Emilie Video!

:)

Labor Humor

Thank You Cristina!

I took this picture and totally forgot to post it!! I'm sorry!! Thank you so much for making these :) I know they weren't all meant for Emilie but I'm so glad she got them anyways ;) My favorite is the white one :) :) :) I can't wait to see her in it! Thank you again!!! Oh and for the blankets that you gave me today! I already put them in the wash so they will be ready for when she comes home in a few days :)

Tomorrow is the big day :) :)

Alright so my appointment today...nothing really to report. The doc says i'm still not dilated at all. I have some fibrous tissue in a ring around my cervix, which is scar tissue. The verdict is out if it's going to prevent me from dilating or not. It could stop me from dilating which could mean a c-section in my future.

According to Bekah my L&D go to gal this roughly how the induction should go:

I call L&D at 4pm tomorrow. They tell me a time to go in, probably around 6 or they will tell me to call back at 6 :\ I've been told to just keep calling and don't give up.

When I get there I will get my first round of Cytotec, which is a pill they will insert in my you know what to soften my cervix up. The idea is that this "should" start me to dilate. It can also cause cramping and sometimes start a person's labor.

They will con't to insert pills every 4 hours depending on my progress.

In the morning at 6am if I've shown progress they will start the pitocin. Which will be increased in strength every 20 minutes. We've agreed to try pit for 8 hours and if I'm progressing then we con't if nothing then we stop and decide the next step.

With the scar tissue I've already been warned that there is a possibilty of a c-section. On my IC board many women (if they make to full term) seem to need inductions or c-sections, so I don't think this is an uncommon thing. The doc isn't even sure exactly how my cervix will behave. They could give me one dose of Cytotec and it will cause me to rip the scar tissue and then I could very quickly dilate. It's all a mystery, lol.

I'm going to try avoid a c-section if possible, for obvious reasons. But in the end as long as she gets here and is healthy and well i don't care :) I will heal.

Remember to check the blog for updates. Although most of them will probably come through e-mail so hopefully your all on the list!! (If you have never gotten one of my large group update e-mails then make sure you e-mail me tonight so I can add you to the list!!)

1 Day Left :)

I am officially 40 weeks pregnant. Never thought we would make it to here. I expected with my cervix taking the damage it did we would be having another preemie...but alas my body proved me wrong. Which really makes me wonder why with some women it's an issue and others it seems it's not. :\ I will take the good :) I think we needed some good :)

So I went to the store today :) And I love Perry's Birthday Bash icecream. They haven't had the last 3 times I've wen to buy some so I've been settling for Panda Paws with peanutbutter melted on it. Today it looked like they just restocked it so decided to take a peek. Some sales guy asked me what I kind I was looking for and went in the back and got me one :) How sweet! I love The Giant :) So I HAD to buy it :) I'm so excited, I'm going to have some for desert after I eat lunch :) hehehe





Other news. Baby Violet has an update ;) She's been home for awhile now and overall doing really well!! She's had some reflux issues but those are getting better too :) I want to share one of her latest pictures :)






As for anything in terms of how I am...nothing is happening. I don't even have much pelvic pain! Not sure where it all went??? No cramping, nothing. Emilie is still kicking around in there. And I mean seriously kicking. I know she's not supposed to have the room, but some how she makes it! On occasion she still gives me a good smack. She doesn't move as often as she used to, but it's been slowly decreasing so I'm not alarmed, it isn't a sudden change. Jason and I did got for another walk last night. My legs are sore, but nothing else really is.

40 Weeks!

Height = 19-20 in
Weight = 7-8lbs

During week 40 of pregnancy, "the bun in the oven" should be just about done. It's about time to turn this oven (you) off!

Your baby's reflexes are coordinated by the time you are 40 weeks pregnant, which means that your baby can:

• Blink
• Close his or her eyes
• Turn his or her head
• Grasp firmly
• Respond to sound, light, and touch.

At birth your baby has a total of 300 bones. Some of the bones will fuse together later, which is why an adult has only 206 bones. Fascinating, no?

2 days left!

Okay I just realized that really it's more like 3 days left since she probably won't be here until Friday, BUT once the induction is under way then it's all excitement from then on their out right ;) I know with Kaitlin I didn't really realize day or night while I was in labor.

