Making a Room for Baby

Scott has done such an amazing job! He's been working every night (sometimes until almost 4 in the morning!) to get the nursery painted. I was really, really sad to discover that I'm not supposed to help him paint; I wanted to help him, for one thing, but I wanted to have a hand in getting the room ready. I know it was probably erring on the side of caution, but I'd much rather be safe than sorry.

As a reminder, this is what the room looked like before all of this started, when it was a guest room/my craft room.

Just to the right of the dresser is where the closet is now.

It was a sad day when we had to get rid of the green we loved so much, but we just didn't like it for a nursery. Scott had a doozy of a time priming it, I think.

He got this banner from work. They were going to throw it away, but to him, it looked like a great drop cloth.

Introducing "Oyster White" to the room. It's not really white......but whatever.

I really love the color. It's just what I had in mind! Now I can't wait to get her stuff in there!

I love this picture.

Kitter hasn't been sure about the whole thing. She lurks around outside the room and on the stairs.

33 Weeks

This week my mom said to me that I only have to go about 4 more weeks and I'll be considered full-term. It's amazing to me that I can still be caught off guard by different ways of saying that.

Let's see. Where to start?

My doctor's appointment was probably the main event of the week. Everything looked great, and my doctor didn't seem concerned about anything at all. Blood pressure was 110/62 (lower than it was at 6 weeks) and weight gain was 28 1/2 pounds. The baby is head down now, which is a good feeling. (She must be pretty low, too, because he couldn't tell for sure that she was in that position until he examined my cervix.) We've been promoted, too - our next appointment is in two weeks instead of a month. That's a milestone!

I've had a lot of pressure, which I know is very normal. Not particularly fun, but very normal (and sure to get worse before it gets better).

The itch is still here. It looks better, I'm told, and really isn't quite as bad as it was. I'm using lots of creams and hydrocortisone, which seems to work the best. My doctor told me to take 3 benadryl a day for relief, and that may have worked.....or I may have just been in such a deep sleep that I didn't care. He gave me a referral to a dermatologist, too, and a prescription for a steroid cream that I got filled but haven't used yet (and may not, since I read the leaflet enclosed with it about side effects and stuff).

My joints are popping. Even joints I didn't know I had are popping.

I'm hot. My hands are sweaty and not cold for the first time in years.

She's moving around a lot, and gets the hiccups just about once a day. Poor thing! One night this week I was in the recliner and she was moving so much and so enthusiastically that I could neither breathe nor, well, move. She was all up in my rib cage and moving so powerfully that I was constantly saying, "Oof." (That seems to be a major part of my vocabulary now.) I love it, in a weird sort of way!

I really still feel good. I feel a lot better than I would have expected to feel at this point, so I am definitely not complaining. We're getting more and more excited and very, very eager to meet this little person!

Sound Bites

If you had been in the exam room with me today, here are just a few things you might have heard:

"149? Seriously? 149?!" ~me, when I saw my little card that said how much I weighed. This indicated an eight-pound gain since last month.

"Yep, that's definitely her head down there." ~Dr. G.

"Pregnant women get all sorts of weird rashes." ~Dr. G, upon looking at my neck.

"Yes, you're gaining weight, but that's good. You're like a flower, just blossoming away. It's a good thing, because I needed you to blossom some for me. I'm not concerned at all." ~Dr. G, when I asked if he was concerned about how much weight I gained this month. (My books all tell me I should be gaining about a pound a week.....which is exactly half of what I did this month.)

"Oh, no.......he's going to see my nasty prickly legs." ~me, when Dr. G left the room so I could change.

And, my personal favorite:

"It's okay.....just tell him that you may have blossomed, but you've got thorns, too." ~Scott, in response to the above concern.

32 Weeks

This week was..........interesting.

