January, 2009:

This week marked the beginning of the winter recreation activities for Jacob that we registered for back in December. As always Jacob is taking his usual private swim lesson at our local pool but unfortunately this week the class got canceled due to mechanical problems and Jacob was very disappointed. Jacob probably enjoys swimming so much because for as long as he possibly can remember he’s been taking lessons! At 6 months old he started with parent and guardian swim class which he took until he was 2 years old and then at age 2 he switched to the private Tiny Tot swim class and this is his fourth session of those classes. I can’t wait for him to turn 3 years old because that is when he’s going to start semi-private (3 kids per class) preschool swim classes.

In the fall you all might recall that Jacob took his first ever hockey skating lesson and in the beginning he was just not having it but towards the end he was getting use to it and enjoying it a bit more. We really contemplated whether it was the right time for Jacob to be in skating lessons and went back and forth about registering him for Winter lessons….in the end we decided to give it another shot and today is Jacob’s first class! As I blog right now Mike is off at skating lessons with Jacob and Papa and I heard word from Mike that Jacob went right onto the ice with no issues and was quite happy to do so! YAY! I really hope as he gets more exposed to the ice and skating he falls in love with it because I remember really loving my experiences with ice skating as a child! I guess we’ll hear the full report from Mike about how it went when he gets home around 11 am today!

Yes, i am totally awake and blogging at 5 am because what else do you do at 5am when you can’t sleep and nobody else in your house is awake? I don’t understand why sleep continues to be so difficult for me because I truly do feel exhausted but when I lay down to go to sleep it just does not come. I have been wide awake since 330 am this morning and before that I only drifted in and out of sleep and I’m sure I never once made it to REM sleep which is where you know your body is truly getting rest. I’ve got to admit there is something peaceful about being the only one in the house awake and as I sit here with my glass of water and laptop I kind of hope that everyone else will decide to sleep until at least 730 am.

Last night I was camped out on the couch yet again with a bad headache and swollen ankles which I assumed was another bout of high blood pressure so I am relieved to share that when I woke up this morning neither of those symptoms were present. I am quite happy that the swollen ankles went away because I thought that once you had them in pregnancy there was no going back until after the delivery! Today I plan to really take it easy because I need to go out tonight to get a few errands done and I haven’t been out since my doctor’s appointment. I think last night I was really worried I would need to make a trip to labor and delivery because of the swelling, headache and contractions I was having but alas it was not needed and to be safe we had Mike’s mom on stand by in case we needed to head out in the middle of the night.

I have had a ton of help in the past couple of days since I’ve been trying to rest and keep my blood pressure down. Mike’s mom has been coming and helping out a bit around the house with Jacob and spending some time playing with him which I am very grateful for but also sad because I wish I could be spending some time with him but its just too hard these days to chase him up an down those darn stairs…it’s okay though because I’m still able to squeeze in my snuggles and hugs whenever I can. Yesterday Lisa came to visit me which was totally awesome and despite the fact that we were going to watch a movie it was far more thrilling that we just spent the time chatting and enjoying lunch. I really enjoyed her company and trust me if i continue to rest for the duration of this pregnancy I really hope she’ll come again because I am seriously losing my mind without sunlight in my life!

I’ve been thinking this morning about how I made it through pregnancy by setting small goals along the way to help me feel like it was going by faster then it really was. I remember back in the early pregnancy weeks how I just waited and waited for the first ultrasound, then the second, then I hoped and prayed we’d make it to the second trimester and that I’d find some relief from the nasty morning sickness….relief did eventually come but I was well into the second trimester when it did. Once we coasted into the second trimester I looked forward to our anatomical ultrasound where we debated finding out the gender of the baby but ultimately did not! Once we passed the 20 week mark we patiently waited to hit the viability mark, snuck in a gender ultrasound at 26 weeks because we could not take it anymore and then eventually surpassed the 28 week mark where 90% off babies born have a chance of healthy survival. I remember the relief that came when we hit 30 weeks, and then 33 weeks and then we waited for 35 weeks and our first biophysical ultrasound. I would be dishonest to say that I was not nervous about this ultrasound, after all this is the point in pregnancy where everything turned upside down with Jacob. 35 weeks came and went with a perfect score on our ultrasound and in a sort of dragging manner 35 weeks quickly became 36 weeks and our second biophysical ultrasound which we also passed. I have to admit that I feel like I am in a state of limbo now, knowing that at any point the doctor could pull the trigger and say we need to deliver the baby but I keep hoping and praying for another week, another chance to say my body did it…..we survived pregnancy with no unnecessary or emergency interventions…even though I’m likely not getting my VBAC, I want the satisfaction of saying I did it! I did my job and I baked this baby all on my own until it was 100% time for her to come out big and healthy. So that’s why I’m here, sitting on my couch with my feet up trying to relax and do my part to keep her in there for another 11 days….I think we can make it!

