She's here!

Sorry, guys! I didn't take my laptop to the computer with me, and it's been hectic around home since we got home Monday evening. So hectic that I just said "I didn't take my laptop to the computer" and thought that sounded right. HOSPITAL. I didn't take my laptop to the HOSPITAL.

So I owe you guys some info.

And pics probably. And a birth story (though I'm pretty sure no one cares much about those, except for your own, and ESPECIALLY not for something as uneventful scheduled c-section, but I write them out for my own sieve-like memory).

In the meantime, here she is.

Emmeline Marie.

12/12/13 9:41am

9lbs, 7oz

20 1/2 inches

So she's pretty great and we are pretty much head over heels in love. Of course. 

More to come. Someday. Maybe. 

Baby Squish : 38 Weeks

So I'm having a baby NEXT WEEK.

YAY!

Also, OMG.

Also, HOLY SHIT.

Also, SO EXCITED!

Also, SO SCARED!

Are we ready? Ish. Ready-ish.

Name: Semi-ready. We have a front runner, but, like with Carys, we won't make the final decision until the powers that be force us to do so at the last minute and threaten us with naming her Nevaeh.  I think the front runner will probably stick, because if you ask Carys what the baby's name is, she answers with this name.

Mentally: Uhhhh...no? I don't know. I know that we're having a baby, but it still hasn't hit in terms of reality and what life will be like (good or bad). I'm trying to prepare, but I don't think there is any preparing that can be done. I am having a really hard time wrapping my head around this. Around all of this. Around having a little baby again and having to deal with two kids and having surgery next week and pretty much no head-wrapping has been done. Around anything. Around any part of this.  How have I been pregnant for nine months and not figured out that this is happening yet?!?!

Physically: YES. READY. Ready to not be pregnant anymore. I've been lucky and it's been so easy, but it's uncomfortable. I will miss so many things about being pregnant (mostly feeling her move - FAVORITE THING EVER) but lighting crotch can go DIAF.  You know that song in "Beauty and the Beast" where Gaston sings that he's "roughly the size of a baaaaaaaaaarge!"?  (What? Don't tell me I'm the only one that knows every song in that movie by heart...) Yeah. That.

Room: In-progress. We hired my cousin to do it. He says he can get it done in the next two weeks, before the new carpet is installed. Um...so did I mention the new carpet is scheduled to be installed either the day I come home from the hospital or the day after? I'm hoping they get a cancellation and can move it up a few days, but if not, I'll be spending the day at my parent's house (maybe even going straight from the hospital to their house) with Carys while Chris "supervises" the installation. At this point I don't even care; I'll just be SO GLAD to be rid of our current carpet, which is so old and dirty they might just need to call in a bio-hazard team to remove it. Apparently I felt it was good enough for Carys to play on but not for the new baby. Favoritism!

Also on the room, we have a crib (not assembled), a rocking chair (painted! but not re-upholstered yet), a dresser and a nightstand (painted!). I cannot wait to get the basics in the room so I can start with the fun parts - decorating and arranging and putting baby clothes in the drawers. Right now, all her clothes are in two plastic bins in our room, as is the changing pad, her diapers, and all of the other necessities. So should she come early, she can live out of our room for a bit (she'll be sleeping there for the first few months anyway).  But all of her clothes and blankets are washed, the diapers are washed, the covers to the car seat and bouncy seat and Boppy and Rock N Play and all those things are washed, and the bottles and pacifiers are boiled and ready to go. I'm sure there's something huge I'm missing or forgetting, but for now all that baby prep is done.

Other: Hospital bag is packed.  Car seat base is installed. Plans for Carys are in place. Camera is charged.

I think this is happening.

________________________________________________________________________

Scrolling down, I just noticed I wore the same outfit almost two months ago and four months ago:

23 weeks

Baby Squish : 36 Weeks

Hi, welcome to my blog where all I do is bitch about what I have left to do!

360 view this week. Only because I wanted to mark the occasion of someone telling me I didn't look pregnant from the back. In a skin-tight tee-shirt. At almost nine months pregnant. Bless them.

