First Video Post

I attempted to make a video with my MacBook of Eden saying a few words. That's what I got.. a very few. She was so entranced, distracted and bashful because of her own real-time image on the screen that she wouldn't "perform" like she normally does. At the end, she was just babbling about the "yite"... the bright sun light coming through the sliding glass doors.

I'm pretty sure my parents will enjoy this. Maybe some of my other readers who don't see her often will too. :)

Belly Shot: 32 weeks

Arielle, you stay right where you are...

We all took an unexpected trip to the hospital this past Tuesday night because I was having regular painful (when I say painful, I mean there was pain that registered in my brain after about a half hour of feeling it. I'd say on a scale of 1 - 10 labor pain, it was, like, a 1 1/2) contractions. I called the doc and she said to take tylenol, drink water, take benadryl, take a warm bath, take a nap and then call back if nothing changed. That was at 4:30pm and at 7:30pm, nothing had changed.

We went in for them to monitor me and decide what needed to be done. The nurse checked me and discovered I was not dilated. I was well hydrated and didn't have any traces of a UTI. Diagnosis - Irritable Uterus, otherwise stated - random, pointless contractions not considered to be Braxton Hicks or Pre-term Labor. I was given two shots to relax my uterus and sent home after about three hours total.

Praise God Eden was so well behaved. She stayed in her stroller the whole time learning about soccer and football from Daddy. He did a really amazing job keeping her happy with explanations of plays and some snacks while being available to hold my hand every now and then too. For about the last half hour, he took her out of the stroller and laid her on the trundle he pulled out from the couch so she could rest. She laid there quietly and sucked those favorite two fingers until we were released.

Overall, not fun, but we're glad to know it wasn't pre-term labor.

We're actively trusting God to keep Arielle safe and to continue her development until it's completed and she's ready to meet us.

Creative Outlet

I think I need an Etsy shop. But that would mean that I'd have to make stuff that people could actually buy. And it would mean that I'd have to keep track of orders and money and stuff.

Hmmmm...

I was really just thinking that I needed an outlet for all these wonderful whimsical names I have running around in my head that I'm not going to get to use on anything. All the Etsy shop proprietors with cute things seem to name their creations interesting names. I like that idea.

I need to put Violet, Olivia, Caspian, Collier, Petunia, Daphne, Marigold and Chutney to good use somehow. (and there's more where that came from)

Nesting

Here's some pics of the new crib in the girls' room.

(Eden was in time-out at the time of the picture taking.)

The original mini-crib, now moved to the opposite wall it began on, all ready for Arielle's arrival.

A close-up of the new crib bedding, complete with white chenille bumper and custom-made pink and white nursery rhyme toile crib sheet and pillow case with polka dot accent (same as the crib sheet on Arielle's crib). The future crib skirt will also be the polka dot fabric.

Eden's new full size crib. She now sleeps back under the window where she started.

I also framed our beautiful silhouette of Eden at 18 months. I ordered it from BlueClara's Etsy store for my mom's birthday and made sure to get a duplicate for us. I'm extremely pleased. The shop's proprietor was wonderful to work with and even did four different versions of the silhouette for me, with varying amounts of hair frizz/curls, until I was completely pleased.

We plan to get the same thing done for Arielle when she's 18 months old, so I wanted to go ahead and get two matching frames. Once I got the frames and decided where to put them, I realized it might look funny to hang just one so I had to figure out what to put in the second one in the meantime.

I decided to create my own fabric and paper monogram and I really like how it turned out. I copied the ever popular bird motif, using a couple of greeting cards I had with the colors I needed. I used some fabric I'd bought to make some burp cloths for a friend for the "U."

I didn't even realize that my little bird cut-outs compliment the little red-breasted blue bird on the hall piece. :)

Thoughts And Feelings At 31 Weeks

Ok, remember that prenatal massage I was so looking forward to? Well, I feel bruised and more sore in some places now than before I got the massage. I think the therapist might have been a BIT too aggressive and a little to intent on getting out all the knots and tightness she found. The goal wasn't really to find tightness I didn't know I had (because it wasn't bothering me) and then attack it aggressively. That seems more like a plan for someone who was going to have regular treatments. My idea was more about a gentle rub down that probably wouldn't accomplish a single thing in the long run, but would make me feel good and relaxed for those 80 minutes.

