Sawyer's Birth Story

Though not as exciting as many people's birth stories, I figured it was a good idea to document the day Sawyer was born before my brain turns to permanent mush and I forget.  So here we go...

At my 38 week appointment we'd determined that I was carrying a BIG baby and that we'd need to consider a c-section if I hadn't gone into labor on my own or if I wasn't dilating.  So on Monday July 16th I took my big belly to the doctor's office with my Mom who'd just come to town.  As luck would have it, none of the home remedies we'd tried (at this point we'd tried evening primrose oil and spicy food) had worked.  I was still 1/2cm dilated and 60% effaced as I had been for over two weeks.  Then when the doctor measured my belly, I was measuring at 42 weeks, three weeks ahead of where I actually was.  This pretty much convinced the doctor we needed to schedule a c-section.  She went out to call the hospital and find out when they had openings.  There was one later that afternoon which I would have LOVED to have taken except that I'd had a string cheese that morning and was therefore disqualified (boo breakfast!) and the next available times were either Thursday the 19th at 1:30 or Friday the 20th at 7:30.  My doctor highly recommended the Friday morning since I wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight the night before and my going more than 13 hours without food when 10 months pregnant wasn't anyone's favorite idea.  Friday at 7:30 it was.

We talked about all the details of the surgery and then what we'd do if I went into labor on my own.  She said she was fine with my trying to deliver naturally if that happened but that I should mentally prepare myself for the high likelihood of a c-section no matter what happened.

I spent the entire week trying to make that baby come on his own.  I tried walking and walking and walking. I tried caster oil.  First it was a tablespoon in a Diet Coke. Then two.  Finally on Wednesday night I tried what has worked for one of my friends three times in a row with labor starting within two hours and the baby coming out within about ten...6-8 oz orange juice, 1/4tsp baking soda and 2oz caster oil.  She had explained the process this way (and I quote because it's pretty awesome):

"So you'll drink this crap, which is the worst tasting thing in the history of things.  Then two hours later you will poop out all your organs.  All of them.   Then about a half an hour later labor will start and just when you think you can't be in more pain, you'll throw up your bones and your body will be made of nothing.  Then, shortly after that, that baby will come shooting out your butt."

I laughed for about ten minutes straight and then set off preparing the concoction.  I drank it as fast as I could and noted that it wasn't the worst drink EVER, just really oily orange juice.  Then I sat as close to a toilet as I comfortably could and waited.  Then I waited some more.  Then I gave up and went to bed, bags packed and ready to go to the hospital at a moments notice.

Eight hours later I pooped out all my organs and then felt better and ate breakfast.  End of caster oil story.  No baby.  Not even one contraction.  I was irritated but at the same time I figured at least my entire digestive system was squeaky clean! 

Thursday night I re-packed my bags and snuggled my sweet puppy for one last time before his life got rocked.  Then I curled my hair.  I figured if I wasn't going to get to have this baby my way, at least I'd look good in the pictures.  Then I went to bed and slept pretty well, all things considered.  We woke up at 4am the next morning and I put on my favorite make-up and then we dropped the puppy off with our neighbor and headed to the hospital.

When we got there it was kind of strange to check in while not in labor.  We moseyed into admitting, went to our room, met our nurse and then waited for things to get rolling.  We took the final pictures of me pregnant:

Then Matt and I changed into our super sexy surgery garb:

My doctor was a few minutes late because her car battery was dead, so at about 7:45 they wheeled me in to the room.  They had Matt wait outside while they prepped me, which included getting my spinal in place, getting me in a catheter (yay!) and putting up a sheet so I wasn't totally wigged out at what was about to happen. 

Matt came in and got the camera rolling and they got started.  It took all of ten minutes for my doctor to cut me open.  I heard some ruckus as she announced he had a VERY round head and she was going to need to use a little vacuum pump thingy to get him out because of that.  The anesthesiologist (who I loved) told me that the baby hadn't dropped into my pelvis at all and that he looked huge so I was going to be grateful we'd decided to go with a c-section.  A few seconds later I heard a bunch of "woah he's huge!" and "wow!" and "Eight Ten!" to which I exclaimed "He's only 8lbs 10oz??" The nurse laughed at me and said "No, he's bigger than that!  He was born at 8:10."  Oh.  Right.

Someone brought him over to my side of curtain so I could see him for a second and then they whisked him off to the baby station to make sure he was OK, weigh him and do all of that.  Matt went with them while I got stitched up and tried to catch glimpses of my screaming baby boy.  It was a bit surreal for me because I hadn't been able to hold or touch him yet, so I caught a glimpse of this gorgeous little thing and then had to wait to really get a good look.  I was overcome with emotions, mostly feeling grateful that my body had finally been able to do it's reproductive job and get our little guy here. 

