Friends, Family and Presents oh my!

This past Saturday, three of my dear friends (Amy, Denise & Patty) threw me a baby shower. It was amazing. Amy's talent is throwing parties and the girls did not disappoint. This shower had been kept a complete secret from me. I knew the date because they wanted to make sure I was here (and because Denise was staying from out of town), knew that it was at Amy's house and that it was at 2pm - that's it. Normally I am super sneaky and don't like to be surprised but things have been so crazy and insane that I didn't have the energy or mindset to snoop. And I'm glad I didn't! My Mom and two Grandmothers drove up for the day from the Charlotte area. This was a big treat since one of my Grandmothers had never seen our house. It was also nice for them both to see Eli's Room. My In-laws drove up for the day from Morehead City and we were very glad to have them join us. One of the day's biggest surprises was that my friend Holly that lives in Vermont stopped by with her hubby and son. They were on their way from Myrtle Beach to Vermont after a little vacation and made it a point to add Raleigh to the route. I had not seen their son, Jack, since he was 6 weeks old and now he's almost 13 months! That's also the case with Denise's son, Finian. I last saw him when he was 6 weeks old and he'll be a year in September. The funny part about Denise & I is that we were in DC for her baby shower exactly one year ago before mine. Finian's due date was only 3 days after my due date for Eli. Kinda funny huh?

Oh yeah, the shower.....they continued our Under the Sea theme with little sea creatures in the punch bowl and a fun cupcake tree with sea creature toppers. Loved it! There was so much yummy food and the decorations were beautiful. The fireplace mantle was decorated like a clothesline with little onesies & booties. We received so many generous and thoughtful gifts. I'll say it again - having a baby shower is soooo much more fun than a wedding shower!

After the shower and after everyone left, Denise and my friend Mary ended up helping me go through all the clothes I've received and checking sizes, taking tags off and seeing what else I need to get. I'm usually not a night owl but we ended up working in Eli's room until 11pm -much to our husbands' dismay. I really appreciate all their help. I have finally washed all the clothes, towels, washcloths and blankets. Now have to figure out how I want it all organized.

It was such a great weekend and so great to have Denise, her husband Steve and Finian here. Finian is such a happy baby and he did great in our house. Hopefully Eli will have the same wonderful disposition. It was good for Belle too to have a baby around. Finian was her best friend as he shared his every meal with her!

Pictures from the day....

Sea creatures swimming in the punch.

Cupcake tree - look at the toppers!

Fun diaper cake from my friends Deirdre, Sheila & Dean.

Me & my wonderful Hostesses - (L to R) Patty, me, Amy, Denise.

Belle's new best friend - Finian sharing his food.

And then there was one....

A few months ago, I started taking Prenatal Yoga classes. There were five girls in my class, including me. Now, I'm the only pregnant one left - the other four have left their pregnancy behind to become Mommies. I found out the 4th one had her little girl on my birthday - how fun is that?!

Here's the tally: 3 girls and 1 boy so far. With Eli, that makes 3 girls and 2 boys. 2 c-sections, 1 forcep delivery and 1 natural. Not sure what else is left for me to claim - delivery in the car?!

Congratulations to all my yoga girls. I am so happy as each one has been blessed with a beautiful healthy child. I'm right around the corner to joining you all in Mommy-hood.

The end of a very busy week

Whew - there were times this week where I wondered if I'd get through everything we had going on. Obviously I haven't had time to write so we'll do a quick week recap.

Work was very busy. For some reason I THOUGHT I was getting everything under control before leaving but I had completely fooled myself. Things are crazy! My Superintendent is on vacation this week so trying to make sure progress continues while he's gone. I spend so much darn time in meetings, it's a wonder I ever get any work done. Each week I give Tim the run-down at the beginning of the week and he always asks me if anyone does any work or if we just meet all the time.