She even told me during the massage that the reason she enjoyed being a massage therapist is because all her clients leave happy even if they came in unhappy. I came in a bit sore from water aerobics the day before and left extremely sore and was so sore the following day that it felt like my skin should all be that awful purple-ish green color that really nasty bruises are. I was so sore, especially my back and forearms, that even a very light touch would make me wince in pain. It hurt to lean back on the couch. It hurt to put my bag over my shoulder. I paid for this?

I knew it was bad even before I left the spa. I asked her if there was anything I needed to be doing that evening, like icing (or let's see... maybe taking a few doses of tylenol?!) and she said to just drink lots of water. I've been drinking more water in the past few days than I have for this entire pregnancy. I suppose that's a good thing that came out of this.

This is one of those things that I could have fixed before it became a problem, but it's also a situation where I was trying to just trust the professional. She told me before she really dug in that I should tell her if it was too much or too hard or too painful. It was hard and it was painful (and she knew I was in pain because she asked about it every time I made a face), but I assumed that it was the kind of pain that would leave me tension-free and totally comfortable later on. No pain, no gain right? I imagined myself lying in my bed that night thinking to myself how loose my muscles were and how relaxed I felt, thus getting the best sleep I'd had in a month. Nope. Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

We got Eden's new full-size crib up and the new bedding in it. I love it. It's the exact same crib as our mini crib, except in the standard size. So now we have a big sister/little sister matchy-matchy look in the nursery. The bedding on each one is different with the black and white theme remaining to tie them in. Eden's napping, but I'll post a pic when I can. She now sleeps with a little tiny pillow which she calls a "poe" and even though, it's still a crib, she seems more grown-up looking in it for some reason. I'm very happy to have that part of the preparations for Arielle done and marked off the list.... except for the bedskirt for the new crib which still needs to be sewn.

Belly Shot: 30 weeks

Doctor's Visit: 30 weeks

Another great visit!  Eden did really well again.  We used the umbrella stroller for the first time and that was actually a whole lot easier for me to maneuver in the small spaces of the office.  Our Aria stroller is compact, but there's no doubt the umbrella stroller is lighter and smaller. 

Once again, the entire time in the office from sign-in to walking out the door was about an hour.  The parking lot was packed and I had a mid-afternoon appointment instead of my usual morning appointment, so I was fully expecting a wait, but the OB waiting room was practically empty when we arrived.  Whew!  What a pleasant surprise.

I had an ultrasound scheduled to make up for the one I was supposed to have had at 26 weeks to check for the resolution of the low-lying placenta.  My parents and Chuck and I have all been agreeing together in prayer that it would no longer be low-lying so that there would be no concerns about me having a vaginal birth.  God came through for me!  He is so good... all the time!  My uterus has grown below the placenta and everything else about Arielle and her watery environment were perfect as well.  She's head down, heartbeat in the 150's, 3 lbs and something (in the 53rd percentile), all parts accounted for and no extras.

Here's her face.  She's on her side.  Her forehead is in the middle right, then eye sockets, nose, open mouth and chin.  

I wanted to ask two questions of my OB during my visit.  One about who I needed to call to request in-room care for Arielle right after birth and the other about any photography restrictions.  It's called transitional care when the nurses do whatever they need to with the baby for the first hour in your room instead of whisking her off to the nursery.  My OB had said it wasn't standard, but if I asked the right person, was persistent enough and nice enough, that I might be able to work it out.  I have not been looking forward to making that call, but I knew I needed to go ahead and try to get it out of the way.  When I asked my doctor who I should call, she said with the brand new labor and delivery wing they just added onto the hospital also came standard transitional care.  So everyone gets it now!  Praise the Lord again!  What a nice present to me.  A brand new facility to birth in and more of the kind of experience I want, standard.  :)  I know He didn't work all that out JUST for me, but He knew.  He knew I would be in Jackson and He knew where we would live and where I would birth my second child.  I don't think for a second that He didn't lead me to the best place for me, and Arielle.

Oh, and the restrictions on photography correspond with my level of comfort or discomfort.  So that's totally up to me.

