Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Week 33 Check Up & Belly Casting

We had our bi-weekly check up today, and as always everything is great. I only gained 1 lb these past two weeks, blood pressure is good (120/47 I think), baby's heart beat was around 123-130 bpm. We had a few questions to ask this visit: I have concert tickets and Greg wanted me to check that it was OK to go, OB say yes. I asked her how long she would let me go before she would want to induce labor if all signs are still showing healthy baby and Mom, she said 1-1.5 weeks (I sure hope we can get things stated naturally and won't need any medical intervention). We also heard that the hospital is now letting patients have a self-medicating epidurals (meaning I would have a push button to up the baseline level of medication when I see fit, you can't over medicate the machine won't let you), and the answer was yes again. We were told studies find that when woman can self medicate, they tend to use less medication than if just given the highest dosage possible, and Greg and I agree the more control we have, the better. Then my last question was when for baby boys they preform a circumcision, she said they do this the day after the baby is born, and neither Mom or Dad are present for the quick procedure. Poor little dude, as if being born was not traumatic enough for him we are going to send him off the next day alone with the nurse, to well... I don't need to spell this out for you.

Anywho on to a more fun topic. Last night I had my belly casted in plaster! Our friend Carla is a newly trained Doula (don't know what a Doula is - click here), and she was looking for someone to try this out on, so it can be something she can offer future clients on top of her superior services and a birth Doula. Greg and I made the decision after much discussion to give this birth thing a shot on our own, but if you are someone who may be interested in having a Doula help you though the process of giving birth (especially if you hope to go completely natural - aka no pain medication) we both highly recommend her! She is very knowledgeable, open minded, and enthusiastic about all things related to the birth of babies. Greg and were picking her brain the whole time she was with us, she is going to have to start charging to visit pregnant friends, rather than bringing them ice cream :-) I look forward to seeing the final product, but we though it best to let Carla keep the cast so she has a visual to show new clients. Here is a funny photo of me mid-cast for your enjoyment.


And what would be a post without belly photos from the last few weeks:

32 Weeks

33 Weeks



Saturday, July 25, 2009

My Super Talented Mom!

I knew that as soon as my Mom found she was going to be a grandmother back in January she got right down to knitting some special things for baby boy C. My Dad and brothers were all sworn under the punishment of the wrath of Mom to not to let Greg or I know what she was working on until the baby shower. Just as I expected the last gift we opened at the shower was a basket of homemade goodies by Mom. Well I hope everyone else in the room was just as amazed by the results! On top of two blankets, and three very cute sweater sets, there was a knitted hat and booties that will be his first Halloween costume to make him look like a pumpkin, and a huge assortment of stuffed animals that will be his first toys! I think my brother put the work that went into all these gifts in his description of a typical night at home with Mom best: "Every night Mom would sit down, listen to the Red Sox game on the TV, and would knit with the speed, and efficiency of a Chinese sweat shop worker!"

Then there was one last very special gift, my Mom presented me with the yellow sweater, hat, and booties that my Mimi had made for me (her 1st grandchild) and I had worn home from the hospital. Now my Mom's first grandchild will also wear it home from the hospital! I will scan the photos for this post that my Mom gave me of myself in the outfit getting ready to head home as soon as Greg reconnects the printer/scanner.

Here are the close up photos of Mom's hard work (not sure why some photos are not turned right, I fixed them before I upload them):
Big Blanket
smaller cotton blanket
Santa hat for ChristmasPumpkin Halloween costumeSweater set oneSweater set twoSweater set 3The Fish
The OctopusThe DuckThe Black CatThe Siamese CatThe Bunny BlanketThe MouseThe BunnyThe SheepThe CaterpillarThe Puppy

Baby Shower!

I don't even know where to start with this post, it is hard to say in words how thankful Greg and I are for the extreme generosity we were shown last weekend at the baby shower my Mom put together for us! Our family and friends came from both near and far to celebrate Baby C, and shower us with so many gifts to be ready for his arrival it was overwhelming! We are so blessed to have so many people in our life who care about us and already love and care for our little guy! Our registry was cleared out and we have a very few essentials we need to pick up ourselves in order to be totally ready for Baby C's arrival.

I have a few people I would like to thank publicly. First and foremost my Mom! I offered little help or direction and let her run with all the planning, and she did the most amazing job! It is no small feat to plan a party and host it at your home for 50 people! To my Dad and brothers Andy, AJ, and Tom, for stepping up and helping Mom get everything put together the day of, and for sticking around a huge group of woman all with a smile on your faces charming them all as usual. To my favorite girlfriends Nicole, Sabrina, & Holly who went the extra mile and helped my Mom with food, favors, and decorations! Auntie Moe for helping with all the gifts during the opening of them all. To our friends and family who drove 1-2+ hours each way to be with us: Brooke, Sarah, Elliot, Marci (and Shadow), Melissa, Sabrina, AJ, Brenna, Nikki S., and Nicki P. I would be remiss not to mention it was great to have Auntie Gail and cousin Lily in attendance who were in town for there annual visit all the way from Vancouver Canada.

