Shower for a friend

OK, so being a 'blow in' I know I'm by no means the authority on throwing a Baby Shower. I'd never even been to a baby shower until last fall and the only other shower I'd been to before that was  the one my Mother in Law threw for me before our wedding.

But, none of that stopped me from offering to throw a shower for a good friend of ours, and I actually thought it'd be a fun thing to do.... so I jumped in feet first, giving myself less than 3 weeks to plan the whole thing.

The shower is coming up this weekend - and I think it's going to be fun, I really HOPE it's going to be fun - for the Mom-to-Be's sake at least!

As someone who's career in marketing involved throwing parties and events all the time I figured I could do it.... I discovered that throwing a baby shower isn't really much different from putting together any other kind of party - design and mail invitations to the guest list, plan food and refreshments and some kind of entertainment for the guests and also it's nice to have a little treat bag or favor for the guests to take home with them as a thank you for coming.

The expectant Mom is a lot like me in the aspect that she didn't want a lot of pinky, pink stuff... even though she's having a girl. I will say, I'm glad of this fact, because I think it may have killed me to plan a OTT pink baby shower - instead I made up some invites with a black and white damask theme and a little stork - the only hint of pink is the bundle the stork is carrying. I thought they were simple and cute, and not OTT!

Treat Bags!

For the treat bags I thought it would be cute to carry the same theme through from the invites, and so I got a variety of candy and  put them into little clear treat bags (the kind you'd use for single packaging cookies etc)... then I made a little card to seal the whole thing. They're personalized and I thought they were pretty cute - but hey, I guess I'm probably fairly biased.

The food was also fairly easy to figure out, since we're having the shower mid-afternoon and the mother of the guest of honor is helping with the location and getting the food together. She's making sandwiches, veggie platters, fruit salad (I think) and pie - and since we're hosting it at their family cafe we'll have their coffee girl there making hot drinks and lattes for the guests too!

For the decoration I'm again going with  the simple theme - nothing to pinky, pink but definitely something with a splash of color. So, I'm making these tissue paper pompoms... now, they're not something I've made before and I'm not exactly what I'd call 'light handed' with things such as tissue paper, but these are today's task and I'll hopefully be able to make something that doesn't look like Edward Scissor hands was involved in.

The hardest thing was probably the entertainment part of it.... Baby Showers generally have a time for games, usually 2-4 of them and at both showers I've been to they were exactly the same games. I didn't want to do that at this shower, I wanted to have something just a little bit different.... so I'm hoping I can pull it off - I guess we'll see!

Anyway, that's about it - this "blow in" is trying to not butcher a very traditional American event, and I'm really just hoping that people will come (it seems people don't like to RSVP these days, ugh) they will eat, drink and have fun, and that the Mom-to-Be will have a great time and get lots of wonderful useful gifts and advice!

Until it's over, I'm holding my breath!  ;-)

Hello Third Trimester!

So, I am officially in the third trimester. There's a lot of different opinions on when that technically starts - some Dr's say 26 weeks, others say 27 weeks and there are some that say it doesn't start until 28 weeks....

I really don't know when it actually starts - if you want to be picky and divide 40 weeks by 3 (trimesters) it gives you 93.33 days per trimester so the second trimester would end on day 186 and the third would start - but hey, who really cares..... it's all just a great big guessing game anyway, baby will come when he or she is ready, right?!?!?

Well, that's what we're hoping, but we're also hoping that baby will decided he/she is ready at some time between me hitting 36 and 40 weeks. That would really help us out! ;) It would mean we could have the baby here in town at the birthing center and that I wouldn't have to sit around counting days and 'wondering' about every little twinge as the EDD passed. Thankfully my OB will only let us go a maximum of one week past the due date before he wants to induce labor.

So, with potentially another 8 - 12 weeks before we get to meet the little one we have fallen so deeply in love with already we have started to make plans. I'm still on 'light duties' from my Dr, and on days like today I know why.

