Amy is CONVINCED of) or next week.. whatever. The next time I have to look at the clock to time the gap between contractions needs to actually MEAN something.

Remember sweet girl, we love you.

I am getting a tad impatient with your indecisiveness, but I still love you more than you'll ever know.

Can't wait to see your sweet face.

Love,

Mommy

37w6d

I can't sleep, so I survey.

How far along?: Thirty. Seven. Weeks. FULL TERM, baby!

Total weight gain: 44 pounds. That's 3 pounds gained in just the last WEEK. Oh. My. Word. 

How big is baby?: Average would be 6 1/3ish pounds, and 19ish inches long. Wonder if Camy is anywhere close to that? Given my weight gain, if I had to venture a guess on her weight, I'd say she's at least 20 lbs by now!

Maternity clothes?: Same as last week.. maternity clothes must be shrinking in the wash. Boo. 

Stretch marks?: We have managed to dodge the stretch mark bullet another week. Yay! ('Cept for the boobies, of course.)

Sleep?: Well, its 11:06 pm on a Tuesday night, and rather than being snuggled up in my bed I am here filling out this weekly survey. What does that tell you about my sleep situation? On top of my insomnia, Baby Girl chilling down low is putting lots-o-pressure on my poor, squished bladder. That means my frequent midnight bathroom runs are even more frequent as of late. Last night's Tee-Tee-Tally? 6 trips to the loo. 

Best moment this week?:  Hmmm.. I guess that would be our breastfeeding class tonight. I didn't know how much I'd learn because I've been reading up a bit and speaking to some BFing Mamas I know.. but I actually learned a lot, and so did Andy. I am so glad we forked over the dough for that class. I feel much more confident in the whole idea now. 

Movement?: Still hosting a dance party for one in there, yes she is. 

Food cravings?: This week's go-to snack has been cinnamon graham crackers dipped in cream cheese. I've had it about 3975 times. Yum, Yum, Yummy. 

Labor signs?: Well, like I said earlier today, we are 2cm dilated and 80% effaced. Since our appt this morning, I have had some spotting and have begun to lose my MP. I can't imagine there would be much more of it left at this point, but just when I think its all gone, I'm surprised again.  Still having random BH contrax a few times a day, and have had 2 instances where my belly has felt very crampy all of the sudden, and I've wondered if those were "real" contractions. The Dr said, though, that if I have to wonder, chances are it was not a contraction. So who knows what's going on.   

Belly button in or out?:  Out. 

What I miss: Right now, my list has been shortened to only include SLEEP. I want to sleeeeep. 

What I'm looking forward to: Other than hopefully meeting Camryn very soon, I am looking forward to picking up our diapers tomorrow and (hopefully) getting them prepped before her arrival.  

Milestone: Full Term.. duh! Have you not been paying attention? I have been doing the Full Term Happy Dance since my 2am trip to the bathroom this morning! :)

FULL TERM! Woot!

Ahhh... here we are. Full Term. 

What a wonderful feeling to know that we have been blessed enough to a) get pregnant in the first place, and b) carry our sweet girl safely to full term. 

Anything can happen now. 

At any time. 

Ball's in her court... whenever she's ready, we'll be ready. 

-Bags are juuuust about packed!

After a quick last-minute run to Target this afternoon, with a towel and change of pants riding shot gun, we are now totally packed. All the bags (mine and Andy's bag, the toiletries bag, Camy's bag, laptop bag, camera bag, and Boppy pillow) are all staged in one place ready to grab-n-go!!)

-Car seat is installed. 

-Cosleeper is put together and in our room. 

Come on Baby Girl... give us the green light!!!

We had our 37 week appt this morning.. one bit of news that I wasn't pleased with, but lots of news I was THRILLED by.

Bad News (to me): I gained 3 lbs since last week. THREE FREAKING POUNDS. And I can't blame that on Camy, she probably gained only about a half a pound of that. And here I thought weight gain was supposed to slow down at the very end. Pshaw. The doctor is not at all concerned though. I guess to him, 44 lbs in 37 weeks is no big deal, but in my world - that is NOT okay!!!

And all the good news:

No protein in my urine. Great BP - 116/60. Beautiful heartbeat. Still head-down. GBS negative, and... 

wait for it... 

We are now 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced! Woooohooo!

