Not So Hot

I woke up this morning feeling terribly nauseous. I tried to eat and drink to see if that would make me feel better but the nausea didn't really let up. It was hitting me in waves at sporadic intervals but it was accompanied by tightening in my abdomen and just didn't feel right. I got dressed and went to work thinking I would start feeling better any minute.

When I got to work I was still feeling yucky so, I tried to get through my first few classes but, I finally just called Dr. Anstine's office. They sent me home for the day with instructions to drink a whole bunch of water and REST. They also told me to go directly to the hospital if I didn't feel 10 movements from the baby in 2 hours or if I kept feeling the nausea and abdominal discomfort.

I followed the doctor's instructions and ended up sleeping much of the afternoon. I was able to feel 10 movements from the baby in just a few minutes (more on Crazy Baby Judo later). My nausea and abdominal discomfort went away too.

Adam's company Christmas party is tonight. We are going BUT we will leave if I start feeling sick again.

Medical Update

I had an appointment with my OB today. Well, my appointment was actually with one of her partners (Dr. Carter). He was really nice and jolly and pretty laid back...he reminded me of my friend Robin's dad. The baby's heartbeat was 132 and I only gained about 1.5 pounds from my last visit. If I have to have someone other than Dr. Anstine deliver my baby, I hope it's him.

My next appointment is December 11 with Dr. Grissom. She will be the one evaluating me for signs of pre-term labor before our planned trip to Portland on the 14th.

Baby Outfits

Okay! I admit it! It is sort of killing me not knowing if this baby is a Portia or an Aiden. I went shopping with Adam's grandmother yesterday and we had SO MUCH FUN looking around BabyGap. There were tons of cute outfits for both boys and girls but you will notice the pictures I've included are both girl outfits because the boy outfits just don't translate as well on screen.

Adam has a cousin getting married in March and I have seen so many cute outfits I WOULD buy for the baby to wear to the wedding. I can't really make any choices though because I don't know!

My current favorites all have something of a winter/holiday look to them because that is what's out there right now. Since the wedding is in March in Colorado I am assuming it will still be cold. I don't really know anything about how formal of a wedding it is but I figure an infant can pretty much get away with anything.

Liz and Emily, I know you read this blog...help me out with some weather information.

Safety First

Adam's grandmother Sue is in town. Today we went shopping. Not the crazy Black Friday bargain hunting variety though. We went shopping for baby stuff. Babies R Us was not crowded at all and we had fun looking at all the different choices for strollers and car seats. We settled on one we really like and Adam's grandmother bought it for us. I guess now that we have a crib AND a car seat we are really ready to bring this baby home.

After the shopping excursion we dropped the stroller off at home (it comes in a HUGE box) and headed out for lunch and a movie. Adam really wanted to see No Country for Old Men so we saw that and I mostly enjoyed it. I did have to get up to use the restroom once during the movie. Unfortunately, the man at the end of the aisle was really rude to me. He ROLLED HIS EYES at me when I was walking out and, just in case I thought it was my imagination, he did it AGAIN when I came back! I wanted to "accidentally" step on his foot but I rose above.

Thanksgiving Recap

Our Thanksgiving dinner turned out great! The only other mishap (after the garbage disposal and the can opener) was me burning the top of the yams...I forgot I was broiling until I smelled burning sugar. Luckily, I was able to scrape of the burned part and the yams were still quite tasty.

After dinner we took Adam's grandmother on a tour of Nampa and Boise. Tomorrow we are doing a little bit of baby shopping, having lunch and seeing a movie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've already had a pretty eventful morning...our garbage disposal backed up and Adam had to drive to Wal-Mart for a plunger. Right after we got that fixed, our can opener just decided to stop working. This was a manual can opener too so I'm not sure what went wrong. I had to run next door and borrow a can opener from the neighbor.

The good news is, our dinner is pretty much ready to go. It will be a matter of getting things in the oven at the appropriate time but everything is already prepped. We still have some cleaning to do around the house so that will probably keep us busy until Adam's grandmother arrives.

Childbirth Class

We had our first class on Monday night. The way I see it you can end up with two types of childbirth educators...the sacred miracle of life "isn't childbirth beautiful" type or the practical "this baby's coming whether you're ready or not" type. We're lucky because ours falls more into the second category.

There were nine couples in our class. Out of those nine couples, only one other couple has chosen to not find out the baby's sex. It's funny because later in the class when she asked who was planning a natural childbirth only two out of the nine couples were planning one (we're not one of them).

Next week we will be talking about natural childbirth. The week after that we will discuss "medical interventions". I'm not sure what the topic is of the fourth and final class.

The class was much better (and less corny) than I expected. One thing that I was reminded of during the class is how we need to have our car seat purchased and installed BEFORE the baby is born. I am going to try to get that done in the next two weeks.

Public Humiliation

We went to Costco on Sunday (that was our first mistake...it was SO crowded). While Adam was paying for our purchases I got some water and then proceeded to spill it all over the place. A manager quickly came to my rescue, throwing away the cup and running for paper towels. But, I swear people were staring at me and at least SOME of them were thinking my water had broken.

