I made it!!

Today the midwife gave the green light so to speak!! She said I am officially 35 weeks and can have my baby anytime now with her blessing! And I won't have to go to the big city hospital.... The countdown is on... Emma was born at 37 weeks...

I am trying to stay optimistc... but why do I have a bad feeling he will be born late???

Oh... I was also thinking how nice it would be to go into labor tonight with Pete home and Emma at my parents.... Life could only be so good!

When it rains it pours!

Saturday night I got up around 3 in the morning to... you guessed it... go to the bathroom!! When I got back to bed I asked Pete to go out to the living room to get my migraine medicine. When he stepped on the floor he screeched and said... Ewww I think that dog peed on the carpet...

I was like... um... okay... so he got down with a towel and that is when he realized that the carpet was wet a huge area. The whole walk way by the door, under the bed and in the closet. So we proceeded to try and figure out what could have gone wrong! First we though the frig... it is on the other side of the bedroom wall. But nope it wasn't that! Then we thought maybe the pipe had come undone from the washer in the hall by the bedroom... Nope not that either... Then it dawned on Pete... The hot water heater is in our closet. So he said a few choice words and went flying out the backdoor ( the shutoff valve for our water is out there) only to find water POURING out from under the house. He shut off the water and we thought.... great!!...

It turns out that pressure was somehow building up in the pipes that connect to the outgoing water and the water heater. The fitting had blown and we had no idea how long it had been like that!

Pete fixed it Sunday and for 8 hours it held. We had just gotten into bed and were almost asleep when we heard a boom and tons of rushing water... It blew again!! Another night of no sleep!! ( for Pete anyhow. He worried while I slept a little)

This morning Pete went to the park maintenance man who came in and fixed it free of charge for us. He used a different fitting and so far so good! But Pete stayed home anyways to make sure it wouldn't blow while I was alone.

The good part in all this is that Emma spent the night with my parents and Pete and I were able to spend the evening together alone which was nice since tomorrow is our anniversary!!!

So the pouring of the rain comes in because we also have to have the brakes and rotors repaired in the van before we can have it inspected by the end of the month... Good thing that Pete is a mechanic!!!

Changes!

So I was getting really bored with that gray color on my last template... Kinda depressing... So I switched to this one... Don't know if it is any better though.

Oh and I also decided I needed to add a ticker to help remind me that IT is almost over!!

We made a little trip to the hospital this morning... again. This time I was feeling lots of yuck and wet down there and TONS of pressure with every contraction that I have.

So when I got there they checked to see if I was leaking fluid.... NOPE! And she didn't seem all that concerned about the pressure since my cervix was still closed. But! She said that it could definitely be the cause of the horrendous hemorrhoids that have moved in down south which may I add are totally uncomfortable, painful and torturous?... At any rate... The baby's heartrate was kinda fast so they wanted me to stay and be watched for a little while. They tanked me up with some fluids and watched my contractions and then deemed me able to go home.

I only have one complaint.... The nurse asked me what I was having... I said a boy. So she says awww... the million dollar family!... I answer, Yup I am done, it is apparent to me my body doesn't like to be pregnant!

Here it is... sit down... the rudeness is about to come... Ready??

She answers "Well, a little more time between babies would probably have done the trick!"

WHAT????? How rude is that?? Is it any of her business how close my children are?? Besides all that, Emma was 11 months old when I got pregnant... she should concentrate that statement on women who find themselves with child again before their six week checkup (not that that is a problem in my eyes either!)... Someone should tell that lady to SHUT UP! And besides all that if it had anything to do with the spacing of the kids then I wouldn't have had this same exact problem with Emma.

Okay I am done ranting about it.

Thanksgiving was very nice! We played games and food and watched the snow come down outside! Here is the only problem as far as I could see... Being pregnant during the holidays stinks! You can't fit as much pie in there as your little heart desires!!

Cloth Diapers, Ebay, and Thanksgiving....

