Woo hooooooooooooooo! (updated 6/16)

Lastnight my parents ended up coming over since Russ wasn't around, and they helped me finish up with things in the nursery. We got my curtain valances up in the nursery, and finished putting the ceiling fan up. The nursery is officially FINISHED! WOO HOO! I took pictures of the room... I just need to upload them onto my computer and I'll put them on here.

In addition to the nursery stuff, we got the stroller/carseat out of the box (FINALLY!) and put all that together. All Russ and I have to do now is put the carseat in the car, and we're set where that is concerned. I still need to read up on a few things dealing with the travel system, but for the most part, I know the basics.

Getting all of those last-minute things done is SUCH a relief. I finally feel like I can relax a bit... I don't have 50 million things that I still need to do running through my head!

Now to the news of the day.... hee hee!

My appointment went GREAT this morning. My BP was good, 110/70. The baby was moving like crazy due to lots of Braxton Hicks. When the nurse asked if I've been having contractions, I said, "Well, yeah... a few over the past couple days." In addition to the braxton hicks, I had *mild* contractions this morning. My tummy got really tight, then my back and my lower belly would just ache for awhile. A few minutes later, another one... then not another for, oh, 20 minutes or so. Then they quit all together, so there went the idea that I might be in labor.

Anyway, I also lost half a pound this week, which I'm attributing to fluctuation due to water retention. Doc thinks so too. I was swollen today in my feet and ankles, but not as much as last week, so I think that's where the half pound came from. My feet really ARE huge today though... they BOTH look a little balloonish today. *sigh*

In the exam room, I was told the usual, "Ok...slide down on the table" (fun fun...lol) and so I told doc, "Give me some good news, ok?" LOL. When he checked me, he goes, "You're nice and soft... and about a fingertip dilated." WOO FRICKIN HOO! I've made SOME progress! SOMETHING is going on downstairs!

So I'm officially about 1.5cm dilated! I'm not sure if my OB did a membrane sweep or anything, but he really seemed to be digging around for SOMETHING up there. Gold, maybe?! LOL. It seemed like he went all around my cervix, and not to be TMI, but I've been really crampy and spotting for most of the day. At least I know I'm a liiiiiiittle closer to seeing my Alyson!

So now I go back to the doctor on Monday morning. I don't know whether that's a routine thing he does during the last week if you're dilated and such, or whether he thinks what he did today might cause me to progress quicker. Who knows. Hopefully Monday I'm dilated more. (If I MAKE it to Monday...lol. Wishful thinking!)I'll update more on Monday!

More good news... I'm now officially on maternity leave. My doctor wrote me a work release note! That's pretty much the first question they asked me-- "So are you still working?" I said, "Well, that's what I want to talk to you about. I think I'm done. I worked Tuesday and Wednesday nights and was miserable." They said that truthfully they can't believe I've worked THIS long. They said "It's very commendable that you stuck it out this far along in your pregnancy! Most people quit work by now." But the thing is, last week I still felt ok, and I wasn't even dilated, ya know? So after my doctor's appointment, I went to Human Resources and filled out all my maternity leave paperwork. The lady there was great, she said she'd notify my clinical manager AND the staffing office of my leave. So all I had to do was talk with her, and now everything is all set! :-) THAT is such a relief too, to know that at least when something labor-wise happens, I'll be home and not working. (Not like I wouldn't be at the right place, being that I work at the hospital I'm delivering at, but I just want to be able to get a shower and get everything situated before heading to the hospital when something happens!)

So that was my afternoon today. I went to my parents' house and ate lunch, BS'd with my mom for a while, then came home and relaxed for a bit. Did some stuff in Alyson's baby scrapbook, watched Oprah.... LOL. I don't get to do that often at all, so it was nice for a change!

