Yay and Nay

As has become the custom of the last week or so, we had a knock at the door earlier today. When we answered, we found a package from FedEx sitting on the front porch. Every time the FexEx or UPS people come, it's like a little mini Christmas for me. I get so excited! And today was the best, because John was actually here, so I didn't have to wait for him to get home to open the box.

I asked him who it was from, and he said Dillards, so I knew it was my shoes! That was so fast. John grabbed the scissors and cut through the packaging tape on the box. Then I ripped though the packing paper and carefully took the shoes out of the box. They look exactly like they did online, and I love them.

As promised, I had to try them on with my sweatpants. But as I tried to pry them onto my feet, I found that the swelling I've been having this week was more significant than I thought. I was able to get them on my feet, but there's no way I could actually stand up in them!

I'm confident that once the baby is born and this swelling goes down, they will fit perfectly, and I can't wait!

In the meantime, here is a picture of my poor feet squished into my beautiful new shoes. :)



Happy Saturday! Hope those of you locally are enjoying the snow!

Almost Time! (Nursery Pics Included)

I'm being induced two weeks from tomorrow. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, one the next Tuesday, and then that Saturday is D-day. It's a little scary, but definitely exciting. We got our car seat, and we're ordering our swing tonight.

Graco Snugride Infant Car Seat, Tango in the Tongo
Graco Lovin' Hug Swing

The nursery is almost ready, save for a few of the smaller things. John's work is having a shower for him on Wednesday (so nice!). I think we're well on our way. Here are the pics of the nursery I promised. I think Baby will like it. :)

My belly at 36 weeks 2 days. I'm 37 weeks exactly today, and I swear my belly is twice as big. Seriously.

Stimulating the Economy

As most of you know, my name is Emily, and I'm a shoe addict. I love shoes. Heels, flats, slippers, sandals...I love them all. In fact, I have quite a collection hanging in my closet right now, begging for attention. Before bedrest, John forbid me to wear my heels for fear I might take a tumble and harm the baby. Then once I was sentenced to the couch, it became silly for me to wear shoes at all. I mean come on, who needs to wear ballet flats with sweat pants? So for now I pull out a pair of flats for my doctor's appointments on Tuesdays, and other than that it's the occasional pair of flip flops.

Since I haven't even worn shoes in a while, there's no need to buy shoes, right? Well, I have to say that the bug has bitten again. A few weeks ago, Mom called and told me that she and Mindy were out shopping, and that Dillards was having one of their fabulous shoe sales. You know the ones. The sales where racks and racks of $100 shoes are marked down to ridiculously low prices? I love those sales! I also know that when those are going on in the store, it's a great time to find really good bargains at Dillards.com. Since I've been saving my "allowance," except for the ice cream I buy on my way home from the doctor's office, I had shoe money ready to go. And lucky for me too, because I found these beauties...

I think they're awesome. They were originally around $70, and they were marked down to...wait for it...$14.22! Woohoo! With tax and shipping, I only ended up paying around $20. You can't beat that, right? And yes, I will be wearing these on the couch with my sweatpants. :o)

Thanks!

I'm sure it's no secret that having a baby is expensive. There are big purchases to make, like furniture and car seats, strollers and swings. Luckily, people realize this, and people actually want to buy you things to help out. While I loved getting to see my friends and hang out and eat cake, I also put a lot of dependence on our baby shower for some essentials. I told my mom that I kind of felt bad, having such a party and making a list of things we wanted/needed, and then expecting people to go out and buy them for us. But she assured me that people wanted to do it, and I guess it's true. If people didn't want to, they didn't have to. But I am really, REALLY grateful that they did. I felt a huge burden lift when we were able to put things away in the nursery and know that we had the things we needed. So thanks to those people that were so unselfish to help us out and celebrate our baby.

Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Four

Newt Jerky

Growing up, we had one of these cool fish aquariums that looked like a bubble gum machine. Unfortunately for the fish, none of us (okay, mostly me) were not so good with fish. The inhabitants of the aquarium were always rotating, but our favorite aquatic pets to have were fire-bellied newts.

These little guys were easy to take care of, fairly hardy, and pretty cute as far as lizard-y pets go. The only downside was that they were also crafty, apparently. You see, the bubble gum aquarium had a filter tube right down the middle of it, and it connected to a small hole in the top of the lid. One day, Mr. Newt decided it would be cool to crawl up the tube and climb out of that hole.

My memories are sketchy, but I'm pretty sure we noticed he was missing. We just didn't know what to do about it. If I recall correctly, Mom and I looked around for him, but we couldn't find him. Mindy was pretty young, so we didn't tell her that poor Mr. Newt was gone. Unfortunately, she found out anyway, and it was not pretty...