I have been cloth diapering Emma for a week now. It is actually going great! We still use disposables at night because lazy me hasn't finished her wool soaker!! We also used disposables on Sunday because the little skirt she wore would have never fit over a cloth diaper. As for tomorrow I am pretty sure I am going to cart all the cloth diapering paraphanelia over to grandma's. We will give it a whirl somewhere besides home.

So Jamie encouraged me to go on eBay the other day to check out cloth diapers and such... Can I just say... FUN!!! I got a really good deal on 4 AIO's (all in one, no diaper cover needed) and a small wool cover with a monkey on the butt for Josiah! The best part about the AIO's is they are supposed to be one size fits all... so they fit birth to potty. If I like them on Emma, then I plan to buy a bunch more and the two kids can share them. They would be VERY convenient for going out, going to church, and for daddy to changer dipes!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the good ole US... Pete, the baby(for not much longer!) and I will be going to my grandma's for dinner. We are excited about spending time with family. On this past Monday my mom and I spent all day cooking for Thanksgiving. We made an apple pie, pecan pie, cherry pie, and pumpkin pie. Also some homemade french bread and sugar cookies. Then today I stuck some miniature cheesecakes in the oven so that we could have those to snack on as well.

It promises to be a fun day... Grandpa has to work till 3.... bummer! But someone has to run the Y on the holidays too I guess. But he has informed us he plans on being sociable and playing a game this year.... his words! So we are packing a bunch of those into the car as well tomorrow morning.

Speaking of morning... the commute should be right nice due to the fact they are expecting four inches of snow by morning... Lovely!

Hey at least Emma will get to wear her new boots!!

Oh yeah almost forgot.... news on the baby front.... Same old same old... contractions most the night but I was able to get some sleep... I have been feeling some flu like symptoms the past two days.. nausea and diarrhea.... hope it is nothing!

Woohoo!!!!!

I made it one more week!!! Today I am officially 34 weeks. Only one more week left to go till we are in the safe zone for prematurity!!!

I am still getting contractions. Some days are better than others. Night time is usually pretty bad for me. Just like it was with Emma.

For the most part they are just tightenings during the day. But at night... well that is when they get bad. Last night I was up for two hours with them. I would just doze off between them and I would get another worse than the last that would wake me right up. I just breath through them and it seems to get me through.

Today I was talking to Pete and I said "Hey! Since all these contractions started two weeks earlier than they did with Emma, if they follow the same pattern then there is a good possibility that we could have a baby by the end of NEXT week!" (Don't worry... my hopes are no where near up!)

He looked at me, shook his head and said... "Boy that makes it finally sink in, doesn't it?"

Uh... dear?? Just to let you know... We are having a baby.

Letting Everyone Know

The contractions have subsided enough for me to NOT worry about them... Still there but not painful...

We are still betting on an early December baby instead of late December early January... Anyone else want to venture a guess???

Dec 12 will put me at the mark where I was when I went into labor with Emma... but since the nonsense started up two weeks earlier with Josiah we are wondering if he won't just make his debut two weeks earlier than Emma did... BUT! No one knows that but God... and Josiah!

Just you wait and see I'll still be luggin' this belly around on New Year's!

I knew it!!!

I don't usually blog about the news... But this I couldn't pass up...

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=1317690

I knew that I was right! Tonight on the news I heard Dr. Ferber himself say that his method of putting a child to sleep is not always the right way...

So when the nurse at our pediatrician's told me to go home over the weekend and let her cry it out till she fell asleep, and I thought HOW BARBARIC! I was RIGHT!

Oh and this is good....

"Actually, there is no change, I think that's a misconception," said Ferber, the director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at the Children's Hospital in Boston. "Our approach has always been one of compassion."

Yeah... whatever... Compassion... Riiiight... So we let our kids scream till they are scared crapless thinking that we are never going to come and get them if they need us!!! I am sorry.... But I find it very hard to believe that a child under the age of one has this going through their mind... "Hmm... if I cry just a bit longer I KNOW she will come get me... hehehhe.... Just like I planned...."