Tried to clean today. I did pretty good :) I have some energy back today which is nice. I'm barely feeling any kind of soreness. Not sure why it's seemingly disappearing now, but I'll take it ;) I've realized we just don't have the darn room for things, lol. The nursery is being over run with storage things :\ Oh well she's going to have to share for a little while. I want to try to keep the living room clutter free so that way when people come to visit we aren't tripping over things, even though I'm sure we will be anyways, lol. You get more than 4 adults in this room and it's already too much.

I can't wait for August to come and go! I hate this heat :\ AC has been running since 9:30 am with no lights on, curtains closed, etc. It's only 4 and I'm nearing the uncomfortable mark :\ I even had BOTH ACs running for awhile since I was running all over the place and the living room is still hotter than the rest of the house :\ Annoying!

Off to watch some TV, then cook dinner.

Update from this morning....

all is calm...I went back to sleep for a few hours and woke up with nothing...so still pregnant :)

Interestingly the cramping pain seemed to felt the most when I was laying down. Somehow I just figured out how to sleep through it when I laid back down.

3 days or less left!

Checking in mighty early this morning. I've been up since 4 am with cramping type pains, enough to not let me sleep.

Not sure if today is the day or not. I'm having trouble deciding if this is from me needing to possibly poop or if it's headed for contractions. The pain does seem to change, etc. At any rate, i'm feeling SOMETHING this morning. Considering with Kaitlin it really wasn't a normal labor, etc. I'm just not sure what to call this. I haven't started timing anything yet since I'm not sure what to time. Like I said the pain seems to change.

In other news, I made another hate for miss Emilie last night. Not sure i like it. I think I need to work on making them much bigger than what I am :\ But soon enough I'll have her head to go by so I can make more :)

Don't think I'm going to bed anytime soon so off to make a cup of decaf coffee :) Did I mention that even after she comes I'm stuck with decaff? Apparently it can decrease your milk production...so if I want soda again ever I need to con't with the decaff coffee :\ But then again I'm so used to decaff...it's probably healthier, oh well the sacrafices ;)

Today's Report 4 days or less!

Today I feel like crap! Here is my list of complaints:

• hot flashes, my body can't decide if I'm hot or cold (no temp I checked)
• headaches, come and go kind of like the hot flashes
• sore back, which isn't new
• SO tired! Took a nap to try to remedy this one...didn't work
• runny nose :\ Yay for allergies kicking my while i'm down
• hungry, easy fix eat right? I ate then got sick to my tummy feeling
• dizzy, I think it's from feeling tired and my sinuses being full
  
• oh yeah and diarrhea, which I know can be a sign of labor, but I've gotten it alot this pregnancy so I'm not reading into it

Okay complaining done....I've spent most of the day in my chair feeling miserable. Its about that time i should cook a meal, but Jason might be doing it tonight. Did I mention I even went to bed EARLY last night and slept in some?? No idea why I'm feeling so crappy. Cramping and pressure are at a min today...thankfully...since I think that would just make how I'm feeling way worse.

Here's something funny Tom sent to Jason...thought I would put it here :) Click on it to make it bigger so it's easier to see and read :)

New Belly Pic Shoot :)

This is probably the best photo out of all of them :) Definitely a favorite :)
I've been wanting to do one last naked belly shoot, so we did it today :) Some weren't the nicest pics and I definitely saw the extent of my stretch marks lol. I'm sure they aren't as bad as some get but this kiddo hsa left her mark! :)
More are in the Belly Pics Gallery if your interested.

5 Days or less :) !!!

Came home to find another package on our door step. This kiddo is going to be spoiled rotten ;) This one came from an online friend from my PPP group :) THANK YOU SANDY! I hope she is having a blast in Paris :)

Jason and I went garage sailing today. We thought it was a town wide, but it really wasn't :\ But I did get a autumn type snowsuit for 50 cents! So now she is really set for this winter :) Also got a few more hats to donate to Baby Keelan's Memory collection that I started on my IC group board.

We ate a YUMMY diner :) The Plaza Diner on the parkway is very reasonably priced and yummy!! Jason found some power adapter he was looking for. It was a good day over all :) Now while Emilie continues to have the hiccups I'm going to sort through files while watching One Tree Hill :)

No contractions to report about...

Still 6 days left ;)

I wanted to put up the super pretty pink blanket we got in the mail today :) :) Thank you Uncle Zachary, Aunt Lisa, Ashley and Jonathan :) !! It reminds me of the cat Aunt Z got Kaitlin :) Which I won't allow Emilie to play with so this ties in with it really nicely :) And you didn't even know you were doing it :) Thanks!

