Guess who loves food?

This Guy!

well, eventually his did anyway. Noah got the go ahead from his doctor to start solid food earlier this week. We'll be giving him some rice cereal at dinner time only, so just once a day for now. I seriously don't remember this stuff from Connor so it's good that our doctor explains it all over again. I remember that Connor loved the cereal and that he grabbed the spoon after I fed him a couple bites and wanted to do it himself. I really think Connor was a month older than Noah when he started solids though. Ok, just checked on Connor's old baby blog and he did start after Noah. If you're so inclined, you can read about it here.

Yeah, so you can see above that he was super happy sitting in his bumbo and then we tried to give him the rice cereal and it all went to hell...within two minutes. Hilar. Yes, I am mean and took a pic of him all pissed with food dribbling out of his mouth. So sue me. It still makes me laugh to look at so there.

We decided to switch him to the actual high chair for his first/second try at cereal and it went great. I think he may still be just a wee bit skinny to sit in the bumbo for anything important like eating. He slips around in there and his leg gets all stuck and jammed in there which really seems to piss him off. Anyway, after we moved him he did just great. We know that the first few feedings tend to be for practice anyway since barely anything actually stays in the mouth...babies just don't know how to deal with spoon eating yet.

He did really well with it and kept lunging for the spoon. Seemed like he had a great time. I think we'll keep it at once a day for a few weeks and then start up with twice a day once he's mastered the spoon thing. I have some video of it that I'll post later, so for now here are a bunch of photos of the event.

Warning...I'm about to talk about breastfeeding --- This new step also marks the end of my nursing days. Noah has been a great breastfeeder, but our schedule is just making it tougher and tougher. Also, I am horrible at pumping so I'm only nursing him 2-3 times per day so my supply is dwindling. With a few overnight babysitting occurances coming up this month, it will be even tougher. We have a wedding coming up next weekend and I'm so not feeling like pumping during a reception...again. I'm not really sad about it at all - I'm just thrilled that I got to nurse Noah since Connor didn't. I was all but totally done on Saturday and I'd had zero pain that's typically associated with stopping. Unfortunately, Noah had a cranky afternoon and I held him while he screamed and cried for about 20 minutes straight. It really is true that you can start producing when your baby cries. Yeah, lots. So I was back at square one and ended up nursing him that night. Sunday I started again and I'm feeling better now that it's Monday. Luckily, I've slowly lessened how much I nurse so the transition hasn't been difficult at all pain wise. As for Noah, he's so easy and could really care less where his meal is coming from so there's no transition there!

Thanks for checking in on the fam. This is an exciting milestone for Noah Bear :)

Week 39 Update

Three days! :) Noah will be here in three days and this never-ending countdown will be over. I think it may be time to consider moving to an hour countdown...72 hours as of now. woohoo.

I'm 39 weeks along today and scheduled to deliver Noah in exactly 72 hours. Holy crap peeps. I got the first twinge of nervousness about surgery today. Connor's was so different...I labored for so long that when they told me that they needed to section me it was such a relief. This time I'm just strolling in, asking for some pretty serious surgery...oh, and please tie my tubes while you're in there. k.thanks.bye.

Last night after Connor went to sleep, Jeff and I were watching How I Met Your Mother and it struck me as odd somehow. I asked him if he found it strange that in just over three days we'd be having Noah and tonight we're just sitting on the couch watching some tv show. He said nope so I moved on. I still think it's weird, though I can't decide why. It's not like I feel like we should be doing some uber-important life affirming stuff while we 'prepare' for the way our world is about to be rocked but still. I don't know.

I had my very last prenatal OB appointment yesterday, marking that it's nearly Go Time. The appointment went well. My BP was good, and Noah's heartbeat was at 120...totally within normal range and finally slowed down to a resting point which is good. Connor and Noah both had fast heartbeats all through my pregnancies...no wonder Connor is so wild and I'm convinced his brother will be the same. I gained 2 pounds since last week so I think that puts me up three pounds overall. I'm ok with that. He checked my cervix and I'm still at a zero which I'm good with. I've been torn with wanting to deliver as scheduled and wanting to be done with the heartburn, swelling, soreness of my ligaments (seriously, so sore) and constant peeing. My doctor is pretty sure that I'll be delivering as scheduled this Friday.

My tummy is huge, seriously huge. People who don't see me for a week marvel at my belly. If I'm being honest, it really isn't that big, but it's just so solid and kinda cool. It feels big though...getting in and out of my car has become difficult. Jeffrey nearly peed himself at one point this weekend and made me get out and let him drive for fear that I would slam Noah into the steering wheel if I had to hit the brakes too hard. Probably not a horrible idea to be fair.

My hospital bag is nearly 100% packed, sans the few items that I'm still using daily like deodorant, contacts, glasses, slippers and a few random things like phone charger, camera charger, etc. I figure even if I go into labor myself I'll have time to grab those items on our way to the hospital. I have a list of "last minute items to grab" so we shouldn't have an issue there. Noah's baby bag is all set as well. We have clothes in a few different sizes so we should be ok whether he's tiny like his brother, medium like me or huge like Jeffrey. Connor's overnight bag is packed too. He'll be staying with my amazing mother and father in law for a couple days and my sister in law Sarah for a couple days so we had to pack plenty of clothes and stuff for him as well. This is a lot of packing. We seriously, honestly did 14 loads of laundry this past weekend. Fourteen flippin loads of laundry. There's so much of Connor's clothes that we're keeping for Noah and it needed to be washed...plus all the new stuff we purchased or were given...plus getting my stuff ready for the hospital. It was crazy amounts of laundry.

Amazing news?!? Connor...potty trained. I'm calling it official. He's had a couple accidents in the last week, but really done amazing. He's gone the past four days without having an accident except one that was our fault because we let him take a nap in his underwear instead of forcing him to put a pull up on. The adorable thing? We'll be playing or doing something and he'll just get up, wander into the bathroom and go all by himself. For some reason he hates pulling his underwear and pants up by himself but hopefully he'll get over that. I'm really hoping that he doesn't regress after Noah arrives, but I know that's somewhat likely. Any parents out there have suggestions of ways to avoid it? I always said that my goal was to not have two sizes of diapers in the house at one time and I'm Sooooooo close! My only thought is making a big deal of him showing Noah how he's a big boy and goes in the potty. I need backup plans for sure and I've got nothin!

I am sure I've put this before but since this is my last weekly update I'll be posting I figured I may as well post this again. We have to be at the hospital at 5am for prep stuff and then my delivery is scheduled for 7am. That two hours in between is time spent doing some blood work, filling out some paperwork, getting an IV, meeting with the anesthesiologist and my own doctor and who knows what else...not eating or drinking anything I know for sure. I have a friend Lisa who is an L&D nurse at Chandler and she'll be waiting for me in recovery so that's a nice thing.

Well, that's about it from here. It's just a waiting game at this point and we're good if it happens between now and then but better if he holds out for Friday. The planner in me crosses my fingers that Noah will be patient and arrive when he's supposed to. The mom in me knows that he may just come tomorrow to spite me. :) Have a great week everyone and I'll be updating as soon as there's anything exciting to report!

Flashback Friday - Labor Edition

It's hard to believe that one way or another this time next week Noah will be here...we'll be a family of four...Connor will have a little brother...our little family will be complete. It's shocking to think about, but we've got to think about it because it's literally right around the corner. Whether Noah waits until Friday at 7am or comes on his own terms he'll be here a week from today. Holy moly, right?!!? The undeniable timeframe really has me remembering what it was like when Connor was born just over three years ago so I thought it would be fitting to post a few stories and pics of his arrival. Not the actual arrival...though I do have a few c-section pics for anyone interested :) but pics from right before and right after. They are way, way down at the bottom of this post.

My first contractions occured on Friday the 13th of April, 2007. I kept a baby blog during my pregnancy with Connor and this is the entry about that evening:

After weeks of wondering what contractions would feel like I got my answer! Friday night I started having mild contractions that felt like my tummy was in knots and that Connor was moving around like crazy. Not so much pain as tightening and discomfort-enough to catch my breath, but that's really about it.

We called the nurse at my doctor's office who told me that these are early labor contractions and to be sure that we had our hospital bag packed! That caused both excitement (Linds) and a bit of panic (Jeffrey)! She made sure to follow that up with a warning that I could head to the hospital that night or it could still be a week, so...four days later I'm still having the contractions and still waiting for them to get to the point that we make that trip to labor and delivery!