Okay I am done now.

Labor??? Or not???

Well here is the second soaker that I finished... The picture isn't very good. But this time I knitted on the cuffs to make them rolled. The next one I make is going to have that cream colored waistband with that blue verigated body, cream colored cuffs and a verigated blue tie.

Back to our regularly scheduled post.

I coulda swore I was in labor last night. In fact if it had been closer to my due date I probably would have packed it up and went to the hospital.

I started to get uncomfortable contractions at around 8:45 last night. They were about 8-10 minutes apart. By two in the morning the pain was keeping me awake and they had gotten closer... 4-6 minutes apart. At this point I couldn't sleep anymore. Since I am only 33 weeks I just laid there and prayed that God would give Josiah at least two more weeks of development. Especially if he does have a problem (the cyst) then at least then he would have a better fighting chance.

At any rate. By the time morning came they had finally died down to a dull roar and I was able to just breath through them and then they stopped. Problem is that now around lunch time today they started back in again. Now they are 7 minutes apart and I feel pressure with them. They don't really hurt though.... I don't know what I should do. Seeing as how my midwife is on vacation... the one I spoke with on Monday said.. well they are just Braxton Hicks... Ignore them... At what point do I stop ignoring and start worrying????

As much as I want to see Josiah and hold him in my arms I want to wait at least TWO MORE WEEKS....

Updates

I had an appointment with the midwife yesterday. ( Not MY midwife... she is on vacation... but that is a different story!)

Anywho! I am staying steady with the weight gain... Thank God! I didn't gain anything the past two weeks... which was fine since I had that nice 9 pound weight gain a month or so back...

The baby's heartrate was in the 150's... Uh... Josiah.. are you sure those were boy parts we saw in there????

And my belly is measuring right where it should be for 33 weeks.... So unfortunately there is no chance that just maybe by some stroke of luck I was farther along.... Oh well..

And then after last weeks incident at the hospital, the midwife proceeded to tell the little baby to stay in there for at least two more weeks so that he could be born at our hospital.

Anyways.. here is the story with the midwives...

The one that I see is an old coworker from when I used to work in the maternity ward at Samaritan hospital. So we knew each other. At any rate she "specialed" me for Emma's birth. Which means that she came in for the birth even though she wasn't on call that night. So she plans on doing the same for Josiah.... Here lies the problem... As long as I am not truely in labor the other midwives have to attend me till it is determined that I am in active labor. I think that one of the midwives has a problem wit that. Well when I went to the office I had to see the other midwife because mine is on vacation. She was very short with me and did only what was necessary for the appointment then told me that when I was do to come back Michelle would be back from vacation....

I told her... hey.. it is okay that I had to see you today... It didn't bother me... She kind of looked at me with a weird look and said... Well I thought you WANTED Michelle. To which I answered I do and walked away... How weird is that??? So know I am thinking that maybe I should tell Michelle this so that she is aware that maybe Margaret is kind of miffed that I don't want to see her..... Sigh... I can't wait till all this is over....

We are shooting to make it to 35 weeks. That is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving... Anytime after that he is more than welcome to come and greet the world! Hopeing for a Christmas baby....

Wool Soakers

So I knitted my first wool soaker... but it isn't wool it is just plain old acrylic yarn. I heard somewhere that you can use acrylic but it wouldn't be leak proof for a whole entire night. I used this pattern... I used size 7 circular needles and then size 7 dpns. I never checked my guage.. I sorta just wung it! But the best part is that my homemade cloth diapers fit perfectly in the cover!

I followed the directions to the tee except for the cuffs... I just used three rows of single crochet stitching in the back loop of the stitch.

I ended up finding some wool yarn at AC Moore, a local craft store. So I picked up two skeins of Lionbrand Wool. And then some cool stuff handspun in Chile. I can't wait to use it. When I have those knitted or crocheted up I will share!