I squirted a few tears which the anesthesiologist kindly wiped for me, and then a few minutes later everything was done and we were being wheeled back to my recovery room.  Matt handed him off to my Mom while the nurses checked me to make sure everything was good and then I finally got to hold my son.  I decided that he is pretty much perfect. 

The nurse suggested we try nursing right away (luckily his insulin levels were great when he was born so they didn't have to supplement with formula or anything while they waited for me to get stitched up) and he latched right on and nursed for an hour without stopping.

After that they transferred me to my permanent room where we got to know our nurse and got working on getting to know each other and recovering and blah blah blah. 

Thankfully, my recovery has been super easy.  The pain has been totally manageable with mostly Ibuprofin and Tylenol (the first two days in the hospital I was on something stronger they gave to me via IV but I never had enough pain to have to ask for anything extra), and I was on a soft food diet (which is all normal food...I guess I didn't check to see what was on the regular diet I couldn't eat, but really my options were awesome) by the end of the day and up walking (escorted) to the bathroom that night.  The next morning all the tubes and crap were removed and I was good to move around on my own.  Sunday morning the OB/GYN on call checked and discharged me and we were home by 1:30 and have been loving life ever since. 

I seriously have no complaints about the c-section and, considering my easy recovery, I have a feeling that it was easier than a natural birth would have been.  I am walking great, have minimal bleeding, very little pain at my incisions - there is a little up where the doctor cut my uterus inside but I think it's trying to shrink down and that's aggravating the scar.  I've definitely been tired, but our kick-butt baby has been letting me sleep more than I was sleeping while I was pregnant, so I feel really rested.

Matt took the week off work and has been AWESOME.  He's changed a majority of the diapers and been working on training the dog (turns out we didn't do enough of that and there's been some small issues with him listening to us when we need him to.  Ouuuurrr baaaadddd) and just being an all around rock star Dad. 

My Mom and Dad have both been here as were Matt's parents so we've had tons and tons of help around but weirdly we haven't really needed it.  I guess I hear so many new baby horror stories I keep waiting for hours of screaming and misery and nobody sleeping and so far it's just not happening.  I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed that this keeps up and we don't end up with hell next week!

I still don't understand why we had to go through what we did to get him here but I can say that he was worth every second of pain and heartbreak.  

Welcome to the world, Sawyer.  We are so glad you're here.

And Then I Had a Baby

It's hard to believe that after the two years of hell trying to get him here, we have a real, live, grown in my body baby living at our house.

Wow.

Sawyer Michael was born Friday, July 20 at 8:10am. He was 9lbs 4oz, 20.5 inches and he is absolutely fabulous.  See?!

Picture Credit: Sorensen Studios

He has gold-red hair and it's looking like his eyes will be blue, but that is still to be determined.  He has HUGE hands and feet and other than the super fun newborn rash that has plagued us since day one, he's pretty much perfect.  I'm whispering this next part so I don't jinx us, but when I say perfect, I mean it in every sense.   This kid sleeps and eats like a CHAMP, usually going at least three, usually four or five hours between feedings at night.  He latched on the first time in less than 30 seconds, which my nurse said she's never seen before.  We had to correct the latch so that his amazing suction abilities (another first - our pediatrician said in 14 years she's never seen such a strong suck from a baby) didn't pull my nipples completely off my body but now that's fixed and other than some minor discomfort, nursing is a breeze.  He definitely goes to the bathroom like a newborn, going through what seems like a million diapers a day and he seems to have an uncanny ability to pee out of the top of his diaper, which I think is related to the vaseline covered gauze we have to put on his man parts thanks to the circumcision (PS - who ever thought THAT was a good idea?  "Guys!  I have an idea!  We'll take the top tiny bit of skin off the most sensitive part of the baby and we'll CUT IT OFF!!!  Brilliant!"  Not.)  but *knock on wood* we've yet to have a blow-out.  I could go on and on but I've been around my fair share of newborns and he is literally the best one I've seen.  I swear I'm not just saying that because he's my kid.  I'll be the first to admit that he spent his first week looking a lot like a very tiny angry old man.  I'm not above admitting he looked totally weird for a while there.  Now that the swelling is going down, his rash is going away and he is actually opening his eyes he's looking pretty darn cute.  I was scared for a minute there. 

I'm working on his birth story, though it's not as involved or as interesting as many are, but I figure I might as well document it anyway.  I'll try to find the time to get it out there really soon, which in my new timeline means maybe by December?