For the record, I am told that water breaking does NOT cause a huge puddle to form around the pregnant woman. That's just what Hollywood wants you to think because it makes their movies funnier.

Strange Dreams

For the past month or so I've been having weird and vivid dreams. Most of them are totally unrelated to the baby but still really strange. I did have one a while ago though that was related to the baby and may cause us to use a different name if we have a boy.

In my dream we had the baby (a boy, every time I dream about the baby it's a boy) and Adam left the room for some reason. The nurse came in and asked me what the baby's name would be and I told her it would be Aiden. I didn't hesitate at all and she put it on all the official paperwork. By the time Adam came back and found out about the switch, we couldn't change it.

The weird thing is that we never once talked about the name Aiden and I have no idea how it came into my head. But, I kind of like it so I think if we have a boy he will be either Henry Aiden (not much of a change from Henry Hayden) or Aiden Henry.

And...just in case you're wondering...Aiden is an Irish name meaning "fiery" so it would be totally appropriate for him if he takes after me!

One more thing...while looking up Aiden in our baby name book we came across the name Addison. Addison means "son of Adam".

Update

Today Adam has been hard at work in the kitchen. We keep thinking we're almost done but then another things begs to be done. So tonight Adam will be painting the ceiling in the kitchen. Once we got the paint up on the walls, the ceiling just looked so dingy. Usually you paint the ceiling first so we're hoping he doesn't have to repaint the walls after this. Once the ceiling is done we will install the new light fixture we bought this morning. The cabinets are mostly all painted now (they're drying outside) so tomorrow night we will rehang them.

I'm waiting on the Thanksgiving grocery shopping until we get the kitchen back together. It doesn't make sense to bring more stuff in right now.

In baby news, the baby has been really active lately. Especially at night when I'm trying to get to sleep. I feel him/her down low mostly (around my pelvic bone) but sometimes up higher (around my waist). We are starting our childbirth class on Monday night.

TGIF

I can't believe it's finally Friday! I've had the longest week. This weekend I plan to get stuff ready for Thanksgiving (Adam's grandmother is coming!!!!). Our dinner will consist of turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and roasted yams. Tonight I will make the grocery list. First thing tomorrow morning I will do the shopping. On Tuesday or Wednesday I will make the mashed potatoes and yams and pick up the pie from Costco. Thursday morning I will make the turkey, stuffing and green bean casserole.

The whole thing sounds pretty manageable actually!

Lab Results

My doctor called today and my gestational diabetes results came back...I'm good! I'm happy but not surprised since I'd had a blood sugar test done not too long ago when I was having all those headaches.

Voila!

It took about two hours but I got the crib put together! We had a little scare when we tried to move it from the living room into the baby's room...it didn't look like it was going to fit through the door. Thanks to my superior spatial awareness though we figured it out in less than two minutes. Our wall and crib now have corresponding scratches but at least the job is done. While I worked on the crib, Adam worked in the kitchen painting his little heart out. He's still hard at work.

You may be able to tell that our crib is smaller than the standard size. We decided to go with a mini crib because our home is small and because it was A LOT cheaper. Our baby will probably be in a big kid bed sooner than most kids but we're okay with that.

It's Here!

The crib arrived today!!!! Adam is planning to paint the kitchen tonight. Maybe I will focus on putting the crib together. I'm good at that kind of stuff and it will be exciting to see it up. I only wish I had the bedding!

I will post pictures as soon as I'm done.

Kitchen Update 1

We've been hard at work since about 9am. It's 2:30 now and it doesn't LOOK like we've done much of anything. We took everything out of the kitchen...every shelf, every drawer, every everything. Adam spent about an hour figuring out how and where to drill the holes for the new hinges. While he did that I filled all the old holes on the frame and the cabinets with wood filler.

We took a break for lunch around 12. When we got back from lunch I sanded all the filled spots on the cabinets and then primed the backs (we did the fronts last night). I also sanded and primed all the drawers. Adam is just about done drilling the holes into the frame so we will start sanding and painting that part of the cabinetry in about 30 minutes. Once we get that stuff painted we will start on the walls and then finish the cabinets and drawers.

I'm still hoping to have the bulk of this project done tonight but I know there will be some work to do next weekend.

Oh, and don't worry about me. I took a chair outside for the sanding and the priming. I also wore a mask the whole time. Now I'm going to sit and watch Adam work for a while.

Kitchen Confidential

We were going to work on our molding project this weekend BUT Adam really wanted to whip our kitchen into shape so we decided to repaint all the drawers and cabinets and finish painting the walls. We bought new hinges and have the fun job this morning of drilling all the holes and making sure the cabinets all hang right before we do the final coat of paint.

The upshot of this project is that we finally had a legit reason to buy both a sander and a drill. I love using the sander! I will spend a lot of my day sitting while I fill the old holes on the cabinets and then sanding them after they dry. We're hoping to have all the painting done today. We won't actually rehang the cabinets though for at least three days or so because we need to make sure the paint is totally dry and hard before we put the hardware back on.

