37 and 38 weeks

yes we are still here and still waiting for baby!!! last week i was very tired and just never felt like posting. so our appt. last week went well, the HB was in the 160s and all was good. i saw dr. isabelle because becky was on vacation.

this week becky is back. we had our appt today and again all is well. she is 100% sure the baby is head down and she showed us where other parts are, like the butt, back, knees, and she had us both feel the head. it was pretty cool!!! so after all that poking around she did the HB and it was all over the place from 137 all the way up to 160, we had the baby all worked up and squirmy! other then that the appt was pretty much like all the others.

to answer some often asked questions:

the top 3 boy and girl names are still the same and we will bring all 6 with us and pick after baby is here.

i don't know if i am dilated, this office does not check unless i ask and i am not asking.

this practice also does not try to guess size of baby or whether it will be early or late, they just wait patiently with us.


and these are just some pictures!!!! i am 38 weeks in these, and yes dad i know you disapprove of these being posted!!! i love you :)


ok some of the weight i gained could have gone to the butt, all these pounds and still a flat butt...figures!

36 weeks

we had our appt. this morning. it was the first one brandon could not make, so that was sad. it was pretty uneventful though. the HB was in the 150s and the baby was moving all over the place while i was there. it is usually very still during the appts. my group B strep test was neg. which is great news. my iron is up so i can stop those pills, which have been the reason for the recent puking! good times! and baby is still head down. we are now on weekly visits. my midwife is on vacation next week so i will see the doctor. i have met him before, he is great and if by chance baby chooses to come early next week he would deliver it. but lets just hope that does not happen.


the last few days have been rather painful. my back and chest muscles are very sore. brandon has actually been helping me move my body at some points. it has lessened now a bit but i am still sore. becky gave me some cards for chiropractors to try if i want. i know i have never been a fan but at this point it is the only thing i have not tried and this pain can not continue, so we will look into it.


other then that becky said i am looking good. so we are just waiting at this point.

35 weeks

ok we had our 35 week appt yesterday. all is still well, the heart beat was everywhere, started in the 130s jumped to 150s came back to 140s, so who knows, the baby was getting all excited and moving around. i had more blood drawn to retest my iron and thyroid. i also did the group B strep test, ya that was a fun one, if you have ever done it you will understand, otherwise it is TMI!!!!

so everything is going great, we are just waiting and we keep working on the house. we had our annual fiesta with our friends. it was a great night!!! i will post pics some time soon. we also set up our pack and play and got a few other things ready for baby.

so pretty boring around here right now, but soon to get very exciting we are sure!!! we will keep you posted!!!

was that a hiccup??

so for a few weeks now i have been feeling a weird pulse in the belly sometimes, and i think it may be hiccups. i know babies can get them in the womb, but i never thought that was what it was. the other night i just all of a sudden thought maybe that was a hiccup!!! anyways, it is kinda neat if that is what it is. this squirmy wormy baby is getting bigger and bigger as we get closer and closer to the birthday. who knows when it will really come out but we are getting all ready and very excited. i know i will miss being pregnant. despite all the puking and back pain i have really enjoyed being pregnant. i am sure i will enjoy being a mom even more but i will miss this feeling.

33 weeks

we had our doctor's appt. yesterday. i am officially 33 weeks and all is good. the baby is still head down, the heart beat was in the 140s this time and i am still measuring a week ahead but that doesn't really mean anything. next appt is on the 27th, we will go over the whole birth plan and procedures then with becky. she will be out of town till sept 12, so no early baby for me please!!! other then that i have been feeling good, the iron supplement has made a big difference in my energy level.

side note: 33 weeks and i puked in mc donald's parking lot this morning, quite the show for those folks in the drive thru. pretty sure i have puked at least once every month :)

32 week pic and hypnobirthing

kelsey took some pics of the belly while i wa sin toledo. i am 32 weeks. i don;t know i think i look pretty good for 32 weeks. even though the scale number keeps going up i think i look good. i will definitely have to get back in shape after the baby gets here but i am happy with the weight i have gained and the way i look.

so we have a had few hypnobirthing classes now and we are very excited about this method of birth. brandon has been busy getting relaxing music on the ipod for the hospital. he also enjoys practicing at night with me and reading different visualization or affirmation scripts to me. i definitely have my favorite readings ad breathing exercises already. this week we worked on our birth plan which we had been waiting for. we need to talk to becky (our midwife) about a few points but i think most things are in place. brandon is even thinking about helping to deliver the baby. after the head is out of course. i am actually really ok with that and i think it would be pretty cool. he will for sure cut the cord though. i love how excited and involved he is with everything baby!!!