We have breast-feeding class tonight (yay!), and I pick up her cloth diapers tomorrow. 

Things are lookin' good. 

Can't wait to meet our sweet girl. 

Just a few quick updates..

Before I get back to the massive amounts of clean clothes that need to be folded or hung up, I thought I'd take a quite break to give a few updates. 

1. We got our glider in!! WOOHOO! My mom didn't even tell me it had arrived, instead she went and picked up by herself and schemed with my husband to get it in the house and set up while I was at a friend's baby shower. :) My sister texted me as I was pulling into my driveway to ask if I was home yet.. I called her to say I just pulled up and hadn't even walked in yet. She told me to call her in a few minutes and I asked her why she called.. in a very odd tone she said "I think I may have dropped something in Camryn's room". I had NO idea what she was talking about and was actually a bit afraid of what I might find (ya never know with that girl!!). About that time I walked into the house and peeked around the corner into the nursery, and caught a glimpse of the chair!!! I was so excited!! I love it even more sitting in Camy's room than I did when we saw it in the store. And it fits in the corner! YAY! I wish the room was a little bigger, but thats ok. Everything fits nice and cozy, and we have a separate playroom for Camy once she needs more room to move around and get into trouble. :)

2. With the chair in place, we were able to situate all the other furniture into their official places. And ya know what that means? We were finally able to hang the shelves above the dresser! Andy got right to work hanging the shelves, and I love that the room is finally looking complete. We moved the name blocks up to one of the shelves and hung the bird print as well. Now we just need photos of our sweet girl to go on the second shelf and complete the look. :) 

I love just sitting in her room and rocking in that chair... imagining how wonderful it will be to have her in my arms, in that very spot, very soon. ::sigh::

3. Things are a-happenin'.  TMI Alert!

For the last, oh, 36 hours I have noticed what I can only imagine is my MP making its way out. Not pleasant, but exciting none-the-less that we are that much closer to her arrival. Just like early dilation, losing the MP could mean absolutely nothing about when baby will arrive.. but like Andy keeps saying "some progress is better than no progress". Right-O, my oh so simple-minded husband. :) Something is better than nothing. 

Also, as of 2ish am last night, Righty is leaking. Joy. I think I jinxed myself yesterday by opening up the box of breast pads to pack a few for the hospital just in case, even though my older sister told me I probably wouldn't need them until a few days post-partum. Righty disagreed I guess. Hopefully this will just be an isolated day of leakage. I do not want to deal with this for the next who knows how long BEFORE baby gets here. I was ready for this to happen once I am actually nursing, but hello.. girls, there is no outside baby yet! Let's not get ahead of ourselves here!

And lastly, Camryn is looooow. I mean, I can't sit up straight today without feeling like I am sitting on something -- that kinda low. I can't stand up from the couch without feeling like there is a (much-heavier than yesterday!) bowling ball sitting on my cervix. There is a lot of lower pressure today, and many more cervix-punches (or head butts maybe?). 

4. Camryn's bag for the hospital is packed. 

Mine is half-packed, with the remaining items currently in the dryer. 

Andy's bag is out, but empty. He's always a very last minute packer though, and really, all he needs is some pants to sleep in, a change of clothes, his toothbrush and deodorant. If he doesn't get it done soon, I may throw some stuff together for him myself.. I do NOT want to say "Uh honey, I think its time for us to go" and then hear him say "MY BAG!? Hold on a sec..". That would not make for a happy laboring-mama. No way. 

And, Camryn's car seat is installed, complete with a mirror on the head rest above her seat so I can peek at her sweet face. :)

There are only 2 more things we are waiting on: the monitor (which should arrive any day now), and the diapers (again, any day now). But we can certainly get by the first few days without either of those things. 

The monitor really won't be necessary until she is sleeping in her own room at night (not for the first couple months) or napping in her room (again, not right away). And the diapers have a little wiggle room with their arrival. Even though I would love to start cloth diapering as soon as we come home, I do have some NB diapers on hand just in case. So we're good to go. 

I know chances are she will not arrive for a few more weeks yet, but I just have to put this out into the universe: as long as she makes it past this Tuesday (when we hit 'full term' and have our breast feeding class) I will be a happy camper. Anytime after the 11th, I'm game.  

I've got my money on Aug 25th, her great grandmother is pulling for the 26th (that was my Grand-Dad's bday), and Andy is pulling for the 27th. We'll see if any of us even come close! ;)

And now, guess I better get back to the laundry. 

