Doc Appointment

Just had a great appointment today. Doctor came in and felt my belly and said this baby is big and almost ready to come out! :) He thinks I'll go early and we'll check to see if I'm dilated at my 37 weeks appointment. He'll also strip my membranes to try and help me go into labor on my own. That would be great if some of these tricks work and I go on my own. I really want to try and VBAC. I understand I might not be successful, but I want to give it a shot.

Since this baby is coming sooner or later (and I'm kind of hoping sooner) we really need to get stuff together. I've been nesting all day. All the laundry is folded and some of it is even put away, haha. I'm going to go through baby clothes tomorrow and see about washing everything and packing a few things for the hospital. I also started packing my hospital bag today. Nothing big, just a few travel size things I already had. Hopefully we can stay on top of things, now that we're actually trying, and be ready when this baby comes.

I was looking through a few old pictures on iPhoto and came across a few from when Annabelle was born. I honestly can't believe we're getting ready to do this again, but I'm thrilled. I really am. It took me almost 35 weeks to get to that point but I'm so excited to have this baby and have a family of 5!

I can't wait to duplicate these photos!! Just a few more weeks to go!

 A family photo (I look bad, and Dom looks sad...we'll have to make the next one a little better! haha)

 

 My momma holding Sweet Baby A

 Dommie holding his baby sister for the first time

 Sue and Annabelle

 Nick and the "BIG BRO"

 Andrew and Angela holding Adelina and Annabelle (Holy A names Batman!)

 Me and the BIG BRO. I think he's trying to give me a pretzel or something.

Nick, me and Annabelle

Just a few more weeks! :)

The LIST revisited

I made a list! Well a preliminary list...

Here's my list between the rest of today and tomorrow...

- Organize mail (we have mail ALL OVER THIS HOUSE)
- Fold laundry in basement - DONE
- Put away toys in basement - DONE
- Bring laundry up (too heavy...I'll see if I'm motivated later)
- Organize socks in bedroom (No joke....there's a lot of socks on our floor, it might take me an hour)
 

 Told you there were a lot of socks....

- Put laundry away (my least favorite part about doing laundry)
- Look at Annabelle's clothes (18 month go into storage, time to pull out the 24 month/2T clothes for this big girl!)
- Clean Annabelle's room (disaster area)
- Clean master bath (disaster area #2)
- clean master bedroom (disaster area #3)
- Put away table in living room
- move back sofa table
- load up old queen bed to move to mom and dad's on Sunday (totally can't do this alone, obviously)
- clean kitchen and do dishes
- clean first floor bathroom (not a disaster but still needs to be done)

Once those things are done, I can focus on actually getting out the baby stuff and organizing the nursery (that will hopefully begin construction this weekend. I'll try to take before and after pictures).

Let's do this!!! Back to the grind. Will be back tomorrow blog world!

Baby Names!

I thought that we had names narrowed down to 2 boy names and 2 girl names. I was wrong...

Nick told me last night that he doesn't like either of the boy names anymore. Not that he doesn't like them, but that he doesn't think they are right for our baby boy (which he is sure this is a baby boy, I'm still not convinced...).

So we went back to the drawing board. Then I had an idea this morning. I called him and told him of my new boy name and SHOCKER he likes it!! :)

So I think we have changed our baby names. The girl names MIGHT still be ok. We'll see if he changes his mind on those in the next few weeks, but I think we have a new boy name. And I think I'm going to keep it a secret this time...

Stay tuned!

Pool Party!

I wanted to throw my classmates a pool party send off to Term #3 and a few of my classmates wanted to throw me a baby Sprinkle so we combined them and had a lovely day yesterday!

I am so lucky to have met so many amazing people these past 8 months at Goldfarb. I know you've heard me say it a million times already but Goldfarb Accelerated Nursing Program is an intense program. INTENSE. You are getting a second Bachelor's degree in essentially 10 months. It's hard. You are taking 20 credit hours a term and you are stressed all the time. These people in the program with you become your second family. And I'm so thankful for all of them. ALL OF THEM. I've heard stories about the classes ahead of us that don't study together or help each other or care about each other. Our class is completely different. We don't want anyone to fail. We will study as late as we can to help make sure everyone gets it. If someone finishes a study guide early, they email it to everyone. We just care about each other.

I got to see that a lot over these last 8 months. I was in danger of failing first term. You need a 78% to pass each class. Not a 77.99%, a 78%. Going into the final Pharmacology test I had an 80%. Going into the final Pathophysiology test, I had a 78%. I had to do great. And I had some amazing people to study with and I passed both classes. These people are amazing. And I'm so sad to not be moving on with them. I hope the class behind us (behind them I guess and it's now my class) is just as caring.