It was a few days later, or maybe even a week, and Mom and I were in the family room. We both looked up has Mindy walked in the room with something in her hand. Laughing, she said, "Okay, who's got the fake lizard?!" Mom and I looked at each other, and the realization suddenly hit Mindy that she was not holding a fake lizard (by the stiff tail, none-the-less), but was in fact holding our dearly departed Mr. Newt. Mindy screamed and threw the poor guy, and we didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I think we probably did some of both. Then we gave him a proper burial.

Rest in peace, Mr. Newt.

Another Long Doctor Day

I had my epidural interview today. We all decided that they'd have a wheelchair and the drugs waiting for me when I get to the hospital. Okay, maybe not. It was interesting though. I got checked in and the nurse started interviewing me, asking me about my health history.

We heard a knock on the door, and another nurse with a cart came in. She told me she was there to take my vitals. I warned her that I had high blood pressure and was on bedrest, but she was still quite concerned over my not-so-low reading. So concerned, actually, that she immediately pointed to a small bed/table and told me to hop to it. So I did the rest of my interview and watched the epidural video while laying down. The nurse actually had to rearrange the room so I could see the television. Fun stuff.

As the appointment was wrapping up, the nurses started talking about sending me over to Labor and Delivery. I was not happy about this, because 1) my doctor isn't concerned when my blood pressure is even higher than it was, and 2) going to L&D for my blood pressure has never been super productive. They usually hook me up to the monitors, tell me the baby looks great, wait until my BP goes down a little, and send me home. I told the nurses that I had an OB appointment when I was done there, and they agreed to let me go. Thank goodness (although I did have to talk the nurse out of pushing me out to my car in a wheelchair)!

After a delicious lunch of cold pizza eaten in my car in between appointments, I drove across the street to the OB office for my weekly non-stress test, ultrasound, and doctor's appointment. They hooked me up to the monitors for the NST, and the first 20 minutes did not go well. The baby's heartbeat was really slow, dipping down into the 11os, and he wasn't moving. The nurse came in to check the readings and started to panic a little bit. She said that we needed "a few more minutes" and left me to stare at the monitors and pray. After a while we finally got the movements and the heart rate spikes that we needed. The nurse told me I passed and sent me to the ultrasound room.

The ultrasound was perfect, just like always. My amniotic fluid is still really good, and we were able to see the baby "practice breathing." It was so cute. His little diaphragm was moving up and down like a champ's. Such a good baby!

My OB was sick, so the nurse measured me and checked the heartbeat again. My doctor came in for about 30 seconds and said everything looked too. And then the good news...she said we were going to schedule my induction for March 14th. This date is great, because it's a Saturday, and she's going to be on call the whole weekend. So unless something happens, I'm guaranteed that my doctor will deliver our baby. I'm so glad about that! March 14th is also three days before my own birthday and one day before Selection Sunday! I guess John and I will be filling out our brackets in the hospital this year. That will make a great story for the baby someday!

So it's been a long day. I was at the doctors' offices from 11:30 to 3:00. I think I've got my off-the-couch quota in for the week. All good news though. Only two and a half weeks to go!

Baby Shower!

I had my baby shower on Sunday. It was so much fun. Mom, Dad, and Mindy came up Saturday to help get the house(s) ready, and they got the nursery all finished (pictures coming soon). I feel so much more prepared now!

The shower was great, and I got to spend a good amount of time sitting up in a chair like a real person (although I paid for it later...confirmation that I really do need to be on bedrest). We had veggies and punch and chocolate and nuts and cupcakes and shower cake...it was great. I couldn't have asked for more. Lots of yummy food and good friends. I was worried we wouldn't have enough room for everyone, but the crowd was a perfect size, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves very much.

I got tons of baby things that I desperately needed. The relief I feel is so great. I feel like Baby can come, and we can actually take care of him now.

Here are some pics of the shower. Thanks to everyone who made it possible! I loved it!

The treats
The cake
The loot
Look how cute these dino slippers are! (I'm huge, I know...)

Thanks again for a great day!

A Nice Little Off-the-Couch Treat

I had some friends over for lunch today. We had a great time. Visitors always make my day so much better. After they left, I decided to let the dogs outside. This is sort of my one chore of the day, and it usually sends my blood pressure through the roof.

After having really high readings the last few days, I decided to try taking a rest after I let the dogs out before trekking back up the stairs. So I went out, hooked everyone up, and then looked around, noticing what a nice day it was outside. The sun is out and the temperature is pretty warm.