What a day we've had!!!

A wonderful, wonderful day!!

We started off the day by getting an email from our awesome maternity photographer, Lisa Woods, saying she posted a sneak peek of our session to her blog. We had SO MUCH fun with her last night, and had been anxiously waiting to see some of the pics.. but we never could have imagined how INCREDIBLE the pictures would turn out. She is a friggin' ROCK. STAR. The pictures are phenomenal. Thanks to our wonderful friend Katie for helping set up this shoot with Lisa, and for making me pretty with the makeup and hair! And a HUGE thanks to Lisa for taking time out of her day to make our day (our week, our pregnancy) so wonderful. Lisa, your kindness and generosity truly touches my heart. We can't thank you enough for what you have done/are doing for the two (er, three) of us. 

Our sneak peek can be found here, and I will post more to the blog once we get the CD. 

After staring at our photos for a while, we headed off to our 36 week OB check. 

I was weighed and SO HAPPY to see that I only gained 2 lbs since the appt 2 weeks ago. Right on par! WOOHOO. 

Did the pee-in-the-cup bit that has become like an acrobatic feat these days.. all was well. 

Great BP, though she didn't tell me this week what it was.. but "great" is enough info for me.

Doc came in and measured my fundal height - perfect 36.

Listened to Camy's heart on the doppler, beautiful 140's.. and he mentioned how much a  mover she is. Uh, yup -- she never stops anymore. 

Then came the fun stuff.. the GBS test and the internal. 

GBS test wasn't what I would call fun, but it wasn't as bad as some have made it sound. 

The internal was terribly uncomfortable but, BUT... good news!!!

We are 1cm dilated, 50% effaced, and while he was in there (sorry), he said "... aaaand there's her head...".

To which Andy and I both responded "Her head? Huh?".

"Yep, I am touching her head. She's veeery low. That's good news."

EEEP!!

Doc-Man reminded us that it could mean absolutely nothing.. we could walk around this way for weeks. But it is still quite a comfort to know that *something* is happening. Something is better than nothing, right? 

Guess we better pack our bags. Who knows what could happen from here... here's to continued progress!

After our appointment we headed down to Babies R Us and got the last of what we think we'll need for Baby Girl. YAY! 

What a wonderful, wonderful day!!!!

Camryn, we are so excited, Sweet Girl. Things are coming together so nicely in our preparations for you.. and we cannot wait to have you home. All we need is you. The nursery is not complete without you. Our home is not complete without you. Our little family.. to be complete, all we need is you. 

Now here's my request, Camy.. stay in there at least a week or two more. Let your little body put on a little bit more baby fat, let your lungs mature more... and let's agree to have your debut fall somewhere after the 18th of August but before September 1st. Preferably on Aug 27th.  Does that work for you? Your daddy thinks you'll be here on the 27th.. I think that sounds like the perfect birth date for a baby as sweet as yourself. :)

We love you, Little One. 

Keep growing. Keep dancing. Keep making us smile. 

Thirty. Six. Weeks.

How far along?: 36 weeks!!!

Total weight gain: I don't weigh myself between appointments anymore. As of the 34 wk appt, I was up 36 lbs. Yikes. We will see tomorrow how much more I've packed on since then... I'm a little afraid. 

How big is baby?: According to babycenter, the average 36 weeker is more than 18 1/2 inches long and almost 6 lbs! I can only imagine baby girl is about that size since we've always been told she was near the 50th Percentile and measuring right on track. Its hard to imagine the Sweet Girl in my belly may already be bigger than both the twins were when they were born!!

Maternity clothes?: At this point, even my maternity clothes are starting to feel a little small, but I refuse to buy any more with less than a month left to go. I will just keep what does fit on a regular rotation, so you will probably see me wearing the same things over and over. 

Stretch marks?: Still just on the girls, not on the belly. WOOHOO!

Sleep?:  Sadly I have been having to take Tylenol PM most nights over the last week to fall asleep. I don't know if the aches and pains are keeping me up, or the anxiety over knowing just how close we are to having our baby. 