Today marks 36 weeks pregnant. Four weeks til my due date, three weeks til my scheduled c-section.

I spent this weekend spray-painting the rocking chair and night stand for the baby's room. I think I'm spray-paint deficient because I swear to freaking god that I use more spray paint than anyone, ever, in attempting to get full, even coverage. I KNOW the trick of lots of light layers. It doesn't work for me! I don't know what I do wrong. I've watched videos, I've read blogs...it just doesn't work for me. It took six cans of spray paint to do one rocker, ottoman, and the top of the nightstand. SIX. Have the spray paint companies penned me for a useless fool and somehow give me cans with only half the amount in it?  It just does not work for me until I'm a million layers deep.

Although....okay, to be fair to me, I'm pretty sure that about 2/3 of each can blew away since I was attempting to spray-paint outside in 40-mile-an-hour winds, but I had no choice. It's November! It could snow tomorrow. I have to get this shit done.

This is literally the only time I got dressed this week - to go to the doctor's office. This smile is forced and is saying, "I feel like shit. Get that camera out of my face." (Yes, to myself.)

Any room progress was halted, as I've spent the last week sick as a really sick dog with a nasty viral sinus infection. And when I say nasty, I mean nasty. For four days in a row I had sinus headaches that were so bad I was blacking out whenever I'd move my head, particularly when bending over (and hello, with a 2-year-old you bend over a lot!).  My blood pressure and other stats were always fine, so they weren't concerned about pre-e or anything, but they were concerned when the headaches weren't responding to any medications. So concerned, in fact, that they had me go into L&D and spend the night. They tried huge doses of Tylenol, Tylenol with Codene, Percocet, and finally Percocet paired with Phenergen, with Ambien to help me sleep (spelling on any of those might be way off).  My headache was consistently a 10/10 on the pain scale with peaks of like 12s. Finally with the Percocet/Phenergen/Ambien combo they were able to get it down to a 7/10 or so, and when I woke up in the morning it was down to a 5 or 6 so I was able to go home. It went back and forth between a 5/6 and a 12 over the next couple days and FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY started to break on the sixth or so day. Now I'm just battling the normal sinus infection symptoms. Which are irritating enough, but even more so coming off of a week of debilitating headaches. If people with migraines go through this on a regular basis, they have ALL my sorries (sorrys?).  I was so useless and completely in tears for hours and days at a time. And did I mention Chris was out of town for some of it (and still is)? Thank god for family!

So of course, all that drama has pushed the room completion back. ARGH. This is what I freaking get for procrastinating and thinking it'd be quick once I finally got started.  On the plus side, we have a crib! It's currently sitting in a box in the entryway, but it's here!

Also on the plus side, almost all of my pregnancy symptoms have disappeared (KNOCK ON WOOD, KNOCK ON ALL THE WOOD!). What the hell? Aren't they supposed to get worse? But all the pelvic pain is gone, my pubic bone feels fine, my cervix isn't on fire, I haven't had lighting vag in days. I think this little girl might be trying to give mama a break, which I appreciate. And needed!

I also got all our Christmas presents ordered AND the holiday cards done. We got cute family pictures done in October, and I wanted to use them in some way, but didn't feel like I could send them out for Christmas cards since baby girl will be here by Christmas and it'd feel incomplete to send out cards that didn't include her. So this year, I'm sending out Thanksgiving cards early, and then after she arrives and I get some good newborn pictures of her done I'll send out birth announcements that double as New Year's greetings.

So boo for being sick and lack of room progress, but yay for feeling great pregnancy-wise, getting the furniture spray-painted, and being on top of Christmas things!

Baby Squish : 34 Weeks

I'm ignoring the countdown because it will just really highlight how quickly she's going to be here. Six weeks! No, five. I keep forgetting she'll be born right around 39 instead of 40 (if I make it to 39 - I assume I will since Carys showed no signs of coming on her own at 39w5d).

God, I just cannot take in-focus pictures apparently.

