We have a Door!

Yesterday, while I was taking my horrible 3 hour glucose test, Nick was off of work for Veteran's Day. I wasn't sure if he'd get much done around the house since we had such a relaxing weekend and it's hard to get back in the swing of things, but he did awesome yesterday.

First I'll tell you about my test. If you are pregnant or will become pregnant here's a tip, do EVERYTHING you can to pass the one hour glucose test, because the three hour test is NOT fun!!! I had to be fasting for the test so no eating or drinking after midnight. I woke up Tuesday and got ready for the day. I went to St. John's (I could have done it at any Quest, but since your blood has to be drawn every hour, I didn't want to take any chances of someone messing the test up and me having to re-do it) and arrived around 8:05. Well no one else got there until almost 8:25 (it was raining and traffic is bad in the rain since no one knows how to drive when it rains!). As soon as I could I went back to the little room and had them do my first blood draw. You have to do 4 blood draws with the 3 hour test. 1) your fasting blood draw, 2) your 1 hour blood draw, 3) 2 hour draw and finally 4) 3 hour draw. So I had them do my first draw and then I had to drink the horrible drink. 10 ounces of super sugary orange soda...and then still no eating or drinking...or chewing gum!! I finished the drink at 8:30, so I knew I wouldn't get out of there until 11:30 at the earliest. I was soo bored in that waiting room for 3 more hours. I tried sleeping and that wouldn't work. Then I tried reading, but I felt so nauseas from being hungry and all on a sugar high! 11:30 couldn't come fast enough! It finally came though and I got to leave looking like a drug addict with all the bruises and pricks in my arm from the four blood draws! The one good thing from the test was, since I was on a sugar high, so was Dominick. At one point I just laid there feeling him kick. He was going nuts!! I counted 30 kicks in like 5 minutes. I love feeling him kick. It's my favorite part. Anyway, that was my morning, and then I got to go to work.

Meanwhile...Nick was a busy beaver at home! He hung the new light in Dominick's room (matches the walls and theme perfectly!) and hung the new light in the upstairs "sitting" area. Then he hung the door to Dominick's room (so it's officially a ROOM now!) and finally he painted the whole sitting area and stair well! It looks so great! The only thing left to do in the upstairs is tape and mud the drywall and then paint that. We are so close!!

I think tonight we are going to put the crib and the changing table together and start putting some things away in the baby's room. It will make it all seem so much more real. I can't wait.

As soon as we are done with the upstairs, we'll move on to the basement. We will get started on the play room soon. So many projects to do before Christmas. And for those of you who aren't crazy on a deadline like me, Christmas is only 43 days away! We have a lot to do if we are going to have a house ready for company on Christmas!

Here are some pics from the work Nick did yesterday:



Here is Dominick's Door!





Here are a few pictures of the new wall color. Sorry the pictures are blurry, it's from my cell phone!

I'm so happy things are finally coming together! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be telling you the furniture is together, and hopefully next week I'll tell you the room and upstairs are officially complete!!

Baby Class

Much against Nick's will, he and I are taking a baby class at St. John's Hospital. It is a long class and goes on for 6 weeks. It's a combo of Childbirth, Newborn Care, and Breastfeeding. I think it will be very beneficial. Nick's not so sure. He thinks that I should just go into this blind and get the drugs. While many people do this, and there's nothing wrong with that, I like to be prepared for things. So we are taking the class.

We had our first class Monday night. I'll admit that Nick is right about one thing...it's a LONG class. It goes from 6:30-9:30 p.m. and we get one break. It's an interactive class, meaning she wants you to be talking and participating a lot and Nick's not sure about that part yet either. Normally I love to talk, but I'm even a little hesitant to do that.

Our first class was good. A lot of what we learned this first week was "review" for me and Nick since I'm addicted to all baby books. Most of what she told us about what in the Labor and Delivery section of What to Expect While You're Expecting (and yes, I've already read that section). So he was a little bored (and so was I) at the beginning. But the end was much more informative for us. We did breathing exercises and relaxation exercises. I sat on a pillow on the floor while Nick sat in a chair behind me and massaged my shoulders and neck. I liked that part! Next week will be much more beneficial for us (albeit a little scary) because we see the birth video (an actual person giving birth) and we work more on breathing. We were also instructed to bring lotion if we have a preference and we are learning how to give proper massages. Can't beat that!