I was thinking that it's a lovely day for the park, but since that is out of the question, I took a seat on our porch swing for a bit. That can't be a whole lot different that sitting on the couch, right? I sat and watched the doggies rolling around in the grass while the neighbor burned his trash in a barrel. It was nice. I think there is something to this whole Vitamin D from the sun thing I've been hearing about.

In other news, I think this weekend will prove to be an exciting one. At least it will be entertaining. My parents and sister are coming up tomorrow. I haven't seen them since Christmas, and I'm really looking forward to it. My sister has been talking all week about eating Andy's Frozen Custard, and I've been daydreaming about it, so I think they'll have to pick some up for me too.

The nursery should be pretty close to finished by Sunday, and I can't wait, because my church group is having a baby shower for me! I can't wait. We had one for family and friends planned in January, but I was put on bedrest three days after the invitations went out. This will be really fun. I haven't seen everyone in over a month.

After this weekend, it will just be a waiting game for Lil Bean ( as my mom likes to call the baby) gets here. Then the real fun begins!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Three

This is one of my favorite stories. It's one that comes up in our family often, and we always get a good laugh from it. (Warning: this story may not be suitable for young children.)

Quackie and the Turtle
Growing up, we always had ducks around. Our land was five acres with a pond in the back, so it was perfect for our various flocks. Ducks are kind of like rabbits; they're always reproducing. It was often that we'd see a mommy duck with a line of ducklings waddling behind her. Because of the near-constant stream of babies, we weren't able to keep track of all of them, but we had our favorites, and Quackie was one of them. Now, none of our ducks were tame, per say, but Quackie was one of our oldest ducks, and she was pretty friendly. She didn't run away if we were in the pen with her.

One warm day, Mom, my sister Mindy, and I were sitting in the house with the windows open, enjoying the breeze, when we heard loud, hysterical quacking. This wasn't the normal, "Hey, when are you going to come feed me" quacking. This was more of a "I'm in big trouble" quacking. Mindy and I rushed down to the pond with Mom following close behind. When we got there, we found Quackie desperately trying to make it to the bank. She was trying with all her might, and when she saw us, she tried even harder. She somehow knew that if she could make it to us, she would be alright.

After a few minutes, Quackie got close enough that we could pull her in. As we grabbed a hold of her, we clearly saw our problem: a huge, ugly, mean snapping turtle had grasped her leg, and he wasn't letting go. We knew we had a problem, because once snapping turtles clasp onto something, they're in it for good. We knew that if we pulled Quackie up, that turtle was coming too.

Quickly, Mom turned around and grabbed a fence post that had been laying in the weeds. She picked that fence post up and slammed the turtle as hard as she could, but to no avail. After hitting him several times and making no progress, Mom turned to Mindy and me. "Girls, wait right here, and don't let Quackie go!" she said, as she ran back towards the house. Mindy and I waited, and soon Mom returned, pistol in her hand.

I can't recall how we got Quackie to stay on the shore as we backed away and Mom took her aim, but we all remember clearly that Mom shot the turtle, point blank, with that pistol. That got him to let go, as she'd aimed for his head, and Quackie's relief was immediate. She took off waddling towards the house without even showing the pain in her leg and rejoined her fellow ducklings.

We couldn't wait for my dad to get home from work that night. We told him how brave Quackie was and how heroic Mom had been as she saved Quackie's life. Dad was quite proud of all of us, and it's silly, but I think Quackie looked at us differently from then on...her human heroes.

All Is Well

Today was doctor day, and I was a little anxious because of my visit to Labor and Delivery this weekend. The non-stress test went okay. Baby was feeling sluggish and sleepy, so it took about 45 minutes for him to get a "good enough" reading.

Next was the ultrasound, and we got a full growth study today. She measured the fluid, which was still good (whew!), and then she measured the baby's head, stomach, heart, kidneys, and other various body parts. At the end she told me I was measuring 36 weeks and 6 days (I don't even turn 36 weeks officially until Thursday!), and our little one is weighing 6 lbs. 4 oz. so far. She made sure I knew that ultrasound weight estimations are not always on target, so he may be a little bigger or smaller, but I still feel like he's big! My OB said he was in average range though, so she wasn't worried about it.

He still looked perfect in the ultrasound, so we got good news today. Still on target for induction in a little over three weeks! I was also able to talk with the doctor about my anxiety for the pain of some of the upcoming tests and such, and she was very understanding and comforting. I'm feeling a little better about those as well, but your prayers are still very much appreciated!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Three!

Another L & D Scare!

