Belly Shot: 33 weeks

I know I usually skip a week, but I felt like taking another pic. It isn't very good at all. I thought the lighting in my bathroom would be good, but no. Oh well.

This week is different than last week, which is why I felt another pic was warranted.

My hands are feeling constantly swollen now. I've definitely noticed my belly keeping me from sitting up because it totally rests on my thighs. I'm having to get creative when I read Eden a story at night because there's hardly any room on my lap.

It's FINALLY cool here in Jackson. It still gets warm during the day (high 70's), but I haven't had the air on constantly. I've been able to just open the windows and get some nice cool air flow. It's absolutely HEAVEN at night. Like right now... I'm sitting on the couch in shorts and a tank top next to an open window and the cool air is feeling wonderful on my skin. I actually slept with a little bit of the comforter on me last night... for part of the night. I usually just have the sheet on me, or not even the sheet.

The cool air is making me happy.

One New Helpful Habit

I have decided to tell God out loud every time I'm frustrated with Eden. I've done it for one day and it really seems to help. He already knows, of course, but to just tell Him what I'm feeling instead of keeping it to myself really seems to release some tension and give me some perspective. Just hearing myself say what I'm feeling helps with perspective. It also makes me take a second to think about how to word what I'm feeling (equivalent of counting to 10?). All in all, I think a great habit to get into before Arielle arrives.

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.