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Aunt Jenni

Cousin Sophia

Aunt Amy

Cousin Olivia

More Daddy & Saoirse

I'm a baby!

Happy One Week Birthday Saoirse!

9/18 Pics

w/ Grandpa Clayton

NOT Best Friends
(Lhamo & Saoirse)

9/15 Pics

Daddy & Saoirse

9/12 Pics

w/ Aunt Cyndie

w/ Grandma Becky

w/ Grandpa Tooley

First Doctor's Appt.

Just got back from taking Saoirse on her first outing! She did really well and didn't scream the entire time like I thought she might. lol. The nurses and doctor were pretty impressed at her mega newborn strength and wigglyness. She's small, but action packed! :D

We're heading out in a few minutes on a quest for a nursing bra so that should be exciting. I'm so tired, and I'm the only one not napping right now, lol.

What's funny is that the birth was WAY easier than I anticipated, but this part is harder. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that we actually have a baby now. And I'm totally hormonal which is not so fun on top of being exhausted. But we have lots of good help and that's what keeps me from totally freaking out.

Thanks for sending so much love our way people! :D

Saoirse Gets Weighed

Little One

Hello Baby!

Saoirse Royse Tooley
September 11, 2008
9:32 pm
6.7 lbs, 17 1/2 inches
Born @ Home in Water
Labor start to finish - 5 hours

Let's Do This!

The birthing tub is ready to go!

Yay!

Had an appt. with Suzanne and Sarah tonite. Dilated to 2cm, 80% effaced, 0 station! woo hoooo! Baby still in awesome position! Hope we have a baby by the end of the week!

Labor Please!

Spent all day yesterday cleaning (okay, mostly mark and his mom did the cleaning and i crankily hobbled around feeling useless), the home is now ready for a birth! Spent last nite from 1-4am sitting on the couch. I watched an infomercial about ice cream i think (or maybe that was a dream), and then somehow slept for 2 hours still sitting straight up. lol.

Please send me "labor vibes" people! All I can think about is having this baby, and each day is getting harder and harder to make it through without crying from frustration!

Baby Doctor

Today we finally picked a pediatrician for baby! I think we were procrastinating a little on this final decision. I never really got around to reading about vaccines so I wanted to make sure we went with someone who could be at least somewhat flexible with us on them if we were to later decide to not go along with the status quo vaccine schedule. It's not that we aren't going to do them at all, but we definitely want to feel like we have a choice.

Had another appt. at the OB's office today as well. Everything still looking good! Blood pressure is back to normal, the Nettles must have worked!

Happy 33rd Birthday Mooty

Soapbox

So normally I try to stay away from talking about my personal political and religious views since this isn't that kind of blog. But...since I'm about to have a baby, I feel like this is "kind of" on topic. lol.

Is anyone else freaked out by the fact that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has a five month old baby? It doesn't bother me that other candidates have school age children, but an infant? Seriously, being VP or even possibly stepping into the presidency with an infant (with special needs no less) to care for seems really weird to me.

Why is no one in the media talking about this? I could care less that her 17 year old daughter is knocked up! I'm tired of hearing about it frankly. What I want to to know is : what kind of attention this woman can possibly pay to both her job and her baby. Being Vice-President is kind of a big deal job it seems. Not the kind you can just "leave at the office" at 5pm. I can't imagine how much time away from a very needy little being it would require.

I'm starting to think that people might be afraid to bring it up lest they be labled "sexist." But it would be nice just to hear that maybe her husband is the main caregiver and she's just not "that kind of mom" or something. It's just weird for me that it doesn't even seem to be an issue.

Anyway, we've been watching both the Democratic and Republican conventions and I've got politics on the brain. Trying to distract myself from my seemingly (up untill today) endless pregnancy. lol. :D

I see the LIGHT!

I had just started to reach the point of "omg, I'm going to be pregnant FOREVER, I can't take this any longer" when lo and behold...I think something is happening ! I don't really want to go into details or anything, and I doubt we'll have a baby before next week at the least, but it makes me feel better to know I'm heading in that direction. Yay! :D

Baby Drop

Had a great appt. with Suzanne and Sarah today! It looks like the baby has dropped! Yay! And she's still in the perfect position! Yay! :D

My blood pressure was up a teeny bit on Friday at the Dr's office and also today, so Suzanne suggested taking Nettles (herbal supplement) which is supposed to help with that.