Well, those contractions continued for several more days. Seriously...they got more and more painful as the days went on and I still find it completely rediculous that I had contractions for 6 days. Of course-the contractions Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were Nothing compared to what I got hit with on Tuesday and Wednesday...the day Connor arrived...at 11pm! From Connor's baby blog again here's a posting from after his arrival:

Hooray-the day we've been waiting for finally arrived! Connor Keith Barnes made his debut this past Wednesday, April 18, 2007. He arrived by c-section at 11:08 pm, weighing 6 lbs 2 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long...a tiny little guy! Such a relief given how huge Jeffrey was at birth!

I'd been having some pretty horrible contractions all Tuesday and Wednesday and Wednesday night around 7, they were about 2 minutes apart and mom and I made that long-awaited drive to the hospital. Jeffrey met us there and serious labor came fast. For those of you who want the details, let me know so we'll spare those who do not! I will say that I went from 1 centimeter to 6 centemeters in about 20 minutes so it was quite intense and the epidural that came was a welcome relief about 5 days in the making!

My doctor did come and talk to us and said that because of several factors, they needed to go ahead and get me to the OR for a c-section. I think I surprised them when I said, No problem, sounds good, let's go! We didn't care how he got here, we just wanted him here and safe! So, about 45 minutes later Connor was here and our little family was started!

Since I'd had a c-section which is considered pretty serious surgery, we got to stay extra time in the hospital to heal and rest before going home. It was great to be able to have the nurses there to prepare us for what we were about to do! They helped us learn about nursing Connor, and all about how to take care of our new pride & joy!

On Thursday night, one of the nurses told us that Connor's bilirubin count was at a point where he was considered jaundiced and needed to spend 24 hours in the nursery under the lights to be sure it kicked it out of his system. This was pretty tough having him away for an entire day when he was still so new, but we knew that he needed to do it to get better. We were able to go down and visit him while he spent time in his little "tanning bed". After the 24 hours, he was all better and able to come right back to the room with us. This only lasted a short time though, and he was back to the nursery for his circumcision. I'll spare everyone the details, but just know that Connor handled it like a champ and slept through the entire procedure!

It's absolutely amazing that Connor already has such a personality and clearly knows his likes and dislikes already. He likes laying on mommy's chest after he eats and will gladly spend hours and hours sleeping there. He does not like being swaddled and having his arms tucked inside the blanket-he's been able to break free from every swaddle he's been put into so far! He's great at making eye contact and will just stare at Jeffrey and I forever and we just can't tear ourselves away from those big, dark blue eyes-he's just beautiful! Just like mom and dad he's got tons of hair-he's already in need of a haircut! He loves sleeping and eating. Even though he's so tiny, he's putting away between 40 and 50 mL of food at every feeding and will surely catch up to other infants soon. He lost about 4 ounces before he left the hospital, but we're told that's normal and we are sure he'll gain in back super quick given his love of food:)

It was absolutely amazing to be able to hold this little boy that we'd both been waiting so long for. He's beautiful and if you haven't had a chance to visit him, please do! Jeffrey is taking this next week off from work so we can help each other adjust to this new, wonderful phase of life:) We have our follow up appointment with Connor's pediatrician tomorrow and are looking forward to that. I have posted a few photos on here of Connor's first few days and there will be many, many more to follow. We're still trying to settle back in at home and will be sure to continue to add photos as we are able to.

Thank you so much to our friends and family who were there through the entire experience this past week and weekend. This was so special because you were there to share it with us. Connor will know how blessed he was to have all of you visit him on his first few days of life-thank you again!


Strangely, I cannot help but notice here how much my blog is different than it was three years ago...I would have totally, totally, 100% given way more details than I did then. Maybe because it was our first, maybe because I was super new to blogging, who knows. I barely talked about labor, or the epidural, or the sleeping pills I was prescribed...and I didn't even delve into how much the c-section effin hurt or the reasons they decided to section me. lol. no fear friends...this time will be different! :) As an FYI, anyone who wants to read the old blog can find it HERE. I stopped doing it when I started up with this one and am still deciding if I should import them over to this blog or what...well, that's a decision for another day.

Here are some pics of the day Connor Keith arrived:

i think we took this before we were told that I needed to have the section. not a stellar photo, but probably our last pic taken as just a "married couple"...not yet "parents" :)

this is when i was being wheeled into the OR. Ironically, probably the best pic I've taken in my life.

jeffrey right before we went in for Connor's delivery. He still has these scrubs and will be wearing them when Noah arrives as well. Hopefully...unless they won't let him wear them because they aren't sterile. damn. wrench in the plan. fail.

this is immediately after Connor was born. you can tell because he'll still all gooey and bloody. i have minimal recollection of this moment, seriously.

love this pic. looking thrilled with being out in the crazy bright lights!

when i first saw this pic i was like...when was this taken? it didn't even occur to me that everyone was gathered outside taking pics when i was still in surgery. I love, love this photo. proud dada with the thrilled grandparents!

I think he's a day or two old here...so flippin teeny

hanging out in his plastic crib, chillin with Pepper and his iPod.

You can see the little velcro tabs on his head from his sunglasses he had to wear under the billi lights for his jaundice. I think he stayed in the NICU-type nursery for a couple days.

Heading home from the hospital!

37 Week Update

37 Weeks along and now I can actually say I'm full term. I swear the last month has flown by unlike the rest of the pregnancy! As of today, I have 17 days left until Noah's scheduled arrival. Yikes.

At home, we've been getting ready bit by bit. Sunday night we tackled a huge, huge laundry backet and another under bed storage bin of Connor's clothes. I've been dreading this for a couple reasons. First, we kept everything from Connor. Some of these onesies were so nasty, so nasty. Anyway, we kept them...because they were his. I knew it would be horrible trying to sort through them to decide what goes and what stays. Second, I'm really not big on the idea of hand me downs. Not at all. I feel like second born is going to have enough "second baby stigma" and could at least have all their own clothing! But, this just doesn't make sense when Connor has some clothes he barely wore, or didn't honestly wear even one time. I felt like we were on that awesome show on TLC...damn what was it called? The British guy hosted it and they took over a family's home and made them clean out a disgusting room that would make the people on Hoarders: Burried Alive groan. They had to divvy the items up in three piles: Keep, Toss, Sell or something like that. Anyway, we had a "Keep for Connor" pile full of sentimental outfits and items, "Keep for Noah" full of perfect or near-perfect items and a trash pile of items way too disgusting to keep for any reason. We have more to go through and then need to wash any "keep for noah" stuff but progress is progress. With just over two weeks left, we'd better get in gear.

I'm feeling the same, pretty good. Sleeping is getting even more difficult, but I swear that's just the body's way of practicing for when you have a newborn and you're lucky to get 3-4 hours of sleep a day. I still haven't had any contractions and Noah is still moving like crazy so I'm hoping we've got some time still. I wore heels today which I'm positive will be a mistake. The height doesn't bother me, but they feel really tight today. (I also brought a pair of flip flops that are safely tucked away in my purse in case an emergency shoe swap becomes necessary.) Um, I found a couple dresses in my closet that I haven't worn in forever that are just easy wearing with stretch so I've got a couple more options to get me through the next couple work weeks. I haven't purchased any maternity clothing this time around, just making do with the few items I bought when I had Connor, some dresses sans waistline and some creative hairtie work with pants! I refuse to buy anything new at this point...I'm way, way too close and will have zero use for it again. Here's a pic of me stretching today's dress to its absolute limit :)

17 days to go...the belly does not lie!

CLEAN SWEEP! that was the name of the TLC show. Ahhhh. :)

Two of my best, best friends Dawn and Ashley surprised me with a huge bag of wonderful gifts for Noah...including receivers, onesies and other little outfits, sleepers, bath supplies, hooded towels (cutest thing ever on baby...) and wash cloths. If you've had a kid you know that while the adorable shoes, hats, pacifier holders and other items are fun to buy and receive...the above items are the hard-core can't get enough of them items. I swear after I had Connor I shopped for other peoples baby showers with a whole new purpose!! Clearly, so do Dawn & Ash because they loaded me up with the necessities. Thanks ladies :) And last week I met up with Jill for lunch who gave Noah the cutest, flippin owl blanket. I love it so much!

