Holy Dilation Batman!!

So I had my appointment this afternoon. It was at 3:50 and my name didn't get called until almost 5:30... this made it interesting to try and keep my blood pressure under control! I also managed to make three trips to the restroom in that time, wow. Anyway, my blood pressure wasn't quite as high, but borderline. I had a lot of anxiety going into the appointment, so I was glad that it wasn't too bad. So then the doctor checked me. He asked what I was at my last appointment (exactly one week ago) and I said a 1. I thought he was going to say I was maybe at a 2, but no, he said I'm at a 4!! I think my response was 'holy cow!' I wasn't prepared for that at all, I was so focused on the blood pressure issue. Heck, I was begging for the epidural at a 4 last time, this is a breeze so far!! I'm 90% effaced and the baby is at 0 station... i.e. ready to rock and roll!! With the baby being so low, that explains the frequent trips to the restroom lately... I went another three times before we got home!

He said I could go into hard labor as early as tonight (obviously not so far since I'm typing this), but to come back on Thursday (if I make it that long) to see if I've progressed any further and to check my blood pressure again. If I'm doing okay at that point, then he'll induce me on Friday. So no matter what, this baby will be here in a matter of days! I keep having contractions sporadically (which I did before), but now I'm paranoid that it's actual labor and don't know it. I just don't want to get to the hospital late and miss my window of opportunity for an epidural... drugs are the critical part of my birth plan... in fact, it's the only part!! He still wants me to stay home from work, so looks like I'm officially done with that for awhile. Shanon is worried about my water breaking all over the place... we just had our carpets cleaned. He really wants me to wear Depends. I'm not kidding. Is that normal?

I had Shanon take my picture in the nursery today:


Here are some pics of the nursery:





You can kinda see the outfits we have picked to bring the baby home in in this one:


So.... stay tuned!!

Bored at home

Here I sit in my recliner at home, surfing the net on my laptop and watching tv.... all day. Normally I wouldn't complain about such a concept, but it's harder than I thought to just do nothing! Let me back up...

As previously mentioned, my blood pressure was elevated at my appointment on Monday, so they had me go back yesterday to check it again. Unfortunately, it was up again - darn blood pressure!! So they did some bloodwork and a non-stress test on the baby, both of which came back just fine. There was no protein in my urine and when they took my bp again later, it came down. However, given my history of pre-eclampsia with Macy, the nurse practitioner wants to be cautious and told me to stay home from work today and Monday until I can see my doctor Monday afternoon and he can decide what the heck to do with me.

So, as I said, here I sit. It's harder than I thought to not give in to the urge to get tons of stuff done since I'm just sitting here and this baby will be here soon. I still have to pack a bag for the hospital! However, I also don't want this little one to come any earlier than necessary... so if I must be a lazy bum, so be it! On the bright side, I'm catching up on all the daytime tv I've missed since my last maternity leave.... since when did Maury turn into the new Jerry Springer?! Wow, these nutty people make octomom look normal!!

I digress... anyway, this can turn into a pretty serious condition, so let's hope all this relaxing does me good and all goes well on Monday!

Play the Baby B Guessing Game!

I found a website where you can enter your guesses for the baby's birth date, gender, length, and weight so I thought it would be fun to see who is closest!

Go to this website to enter your guesses! This kid will be here before we know it, so don't waste any time!

http://www.expectnet.com/games/BabyB2GuessingGame


Also, I had a doctor appointment on Monday and my blood pressure was slightly elevated, so they're having me come back on Thursday to check it again. I was told to relax with my feet up in the evenings... easier said than done with a 3 year old, but Shanon has been great with helping out. Hopefully it will be down tomorrow!

New Pics

Check out Macy's new pics on Amber's website:

http://www.photographicsgallery.net/p59467421

I also got some maternity photos taken, but they are password protected. Only a select few will get to see my stretch marked belly in all its glory!

Duggars vs. Gosselins

I'll admit it... the last book I read was the one written by the Duggar parents. Yes, those crazy people with 18 children. I got their book and also the Jon & Kate + 8 book for Christmas (thanks babe!) and still haven't opened J & K's book yet. The Duggar book was actually really good and had some good tips on parenting, organization, etc. I know the Duggar's get a lot of criticism for their highly conservative values and just for having so darn many kids, but I tend to find them rather refreshing. I mean, how nice is it to see a family with strong Christian values who live according to their own beliefs and not how society tells us to live? It really is such a rarity these days.

I watch both of these shows on TLC of course (I love DVR!!!) and I am becoming more and more complacent with J & K and how they appear to have become spoiled and changed by fame. I am less and less interested in watching them as they explore their new gynormous house and yard. Their show has become somewhat contrived, not to mention commercialized as they promote different products (how many times did they mention their new Whirpool washers and dryers?!) and of course their book. I used to relate to Kate and her neurotic tendencies, but anymore I just feel sorry for poor Jon who is constantly getting berated by her. Do you think his guy friends give him a hard time about being a wimp? Oh wait, he's probably not allowed to have any friends.

So back to the Duggars.... sure having such a huge family means that the older children have to help out around the house and with the younger kids, but is having responsibility really such a bad thing for kids? Seems like we could use more of that in today's world. I'm not saying these people have it all figured out, but it seems like something can really be said for the strong morals and values they are working to instill in their children. I feel like I can really learn something from these people. What I learn from J & K is that their children are not allowed in their bedroom or else they will catch the wrath of Kate and that they are not allowed to name their own pets for fear they might pick something childish... gasp! Now, if that darn Michelle would show even an inkling of being upset just once, I might be able to relate a little better to her.