The first four of our six classes are all about childbirth. During the fourth class we get a tour of the hospital including where we check in, the labor and delivery rooms, post partum rooms, and the nursery. The fifth class is newborn care and breastfeeding tips and the sixth class is just newborn care...I think that's what she told us.

I'm really looking forward to our next class and all the classes. The main reason I'm looking forward to each one is it helps the weeks go by if I have something each week to look forward to. When we "graduate" from our class, I'll only have 4 weeks to go!! And sometimes it doesn't seem like it can come fast enough! :-)

BIG CEDAR!!

This past weekend Nick and I went to Big Cedar Lodge in Branson, MO. We had such a great time! Well, it started off kind of rough, but ended up good. I did the packing and completely forgot to bring down (from our bedroom) the bag of our toiletries...Oops! So when we got down there, we had no toothbrushes, no toothpaste, no deodorant, no hair brush, no shampoo, no conditioner, no contact solution, no spare glasses, you get the point, NOTHING! So we got down there at 4:20 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and checked in. Here is a picture of the lobby. Big Cedar is completely decorated for Christmas already.



I realized that we forgot the bag shortly after checking in. So thank goodness for GPS, Nick and I left and found a Target not too far away. We stocked up on the basics and were headed back to the cabin. We decided to stop and get food on the way back and just relax at the cabin instead of going out to a big fancy dinner. So we stopped at Wendy's. That's pretty much all we did on Saturday. Here is a picture of me on the balcony of our cabin. We had a view of the lake.



Sunday was more eventful. We slept in, a little, and then went to the Devil's Pool Restaurant for Sunday Brunch. It was soo delicious! I was trying to be good since I might have gestational diabetes, but it was so hard. Belgian waffles with strawberry sauce, cooked to order omelets, bacon, sausage, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, pretty much anything you could think of was in this buffet. I wasn't too bad, but I did splurge and have half a waffle with some strawberry sauce on top! The rest of the day was pretty much dedicated to fantasy football. (And napping for me). Sunday night we went to the Buzzard Bar for dinner. This is the Devil's Pool Restaurant and the Buzzard Bar. The Buzzard Bar is located on the lower level.



We had wanted to do a carriage ride around the grounds but they only have carriage rides on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday...so we missed out. Bummer. Instead we decided to take a drive to "beautiful down-town Branson" and see the "strip". Nick had never been to Branson and wanted to see what it looked like on Main Street. That was our entertainment for the night!

Monday was check out day... :( But we still had a great time. We went back to the Devil's Pool Restaurant for Breakfast (more of the same delicious-ness!) and then we checked out. After check out we wandered around the grounds and took pictures. The grounds are so beautiful!

Here are a few pictures of the grounds:









This picture is my favorite!!

And finally:



Whew! What a long post! Well, there you have it. That was my weekend in a nutshell...

Friday Night Diaper Shower

Friday night was my "happy hour diaper shower" at Ashley's house. It was a lot of fun. There weren't too many people there, but that made it better. We could all socialize more and better. I felt like I actually spent time with each person there. I also got a lot of cute things along with the diapers.

Ashley had a great idea to add a poem to the invitation that basically said instead of a card, sign a book and give it to the baby and that was just great! We got so many good baby books and I can't wait to read them to Dominick.

I got a bunch of diapers, our wipe warmer, our diaper baskets, and a ton of other baby "must have's". Ashley cheated and didn't get us diapers, but she gave us two adorable one-sies. One says, "Dominick Robert Westerheide - Big names comes in little packages too" and the other says, "Basketball is in my genes". The second one is my favorite! :-)

Also, Michelle brought a bunch of baby bibs and stamps/markers for everyone to decorate. They turned out pretty interesting! Winnie's daughter, Grace, stamped all of them and then everyone else just found words to go along with the stamps...or they tried anyway! I don't have any pictures of those, but I'll try to remember to take some and post them soon.