Monday was my birthday. Nothing too exciting but I did have a nice day. Tim surprised me with flowers - how can you not be happy with flowers?! I'm going to the spa this upcoming week for a facial - that should be fun, I've never had one before. I also received quite many phone calls, cards and generous gifts from friends and family. Of course, with everything else going on this year, my birthday just didn't seem as big of a deal to me so everyone else remembering was nice.

Wednesday night we had a breastfeeding class from 7-9:15pm. Very hard to sit through a class after working all day but it was actually a good class and we learned some stuff that will hopefully be helpful. The best thing was that the instructor was telling us all the things Dad can do to be involved, even though only Mom has the equipment. We had little babies to practice holding. Our baby looked like Mini-Yoda so Tim was cracking me up with comments. Stuff like "Feed me, you shall" and "Hungry I am" kept me laughing.

Thursday was my 34 week doctor's appt. I had a major weight jump over the past two week - like 7 pounds major!! Most of that is due to the fact that last weekend I lost all control over my body. I had done really well with not swelling until then. Now the rings are off, my hands swell every day and, as much as I denied it at first, my legs and ankles are now swelling. It's like I bloated up overnight. The doctor wasn't too concerned (oh yeah, I usually do morning appts and this one was after lunch) and I flat told her that I didn't care. I feel pretty good and am just adjusting to my body changes. She told me that this change is normal and that I'm now out of the cute graceful period of pregnancy and into the hard / uncomfortable stuff. My blood pressure was good and Eli's heartbeat was strong. It's always great to hear that little heartbeat. I am still measuring a week or so early so we'll see what happens when they start doing exams at my next appt. I'm now heading into the every week appts. Wow, this is flying by!

Saturday morning - I did the ultimate endurance exercise for a pregnant woman. My neighbor Kelley (who is almost 20 weeks pregnant) and I went to the Kids Exchange Consigment Sale at the State Fairgrounds. Oh my gosh - it was so overwhelming. There was so much stuff. I was mainly looking for some clothes for Eli for the transitional fall period because you can't really buy those clothes yet in the store. There was rows and rows of clothes. I only managed to get two rows completed and had quite many items. They have this sale every January and July so I focused primarily on things up to 6 months. I got some of the cutest things and several still had the tags on them! It was like a huge indoor yard sale - ok, so maybe not quite, it was a little higher priced than a yard sale but the quality of the items was good. Not only did they have clothes, there was furniture, bedding, toys, strollers, high chairs, car seats, you name it - if it was for a baby, it was there. Next time I hope to have my Mom come up and go with me because she has better shopping endurance than I do.

Yesterday afternoon was our last childbirth class - #3 of 3. This class talked about c-sections and how to care for your newborn. We talked about reasons for c-sections and pros and cons of them. Of course, everyone would rather have a vaginal delivery but that isn't always possible. At least medicine has evolved so that c-sections are available and fewer babies are lost due to complications. The section on taking care of your newborn was fun. We had our yoda-baby again and practiced changing diapers, bathing him and swaddling him.

After class, we were able to hook up with our friends Preston & Maria. We got a phone call from them this week that their new baby boy was at Rex and that they were in town. We were so excited to hear from them and were looking forward to meeting Thomas. Thomas was born about 6 weeks early so he was in the special care nursery. He is so precious and it was such a joy to watch Maria feeding him. We could not go in but we could watch through the window. He's still tiny, less than 7 pounds. It's amazing that he was due 15 days before Eli is due so Eli is about the same size as him and he's in my belly! We are so happy for Preston & Maria and their first son, Ray (who is now a big brother!!). Elijah & Thomas will be friends for sure - Tim & Preston have been friends since high school - and will enjoy many adventures together. I'm sure Ray will be there to either watch over them or teach them mischievous deeds!!

I finally got a decent night's sleep last night. A major accomplishment for me this week. I fell asleep on the couch and Tim asked me if I wanted to stay there. I was pretty comfy so I did. I think I got about 5 solid hours of uninterrupted sleep - it felt great!! About 5am, a doggie kiss woke me up so Belle could go outside. She slept in the living room with me so Tim had the bed all to himself!