ohio baby shower

This week end i had my baby shower in toledo. it was another beautiful baby shower and everyone was so generous. we got alot of wonderful gifts and everything was great. thanks to everyone from all my showers for all the wonderful gifts, this baby is so loved already. i posted a few pics below of the shower.



the yummy cake!



a special shirt from grandma poddany, daddy loved it!!!




a very hard purchase we are sure, but thanks!!!



wow!! heather made this!! we had blankets made from my aunt stell and grandma also!! such thoughtful and meaningful gifts!!!

me and beth belly to belly. she is about 5 weeks behind me, but this is baby 3 for her!!! can't wait to see what we have, they will be so close in age!!!

we are so excited for the baby and love that we have so many items to get ready. we are pretty much set for baby to get here!!! we are going to keep working on the house and and putting things together and waiting. like all of you we cannot wait to see this little baby and find out if it is a boy or a girl.

31 week appt.

we had a baby appt. this morning. all is well with baby, the heart beat was in the high 130, still normal and good. the baby is still head down and they showed me how to feel the difference between head and butt, that was really cool. i am still measuring one week ahead but that doesn't mean much, just interesting to now.


i did find out that my iron is low and that is probably why i am so tired all the time, so brandon is picking up some iron tablets for me today and they should start to make me feel better soon. i was also told to go see my family doctor for some chest tightening i have been having lately. i am sure it is nothing but better safe then sorry so i will follow orders and go get checked out!! everything else was pretty normal. we made the next appt for two weeks from now. we are getting closer and closer!!!!

love it, love it, love it

we had our first hypnobirthing class last night and i absolutely love it. no i am not going to be hypnotized and clucking like a chicken while giving birth, it is basically a relaxation technique, with breathing exercises, visualizations, and so on. the teacher is fantastic and referenced it like teaching our brains to stay calm, and focus on something. kinda of like when you swim the 500 and are so focused on the race before you know it, it is lap 17 and almost over, or when you get in the car at work, drive home and don't remember the drive because your mind was somewhere else. if you want more info you can check it out at www.hypnobirthing.com

i am sure people are rolling there eyes because i don't want medication and i am trying something new, but please keep your negative thoughts and opinions to yourself!! brandon and i are very excited about this and with my history of reactions to pain medications there is no way i want to even try them. we are looking forward to a positive birth experience and this is how we feel we can have that. we can and will gladly answer any questions you may have if you ask.

we are looking forward to the next class to learn more about the birth process, and learn more techniques to practice before baby gets here!!!

PA baby shower

This weekend was my baby shower in PA. it was very nice, my mom worked so hard to make it great. everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. i had family and friends there i have not seen in awhile so it was great to say hi and catch up a bit. Everyone was so generous ad the baby made out like a bandit!!! i posted a few pics, i don't love how i look in any of them.



opening some presents!!!



what a cute cake!!!

this was a box of goodies my grandma made for the baby. it was a jacket, hat, booties and blanket. my aunt stell also made a blanket for the baby. these were pretty cool gifts made with love!!

over all we got a ton of great gifts, i can't pick a favorite because i am so excited about all of them. i have already started organizing everything in the house. in a few weeks i will have another shower in toledo with more friends and family. i am sure it will be great too!

sick again

yes you read that right...i am going in the wrong direction. i was feeling great and lately i have not been feeling good at all. probably the last week or so. last night was great i was heaving and puked some in my mouth...fun times. hopefully this will be short lived but that is what i said when it started so we will see. i am getting such intense chest pains too...is that normal?? of course now i have a question but not at the doctor's appt. i am worn down from lack of sleep too, i am sure all you mom's can relate. i am just preparing myself for when the baby is here, i will be able to function like a super star, i will be so used to no sleep!!! sunday is my baby shower in PA i am very excited!!! i remembered my camera so i should have a good post to put up!!!