I think anyone will tell you that I'm staying upbeat, even though my neck (and chest, and some of my stomach, and parts of my arms, and my hips) look like this:

Can't see it? Let me describe it for you. Red. Splotchy. Slightly bumpy. And - you can't see this part - ITCHY. I know I've been talking about this itch for a long time, off and on, but this is the first time I've had a visual image to go along with it (aside from the tiger stripe-like streaks I leave on myself after a good scratching binge). I really thought for the longest time that it was just dry skin combined with the inevitable third-trimester stretching, so I was using lots of lotion and cocoa butter and stuff. (LOTS of it.) That wasn't helping a lot, though, if any, and then it started spreading. It was on my hips and across my chest, too, at that point, so I thought, "Uh-oh......I'm going to start stretching and expanding there, too." Kept using the lotions. Then it moved up to my neck, at which point I began doubting the "stretching" theory. Then the splotches appeared, and I was becoming less amused, more itchy, and even more skeptical about the dry and stretchy skin idea. Yesterday I remembered that I had switched fabric softeners a couple of weeks ago, so I thought that if I went back to Downy, which I've always used, it would go away. (Never mind the pain of having to figure out what had been washed with the culprit Purex. That was a whole other story entirely.) At church this morning, though (once I made it there after being late due to a scratching fit) a friend said she thought they looked like hives. I was not happy with that idea. I asked a doctor in our church what he thought, though, and he poked at my neck for a minute and told me to call my doctor tomorrow morning and tell him I think I have something called PUPPP. The only part of that I can remember is "papsules and plaques of pregnancy." (I thanked him for using such lovely words to describe it. Made me feel quite gorgeous.) Essentially, from what I've gathered from talking with him and reading one of my books, there's nothing I can do about it (if that's what it is) except to give birth...........which I obviously don't want to do right now. I'm calling my doctor tomorrow to get his suggestions. I have an appointment Wednesday anyway. I did get some more hydrocortisone cream and plan on using it every bit as liberally as the package instructs.

In other areas, things are kind of just moving along. The indigestion has led me to believe that this baby is going to be born with quite the head of hair (think AFRO), and my joints are preparing for something quite extreme and are popping constantly. (If I could get my back to take part in that, I'd be a happy girl!)

No leg cramps yet, but Scott had some last night. I told him that the sympathy peeing of the first trimester was sweet, but he doesn't have to take on the painful symptoms. That makes me worry that he's going to get sympathy contractions, which would be bad since I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as sympathy epidurals.

I had a cold earlier this week, too, which I treated (quite bravely, I think) with rest and lots of fluids. I'll be back at work tomorrow, which will be a good thing.......provided I can stop scratching long enough to get something done.

Hot to Trot

Everyone in this building is cold. They all have their coats on, and all I can hear as people are walking up and down the hall is people saying "brr" and how cold they are.

I, on the other hand, am literally sweating.

Seriously? Yes. Seriously.

Can I just tell you how weird this is?

I love to tell this story.

Saturday night (Sunday morning?) at about 3:15 I woke up randomly. If I had needed to use the bathroom, this would not classify as random; I didn't, however, and I've been sleeping pretty well otherwise, so I didn't know what might have woken me. As I repositioned myself and tried to fall back to sleep, though, something strongly told me to put my hand on my belly.

When I did, I could feel her hiccuping. They felt like those full-body hiccups - the ones that hurt, you know? I could feel two strong bumps for every hiccup, like it was the "up" hiccup and the "down" hiccup. Poor thing was really struggling with them.

Now, I HATE the hiccups. To me, the hiccups are just as bad or worse than throwing up. They hurt and are annoying and just make me feel awful. Hating them the way that I do, when I felt her moving all around and struggling with them, it broke my heart. After every one of them she would move around, and it was as though she was trying to get to a better position so maybe they would stop. My books say that the hiccups in utero don't bother the baby, but it felt like she was really struggling and really unhappy!

I could feel where her head was and started kinda rubbing there, just talking really quiet to her and trying to comfort her. I kept saying, "I know, sweetheart, I know. Sweet girl, you're okay. Sshhhh......you're okay......" Eventually it occurred to me that if I moved maybe she could move better, so she could maybe get to a better position. I didn't want to get up and ruin the moment we were having, but I did. Once I got back to bed, she had stopped and was asleep.

All I could think was, "God, thank you for waking me up to experience that time with my baby. Thank you for giving me that." It was such a sweet time of bonding.

The Closet: Mudded, Sanded, and Primed

The Craftsman. He's been working so hard on this, and it means so much to me. He has so much going on and has been spending every free night he has up there.

Mudded and Sanded

Primed

This is one amazing closet, y'all.

I got him in one as a frame of reference so you can see how big it is.

And this one was to show a little more of the size, because it's really, really hard to capture the size of a closet in a single frame.

31 Weeks

I can actually see a difference in myself. I told Scott that I thought I'd gotten a lot bigger, and he just looked at me. I don't think he knew quite how to respond to that, fearing that either agreeing or disagreeing could have been the wrong answer.

Good week, though some more of those interesting symptoms I've heard so much about have reared their ugly heads.

For one thing, let me just say that indigestion is no joke. I'd go into the gory details, but they're gross. Suffice it to say that sometimes reflux is downright nasty, but Tums are my friend.

I've gotten a few minor foot cramps (not leg cramps), too., in the middle of the night. They're usually remedied pretty easily by just pointing my toes up and stretching it out, so they're obviously not at their worst yet. Maybe they won't get bad for me, but I know better than to assume something like that.

The itching has been bad this week. I've been walking around with little red bumps all over my chest from where I've scratched and scratched. It's starting to improve, but I have a feeling it's going to stick around awhile.

My feet are virtually inaccessible....so much so that when I walked up to Scott with a pair of socks in my hand, he automatically assumed I needed him to put them on for me. (That's actually not why I had walked up to him, but I took him up on it since I was there.) He had to tie my shoes when we went out last night. I may soon have to retire shoes that require tying or fastening of any sort, which is tough when it's cold.

And speaking of cold........I don't feel it so much. Yeah, I can recognize when it's 40 degrees outside, but strangely enough, I haven't been cold in church in ages. I have ALWAYS been cold in church. ALWAYS. This morning, though, I was actually hot. Me. HOT. That, my friends, just does not happen.

My appetite is ravenous, but I still can't eat a lot at any one time. I eat often, for sure, but not in large quantities. I have actually had someone say to me that I don't eat as much as they would assume I would; I'm thinking that's because he doesn't follow me around all day.

The baby is moving around a lot, which I love, and I thought earlier this week that she was trying to rotate herself around. At my last appointment my doctor told me that she was in a transverse position, and my books say that around this time she'll probably move to the head-down position. Knowing that, I assumed that some of the more, um, violent movements I was feeling was probably her changing positions.....but there's still a suspicious head-shaped bulge in the same spot as before, so I don't think that's happened yet.

Less than two months until my due date, which is absolutely surreal. For months we've been anticipating a baby boom at our church, with about half a dozen women all expecting within a window of about 2 months. We have been set to bring up the rear of the boom, and it's pretty jarring to realize that the women who were starting out the baby boom have already given birth. It's coming, whether we're ready or not! We're more excited than nervous, though, and just as thrilled as can be that we're going to get to see her soon.

Gratitude

Thank You, Lord, for people who understand. It makes all the difference in the world, and You know that. Thank You.

30 Weeks

I have to say that when we were taking these pictures, Scott tried to brush something off my shirt....only to discover that there was nothing on my shirt, but that the strange glow he saw was actually my pale, white belly gleaming through my shirt. Interesting. I know it's been evident for several weeks now that this shirt might not make it to Week 40........but still. I've decided that to maintain consistency I'm going to continue wearing it until the seams actually burst. My belly will probably hang out the bottom and who knows what else is going to happen, but.....that'll make it interesting.

I'm still feeling good, though as the baby gets bigger I can definitely feel some more discomfort setting in. I've got a lot of pressure going on, and she loves, loves, loves to assault my rib cage. I think it's pretty funny. Yes, funny.

And the itching? Oh. My. Goodness. It's back with a serious vengeance. I think we're stretching big time. I'm still using the cocoa butter, though, which feels divine and will hopefully start helping soon.

I think my belly is becoming more cumbersome in general. I can see it at night, especially. If I fall asleep on my right side, I stay on my right side until I wake up and reposition. Usually I roll and turn all around. (Ask Scott.) The belly is apparently too much to deal with when I'm sleeping.

She's moving around so, so much, though - it's fabulous. I could sit and stare at my belly all day.

I have to say that I was flooded with emotions when Ashley had her baby this week. Holding her newborn while I'm feeling our little one moving around inside me was phenomenal and breathtaking. I've explained it to people by saying that I've actually been envisioning her in black and white, just like my sonograms have been, just because that's really all I have to go on. Seeing Ashley with a big baby belly one day and then the next day holding her baby, though, somehow takes this into a new realm. Knowing I'll be there in just a few short weeks.... It's so exciting and very, very surreal.

Sympathy Pains

I might have just had my first Braxton Hicks contraction.

If so, it was probably my body's way of sympathizing somehow with my sister, since SHE'S IN LABOR! The doctor checked her today and decided to go ahead and induce her because of her blood pressure. She's only 9 days before her due date, so it's not really even early.

I'm so, so excited. We won't have the baby here until tomorrow, since the process of induction takes some time, but I can't wait. I'm so excited for her and Mark!

29 Weeks

I added a new picture this week so the front-view is saved for posterity, too. Can you see the belly button poking out there? Of course you can. Everyone can. I was somewhat embarrassed by this at first, but I quickly came to terms with it. It's out there, and there's nothing I can do about it. Like it or not, I have an outie now, and everyone can see it.

I had a good week, but I can definitely see and feel some changes happening. I've been a lot more tired, but I still don't know if it's because of the pregnancy or because I'm working full time again. It's probably both, I guess. I'm sleeping pretty well, though, despite the funky dreams and the need to reposition an arsenal of pillows every time I wake up (which, surprisingly, isn't all that often).

I can definitely tell that she's growing a lot now, and can tell that she's taking up a lot more space within my body than she was. She presses on my ribs a lot, and I'm feeling a lot more pressure in other areas, too. I get indigestion all the time now, so I have Rolaids in my purse and Tums by my bed and in the bathroom and in the family room....pretty much everywhere. I'll feel her move around wa-a-a-ay over on my side, and will simultaneously feel her wa-a-a-ay over on the other side. It's becoming obvious to other people when she moves around, too, which is funny. This afternoon Scott and I spent about 30 minutes gawking at my bare belly, because she was bouncing around and we could see her little head rolling from one place to another. Scott actually got to play with her some, by pushing down and letting her push back up at him. It was so sweet.

The belly is becoming somewhat cumbersome at times. I'm feeling more clumsy, for one thing, and sitting up or getting out of a chair is getting harder and harder. For a long time, Scott was always offering to help me up and I didn't really need him to, but now I eagerly accept his assistance. I have a 3-pound, almost 16 inch cantaloupe in my midsection, after all, and it's not very flexible. I have a feeling that we're about to undergo a growth spurt, though, because I'm all itchy again. I'm doing my best to stay lotioned up so the stretch marks don't set in now. (I'm not sure if lotion really helps at all, or if it's really all just genetic, but either way, I'm doing my part.)

I really do feel good, though. I always just see the changes and symptoms as interesting and amusing, because I know they're just part of the process that I'm so excited to be able to experience. I try not to sound like I'm complaining because it all really is wonderful. Pregnancy suits me, and I'm realizing I'm going to be sad, in some ways, when it's over. I'll be thrilled, though, of course, to have my girl in my arms at last.