Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to my hubby today! I love you very much and look forward to celebrating this special day with you.

Pregnancy Tales

More fun tidbits on pregnancy as of late.....

-The baby is moving so much and it is really visible from the outside now. I still can't make out the baby's exact position (i.e. what body parts I'm feeling/seeing) but I can certainly tell when something is poking up under my rib cage. This week, I've noticed that sometimes when I cross my arms and rest them on my belly, the baby kicks upward with such force that my arms actually catch a little air and fly off my tummy (so sorry baby, was I invading your space?) The same thing happens if I lean too hard against a desk or table-KICK-it's like a "get back!" warning.

-I had a whole pile of labs drawn last week. I was thrilled that I passed my gestational diabetes screening (I was trying to imagine how the scene would go down if I did have diabetes and my Dr tried to send me, the dietitian who counsels patients with gestational diabetes to see a dietitian about my own gestational diabetes. Thankfully, we don't have to go there!) :o) The lab draw was torture though! They took 8 whole tubes of blood again and I nearly passed out! I am convinced that maybe they were secretly taking extra blood to donate it--the vampires! You never know with this economy....desperate times call for desperate measures. Seriously though, my nurse husband said he could have run the same labs on half the volumes of blood at his work. I guess they are just TRYING to make me anemic!

-Yesterday was weird. I seriously felt like I gained 3# all at once (according to the scale, I actually may have.....time will tell if it was a fluke). All of a sudden, I felt HUGE! I tried on 2 shirts in the morning, neither of which fit right anymore. I couldn't breathe deeply (my lung capacity is truly being compromised now). I couldn't bend over. My stomach seriously couldn't have gotten tighter--I think it was stretching before my eyes! My friends, this is the beginning of the 3rd trimester I'm afraid! ***And if I have you worried, don't be. I know huge weight gains overnight is not a good sign. I think most of yesterday's symptoms were due to the position of the baby over the course of the day.

-In Lu of yesterday's changes, I headed straight from work to shop for some larger tops. Graham came home from work, knowing that I had gone shopping, and opened the fridge to help throw on the last fixings for dinner. He burst out laughing when he found a GAP bag in the fridge. HA people! If you (like him) are thinking that the pregnancy forgetfulness has set in, it hasn't....at least not that severely. I had packed my LUNCH in a GAP bag thank you very much! When I told Graham this, he was a little disappointed and proceeded to share with me that he's super excited for the "end of pregnancy" during which he is hoping I really start to get loopy and forgetful and do crazy things that entertain him (like putting my clothes away in the fridge I guess!)

-We attended our first birthing class this week and I actually allowed myself to watch the video of a live birth. I knew that it would either alleviate some anxiety or worsen it. Thankfully, it did the former and I found myself actually tearing up when the baby came out--whoa, was not expecting that! During the video though, I was practicing my new breathing techniques to keep me relaxed and Graham was sitting behind me rubbing my neck and telling me "You're doing such a good job!" Haha, and that was only to keep my conscious during the video! I can only imagine what the real thing will be like! :o) (Actually, I feel quite at ease currently about the whole birthing process and am pleased with the relaxation skills we're learning).

-We've been doing a lot of talking about whether to have an epidural or not. My current birthing plan is to really not have much of a birthing plan because I know it will not go as I plan anyway. I have a general idea in mind but nothing set.

-Our bed has become pretty much 1/2 pillows, half bed. I think at one point Graham took almost every pillow we own (including pillows from the guest bedroom, throw pillows on the living room couches and chairs etc) to try and create a comfortable sleeping position for me. He had me just lay there while he stuffed a pillow here and a pillow there to try and support my back. It wasn't until I got up that I realized he had used about FIFTEEN pillows on the project!!!! Now I think we're down to about 9 pillows (only 5 of which I actually use while I sleep). :o)

Sometimes it is just beyond me how much my body is changing and I have to laugh at all the hoops I go through to try and keep up!

The nursery....well, sort of

I received a special request to post photos of our nursery so far (these are for you Shauna!) Haha, I had to laugh a bit since it so does not look like a nursery just yet. But please do notice we at least have a curtain rod, curtains and color on the wall! We've been trying to refrain from making too many purchases until after we have a shower or two (although we have decided to purchase our crib and dresser/changer). The crib has been ordered and should arrive any day! I'm super excited to get that set up so it will start to feel like a real nursery.

The closet at least has a few things hanging in it (onesies, a neutral blanket and some outfits for a 6 mo old boy which we may or may not get to use on this baby). We also have a good supply of children's books waiting to go on a shelf. Other than that, we don't have much else ready which is driving me NUTS! I know that it will all come together in the end but as a severely anal planner, it's tough for me to be patient!

An addition to the Himes Family

Our dear friends Jackie and Brant welcomed Madelyn Mae into the world on June 19th. We have been long anticipating Maddie's arrival but since she came a few days early, we changed around our weekend plans over Father's Day to make a trip down to Portland to meet her and visit with the new parents. I don't think I could have possibly waited another second to meet this little one! It was so neat to watch our close friends as they enter into parenthood and it made us all the more excited to do it ourselves in a few short months.

