Routine

I had my 32 week check up with the OB yesterday. Have I mentioned that I've seen the same OB for the last 4 appointments now. I like her. She's laid back and a little quite. But she's nice and takes time to talk when needed. The practice I'm going to this time (my OB with Zachariah left town about a year later) has 3 doctors and several nurse practitioners  I've now met all the doctors (the other two only once each, but I liked them both) and the one nurse practitioner I've seen several times. I've seen so many people, though, that it feels nice to have a little consistency with this doctor. We haven't discussed the birth yet, so we'll see where she stands on some things that I want to ask about.

So, today I am 32 weeks pregnant. I can't believe that I'm already that far. Only 8 weeks or less to go. On one hand, I'm excited to meet this new little guy. But mostly I'm not ready yet, so let's not rush this thing.

My appointments have been really routine and uneventful. They are just checking normal things, like weight (I have finally gained a few pounds), blood pressure, urine, fundal height, and baby's heartbeat. Since everything looks good for now and I haven't had any big questions, the appointments go quickly.

In 4 weeks I start going to the doctor every week until baby is born. Hard to imagine we're that close. They also talked about an ultrasound at 36 weeks. I forgot to mention it to this doctor and haven't scheduled one yet. We'll see what she thinks. I'm betting she'll want one at some point there to check for size. Although this particular doctor is the only one who hasn't said anything about the size of my first baby. Maybe she'll be a little more laid back about it. I just know it's likely I'll have a large baby, but it doesn't scare me. I had a good delivery last time, and his size didn't cause any problems. Time will tell.

I have made very little progress on my to do list. But it's all still stuff that I need to work on. Plus I often think of more things that would be helpful to have done. I'm sure I'll need to enlist help of family and friends to get it all done. Thank goodness I have caring people in my life who have already offered.

My To Do's

I feel like I have so much to do before the baby's arrival. The problem is that I don't have the energy to get much done. The closer we get, though, the more these things bug me. So I'm going to start a list here. Maybe I can update as I go. It might help to have a little accountability.

1. Switch bedrooms - This is a big project and involves other small projects to get there. We are taking a room that has always been an office/spare room and turning it into Zachariah's bedroom. Lots of cleaning out, selling furniture, storing things, getting rid of things, etc. Once we get Zachariah in that room, then we can start getting his old room turned into the baby's nursery.
2. Paint - I'd really like to get Zachariah's room painted before we move him in. Then paint the nursery too. (My mom will help, but I don't know if it will happen in time.)
3. Paint changing table - I just bought a used changing table, but it's really light & the crib we have is dark. Doesn't match at all, so I'm thinking of painting the table. Maybe in a blue/gray color combo to match the nursery decor.
4. Sell old toys and such - I have a box off things that came out of Zachariah's room and the office that need to leave my house. I donated a bunch, but have a box of "sell-ables". I need to get them listed and out of my house.
5. Get out baby clothes - All our baby clothes are stored. I need to get them out, go through them, and wash them.
6. Make baby items - I have fabric to make a nursing cover, car seat cover and burp clothes for the little one. I want to get the nursery ready, so I have somewhere to put everything when it's made.
7. Clean my bedroom - It just needs it, but I also have to clear out a corner to move a large bookshelf in from the office. Plus pretty soon I'll be setting up the bassinet in there too.
8. Finishing buying diapers & prep diapers - I only have a start on my cloth diaper stash. I know what I want, but I'm waiting to see if I can get a sale on some of the others I want to get.
9. Prepare a few freezer meals for quick fix after baby is born - We're pretty blessed with friends, family, and a church that will provide meals for a little while when we bring the baby home. But I think it would be good to have a few things handy for those hectic days, maybe after Matt goes back to work. I don't worry about food when he's home, because he's a great cook. And that's one big way he helps me out when I'm busy with baby.
10. Get a big brother/new baby gift - I think it would be nice to let Zachariah pick out a stuffed animal or something to give the new baby at the hospital. And maybe something from the "baby" for Zachariah. Ideas??

I'm sure there are more...many more things that need to be done. But these are the big ones for now and the ones that are bothering me. I know things will get done. And the ones that don't, I'm choosing not to fret about. We have the basics for baby. He will be fed, changed, and have a safe place to sleep. The rest really won't matter in the end...but it would be nice to be ready completely. (It would make me feel better at least.)

Showering the Baby

I am 30 weeks pregnant now. Things are going well. Nothing notable happening, and for that I'm thankful. He continues to be a very active, squirmy baby. I can't wait to meet him and see his personality unfold.

I can't believe I'm going to be a mom again. The chance to carry this precious baby inside for 9 months (10 technically). Then I get to hold him, snuggle him, care for him, nourish him, and love him. It's been a while since I had my own little one. And there was a long time when I thought I wouldn't get to experience this joy again. I can't describe how it feels to be so blessed with this baby.