Cloth Diapers and weird pregnancy dreams

So I decided that I would sew my own cloth diapers to save even more money than I would by just purchasing them off the internet. The fun part was trying to make a pattern with some paper without buying a pattern. My mom and I worked for an hour and made two prototypes before we agreed on a good size for a newborn. My mom sewed while I cut the material.

For the outer layer we used flannel from Walmart that cost $2.57 a yard. For the outer layer that will touch Josiah's butt we used fleece (a natural wicking agent!) that was the same price. Then for the inside layers inside the diaper we used two layers of an ugly flannel that I got for $1 a yard. And the soaker pad is made out of washclothes folded in thirds. They were 18 for $4. All in all I am going to get about two dozen diapers for $40. They will last for a few months. If we bought disposables for three months it would cost about $240! So yippy!! We saved tons of money. Then when the baby is a couple of months old I will make some more only bigger. They have to be used with diaper covers. I had already had those from Emma so that worked out great!

After doing so much research on the net about cloth diapers and seeing how much they cost I had about given up on using anything other than the good old square cloth diapers that you buy at the store. Then when I saw this pattern on the internet due to my friend Jamie I became excited with the possiblity of being able to make them on my own. It worked great and I plan on making them for the whole time for Josiah. I believe that it will be easier for potty training. I really should make some for Emma as well and just be done with it! But I hate to put the money into it when I am almost done with her! Especially since we have two mega huge boxes of diapers in the closet for her!

The last thing that I want to do is make some wool soaker covers. I found this on the net yesterday and plan on trying it as soon as I can find some "real" wool yarn. I can't get that at Walmart. So it may not pay for me to make them. If that is the case I may just buy some fleece covers off the web and call it good. They run about 15 dollars a piece. But you only need one a night.




Okay moving on....

I am thinking that I may be strange. But has anyone ever had a toilet dream??? I have them all the time. And probably more so now since I am pregnant and have to pee all night!

In my dreams I usually have to go really bad!! But when I finally find the toilet it is out in the open. No stall doors. Or maybe there are doors but there aren't any walls between the stalls. Sometimes there are walls but they aren't tall enough. And then sometimes it is just like one big huge communal bathroom with a whole bunch of toilets just sitting out in the open. And it seems like I am the only one that cares that there is no privacy! Everyone else just goes about their business like there is no problem at all!

My personal favorite (but only for the humor!) is when I finally find these toilets all out in the open like that they are all usually full from the last user. You know! Kinda like when you go to Walmart and skip over three or four stalls till you find one with clean water in it!

Anyways.... I am guessing that you are all going to think I am just about the wierdest person in the world. But these are my toilet dreams! Come on... someone please tell me I am not alone in all this!

Enough Already!!!

Man.... I had hoped against all hope that this pregnancy was going to be different than the last one....

Nope!

All weekend I had painful contractions that really annoyed me and made me uncomfortable... Now I am only 32 weeks today. (That would mean I would be 8 weeks early for those of you that don't know the week breakdown of a pregnancy!) So I decided to call the office today. They made me come in to Labor and Delivery so that they could watch for a bit.

Don't you know that as soon as I walked through the doors of the hospital the contractions stopped?? Isn't that always how it works???

Anyways.... the point I am trying to make...

During my pregnancy with Emma I had started to have contractions about 33 weeks but they were painless. But the problem was that towards the end when they did start to hurt (about two weeks before her birth) I never really knew when I was in labor! I had so been hoping that this go around I would never have a painful contraction before labor so that I would feel the first one and say HEY!! I must be in labor....

After watching me for a little while they decided it wasn't labor and that the baby was okay.. and of course good news... my cervix is long thick and closed... So no dilation... Hope that means the baby will stay put for at least three more weeks so I can deliver at my hospital instead of the medical center in the city. If I can get to 35 weeks they won't really consider him a preemie... Since Emma was born at 37 weeks I am hoping he is going to come early as well... All the signs seem to pointing in that direction... What with everything going exactly as it did before only a week or two sooner... Hey I wonder if that means he will be born earlier than Emma??