Some of you who follow my Twitter (still trying to figure out what that's all about) may have noticed that I spent another afternoon in Labor and Delivery yesterday. It was by far my scariest trip to the hospital yet. I won't give you the specific details of what happened, because they're a little too personal for the Internet, but I will tell you that around 1:00p.m. yesterday we were almost sure we'd be having a baby by the end of the day. Luckily, the test the nurse did to confirm was inconclusive, and we left the hospital with several nurses and at least one doctor completely baffled.

The nice thing is that, for now, our little one is still nestled safely inside his mama. The not-so-nice thing is that no one is sure what happened, and I'm still have a bit of the "symptoms" today. I go to my regular OB tomorrow (actually, I guess I can stop saying that, since I'm not seeing the Perinatologist anymore...yay!), and they're going to do a full ultrasound to check the growth of the baby. I'm hoping that if anything looks fishy in there, they'll be able to tell.

Also, please do some heavy praying, because I think from here on out things are going to get painful. End-of-pregnancy tests are not the most pleasant, and I'm not a good patient when it comes to them. I'll keep you all updated about the appointment tomorrow. Let's hope this little guy continues baking for another few weeks!

Happy Valentine's Day!

John got up and made my favorite heart biscuits for Valentine's Day.

Then he surprised me with tulips. My favorite! I love these, because it will be another month or two before the ones I planted outside start to poke their heads up. Aren't they pretty?


Hope you all have a great day!

Off for a few days...

Hey all,

Sorry for missing the Tales From the Funny Farm Installment yesterday. I've been pretty sick this week with a terrible, lingering cold. I think I'm gonna take a few days off. Stay tuned...

Appointment Update: With Illustration!

Well, it's doctor day again, and I had a pretty good appointment. I learned that eating fudge-covered chocolate chip granola bars on the way to a non-stress test is a bad idea. I arrived at the doctor's office and was taken back to the NST room. They were excited to tell me about a new recliner they had just received. Instead of the hard, uncomfortable chair they used to have, they had a plush, cushy, Lazyboy-type chair. The seat had a terry cloth-like cover on it "in case someone's water breaks while they're sitting in it," the nurse told me. Needless to say, this new chair made the NST much more comfortable. Which is good, because it took 45 minutes to get a good reading. Last week the nurse had to come in and shake my belly to wake the baby up, but this week he was moving so much that the monitor couldn't pick up his heart rate consistently. The nurse was finally able to move the monitor and tighten it down so the baby couldn't move away, and we got the good readings we were looking for.

Next was the ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid. I couldn't wait for this part, because as I mentioned previously, the baby felt like he was in some strange position. I was even more sure of it when the NST nurse had to move the monitor to my side to get the heartbeat reading. To my surprise though, the baby was head down. The rest of his body, however, was stretched out all over the place. I pointed below my ribs and asked, "So what's that?" The ultrasound tech said it was my baby's big stomach (okay, she didn't say big. I just added that part because it feels big). "But, his feet have been kicking way over here, by my kidney," I said. "Yeah, he's kind of stretched out in this position, " she said, while making a big "C" with the ultrasound wand. This was weird to me, so I decided to include this illustration for a better view.

After the ultrasound I went to be weighed (haven't gained any weight the last few weeks...yay!), and then saw the doctor. She measured my belly with the tape measure and said I was still on target. We discussed my induction the week before my due date, and she talked to me about going into labor before then. She agreed that I probably wouldn't deliver early, but at least I know when to go to Labor and Delivery if that happens. She also said that I don't need to go to the Perinatologist any more. We'll continue my testing at her office, and the bedrest is working for keeping my blood pressure down, so there's really no need to see the specialist. This is very good news. I'm starting to feel like this is a "normal" pregnancy, even though I only get out of the house once a week.

Things are starting to come together for the baby. We have the crib and dresser put together, so we just need to assemble the changing table, and then we can arrange the furniture and start putting things away (pictures coming soon). I've received several gifts and clothes and such, so I want to get those sorted out and put away. Baby will be here before we know it!

My big belly at 35 weeks

Random Musings

I haven't been posting a lot, as some of you have noticed. I'm having trouble coming up with interesting things to post about. There's not a whole lot of inspiration when your days are so similar. I had a good weekend though. Two of my friends from high school came all the way up here to visit. We had a great time. One of my friends is pregnant with her first baby too, and the other just had her second baby last May, so she had tons of good advice for us. She also left me with several boxes of little boy clothes, which I'm so excited about. Our kid isn't going to be naked after all!