Best moment this week?:  I am really, REALLY looking forward to our maternity pictures this evening! Our dear friends K&K arranged for us to have maternity and newborn photos taken by the amazing Lisa Woods! :) 

Movement?: TONS! I have heard/read about several people experiencing a decrease in movement as they near the finish line but that has certainly NOT been the case for us. This Sweet Girl is always on the move.. stretching, rolling, hiccup'ing, dancing.. she's all over the place. Its been entertaining to sit with her Daddy and just watch my belly bounce.. its unreal how big the movements have become! Unfortunately some of the movements are so pronounced they are becoming painful.. she pokes out so far sometimes its pretty uncomfortable!

Food cravings?:  Just craving food. In general. All the time. 

Labor signs?: Continued BH contractions. Lots of pressure down low, so I take that as a good sign that she's getting cozy down there and hopefully won't be turning at the last minute. There have been a few instances where I have had a sudden jolt of discomfort (not really *pain*, but a sudden odd sensation) down around what I can only imagine is my cervix.. I don't have a clue what it is or what it means, but I'm telling myself its a good sign as well. 

Belly button in or out?:  Out. 

What I miss: Sleeping soundly, sleeping on my stomach, bending at the waist.. all the things I take for granted in my non-pregnant state!

What I'm looking forward to: Hitting "full term" in one week. 

Milestone: Every week Baby Girl continues to grow is a big deal to me, but this week seems like a pretty big deal since we can now say Camy will most likely arrive within the next month! Eep. 

We. Are. Set.

I cannot believe we have reached the point in this pregnancy where we can honestly say "We are READY!".

We are ready for our daughter to arrive.

Car Seat, Crib, Cosleeper - check, check, check. 

Cloth Diapers, Covers, Wipes - three more checks. 

Newborn clothes and socks and mittens and hats - checkity check check.

Bottles, Pacifiers, Burp Cloths -  yup yup yup.

Tub and towels, washcloths and soaps - all ready and waiting. 

Plenty of blankets for cuddling.

Boppy for feeding now.. bowls and spoons and bibs for feeding later. 

Monitor for peeking. 

Swing for soothing.

Books for reading. 

Toys and floor mat for playing. 

Bouncy Seat for relaxing. 

Thermometer, Aspirator, Humidifier, Clippers, Brush & Comb, Gripe Water and more for caring. 

What more could the little babe need? 

I mean really, we. are. ready. 

The last load of her clothes (likely the last load before she soils her own!) is in the dryer. 

We have folded and sorted and put everything away. 

We've matched all her tiny socks and melted over her teeny-tiny onesies and dresses. 

We have set up the guest bathroom to now be Camryn's bathroom, with all her towels folded and ready for bath time, all her (billions of!) washcloths at the ready, her shampoo in a basket by the tub. 

There are only 2 more things we are waiting on: her glider should be arriving sometime this week, and her diaper shipment should be here soon as well. 

After that, we're done. 

We just wait. 

I'm wondering if time will seemingly stop at that point. Will these last few weeks drag on and on and on?

The first 35 weeks and 6 days of this pregnancy have gone by in a flash, but now that we are justthisclose to the finish line, will this train slow down?

I woke up this morning and let Andy know that today marks the 8-29 day countdown. 

It got me thinking back to the 8 months we tried to get pregnant. 

Time in those 8 months crawled by in 2 week intervals.. 2 weeks til ovulation, then 2 weeks til testing. 29 days seemed like an eternity back then, and now here we are on the other side of the tracks, with a whole new meaning to the 29 day countdown.

How will my emotions handle the anticipation of this 29 day countdown?

Hopefully much better than how I handled them on the TTC side!

On the TTC train, there was no guarantee at the end of that 29 days. All we could do is hope for great news to be waiting at the end of the month.. 

Now we have so much to look forward to, a lifetime of joy with our daughter is waiting for us at the end of this ride!

We just cannot wait to meet her. 

Will she have brown hair like we both do now, or blond like her daddy did when he was a baby/toddler?

Or will she even have any hair at all?

Will she have brown eyes like mine (and everyone else's in my family), or will that blue-eyed-gene sneak through from her daddy's side of the family? 

Will she have crazy long fingers and toes like her mommy, or cute little chubby fingers and toes (I won't say "like her daddy" because he wouldn't like that very much!)?

Will she get the olive tone skin from my side of the family, or her daddy's Irish fair skin?

Will the freckles from my mother and sisters make an appearance even though they skipped me?