This stage of pregnancy (and for the past couple weeks) has really brought a whole new host of issues into my daily life - my hips seem to be trying to do their own thing. They seem to 'numb out' at night and send me whole leg into a crazy frenzy of pins & needles. Rolling from one side to the other in bed has become a laughing stock - I seem to have to do what I have now named the 'Three Point Turn'. I can't just roll over, I have to kind of shuffle, then roll to my back, then shuffle some more then roll to the other side.... I seem to be hungry all the time, but baby is taking up so much room that I really can't eat much at meal times, so instead I graze.... I constantly snack, Oranges are my thing - I am deeply in love with oranges. Oh, and cereal, I can't get enough of my Honey Nut Cornflakes..... anytime, day or night, I'd happily eat them!

I'm sure there's plenty else I could mention, like the back ache, the swollen feet and ankles, the joint pain and headaches... the constant need to pee even when I don't need to pee..... but I guess I'll just stop myself right there. I don't want anyone to mistake my 'mentioning' of these super 'fun' things that go along with pregnancy for me actually complaining. I am not complaining. I am actually very thankful and feel totally blessed to have a healthy baby growing inside of me and taking over my body. I am actually also really enjoying pregnancy - I love to sit and just watch my belly wriggle and jiggle as my sweet bundle of joy moves around in there - It's fun to feel the kicks (even if they're to the bladder or the ribs - OUCH)..... so, I'd happily take the bed rest, the orders of light duty, the swollen feet and constant need to pee.... I'm excited about this journey, trying to enjoy every new experience it brings me and all the little challenges it puts infront of us too.... and I am SO very thankful that I have a wonderful husband and partner to share all of this with. He is truly amazing, he helps me in so many ways, and is my support person, physically and emotionally. I am so thankful and excited that we get to walk this path together as a team, and that someday here in a relatively short amount of time we will be able to reap the rewards and have snuggles and kisses with our little one.

Anyway, I guess I got WAY off track - I blame the preggo-brain, it really has turned me into that Dory character from Finding Nemo... if you don't know who Dory is, I'm not going to explain - just google it, or even better watch the movie, it's awesome....

Yesterday I decided that since Cory's working solo at the farm I would go out there and hang out at the house and do some things I'd been needing to work on anyway. So I loaded some 'projects' and something to fix for lunch into the pick-up and headed out there with him.

With it still in the back of my mind and after not sleeping so good the night before I found my way into the recliner and relaxed a little - I went with Cory to try and bottle feed Ray and then made lunch for Cory, Tom and I. It really wasn't a busy morning by any standards, but my body was not liking the direction the day was going in.

After lunch I rode with Cory to check on Ray again, and unfortunately he had taken a turn for the worst - it was pretty sad, and I was already starting to get a little too much 'tightening' in the belly so when I got back up to the house I found my way back to the trusty recliner and kicked back....

Before Cory was done for the day I tidied round the kitchen and made sure that everything was back to exactly how it was before and got my stuff together... we had to run to Salem and do a couple of errands before getting home.

We got the wood we needed for the floor (great deal and I am VERY excited about that) then grabbed dinner at Walerys (YUM) before going to Babies R Us and Target...

Now, I'm still not considering this a busy day - I had rested quite a bit with my feet elevated to prevent the horrible swelling that seems to keep happening to me. And I tried to keep drinking water throughout the day, but I guess my little frame just can't handle the weight of the baby hanging out in there and after walking part way round Target the contractions got so strong they stopped me in my tracks. I waddles (yes, I actually waddled) over to the outdoor furniture department and found a soft seat to sit on and hoped the contractions would stop. I had a few more things I wanted to look at before we left. Well, it wasn't to be - they kept going and after sitting for a while everything was still too tight so Cory decided it was time to head home.

I was so frustrated with myself. I'd taken it easy, I didn't feel like I'd overdone it that day, but I still couldn't walk round even half of Target.

I guess if I want to keep our sweet little baby in there for at least another 8 weeks I'd better work harder at taking it easy......

That is easier said than done, let me tell you - my nesting is starting to kick in, I need to get busy and get the house and bedroom ready for this little one... I have so many goals, but the biggest and most important is keeping baby safe so I just keep reminding myself of something a friend said "it's just for a short while".... and I guess in the greater scheme of things it really is only for a short while... So, I'll try and keep my frustrations at bay!

How much bigger can I get?!?

Here's a couple photos Cory snapped on his phone the other night of my ever expanding belly. This is as I enter the third trimester at just 28 weeks... 