Some of these amazing people gave me some really sweet gifts for this baby. I told everyone not to get me anything. Hello! We're not working and we all just took out at least $25,000 in debt! But some of them got stuff for me anyway. Here are a few pics of the party yesterday and some of the gifts I've gotten.

Thank you to everyone who was able to come yesterday! If you couldn't come, I COMPLETELY understand!!! I'll be up to visit soon, I promise!

 Tony firing up the grill

 Machalla and Jen sittin' pool side

 Jess getting ready to wow us with her dive skills

 My momma hanging up some balloons

 Rachel and Jess having a beer and taking a break from the water

 Some folks lounging by the pool

 The onesies that my friends decorated! So cute!!

The other gifts I got (and 3 packages of diapers that I didn't bring up yet!)

 A close up of a really cute frame that a friend got me. Nick has already decided that 

Dom's pic will go in the giraffe, Annabelle's pic in the elephant, "new baby" in the top of the ark, 

and a family pic in the bottom of the ark. I can't wait to put it in the new nursery!

 A close up of the onesie by Rachel. Can you read it?? "Holy Unexpected Baby, Batman!" and there's

a batman logo she drew on the back!

 The one on the right is one of my faves (the back says, "You should See my MOM!")

This is adorable because it's SO true!! This baby has spent it's entire time cookin' at Goldfarb! :)

Machalla, me and Jen. The awesome girls who threw most of this party together. Thanks girls!!!

I'm going to miss everyone so much! I hope I can keep in touch with everyone. Thank you again to everyone who came, and if you couldn't come, I'm going to stalk you one of these days so we can hang out one more time!!!! :)

35 Weeks with Baby #3!

 

 

How your baby's growing:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

How your life's changing:

Your uterus — which was entirely tucked away inside your pelvis when you conceived — now reaches up under your rib cage. If you could peek inside your womb, you'd see that there's more baby than amniotic fluid in there now. Your ballooning uterus is crowding your other internal organs, too, which is why you probably have to urinate more often and may be dealing with heartburn and other gastrointestinal distress. If you're not grappling with these annoyances, you're one of the lucky few.
From here on out, you'll start seeing your practitioner every week. Sometime between now and 37 weeks, she'll do a vaginal and rectal culture to check for bacteria called Group B streptococci (GBS). (Don't worry — the swab is the size of a regular cotton swab, and it won't hurt at all.) GBS is usually harmless in adults, but if you have it and pass it on to your baby during birth, it can cause serious complications, such as pneumonia, meningitis, or a blood infection. Because 10 to 30 percent of pregnant women have the bacteria and don't know it, it's vital to be screened. (The bacteria come and go on their own — that's why you weren't screened earlier in pregnancy.) If you're a GBS carrier, you'll get IV antibiotics during labor, which will greatly reduce your baby's risk of infection.

 This is also a good time to create a birth plan. Using our form will help you focus on specifics — like who'll be present, what pain management techniques you want to try, and where you want your baby to stay after you deliver. It will give you a starting point to discuss your preferences with your medical team. Childbirth is unpredictable, and chances are you won't follow your plan to the letter, but thinking about your choices ahead of time — and sharing your preferences with your caregiver — should take some of the anxiety out of the process.

 35 weeks! Wow!! I know I say that every week, but really this is crazy. Today has been my first day to just RELAX. And what have I done?? Cleaned the basement, folded all the laundry, cleaned the couch covers, and now I'm taking a quick break and then cleaning the upstairs. I'm kind of nesting, but really just trying to get stuff done. I don't feel super motivated to get it done but I know I'm quickly running out of time! If this baby comes when Annabelle did, I have 2 weeks to get everything ready. So I better make each day count, right?!

I have been having HORRIBLE heartburn and indigestion. To the point where I want to throw up because I can feel the burning in my throat and it's so bad. But I know the end is in sight so I just need to hold on a little longer. 

Well I have a few more quick posts to do and then I must get back to work! 

Happy 35 weeks little baby! We all can't wait to meet you! (Well Annabelle probably can...she's relishing her last few weeks as the baby, but don't worry, she loves babies so she'll warm up to you soon enough!) :-)

CROUP

Annabelle has croup. A bad case too.

She's struggling to breathe just sitting in her high chair or sitting on my lap. The doc said to start her on steroids asap. I'm waiting for Walgreens to tell me they are ready.

My poor baby. I hate that she's sick. She's my baby!! And I hate when little ones get sick and just don't understand. I can't make her better. I can only wait it out with her and hope that she gets better soon.