We have so enjoyed speculating about all this.. and knowing that we will have all the answers in less than a month is thrilling.

I can't wait to look into her eyes. 

Or to see her Daddy holding her for the first time.

To kiss her little feet and chubby cheeks, and to see her wrap her tiny finger around her Daddy's. 

I can't wait to introduce her to all the people who have prayed for her and showered us with love and support as we've awaited her arrival. 

I can't wait to drive her home, and tell her all about the things we'll pass on the way - the Starbucks I have come to frequent lately that always gets her dancing. The Walgreen's Daddy went to several times a week in the beginning to refill the HG meds for me. The park we can't wait to take her to. 

I can't wait to carry her into her first home.. show her all the things we've done to prepare for her.. take her into her nursery we have obsessed over, rock with her in the glider.

Oh how I hope these 8-29 days fly by. 

I want my baby here with us. 

I want her in my arms.

35/35

EEP!

You know what today is?

35 weeks pregnant. 

35 days to go. 

I love the symmetry of this weekly milestone.

I love that we have made it this far with our baby girl growing and kicking in my belly and all the while making my heart swell with an overwhelming love for her already.

I love that we are about.this.close to meeting our sweet daughter.

We got her bedding in the mail yesterday (huge thanks to my sister, Camy's Aunt V for getting it for us!) and of course, it went straight into the laundry so I could put her crib all together before I went to bed. :) I love the way it turned out! And I love the bedding even more in person than I did online. 

I will post the weekly survey tomorrow, but for now.. here are a few pictures. 

This bear was made by my grandma, Camy's Great Grandma. It says "My heart belongs to Camryn". So cute.

Shortly after taking these pictures, I switched the bumper around so the scalloped detail side is facing inward - the crib slats obstructed the pretty view. 

The vinyl wall words are a lyric from one of our favorite songs: "I love to watch you laugh and smile, I love to watch you dream."

We have 2 floating shelves to hang above the dresser, but we are waiting until the glider arrives and finds it official home in the corner (where the stroller is currently living). We can then center all other furniture accordingly and know exactly where the shelves should go. 

Once the shelves are hung, her name blocks will be moved, and the bird print will be hung. 

And.. the 35 week belly. 

WOW! 

And the bare belly...

And the (I can't believe I'm posting this!) frontal bare belly, ugh. 

Only 5 weeks to go, folks. 

5 weeks.

5.

Surrounded by Love!

Yesterday was our first of two baby showers. 

This one was hosted by my older sister, Camy's Aunt V and our dear friend, Katie at my mother's home.

We had a wonderful turn-out of friends and family, many of whom I don't get to see often enough.

We had amazing food.. my favorite Tortellini Salad made by Katie, an adorable baby carriage carved out of watermelon  (by my brother in law) and filled with fresh fruit, veggies, dips, etc. 

We had a precious cake that read "Welcome Camryn Louise" and was made by the same baker that did our wedding cake! It was delicious, and I was so touched that Katie did so much investigative work to find the right baker and have the same flavor/filling made for our Baby Girl. 

The games we played were both fun and hilarious. Not your typical "sniff the diaper" or "how big is Mom's belly?" games. One game was a sort of fill-in-the-blank/word association game where Andy gave his answers the night before and the guests were to try and guess what Andy said. It was HILARIOUS. A few gems: "Nursing ____", Andy said "home". Um, baby related, hon!? "Bubble ____", Andy said "butt". Bwahaha. Good times. 

And oh the gifts.. we are truly blessed to be surrounded by such generous friends and family.. everyone happy to shower us with love and support as our family grows. We could never have imagined how much we would receive, and just cannot thank everyone enough. We got our crib mattress and bedding, our car seat and stroller, our cradle swing, exersaucer, and bouncy chair, our bath tub and nearly all necessary bath items, lots of clothes, blankets, and best of all - each guest brought their favorite childhood book to start Camryn's library! We got an adorable diaper bag, hangers, baby-proofing items, some baskets for organizing, a precious picture frame, some toys/rattles.. it was truly incredible. I was just in awe of all the loot we had to bring home, and stayed up until about midnight sorting through all the fun stuff!

Even with all Andy and I have had to go through with this pregnancy and our ever-changing financial situation, when I sit back and think about all we have.. our health and the health of our daughter, our home, our families, our friends... we are so so blessed. I am so grateful to God for all that we have, and for all the love and support we are surrounded by on a daily basis. 

