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.