Here are a few photos from the special day:
Dipper Cake - made by Nicole
Cake! - The puppies match our bedding for the crib.
Shadow gave us this great bib with her photo on it.Uncle AJ picked this bib out for his new nephew

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

31 Weeks!

Today was the first of the now bi-weekly OB appointments. As usual all checked out great, wight, BP, heartbeat, etc. I was in and out as of the office as usual (well except we had to wait 20 minutes to be called in, it was kind of unusual that they were already running late at 9:30 am). Due to the kind of activity I have been feeling I did not think he had flipped to the head down position as of yet, and my OB agreed with me and we both think he still has plenty of time to make the move, so it is not a concern right now.

We have a busy baby weekend coming up! Saturday we have our first Prenatal Prep Class at the hospital, and Sunday is our Baby Shower! I know our families have been working hard to put this shower together and we are already so thankful for amount of support and love that has been shown to us and baby boy C. For example just this past Sunday night, some very kind people gave us a boat loads of hand-me-downs! Including a very nice crib, mattress, toddler bed, extra crib sheets, 2 car seats, a bassinet, high chair, a basket of toys, and even one of those great Little Tikes Car & lawn mower for when he gets older (and for our friend's kids to play with in the mean time when they visit)! Our generous benefactors are not even family, they are family of family (my Aunt's SIL & BIL)! We are lucky people I have to tell you.


Here is the 31 Week belly shot:


Monday, July 13, 2009

White Water Rafting & Camping on the Kennebec River

Being 31 weeks pregnant did not stop me from planning and coming along (just to camp, not to raft) on our annual WWR trip to the Kennebec River in Maine this past weekend. AJ, Brenna, Nikki, Xavier, and I hung out at the camp site, took some walks, and had a nice lunch at the lodge while the rest of the crew hit the river. Our huge tent and air mattress provided plenty of room and I slept just fine both nights! After all the cloudy, cool, rainy weather we are happy to report we had nice sunny warm days both Friday & Saturday! While I can't speak for the the crew on the water, all reports came back that they had a great time. With all the rain the river was running with more water than usual making the rapids that more exciting (only draw back was the trip was about an hour shorter than usual since the water was running so quickly).

The drive up is usually 4 hours from Beverly, it took us over 5 hours to get there this year due to a bad accident on Rt 95 in Southern ME (AJ & Brenna were the only ones not effected). Greg and I drove right by the accident, a camper was on its side, split in two on the left side of the highway! Every one was running late, some as last as midnight who worked all day and did not get started till after 5 pm (yea we were popular with the other campers, yes I am being sarcastic). I am happy to report our ride home on Sunday morning was much less eventful.

Here are some photos and commentary from our weekend:

The Kennebec River running right by our camp site. The white water part of the river is further north of here, so we did not see our party float by.

Greg and I happy to finally be at the camp site, huge tent put up, and ready to enjoy a nice night.

Xavier did his part to keep the camp site clean, picking up pine cones and keeping them safe in this discarded 6 pack container.

The whole group just before hitting the water.

Adam the guide took this photo..Greg has fallen and can't get up!

I took this photo just before they exited the river from a foot bridge over the river..don't they all look like they had a good time, waving their pirate flag!

Left back to front: Sabrina, Emily, Tom
Right Back to front: Aaron, Greg, Holly, Mike

Friday, July 3, 2009

30 Weeks Pregnant today!

I can’t believe we only have ~10 more weeks before we get to meet our baby! We continue to do a lot of things around the house to get ready for his arrival, I am so glad we got to work so early on these projects and won’t be stressed and worried about them come late August/early September.

We had a prenatal checkup on Tuesday, our last monthly visit, we go every two weeks now. As usual we were in and out of there in about 20 minutes. Blood pressure was 120/74, nothing bad was detected in my urine, and my weight gain is in the right range. I am up ~17 lbs, right on target to gain about 25-30 lbs overall, which is the average, perfect!

The nursery is coming along, we bought a crib and changing table from friends and they are all set up. The rug is down and came out great! I love those carpet tiles! The only bad news is we have to keep the doors shut all the time to keep the cats out. I found that one of the cats (Trot I think) got into the crib and peed all over the mattress! I don’t think he was acting out or marking, he has a top entry litter box, and I think he thinks that anything box shaped that you can jump into is a litter box! He has been known to pee in empty laundry baskets, cardboard boxes, etc. He has never peed on the floor or on our bed, or even a laundry basket that is full of cloths. So we are trying to decide the best way to teach them to keep out of that crib. Two things I am thinking about are either a crib tent, or a scat mat. Which way to go remains to be seen, they both have pros and cons. Once the nursery is totally decorated and complete I will post before and after shots. Right now it is still to empty to be impressive at all.

Here are the most up-to-date belly shots for your viewing pleasure.

28 Weeks 29 Weeks

30 Weeks

And just because I want to here are some silly photos of the kitties.


Here is Trot liking his new cat carrier - well he will like it until his first trip to the vet inside it.

Here is Maverick doing what he does best, flashing his belly for all to rub.