Hi ho, hi ho...

...it's back to work I go. Last week Thursday I returned to the workforce. This past Monday was my first FULL day back. It wasn't nearly as hard as I was expecting it to be, but I sure did miss my baby!! Luckily, the day went by quickly and I could get back home to smother her in hugs and kisses. She repayed me by being in a good mood and being full of smiles. It's easy to go back to work when I know that her Daddy is taking good care of her while I'm gone.

Clara celebrated her first Christmas this year. It was a very busy weekend! Friday night we all went to church for Christmas Eve service. After that, as per tradition, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. We met my parents at our house for dinner and finally got to bed around 10. Saturday morning started EARLY! Clara woke up at 5:30 and no one really wanted to go back to sleep. The 3 of us laid in bed together for quite a while. It was so nice. :) But, we decided we were just going to get up. Adam, Clara and I all opened presents together. Scooter even got some new things in his stocking: an awesome new collar and a new dinosaur chew toy. Around noon we packed up the car and headed for my extended family get-together in Neenah. Much fun was had by all...and Clara made out better than anybody. :) She got some really great toys that she's going to have a lot of fun with when she's a little older. After lunch and presents, it was once again time to hit the road...this time for Luxemburg for the Mueller family Christmas. We got there around 5:30 for a delicious turkey and gravey dinner with all the fixins. After dinner we opened presents. Once again, Clara made out really well with some cute outfits, some books, and some toys. Auntie Steff even got her some Dr. Seuss books that are written in Spanish! Daddy will have to read her those. :) We all stayed the night and on Sunday Clara got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Mueller while Adam and I went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Milwaukee. It was AWESOME as usual, but we've decided that if they're not going to have a show in Green Bay next year, we might not go. It's a lot of traveling...either that or we'll go, but not if it's going to be the day after Christmas.

So other than my returning to work, things are pretty quiet after the chaotic Christmas holiday. I'm looking into dental implant surgery and have been going to appointments for the past couple of weeks. I've got 2 appointments this week and one next week. I'm going to be really sick of the dentist by the time this is all said and done!

I think one of the things I most look forward to in the next month is the Eli Mattson concert in January in Greenville, WI. We haven't seen Eli since September! It would have been nice if his lady could have made the trip, too, but she's awfully pregnant right now, and travelling would SUCK! I'm excited for their baby's arrival, though...sometime in February. I SO wish we lived closer because our kids would be really close in age and it would be nice to have another mommy to hang out with.

I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. I took the day off to go to an appointment for my oral surgery. Even though I've only been back to work for 2 whole days, it'll be nice to spend some quality time with my little girl. :) In just a few days she'll be exactly 2 months old! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. Before we know it, she'll be eating solid foods and walking! Slow down, little girl! You're growing too fast!

Wow-it's been too long!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post! So much has been going on here lately.

First of all, Clara is now 6 weeks old. :) The time has certainly flown by. She's had some milestones. She stayed with both of her Grandmas for a few hours while her mommy & daddy had some time to themselves (which was MUCH needed!). She also saw her first snowfall and we brought home her first Christmas tree. She's growing really well, too! She now weighs 12lbs 3.5oz! On the downside, though, the last week or so hasn't gone too well. She was really fussy and having problems with choking when laying down and other symptoms of infant acid reflux. We finally got together with the doctor and he made the determination that it was, indeed, the case. So we now have her on Zantac twice a day. If she shows improvement before January 3rd (her next well-baby check up) then we've hit the mark. If not, that just means we have a colicky baby. But the doctor seems confident that this medication should help. I haven't taken a 6-week picture of her yet, but when I do I'll post it. I've put them all up on Facebook so far (except I didn't take one for 5 weeks).

Other things we've been up to: I have about a million phone calls that I need to make...mostly related to our health insurance. I'm also getting ready to go back to school in January. I'm only taking 2 classes this semester. I figured I had enough on my plate. I'm also going back to work starting Monday. I'm not sure what I'll all be able to do when I get back, but we'll see. We're having Christmas with my immediate family on Friday. I've got pretty much everything I need for that. I think there's one or 2 things left to wrap. Other than that, we're just waiting for the actual holiday to get here so we can celebrate with the rest of our families. AND on the day after Christmas we get to go see TSO!! That's my favorite thing to do every year at Christmas! :)

Well, it's time to go start getting the bedroom set up for bedtime. Even though Clara's sleeping right now, she's probably going to want a small snack again before bed. I'm also employing some new tricks that will hopefully help with her not wanting to be put down and her reflux. I'll try to post picures tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to write a quick post today. I have so much to be thankful for this year. Besides my loving family and the great friends that I have, I've also got a loving husband, a beautiful daughter, and some pretty great pets. We all (well, except for the pets) had a great time at my grandma's house today for Thanksgiving dinner. It's one of the few times when the entire family gets together so it was really nice that we made it. We even got to take a 4-generation picture together: Here is me, my Dad, my Grandma Ruby, and Clara.

I thought this would also be an appropriate time to do Clara's 3-week update. Here she is, wearing her my first Thanksgiving outfit.

It's really cute, but a little bit big! I had socks on her when we left the house this morning, but by the time we got to Grandma's house, they were both off. :) She's doing really well. I've stopped setting the alarm for her feedings. She pretty much gets me up at night when she's hungry. Adam and I have been taking turns and helping each other out during the night, too. When he wakes up for a feeding he'll change her diaper and then bring her to me so I can feed her and then when I'm done he'll get her all swaddled up and tucked back into bed. He's way better at swaddling than I am. It's something I just never got the hang of. She did really well last night. She usually sleeps anywhere between 2 and 4 hours in between feedings at night. She's also been a lot more awake during the days lately. She's learning to pick her head up and has been using her feet to push off of things. I'm just happy that she's doing so well and we've all pretty well adjusted to life as a fa

mily of 3. Our next big event will be Jessie's "Nutcracker" recital. I found a really cute dress for Clara to wear, because if you didn't know, one of the main characters in the Nutcracker is Clara. That's also the same weekend as Grandpa Mueller's birthday celebration. It should be a fun time! I'd love to write more, but it seems someone is deciding to be fussy, so I'll end this for now. I can't get over how fast the last 3 weeks have gone. I look forward to seeing how much more she changes in the next days and weeks. :)

A couple pics...

While Miss Clara is taking a nap, I thought I'd upload a few pictures. The ones above are her at 2 weeks 2 days old. It's hard getting a newborn to sit on a couch!! Maybe next time I'll lay her down. Also, the one on the right is Scooter checking out his sister...and Clara checking him out!

Last weekend my grandma along with a couple uncles, an aunt and some cousins came over to meet Clara. Here is a picture of my grandma (Clara's great-grandma) holding her new great-granddaughter.

Time sure flies!

Our little girl is now a little over 2 weeks old! It's unbelievable how fast the last 16 days have gone. It seems to me as if I've been doing this (feeding, changing diapers, taking care of her) for a lot longer than that. I guess that means I'm a natural??

She had a doctor's appointment (just a routine check-up) on Tuesday. She now weighs 9lbs 2 oz. That's a full pound heavier than her birth weight! The really amazing thing about that is she had lost weight after she was born. This is fairly common in newborns. She got down to around 7lbs 9oz, so for her to weigh 9 pounds already is pretty amazing! But I guess I shouldn't be surprised since she eats so well (and often)!!

There really hasn't been a lot going on around here. We've been trying to keep up on the housework as much as possible...sometimes it gets away from us. :) We've made a few trips out in public with her and it wasn't as much of a calamity as I thought it might be. Sunday we're going to my brother and sister-in-law's house for the Packer game. I'm looking forward to getting out of the house for a while. :) I'm usually good in small doses. As of right now, I'm thinking we're going to attempt to go to my grandmother's for Thanksgiving. What I do know is that if we do go, we'll be taking our own car so that we can leave if I've had too much people for one day. I tend to get overwhelmed around a lot of people.