Other than that, not much else to tell. I'm trying some different things to help get us in a good place to start labor. I sit on the exercise ball alot, walk, drink alot of Pregnancy tea and Raspberry Leaf tea, and take Evening Primrose Oil. So I guess if nothing else gets this started, I can hold out some hope that the full moon will work it's magic on the 15th. lol.

Oh, and I've kinda switched over to the midwife's calender as far as how far along I am. We'll just say at this point that on Thurs. I'll be 39 weeks.

Finished Nursery 360

Belly du Jour

No Sleep

So all of a sudden, sleep is becoming a big problem. Last nite I went to bed around 12 and was up at 2. The night before, down at 11:30 and up at 3. Phoebe is sort of a pregnant, sick and sleep-deprived zombie at this point. I guess I'm supposed to get used to this right? lol.

Oh, and Mark is sick now too. fun times in the Tooley house! :)

Cuuuuuutttteee

Birth Playlist

Simple Things (Album) - Zero 7
When It Falls (Album) - Zero 7
Shepherd Moons (Album) - Enya
Watermark (Album) - Enya
Memory of Trees (Album) - Enya
A Day Without Rain (Album) - Enya

Across the Universe - Rufus Wainwright
All I Want Is You -U2
All Is Full Of Love - Björk
Angels - Wax Poetic Feat. Norah Jones
Besame Mucho - Diana Krall
Climb - Mos Def
Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
Daylight - Rockabye Baby! Coldplay
E Horo - Mary Jane Lamond
Fade Into You - Mazzy Star
God Put a Smile Upon Your Face - Rockabye Baby! Coldplay
Heroine - The Edge & Sinéad O'Connor
Honey Honey - Feist
Hunter - Björk
I Go to Sleep - Sia
I Love You - Sarah McLachlan
Into Dust - Mazzy Star
Kissing You - Des'ree
Protection - Massive Attack
Soon We'll Be Found - Sia
Sparks - Coldplay
Swayambhu - Solar Twins
The Sweetest Gift - Sade
Theme From Harry's Game - Clannad
Unravel - Björk
Veni Creator Spiritus - Paul Schwartz
When I Look In Your Eyes - Diana Krall
Wild Horses - The Sundays
Yellow - Rockabye Baby! Coldplay

Sick Again

I'm two days into a summer cold that is going around, which I already went through once back in June. This really sucks. I feel awful. :(

On the bright side, Doula Sarah dropped by today with our birth kit! It's really neat to see almost everything we need to have a baby, all together in a storage bin, just sitting in the nursery ready to be used!

We also have the inflatable birthing pool now which I can't wait to blow up! We're going to do a test run of the "hose maneuver" this week, which involves running a hose down the laundry chute and Mark seeing how fast he can get it hooked up to the spout in the basement.

It's starting to feel like we are really ready for this birth! We are so very EXCITED to meet this baby!

Dr. Appt. (8/22 - 37 weeks)

Nothing too interesting to report. Everything looking good! We are OFFICIALLY Ok'd to have a baby any day now!

Week 39

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

He Farted in our General Direction...

Actually, he farted RIGHT ON US!

Tonite was Borders nite.
We Love Borders nite.
It's free.
We catch up on all our magazines and graphic novels.
Sometimes the other customers are annoying.
They talk to loud.
They have annoying whispered conversations.
They talk with their mouths full of cookie and smack their lips.
and sometimes....just sometimes...
They stand with their buttocks level with your FACE, 2 feet away,
rip the biggest fart of ALL TIME...
and then they just WALK AWAY!!!

LOL.

Sweet Dream

Yesterday at work Mark was watching some particularly monotonous training videos at his desk when he nodded off for a minute. He had a dream that he was kissing me and woke himself up puckering his lips! lol. Is that not the cutest thing you've ever heard?

Fantastic!

The nurse just called to let me know that I'm negative for the group B strep! yay! no anitbiotics for me!

This week is vacation so I'm spending it getting caught up on my "To Do" list. Mark's mom has volunteered to come over practically everyday and help me. Thank you Becky! :D Over the weekend we worked on the nursery and yesterday did 9 million loads of baby laundry. It's pretty awesome to have help since I wouldn't accomplish much by myself. It takes alot of effort just to get up off a chair and walk from one room to another. Forget carrying anything or picking anything up off the floor. lol.

Speaking of discomfort, I'm pretty much there. Sleeping is a challenge and I'm almost becoming used to being in pain in any position. Walking sucks too. But it's really not that bad, just annoying. So, message to baby: "anytime now sweet-bear! come on down!"