If only I could just get a decent nights sleep.

There was no call from my doctor yesterday or today so I am assuming as always that no news is good news and everything is ok with my blood pressure. Over the past two weeks I have knocked things off my to-do list at a pretty awesome and consistent rate which really feels great! Now that I had that one case of high blood pressure at my appointment this week I have had to slow down a lot but slowly I am still getting things accomplished. I managed to get started on packing a bag for the baby yesterday and today I took a good 40 minutes to give my main floor a quick clean. Off the top of my head this is the list of things that still needs to be accomplished…

Finish Packing Baby Bag for Hospital (we won’t have our new diaper bag until after she’s born so we’re just using a bag we have around the house).
Fix Crib Rail – Danny is working on this.
Retrieve and Set Up the Swing and Pack & Play
Clean Master Bathroom (Tub and Shower included) – Mike promised me he’d do this.
Laundry, Laundry, Laundry
Clean and organize our Walk- In Closet in Bedroom
Do an exchange of our Bundle Me at Babies R Us
Finish Jacob’s Big Brother Gift
Pack an overnight bag for Mike

I think tomorrow night Mike and I are going to go out and finish Jacob’s big brother present and then I can pack his overnight bag for the c-section day. After we visit my mom’s house this weekend we’ll be able to retrieve the swing and pack & play that is stored there and we’ll set them up in our living room area (the spaces are all ready cleared and ready for them). Laundry is a never ending process but I think if Mike and I work together we can get it done…..and I am hoping that at some point this weekend Mike will clean the bathroom as promised!

Slowly but surely things are getting done and it makes me feel very content.

Since Christmas has come and gone we have quickly realized that so many gifts that Jacob has received require batteries and it’s kind of annoying. The hope would be that all of the toys would need the same battery style and we could rush off to Costco and pick up a large pack to have on hand but of course that’s not the way it works out ever now is it? In addition to the toys for Jacob we have some baby items that use batteries too like the bouncy chair, swing, bassinet, pack and play and do you think they all take the same battery type? NO! We currently need AAA, AA, 9V, C, and D batteries!! I am so frustrated by all of this and it reminds me why I prefer the easy joy of wooden toys! There is instant satisfaction with a toy that you open and can play with and enjoy right away. It’s hard to watch the disappointment as a young child opens a new toy, gets excited and then discovers all too late that the toy needs batteries that are of course…..not included. I am thinking of avoiding the batteries in the bassinet and pack and play and I wonder why its so hard to include a wall plug for the swing? I mean it doesn’t seem like such a brilliant idea to me to have a swing use batteries anyways unless of course fisher price has some sort of link with Duracell or energizer!

Toddlers say the funniest things. Just yesterday Jacob and I were sitting around downstairs and he was wearing big boy undies. I glanced over at him and noticed him fiddling with the “pocket” at the front of the underwear and then he looks up at me and says….

Mommy these underpants have a penis pocket!!

I burst out laughing because I just couldn’t help it and responded that yes they did have a penis pocket! Jacob then asked Mommy do your underpants have a penis pocket? I laughed lightly again and then responded that no Mommy’s underpants don’t have a penis pocket because Mommy doesn’t have a penis. “Oh” Jacob kind of muttered and then looked up and said “I bet Daddy’s underpants have a penis pocket” and I assured him that they did.

Gosh there’s never a dull day in our lives…ever.