It warms my heart to sit in Camy's room and just look around.. seeing all the ways our lives have already been enriched by her and all the ways our lives will change after she makes her arrival. 

Charting New Territory

Well, it happened. 

At 34 weeks and 1 day, Baby Girl finally found my ribs. 

Joy.

I had been getting this numb/tingling sensation in one particular spot near the bottom of my ribs, and asked the doctor what that was. He said Camryn has probably found a nerve she can hit just right to give me that tingly feeling. What a darling she is. She likes to hit that nerve at least a few times a day, but I told the doctor I was just glad she doesn't dig her feet up into my ribs like I've heard so many other women complain about. 

Jinx. Jinx. Jinx. 

Last night, just before getting ready for bed, Camryn found my ribs and promptly made herself at home. 

I remembered a suggestion I'd read somewhere to put an ice pack at the top of your bump and sometimes that will make your baby move down lower, out of your ribs. 

Yeah, she didn't care about the ice. 

I tried rolling a certain way, shifting and turning to sit in different positions that might encourage her to re-situate... but no such luck. 

It started to get rather painful after a while and difficult to breathe normally, so just as I was getting really uncomfortable and emotional about it (seriously, she was really shoving everything way up into my ribs and it started freaking me out!) Andy suggested I take a Tylenol PM and try to get to sleep. 

I thought about it a while and didn't want to at first.. but it was getting late and I needed sleep, so I caved and took half a dose and was finally able to fall asleep with Andy helping me by rubbing my back and playing with my hair. 

Luckily I woke up today and Camryn had balled herself back up lower in my belly. 

Thank! Goodness!

As mentioned before, yesterday was our 34 week OB check.

Everything is still progressing really well.. no protein spillage, great BP, perfect fundal height measurement, beautiful heartbeat, and minimal swelling! 

I made it through another week without peeing on my hand while trying to give a sample in a tiny freakin' paper cup.. seriously, I think they get their kicks from asking women toting watermelons in their abdomen to pee in a cup with a diameter of about 2 inches. Just how in the heck do they expect us to see what we are doing and actually make it into the cup?? Come on now! I am dreading the day I miss the cup.... 

During the heartbeat check, the doctor took a little longer to hold the wand in one place. He usually finds her heartbeat right away and will hold the wand steady to listen for a minute or two.. but this time I thought he found it just as quick, but he kept moving the wand around, waiting a second, moving it a little more. I asked him if everything was okay and he said (unconvincingly), "Yeah, it sounds good." That wasn't the reaction I was looking for or the way he normally responds... so I asked if he was sure. He said "Well, her heartbeat has slowed down just a little, but that's nothing to worry about. It slows down just a bit at the end." I still wasn't convinced that everything was fine.. and I think he could tell that I was getting worried. He assured me that her heart sounds very healthy and if he was concerned at all he would set us up in the NST room for a while. I'm trying to believe him and trust him, he has taken very good care of us all along.. but I walked out of there a little concerned. However, all her crazy movements today have me pretty confident the doctor was right again - all is well. 

And as for the swelling, my hands are getting a little puffy and I've given up on wearing my rings, but my feet/ankles still look great. The doc even commented on how beautiful my ankles are! He said he's impressed I haven't had any swelling in my feet at all yet.. especially given the triple digit heat! Yay for my ankles! :)

So there's our 34 week update. 

We are just 19 days shy of hitting "full term" and 40 days from our due date. 

Nesting, Day 3

What did Mama get accomplished today? Let's talk about that... 

• Made a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy more drawer dividers for Camryn's Nursery.
  
• Folded and put away the last 2 loads of Camryn's clothes.. well, the last until after Saturday's Baby Shower.
  
• Made a trip to Target to buy a bucket and scrub brush. [Can you tell I'm not the "deep clean" type since we owned neither a bucket or a scrub brush before today? I'm more a Lysol Wipes kinda gal in my normal state of being.]
  