OH...and more good news! The guys are like 90% finished with the bathroom upstairs!! I am soooooooooo happy! I have my upstairs back! My spare bedroom and the hallway are no longer covered with dropcloths,buckets of stuff and tools. All the one guy has to do is stop by real quick in the morning and seal up a few things with caulking, and put some handles on the shower doors. (The store sent the wrong ones, so they needed reordered.) That's about it. I was never so happy when they announced they were pretty much all done today. When they moved that utility trailer out of the driveway (which has been parked there for like 3 weeks....), I was about to throw a party. :-)

Needless to say, it's been an all around good day today! :-) And I think that's it for my rambling right now. Have a good night!

***UPDATE***

Here are the pics of Alyson's nursery that I promised I'd post!

Being a lazy butt!

I've been trying to do AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE today since I've gotten home from work. So far, I've slept and watched my soap opera, the Young and the Restless. LOL. Ahh, this is the life.

Haha...naa, actually I'm doing as little as possible because my husband is out of town for the day and I (can't believe I'm saying this...) DO NOT want to go into labor right now. Russ flew to Milwaukee for a work thing this morning and will be arriving back in Pittsburgh tonight around 9pm, so he should be back home by around 10pm. I told him this morning, "Just check your phone ALOT today to see if I've called!" He said that if something happened, he'd just catch an earlier flight back (it's only an hour flight, if that.) He laughed and goes, "Just try to hold off until Friday." I said, "Uh sure honey... I'll just push her back up in there if she decides to come today." LOL.

So far I'm doing fine though. Work lastnight was another story, though. I was worried there for awhile that today might be the day. This morning around 5:30am I got REALLY crampy and started having bad pains in my lower abdomen and lots of pressure, but Aly must have just been in a weird position. With all that, I suddenly got REALLY nauseated and clammy, then had to go throw up! TMI, sorry. But it sucked. I was going to leave work early, but as quick as all those signs and symptoms came, they left.

I've decided that at my doctor's appointment tomorrow, I'm going to get my work release note and not end up working this weekend. So I guess last night was my last night turn for awhile. (Yeah, if I could jump up and do cartwheels right now, I probably would.) I just feel bad because I'm still scheduled 4 more days before my due date, so we'll be short a nurse on those nights if I'm not there... but I just can't do it anymore. I've been so miserable these past few nights. It's not fun working a 12-hour shift and peeing every 2 minutes either, ya know? Everyone at work is always surprised to see me when I arrive... they're all like, "Wow,you're still here... we didn't think we'd be seeing you anymore!"

So I tried to stick it out with working. That's all I can do. I just can't work and be miserable the whole time anymore. It looks like tomorrow will be spent making human resources and the staffing office aware that this girl is officially DONE. For 3 or so months, anyway!

Alright, gotta go. I have, um, important things to do. Yeah right.

Have a great day! Oh, and keep those fingers and toes crossed that I get good news in the morning at my doctor's appointment.... come on, dilation! Come on, SOMETHING!

What is THAT attached to my leg?!

"They" say that some pregnant people have certain hunches of when their due date will be. Well, my hunch has come and gone. For some strange reason, June 9th kept sticking in my head as my baby's due date, but alas it has come and gone. *sigh*

I thought SOMETHING was happening yesterday, but evidentally all my body was telling me was "slow the heck down", because once I laid down and rested for awhile, I felt fine. All morning, I had been getting those sharp pains in my cervix (the ones I've had for what seems like FOR-EV-ER), but also everytime Aly moved, I got period-like cramping and aching in my lower back. It kept up for awhile, so I started getting worried (and excited, though!) It would all go away once she stopped moving though. Guess I was just being teased. So, with all hopes of going into labor gone, Russ and I ended up going to a graduation party, then out shopping for a bit. Took my mind off things, so that was good. Guess I HAVE been kinda overdoing it lately, though... I've been MAJORLY nesting. I scrubbed the whole downstairs bathroom yesterday, and even got down on the floor and scrubbed the ceramic tile grout with a TOOTHBRUSH. LOL. I'm just trying to make sure the house is in tip-top shape for little Aly's arrival. Especially since Russ's mom, my mom, and other guests will be staying here at different times. Stress stress stress. :-P

