Trying to remember

I remember things being easier with Dom...I blogged more. I had more free time. I don't remember being so incredibly exhausted ALL THE TIME. I guess that's just what happens when you have two kids. I wonder what it feels like when you have three!? My uncle said to me the other day, "Two kids aren't twice as hard...they are three times as hard." Amen to that. It's so true. But I'm trying to keep it all together. I'm trying to remember to pull food to defrost for dinner and clean up the toys and do the laundry and just recover. I'm still in some pain from the surgery. But we're making it. Dom was such a helpful boy this morning. He got me the boppy to feed Annabelle and grabbed a diaper for himself. When I dropped him off at daycare, I was so excited because I wanted to get him back into a routine, but when I left he was crying for me and that broke my heart. I think we're getting there. We're almost into OUR routine and I think just a few more weeks away from really getting it together. And then I'll have more time to blog... ;-)

Patience

I'm really struggling to keep my patience lately. I try, but it's very difficult. Dominick is really pushing our buttons recently. He likes to do something that he knows he's not supposed to do and then when we tell him "no", he laughs and does it more. I still can't lift him and lately Nick's been gone during the day (at work) and gone at night (helping our friend Mike with demo at his house). It's really hard to be a "single" mom. I drop Dom off at daycare in the morning and the mornings are rough. Dom doesn't want to get dressed, doesn't want to have his diaper changed, doesn't want to get his shoes on, etc. It goes on and on.

Nights are even worse. He's been doing all kinds of things just to push us. He always needs something while I'm feeding Anna. Last night he found a straw and came over and just jabbed Anna in the face with it. When she sleeps, he goes right next to her and bangs on something to wake her up.

I know he loves her. She's all he talks about most of the time. He's trying to get MY attention and it has nothing to do with her. And I'm struggling with that.

I find myself closing my eyes and counting to ten with deep breaths a lot lately. I don't want to get too mad at him because I know that he's going through a major transition too. I don't want to let him completely off the hook though either, because he is directly ignoring what we are asking/telling him to do and I don't want to let him think that doing something that Mom and Dad say not to do is OK. It's really tough.

Nick and I thought that two years would be perfect in between kids. They would love each other and play together, etc. But I didn't think about how hard it would be NOW. I think we have a rough few months ahead of us. :)

It's ok. I'll take those rough months because I LOVE both of my kids so much and every second with them is worth it. Even if they are driving me crazy. :) But I need to have more patience. Hopefully I can find some in the next few months. For everyone's sake!

SLEEP! :)

Annabelle is doing so good at night!! Now don't get me wrong, she's a stinker from about 5 pm to 9pm, but after that, she is so good! First off, I love our pediatrician. When we went for her one week check up, our pediatrician told us that since she was definitely growing, we don't need to wake her up for feedings at all at night. If she wakes up, obviously feed her, but don't wake her up. So we didn't. At first, it didn't matter, she was still waking up every 2 hours to eat, which was fine. But these last two nights have been great!

We've been staying up until midnight and then putting her down. Two nights ago she went down at 11:45 and was up at 3:30 and then 6:30 and then up for the day at 8:30. That's not bad!

Last night was even better! She went down at midnight, She got up at 4 to eat. Then slept until 7:50. Holy cow!! It was fantastic! :)

I'm very proud of my big girl!!

And Dominick is still doing GREAT in his new room in the toddler bed. My kiddos are so perfect right now!

♥ Annabelle's Birth Story ♥

Wow. What a whirl wind.

It all started on Tuesday, March 8th. I'd been having contractions all day long. I had a big test on Tuesday night so I was trying to fight the contractions, as if you can do that. I went as far as emailing my teacher telling him I might not make it to class. I couldn't focus on studying at all. But I really didn't want to miss the test. Not that I was ready, but I didn't want to do the make up test, which is an essay test and sounds way harder than the multiple choice test. So I went to class. I actually felt better too. I failed the test...but now I think I understand why. Ok I didn't FAIL, but close. It was hard. (I just looked it up...I got a 74%).

After class, I headed home. Class went a little later than normal and I hit the highway to go home around 9:05. I called Nick to talk to him for part of the drive. I just didn't feel good. I almost stopped to get food, but decided I'd rather just go to bed. I got home about 9:30 or so and basically just got ready for bed. Nick came up around 11 or so and we both fell asleep pretty easily. For awhile.

I woke up about 1:30 with a sharp stomach pain. Much different than anything I had ever felt before. It felt like severe gas pains or something. It passed and I decided to drink a little water and go back to bed. But I couldn't go back to bed. The stomach pains kept coming. I started timing them. They were coming ever 4 minutes. I tried going to the bathroom. I tried all the "false labor" tricks. You know, the things they tell you to do if you are in false labor. Drink water. Empty your bladder. Walk around. Change positions. Etc. Etc.

Things were not improving. If anything, the pains were getting worse. Now 3 minutes apart. At 2:40 I decided to call the exchange. At this point I was sitting in the nursery. I didn't want to wake Nick up if it was false labor. I called and the on call doc called me back immediately. I told him what as going on. I got a contraction during the call and couldn't talk. I was almost in tears. He told me to come in.

I got up and went back into our room. I asked Nick to call his mom and see if she could watch Dom. Then I went to get all my stuff together and make sure my hospital bag was ready. I put my contacts in and straightened my hair. (For the record, I had showered that night and went to bed with my hair wet and it was everywhere and my hair isn't long enough to put in a ponytail...that's why I straightened it. It only took like 5 minutes...).

Then we went to get Dom's stuff together. At this point, the contractions are hurting more than ever. I now know exactly what active labor feels like. We got Dom up and headed to Sue's house. In the car, I had quite a few contractions. Every time I would try my breathing and squeeze Nick's hand and I probably sounded awful. Dominick was up at this point and he kept asking, "You OK, Momma??". I would tell him that I was ok and then he would ask, "I kiss it??". I told him yes, he could kiss it and I would hand him my hand. He would kiss my hand and say, "All better?". He's such a sweet heart.

Of course, right after we dropped him off I realized we didn't have a camera, so we went back to Sue's and borrowed her camera. Then we were finally off to the hospital. My contractions were now about 2 minutes apart and very painful.