According to my trusty emails, Noah is probably about 6 1/3 lbs at this point and maybe 19 inches. This is a bit bigger than Connor when he was born. The guessing game of baby size makes it really tough to pack his hospital bag...we had no idea that Connor would be so small so everything we brought to the hospital was at least 4 months ahead of him...Jeff had to run out and buy preemie stuff for him to wear home. This time we're going to bring a few things in a few sizes. We'll see--Jeffrey was 10.5 lbs so you never really know what we'll get!

I have my 37 week doctor appointment tonight so I'll post an update with any details that come up there. I'm just hopeful that I didn't gain another 7lbs :) I could handle one or two lbs...but seven?!?! Hopefully when he checks me, he'll tell me that there's no action in the cervix area and that as far as he can tell Noah is happily hanging out for 17 more days. That's the goal, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

Thanks for checking in on the growing Barnes family! Have a great Tuesday.

36 Week Update

We're getting close now...and it's freakin me out! I'll get to more of that later though.

I had my 36 week appointment yesterday and do you remember here when I said I really felt like I've gained some serious, no joke weight since my last appointment? Um, confirmed. My doctor seriously asked me "what have you been eating?". I laughed but then realized that I was totally right. I'd spiked. He joked at first that I'd gained 10lbs since my last appointment but then told me that I had actually gained 7lbs...in two weeks. Holy crap fatty mcfatterson. That's nuts. That means that I'm now exactly the weight I was when I found out I was pregnant. I lost a bunch of weight and now I'm gaining it back. I know it's a good thing, as for a while they were concerned with me not gaining enough, but geez can't I find a happy medium?!? It's completely our eating habits over the last two weeks. Jeffrey has been working long, late hours so that he'll be all set when he takes time off and we've just been grabbing food wherever we land while out running errands. That stops now. It's so expensive too.

Noah's heartbeat sounded great and although I forgot to ask the actual BPM, it was strong and loud. I think this was the first time that they've put the doppler on my belly and had the heartbeat sound immediately. He's always hiding and swimming around so that they can't get a good read easily. Connor was at this appointment and we asked him what the noise was. He smiled and said "that's baby noah" and then continued to color.

Otherwise, the appointment went well. I asked him about a procedure I'd been hearing about where you go in for a quick appointment and come out with no more periods. I'm already getting my tubes tied when Noah's delivered so I figured why not go for gold here. No more periods ladies? Yes please. Anyway, after mocking me for a while about being 36 weeks pregnant and asking about a procedure like that he agreed I'd be a great candidate but that he'd prefer to do it in the office after Noah is born so that my 'schedule' is back to normal. Fine, fine. I went home with some reading materials and I'm going to delve into it whenever I get a free moment. Has anyone had this done? Ablation is the general term, Novasure is the specific procedure I'd do. I'd love to hear feedback :)

I still haven't had any contractions which is great news. Noah's movements are just so different than Connor's were, I swear. Connor's kicks and punches would catch my breath a bit...since it's already so effin difficult to breathe but Noah, my god. All he has to do is move and I'm near tears. It's painful, seriously. I feel like he's punishing me for not having any space in there! :) It's enough to double me over in pain. He finds a spot that makes me cringe a bit and then continues to burrow into it-I swear he's trying to get out through the side of my body. Super. Carly's husband Bobby laughed at us this weekend and said, "oh so THIS one is the rambunctious one?!?!". He knows Connor well so found it funny that there could be a child more energetic than Connor. Hilarious.

Since we're 36 weeks along now, Noah should be just about 6lbs and about 18.5 inches long. It's still crazy to imagine him 6lbs since that's what Connor was when he arrived. I can believe it though...this kiddo feels huge. At this point, he should be putting on an ounce per day. Maybe I can blame my weight spike on him being large? Maybe? Yes, we'll do that. Now I feel better. The number of days left is just crazy...23 days left. I want to make one of those paper chains you had in grade school to count down to summer vacay or a holiday...the one where you tear off a link per day? Let's see...apparently his brain is developing a ton right now, he's practicing blinking (and probably winking as our first came out a giant flirt), and has mastered the whole sucking reflex.

I'll be considered full term at the end of this week so I can really go anytime. Logistically though, I really need him to hold on until his scheduled time. Puhhhlease Noah. I'm just so swamped at work and Sara, my amazing intern who will be working for me during my leave doesn't even graduate until May 14th. I'm so incredibly panicked that he's going to come early and she won't be here yet. Seriously panicked about that. Ugh, and everyone tells me how that's "not my problem" but guys, it is. No one else at my company knows how to do my job and that's bad news when it means that houses won't close without my job getting done. Ok, stopping the work tangent now :) but I'm still really, really worried about it so everyone keep your fingers crossed that we'll hang in there until 7am on the 28th, k?

My list of to-dos isn't clearing out too well. I got a robe. That's pretty much all I feel like I've accomplished. Fail. I've been to both Target and Walmart and totally struck out in the slipper department. My friend Jamie found some owl slippers online that she was going to surprise me with but they didn't come in my size--bummer! I'm seriously just going to buy the next pair of slippers I find. I give up, they are just slippers. Otherwise, I got a bunch of Michael's coupons from Ashley so I'm going to get Noah's flippin letters this week. My plan is to find some cute scrapbook paper in a couple styles and glue it to the front of the letter and the sides of the letters will be painted navy. I think that sounds cute and I'll probably use a chocolate brown ribbon to hang them. I also really want to get a head start on Noah's announcements so that they are ready to go when he arrives...I'll just stick the photo in there, and order them up. My hospital bag is still basically full of toiletries, some socks and that's it I think. I'm going to stick a couple books in there tonight. It's tough to have it packed since I'll want things that I use daily like the camera, my ipod and other stuff that can't just be stuffed away for a few weeks. Maybe I'll just stick the chargers in there for now so that no matter how drained the items are I'll be all set. Why am I worried about silly stuff like this? Oh, and it just occured to me today that I need to get a bag packed for Connor. His own hospital bag of sorts I suppose. Since he'll be staying with Sarah and my wonderful in-laws for the 4 days we're in the hospital he needs to have clothes, diapers, underwear, etc. all set for go time. I want to get him a few surprises too so that when he comes to the hospital to visit he'll have little things there for him.

Oh, that brings me to the bestest news ever. Chandler Regional lifted their RSV restrictions on Thursday. Wonderful news!! I can't imagine spending the 4 days or so in the hospital without even getting to see Connor and really couldn't even think about not getting that family photo of the four of us in the hospital bed. Now I don't have to worry about it. :) I was so thrilled when I got the email from our friend Lisa who is a L&D nurse there. Yippee.

Oh, so last week my office threw a little shower for Nakeia and I. It was eventful to say the very least. After eating a bunch of food (did someone say weight spike?) and opening up some generous gifts, Nakeia snuck off to the bathroom. She came back in a few and pulled me outside...her water broke! At her shower! At this point, Nakeia was about 4-5 weeks behind me in her pregnancy so she was about 31 weeks. I shoved her off to CRH where they tested and confirmed that it was actually her waters and that she hadn't just peed herself. They admitted her and hoped to keep her son, Keion, in for 3-4 more weeks. No luck though, and he arrived this past Sunday night at 6pm. He's a healthy, strong little guy at 3lbs, 9oz. He's completely breathing on his own, completely off all meds and doing amazing. Nakeia was released from the hospital yesterday and Keion will probably be there another 3-4 weeks I guess. I just cannot imagine leaving the hospital while your baby was still there, so sad. But the great news is that he's doing so well! Here's a pic of Nakeia and I just moments before her water broke, and a shot of her little family in the hospital just moments after Keion's arrival.

Since both babies are boys, we were all instructed to wear blue so i think it's hilarious that Nakeia wore bright, bright pink :) Hey, when you're pregnant you wear what fits that day and make no apologies!

I think that's it for now, wow these posts are getting lengthy recently. Have a great rest of the week and remember to cross your fingers that Noah holds on for atleast two more weeks!!

If you aren't a 'follower' of the blog, please do :) I'd love to know that you stop by, whether we know each other or not! Feel free to comment too!!