Dr. Appt. (8/15)

This was our big 36 week appt. at the doctor's office, which really didn't mean much except it lasted a little longer. Everything looked good and I hope to hear back next week on the Group B Strep tests. If you are positive (which 50% of women are) it just means they want to give you a round or two of antibiotics while in labor. My weight and blood pressure are doing great and I'm not swollen which is awesome. It doesn't look like the baby is coming early either because I'm not dilated at all. I was somewhat disappointed at this news because although I still have stuff to do to prepare for baby, I'm ready to get this birthing show on the road already. The thought of being pregnant for up to 5 more weeks makes me want to punch Mark! lol. :)

Week 38

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Note: According to MY calender, I'm 37 weeks, entering week 38. According to actual measurements and the 9/11 due date, I'm a little over 36 weeks. Very confusing. :(

Birth News

So I feel like I can finally talk about our big change in plans at last! Over the last couple of weeks, some drama has gone down between our OB/midwife team and the hospital. It came to our attention that for the moment at least, we might want to figure out a backup plan. I started talking to our doula Sarah about the possibility of doing a homebirth with Suzanne, the midwife she is apprenticing with. Once I got over the initial shock of having to think about a change in plans this late in the game, I totally threw myself into the idea of making this happen, whether or not the hospital worked out it's issues with our OB.

Homebirth was something that I was interested in from the get go, but was under the impression that #1-it was illegal on the Missouri side and #2-it was definitely NOT covered by insurance at all. But apparently I was mistaken, Suzanne is a CNM (certified nurse midwife) so I guess that makes it legal, as opposed to a "lay midwife", and our insurance will cover some of the cost, probably not alot, but it's worth it to us to make it work financially.

The third reason we didn't seriously consider homebirth at first was that Mark didn't feel comfortable with the idea at the time. After receiving a great deal of childbirth education, and seeing how well the pregnancy has gone, he's now all for it and I think we're both feeling some anxiety lifted from our shoulders. There were so many things about going to the hospital that we were uncomfortable with (despite trying to convince ourselves otherwise) and, if everything goes well, we don't have to deal with all that now.

If something were to happen that required us to go to the hospital, we'll still head over to Olathe. I'm going to continue to go to my weekly appts. at the doctor's office as well as seeing Suzanne, so that if I needed to transfer from the homebirth, it will look as if that was my plan all along. It's very confusing actually.

I'm so excited about the changes that this decision brings. My goal is to actually birth in the water which I'm REALLY looking forward to. Suzanne brings a birthing pool that we set up and connect to hoses running from the washer. It sounds fantastic. Mark is looking forward to being able to be even MORE involved at home than he would have been able to be in the hospital. It will just be more intimate and comfortable for us, and hopefully making the birth safer and less traumatic for me and baby.

We had our first appt. with Suzanne tonite at home. She was very pleased to find that baby is now in the "perfect" position and down quite low. She gave us a list of things to gather for the birth like vinyl tablecloths to protect the floor and bed, towels, baby supplies, snacks, etc. She brings the rest! We'll see her again the 25th for another check.

I've got a doctor's appt. tomorrow that is our big "36 week appt." at which some more tests will be done. Will update on how that goes this weekend. :)

Suzanne's Website

Pre-Baby Celebration

Thanks so much to Becky & Cyndie (and also to Jenni W!) for hosting our celebration on Sat. nite! They really went all out!

We felt so grateful that so many supportive friends and family were able come out and hang out with us for a few hours in a hot art gallery and eat pink cupcakes. It was a really good time!

And thanks to everyone's incredible generosity, Baby Saoirse will definately not go naked! lol! You guys rock! THANK YOU! :D

Correction

I think the way I've been posting our weekly baby growth updates is a little confusing. I'm posting the update for the week we are IN, not the week we've just completed. That's the way my pregnancy planner is set up so it made sense to me. But now it's saying I'm full term and that is sort of misleading. Yes, i WILL be full term next weekend, just to clarify. Right now we are just a day short of 36 weeks according to the first due date (Sept. 7).

Also, there is a big change of plans in the works. I can't spill the beans yet...but I will as soon as it's confirmed.

Week 37 (Begins Sun.)