Maddie in her Daddy's lap on Father's Day

Practicing....(FYI my baby belly makes a perfect resting places for holding babies)

Looks like he's going to be a natural! Graham got really excited watching Brant lay on the couch with Maddie on his chest. Graham now can't wait to do it with our little one.
CONGRATS JACKIE AND BRANT!!!!!!!!

Reader's Digest Worthy?

I grew up reading all of the funnies sections in my parents' Readers Digest magazines. Did anyone else ever do that? They always used to crack me up!! Today I came across a story that sounded like it could be straight from the "All Days Work" section.

So in the NICU where I work, each baby has their own private room with a clear glass door so that the nurses can still see the babies even when the door is shut. There is also a privacy curtain that parents are welcome to pull closed when they are breast feeding or pumping or just wanting alone time. All that said to preface the following:

A NICU dad shared a hilariously awkward situation that occurred in his baby's room yesterday. His baby was born about 8 weeks early and so is far too young to be able to breast feed at this point. So, his wife has been working on pumping so that her milk supply will come in. Now, there are many tactics used to help promote an increased supply of breast milk one of which is to massage the breast tissue. Apparently, yesterday the couple was alone in the room with the baby with the curtain pulled and the husband was trying to help stimulate the "let down" reflux by massaging his wife's breasts (this may sound totally sexual but it definitely was not so in this instance). Well, of course at this exact moment, someone knocked on the door and asked if it was okay to come in. The husband answered yes, thinking it was his baby's nurse needing to come check on the baby (pretty much all privacy is lost when you earn a stay in the NICU). Well, the voice at the door did not belong to his baby's nurse but instead to the chaplain who was coming by to offer the family the Eucharist (my hospital is a Catholic hospital). Wow, I'll bet that poor chaplain sure got an eyeful! The situation was certainly not as it appeared, but man, imagine trying to talk your way out of that one!!?? :o)

Vancouver Highlights

Our overnight getaway was absolutely wonderful. Some of our recent trips have been slightly bittersweet, knowing they are somewhat of a "last hoorah" time thing before baby. This trip was great because a) it was spontaneous b) it is local-a perfect distance for a day trip or one-nighter and c) my parents live en route to Vancouver and I'm SURE they would let us drop a baby by on our way up north if we ever wanted to do this in the future. Our trip included:

An afternoon picnic and walk around Stanley Park

A wonderfully priced room on the 32 floor

An amazing view of the water from our room

Lots of driving/wandering downtown (This one's for you Glendon and Kaytee! Even though we couldn't be with you in person this weekend, we thought of you and found "your" street.)

A photo by the Olympic Countdown Clock

SUNSHINE! (We had perfect weather)

Breakfast outdoors on Granville Island

A total junk binge of french fries and Mudslide Pie at Red Robin (after enjoying a gourmet meal at an eclectic place called Revel in Gastown)

Not pictured: a trip up Grouse mountain in the Gondola, just like they did in the bachelorette! :o) We spent the afternoon up there, enjoying the views, a picnic, a lumberjack show and a grizzly bear sighting. On our way home, we stopped briefly in Bellingham to see my parents and one of my brothers. We built a bonfire in the backyard and roasted marshmallows...I think summer must officially be here!

Funny Story

Today someone at work asked me how I've been feeling.

My response was this: "Well, is extreme irritability a common symptom at 28 weeks?"
(I mean seriously, I hit 28 weeks on Sunday and since then, BAM!!! Watch out people!!!)

Anyway, so one of the nurse practitioners who I absolutely love and adore overhears me saying I'm irritable and immediately looks up and calmly but urgently tells me I need to call and tell my OB about it. I was a bit surprised and so asked her what my symptoms of irritability could possible indicate (meanwhile I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how it could physiologically be worrisome, whether it might lead to preterm labor, high blood pressure etc). She again, trying hard not to worry me, very firmly says "You're 28 weeks along and you're feeling irritable, I just really think you need to let your OB know."

"Yikes!" I'm thinking...."this must be really serious." But I really trust this nurse practitioner and am confident she really knows her stuff so I'm about ready to run to my office to call my OB. Thankfully, a piece of me hesitated, wondering "What on earth am I going to tell him!!? Um, Dr....I've been extremely cranky. My coworkers said I needed to call to let you know." Hmmmm. I bet if I said that he would think I was really off my rocker.

Meanwhile, the nurse practitioner can sense I'm a bit puzzled and so gives me the reasoning behind her concern (though she still is being very cautious not to worry me): "Anytime a pregnant woman's uterus started to feel irritable, you really want to watch closely for preterm labor."

HAHA! I could have lost it then and there. She was under the impression my UTERUS was irritable, NOT my emotions!!!!! Oh my goodness did we giggle once we realized the miscommunication!!

I guess the moral of the story is this: When it comes to pregnancy, many things can be irritable so BE SPECIFIC!! :o)