We got to the hospital at 3:30 am and went straight to Labor and Delivery. They checked me in and brought me back to a room. They hooked up the monitors and saw that my contractions were 2 minutes apart and measuring around 90. They checked to see if I was dilated at all, and I was at 2 cm. I was in pain. I was already asking for the epidural. They called the on call doc and we decided to do a c-section. I had the option of trying on my own, but I didn't want to at this point. I was exhausted already and we had no idea how big the baby was. Unfortunately, I was the fourth person to come in that night in labor...and the fourth repeat c-section. So we had to wait for the OR.

The anesthesiologist came in around 5 am for the epidural. Not gonna lie, it was still a little painful, and didn't take effect right away. But after about 30 minutes, I was ok. She left and came back at 6 am to get me ready for surgery. They thought the surgery would be about 6:15, but we didn't get into the OR until 6:50.

I remember being wheeled in and "Here I go again" by Whitesnake was playing on the radio. They said Annabelle was going to be a Rocker! They got me on the table and started prepping me. I could hear the nurses doing their counts of tools and what not.

Then they started. It was so much better than with Dom. With Dom I was throwing up and in pain and he was stuck after pushing for so long and it was plain awful. This time I was alert and it didn't hurt. I honestly just felt the pressure. After what seemed like hardly any time at all, I heard the vacuum. She was stuck (although I'm not sure where!?). But then I heard them say, "Here she comes!" and then it was over. She was born at 7:06 am. They pulled her back and she was COVERED in the white goo since she was so early. She was crying and it was beautiful. They brought her over to the scale to clean her and do her APGAR scores and I just watched her. At first I was scared because she wasn't breathing as well as they'd like. Since I didn't push, the fluid wasn't pushed out of her lungs. But then they got a good amount out with the bulb syringe and she let out a yell! Her apgar scores were 7 and then 9. So very good.

Nick went over to cut the cord and they weighed her...8 lbs and 11 ounces. Thank God I didn't try a VBAC. I couldn't get Dom out who was 8 lbs 9 ounces so I'm sure I would've had the same result with AJ.

It didn't take long to get me put me back together. I think I was in recovery by 7:20. They brought her back to me almost immediately and I was able to try and nurse her. She latched immediately. It was such a different experience from Dominick's birth.

I recovered a little slower this time around and I'm not sure if it's because it was my second c-section or what it was. But I'm feeling much better now. And how much better it was has been worth every second of pain.

I still can't believe we have TWO kids. Dominick has been fantastic. He loves his "baby sissy". He likes to hold her and when she cries, he brings me her binky. He's already a great big brother.

I also want to mention how great our families have been. Nick's mom, Sue, basically kept Dom for Tuesday through Friday. Nick watched him Friday night and then my parents took him Saturday morning and kept him until we were ready to go home on Sunday. They even brought him up to the hospital since I wanted a picture of the whole family at the hospital and forgot to take one before then.

We are so lucky to have such great family and friends and I'm so in love with my husband, my son, and now my daughter.

I'll update more later with more pictures but this is a good start...for me. With two kiddos, I haven't been on the computer at all. Hopefully I'll get to update more again soon.

But there's her story.

Annabelle Jean

March 9, 2011 at 7:06 am

8 lb. 11 oz.

21" long

Playing Catch Up

Hey blog world. I'm here. Barely. Just writing a quick post to say that I'm planning on doing lots of updates soon. Hopefully today even.

For those of you who don't know, Annabelle Jean was born one week ago today, which was three weeks early. We are all healthy and happy but very very tired.

I'm getting ready to start writing her birth story because I don't want to forget it! I'll add a few other posts soon too. So please keep being patient with me!

Be back soon. :)

Big Boy Bed!

Dominick slept in his Big Boy Bed last night!!! I'm so proud of him!

Like I previously mentioned, we moved the crib downstairs over the weekend (on Sunday actually) to get him used to the new room. New look, new sounds, new light from the outside, etc. And on Sunday night we gave him the option of which bed to sleep in and he said the crib. So we put him in the crib and he slept all night. :) Our plan was working. He was in the new room and getting used to it. It was in the crib, but that was fine.

Well last night, we did PJ's, brushed our teeth and read our books. Then I asked Dom which bed he wanted to sleep in. He pointed to his toddler bed. I said OK and he climbed in. I tucked him in "snug as a bug" and then gave him a kiss. I left the room and shut the door. I listened by the door, fully expecting him to get up and walk around and I didn't hear anything. So I went upstairs and got the monitor. A few times I SWORE I heard him get up...so I'd check on him. Nope. Still laying in bed.

He did have two slip ups. He woke up once about 1 or 2 am. I went downstairs and he was crying because he lost his binky. It was on the floor by his bed. I gave it to him and he rolled right back over and layed back down. I recovered him up and gave him another kiss and he was back asleep in no time. He woke up again around 4 am. This time Nick went downstairs and he said Dom was walking around trying to find his binky. Nick gave it to him but he wouldn't lay back down. So Nick rocked him for about 10 minutes and then he layed him back in bed and that worked. He went back to bed until I woke him up around 7:20 this morning.

So I will call that a success! I know that doesn't mean he's made the transition and he'll never want to sleep in the crib again. But I think this is a great start.

We told him that when he's done with his crib we can move it and get him a new book shelf and some new books and he's very excited about that. So we'll see how this goes! But no matter what, he did it! We know he can do it! :) We'll see what happens tonight. I'll keep you posted.

New Nickname

Nick and I keep calling the baby different things...

Anna, Annabelle, Annie, Bells, Baby A, etc.

But Nick just started calling her AJ (for Annabelle Jean) and I have to say, I really like it! That might stick!

So she might switch from Baby A to Baby AJ! :)

Monitoring Update

Yesterday was a monitoring appointment...it didn't go well.

I left work at 3ish to go to my 3:30 appointment. I got there in time and waited until they called my name. When it was my turn, we headed back to the ultrasound room first to check my fluid. It was still high but at least back in the normal range. Again, it is supposed to be between 10-20 cm and yesterday mine was at 18 cm. So high, but normal high. Nothing to be too concerned with there.

Then we hooked me up to the monitors and started the non-stress test. I needed to get 2 accelerations again. An acceleration is when the baby's heart rate increases by at least 15 beats per minute and stays that way for at least 15 seconds. Right away I got a good one. Her heart rate increased by 20 beats per minute and stayed that way for 30 seconds. So I just had to get another one...

That didn't happen. I stayed hooked up to those monitors for 40 minutes. Nothing. Except a few contractions...but no more accelerations.

