Thursday, December 31, 2009

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Bitter.... Sweet

So I have been unsure how to start this post but knew it was blog worthy. I am talking about my Christmas Present I received this year from my mother. Now before I start this post I want you readers to know that I have told my mother that I would be blogging about this and that I was going to be honest about what I was feeling that Christmas morning and that it is not intended to hurt feelings, this is just a BIG oL deal and something I want to have written about to look back on, so here goes...

I knew this Christmas my mother had been working on something special, she cant barely keep secrets when she excited about something, so a couple of months prior to chirstmas I has started piecing things together not "digging" for info I just never forget anything and as time rolled along things started to click...

to give you some Ideas of what I am talking about here is one early morning while my hubby was still asleep his txt msg alert sound went off on his I phone, for those of you I phone users you know that the phone displays the text message on the front of the phone, I looked to see what it was and saw a txt from my mother to my hubby saying I need you to do me a favor but I need you to keep it a secret... I never said anything about it to him or her i just thought hu i wonder what that could be... few weeks later same scenario but this txt read hey, you think you can get me what i needed you to get for me today?

fast forward to thanksgiving, I was sitting on the sofa with my mom looking at the black friday adds when she says to her mom " hey mom, where did you get those things done again, my grandma says "Michael's" at that moment I remembered my grandmother putting together mikes and his fathers army jackets in these shadow box things... in which my mom replied to yeah, thats where I am going...

so like I said i began piecing info together, later that thanksgiving day we were at my grandmas digging through her old christmas decorations and we all got to pick what we wanted for our houses as they no longer put up a tree b/c they are in arizona during christmas, so it was very sentimental listing to all the family history behind certain pieces, My grandmother also gave me my old rocking chair that she bought for me when I was a little girl and I was so excited to be taking it home with us that night not our little Jada Bug, this is when I heard my mom lean into nick and say shes so going to love her Christmas present this year because she is getting into all this sentimental stuff...


ok sorry i know I am making this long and I haven't even gotten to the bottom line here... so any who, with all of this info stirring in my head, I never once asked nick to spill the beans, I never even told him i saw the txt msgs from my mom, and I never looked back at his phone to see his replies to see if i could figure out what the "it" was I just knew it was a surprise that she was working on for christmas...


few weeks past thanksgiving I am at home now watching say yes to the dress and I thought Oh my wedding dress, thats still at my mothers house, I should get that out of there and bring it home and put it in the spare bdrm down stairs, they had just gotten a cat and I didn't want to take any chances even though it was in a bag, and also she had been asking me to pick up some of my other things that have been at her house so I figured I would go pick it up.

I headed to her house, no dress, it wasn't any where I had seen it before, not in my sisters closet, not in her closet, no where...my heart began pounding out of my chest but I knew it couldn't be too far... I just was very nervous and I guess at this point you can say I began to speculate that my christmas present was going to involve my wedding gown...

but what? was she going to preserve it? that about all I could think of, until I remembered this one time early on in my engagement after I found my dress talking with her about a show she had seen on TV where they took the mothers wedding gown and made like a photo album cover for their wedding album and then used extra material to make like a baby pillow for the nursery... OMG , OMG, OMG, OMG was my mother going to cut up my dress?!?!?!


I replayed all the bits and pieces of info i had retained and quickly dialed my husband,

I told him i was at my mothers house to pick up m dress and it wasnt there, and I know she is planning something nice for this christmas that she has put alot of work into, but i need to know does this involve my wedding dress because it is not here...

he was quiet and then says chels, honestly I don't know, your mom was talking about doing alot of different things, and I am not sure what her final decision was... ( see he wasn't giving any info up and like i said i wasn't digging, but at this point i was panicked)


so I left my moms house without my wedding gown that day, hoping that on christmas morning I would see it again, and that is was just preserved.

we arrive christmas morning to my mothers house and I see a very large box under the tree that my little sister kept saying chels that big one is yours!!! she was so excited for me to open it...

then came my turn to open the gift...

and this is what i unwrapped..