Jason and I went for a mile walk today on the rail trail. I made it .5 miles with really no problem...then all sorts of pains started hitting me! Worse than during the 1.6 mile walk last weekend! I however did do WAY more today so it might be just catching up with me. I cleaned our bedroom of most of the clothes on the floor. Put a bunch of clothes away. Vacuumed the entire apt. Made a play mat/larger diaper changing pad and turned a receiving blanket into a curtain. I've also been sitting on the exercise ball instead of my computer chair. My back is beginning to protest so soon I will be moving to my comfy recliner :)

Oh I want to toss this question out there to everyone who reads this :) I'm trying to come up with a list of things that have happened since I've been pregnant either in the family, news, world, etc. To do a sort of this is what happened while I was pregnant with you type thing. So anyone can think of anything please either leave a comment or e-mail me :)

6 Days or less :)

Thought I would share the pic of the tea set I got the other day :) So cute isn't it! Plus it's all fabric so i can wash it after Xavier and her play with it and get it all drool, lol. I have books too that are fabric so I can do the same thing :) (not that either can play with ALL the pieces in the this set right off, some are a little too small). I know it will be awhile before she gets to use it, but I bought it for $1.50...how could I NOT get it :)

Nothing going on today. I *think* I might have had a few contractions last night but they were weird. It was like I was getting a cramp but different. Nothing I've felt before with Kaitlin or this one. But obviously nothing came of them.

Daddy gave Emilie permission to be born this morning, lol. Every morning he's been leaving for work saying "No baby today" and then this morning he said "A baby today would be okay :)" and then told her that :) It would be so funny if I were to go into labor today, but I'm not expecting to. Jason also has a feeling she will be coming on the 27th...not sure why but that could mean a possible a kiddo Monday? I guess we'll see.

Plans tonight are to go for a walk, and I've been spending time sitting on our exercise ball which is supposed to help encourage things as well. We were so worried about her coming early, and now we can't get her out, how ironic ;)

ONE WEEK!

(Newest embroidered items for Emilie :) I did a whole other group today but they are going straight into the wash so no pics right now)

I can't believe this day next week we will be heading out to eat then to the hospital to start the induction process :) Some people have told me all they needed was the cervical dilation pill thingies and they went right into labor :) Let's hope for that :)

I also realized last night this weekend will be our last as just the two of us! Wow has it seemed like this pregnancy has flown!

Emilie has been VERY active today. Maybe it's because I actually stayed in a pretty relaxed today. I've been sitting more than normal so she's been bouncing off my uterine walls! I hope this trend continues of her being active during the day and sleepy at night :) She does stay up late (usually moves around 11ish) but then I don't feel her anymore the rest of the night, so either I'm a really sound sleeper (doubt it) or she's a good girl :) I do sometimes feel her at 6 am so I guess we will see soon enough! I have a theory that all my bedrest put her on a normal clock time or sleep when it's dark and not when it's light, since she heard noise all day long and then quiet at night, she's always seemed to move WAY more during the day than in the evening :) So fingers crossed for no night owl baby ;)

8 Days until Induction :)

First Thank You Kathy for the beautiful blanket!! I absolutely LOVE the colors! It's perfect :)

Had a docs appointment today. Not with my normal doc but it went well. She did check my cervix, it's closed and nothing is happening. But Emilie's head is indeed low in the pelvis just not engaged yet. Nothing really to report outside of that. NST went great as usual. I need contractions to get my cervix to change and that hasn't happened, so it's still very much a waiting game.

Some of you might be wondering why we are opting to be induced. I don't think I already wrote about it, but if I did oh well. I've been asked by a few why so I thought I would write about it here.

One reason is that my doc would have me go in for an induction at 41 weeks anyways. Sometimes induction doesn't work so by going in right after my due date if it doesn't work we can come home and try again in a week, where if I wait and it doesn't work then we will be headed for a c-section. Not something I want to jump into doing.

Second reason is that the problems that can occur the further you carry over terrifies me. We don't need another baby in a NICU due to aspirating her first poop or loose her due to cord compression. I would rather avoid any complications as this point. Your chances of having those issues increase as you go past your due date.