I think today was the day the universe reminded me that things don’t always go according to your perfect plan…a reminder so to speak that sometimes when you least expect it something can be thrown in your direction that takes you off your current path for a moment and invites you to think of the other possibilities in the situation. I’ve been calling this pregnancy the perfect pregnancy because aside from the horrible morning sickness ( all day sickness) of the first 17 weeks or so I have felt relatively positive, good, and overall upbeat this entire pregnancy. Unlike Jacob’s pregnancy there have been no trips to labor and delivery, no unexpected doctor’s appointments, no extra calls to the doctor to check in about something that was happening….it’s all been rather dull; just the way we anticipated it would be.

Yesterday marked my second bio-physical profile ultrasound of this pregnancy and I’ve been relieved that my appointments were all scheduled for quite early in the morning. I really am not the kind of person who enjoys getting to an ultrasound lab or doctor’s appointment when they have fallen behind and you have to wait for what seems like forever. Last week we were in and out of that ultrasound in 20 minutes…fabulous. Yesterday we waited an hour just to get called into the ultrasound and then when the ultrasound was done (20 Minutes later) we had to get the results and waited another 30-40 minutes – it sucked. I was quite relieved however, to learn that the baby scored another 8 out of 8 on the bio-physical profile and left the ultrasound lab for my doctor’s appointment with the assurance I needed to feel confident all was well.

It was nice and quiet in the OB’s office and I felt calm an reassured that we’d be in and out in no time and on our way home. I did the usual pee on a stick (all good) and then waited about 5 minutes before I was called in by the doctor. We started with my blood pressure like we always do and immediately he had a perplexed look on his face….”hmmm” he said “your blood pressure is up to about 130/100″ and then he proceeded to look at my chart at bit and ask me a bunch of questions that went something like this: “Have you had any blurred vision? NO. Have you had any swelling in your feet or face? NO. Have you had any headaches? NO.” I remarked to him at this point that I’ve only been experiencing some nausea and heartburn but aside from that everything else was doing remarkably well. After feeling around my stomach for the baby’s position, glancing at the chart a bit more, and reviewing the plan for the c-section on January 20th he asking me to lay on my left side for a while and reflected that he’d be back in ten minutes to do the blood pressure again. So I laid down chatting with Mike until the doctor returned, redid my blood pressure and reflected that it was still high at 130/95. Fab. Mike and I both looked at each other because we remembered that the doctor had said that at any sign of trouble in either the baby or me the doctor would send me over for a c-section…I was not ready for that and I was actually willing to fight him a bit on it if he suggested it but he did not….whew. Instead, the doctor sent us over to the other side of the hospital to have some blood work done on my liver enzymes (AST/ALT), Creatanine, Uric Acid, CBC’s, and to do another 2 urine tests which I did and am now awaiting the results. The directions from the doctor were to go home, take it easy and he’d call if any of the results were off but otherwise he’d see me next week. I’m relieved that he didn’t just jump to conclusions and I am really hoping that the high blood pressure that day was just a fluke incident and that all the tests will come back normal and we’ll be at our 37 week appointment next Tuesday. Oh and of course I forgot to mention that I had that fabulous group B strep test done just in case I go into labor on my own before the c-section. Joy.

For now, I have taken up camp on our couch and I’m trying to get as much rest as possible, whenever I can. I have to say that the nesting urges I am experiencing are making that quite difficult since Mike is not very good at being the organized one and the clutter that is already accumulating in my once spotless living room is already starting to bug me. Last night I did spend about 15 minutes gathering some items for the baby bag…mostly her coming home outfit, a few sleepers for the hospital, etc. We had a two pack of Doctor Brown’s bottles we had picked up a while back when they were on sale so I asked Mike to wash them and sterilize the nipples as well as a few pacifiers so despite the fact that I felt unwell last night and rested as much as possible we were still able to take a few steps in the right direction.

I am praying that the phone doesn’t ring today or tomorrow with my OB’s number flashing because I want good news. I feel good about it though….I’m positive I’m not getting preeclampsia but that it was a total off day and that all is well. Send me some positive vibes because I really don’t want any early interventions! I said it before but I’m aiming for an over 8 pounder this time! A full term, healthy non NICU baby! I think we can do it!

