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!