Today I feel good so far, though I had a weird feeling in my right foot, and was surprised to see that it resembles a partially-inflated balloon with toes this morning. LOL. I haven't done much today yet either! I woke up early with Russ and made us breakfast, then worked on Aly's baby scrapbook at the dining room table for awhile. Just being on my feet/having my legs dependent for that long made my foot swell up! Grr. I can't even bend my toes all the way now. it's so weird that it's only my right foot... guess 'they' (whoever 'they' are) are right when they say the foot you favor more is the one that usually gets more swollen during pregnancy. I'm right handed, so I guess I'm right-footed too...lol.

So for now, I'm just resting in bed with my leg elevated up on a pillow in hopes that my balloon foot will go down. The construction guys are back to work on the upstairs bathroom this morning, so I can't do anything in the nursery until later today. They usually work until 4 or 5. My parents are supposed to stop over later and help do some last-minute things in the nursery (put that ceiling fan up, and help me assemble some baby stuff.) Mondays are really busy for Russ, so they offered to help me with some things that I wanted Russ to do. They've been such a big help to me... I don't know what I'd do without them!

Dealing with work, I'm counting down the days until maternity leave. 6 more workdays to go, then I've decided I'm going on leave. I've mentioned on here in the past that my OB and the nurses are all surprised to find out I'm still working... well, they told me that whenever I feel I can't take work anymore, just let them know and they'll write me a work release note. I figure that I'll more than likely be having Alyson fairly close to my due date, so at my appointment this Friday, I'm going to have them write me a note so I can start maternity leave. My clinical manager scheduled me night turn on the 21st AND the 22nd (my due date!!!), so if I'm still feeling ok, I'll work just up til then. I'll be 40 weeks, so that is MORE THAN LONG ENOUGH to stick it out with working! We'll have to see though... if I'm swelling more during this week, I might just tell them to start my leave a week early. I don't want to be walking around with balloon feet 24-7. Plus, at work I've been increasingly more uncomfortable. I'm just trying to stick it out as long as I can. I've already used 2 weeks of my maternity leave back in December when I was spotting, so I want to have as many weeks off after Aly's birth as I can.

Well, I'm starting to ramble, so I'm gonna end this now. Have a wonderful Monday!

Sincerely,
Betsy Balloon Foot....hehe

We're making progress...

Today was my 38 week appointment.

(Sound of crickets chirping...)

(More crickets....)

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If you can't tell, I don't have much to report. (sigh)

I'm still CLOSED. No dilation whatsoever. But there IS some good news.... I'm "starting to soften", according to my doctor. WOO HOO! I don't know exactly what percentage effaced that might be, but at least it's SOMETHING. (TMI, but the sex must be working! Haha!!)

I don't know what all doc did while he was poking around up there, but I've been kinda crampy ever since the internal exam. Nothing major, but enough to be uncomfortable. But hey, maybe he stirred things up a bit so we can get this labor ball rolling. LOL.

My BP today was a little up, 120/80... and (grr) I gained another pound. I haven't been eating as much over the past week either, and I DID notice my feet and ankles are a little puffy today, so I know I have some water retention going on right now.

After the nurse got my weight and BP, she checked the fetal heart tones. Aly was being cooperative today and stayed in one spot long enough to let the nurse get her heart rate. (More good news too--- the nurse told me, "I think you've dropped a bit honey! Last time I saw you, your belly was higher up near your breasts, and now it's lower.") YAY FOR PROGRESS! She laughed cause once she told me that, I got all excited. Since she wasn't in the room with me during my internal exam, she came up and asked me, "Well? Any progress?" afterwards. I told her, "Well, I'm softening, so that's a start!"