35 Week Update

Hello 35 weeks, it's great to see you. :)

A funny thing happens at this point in pregnancy...I think that I may have a subconscious look of exhaustion or a i can't physically take another step look...something going on because everyone I've ever met has asked me some form of "so are you ready for it to be done?". Honestly, I never reached that point of utter "get him the eff outta me" with Connor and I'm not really there with Noah either...it's just different the 2nd time around. I'm still overwhelmingly excited about meeting Noah, seeing Connor with Noah and having 8 weeks off work but it's just, different. Tough to explain.

First off, Jeffrey is amazing with pregnant Lindsay. Truly amazing. Connor, however, doesn't understand that mama can't wrestle around like normal and that it takes me more than a few quick seconds to get up off the ground after coloring for 30 minutes. Seriously, it takes a load-bearing wall that I can climb up and a few minutes for my ligaments to adjust. Low point. I'm not quite as fast going after the soccer ball he kicks and curling up with me in the chair isn't quite as roomy. It's kind of a sad thing that I shouldn't be sad about. Our little family of three is about to expand to four and I want to spend as much QT with Connor as possible, but I'm just so extremely exhausted and slow moving that it makes it quite difficult. Luckily, Connor has a dad who is always ready and willing to soak up that alone time with him :) I love my boys.

I'm feeling pretty good overall, besides the exhaustion. Sorry, even I'm getting sick of hearing myself say how exhausted I am...I'll look for my thesaurus now :) I've had some quasi sharp pangs and cramping but i think it's just Noah tring to move around in an incredibly cramped space. I feel like I've tripled in size in the last two weeks. I don't have a drs appt this week, but I'm fully expecting that when I roll up next Tuesday he tells me that I've gained 5lbs. Jeff says there's no way, but I just feel like it. I think it's just that my stomach is getting so huge and hard. Also, my feet don't look swollen, but my pretty work shoes are incredibly uncomfortable and tight feeling. Today I opted for these beauties.

I know, I know. Tone the internet sexiness down a notch Linds. I'll see what I can do folks. I wore heels to the office, but brought along comfort black flats and changed after being here about 5 minutes. Lame of me.

In other news, we were somewhat productive this weekend. Our goal was to focus on house/Noah stuff to get it wrapped up just in case he made an early arrival. I'd give us a 5 out of a possible 10 points here. We did clean his room a lot...there's so much Connor stuff in there. I think we decided that the tall dresses and closet will hold Noah's stuff and that the shorter, longer dresser will still have some of Connor's overflow. I tossed a few more items in the hospital bag this weekend but it was mostly toiletries since I'm there for so long I want to be sure I have everything I need in that department. I need to get a new robe and some slippers. I don't really use these items at home but they are necessary for those 4 days or so in the hospital. I made zero headway on getting Noah's name letters made but we did a crap ton of laundry...washing all the little outfits and things that our wonderful friends and family have given Noah. We went through all the receivers, blankets, socks, hats, washcloths, etc and got rid of any that were beyond reuse and washed the rest...most of that stuff hasn't been used in two years so a good washing was needed before Noah uses it :)

Speaking of Noah, since I'm now 35 weeks along, he is set to be measuring about 18 inches long and about 5 1/4 pounds. Since most of his physical development is complete, at this point he'll just spend the next few weeks bulking up. When Connor arrived, he was less than a pound bigger than Noah's supposed to be right now so that's a bit tough to wrap our heads around. I'm guessing that Noah is going to be 7lb 8oz, but Jeff doesn't think he'll break 7lbs. We shall see...any guesses? :)

We went on a tour of the hospital this weekend. At first I felt silly doing this since we'd obviously been there for Connor's delivery but I was glad that we did it. The L&D area has been completely renovated and we would have had zero idea where we were going if we hadn't taken a peek around. Plus, it's different this time knowing that going in I'm heading right to surgery instead of hanging out in a labor room for hours and hours.

A coworker of mine, Nakeia is also pregnant right now with a little boy who I am pretty sure she is naming Keion-so cute. She's just about 4-5 weeks behind me and our office is throwing us a little joint baby shower today. I opened the fridge in the office today to get my water and saw all kinds of yummy potluck type food, so I'm pretty stoked. Scratch the 5lbs I think my dr is going to point out and let's make it ten. Since we're both having boys, everyone was instructed to wear blue for cute photos. Somehow this morning I remembered and so I'm prepared.

That's about it for now I think, we're all hanging in there!

Week 34 Update

I had my 'every-other-week, feel like i'm living at my OB office' visit yesterday. I swear, if you've had a baby you 100% know what I'm talking about here. When you first find out you are expecting you are there every month, then it reaches a point that you have appointments every two weeks. Then once you are full term (36 weeks) you are there once a week. THEN, to make it even more odd you have your baby and you don't go back for 6 weeks or something. It's the strangest, most removed feeling to go from being there every week to never going at all. I remember feeling like I was missing an appointment or something.

Oh, warning. This post should possibly come with a potential TMI warning. I have zero filter when it comes to oversharing, but I know that some who read this (Patricia I'm talking to you) hate, hate hearing about uber-personal stuff. So, there's the warning. Nothing huge at all, but I wanted to put it out there.

My appointments always start with giving a pee sample. I'm not really positive what they check for in the pee...maybe making sure my preg hormone is still up there, proteins, etc. etc. etc. This time I had Connor with me and Jeffrey hadn't arrived yet so he came with me into the restroom, which is totally normal. I realized that he was going to see me pee into a cup and that this could create issues...monkey see, monkey do?? I told him that the doctor needs mama to pee into the cup so they can make sure it's good, but that he should still pee in the potty. He said ok but continued to look longingly at the cups. After I did my business, I stepped out for the customary weigh-in. I watched Connor while she weighed me and saw him wander back into the bathroom. I knew he couldn't resist the urge of those damn cups. She told me that she needed to weigh me again because she showed a 4lb loss, which I just knew couldn't be right this week...other weeks, yes but not this one. I feel like I can see myself gaining and sure enough I gained 2 pounds which is their goal...a pound a week. I pulled him out of the bathroom and we waited for the doctor, continuing to explain the "don't pee in cups" policy that would now probably be a daily reminder.

Once Jeff arrived Connor continued to tell him about peeing in a cup and we listened to Noah's heartbeat which stuck in the 140s which is good. He moves constantly when they are trying to get the heartbeat which I find hilarious, and the nurse does not. Since I'm now 34 weeks along, he should be about 4 3/4 lbs and about 18 inches long. The great news is that at this point, babies with no underlying health issues are just as likely to arrive healthy as if they arrived full term. Such great news since I keep having concerns that he's going to arrive early. I told my doctor that I've been having some pressure 'down low' and that it comes and goes, but def feels like there's something going on down there. He asked if I'd had any contractions and I said I didn't think so. I know for sure that I haven't had any real ones, trust, but I never had braxtons with Connor so I have no idea what those are like. He decided to check me just in case which I totally wasn't um...prepared for.

Now, at this point in pregnancy my entire appointment happens with me fully dressed. When my doc said he wanted to check my cervix and make sure there wasn't anything going on he asked me if I had my underwear on. This was hilarious to me and I asked him if many of his patients arrive commando for his appointment. He has a sick sense of humor so he laughed with me. Jeff looked annoyed. I just thought it was pretty funny to ask. Yeah, I have underwear on. He stepped out so I could change and of course Jeff asked why I couldn't just answer a simple question. lol. oh jeffrey, it's like you don't know me at all.

Turns out my cervix is closed up tight so there's no sign of action at this point. Good news. I'm measuring externally at about 36 weeks and I'm technically 34 weeks so he may not even have us do the other ultrasound in the next couple of weeks. I have my next appointment in two weeks on the 4th of May and he said he'll decide then whether or not to order up a last ultrasound. Kinda hope he does so that we can see him one last time before he arrives!

So that's about it for around here. Life should be slowing a bit here in the home stretch. Chi Omega events have wrapped up for the most part so I can be focussing on getting rest, getting the house all ready and getting comfortable leaving work for a couple months. Oh, and we thought we'd found a new daycare place for Connor and Noah, but last week I visited a place that is literally right next door to my office and we're pretty sure it's a sure thing that the boys will be starting there the first week of August. Feels great to have that off our to-do list. Oh, and the stroller issue has been solved. A friend, Allison is done with her double stroller and graciously gave it to us. Thank you!! I really didn't want to spend the money if we never, ever used it so this is a perfect solution. Friends are super.