Thanks to those of you who have already reached out with well wishes and congratulations.  I am so grateful to have had all of you with me on this journey.  It has really been a rough couple of years for us, and although the pain of the miscarriages may never go away, having this little man here does make so many things make sense.  We are so lucky to have him.

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OH, as an FYI to those of you who care, I just discovered that my other blog is broken.  I can't get into the admin page to publish anything.  I don't even remember how to get into my host files...oops.  My best friend's husband is my host so I need to get a hold of him to get in but after that, I'm worried because I seem to have forgotten all the things I taught myself about HTML and running a real blog so I'm not feeling hopeful that I'll be able to get in soon, but I'll sure try!!

The Plan, Stanley

I'll be 39 weeks tomorrow and I woke up last night thinking that maybe my water broke.  Turns out I probably peed my pants just a little and the primrose oil I've been, um, putting there to help me dilate probably just leaked.  It was disappointing and disgusting all at the same time. 

My doctor ordered an extra ultrasound for me at my weekly checkup this week.  The first words out of her mouth after she saw the results were "you have a big old baby in there, woman!"  Monster Baby has continued to grow and turned into Super Monster Baby.  He was measuring at 8lbs 9oz and in the 89th percentile for growth, which are both higher numbers than were estimated at the last ultrasound.  His head is still up in the 90th percentile somewhere as well.  Um, yikes.  Even more interesting is that he seems to be sucking the life out of me.  Since my last appointment I've lost three pounds and he has continued to gain size at an uncanny rate.  Fan freaking tastic, right!?  Oh and even more fun, I've made no progress at all.  1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced, just like the last appointment.

Normally, ultrasounds can be a pound or so off, and are usually estimating high, but knowing Matt's family history of large babies and emergency c-sections, my doctor decided that if I show up to my next appointment on Monday morning and I'm not making any progress, she will probably schedule a c-section.  If I'm dilated to at least a 1 1/2 she'll schedule an induction.  Obviously a c-section isn't ideal, so I'm doing everything I can think of on my end to encourage some dilation and softening up in here.  Thus the primrose oil.  I'm really hoping to get some dilation happening so we can go for the induction rather than a c-section.  Now, in an ideal world this baby would just come on it's own.  I'm not a huge fan of inducing and I doubt anyone is a huge fan of a c-section, but I'm especially not fond of being in labor for a whole day and THEN having to do a c-section.  I think in that case you basically put your body through 90% of natural birth and the side effects of that and then you have to also recover from major surgery.  So, hopefully I go into labor today or tomorrow and avoid both situations, but I have a feeling I'll be in my appointment on Monday where we'll be making a plan and most likely this kid will be born Tuesday or Wednesday.

SO, this weekend I'll be doing last minute things like installing the car seat and getting the co-sleeper set up in our bedroom as well as hopefully doing some cleaning.  I also have to figure out a plan for the puppy since our existing plan is on vacation in California until Wednesday.  Luckily there are plenty of people around who love Watson and have offered to help out. 

Hopefully I'll be back here Monday with a final update as to when our lives get turned upside down!  I'm excited to meet this little boy but I'm also nervous and I think in a little bit of denial that it's actually happening.  Hold me?

Aaaaand....I'm done.

37 weeks and holy crap did all the symptoms I haven't had for nine months show up all at once!  I knew this easy pregnancy thing was too good to be true!

Heartburn...check.

Huge belly and non-existent stomach muscles impeding sleep...check.

Baby dropped and pelvic pressure is out of this world.  I feel like I'm carrying a 20lb bowling ball in my cha-cha.  When I walk it looks that way, too.  You're welcome for the visual.

Swelling is not horrible but I am retaining some fluid so my engagement ring doesn't fit anymore.  My wedding band and still fits but not nearly as comfortably.  Some of my shoes have straps that are leaving marks in my ankles but it's not too bad, I suppose.  Just there.

My personal favorite symptom right now is pregnancy induced Carpal Tunnel.  Yeah, I'd never heard about that one either.  Basically both my arms go completely numb and then scream at me in pain.  It happens mostly at night, making the little sleep I was getting non existent.  I spend the majority of the night trying to find a position that doesn't hurt my hips, doesn't involve being on my back and allows my wrists to be straight so they don't DIE. 

My attempts to get comfortable are not working well and I just wake up pissed off and for the most part, miserable as far as my body goes.  At that point I limp to the couch where I sit like a lump all day with the fan on full blast praying the dog behaves so I don't have to attempt to get up and run after him.  Matt is such a lucky guy. 