Guess I'm gonna have to give in and do the sex thing every night now, as much as I might not be in the mood. Hubby will be thrilled about THAT. LOL. For now, I'm gonna relax, put my feet up and be lazy for awhile. The house cleaning will have to come later. (Or tomorrow!)

Before I go, here are some pics I took today of my 38 week prego belly.



Where are my feet?! :-)


Have a great day!

Where's my golden ticket?

I'm starting to get impatient. Not to mention MOODY! I'm just feeling kinda miserable lately.

Wow, how's that for a nice, upbeat start to a post?

I just feel like this baby is never going to come. I can't imagine how you other mommies-to-be who are approaching (or past) 40 weeks feel! I'm not even 38 weeks yet and I'm already thinking, "Bring it on, already!!!!"

I never thought I would look forward to seeing something as gross as a mucous plug in the toilet, but every time I go to the bathroom I turn around and look in the toilet hoping to see a little glimmer of hope that SOMETHING is going on 'downstairs.' It's equal to the suspense that Charlie Bucket had when opening up a candy bar in hopes of finding that golden ticket.

But sadly, nothing yet. No mucous plug. No water breaking. No golden ticket.

I know things are getting closer though, so that's good. I've been getting more and more braxton hicks, despite drinking water like a fish. Sometimes the crampiness goes to my lower back (owwwww....kinda like right now!), but those are few and far between. I'm just hoping that the pains in my back are just a signal that labor is coming soon, and not a sign that baby Aly is turned the wrong way. :-(

I just still get a heck of a lot of those sharp pains in my hoo ha...baby Aly is knocking on the door of my cervix 24-7. I think she's having fun down there, thinking, "Wow, what's this?" KICK! POKE! KICK! POKE! "Cool! It makes mommy jump!"
Gotta love it. Yeah right.

I just CAN'T WAIT to see my baby girl. It seems like once 37 weeks hit, my impatience factor went off the charts. I want her out NOW! lol. Not that I don't still have some things to do before she gets here, but I'm just tired of being pregnant and want little Aly in my arms and not my belly. I'm just wondering how long my OB doc will let me go before he suggests induction or something. I just picture myself being, like, 50 weeks pregnant. LOL. Yeah, I know THAT can't happen, but that's what it feels like...like I've been pregnant forever. In a way, I wish he would say, "OK, if you don't progress, we'll induce on this day." You know, so I at least have a DATE. So I'm not so unsure of things. Maybe if I don't progress at this next appointment, he'll suggest something. Heck, with all those sharp pains I'm getting, I'd have thought I'd be halfway dilated by now, but NOTHING. (sigh)

I guess I'm just venting now, sorry... it's just that once the back pains and the coochie pains and the worn-out feeling hit, this girl has gotten grouchy. :-P Hopefully I have some news to report SOON! :-)

(Taps on belly)- "Hey Aly... you know how last post I said that you can come out anytime? I wasn't joking. Really, you can."

:-)

37 week appointment

I had my 37 week appointment yesterday... no big news to report here. I'm still NOTHING. Not dilated, not effaced (or at least he didn't TELL me I was.) BOO HISS! I at least wanted to be SOMETHING!

So now I go back next Thursday. Hopefully the 38 week appointment brings some better news!

In the meantime, I'm still having lots of Braxton Hicks, and lots of those sharp knife-like pains in the you-know-what. Not to mention, just a few days ago, I started getting occasional crampy feelings that send pain to my lower back!!! Now THOSE suck. It kinda scared me at first, cause I remember my cousin saying she had back pain for a few days, then her little Olivia made an appearance in the world shortly after. But so far, none of the back pain today. Those are just few and far between.

I'm kinda hoping that the full moon this coming weekend leads to Alyson's birthday.... wishful thinking, I know. But it's a nice thought!

(Aly, you can come any time, ok baby girl? Mommy's getting miserable!)

What better thing to do at 2am than laundry?