So, we had to do another biophysical profile. Again, just a reminder, but the BPP is measuring 5 things, each worth 2 points. 1) Fluid (which I passed - so 2 points for me), 2) NST (or heart accelerations - which I failed, so I'm still at 2 points), 3) muscle tone (fists opening and closing or flexing legs and arms), 4) movement (any squirms or wiggles), and 5) practice breathing (where the baby's diaphragm moves along with breathing motions). You have 30 minutes to get all of these things measured. After 30 minutes, that's your score. You can't look for more things.

So we got started. She started with the hardest one for baby's, breathing. Well Baby A was going to town! She was practicing her breathing great! So I got another 2 points. Up to 4 now.

At this point I asked the nurse what happens if you don't get the right amount of points. She said if you get 8 out of 10, that's practically a 10 and you get to go home. If you get 6 out of 10, they usually send you home but want you to come back the next day in case something is wrong. If you get 4 out of 10, they admit you to the hospital and go from there.

So we were at 4. I needed movement and muscle tone. Wouldn't you know it, but Baby A stopped moving. Wouldn't even turn her head. She was snoozing or something because she was done. I was getting freaked out. I knew she was ok. But I didn't want to be admitted to the hospital. I was a little worried about her, but I feel her a lot so I really knew in my heart she was fine, she just needed to show it!

With 5 minutes to go, she started opening and closing her fists and wiggling around. Thank goodness. So I got an 8 out of 10.

The nurse left to tell the doc and see what he said. She told me that since it took so long, he still might want me to come back the next day. I was hoping he didn't need me to since I've been missing so much work and only have a few weeks to go. When she came back she told me that the doc was with a patient and she didn't want me to wait any longer. She told me to assume that I didn't need to come in until my next appointment but she'd call me if anything changed. I took that opportunity to take off! I left and will be going back on Thursday.

I'm hoping that everything continues to go ok. Even though I keep failing these NST's, she's moving very well and I take that as a good sign. Again, I hope to learn more from my doc on Thursday.

Either way, just 2 weeks and 2 days at the most!

37 Weeks!! Full term!

How your baby's growing:

Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though. So if you're planning to have a repeat c-section, for example, your practitioner will schedule it for no earlier than 39 weeks unless there's a medical reason to intervene earlier.)

Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

How your life's changing:

Braxton Hicks contractions may be coming more frequently now and may last longer and be more uncomfortable. You might also notice an increase in vaginal discharge. If you see some "bloody show" (mucus tinged with a tiny amount of blood) in the toilet or in your undies, labor is probably a few days away — or less. (If you have heavier spotting or bleeding, call your caregiver immediately.) Also be sure to ask your caregiver about the results of your Group B strep culture. That way, if the result isn't yet on your chart when you get to the hospital or birth center, you'll be able to give the staff there a timely heads-up if you need antibiotics.

It may be harder than ever to get comfortable enough to sleep well at night. If you can, take it easy through the day — this may be your last chance to do so for quite a while. Keep monitoring your baby's movements, too, and let your caregiver know immediately if you notice a decrease. Though her quarters are getting cozy, she should still be as active as before.

While you're sleeping, you're likely to have some intense dreams. Anxiety both about labor and about becoming a parent can fuel a lot of strange flights of unconscious fancy.

Full Term! Woohoo! It's getting exciting now!

Everything is still going well as far as I can tell. I still have too much fluid and I'm getting really uncomfortable but Baby A is healthy and doing well and that's all that really matters.

I totally think this baby girl is going to have dark hair. I don't know why. Maybe because Addie has such dark hair, it's just in my mind? I don't know, but I'm anticipating a full head of dark hair. Watch, she'll come out completely bald or with just a little blond fuzz! Either way, she'll be adorable. :)

I am having contractions ALL THE TIME. And they are PAINFUL. And REGULAR. For like 2 hours, and then they stop...so I don't know what's going on. I'm going to discuss this with my doc today at my monitoring appointment. I'm not sure they'd do anything at all, but I'm curious as to what they think about it. Every night for at least 1 - 2 hours, I get very regular, very intense contractions. To the point where we get my stuff together and are getting ready to go in and then they start to slow down and eventually they are weak enough that I can sleep through them and they disappear throughout the night. I don't know if these are Braxton Hicks or what, but it's getting old! I don't want to do this for another 2-1/2 weeks!

Nothing else is indicating any labor though, so I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Sleep comes and goes. Some nights I'm up every 2 hours, and other nights (like last night) I go to bed about 11ish. Wake up around 4ish and then I sleep until 6:30. I can handle that. Unfortunately that's not good practice for when the baby comes! But that's ok. We'll make it.

I think that's everything. We are still doing good. Baby A is kicking like crazy while typing this up, so she's still happy in there!

No matter what, in less than 3 weeks, I'll have a new baby. A DAUGHTER. Very scary and VERY EXCITING! I can't wait. :)

Big Brother School!

Dommie and I went to Big Sibling class on Saturday morning at St. John's Mercy. Nick elected not to go. I think his excuse was that he was going to work on the house, but I don't think he actually did anything but sleep. :) But that's ok. Dommie and I had fun.

The class started at 8:30 and we got there about 8:20. When we checked in, Dominick got a name tag and we took our seats. It took people a little longer to get there so the teacher pulled out some bubbles. The kids loved the bubbles. It started off class on the right foot.

After everyone arrived, we gathered into a circle to read a book about babies. I think Dominick must have been the youngest person in the class. The class was for 3 and under but I think there were a lot more 3 year olds than younger. The teacher was asking about the things the different toddlers can do, and a lot of the kids could do more than Dom...And I think Dom's gifted! :) But a lot of kids were potty trained and sleeping in big kid beds and dressing themselves. Dom can't do a lot of those things, but we're getting there!

The teacher read the book and Dommie LOVED it. He kept trying to get right in front and hold the book. I had to pull him back a few times. He did NOT love that. After the book, the teacher pulled out a baby car seat with a baby doll and all the kids took turns holding the baby doll. Dom LOVED this part too. He wanted to hold the baby the whole time. He actually had practice the day before holding his new cousin, Addie. :)

After holding the baby, the class took a tour and we visited the nursery. There were a lot of babies in there and Dom was very excited to see all the babies. After the nursery we went to the family kitchen, where the Dad's can take the tots to get snacks and drinks. After those two hot spots, we headed back to the classroom to have a snack.

