Baby Bellies and Such

Okay...here are two lovely comparative shots...the first is me on my shower day...September 7...Thought my belly was sticking out then, but in retrospect, it's just little:)

And, lovely photogenic me below is the belly one day last week...Wednesday or Thursday, so roughly 3 weeks later than the above shot...and still growing with just under two weeks until estimated time of arrival...Everything appears on track and progressing as it should. Been feeling great except today was a particularly tired and cranky day...tears for no apparent reason...just because I guess I'm just holding in lots of random feelings and emotions and anticipation and allowing myself to be ruled by my lists rather than just allowing myself to relax, which is what I feel like I should mostly be doing right now. I believe my lesson plans are as done as they're going to be. My replacement teacher will begin working with me this week, which is good I guess...although I also realize that there goes my planning time since I will likely be supporting her and making sure she's all set...oh well...home stretch:)

And below I found this lovely picture on Trav's camera of "the baby's room" amidst a cleaning purge...this is me organizing all of my "soap stuff." What a mess!
And finally, below, is "the baby's room" now...a little better than what it was:) Nothing on the walls yet. I have a couple of things in mind, but no rush, and I will not be adding those things to any "list"...If I come across what I'm thinking of, great, but I refuse to make it a mission of mine at the moment. Same goes for a rug...eventually there will be something there...

So those are a few shots to hold y'all over...there's actually another dresser/chest to the left of the changing/combo dresser and to the right of the chair is the closet which is still designated Trav's closet (and Bo's additional dog-food storage). So we're gettin' there. The 0-3 month clothes are washed and ready to go, the newborn dipes are in the basket, the video camera has been ordered and is expected in 7-10 days so really, we can't have the baby until that arrives, right?? (Not that we're planning on getting the whole thing recorded or anything...)

AND you know what showed up in my car a week or two ago??? The darn 20% off coupon for Baby Depot! Go figure! We ended up doing just fine on the furniture anyhow given their furniture sale, but we did use the coupon for glider which is nice and comfy...wish I had that when I was going through my achey feet stage this summer!

Trav's birthday was yesterday, kept it low-key. I originally was going to try to "get away" for a night this weekend but...what was I thinking?? So we mostly stayed in yesterday and went out for Thai food last night with Trav's buddy Tupper and his wife which was nice. Today was laze around in the morning, I did those lesson plans and took a nap while Trav had Bo to the dog park for a swim and a run and home for a bath. We went to Trav's parents for his and his sister's birthday celebration and now I need to correct math tests...yuck!

And I'll leave you with Bo on his ottoman keeping his eye on the neighborhood for us:) That window overlooks the driveway, too, so when we come home we can always spot him watching out the window for us. He's cute:) (In a pain-in-the-neck-kind of way!!)

A Couple of Pics, Finally...

Okay, officially a month ago was Abby's wedding and here are a couple of pictures from that beautiful day:) Yea, better late than never! And yes, I continue to suck at updating the belly shot, but most of you saw it fairly recently so there you have it! It continues to grow!
So we're at less than 4 weeks to go on this pregnancy thing and it is getting more exciting to feel so close! As of about 2 weeks ago, I was feeling funny stuff going on "down low" and called the Dr. only to be told that this is how it feels to be pregnant (be lucky there's only one in there...or something like that was added...) I wasn't complaining, I was just needing to be reassured that what I was feeling was normal. I now completely understand why pregnant women waddle...cause it all just feels funny.

I'm getting really good at teaching from my chair on wheels in the front of the classroom, getting out of breath easily (at open house I had to stop and catch my breath in the midst of my part of the whole third grade presentation...thankfully one of the other gals picked up the rest, but I know my students' families were thinking, great, my kid gets the pregnant one...hey, I'm a damn good teacher, pregnant or not!) My principal no longer looks me in the eye or says hello...she just stares at my belly as I walk by...Last Thursday I went in to school after a night of horrible sleeping (or not sleeping) and a sore throat and by the end of the day knew I needed to take Friday off so I wrote up my sub plans and stopped in the office to let her know I would be out on Friday and she said fine but then asked if I thought I would make it teaching up until the end...I had said I would work up to as close to my due date as I can...which I still would like to do, provided the Dr. says fine and I have the energy to...every day is a pay-check to me...

So Trav insisted I stay home this weekend and just relax, which I really needed to do, though I did miss my nephew Chase's birthday party...I would have been no fun anyway with a sore throat, post-nasal drip, and general crankiness...I did some organizing around here, finished writing thank you's and making a list of the "still-needs" for the baby...I also ordered our organic mattress from amazon and began adding additional items to our amazon registry (that we would buy anyway) because I figure we might as well have $750 of items purchased off of our amazon registry to earn $250 worth of Seventh Generation Diapers (amazon promotion)...might as well...the bedding and mattress alone cost over $500...so I've been trying to figure out what else we'll really need and stock up on...how much diaper cream does a baby need? is baby powder a necessity? please advise...