But hey, at least both families were able to support themselves even prior to their reality shows and book deals... unlike a certain octomom out there.

Duggars vs. Gosselins.... my vote is for the Duggars. What do you all think?

God eats Twizzlers??

Sometimes if I'm eating something that Macy thinks is exceptionally yummy and I'm sharing it with her, she'll adamently say "Don't eat it all gone, okay?!" She wants to make sure I don't inhale it without letting her have more.

Well on Saturday, Shanon, Macy, and I were in the car and I was eating a Twizzler Pull-n-Peel. She wanted some so I peeled off one and passed it back to her. She then said her usual, "Mommy don't eat it all gone", but added, "save some for God!". Hmmm..... she's either an angel for thinking of God or just using that as an excuse to keep me from eating it all!

Doctor Appointments

I am officially 35 weeks today, holy smokes! I feel like I still have so much to get done and time is getting away from me. I had a doctor appointment today, which was fairly uneventful. He did check me and confirmed that the baby is very low (uh huh!!) and started to say that nothing was happening yet, but then changed his mind and said I'm dilated to about a 1. I had thought that maybe something was going on because I've been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions with some fairly painful cramping off and on. I had lots of BH contractions with Macy, but they were never painful. My pants are getting super uncomfortable because the baby is so low... I wish I could just wear my yoga pants 24/7. I also feel like a fat lady trying to squeeze into too small of tops, like my big belly is hanging out of the bottom. I now have more empathy for men with beer bellies... it's a lot of work to lug this thing around! Also, between frequent trips to the restroom, the ridiculous amount of effort it takes to roll over in bed and try to get comfortable, and Macy getting up a lot lately at night, the sleep thing has been eluding me.

Despite all of this complaining, I'm still not ready for this ride to be over! Even though this is my second time going through this, I still can't get over how amazing it is that there is a little life growing inside me and that it will soon transform us from a family of 3 to a family of 4. I'm going to miss feeling all these kicks and elbow drags and hiccups. However, I am so excited to see if this little one will look like Macy did and if it will have stork bites like her... not to mention finding out whether it's a boy or a girl! We are officially in the homestretch!

Last week I took Macy to her 3 year checkup. She is 33lbs. and 38 1/2 inches... 75th percentile, wow! She has always been around 5oth percentile or less in the past so she is definitely a growing girl! I had noticed lately that it really seems like she is shooting up and she has always been a pretty good eater. Her pediatrician commented more than once about her being talkative, which made me happy because she was a little slow in this area at first. She is definitely making up for it! The ped. warned me that about a month after the baby is born is when Macy will probably start acting out and that since I plan to breastfeed, she will choose that time to do it. Great! Well, at least I know what's coming. For any of you moms out there that have been through this and have advice, I'm all ears!

A Princess Party

My angel turned three years old yesterday, wow! I just can't believe how fast she is growing up. What else should a little girl turning 3 have for her birthday, but a princess party?! Truth be told, the original request from Macy was to have a Lightning McQueen party, but I knew there was no way I could pull off that cake! She requests to watch either Beauty & the Beast (my old VHS tape from when I was a kid) or Sleeping Beauty most evenings, so getting her to go for the princess theme wasn't too difficult.

Now, I have made Macy's birthday cake for both of her parties up to this point, but they were a somewhat basic round layered cake and I thought maybe I could up the ante this year (aka my preggo brain got the best of me). I looked online for cake ideas and found a castle cake that looked fairly easy for someone of my skill level... or should I say lack thereof. But I couldn't just stop there, no siree. I had to do more searching, finding more castle cakes and more ideas. This generated yet more searching, on ebay, to find some princess figurines to go with the cake... shopping at Wal-Mart and CVS to get some clearanced Valentine's candy and princessy stuff for the little girls... then hitting Hobby Lobby when I decide I must also make the icing, which means I must get frosting tint instead of using good ol' food coloring (it suddenly wasn't up-to-par for this endeavor) and something called clear vanilla (who knew!) as well as some pretty paper to make flags for the cones. Yes, after Shanon and I looked at everything I had collected for this once relatively simple undertaking, I suddenly had a moment of clarity and we both busted a gut laughing at the fact that there was practically no way I was going to pull this off and we'd be frantically calling DQ to see if we could get a last minute cake.

Well, I don't know if God was looking out for me or for my poor husband (sparing him a total meltdown from a hormonal, pregnant woman), but somehow it all managed to work out (this doesn't normally happen for me people!). Macy loved her castle cake and princess party. When she woke up from her nap she was so excited to put her Cinderella dress on. She had tons of fun playing with her cousins, eating cake and ice cream, and opening all of her gifts. Grandma Glenda and Grandpa Richard got her a princess sleeping bag and she decided she had to use it last night, so I unzipped it and used it as a blanket on her bed. She apparently decided that wasn't sufficient because when I checked on her later, she had it on the floor laying on it and was also snuggling with her new Sleeping Beauty doll.

Here is the castle cake:

Here is Macy proudly displaying three fingers.
Everyone sang Happy Birthday and she suddently got really shy & didn't know what to do... definitely out of character for Macy!

Blowing out the candles... she did one at a time with multiple attempts, it was a lengthy process!

The three princesses: Gracie, Macy, & Hadley. The two on the right may look sweet and innocent, but I can tell you that later Shanon found them in the nursery jumping up and down in the baby's crib!!

A good time was had by all. Macy was happy and Shanon and I were relieved when it was all over. "And they lived happily ever after"... until I told Shanon we could be doing this all over again in a few years if this baby is another girl!