Finally, the girls had a picture frame out for everyone to sign with a spot for a baby picture and the name "Dominick Robert" on it. It was adorable! There is still space to sign, so I'm going to have Nick's family and my family all sign it so we have a cute keepsake for Dominick when he gets here. The picture in it for now is one of my baby pictures. Don't make fun when you see it!

Here are some pics:



Here is a pic of Michelle and Grace decorating some bibs.



The picture frame with some signatures on it. I LOVE it and can't wait to hang it in Dominick's room!





This is me opening some presents!!



Me and my girls at the end of the shower. Lauren, Ashley, Me, Leslie, and Michelle.

I had such a great time on Friday night! Thanks everyone for a great shower!!

TGIF

Thank God It's Friday!!

I have felt like this week has crawled by...it's taken forever to get to Friday and it will probably take forever to get to 4:00! Probably because there are so many things happening this weekend.

Tonight is my diaper shower at Ashley's house! I'm very excited about this for a few reasons.
1) Because I get to see my girls!!
2) It's not super "baby shower-y". It's a happy hour (with water and sprite for me!) so it's very casual.
3) I get more stuff for Dominick! I love looking at the cute baby stuff. I know tonight will be getting a lot of diapers, but I know Dominick will need a lot of diapers, so I'm excited!

I'll try to remember to bring a camera tonight and post pictures next week some time.

I'm also excited because Nick and I are going to Big Cedar this weekend! We leave tomorrow and we are gone until Monday afternoon. Here is a link to their website - Big Cedar and it looks amazing! We are staying two nights in a private log cabin. Our room will look like this. I don't know if we'll actually do too much while we're gone, but that's what I'm looking forward to. Laying around the cabin and doing nothing. We'll watch TV. Sleep in. I might read a book. Basically do nothing. It sounds amazing, doesn't it??

After we get back on Monday, we have our first child birth class! I don't know if Nick is looking forward to this, but I am. We are doing a six week class. It covers child birth, new born care, and breastfeeding. (I know Nick is NOT looking forward to the breastfeeding class, but I'm making him go with me anyway!). But Monday is the first class and I'm excited.

Tuesday is my 3 hour glucose test. Ok, this one I'm not looking forward to, but I am ready to take it and get it over with. Hopefully I'll get the results quickly and I can find out if I actually have gestational diabetes or not. I'm coming to terms with it, and I'll be ok with it if I have it. I just want to know. Because if I do have it, I'll have to make some changes and probably pretty quick. (For example, if I do have gestational diabetes, those pumpkin pancakes from IHOP with whipped cream were probably a bad idea for breakfast this morning!) :-)

And that's my weekend. That's why I'm so glad it's finally Friday! And that's why I probably won't be posting again until at least Tuesday. Have a good weekend!!

P.S. Could you tell that I just figured out how to do a link?? I was very excited about that today too!

I failed

My doctor called me a few hours ago to tell me that I failed my 1 hour glucose test. I'm pretty bummed out about it.

For those of you who don't know what the 1 hour test is, it's when you are tested for gestational diabetes. The first step is the one hour test. You go to the doctor and drink a very sugary drink (tastes like really sweet orange soda) and then wait an hour. After that hour, you get your blood drawn and they test your sugar levels. If you have elevated levels, you have to take the 3 hour test. This one is a little worse. You have to fast, so no eating past midnight. Then you go in first thing in the morning and drink another drink (with NOTHING else in your system...not even water!) and wait another hour. You get your blood drawn at 1 hour, 2 hours and at 3 hours. If you fail this test, then you have gestational diabetes...I think.

I guess I'll find out more next week. I took my 1 hour test on Tuesday and found out today that I failed. I go in on next Tuesday to take the 3 hour test. We'll see how that goes.

I know it's not the end of the world, but I really didn't want to have to take the 3 hour test. Oh well. C'est la vie...

Happy Post Election Day!!

I am soo glad the election is over! Only because I hate hearing people argue politics. And when people start getting worked up over politics, I start getting worked up over politics. And when I get worked up, I start having contractions, and it's just no good.

So Dominick and I are both very excited that the election is over!