So, with potentially another 12 more weeks to go I'm really starting to wonder just how big I can possibly get?!?!?

The Wave!

I've decided I really need to be better about updating - but I know I'm bad, and really our life just isn't very interesting to anyone other than us most of the time...

But, at 28 weeks pregnant I have found that my belly has turned into what looks like a wave pool - it's insane. Our 'little' baby has started kicking and wriggling so forcefully that you can totally see my belly moving and lurching from across the room. It's a wonderful feeling, but it's also quite funny to watch.

Yesterday shortly after Cory left for work as I was lazily eating my breakfast while reading the news online I had my plate resting partly on my belly (pregnant bellies are great for resting plates, cups and all sorts) and partly on the edge of my computer. Baby decided to kick, HARD and it just so happened to be right at the spot where the plate was resting on my belly and sent the plate, with my half eaten bagel flying. Thankfully I still have quick reactions (something pregnancy hasn't stripped me of just yet) and was able to catch the plate before it landed on the floor!

Another thing that baby Fast does is to 'stroke' a hand/foot/other body part yet to be identified across the inside of my belly. Let me tell ya, it is the weirdest feeling EVER! I have been feeling kicks, hiccups and wriggles for weeks and weeks, but the 'stroke' as I call it just happens every now and then and it just about sends shivers up my spine... the feeling of someone stroking INSIDE your belly....

I'm going to try and get a video of baby doing what I now call 'The Wave' - baby is just getting so strong (and big) I'm amazed every single day!

Fun & Games @ 27 weeks

So, as I mentioned last Sunday the fun and games started....

I started having back pain off and on and was really waddling round like a duck. I thought perhaps I'd slept funny or the baby had moved into a different position, and really thought nothing more of it, but as the day passed it got worse and worse.  I thought an early night would help so hit the hay. On Monday the pains continued, off and on, sometimes in my belly down low and sometimes in my back. I decided to take it real easy all day. Towards mid afternoon I needed to run an errand and pick up something to to go along with dinner so popped to the grocery store quickly. As I was walking round I really got to be hurting.... I came home and noticed some bleeding (sorry, TMI) and the pains in my belly were worse. I called Cory, thankfully he was already on his way home, and then I called my OB. He said he wanted me to go straight to the Birthing Center for a check and observations, he said he would call ahead and then meet me there.

Cory came home, switched out of his poopy farm clothes and we left, he was in and out of the house in less than 2 minutes. We got to the hospital and it turned out that the pains I was feeling were contractions. They were coming often but my uterus seemed 'mushy' instead of hard... My Dr said he would not be happy with me going home at that point and needed me to stay overnight (at least) for obs. They strapped on some monitors, drew some bloods and hooked up an IV - before I knew it I had been admitted and was in a labor & delivery room...

The contractions got more and more regular and when they were 3-4 mins apart lasting more than a minute each the nurse decided it was time to call my Dr (it was almost midnight) and he said it was time to give me some meds to slow and hopefully stop them. After the first dose the contractions just got weird, I couldn't feel them as much in my belly but they were making my back hurt so bad - I couldn't tell when one stopped and the next one started either... it seemed that instead of being the mountain like peak they were before the meds they had shifted to more of a 'rolling hill' pattern... (the only way I could describe them). Once I told her that, and she could still see them on the monitor she called Dr again, and he said it was time for another dose. They needed to get them to stop before they got labor in full swing.

Thankfully within about another hour they slowed down and eventually turned back into a similar random pattern like earlier in the day.

In the morning my Dr came back to check in on me before heading to the office. He was very glad that things seemed to have stopped well enough, but he wanted me to hang out for a few hours more observation. So they could see if anything started back up when I was up walking around and off 'strict' bed rest. He said I could hopefully go home after lunch.

Waiting to be discharged!

The midwife came in to check up on me and after breakfast had me moved to a 'postpartum' room where I could shower and hang out 'normally' and if I had any problems at all needed to call the nurses immediately. It was so nice to be out of bed and able to shower. Cory and I just hung out chit-chatting and thankfully there was nothing to report to the nurses other than a few rogue contractions.