See the big picture
How your baby's growing:Congratulations — your baby is full term! This means that if your baby arrives now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though your due date is still three weeks away.Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Power Down

Yesterday was an interesting day. We had already nixed plans to work outside because of the stifling heat, and then nixed plans to work INSIDE because of power brown outs. It took all afternoon for KCP&L to fix the problem. In the meantime, our neighbor Abby went and got a blow up pool, we made limeade and then we all had a pool party in our shared driveway! Afterwards the dogs got baths which they weren't very happy about. lol.

Pre-Natal Massage

that...was....AWESOME! thanks to Mark for the best present EVAR! Just got back from my 60 min. massage and I'm all floppy and loopy. :)

Dr. Appt. (8/1)

Another great visit! Baby is measuring between 34 & 35 weeks which is right in line with both of our due dates. (9/7 & 9/11) The midwife seemed to think that she might be a little bit posterior
(head down but facing front instead of back) and suggested keeping up with doing pelvic tilts on hands & knees to try to turn her. She didn't seem too terribly concerned about it though.

I actually lost 1/2 lb. since last visit, so I guess that 4 lb. gain evened out. sweet!

Next visit is Aug. 15 and after that every week until baby's birthday!

Week 36/Month 9 + Belly Pic

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

Week 35

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Natural Childbirth Class

Our class last nite was awesome. It was just us and the other couple "PP#1". Our teacher Sally, was amazing, she basically just let us ask questions almost the whole time. We also did some role playing for labor that was super helpfull. Mark learned alot about helpfull responses to my pain, and we talked alot about the different comfort measures that I would prefer. This class was definately the most helpfull of any of them. Sally made us feel really secure in that Dr. Michele and our midwife Kelly were the best in KC for the kind of birth we want, and that we had done a really good job of preparing. She was so excited that we had a great doula (Sarah), and that we had really taken advantage of all the resouces available to us. It's really what we needed to hear. The closer we get, the more freaked out and unsure we are, so it's nice to know we've got a professional support system who are completely 100% behind us and enthusiastic about our birth. We feel really lucky.

Dr. Appt. (7/18)

Everything is still looking totally normal! Kinda boring, but in a good way. :) Baby is really starting to grow big time. I've gained four pounds since last visit which was a twice what I was shooting for. gotta lay off the chocolate milk for awhile. :( sad.

Next visit: Aug. 1 @ 3:30

Childbirth Class ( Part 5)

I don't think anyone really wanted that last class to end. afterwards, most people milled about talking. We eventually took it out to the parking lot and I think we finally got out of there at 11pm, 90 minutes after the class ended. lol. My theory is that the end of the class symbolized another giant step closer to this awesome yet terrifying upcoming life change. No one really seemed in a big hurry to move on. well, except for the couple we nicknamed "the crabby people." Even the Chinese couple stayed around to talk about cloth diapers with me. And it ended up that we talked the most to "Pretty People #1" and "Pretty People #2" who ended up being not nearly as snobby as we thought they'd be. :D We'll even see PP#1 again at our natural childbirth class on tues. nite, they ended up having the same doctor as us.

Overall, that class was pretty awesome. Some of the books I had read, sort of put me off hospital sponsored childbirth classes, saying that they just wanted to teach you how to be a good patient, more than to educate you on your options. But either we got a totally kick-ass hospital, or teacher. Probably both I'm thinking. It made me feel way more comfortable with our choice of going with a hospital even though we're shooting for a natural birth. I guess there are HUGE differences in what kind of birth experience you get depending on your doctor and hospital. You'd think it would be pretty universal at this point, but surprisingly it's far from it. So if you have a specific vision of what you want your experience to be, it pays to shop around, BIG TIME.

One of the most important things I learned was that most doctor's will SAY that they are okay with natural birth but then end up jumping in as soon as they can with the interventions. And of course in the end, everyone can say "thank god for the doctor and modern technology, our baby might not have survived." People forget though that an Obstetrician is a surgeon. they aren't trained for normal birth, to sit around and wait for something to happen, they are trained for emergency situations in which they get to MAKE things happen...to medically manage the birth. And once the interventions start, they lead to other interventions, and then more, and then "poof" you just had a c-section which was entirely preventable.

I have total faith that between our OB and our midwife, and the fairly progressive policies at Olathe Medical Center, we won't have a "medically managed" birth unless it is 100% ABSOLUTELY necessary. And in an emergency situation, we welcome all that modern technology has to offer. That's why we're doing this in a hospital for the first time. But you can bet the farm that we're going to ask "why" first.