Another friend of ours had a beautiful baby girl on Friday night. Congrats, guys! I can't wait to meet her. We've kind of journeyed though our pregnancies together, so it's really exciting for their baby to finally be here.

In other baby news (isn't it all baby news?), I woke up this morning with strong hiccups...under my ribs. Uh oh. Tomorrow is doctor appointment day, so we'll see what odd position my little guy is in. At this point I'm expecting him to be doing the splits or something equally strange. We'll see. I'm not going to be worried though, because this kid seems like he's not going to choose a permanent position. That's fine; I like surprises. :0)

Hope everyone's having a good day!

Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Two

A friend and I were discussing various pets we've had, and I was inspired to write today's installment of Tales From the Funny Farm.

This particular story takes place on yet another family vacation. My sister, Mindy, was around nine years old, making me around 12 or 13. We were on a trip to somewhere in the western U.S., and we'd stopped at a campground in Kansas to stay for the night.

One of our favorite things to do when we got to a new campground was to unload our bikes and check things out while Dad set up the camper. This campground was not very full and all of the roads and paths were dirt, so Mindy and I hopped on our bikes and took off exploring. We road around the perimeter of the camp sites, and as we were heading back to our spot, we heard a high-pitched chirp.

We put our bikes down and followed the sound, looking for the source of the tweeting. Finally we found a tiny, newborn bird at the base of a tree. We looked up and saw that the bird had fallen out of it's nest above, and we knew that the bird's mother would reject it if we put it back in the nest.

We road back to our camper and reported our findings to Mom. Knowing we were animal lovers, Mom was sure that we couldn't just leave the little bird, so she gathered up a shoe box and some newspaper and headed to that tree with us.

The bird was still there when we got back, tweeting and chirping. When we approached him, we put his head back and opened his beak, wanting to be fed. When Mom saw how young this bird was, I think she knew that his chances for survival were not good, but she carefully scooped him up and put him in the shoe box.

When we got back to the camper we pulled out a slice of white bread and ran it under the water faucet. Then we tore it apart and made tiny balls. We took them to the little bird, and he immediately opened his beak, so we dropped a ball in. No matter how much we fed him, he always opened his beak when he was approached.

The night went on, and we carried on our camping tradition -- eating dinner and then gathering around the table for a family game night. We sat the box with the little bird on the table as we played, each of us taking turns dropping little bread balls into his beak. The bird chirped and tweeted all night. Finally it was time for bed, and we hoped that the bird would rest as well. Turns out he just wanted to chirp, so sometime during the night one of us moved his box into the bathroom.

The next morning, Mom got up to brush her teeth, and I noticed from my top bunk that no tweeting was coming from the bathroom. I looked at Mom, and she shook her head. I was sad, but we all knew that Mindy was going to be devastated. She was younger and didn't understand that wild baby birds did not do well in captivity. We all waited quietly when we saw Mindy get up from her bed and go into the bathroom. We held our breaths and expected tears. After a few minutes, the bathroom door opened and Mindy came out. We looked at her. She looked at us. And then she said in a sing-song voice, "He's deeeeeaaaaaaad."

We were all so relieved that we burst out laughing. We buried that poor little bird before we left the campground that day and hoped that would be our only temporary pet encounter for the duration of the trip.

Doctor Day

Tuesday is doctor day, and it was a full day. John and I met our pediatrician this morning. She was very nice and informative. We enjoyed meeting her and feel good about the care our little guy will receive once he makes his debut.

This afternoon I had my weekly OB appointment. I had an NST (non-stress test) first, and Baby stayed on the monitor the whole time, so I only had to do it once. The doctor looked over his reading and said he was doing well. Then I had the AFI, which is the ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid. Baby was sucking his thumb and kicking me during the ultrasound. His fluid looked good, and we found out that he flipped again! So he's no longer breech. I didn't notice him flipping, but the ultrasound tech said he may have done it when I bent over or something. Hopefully he doesn't do cartwheels in there until delivery day! The past week I've been thinking that his big head has been jabbing me in the ribs, but apparently it was his big bum instead!

I measured 34 weeks on the measuring tape, and I'll turn 34 weeks on Thursday, so I'm right on target. In two weeks I'll have a full ultrasound and get a growth study, which will show how big Baby is, how much he weighs, and whether he's still in an average percentile.

For now we're still on target to be induced on March 10th. Keeping our fingers crossed!

Ordinary Weekend

This weekend hasn't been too exciting thus far, so I thought I'd share some pictures today. Enjoy!

Gretchen and Belle - Aww, they love each other

Winter scene out the back window

Gretchen found a dry patch

Cold, hungry bird