Got a call from the Dr. office today telling me that I need to be on an antibiotic for an infection...how frustrating! The culture was taken 2 weeks ago, which means that for two weeks the infection has been growing and whatnot...maybe that's why I've been feeling like crap? I have a regular check-in appointment tomorrow so I'll get the low-down. Two weeks seems like a long time to get test results back...

Knock knock, my tingling arms have been a little better, not keeping me up as much, although they still tingle...my back seems to be less inflamed which was likely leading to the intense tingles/pinched nerve kind of thing. I guess that Friday off and relaxing weekend was what I needed. I think I can officially attribute my upper back spasms/discomfort/tightness to stress. There's a lot going on in my life right now, I have to cut myself some slack and make sure I rest and relax. Even though I want everything perfect for when the baby comes, as Travis continues to remind me, the baby doesn't care, he/she is only going to want to eat, sleep, poop, and be loved. So for those basics, we're covered!

HOT...YUCK!!

So I just did a quick check through on everyone's blogs which I've been so bad about lately...just been really busy especially since I'm back at school. Today is the first day since school started that I was able to stick around after the kids left and actually "get stuff done." It was good, but there's still a lot more to do to both just get myself organized for the next few weeks of teaching AND to get things all set up and in place for my eventual sub (ugh! what a pain!!--but will be well worth the trouble!) My class is actually a very nice class so I feel a little bad about ditching them in a few weeks...but alas, my family will have to come first and foremost. Those kids at school will do just fine with their substitute...

Tonight Trav and I put together the crib that we (he) picked up last weekend...hopefully on Saturday he'll be able to pick up the rest of the furniture. I was doing so good at collecting coupons for Baby Depot/ Burlington and had two 10% off coupons and one 20% off coupon which we were planning to use for the three pieces of furniture we are buying, but go freakin' figure, I lost the 20% coupon...grrrr...that was like 80 bucks of savings...nowhere to be found. I bet Bo ate it...(scapegoat, poor doggy:)

This evening is hot and gross...I'm sweating as I sit here, but the a/c is on in the bedroom and I'll take a quick shower to cool off before attempting to sleep. While I have been SO LUCKY throughout this pregnancy with feeling good and all, things are starting to feel more pregnant to me. Last week I called my Dr. from school because it was really bothering me to walk...I was told to go home, drink water, and put feet up, but since there was only an hour left (and my kids were at specials for most of that time) I stayed put and put my feet up...I rested when I got home and took it easy over the labor day weekend (cause it still kinda hurt, or rather was uncomfortable...I have to gain perspective on this whole PAIN issue!!) My Dr. appointment was Tuesday and all is still just fine...baby is measuring right on target and the cervix is completely closed...good:) (is that too much info?) The most uncomfortable "symptom" I have right now is this crazy arm tingling thing that happens now, every night. At first I was just waking up in the morning with tingling hands, then wrists, which I had read was probably carpal tunnel...common in pregnancy I guess. But now, this "sensation" goes up my arms and into my shoulders and really has been keeping me up at night...While I'm supposed to be sleeping on my side, this puts pressure on my arms/shoulders and wakes me as that arm becomes prickly and painful, I switch sides and I'm up with the other arm being in pain...ugh! My OBGYN said to go to the regular dr. to see what was going on since it could be a nerve issue or something...so tomorrow right after school I have an appointment (good thing I stayed today...)

Trav and I have been going to the hospital's birth class on Wednesday evenings. The teacher confided to me after class when I was really trying to get an idea of how clean the hospital tubs are, how possible it would be to be "drug-less" in the hospital, and how to avoid getting an IV in me as soon as I arrive, and she, who is a nurse applauded me for wanting to go au natural and shared that she actually homebirthed both of her kids, yet here she was working in a hospital...I hope she's on when I'm there...and takes the time to check in on us/ support us. We'll see what happens! Next week is our last class. I am going to try really hard to connect with a couple of the gals in the class who are local and maybe make a new friend/acquaintance...wish me luck! I went to a breastfeeding class yesterday, too...(though I know I have plenty of personal lactation consultants right within my own circle...you'll be hearing from me!) I'm getting there...little by little!

I still grin and smile and feel at peace every time this little baby inside of me moves...It's absolutely AMAZING to me! So amidst my "occasional" crankiness, anxiousness, tiredness, all it takes is that little movement (or big poke!) for me to be reminded how lucky and blessed we are to have made it this far into our pregnancy and to be so close now to being a family!