Speechable

These are so cool! Speechable

Week 34

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Everyday @ Our House

DON'T PANIC!

Had my first Braxton-Hicks (practice) contractions this morning. I think. It lasted a little over an hour on and off and then just went away, so I'm assuming that's what that was. It wasn't too bad, just made me super nervous since I didn't really know what the heck was going on.

I probably shouldn't have read my pregnancy message boards over the weekend either, because 3 people in our Sept. Expecting Group on iVillage have already had their babies and that's making me nervous. One girl lost a bunch of her amniotic fluid and is in the hospital while they try to keep her baby in till 35 weeks. Yikes. :(

Anyways, I felt like I had all this time left, and I do, if all goes well...but there's that part of me that is sort of running around and freaking out and she's not really helping. Truthfully it's all getting close to overwhelming and I'm feeling pretty vulnerable and scared. Not just because of the birth, or the pain, or any of that...but also because of what all of it means and how this changes who we are.

This whole experience is seriously blowing my mind.

Orgasmic Birth

Doula Sarah sent me home with a few more books and a dvd last week. We got around to watching the dvd "Orgasmic Birth" last nite, and I have to admit, I was a little freaked out.

There were only two women that really made me cringe with embarrassment, and all the information they presented made perfect sense, so overall it was a good documentary. I understand the concept and all so I'm not discounting any of it... but it still makes me feel sort of yucky. lol.

Here, read all about it yourself: Orgasmic Birth (beware of loud moaning on the preview, it starts automatically)

Anyway, we also got a couple of books to add to our list.

Calm Birth w/ cd
The Breastfeeding Book
The Birth Partner

Week 33

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Making Plans

So we've been talking about how this whole birth thang is gonna go down. At the beginning I thought I wanted EVERYONE there, and that the whole thing should be videotaped. After alot of reading and some serious contemplation about my relaxation and pain relief techniques, I decided that it probably would be best if we had as much privacy as possible during labor and birth. If you picture me serenely laying in a hospital bed hooked up to an iv and chatting with guests, you FAIL. lol. :D

I will possibly be naked, mooing, hanging from the furniture and extremely hostile by the time we mosey over to the hospital, and I don't think you want any part of that. I don't plan on being a "good" laboring woman just so everyone else can be comfortable and we can have a big birthing tea party. NOT happening. Since I'm not opting for drugs of any kind, I'm going to have to be concentrating VERY hard on my relaxation and visualization. Not only is this going to make me want to punch in the face anyone who utters a peep, but I won't be confined to my bed...and therefore actually able to walk over and do the punching. lol. :D

But seriously, Cyndie is going to be in charge of guest relations and will have a list of family to call for labor/birth updates. I might end up giving her access to this blog and she can update here as well. And don't worry, we won't call anybody in the middle of the night unless it's big news. :)

After baby is born and I am ready, I'm sure we'll be glad to have a couple of visitors. And of course, when we get home, if you want to come over we'd love to see everyone. Especially if you bring us a casserole and some brownies. lol.

Anyway, it might seem kind of early for this kind of talk, but remember... 37 weeks is considered full term and I'm at about 32.

Here's some links for hospital information:

The Birth Place @ Olathe Medical Center

Olathe Medical Center Visitor Information

Childbirth Class (Part 4)

Last nite's class was super fun time! It seemed like all the guys were turbo-channeling their uncomfortableness with the situation into a mega Joke-Off. lol. we discussed more breathing techniques, toured the birthing suite (our second time), went over pushing positions, and talked about post-partem care.

Next week is Infant Care which we already have sat through in a stand alone class. But it'll be a nice refresher since that seems like it was eons ago. Then we are done with this class. We're going to add on a Natural Childbirth class that is being offered through our doctor's office. That will be like the 22nd I think.

anyhoo, i'm off for my fancy salon pedicure! I'm finally cashing in the gift certificate that cyndie gave me for christmas. excitement!

One high chair to rule them all...

I finally scored a wooden high chair on Craigslist! And it's better than the first! Our baby is going to totally reign supreme in this mofo right here!

Our cats LOVE sheet changing night!

Can you see Pete in the background? Ear flying and eyeball all aglow?

Soak up the healing powers of PURRRRRR...

Mark! You can't CUSS while I'm videotaping!!

After cat time, it's PETE TIME!