The kids got crayons and a blank picture of a baby to color, showing what their new baby brother/sister would look like. Dom drew a bunch of red lines all over our baby. :) Then the kids got snacks while we discussed good tips for introducing a newborn to the toddler.

I can't remember all of the tips but here are a few that I can remember:

• Pull out the baby toys, baby gear about 4-6 weeks before your anticipated delivery date (we're a little late on this!) so that it's not new and exciting stuff but old news by the time the baby comes and needs that stuff.
  
• Have Dad bring the toddler up to the hospital to see the baby for the first time, not a grandparent or aunt/uncle. When the toddler is introduced to the baby make sure the baby is in the bassinet next to Mom or in the nursery. You don't want the toddler to think that the baby "took" Mom.
  
• When it's time to go home, have Dad bring the toddler up to the hospital to get Mom together. The baby should be brought home as a family, not like the baby is invading the house.
• Have a special bucket of toys that is new to the toddler that they only get when Mom or Dad is 100% occupied with the baby. So if Mom has to nurse or something and the toddler decides they need something, they can pull out a new toy from the new bucket. That way they get something new and exciting and don't dwell on the fact that Mom and Dad are busy with the new baby.
  
• Have the toddler help with as many things as possible. Ask them to bring you clean diapers or wipes. If the baby drops a binky and the toddler is close, ask them to pick it up to help Mom and the baby. Make the toddler think that they are the big helper to Mom and baby instead of the baby is taking everything over. The baby NEEDS the toddler.
  

I know there are more, but those are all I can think of right now. And I think they are all good tips! We'll definitely use some of them.

After the kiddos colored and had their snack, they each got a certificate and a bucket to take home. Dom loved his bucket and it's sitting proudly in his big boy room.

The class ended at 9:15 and Dom and I both had a good time. I think it was definitely worth the $15.00 admission. :) And now Dom is 'ready' to be a big brother (he has a certificate and everything).

Weekend Progress!

We did SO MUCH this weekend! I feel calmer and better already!

The first thing that Dom and I did on Saturday was go to Big Brother school! I'll put that in another post though because it deserves it's own. :)

We started off Saturday at home by cleaning out the storage rooms. That wasn't even on our list of things to do! But we realized we can't move stuff out of Dom's new room if there isn't any place to put it. So Nick went off to Home Depot or Lowe's or somewhere and bought a TON of storage shelves. We set up the back storage room like a warehouse. It has rows and rows of shelves and we cleaned a TON of stuff out. If we hadn't used it in awhile, we threw it out.

The storage room in the back of the basement now has all kinds of stuff organized. From paint, to tools, to sleeping bags, to wrapping paper, to kitchen electronics, to who knows what else! It looks great.


It's hard to tell by this little picture from my phone, but it's organized and looking great. :)

After tackling this room, we organized the storage room under the stairs. We decided to make this storage room ALL BABY/KIDS stuff. So we will know where everything is. It's a much smaller room and works really well for this. We have extra diapers and wipes on the shelving, we have Dom's tool bench, we have the baby clothes and activity mats and extra toys all stored in this little room. This will make it easier to rotate toys with Dom too. We've been having all his toys out all the time and we need to stop that. He doesn't need all 500 something toys out at once. We can rotate them and keep them interesting all the time. We're starting with this now. :)




So all this looks really nice, right? Check out the picture of what the basement looked like WHILE doing this project:



Yeah...I was slightly freaking out...

But we got everything in the basement back to working order!

After all this work, we decided to go to the Home Show downtown. For those of you who don't know, the Home and Garden Show is at the Ed Jones Dome and America Center and has booths of things for your house. Such as electrical safety information from Kay Bee Electric! :) My mom was working at the Kay Bee Booth so we decided to check out some booths and visit my mom. There were a lot of cool things. One thing that I really want to do is get a closet organizer company to come to our house and give me advice/estimates on how to redo our closet. Our closet is huge but isn't very functional.

Anyway, not the point.

So we went to the home show. We saw our friend Chris there and visited with him for a bit, then we went to find the Kay Bee booth. Unfortunately for us (with a 2 year old) the booth was right next to a balloon garden (where it's a walk through garden made of balloon animals..very cool but Dom wanted ALL the balloons) and next to a Ferris Wheel. Fun for us...

Dom wanted everything. He thought the Home and Garden show was amazing. Mom and Nick decided to take Dom on the Ferris Wheel and while I was terrified for him, Dom loved it. He was a little nervous the first time around they said, but once Nick started saying, "Whee!", Dom fell in love.



Not the best picture from my phone again, but there they are!

After the Home Show we went home and crashed.

Sunday was STILL productive! We moved everything out of Dom's big boy room that we hadn't done the day before, and we moved the crib downstairs. We decided to get Dom used to the room first, before making him go into a big boy bed. So we moved the crib into his new room. Then we started working on A's room. We have the pack n play set up in her room, just for now, and we have all the 0-3 month clothes that we have in her dresser. FYI, this child will be wearing mainly blue, green and yellow...that's all the clothes we have except about 4 pink onesies! :) But that's ok. I'm sure she'll look great in blue. ;-)

I packed my hospital bag, got the diaper bag all packed up, and got Dommie's big brother present ready. We're having a present for him at the hospital so he gets something too and it's not just all about the baby. He's getting two new shirts (including on that says "BIG BRO"), a new Lego set, his Brother/Sister book, and a new puzzle. Hopefully these will all be pretty cool gifts and he'll enjoy them. I got out all the baby bottles and organized them. I'll start sterilizing them Wednesday and get them all ready for storage and use. I'm going to breastfeed but since I'll be going to school once a week still, I'll need to get pumping right away. Hopefully this doesn't confuse her too much and she still nurses for me. It will only be one bottle a week, so keep your fingers crossed this works out!

I think we are almost ready for this baby girl! If we get nothing else done, we have a place for her to sleep and clean clothes for her to wear. Oh and diapers to put her in. So I think we are getting there.

Just a few more weeks to go! :) I can't wait!

Dommie Update

So we went to the pediatrician on Friday (sorry I'm just now updating...until I get my new computer - hopefully tonight!! - I don't use the internet on the weekends....) and it was hard to get a good evaluation out of him.