I had my 37 week check up today, the first of my cervical checks.  I gained two more pounds, I'm 1/2 a centimeter dilated and 50% effaced, blood pressure and protein levels are perfect, so basically nothing is happening.  He is definitely head down, which is good.  I'm measuring right at 37 weeks but due to the family history of monster babies, my always amazing doctor scheduled an extra ultrasound for next week so we can measure him again.  If the tech was right and he was 6.5lbs two and a half weeks ago and is growing according to the expected half a pound a week, he's almost eight pounds right now.  If they measure him there again she might consider an early induction.  I'm almost praying for that because three more weeks of the non-sleeping discomfort might cause permanent mental damage.

Matt finished the board and batten in the nursery last night after probably 50 hours of really hard work and it looks AMAZING.  I almost started crying when I saw it done.  It is better than I could have imagined.  Today I'm going to clean out the closet (there's a lot of dust in there), wash and sort everything (again) and then tonight or tomorrow we'll probably set up the crib and really get things moving.  The crib bedding came last week and it's better than I could have hoped for, so it's nice to have that all done.  Now we have to buy the bookshelf, dresser, light, twin bed frame or base, curtains (which I may paint if I get the courage) and bedding for the twin bed , then we'll probably paint the dresser and eventually paint stripes on the one wall that doesn't have board and batten.  I'm also trying to figure out some kind of cool, original mobile type thing that won't cost a million bucks to go above the crib.  Obviously we're nowhere near done but the rest of the stuff is easy compared to the walls that Matt completed and hopefully one trip to Ikea will take care of most of the things we need and then we can get it all put together.

I had maternity pictures taken last week.  I found a photographer who I love and she had a full year package for babies - pics are taken when they're brand new, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months, so we decided to go with that so we didn't have to think about it anymore than that.  She was super generous and threw in a maternity session for me which I got pretty excited about until I remembered I was NINE MONTHS PREGNANT.  I spent all sorts of time trying to find outfits that didn't make me look like a whale, then my great friend Janae curled my hair, I spent for-ev-er on my make-up and my sister helped trek us out to the middle of the desert for our shoot in 106 degree weather.  God smiled on us that day because, despite the horrid temperature, there was a nice breeze and beautiful clouds from an impending Haboob which gave us amazing lighting and an even more amazing sunset.

Here's one of the pictures that the photographer posted on Facebook.  There are plenty more she took but I haven't seen them yet.  I love love love this one and I also promise I don't usually look like this.  She worked some serious magic.  If anyone who reads this lives in Phoenix and needs a photographer, you should probably hire Selena of Sorensen Studios.  She is really so so so amazing.

Well, that's it for now.  This chair is starting to hurt my butt and I've successfully made my hands numb while typing so I think it's time for me to resume my position on the couch and watch the final season of Felicity and pray about taking some caster oil to get this baby out of me.

36 Week Catch Up

Um, hi. Sorry I've been MIA for the last month and some change. Things got a little cra-cra around here! We (as in Matt Watson and I) spent ten days in Utah at the beginning of June. I had an amazing shower that my more amazing Mom threw for me. Once again, we were spoied rotten.

After the shower we spent a few days enjoying the fabulous weather, grass yards and wonderful family. The last few days I spent with my four best girlfriends on our annual Girl's Trip. This was the eighth year in a row and we stayed in Provo at Julia's parents amazing home. We went to the fancy new shopping center in Salt Lake - City Creek drove around in Julia's Dad's restored Scout, ate tons of amazing food and had an all around fantastic time.

I came home and had an OB appointment with our final ultrasound. The nurse terrified me when she read the wrong line in my chart and told me that I'd gained ten pounds in two weeks (!!!!!) but my doctor corrected her and pointed out the error, so only four pounds. Phew! I kept losing track but I finally sat down and did the math and I've gained 12 pounds total and will probably be right at about 16-18 by the time he's born. The ultrasound showed that he is in the 75th percentile overall and weighed about 6.5lbs. The tech told me that means he's on track to be 8.5-9lbs at birth if I go full term. I almost died. Then the doctor told me she usually sees the 75th percentile babies weighing in at closer to 7.5-8lbs so she's not too worried. We're keeping a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't get so big we're forced to have a c-section, but all signs point to a big boy. Yikes. I shouldn't be surprised considering Matt was 8.5, our niece (on Matt's side) was 10.2 and my father-in-law was 13.

So, on Sunday I'll be thirty six weeks...as in full term! It's crazy to think that he could be born any minute, though technically he's not due or another four weeks. I have decided he's coming on July 10th. I almost guarantee I won't get my way, but I'm putting all thoughts and energy into that date anyway. Can't hurt, right? He's still moving like crazy and I think he's dropped so his little face and hands are firmly planted in my pelvis, which makes for some very strange feelings in places I'm not used to having feelings. Luckily he's only kicked my ribs a couple of times. My biggest complaint is him rubbing against the back side of my belly button. I get this weird shock like feeling through my whole body when he does that so I'm hoping he doesn't do it anymore. 

