New Friends!

     New friends are great! I'm not great at making new friends, it scares me for some reason. Those that know me, know that I'm a crazy weirdo that's very outgoing. But for some reason, when it comes to new people, I am very shy and scared. Especially with people that I hope will really like me. I can't talk to them b/c I'm too shy, but I'm willing them to become my new friend in my mind! It totally works... in my mind... although, I haven't had too much success with this approach unfortunately. Let me know if you've gotten it to work out for you, I want your tips!
     Anywho, a few months ago, Grant and I went to a Pastor's Association dinner for all of the pastor's in the local valley where we live. I was nervous/excited because I heard that this other couple was going to be there, (James and Jacqueline) and I was hoping beyond hope that we would become friends.... mainly because she was young like me, and those are few and far between in this valley! I had heard her and her husband lead worship at a Pastor's Association Service we had a few months earlier and was blown away by their talent (Another reason I knew we had to be friends).
     The whole night I was hoping that we'd somehow get thrown together and have a chance to talk, but it wasn't working out. There were assigned seats, and we weren't seated by each other at all... shame shame! But thankfully at the very end... as we were all talking about how we needed to leave, somehow, we got thrown together! And we just started talking... and talking... and talking! And we probably could have kept talking if we all weren't also trying to go home as well.
     *As a side note, we were both hugely pregnant and I told her about the Bradley Method of childbirth that I had studied and planned on using, and she was all sorts of interested. Upon talking to her after she did give birth, she said she used the Bradley Method (natural childbirth), and she said that it worked out great! After my childbirth that involved much intervention (unfortunately), I give her mad props for going through with it, especially since she just heard about it through a stranger! She's my new hero!

Jacqueline: 2 days overdue; Me: 8 months pregnant

     That night I was so excited that we were able to talk and we became friends on facebook. My good friend Heather came up to take newborn pictures of Abby, and Jacqueline's MIL saw the pictures and basically set up a time for Heather and I to go over to Jacqueline's to have her newborn photo shoot. So we went to her house, we barely knew each other, I was nervous, but it worked, and we clicked, and a friendship began to bloom!
     I found out that she opened a daycare in her home and was looking for children, and I was desperately looking for someone I could trust to watch Abby when I went back to work a few days a week. God is so good for setting these things up for us! Many of you were wondering who watches Abby while I'm subbing during the week... so, meet Jacqueline, my new friend! I love to chat and laugh with her! I'm so thankful that God sent a wonderful new friend into my life!

     And what's more, our little ones are new best friends too! Here's Peyton and Abby:

Week 39

It's here: week 39, one more week to go before I'm considered full-term!

     Things have pretty much been the same for the last several weeks, months, pretty much the whole entire pregnancy has been smooth sailing, so most of these posts are ending up the same. But, that's okay; Abby can look back and see that she treated me well for 9 months, and I love her for it! G says that I just must be made to have babies! ahha! I guess so; and since we have 12 more to go after this, it's good to know that pregnancy is a breeze for me... at least this one has been!

     This week I have worked on a few more things for Abby. I would like to attribute it to Nesting, however, it really just had to do with the fact that we had people coming to stay this week, and I needed to clean the place up, and therefore things got done by default! I cleaned the whole house, not deep cleaned, but I was able to organize things, and find places for things that didn't have one. Just cleaned up clutter basically. And as I look around the house right now, now that our guests have all gone, the clutter is starting to build up already, yah! I touched up some of the stripes in Abby's room, which really excites me! It looks so much better; it's not perfect, but upon glancing it just looks so much cleaner. I vacuumed the whole house, threw bags and bags of garbage out, cleaned and swept floors, dusted a bit, did SO many dishes, got a section in our room cleared out and put the bassinet in it's place, and most fun: I finally began making her mobile, which I'm really excited about. I got half of it done, I just need to finish the other half, and I can put it up in the room. I will be posting a DIY with pictures of how I made it, coming soon!