I guess now I am just going to hope that my water breaks as a sure sign... *Sigh* I just wish I could have a normal pregnancy....

Oh the bliss....

Emma is completely off bottles now... I wanted to have a break with the washing and what not before Josiah came! So yesterday we had a little party... We got all of Emma's bottles together and let her throw them away in the trash... Then we all clapped our hands and said Yah!!!!

Now since we did that she goes to sleep without even crying... I think that the fact that she visually saw them go in the trash really helped... I am sooooo happy that she is off the bottle... Next hurtle?? Potty training... but I think that is going to wait until spring when she turns two... I don't have the energy right now to deal with that.... Not to mention I probably should get her into a big girl bed before we do that.

The nesting bug is really biting me... I never really did that with Emma but this go around it is really driving me batty... I am having to have things in all the right places and I want it done NOW! Not yesterday.... I FINALLY hung the pictures and quilt up next to Josiah's bed and we got the glider rocker in next to it. I want to get a nursing stool to put my feet up... Then I need to plug the pretty nightlight in on the little table... I want to finish organizing all of his clothes... I still need another little set of drawers or some under the bed storage for the rest of his stuff.... Space is limited here in the our bathroom...(Don't ask!! Those of you who know our house understand....)

We still have a list of stuff that we need to buy for the baby and we are not able to right now so of course that is driving me batty as well!!! Part of having the baby is the fun of getting everything ready and since we are short financially we can't do what I would like to do.... argh... the frustration...

Well maybe I will go and put my feet up for a little while and try to forget about it for a couple hours... I have plenty of time to worry about it tomorrow!

The Countdown Continues

I am now 31 weeks... Only 62 days to go till D-day.... Went to my midwife appointment yesterday.... Good news... I only gained two pounds in two weeks!!! Whew... Thank goodness!!! The baby was definitely head down! And she estimates him at around 3 pounds or so.... The bad news... I won't be able to see my wonderful midwife in two weeks cause she won't be there! So I have to settle for the other one.... I won't see Michelle again until 35 weeks for the dreaded Group B strep swab.... Then hopefully we will be on the home stretch by then...

Another fun thing happened today.... Our childbirth education lady who is also a doula has agreed to be OUR doula for free.... We are excited. But the condition was that we had to kinda understand that she may not be able to make it because her and her husband's second car is out of commission.... If this turned out to be the case she would "doula us" over the phone...
She has no qualms about it being Christmas time when I am due... And to make everything just perfect she is a born again Christian! So none of that earthy weird stuff....

Oh and I almost forgot....

I am enjoying the nice weather Buuuuttttt.... It woke up all the wasps and hornets around our house... So today when Emma and I were waving bye bye to Nana I got stung on my back by a wasp or hornet... not sure cause I didn't see it..... Man did that HURT!!! Still does in fact! How can something so small and easily crushed create such havoc! I was crying when it happened... mom was looking for a stinger and Emma was crying cause mommy was crying.... Oh welll.... Wasn't as bad as labor though! Which we will be experiencing the joys of again in short time.

Call the presses!!!!!

Emma went to sleep in less then ten minutes.... Now that is nothing new... here is the best part....

It was by herself.... (like normal)... with NO BOTTLE!!!!!!

(I should have tried this sooner!!!)

Whew!! (Housecleaning and christmas spirit)

It took me two whole days, a lot of backache, and a million contractions... but I finally finished cleaning the whole house!!! I so proud of myself. I had the energy and decided to just get up and do it. I haven't been able to in weeks, or months. Everytime I would start cleaning and get too active the contractions would get too bad... So finally I sat there and thought hmm... last time I was pregnant I would clean straight through the contractions and nothing bad ever happened. So I just got up and did it...