Matt is working his butt off on the nursery. He finished re-texturing the bottom four feet of the walls in preparation for board and batten. We bought the paint and will be doing the prep painting and probably buying and cutting the wood this weekend. Crib bedding is being made this week and I have picked out out of the other stuff I need for the twin bed and other furniture for the room, we just have to buy it. My favorite news for the week is that Matt had remote start installed in the truck (which I am now driving due to my car getting better gas mileage for Matt's long commute) so that I can cool the car off before putting the baby in it and killing him. It is so fantastic to know I won't have to burn the crap out of him every time we go somewhere. Such a great present. So there's the update. Not too exciting but definitely lots going on in final preparation for D-Day! July 10th is fast approaching!!

The Dirty Thirty

Thirty weeks and I feel like I've already been in the third trimester for a decade.  I really felt like the first seven months of pregnancy flew by and now it's just taking FOR-EV-ER.  This probably has a lot to do with the whole not sleeping so well thing.  It's making my days last much much longer, that's for sure.

SO, other than the not sleeping, things are great.  I'm getting larger by the minute and the little guy is SUPER active.  Luckily he hasn't kicked until it hurt or anything like that yet but wow he moves a lot.  My doctor informed me that I passed the glucose test with "flying colors," my total weight gained is five pounds which puts me right on track for where they'd like me to be when I deliver,  blood pressure is great, the old uterus is measuring perfectly, and the little man's heartbeat is in the 150s.  I could not have asked for a more perfect pregnancy and I'm so very grateful for that.  We're at the point where I now have appointments every two weeks which is fun but also a pain for a five minute appointment to measure and check his heartbeat but oh well.  Soon we'll be scheduling the final ultrasound (35 or 36 weeks I think is when it will be) and I'm excited for that. 

I made some decent progress on the nursery, though none of it's visible yet.  The custom bedding has been designed and ordered which is a big relief.  We were going to have to wait until August for it to arrive because the lady making it takes all of July off to spend with her family, but lucky for me she had a June cancellation and I was the mom with the closest due date so she gave me the slot!  Woot!  My fantabulous designer friend Megan (who will have a blog soon so I can link to it and show you ALL her amazingness) helped me decide on what to do with the walls and while it's going to be quite a bit of work (Matt is SO thrilled) it's going to look amazeballs and I'm really really excited.  I've decided on artwork and should have a decision on curtains and the room arrangement soon.  Then it's just a matter of putting it all together.  I'm actually not expecting it to be done by the time he gets here, which is no big deal since he'll be in our room for a few months anyway.

My Arizona shower is this week and I'm super excited, mostly to get together with a bunch of my friends and see some old co-workers who I haven't seen in a long time.  The invitations are TO DIE FOR, thanks to my great friend Aimee. She's been on Martha Stewart and is sort of becoming super famous.  You should totally check out her website, SuperMom Moments (which she runs with another amazingly talented lady, Bettijo).  They have printables and party ideas and all sorts of awesome stuff.  I feel really lucky to know her and have her like me enough to design the invites.  See how cool? 

I told Aimee I wanted to decorate my whole house with them.  She sent them on the most beautiful kind of sparkly(?) paper and in the same kind of envelopes but in navy.  SO CUTE.  She and my sister and a bunch of other girlfriends are throwing the shower together and all of them are amazingly talented when it comes to parties so I seriously cannot wait to see how it all turns out.

I have lots of travel plans for June so I can get out of the heat and hopefully everything continues to go just as smoothly as it has up to this point!  I can't believe there are only ten more weeks.  I also can't believe I have TEN MORE WEEKS.  I'm sure most of you understand the sentiment.

The Final Third

OK so today I'm OFFICIALLY in the third trimester.  None of this fake third trimester crap from four weeks ago.  28 weeks done, 12ish to go.  Here's a belly shot for all you wanters.  Don't mind my sweats.  I only get dressed about three times a week now and today isn't my (or your) day.  At least I'm wearing a clean outfit.  You are welcome. 

I'm still feeling really good overall though I swear I get bigger and more stretched out by the second. It's getting harder to maneuver myself out of bed or off the couch but I'm figuring it out.   I'm getting more and more tired and hot for sure, and of course here in Phoenix the hot part is only bound to get worse, but those I can manage.  It seems to be an every-other-day cycle.  I'll have tons of energy and do all kinds of things around the house and then the next day it's all I can do to move from bed to the couch to the fridge.  I'm working on not overdoing it the days where I have energy but I can tell I've got some nesting going on and just want to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS.