What the Nurse had to say:
     Yesterday at my appt, I had another exam... which I was unaware would be occurring, therefore, I was none-so-pleased! I don't like them at all! They hurt something fierce! Anywho, my blood pressure and urine looked good. I didn't gain any weight, same as last week; so that's still a total weight gain of 17 pounds. My measurement went down from 37 to 35; meaning that Abby has dropped even more! Which explains the leg cramps I've been getting this week. Thankfully they're not really bad at all. However, upon the exam, she said that she still could not find the cervix (part of this having to do with the fact that I couldn't relax enough, and that maybe if I had been able to, she could have found it); so it's still firm and not dropped yet.
     She is going to be out of town next week, so my appt with be with a different doctor (which is fine with me: the more I get to meet the better since I have no clue which doctor will be on call when I go into delivery). Since next week I'll be considered full-term, my appt.s will continue to be with the doctors from that point on. Which means, that at the next week's appt, if I have still not progressed, they will schedule an induction for that Monday the 27th (41 weeks and 3 days). Although that's only 9 days past my due date, and my doctor originally told me they won't induce until day 11, which is Wednesday the 29th. I'm really really hoping that it won't come to that. Once they start the induction process (usually pitocin), it's pretty inevitable that you'll require an epidural, and then the whole snowball effect begins, of which I am desperately trying to avoid. Everything has gone so smoothly up until this point, I want it to continue that way! I'd really love to get the delivery experience I want; I know there's a chance I might not get it, I'm not delusional, but I'd rather have it ruined with an induction. I'd rather it be necessary to get intervention b/c something is really wrong, not just b/c the baby isn't coming out when they'd like it to.

Me:
     Again, this week has been pretty similar to all other weeks.

• I have had a few leg cramps this week. I did have a menstrual cramp this week, which I thought odd. Then upon reading one of my books, it mentioned that getting menstrual cramps could be a sign of pre-labor, so who knows! I have had a few other signs as well, but who really knows if they can be attributed to pre-labor, or some other things. I don't know, so I'm not putting too much thought into it, just found it interesting. 
• I'm still sleeping through the night just fine, getting up about once to go to the bathroom.
• My back hasn't been hurting at all, though people have been shocked to hear this upon asking. 
• The pain in my chest above my belly has sort of gone away this week, which has been lovely!
• My feet have taken a turn for swollen this week... a bit more than normal... need to start guzzling the water again. Although, my wedding ring is still fitting! Points!
• Not that this has anything to do with being pregnant, but I got a mosquito bite on my arm that I noticed yesterday, and it's driving me completely insane! I want to itch it like crazy!
• I'm pretty much hot, constantly! It never happens that I am hotter than G, but this week I've needed the fan on, and he finds it to be too cold, which is completely outrageous, usually it's the other way around.
• I still have to pee every half hour or so, which is why it flabbergasts me that I only get up once during the night to pee. 
• I still feel pretty great, have a goodly portion of energy at times, and feel really tired at others, pretty much to be expected at this stage I guess. 

Here's a picture of my Uncle John and I: he came to visit this week! 

Progress:

Sorry about the weird yellow-tint of the one picture, G held the camera at a different angle.

Week 38

38 weeks... also put... 2 weeks to go... yikes!

Am I ready for all this?
I'm not so sure.
But, "no back-sies" as my good friend S would say!

TheBump says that Abby's head could be covered in an inch or so of hair...
hmmmm I had a full head of black hair when I was born... Grant was bald...
I wonder what Abby's beautiful head will look like; hair or no hair?!


Monday:

• I went and pampered myself on Monday, with my mom, MIL, and Sisters-in-law. We went and got pedicure's... it was so lovely! And we all went to the Bucks after for some yummy coffee and a great chat! I love spending time with them all together like that!
• I went on the hospital tour at San Joaquin with my mother. It was wonderful. I felt like such a little smarty-pants though; which made me feel great, but I'm sure irritated the other's to no end. Although my mom prefers to say that all those other people probably had all the same questions and were just afraid to ask, so they were probably thankful that I asked them; which could also be true. But based on the looks on other people's faces, many probably had no clue what I was talking about... which made me feel good. It made me realize that I HAVE learned a lot about the labor and delivery process that many other people don't take the time to do. It made me feel confident about my knowledge and encouraged that it will all be okay; that the things I have learned have definitely given me an up, and I feel really good. There were many questions I had b/c of the natural route I'm choosing to go, and I was really worried that I'd come into a lot of problems. But, upon asking the nurses' they all seemed really positive about some of my requests. I know I won't get everything I want, but they also seemed really positive about some things based on my particular case, and the fact that I have had a really smooth, problem-free pregnancy so far. So, while I may not get everything I desire at the time of delivery, at least it was not shot down right away, it might be an option, and that is enough!
• I went shopping for the items for my hospital bag this week. I had a lot of fun doing that. I'll have a post coming soon all about the hospital bag, and everyone can recommend items to me that I might have left out at that point.

What the Nurse had to say:
     Well, again, the Nurse didn't have much to say on Friday; that was officially my shortest appt to date. I was in and out within 30 minutes! I gained 2 more pounds, which puts me at 17 pounds of total weight gain. My blood pressure and urine were both good. My belly is measuring right on still; Abby's heartbeat is still great: about 149-150. And that was about it. I elected for no vaginal exam again... if I have a choice, the answer is NO! That business hurt last time she did an exam. And quite frankly, from everything I'm learning in my classes and books, there's not much that the exam will tell me. Yeah, it will tell me if I've begun dilating, how much effaced I am, if at all; but it won't tell me when I'll likely go into labor based on that information. Abby's going to come when she comes; people can be dilated at 3 for several weeks before going into labor. And every exam is just another risk of infection; no thank you.
     Lastly, she said that I did NOT have the look, still.... so she bets she'll be seeing me next week. Again, there's nothing scientific about it, but it's fun. People continue to be shocked when I tell them I only have 2 weeks left, b/c I look too energetic and happy still! hahaha! I guess I'm just content being pregnant! Everything has gone so smoothly so far, and been great!


Me:

• Heartburn still an issue, boo. Pepcid Complete chewable tablets are my best friend every night. I have to restrain myself throughout the day and not eat the whole bottle. 
• I am having this really irritating pain below my chest, high on my belly. I think it's just my bra pushing into my belly as it grows. It's super painful, and it's getting to the point where it's hurting even when I'm not wearing a bra. That will be one great thing about not being pregnant anymore, hopefully that pain will go away as my belly begins to slim down. 
• I haven't really gotten very many leg cramps this week, which is nice. Those aren't really too bad since they come and go within 5 seconds, there's not much time to feel the pain. 
• The swelling in my feet has been under control! They're still a bit on the puffy side, but they are not as bad as they were previously. G has been making fun of me with how much water I've been drinking. I was going down to Bako a lot last week, so I stopped and got the 44oz cup at the gas station full of ice water for my ride home. Upon returning home, I'd just refill it (I like drinking through the straw), and then refill it again. I just thought I was doing a great job drinking water... until G mentioned that I'm overdoing it.... so I added up the ounces.... yeah 132... wow! That IS a lot of water for one day! ahahaha. But it's so much easier to just sip on with the straw. So I've been drinking at least two of the 44 oz a day. Which is nice, b/c I always felt like I wasn't drinking enough water, so I would never drink my beloved milk... but now I can drink milk all night guilt free b/c I've had my water for the day!

Progress:

Week 27 and 28

     Some of you have pointed out to me that I failed to post for Week 27, you're right. I assure you that I feel awful! With our Bradley Classes being on Saturdays from 10-2, smack dab right in the middle of the day, it makes it difficult to post when I get home after the drive back up the canyon. And Sunday after church, we had a local community group come to use the church's mega screen for their children's double feature movie day. We inevitably stayed and watched the movies with them and helped out with the sound equipment. Needless to say, after being at church from 9 to 5, I was not in any particular mood to post, no take a picture for the post more importantly.