I spent some time tonight getting my hospital bag packed since it’s just 14 days tomorrow until our c-section. I tried not to go to crazy with unnecessary things and feel I did a good job! Here is what I’ve added:

2 Pairs of Pajamas’s
1 Tank Top (I get hot easily)
1 Pair of Yoga Pants
1 T-Shirt
1 Housecoat
3 Pairs of Socks
3 Pairs of Underwear
2 Nursing Bra’s
8 Maxi Pads – Thin
8 Breast Pads
Towel and Wash Cloth
Small Bag Containing – Shampoo, Conditioner, Lotion, Deodorant, Tooth Brush, Hair Elastics
Bar of Soap

I need to purchase to add in:

New Pair of Slippers
Tooth Paste
Thicker Maxi Pads

To add in before we leave:

Camera
Flip Video Camera
IPod Touch
Hair Brush
1 Outfit to Wear Home
2 Pillows (1 for me, 1 for Mike)
Wallet with Insurance Card, Health Card, Money

I think overall I did a very good job at keeping it quite simple…sometimes when I see the list of things people have packed for the hospital it makes me so overwhelmed but for me I just try to remember that family will be coming and going from home to hospital so if I really need something I’m sure they can pick it up for me!

Over the past 2 weeks Mike and I have enjoyed some one on one time either after Jacob has gone to bed or when generous family members have agreed to babysit. The one thing I appreciate about the relationship between Mike and I is that we are able to recognize that we have to continue doing some of the things we enjoyed doing before we had children in our lives. I really believe that its important for us to continue with the interests and activities that we did pre-Jacob so that we are still doing things to strengthen our relationship. Just last week we went to dinner and a movie and it was really a nice evening out together….I love that we can have night’s out that are not focused on Jacob or pregnancy talk – even though those subjects did come up they didn’t dominate the evening. Twice in the past few weeks we’ve snuggled on the couch and watched movies together after Jacob had gone to bed and recently we’ve even been doing household tasks together.

The one thing that is our most important value is doing good quality family activities together but we also recognize that it’s imperative for us to keep our relationship strong! I totally believe that if we can present as a strong loving relationship to our children they will hopefully pick up on our values and adapt them for themselves. I hope that as the second baby arrives Mike and I are able to continue finding time for each other…of course it’s harder to find a baby sitter for 2 children then it is for 1.

Holy Crap! I’m 36 weeks pregnant which means that in 2 days I’ll be more pregnant then I’ve ever been! It seemed that the first 32 weeks of pregnancy went by in a whiz and now the last few weeks are just slowly passing by. Today is the 5th of January so that means that the baby will be making her appearance at some point in the next 15 days either on the 20th via C-section or earlier of her own free will! Things have been coming along very as we prepare for the baby’s arrival as you can tell by other blog posts here at www.mamamelissa.com and I’m totally feeling like this place might actually be in order before the baby arrives….ha! Just in time for it all to fall apart after she’s here right?

All of a sudden I am getting the typical end of pregnancy questions and perhaps the most popular is “how are you feeling?”. The truth is that I’m feeling pretty good overall….I mean it’s very obvious that my body is tired of being pregnant because I’m highly uncomfortable at this point….but I always figure it could be worse. I started last week with the sore hips but I actually feel it’s a case of sciatica since the pain is particularly painful on the left side and spreads down the back of my left leg. Perhaps the most recent development is the intense pelvic pressure/pain that started this week that primarily bothers me in the evenings; there are some nights I’d like to lay on the couch with an ice pack on my cootch! Ha! I’m having a bit of nausea overall and I’m far more irritable these days but I think it’s just a lack of sleep that is making me cranky….it sure takes a lot of effort just to roll over in bed at night! I’ve been going to the bathroom like crazy and just the other night i bent over to pick something up and nearly peed my pants! How fun is pregnancy?! Seriously I’m not complaining about any of this because I know its just par for the course and I feel blessed to have this baby in our lives.

Tomorrow I have my 36 week appointment and second biophysical profile ultrasound of this pregnancy and we’re hoping to have the same result as last week with a perfect score that lets us go home for another week…I will of course update when I can! I’m really sad that Mike is going back to work today because it’s been so great having him home but I know he’d chose to stay home with us if he could! We need to save up as much time off for him as we can for after the baby is born! I’m trying to think of some fun things that Jacob and I can do this week but I’m not sure what since it’s not so fun to go out and about by myself with him anymore…..

So that’s it folks…nothing special happening here! It’s just been another boring week in pregnancy! 2 more weeks to go!

A beautiful gift from my mother for the baby’s room! I just fall more and more in love with the creation of this bedroom every day!