Thirdly (which goes with the second one), fearing things that can still go wrong is wearing on me so it's also for my sanity. I want her out where I don't have to worry about all the things that can go wrong in the womb, I worry less about what can go wrong once she's out. I know too many stories of those who have lost little ones at full term. I would rather just get her here and in my arms sooner rather than later. Plus the bonus is that I have a better chance of my doctor delivering her :) And we know when she is coming (roughly). I'm not jumping for joy over going through pitocin and such, but i am at the prospect of this time next week being two days away from holding her :)

So just incase you were wondering that is why we choose to go with an induction. My doc supports it with no question as well so we should be meeting miss Emilie soon :)

39 Weeks!

Weight= 7lbs
Length= 19-20

You may notice that your baby is not moving around very much -- he or she is in cramped quarters at this point! If you notice a complete lack of movement, talk to your healthcare provider.

Other fetal development that is occurring around week 39 of pregnancy includes the following:

• Toenails and fingernails have grown to the tips of the toes and fingers
• Your baby's arm and leg muscles are quite strong
• Your baby is practicing lung movements, while lung surfactant production increases
• Your baby continues to shed the fuzzy layer of lanugo hair
• Your baby sheds the vernix caseosa (the skin coating that covers a fetus to protect the skin)
• All of your baby's organs are ready to function outside of the womb.

During week 39 of pregnancy, the placenta will continue to supply your baby with antibodies. These antibodies will help your baby fight infection the first six months after birth. The umbilical cord that carried nutrients from the placenta to your baby is now 20 inches long and half an inch thick.

Still 9 days until induction :)

Once home I got a super burst of energy which felt good since it seems I've been in a funk. I even feel super excited to be so close to bringing home my own little baby. I would almost say giddy :) I cleaned up things that have needed to be cleaned, etc. Things look good in here again :) Mind you my energy only lasted for a portion of the night, but it got this place clean looking again :) I even got the last few packages I have ready to go out. And when I'm done this I'm going to address thank you card envelopes (I should have done that all along).

Now I know a burst of energy can mean labor is close, but I highly doubt it, since I've had them before. Grant it I haven't had one in a long while, but i've had them before so really I'm not reading into it. The funny thing is that Miss Emilie also seemed to have an energy burst too! She was moving all sorts of ways after dinner, after being quiet most of the day :) Jason got all sorts of new kicks and feels :)

I also embroidered some things to send out to some people (the before mentioned packages) so while into it I also did the above design :) hehehehe Not sure I want to put it on a onsie, but it is cute enough for a cloth diaper :)

9 Days Until Induction :)

Last night I did go to bed with some regular cramping. I honestly figured middle of the night I would wake up in labor, but no such luck. I see a little more sore this morning, but no cramping to speak of :\ I think this is the only time I've WANTED cramping...it's so strange what pregnancy will do to you :) lol.

I dragged Jen to a consignment shop today, they are going out of business so everything was 50% off. I bought the cutest tea set...it's all made of fabric and filling :) Even has a little velcro cover for the honey :) They had some cute clothes, but I already have so many I have to be really careful about what I buy. I did get a light jacket/pant set. Which she might never wear since if it doesn't get cool enough she won't need it, but I don't have anything warm like that for her so I thought it would be a cheap addition. Jen found a girly sleep gown that I had to have too :)

Had Applebees for lunch...yum :)

10 Days Until Induction :)

I spent the day with Cristina and Xavier today :) Snuggling with her little one makes me want mine to hurry up and get here! I even got to witness a bath. He made a mess of himself just before I got there so she was tossing him in the tub, hehehe, he cried a little, but man he's a cute baby!

In terms of if this little one has decided to come or not...I leaning towards another not today. I did cramp some this morning and then a little here and there throughout the day, but nothing major. I think she's running out of room since she seems to be moving less, but sometimes she gets on my placenta side and I can't feel her as much, but she's still in there kicking around :)

Still getting back pain, I wonder if it is contraction related, but it doesn't seem to be. I have an appointment on Wednesday where I hope they check me to see if I have changed at all, but it's not my normal doc either so not sure how it will go.

Today's Report

We are now 11 days until induction day.

(New belly pic!)