The hip pain is getting worse, and due to the hot factor, sleeping with my super sweet body pillow is becoming very toasty, which in turn makes the hip pain worse.  Half the nights I abandon all pillows, blankets and sheets and I'm sure will soon also abandon clothes just so I can bask in the air conditioning vent that sits directly over our bed.  Either that or, as I've mentioned to several people, buy a huge, body sized deep freezer and just move in for the next three months in an attempt to keep cool. 

As far as exercise goes I am still walking the dog for about thirty minutes at least once or twice a day.  I also got a Groupon this morning for ten yoga classes at the really nice studio down the street.  I'm going to try to do prenatal yoga once a week until the baby comes.  I think the stretching will do my hips and legs some good, plus I'm sure there are awesome mental benefits as well. 

I'm up about once or twice per night to pee depending on how much I had to drink before bed and the heartburn has made it appearance.  Luckily it's not constant.  I only get it when I eat something spicy, too acidic (like orange juice or tomato sauce) and I just discovered this morning, overly chocolaty.  I'm crying over the last one.  Of COURSE chocolate gives me heartburn.  Still no odd pregnancy cravings.  I love the foods I loved before and basically eat about the same stuff and the same portions.  I still don't have the results back from my glucose test, but I should hear today.  Hopefully we're all clear there and I can continue eating carbs three times a day and give birth to some sort of tortilla chip or slice of bread.  Like I said...still eating all the same stuff!

Still no real nursery progress. My designer friend graduates on Friday so hopefully I can get her to help me  out after that.  I did go through all the baby clothes a second time and set aside a box of stuff that is either overflow or things I'm not a huge fan of.  I'll wait and see what I get at my showers and sort through all of that too and then take inventory of what I have and need and then go from there.  If my mothers (mother, step-mother and mother-in-law) have anything to do with it I'll never have to buy clothes as long as he's alive!  I'm trying to keep everything sorted into sizes as it comes in so I'm not overwhelmed by the task later on when I'm huge-er and less likely to care as much.

Pretty soon we're taking a ten day trip to Utah for my shower there as well as my yearly girl's trip.  We're taking the dog which should prove fun and interesting.  We're driving which will also prove interesting and most likely uncomfortable for me, but the alternative of not having a car is no bueno. It will be nice to have so much time there and we'll hopefully be able to see everyone we want to before we have the baby and traveling becomes a bit more difficult.  I'm also hoping to take a week or so towards the middle or end of June and go stay with my Grandparents.  My doctor said no flying after the 15h of June but we can drive there.  My main goal is to get out of the heat and just lounge in their pool a lot.  Plus, seeing my Grandma is always a bonus. 

So there's the update.  My life is so very exciting. 

SUGAR!!!!

I'm officially 27 weeks and today was the start of my every three week appointments and the dreaded glucose test.  After consulting with the nurse last time as to the preferred flavor for the deliciousness, I went with orange.

Firstly, yesterday I sort of forgot I was having this test done today and literally ate NOTHING BUT CARBS (not joking.  Cereal and toast for breakfast, macaroni and cheese for lunch and a mid-afternoon snack) until 9pm when I remembered what I had to do and decided to have an egg, broccoli and cheese omlet for dinner.  I know, 9PM isn't really dinner time but that's what happened. 

I woke up this morning and brushed my teeth early so I could rid myself of the toothpasteness before downing the orange goo.  Having heard horror stories about the drink, I was delighted when I found it didn't actually taste that bad.  Sort of like orange soda that someone messed up the mix on and there wasn't nearly enough water.  I was able to gulp it down in about one minute. 

Naturally, as soon as I'd downed the bottle, my phone rang.  My OB's office was calling telling me she had to go deliver a baby and could they reschedule for this afternoon?  Normally?  No problem, but their office is thirty minutes from my house and I had sort of just downed the equivalent of ten bags of Halloween candy for breakfast.  I didn't particularly want to make the trip once just for a blood draw so I mentioned the glucose test and they were miraculously able to squeeze me in only an hour late when they assumed my doctor would be back.  So, I braved the rush hour traffic and made it to the office with six minutes to spare before the hour time limit on drawing my blood was up, did that whole thing then got to go find some breakfast to calm my FREAKING OUT blood sugar levels. 

All in all it worked out well because I would have been super duper jittery waiting to see my doctor, plus I also had to wait for the nurse after my visit so I could get my Rhogam shot (I am O Negative so that's always a literal pain in the butt). 