This morning I did my Sunday morning swim. I only did a half mile but it felt so good to work my joints out. Now it's time to chill on the couch watching the Tour de France. So happy to end a hectic week and breathe before heading into the next one!

How many months are you?

Today we had some friends over to watch the Tour de France and we discovered something funny. Our friends Patty & Jamie have a daughter (Sarah) who is 14 months old. Someone asked how old she is and that was the response. Not a year old or a little over a year old but 14 months. Wouldn't it be funny if, as adults, we counted our age in months?

Tomorrow I'll be 396 months old. How old are you?

Childbirth Class #2

Yesterday was class #2 of the 3 classes that are supposed to get us ready for this whole labor and delivery thing. Topics of discussion for class #2: Hospital Tour and Labor Rehearsal.

Tim & I had taken a hospital tour in June because I wanted to see it early so we already had a good idea of what we would see. It was good to have a tour with one of the staff (we had a wonderful volunteer the first time) as she gave us insight into the whole process. I must say that the security in the Mother / Baby ward is amazing. Baby, Mom & Dad have matching ID bracelets. Baby also has a fabric monitor on its' leg that will cause the entire ward to shut down (doors and the whole shebang) if it gets too close to a window or unauthorized door. That's good news for us because who wants your baby stolen? We saw the actual Labor and Delivery room where you are during delivery and then I think for about an hour after. Then we saw one of the postpartum rooms where you stay for the duration of your hospital stay. I think they have about 15 delivery rooms. As most of the ladies in our class are due about the same time, there were a few of us that asked questions of what happens if there are no delivery rooms available when you need them. Fortunately that has never happened but IF it did, the postpartum rooms can be converted. Whew - don't want Elijah to be born in the hospital hallway!!

Next up was Labor Rehearsal. I was very confused about how we would do this. The first thing we did involved frozen water balloons. Our instructor handed one to each woman in the class. We were instructed to hold it in our right hand, squeeze and tense every muscle in our body for a minute. It hurt - the balloon was so cold and it started burning my hand. Then we were told to change hands and let it rest in our hand for the minute and relax (go to our "safe" place). That was much easier to do. The entire point of that was that we need to relax during contractions as much as possible because tensing and stressing only make them worse. I thought it was a good exercise and definitely proved a point. Our actual Labor Rehearsal consisted of going through 12 points in time during labor. Each couple received a note card with a time and description of what was going on. We talked about what was happening at each point and what could be done to help with each situation. Where it made sense, she had us practice positions to alleviate pain and talked to the spouses about things to do and say to help. Tim & I had the easy one. We were the last stage and had the baby in our arms. It was quite nice - no pain at all!! The exercise took us from contractions every 20-30 minutes through birth. It was a good way to put everything together. We did the entire exercise as if there was no medical intervention. Apparently if you are induced with pitocin or have an epidural, you're confined to the bed because of the need for constant monitoring. Hmmmm....still wondering how I'll do. I know Tim will be great and help me through whatever happens. He helped get me in this and he'll help get me out. =)

Next week's class is supposed to talk about c-sections and how to take care of your newborn after you leave the hospital (bathing, changing diapers, feeding, etc). I'll be 34 weeks on Tuesday - it's hard to believe that we'll be putting this information to use very soon.

Childbirth Class #1

Hard to believe we're already at Childbirth classes. Yesterday was class #1 of 3. Items of discussion for class #1: Anatomy, Pain theory, Comfort measures, Birth bag, a Film and Medications.