Other than that, I'm going to try to take a picture of Clara every week or so, so we can see just how fast she's growing. I've got to figure out how to do that...maybe the old propped up on a pillow w/a note trick will work ok. :) Katie took Clara's newborn pictures last Friday and we'll be picking up the disc on Sunday when we go to Green Bay. I can't wait! I'll post some as soon as I get the chance.

One handed update. :)

So I wanted to post an update, but Miss Clara was hungry, too, so I'm doing this one handed.

We are now about 1 1/2 weeks post-delivery. Things are going pretty well. We aren't on any kind of schedule yet, but we seem to be getting there. She is now going 3 hours between feedings at night which is nice. During the day she eats more often and likes to spend time in her swing.

My recovery is going pretty well. I still have some pain from my stitches, but it's getting better. I'm also down around 30lbs so far! Only 25-ish lbs to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Yesterday I got out of the house for a while with my mom...Clara stayed home with dad. It was nice, and the weather was gorgeous!

Today we went to Green Bay to have Katie take Clara's newborn pictures. She got some, but Clara decided she was only going to cooperate for so long. I'm sure the ones she got were amazing, though.

Finally!

The title of this post is appropriate for many reasons! First of all, Clara is here!! She arrived on Tuesday, November 2nd at 1:33pm! Secondly, this is the first chance I've had since coming home Thursday to get on the computer for more than a couple of seconds. I wanted to get my birth story and a picture or two posted. And last, it's been a while since I posted anything!

I'll start with my last appointment which was on October 26th. I went in, hoping to have made some progress...which I finally had, but it was only a fingertip's worth of dilation and little effacement. At this point, I'd had enough. We talked about doing the Foley catheter induction and decided to go ahead and schedule it for Monday November 1st unless I went into labor on my own before then. I thought for sure it would happen over the weekend, but no such luck. So Monday rolled around and we went in for the catheter. What this involves is putting a Foley catheter into the cervix between the cervix and the bag of waters. The pressure from the inflated Foley is supposed to simulate the baby's head and stimulate labor. Well it hurt...BAD. I went home and contracted pretty much every 5 minutes until around 9:30. I took the sleeping pill they had prescribed around 9:30 and then went to bed, hoping I'd be going to the hospital before the 5:30 time they had scheduled us for. No such luck.

5:30am Tuesday we showed up at the hospital. We got settled into our room. I got my IV placed. My nurse checked my dilation, but it was hard to tell as the Foley was still in there. She tried to take it out, but opted to wait for my doctor to do it instead. A few minutes later my doctor came in and took it out. It was determined that I was 3cm dilated and about 50% effaced. At that point, they started pitocin and broke my water. Let me tell you, that's probably one of the weirdest feelings I've ever experienced!! At this point, time sort of became irrelevant. I know it wasn't too much after they started the pitocin that I was checked again. I was now 5cm and 75% effaced. My original birth plan involved going without pain meds. Well, let me tell you, laboring while on pitocin sucks. My contractions were about every 1.5 minutes apart and the more they increased the dose, the stronger they got. I ended up caving in and getting an epidural. I think it was probably around 8am. It took 2 sticks, but they finally got it in and it was FABULOUS!!

I labored on the pitocin for a while...I even took a nap after the epidural kicked in because I knew I was going to need all my energy to push her out once the time came. Around maybe 1o or 11 I started feeling pain again so I asked for a top-off of my epdiural. At around 11:30 I got checked again and was 8cm! My nurse said to let her know if I felt an overwhelming urge to push, otherwise they were just going to let me labor down. After that I was checked a few times (I know the last time they checked me I was 9.5cm). Soon after they checked me the last time, I started feeling like I had to poop. I remember telling Adam "I feel like I have to poop." I went with it for a little while, and then let the nurse know because I REALLY felt like pushing. So she checked and sure enough, I was complete and Clara was moving down in a hurry! She called my doctor (who was in a meeting...and happy to get out of it) and he rushed up. I started pushing a little after 1 and Clara was born at 1:33pm!! My epidural was wearing off by the time I started pushing, which really helped because I could feel exactly where I needed to push.

I thought the pushing was going to be worse pain-wise than the labor, but I was wrong! It felt really good. I was really in control. I pushed while Adam counted and in between contractions I let my body go completely limp and just tried to rest as much as I could. Before I knew it, Dr V was telling me to look at my baby! I could feel her sliding out the whole time so I knew when her head came out and then she was up on my chest...looking at me with those huge eyes! I do remember Dr V saying she had the cord around her neck once, but there weren't any ill effects from that. I held her for a good long time before they took her to clean her up. I couldn't believe she was actually here!

Recovery has been slower than I would like. I had a 1-day set back due to a spinal headache. I ended up needing to stay in the hospital for an extra day. I also ended up with stitches since Clara's chin cut me open on the way out. But aside from those things, recovery is going well. We're breastfeeding like champs. Clara is already latching on by herself. We had some concerns with jaundice, but her weight was up today from yesterday and I think we're heading in the right direction. Adam and I are both tired, but Clara's sleeping well at night (in between feedings) and all of our animals are doing great with her, too.

As much as I would like to write more, it's about time for Clara to get up and eat. Here's a few pictures...some with her new grandmas and some from today in her swing.

What weekend??

Wow! This past weekend flew by!

Friday afternoon Adam's parents came by and we got the new tree ring knocked out. We still need to put dirt in and get the plants in, but the structure itself is done. I'll post pictures later. :) Later that night we met up with my parents and went out to eat. I had some yummy scallops and potatoes. Well, at least I thought they were yummy at the time. I woke up in the middle of the night and got REALLY sick. Either the scallops were bad (which they didn't taste that way) or who knows what.

Saturday morning I took my time waking up. My mom came over and we got the living room cleaned and dusted and I put out some Halloween/Fall decorations. I also found some time to work on my scrapbook for Clara, as well as her baby book. Later on we went to Menards to pick up a few things we'd be needing for Sunday, as well as the remainder of the blocks for the tree ring.

Sunday morning Adam's parents came over and it was a whirlwind of activity! The kitchen and bathroom got cleaned. The carpets in the living room, hallway, and bathroom all got shampooed. Clara's door got put up. We emptied out all the pots w/the dead annuals in them. The cardboard/styrofoam that was piled up in the garage got taken care of. The drywall in the dining room got primed. Needless to say, there aren't very many big projects left on the list! There's just a few small details to take care of. By the time we were all finished for the day, I had enough time to make dinner and watch the first half of the Packer game before hitting the sack!

I'm hoping for a little quieter week this week, but we'll see what happens. The only thing I've got on my calendar is our doctor's appointment on Thursday. I'm off of work Friday so maybe we'll go get Adam some new glasses...and I'll be making my decision about whether to go to work on Monday or not. That will be dependent on what happens at our appointment on Thursday.

38 week pictures....and a bare one!

These might be one of the last pictures I'll be taking of my belly with a baby still in it!

38 week update...and full moon tonight!

First off, I'll apologize for not having a picture yet. We got home late last night and I didn't feel like taking one.

Now for the update part. :) We had our 38 week check up yesterday. Everything is still looking good: I'm up just under 4lbs from last week, my bp was great (124/72) and Clara sounded good, even though Dr. V had to chase her around with the doppler (guess I shouldn't have had those Oreos before my appointment!). I'm also still measuring 2 weeks ahead at 40 weeks. After some pretty intense cramping over the week Dr V decided to check me. I was POSITIVE that I had made some progress this time, but NOPE! None what-so-ever!! Talk about frustrating. The only nice thing about that was he asked if I would mind doing a quick ultrasound to make sure she's head-down. Uh, gee, let me think about that....YES!! I love seeing my daughter! And yes, she is in fact head down.