 

Pregnancy-wise, I'm feeling large, obviously. I can officially say that I'm having a baby NEXT MONTH! Yay! She's still a squirmy little thing, and her butt likes to hang out in the exact same place that Carys always had hers, which makes me smile.  Last week she jumped in estimated weight from the 46th percentile to the 60th percentile, so I might be looking at another nine pounder if she keeps jumping in size.  I do love my doctor, though, because he's mentioned multiple times, "Well, because you're so thin, blah blah blah" and since I have mirrors and a scale I know he's a lying liar who lies, but I appreciate his supporting this fantasy (I am perfectly and happily average size). I'm still uncomfortable and still in sometimes-pain depending on how she decides to jam her head into certain sensitive areas, but it comes and goes (lately it's been more coming than going). I'm definitely beginning to hit the "hard to breathe" stage. I got winded going up the stairs doing laundry yesterday.  Chris helpfully commented that I should get out and walk more, and I helpfully told him to fuck off.  I mean, he's right, but dude. I'm eight and a half months pregnant and I chase a toddler all day. I don't have the time or energy to add an hour of walking for funsies on top of that, nor am I sure when I'd do it since he usually doesn't get home from work until it's time for me to go to bed and it's been too rainy and cold to do it outside - not to mention that an hour walk with a toddler is about a block long.

Again with the blur. FOCUS, DUDE.

World's most boring update: We got the house measured for new carpet, so now I'm in a rush to get her room sanded down and painted before the new carpet goes into the room (we replaced the carpet in Carys's room and the basement before she arrived, so now we have to do the rest of the house - we're also replacing the linoleum in the bathrooms and entryway at the same time). Chris is out of town this week, so here's hoping I can get it done before he gets back so we can immediately go pick out the carpet and get it installed.  I see dust masks in my future!

My goals before the next update:

- Sand her room
- Paint her room
- Paint the rocking chair
- Pick out fabric for the rocking chair
- Paint the nightstand
- Pick out carpet and tile
- Schedule carpet and tile installation

I can do all that in two weeks, right? RIGHT? Right! Go team!

Oh, and we might....MIGHT....miiiiiiiight....have a name.  Maybe.  I'm nervous to even type the name out, because I am still hesitant.  But just having a "maybe" name is nice. I've been using it to address the bump for the last week or so, telling Carys to say it, trying out nicknames, writing it out on scratch paper in different fonts like a girl with a crush, and I think this might be it. Maybe. EEEEEK. Why must the task of growing and raising a child also come with the enormous responsibility of naming said child?!?!

Bonus comparison shot, almost 10 weeks apart. Note to self: bangs. Always with the bangs. So much better.

Baby Squish : 32 Weeks

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Um. Hi. Let's just talk about that not only am I in that last line in the countdown, but I'm also two weeks into it. And I won't hit the last week. So....yeah. We're definitely in the final stretch. Going by lunar months, which I prefer since it makes you sound like you're further along than you are, I'm 8 months pregnant (then you spend a month at 9 months pregnant, and theoretically hit ten months at 40 weeks) (SHUT UP IT'S MATH).  In a week and two days, I'll be able to say I'm due NEXT MONTH. In three weeks I'll hit the 35/35 milestone, in five weeks I'll be full term, and eight weeks  I'll be having a kid. Whoa.

(Ugh, I hate my hair in that second pic. WTF.)
 

Last time I was pregnant, I didn't really start to get uncomfortable until the very end. It started around 35 weeks and I don't think it got bad until 37 or 38 weeks. While the majority of this pregnancy has been equally easy, for the last week or so I've had this intense pain around the pelvic/pubic bone. I don't know if it's the whole "hip bones separating" thing happening early or if it's because she's hanging out so low or what (she's been head-down the last couple appointments) but it's definitely uncomfortable. Some days are worse than others - there were a couple days there I couldn't move very easily from one position to another, but yesterday and today it seems to have improved massively (maybe she's not head down anymore?). 

I feel like all I do anymore is complain about all the things I have left to do, but seriously: I should probably have more done than I do right now. Literally, all I've done is buy a couple winter outfits, get out Carys's newborn and 0-3 clothes, and hang them up. There's also a new ceiling fan up in the "nursery." I kind of have paint colors picked out.  Oh! And I found a dresser on Craigslist. 