Next Tuesday my office is throwing a sort of baby shower along with another coworker who is pregnant so that should be fun. If I remember, I'll take and post a few photos of the festivities :)

Thanks for checking in on us...36 days to go!

Week 33 Update

Week 33 and still going strong! I feel huge, but recognize that I'm not really that ginormous. I had a couple events this past weekend where I had to dress up which is an odd thing to do when you are this far along. If you've been pregnant, you know that a dress can fit fine with baby in one position and be completely tight if he changes his position. This is super for planning, let me tell you!!

It was a busy weekend. Anyone reading this who knows me personally knows that I'm involved in my sorority. I'm an advisor for the collegiate chapter at ASU and I'm also the President of the Phoenix Alumnae Group here in AZ. These are two fairly large roles with two totally different sets of duties and responsibilities. I enjoy duties :) This was a big Chi Omega weekend among other things. Friday night I chaparoned the Spring Formal for the collegiates. Fortunately, all I really had to do was be there for loading up busses to ensure that everyone heading to the event was "able" to get there without causing us to lose a deposit on the charter bus. I'll spare the details, but I have to say that I was right where these girls were just a 7 years ago so I have a tough time regulating their behavior! I still remember Jeffrey and I going to these events and all that it entailed. Fun times, and all a big part of my college experience! But we managed to step up about the whole thing, and I think that for the most part we were able to confiscate everything that needed to be taken :) Sunday morning, we held the annual Eleusinian Brunch to celebrate Chi Omegas Founders, seniors and all Sisters. It's a beautiful event with yummy food and fun awards. I love this event. It's a ton of work, and I'm thrilled when it's over. Now, we just need to get past Graduation in May and I'll have a bit of a break when Noah arrives. lol. I swear, you'd think we timed this pregnancy!

Anyway, that was some of our busy schedule this past weekend. We also held our 2nd quarter alumnae meeting, attended our niece Madison's baptism and of course went to Aidan Calabretti's (Connor's bff) 3rd birthday party :). We took care of some planning for Connor's own party next weekend and ran a few other errands as well. This was an exhausting weekend. I'll post some photos tomorrow for Nearly Wordless Wednesday for sure.

In Noah news, he feels huge. I was experiencing some different feelings this weekend and Monday so I looked up Braxton Hicks contractions. The feelings were totally painless, totally sporadic and not a big deal at all. It just seemed different than his normal movements and so I wasn't sure what I was experiencing. I still don't think it's braxtons but I'm not really sure what it is. I think it's just Noah moving around differently. Who knows. All I know is that the contractions I felt for 40 hours with Connor are unmistakable so I'm not concerned. I remember thinking, how on earth will i know i'm in labor? ha. stupid. you know. i'm still hoping to avoid feeling a single contraction this time around, so please cross your fingers out there friends and family!

At 33 weeks, he's probably just over 4 pounds (like holding a pineapple) and 17 inches long. Laying down and sitting are both really uncomfortable. It's tough to explain but it's nearly impossible to find a position that's comfortable, and once you do it becomes painful after 10 minutes or so. Sitting can be really painful on the lower back and it feels like your ribs are protruding from your body. I'm waddling for sure, rather than walking but still insist on wearing heels. Ask me again in a few weeks and I'm sure I will have swapped them out for ballet flats and flip flops. I'm not experiencing any swelling at all, so that's great news. I should be gaining about a pound a week at this point, but I'm not a scale person so I have no idea on that. Guess I'll find out at my appointment next week. All in all, I'm feeling really good. The sickness has all but completely subsibed so as far as i'm concerned I'm doing amazing. I'll deal with some discomfort and lousy sleep for sure!

The countdown to delivery is 44 days...quickly approaching! Still need to get the rest of Connor's stuff out of Noah's room, work on Noah's name letters and stock up on basics. We did buy a little outfit this weekend that will maybe work for his 'going home from the hospital' outfit, but it's hard to tell size-wise. I remember the outfit we brought for Connor was huge, huge! Jeffrey ended up having to run out and buy preemie stuff since everything we brought for him was huge. Actually, Connor is wearing the shirt we brought for him in his 6 month school photo! lol. oops.

That's all for now, thanks for checking in on us!!

Week 32 Update

32 weeks along. Wow. At first, this pregnancy just dragged on and on. I think that could partially be due to the fact that I found out at a normal time this time around. With Connor I didn't really find out I was pregnant until around 9 weeks along--long story, happy ending! With Noah I found out at 6 weeks when I guess most women find out that they are pregnant. Added to those additional 3 weeks, this time around I'm chasing a 3 year old around, potty training and busier than ever. Those things seem like it should make the time pass faster, but it really doesn't.

I've been letting it sink in lately that this will be our last baby. My last time being pregnant. A very small part of me is sad about that, but most of me knows it's the total, perfect, right decision for our family (and my sanity) so I'm pleased with our decision.

So, today I'm 32 weeks along. Exactly 51 days until Noah arrives. So much to do, and agreeably some are more important than others.

* Our front yard is full of weeds. Once they get pulled, we need to toss down that pre-emergent junk cause we're going to have zero time to be pulling weeds this summer. Any volunteers? Can't wait until our boys are old enough to handle this dreaded chore.

* Get Noah's room in order-we've done nothing. seriously, practically nothing.

* Pick up basics like onesies, receivers, towels, a new changing pad cover, a new mattress pad, and other things that he will need. It's mostly small stuff we need the 2nd time around but it's still feeling like a lot of stuff. My office is nice enough that they are putting together a little get together (not a shower...i'm anti-2nd baby shower) so hopefully we'll be able to cross a few of these items off!

* Make a flippin decision on whether or not we need a double stroller. ugh. I really don't want to spend the money on one if we're not going to use it. Connor hasn't done the whole stroller thing in nearly a year, but the way he's been acting lately causes me to reconsider my earlier opinions on those child harnesses/leashes. I'm just sayin'...

* Get through the next 7 weeks of work and come to a place where I can walk away from my job without springing into a panic everytime I think about what I'll be coming back to in July.

* All kinds of Chi O stuff...graduation, senior ceremony, Eleusinia this weekend, book clubs, formal this weekend, the list here is endless I swear.

* Connor's birthday party is next weekend. I haven't ordered a cake yet. Fail. Besides book the location and send the invites I haven't actually done anything yet. This is not like me so I'm kinda freaked. Groan. I still need to decide what I'm doing for favors and get going on those too.

Back to Noah :) He's scheduled to be measuring about 3.75lbs and 16.75inches long. He'll probably gain a third to half of his birth weight between now and his arrival. He's now got real fingernails and real hair so he's looking more and more like a real baby!

I just got home from my doctor's appointment and it was a quick one. I peed in a cup per usual and they listened to Noah's heartbeat. He was going strong at 130, which is great at this point. My BP was great and I'm up 2lbs from my last appointment two weeks ago. I never want to know my actual weight, but the doctor told me that I'm still down from the beginning of my pregnancy which is hilarious and ironic all at the same time. I think that this time around I lost about 20lbs during my first and second trimesters...same as with Connor.

This seems like enough rambling for one night, so I'll wrap it up here. Next appointment is in two weeks!

Week 31 Update

I officially have 58 days to go until Noah arrives. Wow. Just in case anyone was wondering why there's a discrepency between the ticker at the top of the blog and the creepy floating baby to the right, there is a reason. The one at the top is a countdown from my actual due date (june 1st) so that I could have something showing development of where he's actually at each week. Since I'm a scheduled delivery, if I went by that date all of his developmental milestones would be off a week or so. The creepy baby ticker on the right shows the number of days left until May 27th, d-day, delivery day. Now that I've written this all out, I'm guessing no one was wondering but that's ok.

I'm officially 31 weeks gestation today and that's pretty exciting. I haven't had any braxton hicks at all which is great, since I never had them with Connor and wouldn't know what they were if I felt them. My goal this time around is still to avoid feeling a single contraction so we'll see.

Noah is still consistently acitve and moves around all day long. At this point, he should be weighing in at 3.3 lbs and about 16 inches long. His weight would be like carrying 4 oranges in your arms. He's currently headed into a large growth spurt though and should be gaining lots of size over the next weeks. I can tell he's bigger. My belly is solid and Noah takes up a lot of room in there right now. It's funny, I feel like Connor would react to something I ate or drank after 20 minutes or so but I swear Noah starts moving around within moments of eating or drinking anything at all. Maybe this means that he'll eat more than Mickey chicken nuggets, hot dogs and mac and cheese when he is three. So, sleeping has become much more difficult in the past week. I'm up and down to the bathroom a few times a night as usual, but getting comfortable is next to impossible. Those pregnancy pillows are a waste as far as I'm concerned, so I didn't even bother this time around.