About 1:15pm the discharge nurse came and took out my IV. She gave me strict instructions from my Dr and sent me home with a prescription for more of the same meds that they had used the previous night to slow/stop the contractions. I was so glad to get out of there, not because there was anything bad about the hospital, but because at 27 weeks I did not want to be on hospital bed rest, nor did I want to think about what a journey we could have been on if labor had got in full swing and baby had been born!

My point of view!

The nurses at the hospital were all wonderful, they made us feel like we were in the very best of hands. Beth, our birthing class teacher came in and checked on us when she heard we'd been admitted, and she's such a sweet lady. Our pediatrician also came in and checked on us while we were. She had a little 'talk' to baby, saying to hang in there a few more weeks and it would be a much better journey than coming now...


Our Doc was awesome - he made us feel like no matter what we needed he would do it. He treated us as if we were his own kids and gave us wonderful care. He called hourly (sometimes less) throughout the evening and I even remember the nurse talking to him at 1:30 and 5:15am. They joked that he treated his patients like his daughter, but I tell ya, it was the most reassuring thing at that time.

He told us that it was potentially a very serious situation and that there was a chance baby could come, but that he had a plan to get me up to St Vincents if needed, where they had a level 3 nursery (NICU) and where we already had our MFM. At no point did we feel like there was any panic!

So, that's our little 'fun & games' story... baby is behaving this week, thankfully. We did find out that he/she is now 'head down' so that is probably why the shape of my belly has completely changed - I now no longer fit in most of my maternity clothes, but hey, that's a small price to pay - I'm just happy baby is still staying put!

After that scare on Monday I count every single day as a bonus and a blessing - every day our baby gets to spend in the womb is another day of growth and maturing. We're so excited to meet our little one, but the time isn't right just yet - a few more weeks would be wonderful. I'm really hoping we make it to full term, 36 weeks.... but hey, that's only 58 days away!   YIKES!

24-28 weeks

Well, a month has passed since I posted - I have no excuses, except for being pregnant... and along with that goes the 'pregnancy brain'. I never really knew if it existed or was just one of those myths created to make pregnant women feel better, but it's definitely very real, and it's definitely very apparent in our household these days!

Sometimes I just forget a few things that I was supposed to do, or appointments I had coming up... other days I can't string a comprehensive sentence together, but the worst is when I just can't get the right words to come out of my mouth. Simple math is a big no-no, and at times I just feel like a bit of an idiot - but hey, growing a person is hard work, it's gotta take a lot of brain & body power, so I guess I'll let it slide for now... I just hope my brain returns to 'normal' once baby is no longer chillin in my uterus!

Two weeks ago we went for another ultrasound up at St Vincents - it was so much more clear than the one we had at 20 weeks. It was amazing - our little baby actually looked like a baby on the screen. You could make out features of the face (and let me tell ya, it's a pretty cute face - sure, I'm biased, but who wouldn't be?!?), you can see everything so clearly. The most fun part about the ultrasound was seeing the bizarre position our little one was laying in. Baby was laying transverse, with head to my left side and spine along my pelvic bone.... which meant the butt was up against my right side. The fun part was that the legs were up and over reaching to the head - like he/she was doing a toe touch! At one point we were looking at the face and hand in a shot on the screen, then in popped two little feet - it made me laugh so hard! Baby is already like me - uh oh, what are we in for?

My belly at 25 weeks!

We were delighted to hear baby was happy and healthy and was in the 54th percentile for growth. They estimated that baby weighed 1 lb 14 ounces, and that was at 25 weeks. Sounds like a pretty good size to me! :)

The next two weeks really passed without much commotion - we made a big dent in working on the baby's room and it's really starting to come along. Now we have custom fit shelving up in a nook behind the door, the dresser is refinished and looks great in there (big thanks to our good friend Janet for refinishing it for us). We have an awesome mirror in there hanging above the dresser and we're starting to get things organized. Cory fitted a ceiling light and fan in there too which will be nice in the summer to move the air around, and since I'm such a shortie he even wired it in to a switch on the wall for me, so it would be easier to operate (especially one handed with a sleeping baby in the middle of the night).

Last Sunday the fun and games started though - it might be a little long winded, it probably needs a post of it's own....