We discussed where we'll be going from here. Which brings me to an observation I made yesterday. I fully believe if my doctor weren't a man, he'd be a midwife. :) He's very against doing c-sections and pretty against inductions for the most part. He did say, though, that if I absolutely can't take it anymore, he'd induce me next week (at 39 weeks) but he believes that if we go that route, I'll end up with a c-section. His advice? Wait it out if I can. That being said, he's not going to let me go past 41 weeks, so we WILL have a baby in 3 weeks or less. We asked a lot of questions yesterday. We all know she's going to be a good sized baby, but as far as her fitting through my pelvis, he said the only way to know for sure is to try. Adam is convinced (and tries to keep me that way, too) that my body is going to do this all by itself. Everything with this pregnancy has gone really well...pretty much by the book. I had little morning sickness, no Group B strep, no gestational diabetes, she's been head-down for the better part of a month now, and my blood pressure has been great. Apparently I'm a great baby-maker and this is why he's going with the assumption that my body will know what to do and when to do it. I hope he's right because I really want to avoid induction and especially a c-section.

Wow, that got long. :) Anyway, there's a full moon tonight. Maybe something will happen.

As far as plans for this weekend, there's not much. Adam's parents may come over tonight to get the supplies for our final landscaping project of the year. If we can get them early enough we'll probably try to get that knocked out and then we're going to dinner with my parents for sure and possibly his. Over the weekend, since it's supposed to rain, we intend to get a lot of house cleaning done. It REALLY needs it and I'd like to get it cleaned up before Clara comes.

Pretty uneventful update, but at least there's somewhat of a plan in place. Our next appointment is October 28 at 4:50.

It's Monday once again....

...and the start of a new work week. After today I'll only have 8 work days left until my maternity leave starts.

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. Friday I had the day off of work. Adam and I went to see Dr. Tsai for his surgery follow-up. Not much news on that front; Dr. Tsai just said he'd have to find a way to deal with the pain-not the most encouraging news we've ever been told. We came home and I took a nap, which was something I did both Friday and Saturday and did it feel good! We also went out to the Vet's Club for dinner. I know I get the same thing everytime we go, but it's so freaking delicious!!

Saturday I took some time for myself and just relaxed and played video games for a while. After my nap, Adam's parents came over. Adam and his dad loaded up and took all the yard waste to the compost site. His mom & I worked in my gardens planting things for spring and cutting the dead stuff down. She also brought us some yummy home-made potato salad and brownies. Adam and I grilled up some brats and called it an early night.

Sunday we did a little grocery shopping before the Packer game and then just had a lazy day around the house watching football and doing the laundry.

This week is going to be pretty uneventful, too. Today Adam has a vocational rehab appointment and I have an appointment at the chiropractor's. I also have a few errands to run. Wednesday we're going to a local dealership. They're having free car seat inspections so we're taking both of our cars to get inspected. And Thursday we have our 38-week appointment with Dr. V. I'm really hoping not to need it, but at this point I've given up hope that I'll go before my due date.

As for this coming weekend, we've pretty much stopped making plans. We're working on more of a day-to-day basis, but it sounds like if we're not in the hospital, we'll be working on one final landscaping project of the season: building a retaining wall ring around the Maple tree in the front yard. I'm excited about it, but that's probably because I won't be doing much of the work. Normally I plan one BIG landscaping project every year, but because of being pregnant, I haven't been able to do much. I will be doing one next spring, though...even if Clara has to sit in the Pack N Play outside while I do. :)

37 Week Update.

Today we are full term! That's the good news. Well, not just that. We had a doctor's appointment today and everything still looks good. My weight was great (up only 3lbs to 173), my bp was still good (124/78), Clara sounds great (hr was 125) and I'm still measuring 2 weeks ahead (39 weeks). I got checked again with some hopes of having made progress...only to find out that I'm still closed and thick. That's the sucky part. I did ask the nurse how long he would let me go past my due date and she said 1 or 2 weeks if I want (yeah right, who wants to go that long!), but he would probably strip my membranes next week at our appointment if I wanted to go that route. I know I'll be begging for it at that point. I'm SO done being pregnant!





I took a picture of my foot today at work. Now, I'm not on my feet all day. I sit in a chair at a desk for 9 hours doing nothing more constructive than surfing the internet. After 3 hours my foot looked like this:

I only have 9 more workdays until my maternity leave starts. I'd like to try to make it through those next 9 days, but if I can't stand the pain from the swelling anymore, I'm giving up. My doctor said he'd be more than happy to write me out of work early if that's what would make me feel better. I'm also going to start trying every old wives tale in the book as far as getting labor going! I'd be really excited if something happened over the weekend. :)
So that's about all the news that's fit to print at the moment. Nothing much exciting coming up. We're meeting with Adam's surgeon tomorrow for a follow-up appointment and then this weekend is pretty much a blank slate. I'm going to try to get outside and get some gardening done. I have some things that need to get cut down and we need to take some yard waste to the recycling center, but other than that, not much going on.

So I revised the To Do List…

I decided the to-do list was getting too hard to read, and I needed to add some things to it, so I re did it. Adam put a few of these on his list this morning, but neither of us got much sleep last night and he's still recovering from surgery so I don't know how much he'll get done (nor do I want him to over-do it). We have time, though. None of this really needs to get done before Clara gets here, with the exception of maybe getting the car seat base installed and inspected. Won't be long now before she gets here! We have our next doctor's appointment on Thursday at 4pm.

To Do-Revised

Household/Misc.
-Clean kitchen
-wash floor
-take totes downstairs
-call city to see about getting a replacement recycling bin
-dust/change out decorations in living room


Projects:
-finish up drywall patching
-prime w/sand texture
-finish painting in dining room
-put trim back on
-clean up
-hang wedding pictures
-install nursery door
-install door knob on door
-finish installing trim
-clean up
-paint patches in master bedroom
-clean out/reorganize dressers in MB
-remove/store all laundry baskets for MB
-clean off top of dresser/night stands
-take compost to recycling center
-plant new plants
-dig new flower bed?
-clean out both vehicles
-vacuum
-clean out garage
-flatten/organize cardboard for recycling
-sweep
-organize tools


Baby:
-install car seat base in Adam's car (after it gets cleaned out)
-call Fire Department to schedule appointment for inspection
-wash any remaining clothes/sheets
-pack remaining packable items for hospital bag


Other things:
-get pictures printed for Clara's baby book/scrapbook
-work on Clara's baby book/scrap book
-get picture printed/framed for maternity wall

36 Week Baby Clara Update!

36 weeks! I can't believe it. In a little under a month Clara will be here. We had our 36 week doctor's appointment this past Wednesday. Adam didn't get to come along this time because he was sick. This was the only appointment he's missed so far, and he was sad he couldn't come. Everything looked good, though. My blood pressure was good (124/78) and my weight was good (170). Clara's heart rate was also good, coming in at around 140. I was also tested for Group B strep, which just involved a little swabbing down south. And since my pants were already off and he was down there anyway, he did an internal exam to see if I've dilated yet (unfortunately, no). He informed that she is, indeed head down, but when he tapped on her head she floated back up, so she's not quite locked and loaded, but she's at least headed in the right direction. So our next appointment is scheduled for this coming Thursday.

In other health news, Adam had knee surgery again this last Thursday at the Kennedy Center on Oshkosh. It was a quick surgery and they did some cleaning up. We meet with Dr. Tsai again this coming Friday to discuss the results and what the next step might be.

The other exciting thing that happened this weekend? We got a new stove!! Ours was on its way out. The burners weren't working real well anymore. We went to Lowe's and they ended up being able to deliver the new stove the next day, along with taking our old one! The new stove rocks! We cooked breakfast on it already. J

Other than that, not much is new. Most of our baby stuff is done, we just need to get the carseat inspected. Our bags are packed and we have everything else we need for Clara; we're just waiting on her. J

Lots of things checked off! Baby stuff-DONE! Well, almost.

Household/Misc.:
-laundry
-clean kitchen
-clean the floor in Clara's room
-make grocery list for freezer meals cooking session part 2

Projects:
-Finish painting in dining room-should be done by the end of the week
-Finish tiling in foyer-should be done by the end of the day today, grouting to follow
-clean garage
-stain door for nursery-stain is being put on tonight; polyurethane goes on when that's dry
-install door for nursery
Stain is done and dry. Polyurethane should go on tonight.
-weed front flower bed
-plant new plants-they're not here yet, but should be soon
-take compost to recycling center
-paint over patches in master bedroom
-clean master bedroom-empty and remove all clothes baskets, clean out/reorganize dressers
-clean out vehicles-vacuum & detail
-hang wedding pictures
-shop for art for dining room

Baby:
*We just finished purchasing the last of our baby needs last night. We're waiting on them to come in the mail so some things won't be able to get done until they arrive. Things we are waiting for: dresser, swing, bottle sterilizer, book shelf, car seat base for Adam's car
-*sterilize bottles/nipples
-*organize dresser/put away clothes
-*change sheets on crib mattress-sterilize breastpump parts-put cover on changing pad
-*put changing pad on dresser
-*install car seat bases-mine can get done, but Adam's is coming in the mail from Target, hopefully by MondaySo due to some contractions last night, my base got installed in my truck; Adam's base arrived on our doorstep yesterday. We still need to get them inspected, though.
-*get car seat bases inspected
*We have a glider; Adam's mom found it at a rummage sale for $10. The cushions need to be re-covered, but she said the wood is the same color as our nursery furniture, so it works out. I expect the cushions will probably be done by the weekend.
*I'd also like to find a rug for in the nursery, but it's not something that NEEDS to be done right away. I'm picky and it's hard to find something I like that doesn't cost a fortune. :)


The only 2 baby-related things not done yet are getting the base installed in Adam's car, and getting both of the bases inspected. Now all we have to do is wait for Clara!!

The (Mostly) Finished Nursery!!

Adam’s parents came over last night and brought the glider with them. That was pretty much the last piece of furniture that we needed to complete the nursery! It’s pretty much finished! We still have to re-hang the Dr. Seuss decals. We ended up having to take them off of the walls and put them on foam board because they would not stick. They’re on the foam board, they just need to be put up and we need to get some trim to put around the edges. Adam is also working on getting the new oak door finished and then that will go up. Here are some pictures: The one on the left is taken from the closet and the one on the right is taken from the door way.

Here’s a picture of the glider that Adam’s mom found for us at a rummage sale for $10! All she had to do was re-cover the cushions. It looks great and it’s super comfy!!

And this is a picture of the dresser that my family chipped in and got for us. It’s the matching one to our crib and it holds a LOT of clothes! This will also be her changing table until she’s potty trained

Tonight we have nothing on the calendar. Adam’s a little under the weather so I’m hoping he takes time to rest today so he’ll be good to go for his surgery on Thursday morning. Other than that, we just have our 36 week doctor’s appointment tomorrow (Wednesday). Pretty quiet week, overall. Probably one of the last few we’ll have before the baby comes!

35/35!!

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant, only 35 days to go (maybe!)! I can't believe what a difference 3 weeks makes! I compared my 32 week bump (top picture) with my 35 week one (bottom picture). Holy cow!

So Clara's only duties right now are gaining weight and letting her lungs mature. Other than that, she's ready to go! Quite frankly, so is her mommy. :)

A few more check marks

Household/Misc.:
-laundry
-clean kitchen
-clean the floor in Clara's room
-make grocery list for freezer meals cooking session part 2

Projects:
-Finish painting in dining room-should be done by the end of the week
-Finish tiling in foyer-should be done by the end of the day today, grouting to follow
-clean garage
-stain door for nursery-stain is being put on tonight; polyurethane goes on when that's dry
-install door for nursery Stain is done and dry. Polyurethane should go on tonight.
-weed front flower bed
-plant new plants-they're not here yet, but should be soon
-take compost to recycling center
-paint over patches in master bedroom
-clean master bedroom-empty and remove all clothes baskets, clean out/reorganize dressers
-clean out vehicles-vacuum & detail
-hang wedding pictures
-shop for art for dining room

Baby:
*We just finished purchasing the last of our baby needs last night. We're waiting on them to come in the mail so some things won't be able to get done until they arrive. Things we are waiting for: dresser, swing, bottle sterilizer, book shelf, car seat base for Adam's car
-*sterilize bottles/nipples
-*organize dresser/put away clothes
-*change sheets on crib mattress
-sterilize breastpump parts
-put cover on changing pad
-*put changing pad on dresser
-*install car seat bases-mine can get done, but Adam's is coming in the mail from Target, hopefully by MondaySo due to some contractions last night, my base got installed in my truck; Adam's base arrived on our doorstep yesterday. We still need to get them inspected, though.
-*get car seat bases inspected
*We have a glider; Adam's mom found it at a rummage sale for $10. The cushions need to be re-covered, but she said the wood is the same color as our nursery furniture, so it works out. I expect the cushions will probably be done by the weekend.
*I'd also like to find a rug for in the nursery, but it's not something that NEEDS to be done right away. I'm picky and it's hard to find something I like that doesn't cost a fortune. :)
I'll be making another post later today with my 35-week update...and I'll post a picture.

Additions to the Website.

I forgot to post about this! I have added 3 pages to the website. Two are under Baby Clara's page: One for maternity pics and one for nursery progress pics. The other page will be under our wedding page and will be all wedding pictures. There are a lot of pictures to upload from the wedding so it'll probably take a while, but I'll try to work on it when I can. Keep checking back-there's a link on the side of this page.

Check, check, and check!

So yesterday I emailed home a list of things that need to get done yet. I thought the list was pretty long. But after further analysis, most of those things can be done by the end of the week.

Household/Misc.:
-laundry
-clean kitchen
-clean the floor in Clara's room
-make grocery list for freezer meals cooking session part 2

Projects:
-Finish painting in dining room-should be done by the end of the week
-Finish tiling in foyer-should be done by the end of the day today, grouting to follow
-clean garage
-stain door for nursery-stain is being put on tonight; polyurethane goes on when that's dry
-install door for nursery
-weed front flower bed
-plant new plants-they're not here yet, but should be soon
-take compost to recycling center
-paint over patches in master bedroom
-clean master bedroom-empty and remove all clothes baskets, clean out/reorganize dressers
-clean out vehicles-vacuum & detail
-hang wedding pictures
-shop for art for dining room

Baby:
*We just finished purchasing the last of our baby needs last night. We're waiting on them to come in the mail so some things won't be able to get done until they arrive. Things we are waiting for: dresser, swing, bottle sterilizer, book shelf, car seat base for Adam's car
-*sterilize bottles/nipples
-*organize dresser/put away clothes
-*change sheets on crib mattress
-sterilize breastpump parts
-put cover on changing pad
-*put changing pad on dresser
-*install car seat bases-mine can get done, but Adam's is coming in the mail from Target, hopefully by Monday
-*get car seat bases inspected
*We have a glider; Adam's mom found it at a rummage sale for $10. The cushions need to be re-covered, but she said the wood is the same color as our nursery furniture, so it works out. I expect the cushions will probably be done by the weekend.
*I'd also like to find a rug for in the nursery, but it's not something that NEEDS to be done right away. I'm picky and it's hard to find something I like that doesn't cost a fortune. :)

Like I said, the lists look long, but I don't think it'll take anytime at all to get stuff done. The hardest part is waiting for everything to come in the mail.

Thursday I'll be going over my FMLA with my supervisor. My last day of work is scheduled for October 28th, though I'm hoping I won't be here that long. Tomorrow is also 35/35!! 35 weeks pregnant, 35 days to go! Not long now before we get to meet our precious daughter. We're both looking forward to it!

And as a side note, I want to say good luck to my friends Katie and Carrie who are finding out today what gender their precious babies are going to be! I'm in a baby pool for Katie's baby and I do believe I told her I think it will be a boy. Carrie's I think is going to be a girl. :) I'm so excited for them! Good luck today, girls! Enjoy seeing your precious babes!

Monday, Monday...

Normally, I hate Mondays. I should even have a reason to hate today. I got to work and the computer decided it wasn't going to work. Normally, this would have put me over the edge right away. For some reason, I'm in a really great mood. I don't know if it's the weather or what.

We had another great weekend. On Friday we went to Oktoberfest in Appleton to watch Eli Mattson (www.elimattson.com) play. He's Adam's friend from high school, which makes it even more fun, especially when we don't get to see him that often. We also got to see his fiancee, Carrie. I've been looking forward to seeing her again since she came to Wisco 3 weeks ago to visit! It was great. And it's nice not being the only one who can't drink. They'll be finding out the sex of their baby on Wednesday. I'm soo excited!! She and I also talked about us coming out to PA this spring for a visit.

Saturday was spent, at least for Adam, in recovery mode. We were supposed to attend a birthday party and then go to dinner with Eli, Carrie, and the band guys, but Adam and I both ended up in bed at 6:30; him with a hangover and me with a bad case of the grouchies. Apparently all I needed was a lot of rest, though. I got up 12 hours later feeling pretty fantastic.

Sunday we were up early....mostly due to being in bed for 12 hours. :) Adam's parents came over and brought the cornice for our dining room. It looks AMAZING!! Anita also made us a table runner for our new table out of the same fabric as the cornice. And she brought the curtains for the closet in Clara's room. Adam spent the day home-improving. He took down the half-wall in the dining room and got the remainder of the walls primed. All that's left to do back there is paint and repair the floor/wall/ceiling where the half-wall was. Then he'll be starting in the living room. We're ripping out the carpet in front of the front door and replacing it with tile. The carpet is pretty much destroyed, which one would expect when you put carpet in a foyer and you live in Wisconsin in the winter.

This week is pretty busy. Tonight I'm getting my oil changed and we might be going to the Y. Tomorrow we're going to Green Bay. We're going to Babies R Us to pick up the remainder of the items we need for Clara, and then we're going out for sushi at Little Tokyo (http://www.thegreenbaysushi.com/). I might see if I can convince him to go to Motherhood Maternity, too, since I need a few nursing tops and maybe a pair of jeans. Wednesday my Dad is coming over to stain the new door for Clara's room and Thursday there's nothing on the books. I'm enjoying staying busy because it seems to make the time between now and my due date (38 days) go faster, though everyone thinks I'll be delivering early. Clara has dropped over the last week. We'll find out on October 6 if we've made any progress dilation-wise.

34 Weeks & Maternity Pics.

So today I am 34 weeks. Yesterday I had my 34 week appointment. I still can't believe that Clara is going to be here soon! I have 6 weeks left until my due date. Out of curiosity (morbid or otherwise) I asked Dr. V how much he though she might weigh right now. He told me he thinks she weighs around 6 lbs right now! At this point in the pregnancy, the baby is likely to gain around 1/2 lb per week. If those calculations are correct, this could end up being a 9lb baby by my due date! The nurses at our last baby class last night said they didn't think I'd go til my due date, though. To be honest, I hope I don't either! I'm shooting for 37-38 weeks...*fingers crossed*.

As far as the doctor's appointment goes, everything is still looking really good. My bp was 104/80, my weight was 165, and Clara sounded really well on the doppler. My uterus is now measuring 2 weeks ahead, so we'll be keeping a closer eye on that. Dr. V said that if it gets to be 3 or more weeks we may go for a growth ultrasound to make sure she'll still fit! Our next appointment is scheduled for October 6, which will be 36 weeks (35w6d).

Which brings me to my next update. Adam is going to be having more surgery. Right now they're just going to do a diagnostic arthroscopy. It shouldn't be a big deal...other than the fact that I'll be 36 weeks pregnant! But I'll be at a hospital and I'm bringing his mom (and the car seat and my hospital bags!) along with me just in case. It is scheduled for October 7. This is a new doctor who will be doing the surgery. We gave up on waiting for the VA to take responsibility to fix him so we've sought the help of The Kennedy Center for the Hip & Knee at Mercy Hospital in Oshkosh. Apparently this is a very prestigious place because it took a month just to get a consult and another month to get the surgery scheduled. We'll know more after the scope, but for now we just have to wait and see what Dr. Tsai says.

I only posted 2 of my maternity pics (because I'm writing this at work and for whatever reason didn't upload them to Tinypic so I could add more to the blog). They were taken last Friday at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary. It was beautiful! And our wonderful photographer, Katie (http://www.ksphotographygb.com/), did an awesome job as usual. I'll try to post some more-maybe on my website. Adam and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out! We're all looking forward to doing newborn pictures. :)

Friday we'll be going to Appleton for another Eli Mattson concert. He'll be playing at Octoberfest. We're also going to stop in at Babies R Us and pick up our swing. My parents are picking up Clara's dresser on Sunday and I'm really looking forward to getting it put together and getting all of her clothes organized!! Pretty much all we need now is the baby and the room will be complete!

Baby week!

So this week has been unoficially dubbed "baby week." We have the 2nd of 2 Infant Care classes scheduled for Tuesday. This is just a basic course on how to do things like bathe a baby, change diapers, basic first aid, and this week's class will be on car seats with a demonstration by someone from the local fire department. Unfortunately, Tuesday is also Adam's 30th birthday. Because we have class all night, we won't be doing anything special. We will be having a party later this month for him, though.

Wednesday night we have our Baby Boot Camp class, where we will be taking our hospital tour. I've been to our hospital before and visited people who had babies, but now I'll be learning all the ins and outs of L&D at Aurora. I should be able to finalize my lists for what to buy for the hospital bag as well as what to pack in it.

Thursday night my mom is making a garlic-free lasagna and we're getting an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen to celebrate Adam's birthday. It should be fun and relaxing. :) And I LURVE me some ice cream cake!

Friday morning I have a chiropractor appointment (YAY!!) and then we're off to Green Bay to have Katie take our maternity pics (http://www.ksphotographygb.com/) at the Wildlife Sanctuary (http://www.baybeachwildlife.com/). I hope the weather cooperates!! I'm looking forward to this because Katie does such a wonderful job taking pictures...if you don't believe me, check out her website or see my post about our wedding!

Saturday morning we have our Breastfeeding Basics class. Adam was unsure about whether he'd come along (still not sure if he is) but I think it would be beneficial for him. He'll probably need to help me out a lot after we get home because I'll be too exhausted to think straight! And after our class is Ethnic Fest (http://www.trmainstreet.org/) which I know I plan on going to with my Mom and possibly my MIL.

Though it's going to be a busy week, next week should be great because we don't have anything planned until Friday night!

32 weeks and Nursery update.

32 week! I can't believe how fast this trimester is going by! We've gotten a lot done, but there's still enough to do where I don't feel like I can relax just yet.

So what's new for 32 weeks? Size-wise, she's somewhere between a squash and a honeydew melon; probably right around 17 inches long and around 4 pounds. She'll gain a third to around half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks, which also means I can expect to see the numbers on the scale climbing, as well. She's still moving really well, too, though I suspect she's quickly running out of room. I can also tell if she's head-up or head-down depending on where I can feel her hiccups (which she seems to get an awful lot!!). As I'm typing this she's practicing her dancing! We had our 32 week appointment a day early because I was feeling extremely dizzy. Turns out my bp was REALLY low (92/something). I went home, took it easy and drank a lot of water. Clara was fine, though. Her heartbeat was just pounding merrily away. :) My weight is still good, too (161) and I'm still measuring one week ahead. Our next appointment is scheduled for September 22 at 3:30.

Other things we've been up to? Almost finishing the nursery! Adam's mom brought us the beautiful curtains! We picked the fabric out last weekend and she brought them today when they came over. I think we were all pleasantly surprised how nice everything turned out. We're just waiting, now, on the curtains that will cover the closet door. I also got the diaper bag packed. I still need to pack my hospital bag, but I have quite a few more things to buy that have to get put in there. My family will be getting our dresser-the last big piece of furniture (well other than something to sit on) and we'll hopefully be picking up the swing towards the end of the month as well.


In other news, Adam had an appointment with a non-VA doctor, one who specializes in knees. We were hoping he'd be able to get something done soon, but that's not the case. The doctor, instead, opted to do a diagnostic arthroscopy but the only time he could get in is October 7. We'll be bringing all of our "baby" needs with us as I'll be 36 weeks pregnant by then and quite frankly, I feel like a ticking time-bomb lately...which I'm sure won't change by that time!

Today my mom came over and helped me cook. I made 5 different kinds of soups and froze them in quart jars for after Clara's born. Each quart jar should be enough to feed both Adam and I, especially if you throw in some refrigerator biscuits. It'll be nice to not have to cook and it'll give us a chance to get other things done....or sleep!!

Another great weekend.

This weekend was super! It was a 4-day weekend for me. It was my Friday off and I was off Monday for Labor Day. :)

Friday we did our big baby-shopping spree (see previous posts) and got a lot accomplished!

Saturday we started cleaning the house, as we were having people over on Sunday. I WAY over-did it and my back was killing me. I managed to get a little snuggle time in with Adam in the early evening before leaving for Elkhart Lake for Jessi's birthday party. It was fun, but a little chilly outside! We got home around midnight.

Sunday morning we all slept in. Then it was time to get up and finish getting things ready for the barbeque. I finished up cleaning and laundry while Adam ran to the store and then started mowing the lawn. We got things finished up before the first guests arrived. :) It was a pretty good time! My parents, my grandmother, my brother and his wife, Adam's mom & dad and brother & sister all came over to our house. Everyone got to check out the nursery and some of our new stuff that we bought on Friday. The only bad thing? My dad got stung in the lip by a yellow jacket. OMG! I've never seen a lip that big! We had to run out to Walgreens really quick and get him some Benedryl, but after that, he was doing better. After everyone left, it was finally time to RELAX!! Adam and I snuggled up on the couch and watched some Ninja Warrior (well he watched mostly...I read the paper).

Monday we planned to go to Green Bay to look at a new dining room set (his parents gave us money for a wedding present in order to buy something along these lines). We ended up finding one we really liked at Oak Express and should be getting it in a couple of weeks. We also met up with his Mom and Dad and his mom helped me pick out the fabric for the curtains in Clara's room.

All in all it was a good weekend. :) Busier than expected, but still nice. It's going to be a busy week ahead, but at least it's only a 4-day work week!

Big changes.

So there have been some major changes in Clara's room! On Thursday night, Adam's parents brought the crib over. We, of course, wasted no time putting it together. I also started getting her clothes separated to be washed.

Today we made the trek to Appleton and did the BIG baby-shopping spree at BRU. We got her travel system, a bunch of feeding supplies, some covers for the changing pad, a mattress pad, some sleep sacks, a few more receiving blankets, some pacifiers, and a diaper bag for me. I'm sure there were a few more things on that list, but that's all I can recall off the top of my head. We also went to Target to get a few more things (mostly little things). We came home with a whole truck-load of stuff! I even managed to get everything put away in the hour before we left for dinner! Her room is really starting to look like someone is going to live in it! Here's a couple quick pictures. I'll post some more of the room when we get the Dr. Seuss decals up on the walls....and the room gets cleaned up a little more! I ran out of energy today to do it. We're also going to find some hooks to hang on the wall to hang the diaper bags and carrier on, rather than where they're hanging in the closet at the moment.

A great week so far!

After such a fun weekend, I was sad to have to come back to work. But it ended up not being so bad.

I got a pretty good night's sleep on Sunday night-something that doesn't happen often anymore. Aside from the a/c being out in the building where I work (again) and it being 90 degrees, it was actually a somewhat pleasant day at work! When I got home Adam & I went grocery shopping, finally, and then my Mom & I went to a friend's house for a Tastefully Simple open house. I bought some boxed soup mixes for after Clara's born.

Tuesday was another hot day, but not unpleasant as far as work goes. I went home in the afternoon and immediately crawled back into my pajamas...and stayed there! lol I did a little laundry and cooked some dinner. The only damper on the night was the fact that I had 3 or so Braxton-Hicks contractions in about an hour and half. I decided it was time to go lay down. Well, I ended up falling asleep. But I think it was 7:30 anyway so it's not like I wasted a lot of time, and I can use the sleep!

Today I got to work, only to find that the supervisor who is usually on is goose hunting! It's almost like a vacation at work! AND I have an interview for a promotion today! I've been trying to get this promotion for over a year now! I'm not expecting miracles, especially since I'll only be at work until 10/28, but I'll take what I can get at this point!

Tomorrow, I'm hoping for the same sort of workday as today. The weather's even supposed to be a lot cooler. It's good because I am SO OVER being hot all the time! Then tomorrow night Adam's parents are bringing the crib over. That'll be really exciting! I'm going to wash some of the sheets tonight so I can put them on tomorrow....except I just realized I don't have the waterproof mattress pad yet. Ok, well I'll wash the sheets and just hang them on the side of the crib until I get the pad on Friday.

Friday we are doing our marathon baby-shopping trip! We'll be taking all of our remaining wedding/baby shower money, gift cards, and coupons to Babies R Us and purchasing all of the remaining things we still need for Clara. Some of the heavy hitters: Travel System, bouncer, swing, feeding items, diaper bag, and a lot of other little stuff. We got a few items in the mail from Target yesterday...a pacifier sterlizer, a bumper set, and a cooler bag for bottles. It's going to be a long day, but it should be fun anyway. Though I think I'll have more fun once we get home and I can finish organizing the nursery! My family is buying our dresser and it hasn't gotten purchased yet, but it should be soon and that will really be the final item we're waiting for-other than Clara!

30 Weeks! Yikes!

Here's me at 30 weeks! At this point in time, there are approximately 10 weeks left in the pregnancy, though full-term is considered 37 weeks. Clara is approximately the size of a squash now! She is anywhere from 15 to 17 inches long and weighs anywhere from 2.5-4lbs. Other things that she's up to in there: forming wrinkles on her brain. :) Don't worry, this is a good thing. She's also establishing sleep/wake cycles...though I haven't really found many sleep cycles! She's been very active and loves to beat Mommy up all day long! I don't mind. It lets me know she's ok.

Today we had our 30-week check-up with Dr V. Everything is still looking good! I caught a bug sometime during the beginning of the week. I ended up sleeping most of the week away, and generally didn't have a lot of energy. I'm still not 100% today, but I'm getting there. Anyway, I digress. My blood pressure was awesome again: 122/64 and my weight was 155.9-up only 2lbs since my last appointment two weeks ago! It seems to have tapered off some, but as long as Clara's still growing fine, there's nothing to worry about. And she does seem to be growing fine, she's still measuring about 1 week ahead at 31 weeks. We also went over our birth plan with Dr. V. He said it looked good and there weren't too many surprises on there. It's mostly a fall-back in case he isn't the one to deliver me.

So what's coming up next? For OB appointments, not much. At 36 weeks we'll get our check for Group B strep. Not a big deal, if I test positive I'll just be getting antibiotics during labor. And I do believe that will be the first of the internals, as well as checking to make sure she's head-down and ready to go. Until then, we just continue to make sure she's growing like she should be.

I also posted 2 pictures from her latest ultrasound, which was on August 13th. She wasn't cooperating very well to give us a profile shot, but there is one of here looking straight on. It's sort of hard to make stuff out, though. And also, a "money" shot, confirming that yes, she's still a girl. :)

A Great Weekend. :)

So as I've written before I had my 3-hour glucose tolerance test on Friday. It sucked, just as I suspected. I woke up in the morning and was so hungry and exhausted. I normally make Adam's coffee every morning since I'm up before him. Well, I forgot to put coffee in it so all he had was hot water. And I almost couldn't dress myself, either. We got to the clinic a little after 8 and started with all the fun bs that I posted previously. The girl in the lab told me I'd be able to call back later that day for the results, even though my doctor isn't in on Fridays. Well, I called about 2:30.....AND I PASSED!! All my numbers looked really good. My fasting blood sugar was 75 and the rest of the numbers were in the 130s which is good (after the first hour it needs to be under 180). When we were done at the clinic we went to McDonalds to eat. It was HEAVEN!!

Adam was slinging drinks at the Vets Club on Friday night so me and my folks went there for dinner again. It's always good so I don't mind. :) Plus I get to see the hubs. :) I also picked up a few last minute items for the baby shower on Saturday while I was out running errands.

Saturday morning was my baby shower. Anita and the girls did a WONDERFUL job setting everything up. It was really cute. :) There was Dr. Seuss stuff everywhere! We got a lot of gifts...many of which will really help us get our nursery started! We got a lot of gift cards that we'll be using to get the rest of the stuff that we need. I'll post a few pics on here when I get some from Stacy.

This week isn't too busy for us. I have a chiropractor appointment today after work and then we're running to Manitowoc. I need some new shoes as some of mine aren't fitting anymore. Tomorrow we'll be running to GB to look at fabric and maybe do some baby shopping. And then Thursday is our 30-week appointment with Dr. V. I can't wait! After Thursday we only have 2 more every-two-week appointments before they go to every week! It's getting close now! Just a little over 7 weeks until Clara's considered "full term" at 37 weeks. :) We'll be setting up our maternity photo shoot soon, as well.

Nursery Progress

So our Baby Shower is on Saturday morning. I wanted the nursery done by the time the shower rolled around so that I could start putting things away when we get them home. This is what the nursery looked like when we started:


Adam's been hard at work trying to get it done. A couple weeks ago Jessi and Mom came over to put the first coat of paint on the walls. I'm not saying it was bright, but holy crap, I thought 2 things: either I made a huge mistake with the paint color, or our poor girl was going to need sunglasses to live in her own room! The first coat didn't cover very well. And the light fixture was terrible! A couple more weeks went by and Adam was able to get all the paint up on the walls. It took 3 coats plus touch-up! We also ended up finding a ceiling fan that we both liked.

The next step was installing the hardwood floor. We decided to go with bamboo, because it's a light color, it's inexpensive, and well, it looks awesome!

Here's Adam and his dad installing the floor. It's almost done!

The last two pictures I took were today. Some of the trim is in and Adam put together a storage unit that I plan to use next to Clara's changer to store bath items, diapers, wipes, etc.

Crap.

So the doctor's office finally called about my labwork results. As we already found out, my results for the 1-hour glucose test came back at the cutoff. And as I feared, my doctor wants me to take the dreaded 3-hour test. This is what's going to happen:

8pm-No more food or drink.
8am-Report to the clinic and get stabbed. Then chug a nasty sugar drink and try not to murder everyone in the clinic because I'm starving.
9am-Get stabbed again. Try to continue to occupy myself...either by reading, or crying from hunger, or something yet to be determined.
10am-Get stabbed again. Rinse, repeat.
11am-Get stabbed yet again. Notice a pattern here?
12pm-Maybe get stabbed again before I leave. And then cross everything that can be crossed that I pass and I don't have to go on some crappy diet.

I get nothing to eat or drink while I'm at the clinic, and I must stay at the clinic for the entire test. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my day off. But a lot of ladies on thebump.com say that they failed their one-hour and went on to pass their 3-hour with flying colors. Hopefully I'm one of them.

To console myself after this news today, I went shopping and bought some cute clothes for work beceause they're finally letting me ditch the uniform and wear clothes that actually fit! It was money I didn't really need to spend right now, but at least I can be comfortable at work.

And I have my shower to look forward to on Saturday...

Test Results

Yesterday I took my Glucose Tolerance test. It involves chugging a sugary drink (sort of tastes like flat Sunkist) and then waiting an hour and having your blood drawn. It wasn't so bad. We got to the lab at 3:20, and then at 3:30 we had our monthly check-up with Dr. V upstairs. So I chugged the drink and we went to our appointment.

Everything at our check-up looked great. I'm up to 155lbs. My b/p was 120/70. Clara sounded awesome on the doppler and I'm now measuring 29 weeks (still 1 week ahead). We'll now be going to see Dr. V. every 2 weeks starting August 26th. Dr. V. also wanted us to start taking "kick-counts." Basically we need to pick two 2-hour parts of the day when she's active and count movements. Thanks to Android "there's an app for that." She already passed this morning's count...in 5 minutes she had all her movements in and she was still at it hours later!

After our appointment we went back downstairs to wait for the rest of the hour to be up so I could get my blood drawn and we could go home. Compared to the last time I had blood drawn, it wasn't bad at all! The tech got the vein on the first try and we were in and out in 5 minutes.

This morning I called the office. My doctor isn't in on Fridays, but his nurse said I could call and at least get my results. The triage nurse told me that my glucose results were 140, which is the cutoff point. She wasn't sure what Dr. V's protocol is for this situation. Either I will have to do the dreaded 3-hour test, or I'll just have to watch what I eat. The 3-hour test is much the same as the one-hour test. However, for the 3-hour test you must fast for 12 hours beforehand. Then you must chug the drink. Then you sit at the clinic and wait while they draw your blood once per hour. You're at the clinic for 4 hours. Number one: I can't fast. I'm ravenous and get really nasty angry when I'm hungry. Number two: I don't want to sit at the clinic for 4 hours doing nothing. And number three: I'll either have to take another day off of work (which I don't have) or do it on my Friday off, which is not how I want to spend my Friday off.

The other test that I had done was to test my iron and hematocrit levels. This test also came back low. This one isn't as big of a deal. Most women end up being anemic during their pregnancies. She said my doctor may prescribe me a supplement, or what I think I'll do is just go to Walgreens and pick up an OTC iron supplement. The only side effect? Constipation. I'm not looking forward to that. Pregnancy already gums up the digestive works, so throwing iron on top of that isn't going to be real pleasant. But they make things for that, too. I'll just be taking a fist full of pills every morning!!

Tonight at 3p.m. we have our follow-up ultrasound. This is just to check on the placement of the placenta: to make sure it has either moved up or hasn't moved any lower since the last one 4 weeks ago. I'm looking forward to this!! I love seeing our daughter on the ultrasound. :) I'll try and post the "results" of this tomorrow, but I don't really see any problems, and I don't even know if I'll know anything more tomorrow. That might be something else I'll have to wait til next week for.

Getting closer!

Adam got Clara's room painted on Monday during the day!! It took 3 coats of paint, and still needs a little touch-up, but it looks great. :) Today he's finishing up the trim.

Yesterday he got the ceiling fan put up, but today it decided it didn't want to work properly so he's now ripping it apart.

Monday we also picked up the flooring from Lumber Liquidators. It's exciting because it finally feels like it's coming together. I can't wait to see the room with the new paint color and the floor together. And our baby shower is in 2 weeks so we'll have a lot of new things to put in the room. I'm getting really excited! Adam is, too, and he's super happy that he gets to be the one who builds her room for her. :)

HOT HOT HOT!

Well, we had another great weekend. On Friday I finally got my name changed with SSA and the DMV, as well as my credit union. The DMV was the worst. We waited in line for over an hour!

Friday afternoon I drove to Green Bay to hang out with my friend Melissa. We went to Olive Garden for lunch and then we went back to her place to hang out by the pool. Man, was that nice! I think Clara even liked it a lot. :) I did get a little sun-burned, though. I got home right before 6 and then my parents, their friend Barb, and I all went to dinner at the Vets club. Adam was tending bar, so I got to hang out with him a little bit.

Saturday we had our Kappelman family reunion. Honestly, we socialized more with my brother and SIL than with anyone else who was there. We got home around 5 and I think Adam was in bed shortly after. Neither of us slept very good at all on Friday night, so I'm not surprised. I also got the wedding thank-yous done and in the mailbox.

Sunday was the church picnic. We only stayed for church and for lunch before coming home. We ended up having to clean up water from in the basement and the cats wrecked my closet in the bedroom so I had to clean that up, too. It needed to be done, I just didn't want to have to do it right then. I also finished my last class in school!! Yay! No more school until Spring!

Today I'm at work. It's supposed to be almost 90 degrees today with major humidity...and the A/C is out in the building where I work. Fantastic. I don't now how long I'll be able to sit in this. It's supposed to be this bad all week, so I hope they get it fixed soon. I'm going to the chiropractor after work, which I'm totally stoked for. I woke up at 11:30 last night to go to the bathroom and could barely walk.

Tomorrow we're hoping to go to Green Bay and pick up our pictures, as well as the flooring for Clara's room. It sounds like Adam's planning on finishing up the nursery before our baby shower on the 21st.

Thursday and Friday we have doctor's appointments, with Friday being a quick ultrasound. I can't wait to see our beautiful girl again!!

Baby Clara Update-27 Weeks.

So today marks 27 weeks of pregnancy. By many sources this is considered the beginning of the 3rd trimester....the home stretch!

So what's new? As far as symptoms go, the only really noticeable one is my fatigue is starting to come back. I find myself having a harder time getting up in the morning (though that could be from the 1-3 trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night) and I feel like taking a nap in the afternoon. I'm also getting much hungrier and finding that I have less room for food. I've also been thinking about getting in to see the chiropractor more than once a month. I feel like I'm starting to need more adjustments.

According to babycenter.com, this week Clara might weigh 2lbs and be about 14 1/2 inches long. She is sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and maybe even sucking on her fingers. What I can tell you is that she's often a very active baby, and today I may have even felt a foot! All I know is it was something pointy and it was up by my ribcage! It honestly grossed me out a little bit, but I'm chalking that up to it being the first time.

Coming up: Saturday we have our family reunion. This will be the first reunion since my brother married his wife Jessica and I married Adam. It probably won't be any different, but I thought it was neat anyway. Sunday is our church picnic. Next week Thursday we go see Dr. V again. I also have my gestational diabetes test that day and on Friday we'll be seeing our precious girl again via ultrasound for a quick check up. I'm going to see if the tech will give us a quick measurement, since I measured a week ahead last time I was in (at 24 weeks).

The best day of my life...so far.

Our wedding day!

July 31st, 2010 I woke up to pouring rain. Not what one would want to see on their wedding day, especially when the wedding is to take place outdoors! I knew there was a chance of rain, but really hoped it would hold off. No such luck. It did eventually stop raining in the morning so I was optimistic. I kept checking the radar in hopes that the sun would come out and all would be saved.

At noon I went to get my hair done. I think I was in the salon for about 40 minutes and when I came out....you guessed it. It was misting again. But I've heard that rain on your wedding day is supposed to be good luck.

My SIL Jessi picked me up at 1:30 and it was done misting. We got to Mom & Dad's around 2:15. I took a quick walk-around outside to see how wet it was and if we wanted to move the ceremony indoors (not bloody likely). The grass was dry, for the most part, so I gave the go-ahead to set everything up outside. I was really keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn't regret this decision later. Adam got to the house around 3. I banished myself to the lower level so he wouldn't see me before the ceremony. Stacy was awesome and took lots of pictures of Mom pinning flowers on everyone. I was pretty jealous of everyone being able to socialize while I was stuck downstairs. :(

Finally, it was time to come upstairs. Adam had everyone seated and Stacy was taking care of the music. Right at 4pm we started the ceremony. I was so nervous! But really, just excited to become Adam's wife. I walked out, and all I saw was his 3000 watt grin. I met him at the front of the aisle and the ceremony began. Pastor Jeff did a fantastic job. There was just enough serious and just enough humor to make it really enjoyable. I managed, somehow, not to cry during the ceremony! I was surprised! I almost lost it during our vows, but Adam kept me strong.

Pictures were a pain in the butt...mostly because the mosquitoes were trying to eat us alive! It was terrible, but Katie assured me that she could photoshop out all the red welts on my back. :) She did a fantastic job. Both Adam and I are very anxiously awaiting the pictures to come back! The nice thing about Katie? With her wedding packages she also offers 50% off a maternity photo shoot! I think we'll be taking advantage of that, especially if our wedding pictures turn out as well as we think they're going to.

After pictures were done, we ate dinner. The food was great! We had chicken from the Rendezvous, and Grandma Mueller was well represented by Stephanie, as she seems to be the only one to perfect Gradma's layered Jello. I think it was Grandma's way of being at our wedding. We were also very sad that Grandpa Mueller couldn't make it. He ended up in the hospital, but is on the mend and should hopefully be home today. We'd rather have him miss the ceremony and get well than come to the ceremony and take a turn for the worse. We'll get together with him when we get the pictures back so he can see everything.

Once dinner was done, we did the Scooter exchange in Green Bay. Shaun said Scooter was a great boy and got along with Princess (their dog) and Kaden (their son) very well! Scooter then went home with my parents and Adam and I headed to Appleton to check into our hotel and meet up with our friends. Even though it was a small gathering of friends and not as many people showed up as we had hoped, it was still a good time. We left Old Town around 12:30 and crashed...HARD! We were both exhausted, but extremely happy.

Everyone was so concerned that I was being jipped out of my "big white wedding," but, as I told my new husband, I wouldn't have traded Saturday's small, intimate ceremony for anything in the world. The people I loved most were there to support us and all that matters in the end is that Adam and I are committed to each other for the rest of our lives.

I'll be posting pictures when I get more back from Katie, but the sneak previews I've gotten so far are amazing! The only thing I wish I could change? The fact that we're not on a honeymoon right now. Yep, I'm back to work already. Fun stuff. Oh well. The important thing is that we love each other!!

We want to thank everyone who was a part of our very special day: Our parents (especially The Muellers, who hosted the event), our siblings, Grandma Ruby for the money to get our marriage license, and all of our friends who came to celebrate with us afterward. We couldn't have done it without the love and support of you guys. :)

Today is the big day...

And I wake up to find, it's RAINING! I should have expected that. But I checked the radar and it looks clear for the rest of the day. So unless a stray shower pops up later, it should be a nice day for the wedding.

I don't think either one of us slept last night! I slept from about 10 until 2 when I got up and had a bowl of cereal. I dozed off again, but woke up sometime later and moved to the couch. I slept there for a little while and then went back to bed. 7:30 I finally decided I'd had enough of not sleeping so I got up. Adam's still sleeping, so I hope at least one of us is coherent for today. :)

I'm going to go get my hair done at noon and then Jessi's picking me up and we're heading to Luxemburg. I still have to get the suitcase packed, but that shouldn't be a huge deal. It should only take 10 minutes.

I'll post pictures when we get them back. I'm really excited and just a little bit nervous, but I can't wait. Tomorrow morning I'll wake up for the first time as Mrs Adam Mueller. :)