I still need to: Sand the nursery, paint the nursery, pull up the carpet in the nursery, have new carpet put in, find a crib, paint the rocking chair (for some dumb reason I want white furniture in this room and the rocker is currently black), re-upholster the rocking chair, paint the nightstand (came with the Craigslist dresser, but is seriously banged up), see if my mother-in-law will make a crib skirt and possible crib sheets, figure out how to actually decorate the walls in the nursery and procure goods to do so, wash all the used clothes and diapers, wash and sanitize all the bottles and pump parts, get the baby gear (bouncer, swing, tub, etc) out of storage and get it all cleaned up and ready to use, sign up for and attend a sibling class for Carys, deep clean the house, and I'd LOVE to get the carpets in the whole house replaced, but I doubt that will happen pre-baby (we had the carpet in the basement and Carys's room replaced before she arrived, so all that's left are the remaining two bedrooms, the living room, hallway, and stairs).  Oh, and before ANY of that happens Chris needs to finish cleaning out the nursery and we need to sell/give away the headboard and dressers that are in there now.  I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting. You know, like narrowing the list of names down from 30 to maybe 5? Forget one final name. I'll take just having less than a dozen on our list.  GAH.  I need a new diaper bag too. And a maid. And a cook. WHINE WHINE WHINE first world problems WHINE WHINE.

(I know we still theoretically have plenty of time with seven or eight weeks left, but with so much to do to prepare for the holidays, it cuts a lot of that time out. And I also know some of that stuff can easily wait until after she arrives, but am I really going to feel like doing any of it with a newborn and a toddler? Doubtful. I'll probably be curled into a ball in a corner for most of the first year....)

Des Moines Trip Number 432

Since my mom moved to Dubuque, we go to Des Moines several times a year to meet her in the middle.  We always have a good time and have done everything from the Botantical Gardens to the Science Center to the Blank Park Zoo, but I usually don't take my "nice" camera with us.

This trip, I knew we were going to Living History Farms and anticipated some good photo ops, so I packed it along.

And holy crap am I glad I did, because OMG BABY PIGS.

But before I go on a baby-pig-splosion, I'll backtrack and start from the beginning. Reading it will be worth it because there will be MORE AND MORE AND MORE BABY PIGS. And then you'll die.

We rented a wagon (just $4!) for the day and Carys was thrilled. We have a wagon but don't get it out nearly enough.  She loved laying down in it and pretending to sleep.

And yes, I did dress her for the part in this coral (not pink! I swear!) dress and little ankle boots. 

To do the full tour of the farms, you take a tractor-pulled cart up to the beginning of a trail. Along the trail, you get to experience three different working farms from three different eras - an Ioway Indian farm the early 1700s, a log cabin pioneer farm from the 1850s, and a horse-powered farm from the early 1900s.  You then end in a town from 1875, with a number of stores, a schoolhouse, and a mansion.

We started on the trail, and she was SO excited to see the farms - when the first farm wasn't immediately visible after getting off the cart she almost cried with disappointment. We had to keep telling her, "It's right up here! Just around this corner!"

Watching the person playing the Native American hand-weave a belt. 

The "tool shop" at the Native American site - a pile of bones that they would use for various tools. Carys is getting a lesson in anatomy from her Nana in these pictures. What a good Nana. If Carys is smart, it will be completely because of this woman.

These are probably my favorite pictures EVER. She saw the bench along the trail, said, "Take my picture!" and ran up to it. She smiled nicely for the first one, but then went into a series of faces and labeled each one. 

Happy. Angry.

 REALLY HAPPY! Silly.

Then she was just plain cute.

I wish I'd gotten more pictures of the environment and actual set-up of the farms, but whenever I pulled out the camera I was focused on the cuteness that is the child. This is the 1800s farm, and this is the pig sty at the farm. 

While we were looking at the pigs, the farmer (who Carys became totally infatuated with) came over and gave her a couple turnips to throw to the pigs. 