For some reason, I think Aly is going to come within the next week or two. I've been having alot more braxton hicks contractions lately... they're just uncomfortable enough to irritate me. They make me feel short of breath when they happen too... like my chest is tight or something. Anyone else feel that too?! Once they're gone, I breathe fine. Weird.

I've been a huge bundle of emotions lately too. I get irritated by the slightest thing. I cry at the drop of a hat, and sometimes I have no idea WHY I'm crying. One minute I'm totally exhausted and moody, and the next minute I'm happy, excited,and wanting to scrub floors or am attacking my house with pledge and windex. Earlier this evening I was reading online that, "If you feel very emotional, it may very well signal that the end of your pregnancy is near." Woo hoo! I laughed and asked Russ, "So honey... have I been emotional lately?" and he sarcastically said, "Nooooo......not at all." That's what I thought. :-P

The other thing that makes me know the "end is in sight"---I've been majorly bitten by the nesting bug these past few days!! I had been on hiatus from my 'neat freak' behaviors for awhile, but they've returned. I just spent 3 hours doing laundry and fixing things up in the nursery...and yes, it's the middle of the night.

As you may have guessed, I haven't been sleeping all that well lately. For awhile there, I couldn't stay awake on my nights off. I'd be in bed at 9pm and sleep til 6 or 7am (when my husband gets up). But now, I'm exhausted during the day but totally wired at night. I fell asleep at 9pm lastnight and slept til 1:30am.... I woke up and my husband wasn't in bed with me, so I got up to look and see where he had gone. I looked in the living room...no hubby. Then I went downstairs in the basement and found him sleeping on the couch. I asked if he wanted to come upstairs and he said "No, I just needed more room honey." Granted, our dogs have been major bed hogs lately, but I think his,uh, pregnant wife has been keeping him awake with her tossing and turning lately. He must have just wanted to be nice and blamed it on the dogs. LOL. Poor guy.

So since I was downstairs, I decided to do some laundry, then was wide awake again and figured what the heck-- I'd go up in the nursery and see what I could get into. I ended up making alot of progress, I must say. I took alot of stuff out of the boxes and put them where they need to go, and arranged Aly's closet so it's nice and neat. I put together Aly's 'Kick and Crawl Aquarium Gym' (which was easy, that's why I did it...lol), so now that's done. I just have another small load of baby laundry to do and I think I'm set for now. The only things I have left to do in the nursery are to put the window valances up, and to get the bedding all washed up for the kid bed. I did the sheets already, but not the comforter/pillow shams. Oh, and we've come to the conclusion that we need to put a ceiling fan up in the nursery. I just wish we figured that out BEFORE we put a brand new light fixture up there. We had done that during the winter, when it was a bit nippy upstairs... but now that the warm weather is here, the upstairs doesn't get so cool. We have the vent completely open up there, but the room is still so warm. Luckily we bought a white ceiling fan for the other spare bedroom, so we're gonna put that up in the nursery. There's no way I want Aly (and me, or my mom, or Russ's mom) sleeping upstairs if the room is that warm. :-( So now I have ANOTHER project for Russ to do.

Aside from the nursery stuff, we just have to bring the pack and play downstairs and put that together, and figure out the car seat/stroller thing. Russ thinks we can just stick it in the car when I go in labor--- ha! I said, "So uh, you think you're gonna know how to use it right away, huh?!" Men.

Well, I think I'm gonna attempt to coax my husband back upstairs, then try to lay down. Hope everyone has a good Memorial Day. We pretty much celebrated yesterday... Russ had a company party for all his guys at the marina where I used to work. His good buddy owns it now, so he got a great deal on the party. The guys got an "all you can drink beer" deal, and we all got DELICIOUS steak dinners, with potatoes and green beans. It was awesome...though I was really craving a drink! Seeing those guys bringing out buckets of coronas with lime made my mouth water! I can't wait to have a big 'ol Margarita..... :-)

Well, nighty night! (for me, anyway!)