I was so nervous as I pulled off each piece of paper, and i stood in the back of it, and at some point my body tensed up because I realized that the size of this box was not going to be able to fit my "whole" dress in it, by this point i kreeped around to the front b/c i wanted to look at it, but i didnt want my mom to see my face as i was unsure of what it looked like at this point and i didnt want to hurt her feelings because i knew she put so much hard work and money into doing this, but OMG my wedding dress was chopped in 1/2...

I didn't get to see it one last time, I didn't get to show Jada, I didn't get to see Jada try it on, I didn't get an option of what I wanted to do with it...


So i placed my hand on the box and mumbled, its Pretty... but I couldn't help but look at it and feel some sort of creapy feeling, like it almost looked like it belonged to someone who died and never got to wear their gown so it was framed as this piece... crazy I know but thats what it felt like at the time..


this was me in my dress just a year and a few months prior



My mom then started to speak up and say chels I know your feeling a little upset right now, and you probably want to cry and thats ok, and thats when the tears started flowing and my lip started to quiver off my face and she kept talking, I know you wanted Jada to see your gown , or try it on, or give her the option of wearing it, and i am sure that is why you are really feeling sad is that right? and shook my head yes and then she said " now open this"

so i opened another box and this was inside.


this was a gown made 100% from my wedding gown from all three layers, down to the beading... my tears started to flow even more, my mom says, this is a christening  gown that ALL your babies will be able to wear not just Jada, and so she will get to wear your wedding dress one day.



close up of the front with the bead work, side view of the bunching with the beading


back view..

So at this moment I was an emotional mess, I loved this idea, and I loved the gown that my babies will be able to wear and that it had such meaning but then at the same time my dress no longer existed... It was a hard moment, and I will admit, still is hard to grasp, but I know that one day down the line I will be very grateful for this and I will appreciate it for all that it is, right now it is just hard to know that my dress is gone, and to be honest I know it was just siting in a closet before and now it is displayed for people to see and it is in a keep sake box, but it was just a year ago that i was married... I think i would have been ready for this in a few years, or maybe if I was even asked before it was done....


but now I have a beautiful gown that My baby Jada will be able to wear for her dedication and I have a shadow box to display my gown, veil , and tiara. it is still going to take some time getting used to but I do think both items are very beautiful, bittersweet I guess you could say.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Tears and a Medium Chocolate Milk Shake

today I decided after all the changes I was experiencing through out the weekend that I would call into my Dr. Office and see if I cant get looked at. They got me in with a regular OB there because my midwife is only there on Wednesday. after I hung up the phone with the office I had an appointment scheduled for 1:15 and had a smile ear to ear... I showered and got cleaned up, ran the sweeper to have that nice line look in the carpet and made sure that babies car seat, and our packed bags were all easily located, that way if we found out good news we or someone would have been able to go pick them up for us.

I picked Nick up for the appointment and we headed downtown. walked in the room and waited for the Dr to walk in, he comes in and asks " so you have been having consistent contractions?" Im like no... I just have had a noticeable amount of pressure in my lower abdominal area and had menstrual like cramps, but nothing that has ever been timed... he says ok well lay back and we will take a look ( mind you this is my first vaginal exam to check progress) and he says, Well her head is down so that is the pressure you are feeling but your Cervix is completely closed. he tells me I can sit up and get dressed and he will be right back with a pamphlet that will tell me all about how to tell if I am in actual labor... seriously Mr I know I will know when I am in labor, you can keep your stupid pamphlet!!!!

So I got dressed and he came back in the room... handed me the stupid pamphlet and said well i see you have an apt for wednesday and honestly you can just cancel that and I would just com next week sometime... oh really Mr. thats great because NEXT WEEK IS PAST MY DUE DATE....

so i smiled said thanks and walked out.


I walked out knowing that the next time I walk in that office it will be January FREAKING FOURTH AND I WILL BE PAST MY DUE DATE!!!!!!