29 week appt. and PT

we had an appt today. we are at 29 weeks and all is well. the diabetes test results were all good, so no trouble there. i had to have more blood drawn today to test my thyroid since i have had issues in the past. they just want to make sure everything is ok before something happens. the heart beat was in the 150s and the baby is still head down. that was about the whole appointment. i can never think of any questions for her so we get in and out pretty fast.

as for PT i am now an as needed patient. so if i need them i can call but i do not have any more scheduled appts. i just have to keep stretching and trying the different positions to try and find relief on my bad days.

i have had some blah days lately. i can't pin point why i don't feel great i just don't. hopefully it goes away soon, i just chop it up to the baby growing so my energy is zapped!!

breast feeding class

last night brandon and i went to our breast feeding class. it was very interesting and i am glad we went. they covered a ton of information such as, how i make milk, problems that may arise and how to solve them, positioning the baby, latching on, pumping, good and bad pumps on the market, milk storage, myths and facts, etc, etc, etc. i feel a lot more prepared now and feel like i have an idea of what to expect in the hospital and when i get home. hopefully all will go well and i will be able to figure it out without needed extra help, but i also got phone numbers to call if things are going wrong once i get home. so we will see what happens. at the end of the month we start our child birth classes which i am so excited about. we are going to try hypnobirthing, and no that is NOT hypnosis!

random

look at the ticker!!!!! we are so close to the end i can't even believe it. the baby is moving even more these days and we are both getting more and more excited. the house is coming along, nothing else finished to post, but the little bits are coming together slowly. hopefully we will have a deck soon and walls painted. brandon had a couple days off coming up and we will be working hard those days. i do what i can when i am alone, but that is not much. i just hope we get most everything done before the baby gets here!

as for the back, it is about the same. i did not get to do pool therapy last time, my therapist was not there so i had a new guys and we just did stretches and such. i am trying to do them at home everyday, but my true goal is every other day!!!! i am still sore some days and better others,i figure it will be this way for awhile. the hormones are losing my hip joints and my body will continue to release that hormone throughout breast feeding so this problem could be pretty consistent for quite some time even after the birth.

27 weeks

i will NOT need a c-section!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am very excited, my placenta is out of the way now and there is no concern, so as long as everything else goes well i will be able to have the natural birth i want. other then that the doctor says the baby is growing well, it is measuring a week ahead but that doesn't really mean anything at this point. not much else to report about that. i will start going every two weeks now, that is crazy, can you believe i am 6.5 months pregnant really almost 7 months now. boy time just flew by, sept will be here before we know it, i hope we get this house done!!!!!

visitors!!!

wow,we had a busy week this week! i can't even believe it is sunday already. beth, averie and baylor some friends from toledo came to visit us. really they came to see tonia's new baby tierney but they stayed with us and it was a nice visit. averie and baylor just loved stella!!!! callie did very good with the kids too, so that was comforting! my sister mel also came and stayed and my mom and dad came down for the day on friday. it was nice to see my whole family. we all went out to eat and had a good time. my mom also brought lots of stuff for the baby!!! and a few maternity things for me too, so that was nice. they also brought the cake from our wedding that we were supposed to eat on our anniversary. we tried it the other day but it was pretty nasty, brandon took a bite and said "do we have to eat the whole thing?" you know it isn't great if he doesn't want to eat it!!!
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this is just our crazy cat stella. she is hanging off the ledge in our hallway which is about the same height as the top of our staircase. she rolls around up there and has already fallen off once. not jumped, actually fallen, she was so confused when she hit the ground!!



here is averie carrying stella around the house, these two were pals by the last day they were here. i was shocked that stella would just let averie pick her up and carry her around, it was very cute. i think averie needs a kitty in her life!!!!!!!!


in the midst of all that fun we also went over to the tonys last night for dinner. brandon really hasn't had time to see them or the boys much since we got here because of how busy he has been with the house and work. i just have to say though that he is going to be the best daddy ever. he ran around with the boys for a long time and played games with them. carmine kept saying "do it again!" when he was throwing him up in the air. he also held tierney and did a great job, he stayed very calm even when she was screaming at him. he even let rece get him with the hose!!!! i can't wait to see him with our kids as they grow, he is going to be awesome!

back pain and baby names

back update: the last few days i have been pretty busy and so i have been having more pain, some moments are up to 8 or 9. i even took Tylenol last night but of course it did nothing. so today i am taking it easy and trying to do nothing at all but maybe stretch. my upper back is now also cramping a lot lately.

good news though, my PT office is in network, and i am going to go to my next appointment to see what i can learn, i think i will keep going if i find some things that give me relief. my PT is great i have emailed her about 100 times already and she answers all of them, i am excited to see her again and see what she has to say after she sees me do the exercises. then i will know if i am doing them right but also if the pain level is too high or not. i am very bad at that 1- 10 scale, i hurt everyday so i think that messes up my scale.