They had a flock of sheep that roamed free most of the time. When we arrived (we were the first people there) the farmer called the sheep over to their pen, where we got to hand-feed them grains. I don't have any pictures of this because I was holding Carys (and maybe feeding the sheep myself) but I assume it was adorable.  Listening to the sheep respond both individually to their names and as a flock was pretty interesting. To me. Am I a nerd?

Watching the farm wife cook the dinner (lunch) meal.

The farm wife also gave us a bowl of slop (leftovers/garbage) to take out to the pigs to feed. They really let you participate at this particular farm site - so fantastic. 

Immediately after the above pictures, that pig "kissed" Carys on the cheek and left a giant muddy snout print on her cheek. However, it scared the ever-loving CRAP out of her, so being the good parent that I am I only tried for a minute to get a picture of  it before I moved onto comforting her. So no picture exists of the pig kiss. Sadly.

I bribed her back to happiness with an apple freshly plucked from an apple tree.

My sister took over the camera for a little bit on the trail when Carys pulled a "2-Year-Old" and would only let me pull the wagon.

You can only kind of tell I'm almost 8 months pregnant from the back!

Pulling up to the 1900 farm.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME PIGS? I promised you more baby pigs.

There was a whole herd (?) of baby pigs just running around. She chased them for a bit, then decided she wanted to show them her dress and sticker.

"Come here, pigs! Here pigs!" while patting her leg and making a clicking sound like you'd use to call a cat or dog. Have I mentioned she uses that same method to call me sometimes? 

 

"Look at my dress!" (Yes, that is literally what she was saying.)

"Look at my sticker!"

Inside the farmhouse. 

 Obligatory blurry mirror self-portrait.

We were all surprised when this phone had a dial tone. 

These have nothing to do with anything but how pretty are the spiderwebs with the light shining through them?

We ended in the town, where we visited the schoolhouse, the mansion, and attended a Victorian funeral.

Rocking the baby cradle and checking out the toys that would have been available to kids of the 1900s.

The Victorian funeral.

At that point we looked at the clock, realized it was naptime, and booked it out of there. That afternoon, we were supposed to go on a train ride, which was a TOTAL and complete disaster. For some reason, we thought that the train station was a half hour from the hotel, so we left around 45 minutes before we needed to be there, figuring we were giving ourselves plenty of cushion time. Well, we (fine, I) realized I left the car keys in the other bag, so my sister ran back to get them, but didn't have a key for my parent's room where the bag was, so she had to get a key as well. That cut us down to about 35 or 40 minutes to get there, but we still had plenty of time. We thought. 

We got on the road, pulled the directions up on GPS, and had heart attacks when it said it was going to take an hour to get to the train station. There was no way we'd make it in time, but we tried anyway, driving at breakneck speeds trying desperately to get there, since we'd been talking about the train ride all day and Carys was SO excited. 

We didn't make it. By less than 10 minutes. (My parents just BARELY made it and begged them to hold the train for us, but they couldn't.)

This was as close to a train ride as Carys got.  She was happy, but still. Sadness. Also crap, because I'm out $30 for the damn ride that we missed and their season ends at the end of October, so chances are we won't be able to re-use them.  Also crap, because we wasted 100 miles worth of gas. In a Chevy Tahoe. So that equals like 5,000 miles of gas in a regular car.

Oh, well. (Grumble)

Before we left to come home the next morning, we also stopped by the Pappajohn Sculpture Park to walk around a bit. We mostly stuck by this particular sculpture because it apparently was the perfect climbing structure (note: we looked around carefully for signs saying 'do not climb' or 'do not touch' and there weren't any, so we let her go crazy).

Note the Thomas she's holding in the last picture - that was part two of her consolation prizes for missing the train ride. She LOVES Thomas but hasn't ever had any toys associated with the show, so this was a Really. Big. Deal. for her. 

Despite the train ride being a complete and total bust, Living History Farms totally made the trip worth it. If we lived in the area I'd probably be trying to live on the farms and they'd have to keep kicking me out.  I asked Chris if I could at least get a baby pig and he just looked at me like I was insane. He clearly is missing something in his brain that appreciates cute.