     Last week I had my check up at the doctor's, and by doctor I mean nurse, b/c I don't ever see my doctor. The appointment went well; we had a little laugh b/c baby girl was being so active that the nurse was having a hard time finding her heartbeat, all you could hear was baby girl swishing about actively! Finally she found her heartbeat, and said things look/sound great. She mentioned that all previous tests came back looking great. I gained 3 pounds this last month, putting me at 7 pounds (between my first two appointments, I lost 2 pounds, which is why it's not counting as more, as I gained 7 pounds alone my previous month). My nurse is very pleased with my progress, and even said, "You must be eating really healthy b/c you're doing great!" My response was to smile and not blurt out how I eat chocolate pretty much every day! ahahah! But I have been so cautious about my breakfasts and lunches the past few months, which I think is having a big impact.

     Looking at week 27: The Bump says that baby girl's nose is now unplugging and she is beginning to practice inhaling (she is inhaling amniotic fluid right now).

     Looking at week 28: I've made it to my third trimester now! Baby girl is still the size of an eggplant, but The Bump says that if born now, her lungs are developed enough, that with medical technology, she would likely survive. Baby girl is around 13.6-14.8 inches and 1.5-2.2  pounds. Amazing!

     Today is a big day: Not only have I begun the last trimester (only 3 more months to go before we get to meet our precious girl), BUT this morning, G also got to feel baby girl for the first time! She kicked me pretty hard this morning upon waking up, and I immediately moved his hand over my belly hoping she might kick that hard again (he hasn't been able to feel the small little kicks yet, so I've had to wait for some really serious kicking of hers), and he said... "I felt that!" Oh man, my heart leapt with joy! I have been waiting for weeks and weeks for this moment!

     Some things I've noticed the past few weeks: The heartburn is creeping back in every night, no matter what I eat, it's super frustrating! A few new stretch marks, which is fine, they match the collection. It's definitely time for a new bra, nothing to be excited about. I finally gave in and got some maternity pants last week; which have been GREAT! The BeBand lasted as long as I could make it, and it was a good friend to me, but when students at school are noticing the button and zipper line through the BeBand and shirt, it's time for some maternity clothes! My back has been hurting the past week, not sudden, intense pressure, just ongoing sore pain, which sucks. And if I sit and lean or hunch over, say the desk, I get a frustrating pain at the top of my abdomen, right under my bra, so I have to try leaning back and stretching out to make it go away.

     Progress:

Week 26

26 weeks?!
We're still an Eggplant this month.
The Bump says that baby girl is beginning to form her eyes and will soon be blinking!
Where has the time gone?!
Things are beginning to really sneak up on me so quickly!
It's a little scary!
I fear that I won't be able to get everything ready for baby girl by the time she gets here!
I pray I do!

Things to do in anticipation of Baby Girl's arrival:
-Refinish the dresser (sand, paint, get new pully handles, get new slider tracks for the drawers)
-Touch-up the crib and put it together
-Clean out her room
-Find a new living place for all the things currently in her room
-Paint her room
-Make the DIY mobile I have planned... I really hope this actually happens
-Make the DIY bunting flags to hang in her room (I'm also going to put it up at the shower for decoration, so it needs to be done even earlier)
-Buy some odds and ends for her room (this will be accomplished on my Ikea trip with my galfriends, Can't Freakin Wait!)
-Finish purchasing some artwork for her room and wait for it to get here (this last Etsy purchase has been taking WAY too long to arrive; I don't know if it's the seller or just Etsy)
-Write up a Birth Plan
-Get a hospital bag together
-Make sure I have the essentials ready for when we bring her home*

*I'm getting weirded out by this statement... It's really happening, we are actually going to bring home another human being that we created, insane!


In the meantime... 
     ...I need to focus on my homework... that's right, homework! Yesterday, The Husband and I went to our first Bradley Method* class! I should have been taking a class way before now, but when I previously looked up classes, there were none available. For some reason I checked the website again, and emailed the instructor to see if there was something available. And lo and behold, she had a class starting in just a few weeks, and it would be with other mothers that were also further along in their pregnancies. B/c the Bradley classes are usually 12 weeks long, she decided to cut the classes down to 4 weeks and we'll meet for 4 hours at a time. Which works out great for us! The 4 hours seemed to fly by, I couldn't imagine going for 1 hour a week, it's such interesting material, and I really liked being able to get in depth and not worry about rushing through material.
     The Husband wasn't so sure if we needed to take the classes, so he suggested we try reading through the book first and if we felt like we needed the classes still, then we'd discuss it then. So, I read through The Husband Coached Childbirth book as quickly as possible and found that I was even more encouraged to take the class. Thankfully, the Husband went along with it and joined me at the class. Of course I started worrying that the classes would be just like the book, and we would find the classes to be unnecessary. However, after 1 class, I can say that I am SO thrilled that we took that step and signed up for the classes. The Husband and I both felt that we learned many new things at the class and we're excited for what's to come in the next 3 weeks as well. I could not stop talking about how great the experience was!
     I was so encouraged to really give this method 100% and do everything possible within my power to try to make this natural childbirth happen for not only me, but for the Husband and our little girl. I want to be able to experience everything that happens and remember it. I want to be able to feel in control and not just a part of the system.  B/c I feel o so committed, I have homework. Gah, I thought I was finished with that when I graduated! My homework includes:

-Exercises: Tailor Sits, Butterflies (25 per day), Pelvic Rocks (50 per day), Squats (50 per day), and Kegels (50 per day), and get some cardio in every day for 30 minutes
-Write down everything I eat so I can track my protein intake
-The Husband and I are to download some music and try Relaxation together for 10 minutes
-Try the ice cube exercise: I am to sit and relax while the Husband puts an ice cube on the inside of my elbow and slowly moves it up and down my arm and I am to remain so relaxed as if nothing is happening, no screaming out about how cold it is.... yeah right!
-If I stub my toe or hit my head, etc, then I am to try breathing through the pain and not resort to my automatic response of screaming and shouting... again... yeah right!

*I will post again about the Bradley Method soon for those of you that are not familiar, and explain how I came across it and why I am choosing to go this route.

Progress:

Week 25

     This week we have finally graduated from a Papaya to an Eggplant!
Each month I'll only progress one food item, instead of every week, which was fun while it lasted! The Bump says baby girl is 13.6-14.8 inches on average, and 1.5-2.2 lbs. I don't really see how I have a human that is over a foot long inside my belly right now... but I guess it's in there. The Bump says that baby girl is beginning to get a sense of equilibrium, and learning right side up from upside down.

Week 25

Some Things I've Noticed This Week:
     There hasn't really been many changes this past week.
My belly is continuing to grow, people are definitely starting to notice it now (a few of the little girls at school are coming up and rubbing my belly and talking to baby girl, it's really sweet). Baby girl is definitely kicking me! It's really neat, I am just having a hard time waiting for the moment when The Husband will be able to feel her moving too! I can't wait! I keep putting his hand on my belly hoping it will be the moment, and it never is. The Bump said that maybe that might happen around week 28, so only a few more to go.
      My nails are still driving me nuts! They break, bend and crack so easily it makes me want to pull my hair out! I haven't been experiencing any of the normal pregnancy symptoms still: my feel haven't begun swelling yet, which is fantastic! Still no sickness or cravings. And while I have gotten a few new little stretch marks, I haven't gotten the linea nigra, the dark line that runs down the belly... yet. I hope it stays that way, I have enough stretch marks as is.

My Baby Education:
     This week my Bradley Method books came in, we're still unsure if we are going to take the actual classes (we must decide soon b/c the class I found begins next Saturday, and it's only 4 wks long for 4 hrs each). I have been trying to cram my brain with as much information as possible this week so we can make a decision as quickly as possible. I think I would really like to take the class, however, it's difficult for The Husband as Saturdays are his big prep day for Sunday. I will say that reading what I have so far has made me feel somewhat more confident in terms of knowing what's going to happen come labor time. I will just have to be content knowing that I cannot possibly know everything, ie: how I will be able to tolerate the pain, until it actually happens.
     What, if any, classes did you take and did you find it worthwhile?

Progress:

Week 25