We made a wee bit of headway in Noah's room this weekend. We actually went in there which is a big step right now. We managed to get two bags of our junk out that were just being stored in there and take them into the garage...when they will actually make it over to Goodwill, well I just don't really know. His mattress is now in his crib and his sheet is on. Not huge steps, no. It's really odd seeing the mattress that high up in the crib, considering it's been dropped to the absolute lowest setting for over two and a half years now. Of course, this prompted Connor to want to get in the crib so I plopped him in there and he rolled around talking some gibberish about it being Noah's bed. Cute.

I love the first pic, true toddler in motion jumping in the crib. He even brought some of his fav animals into Noah's crib so that his brother could love them too. Ah, brothers.

Week 30 Update

Ahhh, relief! Yesterday's appointment went great. Our doctor said he was "pleasantly surprised" at the positive results and so were we. We had the ultrasound first and the tech was great. Don't get me wrong, good doctors are amazing, but it's the techs and nurses who really make or break a doctors visit...and a delivery for that matter! She knew it was our 2nd baby, and that it was our 5th ultrasound with Noah but she still took the time to point out things like his stomach, veins, blood flow, parts of the face, boy junk, etc. So appreciated!

Now, to the important stuff...it's rare to measure exactly the same as your gestation, but oddly enough yesterday at my appointment Noah was measuring right at 29 weeks, 6 days...as was my amnio fluid. Since today I'm exactly 30 weeks, yesterdays measurements were right on the money. Such great news that my amniotic fluid was right on...we could see him swallowing it and his kidneys looked great as well since those were the concerns. So, all is well in my belly and my due date is staying the same. My uterus is still measuring a bit bigger than 30 weeks externally but no one is concerned with that so I'm not either. Maybe I can finally be past all the complications and concerns of this pregnancy...the hyperemesis gravidarum, the stomach flus, the previa, the accreta and now the concern with amniotic levels. Am I having my tubes tied when they deliver Noah? Why yes I am. Two amazing boys is just perfect and pregnancy just doesn't love me so I think I'll call it a day!

The rest of the appointment went great. Noah's heartbeat was at 148 and my BP was perfect. We learned that Noah is already 3 pounds, which is exactly half the size Connor was when he was born and I still have 8-ish weeks left...looks like he'll surely be a bigger baby than his brother. Hard to guess just how big, but my guess right now is that he'll be right around 7 pounds. We didn't really have any other questions since the concern of the measurement discrepancy was gone but we learned that i'm now to the point where my appointments will be every two weeks. This is the point where it feels like you live at your drs office. After a few of these every two week appts, I'll bump to once a week appointments where they'll start to check my cervix for progress. I think they still do that even though i'm a scheduled section--no idea.

Here are a few of the pics from yesterdays appointment - Noah at 30 weeks! He still didn't really cooperate with the tech by keeping his hands up by his face and kicking wildly so it was tough to get good measurements at times but she managed. He's still really cramped in there and the placement of my placenta sometimes made it difficult to get good face pics.

here's a profile shot. he's laying on his back and his face in the middle-right of the photo

Noah's foot - seriously guessing these monsters are going to come out size 5 or something.

this is why i feel like i'm being beat up all day. feet on the left, arms punching in the middle, face on the right :) Those feet are huge!

love this 3D shot of his face

Brothers :)

I love that they are already so similar. Funny thing though...that's Noah's hand up to his face, but it's Connor's foot up in his face!

Otherwise, not too much new stuff going on. I'm really starting to need some help getting out of comfy chairs and up off the floor when i'm playing with Connor. I overdid it this weekend and pulled weeds for about 45 minutes and am still really sore. There are apparently still ab muscles under this baby belly and they are not pleased with me right now. I know I shouldn't be doing that much right now, but I took advantage of Jeffrey not being home to tell me otherwise! I'm at that point where sleeping is becoming increasingly more and more difficult so I'm pretty exhausted.

That's it for now. Thank you everyone for the positive thoughts yesterday...and throughout. We really appreciate it!

Week 29 Update

I turned 29 this year and now I'm in my 29th week. Pretty great. After this week I'll be in my 30th week and since I won't be making it all the way to 40 weeks I just have a number of weeks left...72 days to be exact. Still holding out hope that he stays in here until that day. I have no idea why I keep having thoughts of him arriving early...I have zero reason to be concerned with that. I'm blaming too many pre-term babies being born on shows like Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy and other shows I obsess over. My bad.

This is the point in pregnancy where Noah starts growing exponentially. I sure feel it. My breathing is becoming a bit more difficult when I'm sitting or laying so I can tell that I'm getting bigger. I've still managed to avoid maternity pants because my pre-pregnancy pants are fitting big from being so sick...but they are feeling a wee bit tighter over the last week or so. Not sure how much longer that will last. I may turn to dresses and comfy skirts in the next couple of weeks. Right now, he's supposedly about 15" long and about 2.5 lbs...about the weight of a butternut squash. My belly is getting harder and I can tell where he's at in there nearly all the time. With Connor he was everywhere and moved so much that I couldn't really tell most of the time what was pressed up against my ribs. Noah is a bit more low key and seems to be so much lower than Connor was at times. I swear I feel like he's down hanging out in my pelvis most days. It's a discomfort I can't really explain, but it's doable. I'm funny to watch get in and out of cars and up and down from the couch, because it takes me a bit longer. Forget about getting up off the ground gracefully after reading a book with Connor, because those days are long gone.

He's having lots of brain growth right now and his skeleton is hardening daily. I'm going to up my calcium intake over the next few weeks for that reason...I've never been a great milk drinker so it's time to step it up! This is also the part of pregnancy where heartburn, constipation and hemorrhoids hit full force...fortunately I am only dealing with the first in that list. Knock on some freakin wood immediately, because no thank you.

That's it for us for right now--just looking forward to my (hopefully) last ultrasound on Monday. :)

Week 28 Update--I kept waiting for Sandra Bullock to show up...

holy crap i'm in my 3rd trimester as of today! that's just crazy. the end is near folks!! There are exactly 79 days until my delivery. woot woot.

I'm 28 weeks along today and that puts Noah at 2.25 lbs and about 14.8 inches long from head to toe. He's about the size of a large cabbage I guess. He can open and close his eyes and even has his eye lashes--hope they look like Connor's! He may even be able to see the light coming in through my belly which is pretty intense. In super duper fantastic news, my glucose screening came back good so no worries of gestational diabetes. I'm eating a cookie to celebrate.

He's still moving around quite a bit but it just seems different this time around. He moves a lot, but not nearly as much as Connor. Also, Noah moves around a lot lower-like in my pelvic area...where Connor was always kicking my ribs and other stuff up higher.

in other news, life is crazy as usual. i had a super duper late meeting last night for the Phoenix Panhellenic Association. They hold an annual meeting for all the Alumnae chapter Presidents to meet and brainstorm ideas that work for their group and get feedback on things that maybe aren't working so well. I almost bailed on the meeting when I learned that the invite had the wrong time and that the meeting actually started at 8pm. Am I old, seriously? Because I thought I was going to die when I heard that. Don't these people have jobs?? Or families?? geez. Ok, yeah I'm old. Fine. Anyway, I got home from the meeting around 9:45 to find water seeping out our garage door. Not good. I reluctantly opened the garage and saw water just spraying out of the hot water heater at an alarming rate. Panic. I made it inside without slipping and told Jeffrey, AKA the panicker. He ran outside and we got the water turned off to the house, the garage cleared out and discovered that the only fatality of the flood were some empty boxes and my bunco bag. sigh. All in all, we were really lucky. Lucky that I went to that stupid meeting so that I'd get home within 15 minutes of the water heater starting it's flood, lucky that we don't store a ton in the garage, and lucky that my dad was already planning on coming to our house today to watch connor so that he could also wait for the plumber to arrive. We're also super thankful that we have a home warranty so a brand new hot water heater will only put us out the $50 visit fee rather than hundreds of dollars. Also, so thankful that the water remained in the garage...my mom's hot water heater flooded a few years ago and it seeped into her house through several rooms by the time it was found...new paint, new carpet, new pad, new furniture...thousands of dollars worth of damage. So even though I'm exhausted (finally fell into bed around 11:30), dirty (no shower folks) and completely drained, I'm soooo thankful that the damage was pretty much non-existent and that it will be good as new when I get home.