Today I have felt crampy on and off. This morning it was pretty steady (no pattern or contractions), but it went away when we went to the flea market. I've had pain on and off in the middle of my back too (which I doubt is related to any kind of labor pain). The pressure I used to feel in my pelvis has lightened?? It seems that either things have now settled down there or they are just taking a break. Maybe I'm doing something different and don't realize it. Who knows. The cramping did come back later on into the day, but nothing that leads me to believe contractions are coming soon. So I'm sure we are still a ways off. However like I said yesterday, it's SO nice to see my body is working towards labor :) Hoping these new pains might be changing my cervix :)

First Contraction :)

Okay so I was dozing in my chair when I got the typical sharp cramp and my uterus went all hard. I sort of remember that pain with Kaitlin. I didn't move to see if it was false labor or not, but I don't care...I'll take it! It's the first time my body has shown ANY sign of labor :) So I'm celebrating!! YAY!!!

I told Jason and his eyes went all huge..."What does THIS mean?" he asked. I laughed.

What it does mean is that my uterus remembers how to contract. Does it mean a baby tonight? No probably not. It really means nothing, it could not happen again and we still we be being induced on the 30th. It could mean the kiddo will be here in a few days. Regardless it's a good sign because if my cervix will start changing BEFORE induction it will make the induction MUCH easier :)

So no one should driving down here yet, or loose a night a sleep wondering what the evening will bring. I have felt no other cramps or tightness. And false and prelabor can go on for days and days so the best I can do is keep my progress logged here. Honestly, I think it's just my body screaming at me from today's adventure (since we went for a 1.6 mile walk). I have had lots of ligament pain too which usually comes after a long day of being on my feet.

I'm still excited though :) I'm still hoping to go naturally and this is the first sign of my body working towards that :)

I've been a busy bee ;)

My first attempt at doing a design that I got off the inet is the hand above. I also figured out how to back track through a design to fix a flaw :) I thought he was cute :)

So then I got really into it! I found awhole bunch of other free designs and started trying them out :) I also learned how to skip parts in patterns that I didn't want.


So then I bought our first embroidery pattern from a site which was ofcourse a 1-up :) Since Jason was hoping we could make a 1-up onsie. So I tested it above on a cloth diaper and then put some work behind the onsie :)

(the black dots should go away when I wash it.)

Last I was tired of the blocky fonts that I have to choose from on the machine and looked for some different ones. When I do that I have to treat each letter as a graphic so it's a pain, but after an hour or more of work this is my result:
And just before you think that the cats weren't involved in some way with these pictures:

I have many more things to put words and graphics on. It's a great new little hobby to keep my occupied while I wait :) Better than me shopping...I think Jason would agree ;)

38 Week Appointment

So my cervix which we thought was incompetent has proven itself to be very competent, lol. No changes :\ Well she did say that it's a little softer. I haven't really had any kind of contractions so it's looking like things are taking a very SLOW pace this time around. Needless to say I'm more than ready for her to be here :) Not because I'm tired of being pregnant (much) more because I just want her here! I want to snuggle her, feed her, bathe her, play with her, and even change her diapers :) But I can't do any of that until my body is ready to evict her and it seems its not done holding on to her yet. I guess I can't blame it, she's a pretty good tenant ;)

We did have an ultrasound, where we got more 3ds as you can see ;) Plus at the end there is one of her fingers AND toes :) So cute!
She weighs about 6lbs 8oz. Which I'm hoping it accurate. No 10lbers for me mom ;) ! I'm guessing she will be a little over 7lbs when born if that weight is indeed correct :) Fluid and placenta all look good. She was practing breathing at a good rate so they are very pleased with that.

She ofcourse had a very good NST.


Now for the bigger news :) I had mentioned last appointment about induction, which I've been on the fence about it, but at the same time I'm ready to help move this along as well. My doc told me she doesn't let anyone go past 41 weeks and that we can do an elective induction as early as 39 weeks. I didn't want to be going in for an induction too soon, but then I also would rather not HAVE to go in for one due to medical reasons later so we set a date :) If the baby doesn't come on her own by my due date then July 30th we are going into the hospital for induction. Which if my cervix does do something by then it will make the process much smoother :) So here is to hoping things start moving some on thier own!