• Stood on the dining room table with the vacuum so I could clean the chandelier. Never done that before.
• Changed the 3 bulbs in the chandelier that I would bet money have been out since the day we moved in.. 18 months ago.
• Scrubbed the wood blinds and window sill in the dining room.
• Scrubbed the walls of the dining room. Never noticed how icky they were before!
• Scrubbed the baseboards in the dining room and kitchen.
• Dragged the step stool into the kitchen so I could vacuum the kitchen fan and light.
• Scrubbed the kitchen cabinets.
• Scrubbed the blinds on the kitchen window.
• Scrubbed the inside of the front door and the walls of the entry way.
• Applied Camryn's vinyl wall letters. Finally. And hated every minute of it. It was NOT easy. I would scrub baseboards all day long before I volunteered to apply more vinyl wall letters.  It was beyond frustrating and resulted in a wee bit of shouting (from me to Andy). Ugh.

How's that for productivity? I've never cleaned so much in my life. And I am still dissatisfied with the state this house is in. How is that even possible???

Ya know what today is?

34 weeks. 

Ya know what that means?

Our OB won't stop labor.

Oh. My. Word.

Is that crazy, or what?? 

While Andy and I were fighting with the vinyl wall letters, I had a braxton hicks contraction and just nonchalantly said "Aaannd, that's a contraction". 

I think Andy remembered what today's milestone was because his immediate, slightly frantic response was "What? A real one?" (picture his eyes bugging out of his head at about the moment "real" passed the plane of his lips!). 

I quickly clarified that it was just a BH and informed him that I would take on a tone of much more urgency when the "real" contractions make an appearance. 

He kindly asked me to always preface "contraction" with either "real" or "fake" unless I want him to (and I quote) "throw me in the car and haul ass to the hospital". 

I asked him for clarification this time..  "define 'throw me in the car', please". 

And clarify he did. Looks like when I'm in labor I will be treated like a sack-o-potatoes and just tossed into the closest vehicle. 

Awesome.

We have our 34 week OB check tomorrow. 

It's my last pants-on appointment, and I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. 

I am glad I get to keep my pants on tomorrow, that's not what I mean... 

But to think that every appt after tomorrow will involve a labor progress check scares the bajeebus outta me!

I am not ready for labor checks. 

*Seriously, eyes tearing up now just thinking about it*

We have wanted to start our family for as long as I can remember.

We tried for 8 cycles to get pregnant before being successful.

We have endured a roller coaster pregnancy since finding out on Christmas Day that we are expecting. 

We cannot wait to meet our sweet girl and bring her home to this cozy little place we have prepared for her. 

But, I just cannot wrap my mind around the reality of the situation. 

Tomorrow is my last pants-on appointment because we have only 21-42 days before our daughter is born.

Are we really ready for this?

Oh my Lord. I just can't imagine being on the other side of this adventure. 

I remember my sister laughing when I told her I was 3 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Being pregnant wasn't even on her radar when she was 3 wks 4 days (she wasn't an OCD charter like I was!). 

I remember looking at how much time we had left from that day, Dec 25 - 3 wks 4 days, and feeling like the big day would never come. 

But there it is... in sight... just over the horizon.

Quickly approaching. 

Ready or not, here she comes. 

Instead of seeing "3 weeks pregnant" we are seeing "3 weeks til Full Term". 

:::Deep Breath:::

As Andy keeps saying, "We got this". 

Changing gears before I hit the hay - 

This week is full of excitement!

I get to visit with a dear friend of mine tomorrow morning before she heads back to H-Town!

Our carpets are being steam cleaned on Thursday!

I have a Frozen Yogurt date with some of my favorite ladies Friday afternoon.

My Sister, BIL, and sweet nephew arrive Friday as well.. and Sister, Mom, and I are going for pedi's. 

Then Saturday is my first Baby Shower! 

YAY!

Oh oh, and Andy will have the tile in the bathrooms done by Thursday (so he says). 

Its a good week. 

A really good 34th-35th week of growing my Baby Girl. 

Our Fan is Clean.

While Andy attended our neighborhood HOA meeting tonight, I took it upon myself to keep this whole "nesting" thing going. 

On my radar tonight was our bedroom fan, our master closet, moving the wireless router from the old-office-now-playroom to our bedroom, and cleaning the baseboards in the master. 

Closet was easy. 

Baseboards weren't bad. 

Moving the router took 4.3 minutes.

The fan kicked my Nesting Mama Bum!

We just changed our sheets on the bed a few days ago, and had yet to wash that load of laundry.. so I took the dirty sheet out and draped it over the bed in case we had a dust storm (yes, our fans were b-a-d! GROSS!). I then dragged the vacuum into our room and contemplated whether or not I should use the step ladder to reach the fan, or stand on the bed. 