Course if I post about a new baby in a couple of weeks I will know that I probably should have taken it easy! It would seem that the nesting has finally set in for good. All the cleaning and cooking I have been doing this week, not to mention getting the baby stuff ready. Today I plan on hanging the pictures above his crib. Been meaning to do that! I am going to start getting all the cloth diapers ready and set to go. I have decided to use cloth this go around to save money but I will still be using disposables at night till the night time feedings decrease, and I am able to afford the all in ones that don't leak at all! If anyone cares to buy Josiah a present the all in one's cost $14.95 a piece... wink wink.... I know, I know, it is a little steep but you only need four or five of them....

Well I finally found a Christmas Tree Farm around here so we can go and cut a tree down this year. I am so excited because I have never had a real tree. Pete finally agreed to it since he doesn't want to find a place to store a fake tree. So on the Saturday after Thanksgiving we are going to bundle up and take Emma out to get a tree. The farm that I found takes you out on a trolley into the woods where they have planted all the trees. When you get there they let you loose with a saw and a cart to haul it back to the trolley with. Then you ride the trolley back to the main area where the "shake" the tree free of loose needles, bale it up for you and then put it on your car. Then after all that they give you a mug of hot chocolate and a candy cane! How cute is that???

We are planning on making this our family tradition so we will be doing this in the morning (November 26th) towards lunch then heading home to turn on the music and decorate. Hopefully we will have a couple presents already wrapped so we can get those under there and make it look more festive. It's going to be fun keeping Emma away from the tree and presents!

We are planning to have the shopping and decorating done by that weekend since we don't know when Josiah will be gracing us with his presence. If he is like his sister it will be way before Christmas and we don't want to be shopping with a newborn. Speaking of.... Josiah... if you can hear me... Again I repeat come soon... preferably maybe the third week in December????

For your viewing pleasure

Well I guess it would be for those who don't mind seeing my naked belly and those who are wondering how big I am... Sorry for the quality of the picture... It is the best that I can do without Pete! I am 30 weeks and two days in this picture.

If you can tell.... I have a small stretch mark right near the point where my stomach and hip meet... I was kinda hoping to pass by unscathed like I did with Emma... But I don't think that that is going to happen... I guess when you hit your all time weight high you kinda tend to stretch in places! I can't wear my wedding ring anymore... that never happened with Emma... Makes me sad!

Josiah is killing me!! Carrying a boy is definitely different then carrying a girl... His favorite past time is ramming his little head down into my right hip and elsewhere.... while also stretching and kicking his feet into my left rib or sternum... Feels great!! Then of course there is the fact that he NEVER sleeps! Or if he is sleeping then he moves in his sleep.... Help me someone... I think I may have been taken over by a little alien!!!


Josiah if you can hear me... come soon... very soon... (well when you are done cookin'!!)

Woe is me

Well... it seem that the contractions that I was plagued with the entire third trimester with Emma have finally found their way home to me again.

The painful contractions started on Sunday. I just try to be careful about how much I do and when I notice that they begin to get regular than I slow down! I was kind of hoping that I would escape this but such is not the case.

My one consolation is that I am getting closer to the point when in this pregnancy where Emma was born last time. Seven more weeks and I will be 37 weeks and then I am going to start counting the days. I have made that my small goal to acheive. It sounds a lot better than ten weeks.

I have decided to give up on my knitted poncho.... Maybe after Josiah is born I will have the gumption to pick it back up again. Instead I think that I will make a shawl. My friend Jamie just finished this one and it looks pretty. Hopefully I will have enough yarn to make it.

In the mean time a nice lady at church has given me a buttondown shawl to wear. It is pretty warm when I wear two layers under it. I am currently enjoying it until I make one of my own.

I better get cracking!

Oh NO!

I had an appointment today with my midwife.

The good news first!
My blood pressure is great. My sugar is fine, don't have to worry about diabetes, and the baby sounds great!

The bad news
I gained 9 pounds in the last month. What is up with that???

Out of Emma's mouth!

Emma knows that there is a baby in mommy's belly she often points to my belly, pats it and says baby.

Today Emma came up to me and pulled on my pants...

I looked down and asked her what??

She pointed to her belly and said:


"Mommy.... Baby!"


I almost peed my pants laughing!!!