Let's look at each of these.
Anatomy - it's absolutely amazing what the female body does to grow and birth a baby. I can't believe it's happening to me!
Pain theory - this is hard for me to grasp. I'd love to think that Elijah would come into the world, it'd be nice and peaceful with no pain. I know that's not going to happen.
Comfort measures - lots of things about moving around, changing positions, hot / cold compresses, massage, the birth ball. Sounds like anything is better than laying in the bed. I'm good with that because I don't sit still very well so just laying there waiting for pain is not my idea of fun.
Birth bag - the instructor talked to us about what to bring to the hospital. She suggested a separate bags for the labor / delivery room and the postpartum room. Sounds like a good idea - I'll probably try it. The one thing I'm worried about is the not eating part. I get pretty cranky after about 4 hours but supposedly once you're in labor you don't really get hungry. We'll see. She gave me a thumbs up for Gatorade or Powerade so Tim & I will probably look like we're doing a race or something when we show up with bottles of fluid!!
Film - we watched the Stages of Labor film. We saw something very similar when we took our hospital tour so that was no biggie.
Medications - this, of course, was a big topic. Most of the husbands in the room (there were 11 couples) didn't really seem to want their wives to suffer. But we all know it's going to happen. I'm very nervous about an epidural - you know, messing around at my spine and all - so will probably continue my original plan of see what I can do / handle. I'm neither anti-epidural nor super pro-epidural. I'm all about Elijah getting here and becoming a part of our family, however that has to happen.

I'm not quite sure what I imagined childbirth classes to be like. I just hope that we'll learn enough to know what's happening to my body and how to deal with it when the time comes. Tim & I have a philosophy about exercising. Whenever one of us doesn't want to go, we just remind the other how great it will feel when it's over. Our joke is that's how labor will be. It will be some pain but it will be marvelous when it's over!!

Doctor's Appt No. 10

Today was my 10th doctor's appointment - the 32 weeker. I finally got to see my doctor (Dr. Campbell) - haven't seen him since my 1st appt in January due to seeing all the docs in the practice and then he was gone for a while. He was pleased with my weight gain (woo hoo - something I was worried about) and happy in general with how things have progressed. Eli's heartbeat was strong and I measured about 33.5 cm - about a week or so early. I actually lost a half pound in the past two weeks so it was good that I didn't have a major gain or anything. Doc said I should gain about half a pound a week from here on out. My blood pressure was good - 90 something over 60 something. It's also time to start fetal kick counts. I tried the other night after dinner but laying down on the couch after a meal only made me fall asleep!! Doc suggested I do it at lunch and that I do need to pay attention to his activity and call them if there is a noticeable decrease. The only other thing to come out of today is that I have to cut my walking. I can't walk as far at one time as I have been. My body has seemed to have issues lately when I walk more than a mile. So now, I just have to walk less at one time but I can walk twice daily. Belle will love the shorter walks!! Next appt in two weeks.

Tim & I start our childbirth classes tomorrow. We get to spend the next three Saturday afternoons learning how I'm going to give birth to our son. It's exciting and scary all at the same time. Maybe I'll have some good stuff to talk about on Sunday!

Tomorrow also starts the Tour de France - our FAVORITE time of the year. We'll have something to watch on tv for the next three weeks straight. Yippeee.

32 weeks

Here's a picture of me from yesterday at 32 weeks. It's hard to believe I'm 8 weeks away from my due date - it's going so fast. Still feeling good, doing my normal stuff. Got a doctor's appt on Friday so we'll see what they think.

Such a cute pregnant lady -what a belly!!

My latest project

Ok, so as if trying to catch up three Christmases in my scrapbook, start a baby scrapbook, clean / purge the house and get ready for Elijah aren't enough, I've added a new project to my list. When my youngest brother Billy was born (22 years ago!), I did a cross stitch birth record for my Mom. I have been looking for one to make for Elijah and haven't had luck finding something I like....until yesterday. Tim & I were at Michael's and found one called "Deep Blue Sea" - it has a seahorse, fish and crab - perfect for Eli's Room. I wanted him to have something that his Mom made for him. My goal is to have everything complete except for the date and weight before he gets here. Then we'll have it framed to go above his bed. I think it'll be great!

Here's a picture from the package: