Labor Pains on Labor Day

I posted last about my fear of going into labor while at the beach.... well, we made it home today around 1:00.

At 2:00, I had some stomach pains, and about 9 minutes later, I had more pains. Hmmm.... well, I started timing these "pains" in the off chance that they were something more, and they were very sporadic and all over the place. Eddie was on the golf course and I was determined not to call him off the course for nothing!

After a few hours of this, I called the doctor on call, just to see what was up. He said it definitely sounded like the onset of labor and when my contractions reached 5 minutes apart, I should call him again to go meet him at the hospital.

For the next few hours, I had a contraction ever 6 minutes (almost to the second!). I called Eddie on the golf course and told him he might want to come on home... who knew how long it would take me to get to 5 minute apart contractions??

Eddie came home and started timing the contractions for me. They were pretty steady at 6 minutes, but some were closer and some were further apart. It lost it's consistency. I got up to walk around a bit and the contractions pretty much went away.

That was a LOT of excitement for everyone in our family. My dad is now answering the phone, "BABY WATCH!", and my mother is afraid to go to sleep in case she won't hear the phone ring. My mother in law is in Texas waiting on the word to hit "submit" to purchase a ticket out here immediately.

At least I am home and with Eddie... Cal can come at any time now! On a side note, my brother's birthday was yesterday. All he wanted for his birthday was a nephew... isn't that cute?

I will update more tomorrow.... I am going to go to the doctor just to get checked and make sure everything is okay. That is....IF we don't make a run to the hospital tonight!

Labor Day Weekend...

Let me preface by saying my mom went into labor with me on Labor Day....

I went to the doctor on Wednesday and she measured me and I was measuring 2 inches smaller than I was last week. I gained only an ounce and a half since my last visit... I asked if I should be concerned (because that's what I do!), and she said it just meant the baby had dropped in to the birth canal. Yikes!

As many know, I am still teaching full time. The entire 6th grade went to Camp Cheerio for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and I wasn't allowed to go, so I ended up with an extra long Labor Day weekend! My doctor's appointment was Wednesday, and I had a few other appointments, and then Thursday morning we headed to the beach.

At my doctor's appointment, I asked if she thought it would be okay to travel (oh yeah-- Eddie was going to be in Atlanta too!), and she said she didn't have any reason to tell me not to go. She didn't check me to see if there was any dilation, since I haven't had any contractions or anything. There is a hospital down here that is AWFUL. I had one bad experience there and I swore I wouldn't go back! I think my mom was terrified that we would be making a mad dash home when my water broke. It is now Sunday night and we are heading home tomorrow morning... so far, no baby! We are all holding our breaths that we make it home tomorrow! I don't want to deliver in Carteret County, and I want Eddie there with me!

I have been relaxing and keeping my feet up and I swear, this is the best I have felt in weeks. I have ZERO swelling and other than my large size, I feel great. It is awesome!

The weather left much to be desired this weekend, with only one nice day, but I did get some great pics with my new camera!

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!!! I will keep you posted on this baby!

29 candles on the birthday cake

On September 1st, I turned 29 years old! So much for having this baby when I am 28! Eddie is a few months younger than me so I was hoping we would both be 28 when Cal came to town, but now he will have an older momma! :)

We celebrated by going to dinner with the family to Mez and then opening gifts and having some cake. My big gift was an AWESOME camera that I already love love love. I have been playing with it a lot to try to learn all it can do before the baby arrives. Here are some of my favorite shots of just playing (poor Hank has to put up with me!):

growing, growing, growing.....

Just took a picture of me at 37 weeks (and 3 days):

I swore I would never take pictures of myself with my bare belly (I wasn't sure I would want to remember my stomach looking like this!), but it's kind of entertaining to see it.... maybe I'll delete them all in 3 months...? It took 9 months to put it on, it'll take 9 to get it off....right? I will just keep telling myself that! :)

The GLIDER is IN!

YAY! The Glider we ordered is FINALLY in! When we got around to ordering it, we were told it would be in in about 2 weeks (this was a looooong time ago), and then we got a call that there were some issues so they would have to order it a different way. The way they had to order it, it wouldn't be in until September 17th...and I am due the 19th! That was cutting it super close and I wasn't too happy about it, but seriously, what can you do? It isn't going to do a bit of good to freak out (although it might be entertaining....).

Anyway, it's in now and I LOVE it! We opted to not get the matching ottoman, since it was an additional ba-zillion dollars, so we took an old ottoman and my mom (Martha Stewart) made a slip cover for it that matches and it works out perfectly! I love sitting in my new chair imaging holding this little miracle in my arms :). Here's a pic of the new chair:

37 weeks...and back to school!

I am now 37 weeks...phew! I can't believe this little guy will be here so soon! In my last post, I wrote about going back to work. The first day of school was Tuesday. On Monday, we had orientation where I met all of the students and their parents. It was a good day, but one with a lot of standing around.

The 6th graders this year are super cute and sweet and I know I am going to miss teaching them this year. My replacement teacher is awesome and is doing such a great job with everything. She is doing all of the teaching and I am just hanging out in the back of the room helping any way I can. She hasn't taught middle school ever, and her last job was 9 years ago teaching high school. I am just offering little tips here and there to help her survive middle schoolers! She will be so great in this job and I feel confident leaving my class to her.

All of my students from last year came back to visit me on Monday and they are all rubbing my tummy and commenting on the baby. It's funny to see them after the summer. They haven't seen me since around 22 weeks, so they were in for a shock! haha!

The swelling is still in my feet, but the rest of my body isn't as swollen. I took water aerobics on Tuesday night and it felt great to get in the water for a workout. I am not able to walk as much as I'd like because I can't get my sneakers on (so gross!).

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and told him about my swelling. His response: "It's hot outside! What did you expect?" I was like... well, I just wanted to make sure it was normal, and he goes: "It's August! It's hot out! You are 9 months pregnant!" So. That shut me up! He told me to stay off of my feet (so easy as a teacher!) and keep my feet elevated (again, so easy!). I am trying very hard to sit a lot with my feet up. I woke up this morning with SUPER swollen feet, so it's off to a *fat* start!

My friend at work that is also pregnant and due at the same time as me told me about her packed hospital bag and her installed carseat....yikes! That got me motivate. I went to the mall last night and bought 2 nursing bras and a few shirts that are made for nursing. I came home and packed the bag. Baby and I are ready to go to the hospital, now Eddie just has to get his stuff together and we will be good to go!

I am starting the countdown...22 days until the due date. Let's see if he comes early....and hope it's not late! I will go crazy, I am sure! Oh well... he's going to come when he's ready to come! :)

Here is a pic from this weekend for Grandma's birthday. I am 36 weeks in this picture.

In this picture, I am with my sister-in-law, Elizabeth, and my cousin, Molly. We found out that both girls are pregnant! Both are due in March. It's going to be a baby crazy time in our family! Can you tell that I am the most pregnant in this picture??? HA!

August updates

I have been so bad about posting lately. I promise to be better (or at least, I promise to try to be better!).

I am now 36 weeks. While I still love being pregnant, I think I might have hit that point where I am about ready for this little guy to come on out. Due to the extreme heat, I have had some massive swelling. My feet don't fit into any of my shoes anymore (they haven't grown, they are just swollen!), and I found an old pair of stretched out flip flops that fit, but they are literally the only pair that my feet will squeeze into! I wore rings up until about a week ago, when my knuckles got large. I guess it's all part of it!

School is about to start back and I am going back until the baby comes. It sounded like such a good idea at the end of last year.... sigh. I know it will be worth it: I will be helping my replacement teacher transition into the role of lead teacher by basically sitting in the back of the room and answering any questions she has, but she is certainly taking the lead. We are also having me go back because of my wonderful insurance coverage. We got a notice from the doctor's office when we were first pregnant that we would owe $0. If I didn't go back to work, I would have needed to get on Eddie's plan that has a $5000 deductible, so we would have to spend that much before they would cover anything! YIKES! That is money we could be saving! SO, I will be returning to work! We had our first meetings on Wednesday. That's when the swelling really started to kick in. It's been pretty non-stop since then.

I have an appointment on Tuesday, so I am anxious to ask the doc about it to make sure all is normal. I am seeing the doctor that is a stickler about weight gain, and I really don't want to see him because I haven't been able to walk much since my feet don't fit into my sneakers any more!

That's all for now!

You know you're getting close when....

The end is near.... I am in the final stretch!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and as I was checking out, the girl just had me go ahead and book the remainder of my appointments right then! I go back one more time in 2 weeks, and then it's every week from then out! YAHOO!

Honestly, I really have loved being pregnant. It hasn't bothered me too much. Lately, though, I am just kinda ready to be un-pregnant! I am looking forward to sleeping on my belly, not peeing a million times a night (although, I know I'll be up a million times a night with a baby!), not having swollen feet.....etc, etc. I also (and this is going to sound SO bad...), would really love a nice MARGARITA on the rocks (with salt please). I know I can have the occasional glass of wine, but I won't do any kind of liquor. It just isn't worth it to me! I am looking forward to that nice margarita.....

The biggest reason I am ready to be "un-pregnant" is that I just can't wait to meet this little guy! He's been so active and my curiosity has peaked! I just want to hold him and rock him and kiss him! I don't know how people don't find out the sex. I think the suspense would be killing me by this part!!! Stephanie, if you are reading this: more power to you! I think it is wonderful when couples decide to not find out, but the curiosity I have right now over what he looks like is nothing compared to what it would be if I didn't know if he was a boy or a girl!

I hit the 35 week mark tomorrow.... let the big time countdown begin! What do you think? Will I be early? Or late? I have a feeling I will be early, so we'll see!!!

My trusty sidekick

I am obsessed with my dog. I mean, I love him SOOOO much. I know, I know.... it'll all change once the baby comes. I've heard it time and time again. This summer, Hank and I have spent some quality time together. We have a routine everyday:

Eddie gets up to get ready for work, Hank gets in bed with momma.

Hank wakes mom up around 8.

Hank and mom stay in bed until around 8:30 ish (it's been earlier lately).

Hank and mom take a walk for 40-60 mins.

Hank and mom come home and have breakfast together

Okay, I won't go through the whole day, but basically, we are side by side all day! He likes to ride in the car with me on errands, and we have been taking an afternoon nap together too! His world will be ROCKED at the new arrival! He will adjust perfectly, I know it. We can still take our afternoon naps together and we will still walk together everyday.

I realize this is a boring post, but I am trying to be better about posting and documenting this pregnancy. I want to be able to look back several months from now and remind myself that Hank was a good dog when I was pregnant and not always as attention deprived as he will surely be!

I seriously thought I was big THEN?

When I first got pregnant, I was convinced that I was showing early on....

Last week, my computer crashed and I lost a lot of pictures, and had to try to retrieve a lot of them (some without any success...). I came across these. I made Eddie take my picture to show off my new "bump."

SERIOUSLY?

And now... here is my 34 week bump:

now that's a bump!