Neither option seemed super safe to me, and I know had Andy been home he would have objected to both options -- but he wasn't home, I just couldn't bear the thought of letting the dust collect on that fan another day, and I really didn't want to waddle to the garage to haul the step ladder inside... so I opted for the standing-on-the-bad plan. 

I have never cleaned/dusted a fan before [that task usually falls on Andy's shoulders] and I may never clean/dust a fan again. It was not easy. I had to reach with one arm way up over my head to hold the blade steady, reach with my other arm way up over my head to try and vacuum the dust up, and do everything in my power to keep my watermelon-toting-body steady on the bed. I  bet I was quite the sight wobbling there on the bed in my ill-fitting white tank top and Andy's old pajama pants. Whew. I'm exhausted just reliving it here. 

But, I am happy to say... our fan is CLEAN!

And my arms are sore.

And my back is killing me. 

But the fan is CLEAN.

Now, I can turn my attention to how disgusting our carpet is. 

Why is everything in the house so appalling to me all of the sudden? Is that a part of this *nesting phenomenon* too? Nothing ever being clean enough? If so, we're in trouble. 

And We're Nesting!

Preparations for Camryn are in *almost* in full swing.. and I don't foresee things slowing down in the coming days or weeks! We've got our first shower this Saturday, and our second shower the following weekend. After that, we'll be able to complete her nursery and breathe a little easier!

It seems a lightbulb finally went off above our heads this morning, its about time we get down to business! 

Andy spent the day ripping out the old tile in our bathroom and got more than half of the new tile laid. He will finish laying the rest and then grout tomorrow. Woohoo! I was really worried we wouldn't get this done before Camy's arrival, then we'd be stuck with the old tile for several months more (the noise and dust are not things I'd like to deal with when we've got a newborn in the house!). Once he finishes our bathroom, he'll do the guest bath - which shouldn't take but a day. 

As for me, I've spent hours today sitting on Camryn's nursery floor, surrounded by stacks of baby clothes. I spent the majority of my time just looking around trying to figure out what to do with all her stuff! Organizing her room should NOT be this difficult, but I've been totally overwhelmed.  The hard part about making the organizational decisions today was not knowing just how much we will end up with by the time she arrives. We already have quite the stash of clothing, but between the showers in the next couple weeks and whatever last-minute shopping we may need to do -- who knows how much these stacks of clothing and blankets and things will grow!! I just can't decide what to put where.. we have a cubby shelf with drawers, the dresser/cabinet, the shelves in the closet.. good grief! 

Diapers, Burp Cloths, Blankets and Sheets and Mattress Pads, Onesies, Pants, Skirts -- some single, some a part of a coordinating outfit, Dresses with Bloomers, Pajamas with Pants, Pajama Gowns, Sleep Sacks, Swaddle Blankets, Receiving Blankets, Socks, Hats, Towels, Wash Cloths... Seriously, this girl has (or will have) SO MUCH STUFF! 

So what did I do about this little dilemma? 

Started making another "OCD List", of course! 

I already have a list of tasks around the house that need to be completed before Camryn is born.

I already have a list of the important things we need to be sure to have on hand before Camryn is born. 

I already have a list of questions I keep handy for my OB and Camy's Pediatrician.

I already have a list of easy-fix meals for the weeks after she's born as well as meals I'd like to make ahead of time to freeze. 

I already have a list of what I need to pack for the hospital. 

And now I have a list of ways I can organize her room.

I think I must be a lazy nester. 

A lazy, list-making nester, as opposed to a productive go-get-em nester.

Oh, but do you want to know the best (read: worst) part about what little progress was made today?

After sorting through all the clothes we have been given and separating them based on size, style, and purpose.. I realized they all need to be washed. Awesome. All my sorting was done for nothing... its all been tossed in a laundry basket and added to the queue for the washing machine, just to be sorted and separated again when it's fresh and clean. 

I get to do it all over again in a couple days (when we get around to washing the baby stuff). 

But thats okay, at least I have some concept of how I'd like things to be put away now. And I guess I better get used to folding and sorting baby clothes, as I will be folding and sorting Camryn's laundry for the next who-knows-how-many years! Which begs the question? When will she be old enough to do her own laundry? ;)