Color and Fun

Just like I said I wanted, I've gotten some maternity photos this time around with some pizzaz.  Even though we're in Atlanta right now, my mom's not, so I convinced Chuck to be my photographer.  It wasn't too hard to convince him and he did a really great job.  We dropped Eden off at Grandaddy Upshaw's house and went on a photo shoot date to the playground in the neighborhood where Chuck spent some of his childhood.  I think it was the perfect setting.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Thoughts And Feelings At 29 Weeks

I feel as though I've done 75 adductor squeezes.  Actually, it's not just the inside of my thighs that are sore, it's all around my hip sockets.  

Naps are amazing.  Sleep is incredible.  I had the best nap this afternoon and I felt rejuvenated to take on the rest of the day.  On the other hand, lying awake at midnight and thinking about how much you'd really like to be asleep is really awful.  I did that for a few hours last night.

As a very large-feeling pregnant woman who is extra aware of her curves, I'm enjoying watching a bio on Marilyn Monroe and just seeing her pictures and hearing the photographers remembering her stunning beauty.  She was not the ideal body of today.  Just nice to remember that popular body image changes through the years.  It's all so superficial and inconsistent.

I think I'm glad my hair is short.  It's easy.  I can still put it back, but it doesn't take that much time or effort to use my 1 inch curling iron to dress it up if I want to.  It dries faster.  I'm not having to strain to reach the long ends, when washing, drying or styling.  Good choice.

I am very much looking forward to my prenatal massage and manicure scheduled for next week!!  Oh wow.  I think a foot rub, or any kind of massage feels multiple times better while pregnant then at any other time.  Yep, I'm looking forward to it.

Belly Shot: 28 weeks

I didn't take this totally from the side.  I'm angled a bit.  I think my belly looks the same as the side shot from a few weeks ago... which means I'm definitely bigger now.  

Woman's Hospital Tour

We took the tour of Woman's last night.  We stuck Eden in the sling because the stroller would have just been a hassle.  We don't use our slings much, but I'm sure glad we had one.  She seemed quite comfy.  She did fuss some and want me to hold her instead of Daddy, but that's par for the course.

Woman's is small compared to the hospital we had Eden in.  I think the rooms are comparable in size.  Nevermind.  I just asked Chuck and he says they were smaller at Woman's.  No biggie though.  

The thing we were most put off by was the fact that there was no option to have a monitor on AND walk the halls.  The nurse doing the tour said the only way to walk the halls was to have intermittent monitoring and I already know my OB won't allow that.  She did say that even though she would require constant monitoring that there was a way to "travel" with it.  At least that's what I heard in our discussion about what I want to be able to do in labor.  I'm going to reconfirm that tomorrow and ask if what she was talking about is only available at the River Oaks' Baby Suites (our tour there is at the end of this month).

When I was laboring with Eden, one of the ways I stayed sane in the early parts (early being 12-20 hours in) was to walk down the hall from my room to the newborn nursery and look at what I would surely have in not too many more hours.  We walked up and down that hallway several times.  I got very familiar with the rail on the wall and the chair beside the window to the nursery.  Leaning over the chair with a contraction, not sitting in it.

There were a few other little things, like the lack of good/varied food options for both Chuck and I while I stay there, the number of available large rooms, the foot of the bed in the delivery room doesn't drop down to allow sitting or squatting on the edge.  We'll see in a few weeks how different, if at all, Baby Suites is.  I'm a little nervous knowing that one of my two options has been taken from me (by the fact I can't walk while being monitored) and the one I have left, I don't really know anything about.

I looked at a message board online and all the posts from the ladies' who had birthed there were very positive, mostly about the staff.  There's a virtual tour available, but it's broken.  I guess I just have to wait. 

Speaking of the staff, I think I intended to do this last time, but I'd really like to bring something for my nurses this time.  Brownies, cookies, something nice to butter them up.. I mean, show them I appreciated them.  I have to be honest and admit there would be a two-fold purpose to the goodies.   I might be asking them to let me do some things that they aren't the most comfortable with, but with a brownie in your hand, how can you say no?  right?  or is that just the sweets-craving 28 week pregnant woman's perspective?

Be-bo

Eden loves the Sandra Boynton book The Belly Button Book.  In it, a little hippo calls a belly button a be-bo.  That is Eden's official name for belly buttons and she gets so excited to see mine (or anyone else's).  

I don't know how she can tell anymore that I have one.

See what I mean?