First off, Dom didn't get a nap since I picked him up in the middle of nap time. Secondly, the room they put us in was the same room we were in about 6 weeks ago for Dom's 2 year appointment...where he got 3 shots. He remembered. As soon as he saw the room, he grabbed my neck in a death grib and started screaming at the top of his lungs. He was yelling, "No, no, no, no!". It broke my heart. I couldn't convince him that he wasn't getting any shots.

So it was a rough appointment. She came in and saw him limping with his shoes on. She tried applying pressure to his legs to see if there were any tender spots. He started screaming when she got to the tops of his thighs. We couldn't tell if this was saying he was in pain from the pressure...or if he remembered that he gets his shots there.

Then she checked his hip flexibility. She was rotating his hips to see if he had full range of motion. He did. She told me that there is a virus that shows up in kids with runny noses and congestion where fluid builds up on their ball and socket joint of their hips and they can't move them. But he had full range of motion in his hips so we could rule that out.

After applying pressure and checking his hips, we started walking around with shoes off. He did much better without any shoes on.

So we determined this:

1) Get him new shoes, ASAP. Just in case it's the shoes causing the problem (and those shoes were OLD so we needed to do this anyway).

2) Keep an eye on his leg and see if he starts showing any signs of pain, etc. from walking, running, climbing, instead of just limping without any signs of pain.

3) Apply pressure to the tops of his thighs and see if it really does hurt or if he was just remembering the shots.

4) Call the pediatrician on Monday and update them. We may need to do an x-ray.

So Dommie and I left (with a St. Patrick's Day sticker) and headed straight to the Galleria. We went to Laurie's Shoes and got Dom some new SUPER SHOES! as we like to call them.

We kept a close eye on him all weekend and I think the shoes did it. I don't know if his other shoes were too tight? They weren't hard to get on but maybe they were still squishing his feet somehow. Maybe too narrow? Dom has a wide foot. I don't know, but it's an easy fix and I'll take it!

I think that was all we needed to do. I applied pressure on his thighs and he didn't scream. Well he did scream, but it was screaming with laughter, followed by a "Mama, that TICKLES!". So I'm guessing no fracture. :)

I feel kind of silly going in, but I'm glad we did. I would have felt horrible if he had a little fracture in his leg!

Oh and just to mention, the doctor told me that there is a thing called a "toddler's fracture" where they fracture a bone in their leg and don't act like it hurts at all. The only noticeable thing is: they limp. They do, however, respond to pressure being applied. But otherwise they don't act like there is anything wrong. So Nick was right on that one. I told him we didn't need to go in because he didn't act like anything hurt, but apparently that doesn't mean anything.

Either way though, my baby boy is doing better! Thank goodness!

Dominick Question

Dominick just started walking funny...this started yesterday. He almost drags his left leg. When going up and down steps, it seems like a struggle to get his leg up the stair and when he's going down, he kind of flops his leg down...I don't know what's going on.

We checked to make sure there were no bruises or cuts or anything. Then we checked to make sure there was nothing in his shoes. His shoes are getting a little snug, but not like too tight to wear. We're going to get him new shoes this weekend anyway, but I don't think that's the problem.

Today he was almost acting like he couldn't feel his leg. Like it was numb or something. Before I put his shoes on, I poked the bottom of each foot and he yanked it away each time I did it. So he can clearly feel his feet.

He doesn't cry. He doesn't say it hurts. He's just walking really oddly.

Then today when dropping him off at Stella's, he kept tripping over himself. When he fell down, he would get frustrated and cry. I'm not sure what's going on.

Is he really hurt?
Is he being silly?

I'm going to call the pediatrician today just to see if they know this is a sign of something. I don't want to be caught with more questions this weekend with the doc office is closed.

But in the meantime, does anyone have any suggestions?? Have your kids done this before??


Edited to add:

I called the pediatrician and they want to see him today. They said we might need to do an x-ray. It's nothing to worry about yet, they just want to see him and see what's going on but we better be safe rather than sorry. We don't want things to get worse this weekend and have to go to the ER. And we really don't want something to be wrong and not fix it!

Say a prayer that everything turns out to be ok.

When I called Stella to tell her I'd be picking Dom up early, she told me she was going to call me. He's still walking funny and when he tries to walk /run across the room, he trips every few feet and he's getting really frustrated. Hopefully everything is ok.

I'll keep you posted.

Monitoring and Dr. Appointment

I was lucky and had TWO appointments yesterday... (that was kind of sarcastic, could you tell?). I started off with my monitoring appointment at 3:00. When I got there, they called me back quickly and hooked me up to the monitors. I talked to the nurse and told her that I'd been having contractions. The night before I had even considered coming in, but then they slowed down so I didn't have to. She took some notes and then left to let the monitors do their work.

I flipped on the TV and started watching HGTV...just a little side note. I was watching Bang for Your Buck. It's a show that compares 3 remodels with the same budget and they decide who did the best job for their money, or who got the best 'bang for their buck'. The episode I was watching, they were evaluating three master suite renovations, all with a budget of $120,000....ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Over a hundred thousand dollars on your bedroom? That's the one room in the house Nick and I don't even care about. We're only in there to sleep! That's a lot of money...

Anyway, Annabelle wasn't moving too much so I tried moving on to my side and drinking some cold water (I'm learning all the tricks so they don't have to tell me anymore and I can get in and out of there quicker!). Eventually she woke up a bit and started moving around. I got my two accelerations in by about 3:40 and then we were off to the ultrasound room.

While walking down the hall, the nurse looked at my monitoring report and showed me the contractions line. There were no BIG contractions but the line was up and down, up and down the whole 40 minutes. I didn't feel any contractions so made me feel good. It's not like the contractions I feel at home aren't even registering on a monitor. But she called this uterine irritability. She said my body doesn't know that I had a c-section before and it's gearing up to have a baby.

We settled in to the ultrasound room and she started looking at the baby. The first thing we noticed was Annabelle dropped! You couldn't even see her head on the ultrasound with the wand on my belly. She had to go to the underside of my belly to see her head. So that's probably part of the reason I've been having so many more contractions. Then she measured my fluid. Since I'm over 36 weeks now, they want the fluid to measure between 10-20 cm. Yesterday my fluid measured in at 22 cm. So I'm still high. But not scary high. And you'd rather be high than low.