The other big news is that I wanted to do it based on my docs on call time since I wanted HER to deliver Emilie and she said not to worry about it, that she was going to be there :) YAY!! That makes me very excited. There are so many people at that hospital that are rooting for us and following this pregnancy I'm sure we are going to have LOTS of visitors :) As I was told last night at my meeting, our little family is known VERY well there :) So I'm sure we will be well taken care of :)

38 Weeks!

Weight = 6 1/2 lbs
Height = 19-20 inches

Fetal development that is occurring around week 38 of pregnancy may include the following:

• Your baby will be growing an ounce a day
• Your baby's intestines continue to accumulate meconium (baby's first bowel movement)
• The circumference of the head and the abdomen are about the same size
• The labia are completely developed (for girls).

Your baby might just scratch herself in the womb as the fingernails have grown over the fingertips now. Resist painting them hot pink when she arrives.

Baby's lungs continue to mature and her brain and nerve function are working better every day. The latter two will continue to mature until Junior is a teenager, at which point she'll know it all (or at least she'll think she does).

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)




On another note. I think that the baby has dropped some or entirely. I feel pressure on my cervical area whenever I'm on my feet now for even short periods of time and I'm getting ALOT of twinges and pulling down there so I'm hoping it's my cervix dilating through the scar tissue. With all that said I also think I might have had a contraction last night. I'm pretty sure it was due to an overly full bladder. But I wo

I can't turn my back for a second!

I put it on the floor to put batteries in it and it wasn't there for more than 30 seconds when a unnamed kitty decided it made for a GREAT bed. Turning the lights and vibrating on only seemed to keep her there longer! I'm going to have to just pick my battles I think :\ Or keep stuffed animals in EVERYTHING until I want to use it, lol. Kitties!

I think I officially might have dropped :)

Okay so yesterday I noticed that my belly button didn't see to come out as much as it used to. It really hasn't popped, but it has been on the verge of it. Now it seems back to being an inny. So it seemed alittle weird. Then this morning like I've been doing every week I measured my waist. I'm between 1 inch to 1/2 inch smaller, which is also weird. I did gain another 5lbs though so no worries there. So I posted on one of my boards about it, asked Rebekah and called into the docs office. Everyone pretty much has said the same thing...I probably dropped. Which means we are one step closer ;)

I also noticed she wasn't moving as much yesterday but after eating breakfast today she's back to her old self ;) So nothing different there anymore.

I also think I might finally be experiencing some Braxton Hicks Contractions, but the verdict is still out on that one.

Oh well. Off to shower, then to the store since I have a mirror that didn't come correctly assembled that needs to be swamped :) 38 weeks tomorrow!

I wish!

We went to the Fair :)

So I found out Friday at 3:00 pm there there was a demo derby at 7pm at a neighboring county's fair. So I asked jason about going at 3:30 and we were on the road to go by 4:30. We went with Tom and his friend Steve too :) The fair had an admission price that included rides so Tom and Steve rode the Scrambler :)
In the first picture you see Jason pointing out to me how to time when the take the picture as I was snapping it!


Here's another one without Jason's hand in it ;)
Here Jason and I are waiting for the derby to start. We had just finished eating a blooming onion and french fries...such a healthy dinner ;)
They had a heat of nothing but drivers that were 12-15 years old. Which I have to say I was impressed, some of them drove better backwards than me! Lol. Here's a clip of them :)


After the derby we went for a walk through the barn they had. Where we saw goats butting heads and a pig that looked liked one of it's parents was a cheetah or something like that :)


We finished the night with the closing 4h stand that still fed us icecream :) I had a Strawberry sundae...which was made with REAL strawberries :) yum!!

3 Seasons and Update :)

So I took these pics for a Sparkpeople challenge I was on. Obviously I'm not trying to loose weight, but I still chat with my gals there. The first pic I was 12 weeks along, second pic 24 weeks and the last 37. I didn't realize until I was really looking at the pic that you see the three seasons I was pregnant in. I just wish they were more flattering pictures cause it's kind of neat :) I also wore the same shirt on purpose since it goes along with the challenge, etc.

Speaking of weightloss and exercising :) Since being off bedrest I've tried to start doing some exercising again. I thought it would be REALLY hard to get back into and it's not! I've done the step aerobics on Wii Fit twice. Which I do it at the slowest pace, but still it feels great to be moving again! Once the kiddo gets here and my body heals some I see us getting lots of use out of the stroller before winter comes :)

No new feelings to report...things seem to be about the same. My heartburn has let up alot. It's been like that for a week now too. I had to take pills daily before for it and now I take one every now and then another reason why I think she *might* be lower.