Dr. Appt. (7/7)

Had a good appt. on monday. the midwife said that my hemoglobin was the best she had ever seen! whoo hoo! apparently that means that baby is getting awesome oxygen from my blood. They seem to be perplexed that I keep passing sugar but yet my diabetes blood test came back with wayyy normal numbers. and for once in my life, I'm not having any weight issues! yay! it seems like pregnant women are getting yelled at by their doctors right and left for weight gain, but not me! still not up to where I was before first trimester. but baby needs to double in weight over the next two months so i expect to be expanding rapidly, very soon. kinda scary all of sudden since I feel VERY pregnant this week. I'm starting to really waddle around and it feels awful if I attempt to bend over. Bending over at all will soon become totally impossible. And i'm not sure if this baby just took up kung fu or what, but she is beating me silly from the inside. lol.

Next appt. 7/18@3:30

Childbirth Class (Part 3)

So this is where things got a little heavy. We talked about interventions in this week's class. Yuck. Me no likey. Yes, I've educated myself about ALL my options from all different viewpoints, not just the ones I prefer...but I still can rather not study in detail, over and over, the ones that freak me out. I've seen a cesarean birth before several times on Discovery Health like forever ago, but during the video in class I seriously had to turn my head which isn't like me. I just can't let myself get into a panic about things that might be out of my control. I'm trying to stay on a positive path of doing everything possible to help prevent unnecessary interventions.

I let my inner "hippy" out in class again this week by mentioning that isn't it funny that they can show these major surgeries on television, yet not a full on vaginal birth. God forbid our eyes behold a vagina doing what it was made to do!! One guy said he'd rather people see his wife's intestines than her vagina! whhhhaaaaaattttt????? you'd rather your wife be sliced open and her innards spilling out everywhere than for someone to see a baby coming out of her naturally? Okay, I'm now officially convinced that there is too much violence in the media and not enough total female nudity. Are you Freaking Serious?? what is WRONG with you people???? So I just had to respond that it definitely wouldn't be the vagina that he knew, it was going to look totally different during birth anyway. it's an organ that has two different purposes and I'm pretty sure mature adults can make the separation without much trouble.

I was saying "vagina" alot i guess, which seemed to make people squirm. *rolls eyes* Come on people, we're not 12 years old here. It's an actual medical term, not a cuss word! and for god's sake we're in a hospital in a childbirth class!! lol.

Week 32/ Month 8

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

Happy 4th!!!

We're (Mark is actually) cleaning out our gross basement today. FUN! Later we'll give our dog a sedative and try to help him not have a giant nervous breakdown when the fireworks start and it sounds like a war just broke out in the city.

Mark isn't a big fan of loud noises and stupid drunk people with guns and firecrackers, so this isn't his favorite holiday. lol. I myself like a good fireworks display but it's just too much of a pain to go find parking and deal with all the people. So we'll stay home, hug our dog and each other and celebrate our country's independence by playing Uno on the porch and eating ice cream.

Growl Tiger

Oh boy, I'm a crabby pregnant lady this week for sure. I've done alot of crying, some hysterical crazy laughing for no reason, and TONS of being a cranky mommy bear. If you talked to me at the beginning and thought I was snappy...oh nelly that was NOTHING! If you come around now...put your thick skin on! lol. I skipped La Leche League last nite I was so crabby. Basically, everything anyone does or says makes me mad. lol.

Honestly, probably no one I've talked to has really noticed except Mark. Poor poor Mark. I've done a good job of only really communicating through blog and email with most people. But oh boy I've been in Mr. Tooley's FACE this week. I'm sorry Mr. Tooley. *pat pat pat*

And no, i'm not physically miserable yet. I feel great actually. I finally feel like I've got a respectable pregnant belly going on and I looooove it. The heat isn't bothering me at all, and I doubt it will. What people forget when they make comments about how it's going to suck for me when it gets hot is....I'm already fat!! LOL. I'm miserable EVERY summer! This summer is going to be no different at all.

Well, I'm going to go take some anger out on my knitting now. Freaking never ending baby blanket!!

Tres Cosas

1. I've got two weeks of vacation! wheeeee! Not sure what I'm going to spend it doing...but I'm sure it'll be baby/nesting related somehow.

2. Friday is our ELEVEN year anniversary! Can you believe it? We met July 4th, 1997 and have been inseparable ever since! I'm still totally crazy about my Mark, and he's mega-bonkers for me. :D lol.

3. The wooden high chair guy from Craigslist totally flaked out on me on Sun. I'm pretty irritated about it. I WANT that high chair.