Everything is great.  This week I'm measuring a week ahead (if you're keeping track in the last three months I've been a week ahead, a week behind and now a week ahead again) and the mister's heartbeat was perfect.  He was also having a party thanks to the excess sugar so it took us a little while to nail down his location for a heartbeat but that seems to be the norm whenever I'm at the doctor's office.  Or maybe always?  Basically he's very active.  Super excited to see how that manifests in his real life.

I feel like I'm getting bigger every day and yesterday, as I was lying on the couch and attempted to get up, I experienced the oddness of my inner ab muscles poking through the separation in my outer ab muscles.  This is something no one had ever mentioned to me before.  I'm sure if I'd thought about it, it would have been like a "no duh" moment for me but not being prepared to see some forgotten inner muscles poking through like a strange worm was SO WEIRD.  Matt looked over at just the right moment and just said "What the hell?!"  My thoughts exactly.  My hips are still hurting a big though the last few days it's been less.  I'm not sure if I've found better sleeping positions or my body is just adjusting, but I'm grateful either way. 

Yesterday Arizona hit a record high for April of 105 and I was pretty sure I was going to die from the heat.  This does not bode well for the next three months. I'm not even THAT hot yet and it was seriously the most miserable day.  I think I'm going to go buy a deep freeze and plan to live in it until the baby is born.  I'm praying this was a freak heat wave and it cools back down until the end of June.  I doubt I'll get my way but here's hoping.

So, there you have it.  My little update.  I'm almost officially in my third trimester and while part of me is super excited, a lot of me is starting to panic just a little.  Or a lot.  Either way this little man appears to be coming for reals so I guess I'd better figure out how to be a parent or something!

Remember that one time? When I lost track of how far along I was and added a week? Yeah, that wasn't so funny.

Ugh.  I had a total pregnancy brain fart last week - thanks mostly to the stupid baby apps on my iPhone - and thought I was 26 weeks and about to hit 27.  Ha.  Very funny.  Take one week away, folks because I did the math this morning and I was 25 weeks and just hit 26.  I blame the apps because the second you're 25 weeks and 1 day, they start showing you all the 26 week stats on baby.  If I had thought about it for two minutes I would have figured it out, but thinking I was thisclose to seven months was just too tempting.

Big progress in the belly department in the last two weeks.  My stomach muscles decided they couldn't hack it anymore and boy howdy do I look pregnant now.  However, in the weight department, I think I'm hanging in there to reach my goal of no more than 15 pounds gained.  Apparently my pre-pregnancy BMI indicates I should gain between 11-20 pounds and I figured I'd aim in the middle.  I lost about 12 pounds in the first trimester and at my last appointment I was still down two pounds from my original weight....which basically means I've gained ten pounds.  Of course, according to my doctor's chart I haven't gained any.  I'm sure the next appointment will prove I've gained a few pounds but obviously at this point that's what I want to be doing.  The little man weighs almost two pounds now and when you add in fluid and placenta and all that crap I should be up a few pounds.  I am walking Watson at least once a day for about an hour, usually twice, unless I make Matt go because I'm too tired.  He's a speedy little walker and we have a routine of running around the park three or four times so I really think that consistent, daily exercise is helping me gain the right weight and not get big in the butt, thighs, arms, so on and so forth.  I feel pretty lucky that, at least so far, I haven't become swollen and super uncomfortable.  For those that care, here is a belly shot from Saturday which was two days shy of 26 weeks...so let's just call it 26 weeks, shall we?  Please note that my exercise clothes from this particular day are HAWT.  Specifically the basketball shorts.  Saddest part?  I don't think I changed out of them until it was time for pajamas.  Matt is a lucky, lucky man.

As far as fashion goes, almost all of the clothes that fit me pre-pregnancy still fit, with the exception of a couple of pairs of pants, mostly due to high waistlines.  I prefer long shirts no matter what so anything that doesn't button up (which, let's be honest, I haven't worn those in like, over a year thanks to casual work environments and my new found ability to wear pajamas or workout clothes ALL DAY.   Yay unemployment!) still fits due to the length.  I did have a girls shopping day when my Stepmom Lisa (LOVE HER!) was in town to see my sister's baby and she bought me some SUPER cute maternity clothes at Motherhood.  One dress in particular is amazeballs and I want to wear it all the time.  I did notice that wearing actual maternity clothes definitely makes me look even MORE pregnant, but that's ok.  It's kind of nice to have people be able to tell it's a baby bump and not just my poor eating habits. 

The baby moves all the time and is really getting into his acrobatics lately.  He's all over the place and it still feels totally and completely weird.  His movement is obvious from the outside most of the time now and I sometimes just sit and stare at my belly trying to figure out HOW this is a normal occurrence! 

We bought our crib this weekend at BuyBuyBaby.  They let me use a 20% off coupon I didn't think would apply to furniture so it was much cheaper than I expected, which is awesomesauce.  I seriously LOVE this crib and am so very excited to have it.  I think the majority of the nursery plan is together in my mind, I just need to figure out what to do with the walls.  This of course is the first thing I need to tackle so I wish I could just make up my mind already so I could get going.

Well, there's your update for the day.  One of my dearest friends had her baby this morning (at home!  She's so brave) and I get to go over and meet the little lady and then I'm making dinner for her family.  Somewhere in there I need to vacuum the floors and the couch because wow, does my puppy shed.  My life is a freaking party, people.

You Are Now Exiting the Second Trimester...sort of.

People who say pregnancy lasts for nine months are big fat liars. Know why?! Because I'm six months (24 weeks) pregnant and I have four months (16 weeks) until my due date. Fer rude. It's all in that "measuring from your last period" thing...and why it never occurred to me that 40 weeks is ten months I truly have no idea. What it comes down to is that pregnant lasts a looooooooong time.

That being said, I feel GREAT! I had an appointment this morning and things look good. Doc says she can't believe I'm 24 weeks and showing so little (another win for being tall and having cavernous hips). I tried to take a belly shot today but the shirt I'm wearing is pretty baggy and it's hard to see much, so I'll attempt another one latere in a more form fitting top. Our little man is now measuring about a week behind, which I thought would be bad until I remembered that gigantor babies run in Matt's family. Having him measure small is actually a good thing for my lady parts and my desire to avoid a C-section. We (ok mostly my doctor) are going to keep a close eye on the mister in my last month and we'll discuss inducing me if he's looking at all over 8 pounds. I'm not too keen on inducing labor, just because I'd like him to cook until he's good and ready to come out, but if that means he's going to break size records, he's coming out early to save his Mommy's sanity.

I only have two minor complaints about being pregnant and they are both linked to sleeping. First, sleeping exclusively on my sides is causing major hip pain. I read up on it and it's the elastin hormone that allows my hips to spread to make room for the baby...but it also allows them to compress due to the pressure of sleeping on them. Of course, as most of you know, it becomes more difficult to sleep on your stomach as the baby grows (though I'm still somewhat able to do that if I use a leg as a sort of kick-stand) and sleeping on your back is also discouraged due to the weight of the uterus squishing some major vein or artery. So basically I must sleep on my side...and sleeping on my side hurts, which means I don't sleep well. This leads to my next complaint of being tired. So you see I'm in a vicious circle here, which I'm sure is familiar to most, if not all women who have ever been pregnant. I have a list of life grievances to discuss with God someday and pregnant women not being able to sleep has officially been added to the list. Of course I absolutely acknowledge that this pregnany has been SUPER easy and, even if it weren't, I feel so unbelievably lucky and blessed to have what appears to be a very healthy little boy growing away I can take anything uncomfortable or annoying pregnancy wants to throw my way. Not that I'm sending out invitation or anything...

Project nursery has sort of started. I have one DIY project for our guest room I need to finish before I go full steam ahead but I've at least settled on a color scheme (navy, shades of orange, grey and white) and bought an awesome rug - found on eBay for a seriously awesome deal. I'm now in the process of narrowing down fabrics for bedding and curtains as well as wall art and light fixtures. I'll start posting little glimpses here and there as we get going. If you'd like to see my brain dump, you can find my nursery inspiration pins here on Pinterest.

I do want to say a word about Matt. He is, without a doubt, the best man in the world for me and both I and this little boy are SO lucky to have him. This may sound strange but just watching him take care of our puppy makes me realize what an amazing father he is going to be. I swear, any woman who wants to test out a man's fatherly instincts should get a baby dog. He is kind even when he's fuming mad and strict without being a douchebag. He takes time every day to play and cuddle and love on Watson. Then there's the way he takes care of me...words cannot express how good he is. I've had a couple of melt downs in the past week. One was over something pretty major and relevant but the other was so completely ridiculous and trivial it makes me laugh now. That sweet man of mine treated team both as the big deals I felt they were at the time. Having him there to help reassure and comfort me, as well as make sure I had everything I needed to feel better was amazing. Of course this isn't new behavior brought on by my state of gestation, but it meant so much to me to had him be so supportive and wonderful when I felt the world was out to get me, even though it wasn't. I've said it before. Marrying Matt was the single best decision I've ever made.

So there you have it. 24 weeks down. It's gone by really fast but I can't decide if I want the next 16 to hurry up or slow down!