I decided to schedule my haircut today at lunch so that I can at least have clean hair. Priorities people, priorities!

That's all from here. Hope you're having a great day!!

Week 27 Update - Update..

So I had my doctor's appointment yesterday and it was kinda evenful. I drank my magic glucose potion and that stuff has kinda come a long way since the last time I drank it which was three years ago. BTW, I can't believe that i'm nearly exactly 3 years from the time I was doing all of these things with Connor. Seems like that's too long but not really long enough all at the same time. Anyway, I digress. With connor, they handed me a styrofoam cup of the potion that they must have poured out of a large container somewhere back there. This time they opened a little mini-fridge and there were a bunch of packaged potion bottles for single-use. I found that kinda funny. The girl at the office didn't.

After I successfully drank my potion, I started my actual appointment and my BP was pretty good at 128/78. Then we listened to Noah a bit who clocked in at 138 for his heartbeat. I'm thinking that if they waited another 10 minutes it would have been increasingly higher due to the potion hitting his system. That stuff cracks them out like you can't even imagine. It makes mom tired and makes baby dance and kick for an hour. When my dr came in he measured my uterus which I don't think i've ever detailed on here. If you've been pregnant you know what I mean, but if not I'll try and explain. You lay on your back and the doctor manually measures where he feels the top and bottom of your uterus lies. He has some measuring tape that is marked by weeks to see how you align with the week you are in.

So apparently, even though I'm 27 weeks, my uterus is measuring at 31 weeks, which is a pretty substantial difference - a month! Plus, take into account that at last ultrasound, Noah was measuring a week behind that's a discrepency of more than 5 weeks between he and I. My doctor didn't seem overly concerned but admitted he was confused by the discrepency as well. He's chalking it up to the ultrasound tech possibly underestimating since Noah was so tiny at the time of my last ultrasound (24 weeks). He went ahead and scheduled me for an ultrasound in three weeks so that both my uterus and Noah can be measured at the same time. I'm trying to not be really concerned, but Jeffrey is panicked thinking about Noah arriving a month early. I don't really think that's a concern at this point. It's just such a strange thing to wrap our heads around since I've been told all along that my uterus is smaller than usual so now that I'm measuring a month larger it's confusing to us. We'll see. If he were to really arrive 5 weeks early that would mean roughly a April 22nd arrival and that's just not doable!! I'm sure that's not even going to be an issue, but I'm anxious for this ultrasound to try and clear it all up!

That was really all there was to the appointment yesterday. Thanks for checking in on us!

Week 27 Update

Being sick when pregnant is horrible. why? because you can't take nyquil. I love me some nyquil, but it's on my "no way jose" medication list. I hate that damn list. It limits me to tylenol products which do nothing when you've been an aleve/advil girl for so long. Anyway, this monstrous cold came on Friday with a nagging cough that was hurting in my chest and back. I hate when I'm not feeling well on a Friday, but I don't go to the doctor and it gets worse over the weekend...then your only outlet is gross, stinky urgent care. I hate urgent care-it's like the walmart of medical facilities. So, I got a quick, last minute appointment at my OB office and got a quick check up. Viral, which of course means no antibiotics. I like antibiotics.

So, of course over the weekend it got so, so much worse. I think I averaged a couple of hours of sleep each night and by Monday I was dying. I decided to go into the office for a few hours, bundle up some work I could do at home and get outta there. I am so glad that I work in a small-ish office because I was looking rough yesterday. No makeup, hair pulled back in a bun for lack of flat-iron time and an overall inability to even care that I looked/sounded disgusting with all of my snorting, hacking, etc. Hey, they are lucky I was showered to be honest. I had a meeting at 9am and the threat of jury duty the next day were the only real reasons I went into the office at all. I am honestly the reason colds/flus travel through the workplace. I never stay home when I'm sick, never. Is this a generational thing? Most of my friends who are professionals are the same way...we all show up at work dragging ass sick.

Anyway, luckily I was cancelled from jury duty yesterday afternoon and they approved my excuse. Such a relief. I'm feeling a bit better today and may even take a few minutes this morning and put some makeup on. Big step. I'm back in the office and desperately craving a diet coke. Unfortunately, I have my gestational diabetes glucose tolerance testing today after work so I'm avoiding the craving and sticking to tea and water today. Since the vending machine lady removed the diet coke, I don't drink much at all and I'm a good water drinker so I just have to be extra careful today so I avoid a false-positive result this afternoon.

I'm really not worried about the glucose test, but the long appointment is not something I'm looking forward to. When I arrive, I will be given the magic uber-sugary solution to drink and you must finish it in five minutes. Since I went to college, I'm pretty amazing at taking shots and I'll have that bad boy down in under five seconds. Done and done friends. Then I'll have my normal appointment with my doctor and exactly an hour after I finish the drink, I will have my blood taken and the test will be performed. I don't think I get results immediately, but I honestly can't remember from when I was pregnant with Connor.

I think that at this appointment, we'll schedule my third trimester ultrasound as well. Looking forward to that, as I love seeing Noah in the ultrasounds. Connor as a baby was so much like Connor in utero so I like seeing what traits they have at this point. Some things I've learned about Noah so far is that he's stubborn and kinda ornery like his brother. He doesn't cooperate when we need him to and he kicks the crap out of me if my bladder gets in his way. Not great. He loves life savers and if I haven't felt him in a little bit, I pop a couple of those babies and he's dancing. It's not all candy, just life savers so far that have that much of an immediate effect on him.

At 27 weeks, Noah should be around 2 pounds and about 14 1/2 inches long. His size has more than doubled in the last few months which is nutty. I read that he's about the weight of a cauliflower and the size of a roast. I really can't believe he's that big though. Still way too early for Noah to arrive, it's said that babies arriving at 27 weeks have an 85% survival rate so we'll just keep him in there for a bit longer. Technically, 86 days until his arrival so the countdown is really underway now.

Week 26 Update

We're nearing the finish line folks. 93 days until Noah's scheduled arrival. I feel like he's going to come early though I have zero reason to feel like that so I'm sure he'll arrive at his scheduled time and date!

Noah should be about 14 inches long right now which really feels impossible...plus he's supposed to be about 1 2/3 pounds now and putting on more and more baby fat so he looks more like a normal baby and less like a skeleton. He's about the length of a hothouse cucumber-so random but there you go. This news of course has me thinking that cucumber sandwiches and cucumber water sounds lovely. His ears and eyes are really developing more this week so he's much more aware of what's going on around him...not that there's really anything to keep an eye on in there. Here's the funny news...his testacles are dropping sometime this week. Hooray for descended testicles. I guess the process of dropping takes about 2-3 days so good to know.

As for me, I'm working on trying to stay calm and relaxed. I've had a couple, well let's call them episodes, in the past couple weeks where I could seriously feel my blood pressure going up. Nothing too dramatic, but enough to get me pretty upset...stuff with the kitties, my alumnae group leadership role, being completely and totally swamped at work with no help, finding new child care and the crazy expenses that go along with that and just other randomness that's going on. I'll survive, but I've just got to breathe and call the eff down. :) Today I entered a request to be released from jury duty. I have my gestational diabetes tolerence screening the day the trial I was assigned to starts and with all my issues I've had this time around I really want to stay on schedule with my OB appointments. I'm supposed to report to the courthouse on Tuesday the first and I'll find out this friday...the 26th after 5pm if my request was granted. Fingers crossed!

I made my hospital bag list yesterday. I know it's crazy early, but I like planning and I'm also a big fan of lists. I don't want to go into labor and realize too late that my cell phone is dead and I have no charger. Since I'll be having a c-section, I'll be there for several days so I want to be sure we're all set. So dumb, but I'm really excited about the cute bag I'll be taking along to hold all of my unnecessary extremely important items. It's a super cute black and white damask bag with my embroidered monogram. love. does my Carly know me well or what!?!

That's really it for now. Remember, fingers crossed that I'm let out of jury duty!!