She also has a yeast infection. I'm glad we diagnosed that because now we can get the good stuff to make that go away. Nick called me at work last Thursday (when I worked till midnight) and said when he put her to bed she had horrible diaper rash. He's been loading her up with desitin. When I saw her Friday morning I thought it was yeast. So we debated. Desitin or anti-fungal cream. We kind of went back and forth and nothing got better.

Now it's confirmed yeast and we have special cream. Hopefully that goes away quickly too.

Poor girl. When it rains, it pours. Hopefully she'll be on the mend soon and back to her perky self asap!

30x30 for real this time

FINALIZED 30 x 30

After going back to school and then discovering I was pregnant with baby #3, my 30 x 30 had to change. We had a lot of vacations we wanted to do and I really wanted to be debt free besides the house but there's no way that's going to happen now! And probably won't happen for awhile and I'm 100% ok with that. My new career and our PERFECT family of FIVE are totally worth it. But I still have to have a 30 x 30. I just have to! ;-) So here's an updated version. The only changes I made were getting rid of the vacations and being debt free. But this is it. No more changes. Just have to get to work!

Here we go:

1) Run a half marathon - DONE!

2) Watch the Star Wars Trilogy - This is another one of those that everyone talks about and I don't know what is going on. Nick says it's kind of like a futuristic Lord of the Rings. I hope he's right because I liked that. So maybe I'll like this too!

3) Learn a foreign language - ok this will be hard and I may be pushing it with this one, but I really want to do this!!

4) Have 2 of my 4 children - DONE!

5) Take up golf - still need to do this. No time. Between school, work and apparently always being pregnant, golf takes a back seat. Maybe next summer...

6) Write a short story - I don't know why I want to do this but I do...I love writing. I'm not great at it, but I think it would be fun and I want to give it a try. Nothing big, obviously, but a nice SHORT story. Maybe...

7) Complete an indoor triathlon - DONE!

8) Watch Gone with the Wind - DONE! And I loved it!!

9) Watch the Godfather - DONE!

10) Play in a poker tournament at a casino - still need to do this. I can do this anytime really...just need to practice a bit and go do it!

11) Decorate the kids rooms - This is a new one. The kids rooms in this house are so plain! I'd love to let them pick out something fun and do it for them! Whether it be paint, posters, stickers, whatever. Maybe by the time I'm 30!

12) Shoot a gun - DONE! I went to a shooting course with my neighbor Jeff. I wasn't any good at it. At all honestly. But I shot a gun and can cross it off my list. And I don't need to do it again. :) 

13) Go back to school - DONE!

14) Learn to drive a stick shift - really need to do this...it would be so helpful if I knew how!

15) Learn to french braid hair - DONE-ish...needs a little work but does look like a french braid!

16) Get into cooking - I love to cook but don't do it consistently. Need to do it regularly...

17) Finish entertainment center - DONE!

18) Register to vote in St. Louis City - DONE!

19) Consistently dedicated one night a month to a date night - We NEED this...between school and work and kids and life we never see each other. We need this and I'm looking forward to it!

20) Start a savings account - Don't get me wrong, we have investments and a 401K and life insurance and a Roth IRA but no savings account. I'd like to have a savings account, even if it's small.

21) Make my own recipe - maybe I'll do this over maternity leave...

22) Go back to Signature Room in Chicago - I left this trip on there because I think this one is doable. and I REALLY want to go!

23) Go on a family vacation with my whole family - I left this one too because I think this one is important and I really want to do this one too!

24) Start college funds for the kids - totally need to start this as soon as I graduate (which is before I'm 30!!)

25) Consistently have a clean house - ok, I'm horrible at this. Downright horrible. My house isn't DIRTY, it's just cluttered. All the time. But with Dom getting older and being able to help a bit more, we should be able to make this work. We need to since we're about to expand our family!

26) Get into exercising 3x a week - can't wait to start exercising again...

27) Reach my goal weight - can't wait to join Weight Watchers again!!

28) Try every beer on the list at Growlers - But I hear Growlers is under new management and that it kind of sucks  these days...I hope I heard wrong...Either way, I've got 49 down and just 82 to go! :)

29) Read the Lord of the Rings trilogy - still at the same spot in the Fellowship!! Have a long way to go!

30) Become a nurse!! - April 20, 2013 I hope!!!!!

(Blue is done and Green is in progress....I have to count all that I can at this point!! I'm down to a year and some change!)

So there's my list. Not too many changes, but more doable I think. And more realistic. And more beneficial! So here's to my 30x30. I hope I can get to work and finish. I have 16 months. I can do, right??