BABY NAMES!!
ok everyone asks all the time what we are going to name the baby. first of all no name will be picked for sure until the baby born. i have always said i would take 2 girl and 2 boy names we really like and see what the baby looks like. so here are the top 3 boy and girl names in no particular order. we have lots of others hanging out on the list too i will list them at the bottom.

girls:
scarlet ann
kinsley rose
ramsey jane

boys:
bram joseph
lennox jon
ryker james

other names we like:
girls:
molly
nia
remi
brynn

and brandon would love to name her stella, but that is the cats name already, if it were his choice we would be changing the cats name and using stella for the baby!!!

boys:
leland
malcolm
barron
stone

so we will see what the final pick is after the birth!!! i don;t think much will change between now and then.

TMI

that stands for to much info...so you may not want to read on...read at your own risk!!

i am writing this more for my own memory sake then anything else.


ok, so i have been feeling the baby a lot lately, it moves like crazy all over the place. my belly jumps, and people can see and feel it now!!! super cool. but for some reason this baby keeps punching me in the butt. and i mean the anus!!! yes, it is great, not sure what is going on but just about everyday a few times a day the baby is knocking on my back door. i know this is not actually possible but it is by far the strangest feeling so far for me. just imagine getting punched in the butt on the inside. so weird!

PT Update

last week i went to see the PT for an evaluation. they gave me some exercises and stretches to start at home and i made two follow up appointments. i am hoping these will help with the pain, some days get so intense it is crazy, brandon has to actually help me move and push me up the stairs. so we will see how it goes, i need to find out how much this will all cost too!!!! i am excited for the next appointment because i get to do some pool therapy which i think will be great.
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so far the stretches are fine, but some of the exercises cause some major pain so i have emailed my therapist to find out what level of discomfort or pain i should expect. usually i just ignore the pain and do what i can till i can;t move at all, but of course that is what got me here in the first place so i am going to try to to this all right this time.

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side note: i will be posting pics of the baby room soon, it is all done for now. furniture made, panted, organized!!!! i love it. i still want to get bubbles on the wall but that will be awhile still so i will post what we have done. stay tuned!!

MAJOR UPDATE

OK i found my camera cord so hold on tight!!!!
first are a few pics of the new house. it is a 2 story, 3 bed, 2.5 bath house. it has a great back yard, but a lot of work. we have already done a lot of renovations, i will have to do before and after pics some other time. so far we ripped out all the floors, got new tile and carpet ad have slowly begun to paint. all with help form both of our families...thanks guys!!!

this is the kitchen, it is a good size for us!



this is the back yard, we are hoping to add a deck soon!



and this is the front.

i only put a couple pics on here because the others just show crappy house really, i will post more soon as we finish projects!


ok now on to the baby pics i only have a few. these are out of order but the first is on my belly at 6 months. this was also the night brandon and i went out for our 1 year anniversary, and this is the only picture we took. we had a nice dinner out together, but really since we moved we have had a lot of those do to a major mess in the kitchen. it was still great to stop working and just sit with him at dinner and talk. we can't believe that in 3 months we will be a mommy and a daddy!!!!


this one is of the two of us at our friend Melissa's wedding. it was a fun night and we had a chance to relax and dance. this was right before we moved. i was probably about 5.5 months or so there. it was on May 24th. and again the only picture we took all night.

so there you go...i think the belly looks pretty good, i am always tired now and totally over doing it here trying to unpack, clean up, paint, and so on. i know i have to slow down but it is hard to live in a mess. i tend to go all out one day and pay the next. we do have the baby room all painted and it looks great, i absolutely love it!!! we only have a few more things to clean and then the rest of the painting can begin. i am pretty sure we will have on going projects for quite some time now. but as long as all the big stuff is done by the time baby comes it will be fine. speaking of baby, it moves a lot these days, you can see my belly jump when i get a good kick or hit in there. brandon gets very excited about it, he waited along tome to feel it. i am not getting sick like i was anymore, an occasional nauseous moment or gagging episode but other then that it has been pretty god...thank god!!! i was way over that.

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i have my next appt. on july 2nd so i will post more baby info after that. in the mean time i will try to take some after pics of the house to share.

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some other big news, my friend tonia had her 3rd baby on may 28th. a little girl named tierney. she is just beautiful, i don't have a good picture of her yet but i will post it when i get it. most of you would have met her at the wedding shower or wedding she was one of my brides maids