My task this week is battery shopping since some of the things for the kiddo needs batteries in sizes we don't have laying around.

How is my body doing?

I think that the baby has dropped some or entirely. I feel pressure on my cervical area whenever I'm on my feet now for even short periods of time and I'm getting ALOT of twinges and pulling down there so I'm hoping it's my cervix dilating through the scar tissue that accumulated through two cerclages. Sometimes it hurts more than when she used to hit me with the cerclage in!

With all that said I also think I might have had a contraction last night. I'm pretty sure it was due to an overly full bladder. But I woke up with lots of pain in my upper uterus/tummy area and then as I walked to the bathroom is spread to all over focusing on the sides. By the time I had finished peeing though the pain was on going away and I didn't feel another one nor have I since.

I'm looking forward to my appointment this coming Thursday to see how much this little bean weighs and to see if I'm dilated at all :) It's all a waiting game at this point. But I don't think these recent events show that I'm going to not make my appointment...so one more week with no baby.

Baby Violet is HOME!

After almost a three month NICU stay Baby Violet is now home! She now weighs only 4lbs 5oz but is doing so well the hospital saw no reason to keep her :) She recently had been transfered to another hospital due to some eye sight issues. There they corrected the problem. She was sent home on caffeine and has a breathing monitor all as precaution. She will later go back for a sleep study so they can tell when to take her off caffeine and the monitor. Even as little as she is, she breastfeeds twice a day and the rest are bottle feeds with some extra calories added so she will continue to grow :)

Mom reports that she's excited yet very scared since she's still so little.
She's also tired :)

Stitched Things

So as I was looking threw my pics I noticed a picture that definitely is long over due in need of being put in the blog! I know I just got it 5 days ago but when someone puts THIS much work into something it should have went up much sooner. Sorry Mom! Although I did hear that pretty much everyone on my side has already seen it, lol :)

Mom made another hand cross stitched blanket for Emilie. Kaitlin's is hanging in the nursery. I picked the pattern out, which I found out mom didn't like it. I love the angel though. The yellow has already grown on me so I can't imagine this blanket any other way :) I still am amazed at the patience she has and still don't know if I can allow Emilie to ever use this blanket out side of a photo shoot. But we will see...

I mean seriously check out this detail:

No I mean REALLY look at the detail!

The whole thing is made of tiny x's...in different colors! NO way do I have the patience, same reason I will probably never knit again...

And now for my pathetic attempt at using a MACHINE to put colorful thread on white fabric :)

Not sure why machines and I don't get along :\ I broke THREE needles already in two days! And the weird thing is that it will do almost the WHOLE thing and then snap. My tension is right according to the video I watched and it's not caught on anything, etc. It doesn't make any weird noise before doing it either, it's like the timing goes off and then WHAM broken. Two broke during the butterfly thing. I wonder if that pattern is messed up for some reason. It would do about 80% of it with no problem and then snap it's needle. Also like in the square going around the v1.0 shirt it just decides to miss spaces a times :\ I even used two sheets of that backing stuff. Since it said you could use up to three and I know my fabric was thin.

Holy Cold Sores Batman!

So I get cold sores on my lips on occasion, and I haven't had any since my first trimester. Then out of no where I got THREE! One on my upper and one on each side of my lower lip. And they aren't small either! Now I think I might be getting on in the middle of my upper lip too. They have come staggered, so as one is on it's way out it seems another is starting :\

I usually get them when I'm worn out, but aside from one night I've been getting my sleep...so I have no idea why so many and why all at once like this.

Oh and now Jason who has never gotten one in the 11 years we've been together has one too! It's so strange!

Look What I did Today :)

Mom let me borrow her embroidery machine. I used one onsie as a test subject and then made this one. Which worked but a few of the letters got kind of messed up :\ So i tried it again and it totally messed up :\ So I still need some serious practice. But I want some purple thread too...and I need more t-shirts or onsies that are solid.

Every picture I took was blurry...so sorry...after 10 tries I just gave up.

Eating the placenta....

Here's what a guy wrote about his wifes request to eat her placenta:

There is so much you can't know about your spouse when you get married, like that one day she will want to eat her placenta. But there are two things you don't argue about with a pregnant woman: what she eats and that being full of life indeed looks sexy. So when Cassandra told me that for $275, a woman would come to our house, cook Cassandra's placenta, freeze-dry it and turn it into capsules to help ward off postpartum depression and increase milk supply, I said, "$275 is a bargain compared with the $20,000 I'll have to spend to tear out our kitchen immediately afterward."