Mall Rats

Last night Adam and I went to the mall to pick up my library books (yeah, our library branch is in the mall...it's VERY convenient since we basically live across the street). We decided to look around a bit and were headed to Borders when Adam told me he wanted to stop at the hat store and look at Oregon hats. I told him I would meet him there (meaning the hat store) but he heard "I will beat you there" (meaning I was going to zoom to Borders). I walked slowly through the game kiosk and found myself at the hat store about two minutes later.

Adam was nowhere to be found so I sat on the bench and waited and waited and waited for 30 minutes! I tried calling him about 900 times but he only answered the first time and I couldn't understand what he said before we got disconnected. I was starting to make up all kinds of crazy scenarios in my head and really freak myself out.

After 30 minutes I decided to go to the information booth where they informed me the mall does not have a paging system. Right after I discovered this, Adam walked out of Borders having just realized I wasn't in the store.

So, we found each other and all is well but it definitely made for a stressful trip to the mall.

Another Day

I had an appointment with the OB today for my gestational diabetes screening. I will know the results on Tuesday but I'm not too worried. The "cola" was totally disgusting though. It tasted like flat, watered down orange soda and had a kind of weird after taste. I thought I was going to be sick but I did manage to keep it down.

The baby's heart rate was 138 and everything measured perfectly. I gained a couple pounds from my previous appointment so we don't have to get a growth scan (you may remember at my last appointment I had lost weight as a result of not eating much when I had my neck trouble). I start going in every two weeks now and will get the chance to meet other doctors in the practice just in case one of them ends up delivering my baby. My doctor will be out of town the week after Christmas so let's cross our fingers the baby doesn't decide to come that week!

The crib is arriving Monday via FedEx so we will be busy this weekend making room for it. Nothing else to report right now.

Ugh

I had parent teacher conferences last night. I have them from 8-8 today! I was so wiped out when I got home last night. I'm just hoping I make it through today without falling asleep on the floor. Thankfully tomorrow is a comp day. I have an appointment with my OB at 3 but I plan to do NOTHING the rest of the day.

At my appointment tomorrow I will have my gestational diabetes screening and I will get to schedule the rest of my appointments. I'm at the point now where I will be going to the OB every two weeks. Right around the first of the year I will be going every week. Starting with my next appointment I will be seeing the other doctors in the practice. I guess the theory is that IF my doctor happens to be unavailable when I'm ready to have the baby, I will be comfortable with one of her partners delivering because I've at least met them. I'm just hoping it doesn't come to that because I would really prefer to have my regular doctor deliver the baby.

This weekend the Ducks have a bye. If you don't understand why that's important, you don't know my husband! Having a bye means they will not be playing. I could go into all the reasons this is great for the team (yeah, I know the reasons) but I'm mostly excited because it's good for me. Adam decided to use this weekend to rip out all the molding in our bedroom and maybe paint the kitchen. I'm hoping he will want to get started on replacing the molding this weekend too but I'm not going to push my luck.

Pain in the Back

My back has been ACHING all day. I'm planning to spend most of the evening resting on the couch. I might try to get in some yoga because I think it will help my back. Mostly though my plan is to rest on the couch. Adam will have to make dinner tonight because I don't think I can handle standing at the stove for any length of time.

Getting Organized

Last night I ordered the crib! I got a great deal on it from babycenter.com and it should be here by next weekend.

This week I started getting together our list of people to call/email when the baby is born. If you want to get an email (with pictures!), make sure I have your address. I also preregistered at the hospital (which was WAY easier than I thought it would be) and chose our pediatrician.

I'm kind of on a pumpkin kick. I made pumpkin waffles for breakfast yesterday and then used the rest of the pumpkin puree to make some seriously delicious pumpkin bread.

Today I am having lunch with a friend and getting some household chores done. I'm also making a batch of Macaroni and Cheese from my new cookbook.

TGIF

I went to bed last night with every intention of going to the gym this morning but I just can't do it. I think I may actually go back to bed for a while since I don't have to be at work until 8am.

In other news, I remembered something amusing from yesterday.

I was walking down the hall and our PE teacher stopped me and said it looked like I was limping and asked if I had hurt myself. He's a really nice older guy (probably about 60 in case you're wondering about my definition of "older") but I couldn't help myself. I said, "Lee, I'm 7 months pregnant. I'm not limping, I'm waddling!" I think I may have embarrassed him but it was the first thing that popped out of my mouth.

Exhausted!

I haven't had anything interesting to post in the last few days because I have been REALLY tired. Tomorrow is a teacher work day so it will be a nice break to not have kids around.

All of a sudden I felt like the baby was trying to escape THROUGH my belly button this morning. I was startled and somewhat amused.

One more thing...this weekend we are going to try to take some more old molding off so we can start the process of redoing the rest of the house. Wish us luck!