Some of the ladies at my parents' church asked if they could have a baby shower for us. I grew up with these ladies and still seem them a few times a year at least. I have to admit that I was really excited that they wanted to do this. So much fun to get to celebrate this little baby. We had a bunch of showers the first time, but no one had mentioned one this time. I was a little sad. So it was really fun to find out that we are having one.

I don't need lots of things, so it's not about that. But it is fun to feel like this little baby is getting his own time to be loved and honored before he is born. Plus there are a few little things that we still need. I did end up making a baby registry on Amazon.com and at Walmart. (Links in case you're curious what I registered for. :D) I think my Amazon registry is pretty inclusive and has the things I need/want. At the last minute we decided to register at Walmart too, because most of these church ladies don't shop online. And the only store in their little town is Walmart. It was hard to find as much that I really want there, but we found a few essentials that would work. Then maybe I can order some of my must-haves from Amazon that we don't get later.

I'm starting to feel the time crunch. I just want to finish moving the bedrooms around. Then we can set up the baby's crib. And I can get all the baby clothes and other items out of the attic. Once I can go through boxes and see everything I still have, I know I'll feel better. There's always more to do.

Been a While

So it's been a little while since I've updated this blog. Let's see. What have you missed? (Well nothing, honestly, if you're on Twitter as much as I am!)

*We had a great Christmas with family. We of course were traveling. Most of our family live within half an hour or so of each other (including extended family), so we're the ones stuck traveling.

We spent Christmas Eve with Matt's parents, sister & brother-in-law, and my niece & nephew. They are 1 & 2 now and so much fun. We don't see them nearly enough, and the kids are changing so much. But it was fun to spend an afternoon/evening there with everyone. They are the closest to us (distance-wise) and about halfway to my parents' house from here.

After that we spent Christmas Eve night with my parents, sisters, their husband/boyfriend, and my nephew. Easton (my nephew) is two and a ball of energy. We didn't see him much that night, because they got there late and past his bedtime. Poor guy was cranky and tired. But it was fun to wake up Christmas morning with him and watch everyone open presents together.

The rest of Christmas day we divide between Matt's extended family & my extended family. We have 3 places to go all about 1/2 hour drive apart. So it was a busy day driving from here to there, eating at each place, opening presents, then on to the next. We ended the night back at my parents' house & stayed the night.

*We ended up rushing home the next morning because of the winter storm that was quickly moving in. It was worse at our house when we got home, but we got home before the worst of it hit. We spent the rest of that week mostly being stuck in our house because of the multiple snow storms that hit us. We played with new Christmas toys, relaxed, read, napped, and enjoyed being together. It really was a nice break for several days.

*New Year's Eve we invited some friends over for an early ringing-in of the new year. It was a fun kid-friendly party. The kids played well together, the adults chatted and caught up with each other, and of course there was lots of food that we all enjoyed. Everyone left by about 10:00. I was so tired, but I did manage to stay up to ring in the New Year with Matt & Zachariah. We fortunately got to sleep in the next day.

*On Jan. 2nd I had my 28 week OB appointment. It went fine, but we ended up talking about how I was feeling. I had gotten sick just a little while before I went and still didn't feel good. I had a feeling I caught what some of our friends had around Christmastime. Ugh. Matt was starting to feel bad too. I went home from the appointment, threw up again, crawled into bed and stayed there. Within an hour Matt was home from work sick too. He camped out on the couch. Zachariah was at school and we prayed he didn't have it too. He normally gets off the bus about 4:00, but at 3:30 I got a phone call from the school. He'd gotten sick as they were packing up for the day. I had to pull myself out of bed to go get him. Fortunately I made it to the school & back with him. Then got sick as soon as we got home. We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening trying (but failing) to keep down gatorade and taking turns running to the bathroom. No fun.

I was close to having to go back to the doctor for fluids, because I hadn't kept anything down for quite a while  I decided to wait until morning to see how I felt. We all slept well and no more sickness during the night. Whew! We were all worn out and tired the next day, but we were over the worst of it. Thankfully Matt was able to go back to work and Zachariah back to school that Friday.

*Sunday night I had terrible cramps/aches/pain in up and down my left side. I had a hard time sleeping & woke up feeling that way too. I put a call in to my doctor's office to see what they thought. I was having hemroid problems too & wondered if the two things were related. I wasn't too worried, because I otherwise felt good, was eating & drinking, and the baby was moving like normal. The doctor decided I needed to come in. By the time I was seen that afternoon the pain was mostly gone. After talking to her it wasn't the type of pain or in the right spot to be anything major like kidney problems or anything else. She was reassured after talking to me and checking the baby's heartbeat too.

*I haven't had any problems since then. And I've been feeling great. Other than Zachariah getting sick again early Sunday morning (this week), we have all been good. His was short-lived this time and he was in school yesterday. I hope we've already had our share of illness, because I'm ready to move on.

*Tomorrow I have another OB appointment. I'm in the 3rd trimester now and being seen every two weeks. I'm sure this will make it got quickly. I'm not ready for the baby to come quite yet. We still have a lot to do to be ready for his arrival. Slowly we're getting there.