Week 25 Update

So baby Noah is the size of a rutabaga today, as I'm officially in my 25th week. That also means I have 100 days until his arrival....meaning tomorrow i'll be in the double digits. Crazy. This week, Noah should be around 13 1/2 inches long and about a pound and a half. His size will increase lots faster at this point, which means I'll be getting huge at an alarming rate. Watch out. He should be getting more hair now and lots of baby fat too!

For some strange reason, while I've totally wrapped my head around the fact that I'm pregnant the fact that there's going to be another child still escapes me sometimes. Do I think I'm some kind of surrogate? No. I think the thought of being a family of four is just a wee bit surreal still. Assuming it will sink in when his room is all prepped and ready, when I'm packing for the hospital or when they hand him to me. :)

Speaking of hospital bag...I've had all kinds of crazy hospital dreams about going into labor early and being mad that I didn't have my bag packed with the essentials...my own pillow, slippers and socks, phone/camera/ipod chargers, and other necessities. When you already know you're going to be in the hospital for 3-4 days it's best to have plenty of options so you're not having to send hubs home daily to grab items you forgot. Maybe I'll kill the craving and start my hospital list. There's no way I'm packing it all up yet, but a list is a bit more reasonable I suppose.

Did I mention that Connor calls Noah "baby no no"? Cute stuff. Sometimes I think he forgets that he's in there, except when I remind him, which prompts him to do cute stuff like rub my belly and talk to Noah. Then he remembers :) I talked to him yesterday about how he's going to help mama and dada with Noah when his baby brother arrives--slave labor mostly like fetching diapers, getting bottles from the fridge, grabbing a new onesie when Noah pees through his five times a day. Ahhh, newborns :) I'm excited and a bit overwhelmed just thinking of starting all over!! And the thought of having Connor home with us running wild while I'm recovering and Noah is so teeny tiny is a bit much as well.

My plan is to get some Valentines pics posted later this week so stay tuned!

Week 24 Update

I'm 24 weeks today and that means my pregnancy is officially viable. Super exciting news and a huuuuuge landmark! I'm sure it's not going to matter because Noah isn't making his debut anytime soon, but it's still a pretty great thing to have reached viability, meaning that it's possible for the baby to survive if born today. Now, survival at this point isn't great and isn't easy, but the possibility of survival is there! woot woot!

I had another OB appointment yesterday and all went well. We briefly went over the results of last week's level two ultrasound and everyone involved seems really pleased with the results. The heart looks great, not that they were concerned with it but the confirmation is wonderful nonetheless. While Noah is still measuring about a week small, my uterus is somehow measuring a week ahead...can't figure that one out. The point is though, that my due date isn't changing which pleases us. I really don't care for the idea of being pregnant in June. No gracias. Plus, we have Connor's school schedule all worked out based around a May 27th-or before-delivery.

My next appointment is set for three weeks from today to do my gestational diabetes screening which is done at 27 weeks. Since there aren't really any symptoms to note, this testing is the way to find out if you have it. If I come back positive, I'll undergo a longer test that will say for sure. It's only about 2-5% of pregnant women who have gestational diabetes so I'm not really too worried. At this appointment, I'll drink the magic super-sugar potion and they will draw blood an hour later and see how well my body processed the sugar. I remember that when I was pregnant with Connor, my dad had just recently been diagnosed with Type II and he was scaring me with how wretched and horrible tasting the sugary solution is. Thanks dad. I drank it and while it wasn't Diet Coke, it wasn't as horrible as I'd imagined. Kinda like a combo of flat orange soda and hawaiian punch. Nothing I'd drink for fun, but not as gag-inducing as I'd feared.

I have what will most likely be my last ultrasound set for 6 weeks away. I'll be 30 weeks along and nearing the end of the whole journey. It seems so far away right now, but that's ok...we still have lots and lots of work to do to get ready.

Even though Noah is about a week small, I'm still going to post the updates according to normal or average growth...because I have nothing else to go on. This week Noah is supposed to have gained another 4 ounces putting him just over a pound and about the length of a long ear of corn. The respiratory system is working overtime this week to prepare for breathing on his own and his little taste buds are continuing to develop.

Exciting stuff, thanks for checking in!

Week 23 Update

I'm 23 weeks, which means I'm a week from being considered viable. that's a big milestone so i'm pretty stoked. Not that there's any sign at this point, that I won't go to term, but it's still really nice to know that we're almost there just in case.

Baby Noah is almost a full foot long now and weighs over a pound. His ears are working overtime and I read that it means he'll get used to the noises he hears so that they don't completely terrify him after he's born. I feel like Noah is going to be bigger than Connor, who was only 6lbs, 2oz. I have no reason for thinking this, but I do. I also feel like they are going to look really different. I see Noah being dark where Connor is fair. Who knows...I thought they were both girls so I have no clue. I'd be equally thrilled if Noah looked just like Connor, who I find painstakingly adorable.

As for me, I'm doing really good. The throwing up is now nearly gone. A few times a week usually. Usually it's because I went too long inbetween eating and the stomach acids got the best of me. Yesterday I ate something too fast and it came right back with a pissed off fury. Live and learn. He's moving quite a bit now, but mostly when i'm cramping his room still. If he doesn't have plenty of room to move around he gets squirmy and I like that. It's the best way to know that all is well when he moves around. I've had some discomfort during a few of his most active moments, but I'll gladly take that kind of discomfort! I like knowing he's moving around in there.

I got what I thought was exciting news this morning. My friend Keiko had her baby Cash yesterday and I saw pics of Cash with his older brother B on facebook. The pics were adorable--B looking in on Cash in his little plastic hospital crib. I have been looking forward to the family pic in the hospital bed forever, but most valley hospitals have restrictions on children being at the hospital right now. Thanks RSV and Swine Flu. I hate you. I mean, I get the restrictions, but I still hate you. But seeing those pics gave me hope. They delivered at Banner Gateway, but I hoped that Chandler would follow suit and lift their own restriction. I called them this morning like a crazy person and found out, nope. And worse, they don't forsee it lifting by the time Noah is born. I'm seriously so crushed. I really wanted that pic of the four of us. Our first family of four photo and so I am truly disappointed. I'm now considering home birth. Not really.

Week 22 Update

The worst is behind me! The puking and constant nausea is almost completely gone. It's such a difference and so nice to actually be able to enjoy pregnancy for the most part. I went from getting sick between 10-12 times per day to really only getting sick 2 times a day on a bad day. I've had a few days where I didn't puke at all. Progress my friends, progress! Such a horrible thing to say, but i'm worried that now that i'm not constantly puking, i'm going to get Huge.

It's been strange not having to be at the doctor's office as often, so I have that feeling that I've missed an appointment even though I haven't. I find myself checking the calendar multiple times throughout the day--this can also be blamed on pregnancy brain which I swear is a real thing. Unfortunately, as moms know, it doesn't go away after delivery...it just becomes baby brain. super.

Well, since i'm officially 22 weeks along today Noah is the size of a spaghetti squash. I have no idea how big a spaghetti squash is, but I'm told it's about 11" long. His little tooth buds are formed and his eyes are too--the irises won't have color for a bit still but it's crazy to think that this little guy already looks like a very small baby at this point. He's about a pound now and will really start growing more rapidly now.

We've been spending time getting both Connor and Noah's rooms ready to go, although we still have about 4 months until delivery day. I want Connor totally settled into his new room by the time Noah arrives...anything we can do to cut down on the initial jealousy is great as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to get Connor's room a bit farther in the process and get some pics posted. It's literally a playroom with a bed in it. It's a disaster, but we'll make sure it's clean enough for a few quick photos. Noah's room still has some of Connor's toys and clothes in it but otherwise it just needs some organization. My amazing friend Patricia is going to make him some super cute owls for his room so we're going to go and pick out fabric this week for those. I love this, but just can't pay $70 for a stuffed animal that will surely be covered in pee and vommit on a weekly basis.

Connor seems to be really excited about Noah and tells anyone who asks that his little brother's name is going to be Nono. Clearly, we have an annoying nickname forming here already. stellar. He also calls him Baby Madison sometime, as that's his youngest cousin's name so all babies right now are Baby Madisons. He's really great around babies right now which is nice and surprising all at the same time.

That's pretty much it for us right now. Thanks for checking in and I'm going to try to get Nearly Wordless Wednesday posts back up and running so fingers crossed for a post tomorrow!