Most mammals, Cassandra explained, eat their placentas, to which I countered that most dogs eat their poop. I stopped arguing there, figuring that like many of Cassandra's hippie ideas — the compost bin, rubbing lemon on her underarms instead of deodorant — she'd give up on this in a few weeks. Even as the due date approached and she was still set on eating her placenta, I couldn't imagine that she'd remember to request it from the doctor after the most physically draining experience of her life. This is a woman who, 9 times out of 10, forgets the bag of leftovers at the restaurant.

Though I am exceedingly squeamish, when my son was born, I was shocked that I saw only the beauty of childbirth. Until the placenta came out. There are many normal human reactions to seeing a placenta, ranging from screaming to vomiting to warding it off with a cross. For those of you who have never seen one, the placenta is to the baby what Stephen Baldwin is to Alec Baldwin. It's what your liver would look like if it got into an accident on the autobahn with one of those aliens from Mars Attacks! and their bloody carcasses threw jellyfish at each other.

When the placenta did come out, Cassandra, dazed from 21 hours of labor, somehow made sure the nurses delivered it to us in a flat plastic container, which I put into an ice-filled Monsters vs Aliens cooler I brought. When I asked if I could keep the placenta overnight in the refrigerator out in the hall, the nurses looked at me like I was crazy. When you gross out people who work at a hospital, you have accomplished something.

In a fog, I drove the placenta home, where I wrapped the container in a bag and wrapped that bag in a bag and wrapped that bag in every remaining bag we had in the house. I slept at the hospital that night, grateful that my son will never remember what his parents just did.

The next day I drove back to the house to meet the placenta lady, Sara Pereira. To my surprise, Sara did not look unkempt, frumpy, heavy or in any way like a Wiccan. She got into placenta-cooking after taking a Chinese-medicine course and has already prepared more than two dozen placentas this year — and orders are picking up rapidly. When I asked Sara if her parents were embarrassed by what she does, she told me that her father sells bull semen.

By law, Sara has to cook the placenta at the placenta owner's home. But to my great relief, she brought her own equipment, gloves, sponges and even more detergent than I'd hoped, scrubbing constantly as she worked. If I ever kill a man in my own home, I am totally calling the placenta lady.

As she steamed the placenta with some herbs, the kitchen got that ironlike smell of cooked organ meat, with vague undertones of a consciousness-raising group and a Betty Friedan rally. Sara said Cassandra had a particularly robust placenta, and she hoped to get 120 pills out of it. As she sliced the cooked organ and put it on parchment paper in a dehydrator, she told me that some people drink the placenta raw as a smoothie. "I do this for a living, and I couldn't do that," she said. The pills, she explained, were superior, since Cassandra could stretch their hormone-rich benefits much further, perhaps even freezing some for menopause. Sara did not understand that when Cassandra's looks fade in her 50s, there's no way I'm putting up with this crap. (Read TIME's 1933 article "Medicine: Protective Placenta.")

I drove back to the hospital where, thanks to my experiences, the food looked good. When we got home the following day, Sara gave us a truly beautiful placentapill presentation: a pretty glass jar, a card, a CD of lullabies and a satin pouch. In which was part of my son's umbilical cord, fashioned into a heart. When I asked Sara what the hell I was supposed to do with that, she said people often use it to keep a baby's first tooth and lock of hair. That's when I realized that placenta-eating is really just the beginning of how gross we humans are. And I went to change my first diaper.



(JUST for your information this is NOT something I intend on doing. They can just toss it away. I prefer to just eat red meat for my iron and take pills for what that doesn't give me, lol...no offense to those who might want to do this...but *yuck*)

37 Weeks!!! FULL TERM!

Length = 19 - 20 inches
Weight = 6lbs

During week 37 of pregnancy, fetal development that is occurring includes the following:

• Your baby continues to develop fat at the rate of half an ounce a day
• Your baby is getting rounder every day
• Your baby's skin is getting pinker and losing its wrinkly appearance
• Your baby continues to practice breathing movements.

At this point in pregnancy, if your baby is born, he or she is considered mature. This of course does not mean that he or she is done developing. For example, during the next couple of weeks, whether inside or outside the womb, he or she will continue to put on fat.

Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.