So all in all, good news. They gave me my "report card" and I headed up to the doctor's office. I got in and waited in the waiting room. It wasn't too long before they called me back. First I was weighed. I gained SIX pounds!! Yikes!! I guess my body was making up for the 2 lbs I lost a week ago! So that puts me at 26 lbs gained overall with three weeks to go exactly. I'm going to assume that all this extra fluid is affecting my weight too... ;-) So I should be able to finish under 30 lbs gained. At least that's my goal!

Then I went back into the room. No doppler reading or anything since I just came from the Perinatal Center. So it was just waiting.

Well, of course, my doc got called away for a delivery so I saw the nurse practitioner. She's very nice so I was ok with this. She came in and talked for a minute about everything and she noticed that my feet were swollen. I could tell they are swollen because first off, they hurt! and second off, I have ridiculously bony feet. The only "skinny" part on me! I have very distinct ankle bones jutting out and Nick calls my toes "finger toes" because they are long and skinny and you can see each knuckle. My feet are very long and thin too. So I don't have cankles or anything yet, but I can tell they are swollen. I didn't think anyone else could but the N.P. could. She told me to start putting my feet up more.

Then we started talking about this fluid nonsense. I asked her what it really meant since no one really tells me anything. She told me that they aren't going to do anything since I'm full term this weekend. However, with the baby having dropped, the fact that the baby is already big, and all this extra fluid stretching my uterus, my body thinks it's even further along than the baby is measuring. So I am 36 weeks and 4 days, the baby is measuring about 38-39 weeks, and with the extra fluid my body probably thinks I'm closer to 40 weeks. So she told me to really pay attention to these contractions. She thinks I'll go into labor on my own. She told me not to labor too long at home. If I think they are coming regularly, call the exchange. They will tell me what to do, but she doesn't want me suffering at home too long since I'll be coming in for a c-section anyway. So I guess that's something to look forward to!

After all this talk, she gave me my c-section card. It's the instructions I have for coming in for a planned c-section.

Here's what the card says:

MIDWEST MATERNAL FETAL MEDICINE
DIRECTIONS FOR SAME DAY ADMIT C-SECTION

Your cesarean section is scheduled for ______________________.

On the day prior to your cesarean section

• Register at the Admitting office at the hospital on the 2L Level as an "A.M. Admit C-Section".
  
• Report to the Outpatient Lab on the 2L Level to have your blood drawn.
  
• Report to Labor and Delivery on the 2nd Floor of the hospital to speak with an Anesthesiologist.
  

On the day of your cesarean section

• Arrive to Labor and Delivery 2 hours prior to your cesarean section.
  

YOU MAY HAVE SOLID FOOD UP TO 6 HOURS PRIOR TO YOUR SCHEDULED PROCEDURE. YOU MAY HAVE CLEAR FLUIDS UP UNTIL 2 HOURS PRIOR TO PROCEDURE.



So there you have it! Those are my instructions. If I end up with the scheduled c-section. I guess you never know! I could go early. But if I don't. I have LESS THAN THREE WEEKS TO GO! :)

Come on Baby A!

Tyke Hyke Class

I've been a little nervous about Dominick becoming a big brother for awhile now. Sometimes he does amazing. He plays with the babies that I hold and gives them kisses, etc. Other times....well, once he tried to pull a newborn out of my arms, while screaming and crying...

So it's a toss up.

Since the baby will be here in 3 weeks at the most (CrAzY, right?!?!), I decided we should do something more to make sure he's prepared.

We talk about the baby a lot. But I don't think that helps. He knows there's a baby in my tummy, but he doesn't get that the baby will come out. We tell him that the baby will sleep in the crib, etc. etc. but again, I don't think it's really sinking in.

So I decided to look up "Sibling to Be" classes at St. John's Mercy, the hospital where I'll be delivering. They have a class for kids under 3 called the Tyke Hyke class. It costs $15 and is 45 minutes long. They will have a life sized baby doll there so the kids can "practice" holding the new baby. They do lots of talking and then there's a tour of the mother and baby area of the hospital so that the kids know what to expect the next time they are there. They had 2 spaces open in this Saturday's class. Classes are only offered on the first Saturday of the month, so the next one isn't until April 2nd.

I snagged one of those spots right up. :)

So this Saturday, Dommie and I (and hopefully Nick if he'll agree to come) will head out to St. John's and learn about becoming a sibling. Nick and I are both the babies of the family. Neither of us have ever had to deal with a a new sibling coming into our lives. So we have no advice for poor Dommie! I think this will be a good thing for him. And it's over by 9:15, so we can go out to breakfast afterward!

Wish us luck!

The MOST wonderful time of the year!!

MARCH MADNESS!!!!

I am pumped. I love this time of the year when basketball is basically on ALL THE TIME. It's like heaven.

It all begins on Sunday, March 13th with selection Sunday. Which I rarely watch, but it's the beginning and a very important part. I guess technically it begins with all the conference tournaments to decide who will get their automatic bid into the tournament but the first part of the actual tournament is selection Sunday.

This year is a little different. In the past, 64 teams made it. There were four brackets with 16 teams each. The final four was the team that made it through each bracket. Then a few years back, they added a 65th team. So two teams competed before the actual tournament started (technically it was the start of the tournament, but the winner became a 16th seeded team and had to play one of the top 4 ranked teams in the country the next game).

This year there are even more teams in the tournament. The tournament will start with 68 teams. Eight teams will play first-round games on March 15 and 16, before serious action begins March 17, and the last four at-large teams selected will be matched in two of those four games.

I'm not sure how I feel about there being more teams in the tournament. I guess we'll have to see how this plays out.

After those games (on March 15th and 16th), then we are down to 64 teams and the tournament that I remember growing up will begin. The (second) round begins on March 17th and games go ALL DAY LONG. I don't know how I'm going to focus...I'll already be antsy that I'm ONE measly week away from my c-section, but then with basketball on all day...I don't think I'll get anything done at all.

Not only do we get to watch basketball, but my family bets on basketball! We have 6 people in our immediate family, Mom, Dad, Angela, Andrew, Nick and myself. You only need to make sure you don't come in last place. Last place buys dinner (or makes it) for EVERYONE. First place gets immunity the next season. So it's nice to come in first, but just don't come in last. We all have a blast picking and heckling each other's picks. Since you only worry about not coming in last, you can pick more with your heart and not worry about picking all the favorites. Even if you KNOW your favorite team won't win a game, you can still pick them for a few rounds. :) I like picking with my heart over my head sometimes anyway.

Ahhh, I love March. Annabelle is SO lucky to get to have her birthday in such an amazing month. I anticipate basketball themed birthday parties in her future.... :)

New Friends

I have been extremely blessed since going back to school. I have met two amazing girls (Bridget and Ann) who live close to me and are taking the same classes that I am. It's been great to have someone to talk to while studying, doing homework, or trying to forget that last class. I met them both last semester in Anatomy and Physiology I. We formed a little study group and got to be really close. This semester has been a little different because one of us is in a different class (Bridget). :(

Ann and I miss Bridget a lot but we still meet up with her sometimes and we still talk about class. We're all taking the same class (Anatomy and Physiology II) but Ann and I go on Tuesday nights and Bridget goes Tuesday and Thursday days.

Not only do I have great new friends to talk about school stuff with, but they are also great new friends to do anything with!

This past weekend shows how great they both are.

We started off by going to see Bridget's new apartment. She just moved to the U-City area and we went over to see her place. After hanging out there for a bit, we headed to the Loop. We had a great lunch at Cicero's and then Bridget wanted to show me a store she likes, called City Sprouts. It's a kid store with clothes and games and neat things for kids. It has a LOT of cool stuff...but it's expensive...

We went in and Bridget told me to pick out something that I liked and she wanted to get it for the baby. At first I was just looking around. I saw a really cute swimsuit and checked the price tag...$42.00...um no thanks! Then I found an ADORABLE dress and checked that price tag...$58.00. I don't usually spend $58.00 on a dress! :)

So I told Bridget not to get me anything, but that didn't fly. So we picked out a few smaller items. She got me a silly onesie that Nick FREAKED out over. ;-) It says, "Someday I'll get TRASHED at Prom". Not gonna lie, that one made me freak out a little too.



She also got me a pack of "trumpet socks". They are little socks that Bridget told me will STAY ON, since most baby socks don't. And they have the sticky pads on the bottom for added traction when she needs it. They are sized 0-12 month so we'll see how long they last. And they are ADORABLE and look like little Mary Jane shoes!


Of course I was thrilled to get these things and love them but I feel so bad that a onesie and some socks cost her over $55.00!! Also, Bridget is going through a divorce and doesn't even have a BED! She sleeps on a couch and spent $55 on me and Baby A. She is so thoughtful and sweet and didn't even hesitate. She's a great friend.

While Bridget was looking at those things, I wandered over and looked at some stuff for Dom. I wanted to have a bag of goodies for Dom when he comes to the hospital so he has some fun things to do and have and it's not just about the baby. I found a neat puzzle that says it's for kids 3+ but I think Dom can handle it! :) It's a matching puzzle that matches colors with animals. I think Dom will be good at it. He's very good at colors already and he loves animals, thanks to Diego. And I found him a book. It's pretty cool. It's a flip book. One way is a book called, "What Brothers Do Best". Then you flip it over and the other way is a book called, "What Sisters Do Best". I think it will be good for him. :)

So after I found these two items, I went to check out and Ann was in line buying me a onesie!!



It's so cute! And it's one of those side wrap onesies so I don't have to worry about her belly button or anything.

I need to mention here that Ann recently lost her job. She's selling her house and going to school. And she bought me a $25.00 onesie for Annabelle.

She didn't have to do that. Neither of them had to do that! But I'm extremely thankful for the beautiful gifts and their friendship.

Annabelle might be even more spoiled than Dominick! I walked out of that store with 2 onesies, 1 package of socks, 1 book and 1 puzzle and it was more than $100.00 worth of stuff!

I'm one lucky girl. I have so many great friends in my life. Through Fontbonne, through school now, through Nick, through work. And my family is the best family ever. I can't wait for Annabelle to get here and meet all of these wonderful people as well.

Annabelle Updates

So this goes back to last Friday. I had my second monitoring appointment. The first one was on February 18th. At that appointment, my fluid was on the high range of normal. It was 18 cm. I think. They want it between 6-24. That wasn't the big concern that appointment since it was in the "normal" range. They were more concerned that I failed the NST and had to have a biophysical profile done. But then I passed the biophysical profile and everything was happy. I was told to come back in a week.

So my second monitoring appointment was on February 25th. I went in and started with the NST. Anna passed right away. I got the two heart rate jumps that they needed in the first 7 minutes. You still have to be hooked up for the full 20 minutes though. After those first two jumps though, Anna fell asleep. So we had to keep me on the monitors for another 30 minutes to try and wake her up. I guess eventually they were happy because around 4:15, they said I could do an ultrasound to check the fluid. We went back to the ultrasound room and looked in at Baby A. She was being adorable. So we took a few pictures. Then they checked my fluid...

My fluid was up to 26 cm. Which is too high. They didn't like that at all. They made me stay in a room while they went and found my doctor to discuss everything. Everyone seemed shocked that I didn't have diabetes, but I took the test twice and passed both times and I don't know how you can "cheat" on that test...

So after talking to my doctor, they determined that I have to come twice a week now. If it remains high, then I'll have to take fluid off of the baby. This is done like an amniocentesis, which the really long needle. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though.

So that was Friday. My next appointment was then Monday, yesterday.

So I went back yesterday. They started me off with the fluid check. It was back in the normal range, but still high. Yesterday it was 20 cm. So I still have to go twice a week but they aren't AS concerned...or something. After the fluid check we went and did the NST. It took awhile to wake her up but once she did she passed fairly quickly. It was an interesting appointment yesterday because Stella was off so I stayed home with Dom. Then Dom and I headed up to the hospital at 3 and Nick met us there. So we had our appointment with Dom in the room and he's not the most patient guy in the world! But we all managed.

So now I go back on Thursday to repeat the fluid check and do another NST. I don't really know what they will do if it's still high...

Here's the info I found off of March of Dimes website:

How are oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios diagnosed?
An ultrasound can measure the amount of amniotic fluid:

• One method is called the amniotic fluid index (AFI) . The AFI measures the depth of the fluid in four quadrants in the uterus. These amounts are then added up. If the AFI is less than 5 centimeters, the pregnant woman has oligohydramnios. If the AFI adds up to more than 24 centimeters, she has polyhydramnios (1, 2).

How common is polyhydramnios?
About 1 percent of pregnant women have too much amniotic fluid (1). Most cases are minor and are caused by a gradual buildup of fluid in the second half of pregnancy. However, a small number of women have a rapid build-up of fluid as early as 16 weeks of pregnancy that usually results in very early birth (1).

What complications can polyhydramnios cause for mother and baby?
Women with minor polyhydramnios experience few symptoms. However, those who are more severely affected may have abdominal discomfort and breathing difficulties as a result of the uterus crowding the abdominal organs and lungs.

Polyhydramnios may increase the risk of pregnancy complications including (1, 2):

• Premature birth
• PROM
• Placental abruption: This is a condition where the placenta partially or completely peels away from the uterine wall before birth.
• Stillbirth
• Postpartum hemorrhage, which is severe bleeding after birth
• Fetal malposition: The baby is not lying in a head-down position. This may mean that that the baby must be born by cesarean section.

What causes polyhydramnios?
In about half of all cases, the cause of polyhydramnios is unknown (1). Known causes include:

• Birth defects: About 20 percent of babies from pregnancies affected by polyhydramnios have a birth defect (3). The most common birth defects that cause polyhydramnios are those that affect the baby’s swallowing, such as birth defects involving the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system (1, 2, 3). Normally, swallowing by the baby maintains the fluid at a steady level.
• Maternal diabetes
• Maternal-fetal blood incompatibilities, such as Rh and Kell diseases
• Twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS): This complication affects identical-twin pregnancies. One twin gets too much blood flow and the other too little because of connections between blood vessels in their shared placenta.
• Fetal heart rate abnormalities
• Fetal infection, such as with parvovirus B19: In childhood, this infection commonly causes a mild illness called fifth disease.

How is polyhydramnios treated?
When a routine ultrasound shows evidence of polyhydramnios, a provider recommends a more detailed ultrasound to help diagnose or rule out birth defects and TTTS. The provider also may recommend amniocentesis and a blood test for diabetes. Amniocentesis is a test in which a small amount of amniotic fluid is removed through a needle inserted into the mother’s abdomen to test for certain birth defects.

In many cases, slight polyhydramnios goes away without treatment (1). In other cases, it may resolve when the problem causing it is corrected. For example, treating high blood sugar levels in women with diabetes or giving the mother medicine to treat certain fetal heart rhythm disturbances often reduces amniotic fluid levels.

Providers closely monitor women with polyhydramnios with weekly (or more frequent) ultrasounds to check amniotic fluid levels and fetal well-being tests to check for signs of fetal difficulties. If the woman is uncomfortable because she has an extremely large amount of fluid, her provider may recommend treatment with indomethacin. This drug helps reduce fetal urine production and reduces amniotic fluid levels. Amniocentesis also can be used to drain off excess fluid. This procedure may have to be repeated a number of times.

If the tests show that mother and baby are healthy, a woman with slight polyhydramnios near term usually does not need any treatment.

So I'm assuming that I have slight polyhydramnios, if anything at all, and that me and Baby A are healthy since they haven't suggested any treatment and even told me that they didn't think they would do anything at all since I'm almost full term. They just want to keep up with the twice a week monitoring.

I guess we'll see what happens on Thursday with the next fluid check.

I'm not over concerned with all of this but it is slightly scary. Everything was going PERFECT with this pregnancy and I wasn't expecting anything to come up that would have me worried. But there's nothing I can do. I trust my doctor 100% and I'll keep doing what he tells me to do. Hopefully everything continues to go well and I'll have my baby girl in just a few weeks!

That's the plan anyway!

36 Weeks!!

How your baby's growing:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

How your life's changing:

Now that your baby is taking up so much room, you may have trouble eating a normal-size meal. Smaller, more frequent meals are often easier to handle at this point. On the other hand, you may have less heartburn and have an easier time breathing when your baby starts to "drop" down into your pelvis. This process — called lightening — often happens a few weeks before labor if this is your first baby. (If you've given birth before, it probably won't happen before labor starts.) If your baby drops, you may also feel increased pressure in your lower abdomen, which may make walking increasingly uncomfortable, and you'll probably find that you have to pee even more frequently. If your baby is very low, you may feel lots of vaginal pressure and discomfort as well. Some women say it feels as though they're carrying a bowling ball between their legs!

You might also notice that your Braxton Hicks contractions are more frequent now. Be sure to review the signs of labor with your practitioner and find out when she wants to hear from you. As a general rule, if you're full-term, your pregnancy is uncomplicated, and your water hasn't broken, she'll probably have you wait to come in until you've been having contractions that last for about a minute each, coming every five minutes for an hour. Of course, you'll want to call right away if you notice a decrease in your baby's activity or think you're leaking amniotic fluid, or if you have any vaginal bleeding, fever, a severe or persistent headache, constant abdominal pain, or vision changes.

Even if you're enjoying an uncomplicated pregnancy, it's best to avoid flying (or any travel far from home) during your final month because you can go into labor at any time. In fact, some airlines won't let women on board who are due to deliver within 30 days of the flight.

Eating in "Start collecting take-out and delivery menus from local restaurants. You won't have time to cook in the early weeks after giving birth. Even restaurants without a visible take-out business will usually accommodate a to-go order (especially if it's for a new mom!)." — Kristina

Well I have updates from the last few dr. appointments but I'll put those in another post.

When reading this information, I think I'm right on track. I am noticing a LOT more contractions that are starting to hurt a bit, but nothing super consistent. I know that I probably won't go into labor on my own so I'm not really concerned about these contractions. I time them and do my breathing exercises through them and they always end on their own. So I'm not worried. Yet. :)

I have no problem eating...at all. Last night I ate a TON at my parents for dinner. And I enjoyed it all. Typically, I do eat less at each meal and just eat more frequently but I can eat a lot if I'm hungry!

Walking, etc. is getting more uncomfortable but I don't want to complain too much. Sleeping is really the worst part. I can't get comfortable and rolling over is a nightmare. Who knew it could be so hard to ROLL OVER. But it really is. And then add to that how I'm waking up every 2 to 2-1/2 hours to go to the bathroom and it's just insane. But I guess it's good practice for me since I'll be up every few hours for a feeding in just a few weeks!

I'm hoping to go to Time for Dinner next week or the week after (maybe Tuesday, the 15th since I'm on "Spring Break") to get some meals for us while I'm out. I think I'll probably go through our fridge and freezer this week/weekend too. I have so much in there and I need to go through everything. Make some room for the extra meals I'll have! :)

I think that's it! I'll do another post about my specific Baby A updates.

Happy 36 weeks Annabelle!