I don't think I said a word as Nick and I walked to the elevator, or to the car or even when we got out on the road...

there were a lot of things running through my mind, but i didn't want to formulate sentences...


and then i figured I better just get the phone calls out of the way, so I called mom, dad, and grandma to tell them all our baby is happy and healthy, and mommas cervix is closed so she will most likely be pregnant for the rest of her life.


everyone is so encouraging and I truly appreciate it, but I am allowed to feel some frustration right now at-least for a little bit, and you know what I was even entitled to that nice Medium Chocolate Milk shake I got on my ride home...

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Antsy Pants

yep, I am anxious... ready to go into labor, thats right I am ready, BRING IT... everything on my "to do" list has been crossed off. her room is finished. I am HUGE. Daddy is super excited and wants to hold his little girl, and so am I. so yep, I have Ants in my pants right at the moment, is it normal to be so bored that you want to go into labor? I mean seriously. its a beautiful sunday home with my hubby, and we are both like what cha wanna do today? and we cant come up with anything, i said maybe go to a movie, he says are you sure since you are this close to being due? and Im like well ya a movie doesn't really sound great, I don't want to go out to eat ( I need that shirt that says DONT FEED ME) b/c in case you didn't read above I AM HUGE.

we are 5 days away from the Due date but I have to admit yesterdays changes in my body and the way i was feeling really made me feel like she would be coming soon... but then today arrives and she is just enjoying her little home in there... so who the heck knows but Jada, your Momma is Super Antsy so whenever you are ready just know that your mommy and Daddy are ready too!

Friday, December 25, 2009

39 weeks.. MERRY CHRISTMAS




It's Christmas Morning, and here is what has been going on. I reached 39 weeks today which means the actual Due Date is just 7 days away from now, but wow has out little One dropped. Look I have a curve again, well kinda, hha, well let me tell you I am now really understanding that we are getting super close. yesterday she wasn't moving much ( I def still had the 10 + kicks so no worries there) but she just wasn't rolling all around, I was sitting on the sofa feeling my big ol belly trying to see if I would excite her to move which wasn't working to well like it normally does so I got up to stand up and I felt a drop into the pelvis, no joke, no it didnt hurt hurt it just really caught me off guard, I literally stood up and felt gravity just pull at my belly. so that was clue number one. a few hours later we were getting ready to go to my grandmas for the traditional christmas eve with my dads side of the family and shortly after arriving I had nick in the back room with some scissors cutting the waste band off of my maternity pants bc it was digging into my pelvis area ( yes these were one of my original purchased maternity pants and the band at one point did come under my bra but now it wasn't even coming close to half way under my belly button, so I folded it down and then wore a bella band over it.... NOT GOOD IDEA, I had my hands in my pants the whole drive to grandmas and like I said once we arrived, i had nick in the back room snip snipping away at the front part of the band....

we all ate and opened presents and she became more active then, but I was feeling motion much lower like her arms or something, so again now the bella band was feeling to tight, but I had to keep that in tact,  that was the only thing holding up my pants by now....

I look at the clock and its 6:50 we had to hurry out to make it to  church at 7:30 with the roads being icy and all, we made it to church in time, but boy getting out of the car was a little different this time... felt like it took longer, once I was out we walked into church with the hubby and my brother and sister and went to save a seat for mom.... after sitting there for a while, I started getting a really mild headache located at the base of my head, and at the back of my ears... it was weird, but something told me to ask nick to get me a water, he came back and I chugged..... this is when i realize, my pants are literally digging into me, and I am totally not comfortable what so ever, and this freaking bella band I want to rip it off and sling shot it across the room....


nick could tell I wasnt feeling myself so he nudged me and told me it would be ok if we left... leave church on Christmas eve?!?!!? thats what I thought.... but then I looked down and saw my poor shame of pants and concentrated on the pain in my head and though , yeah lets head on out...

we came home and I got in my comfy Pj's and i made some hot tea, I walked into the living room and literally BAM lower back pain, weird it just set in.... but yes I was having lower back pain, I got on our birthing ball and nick rubbed my back, then my feet and calfs, and then my head.... by this time I decided something could def be going on and I should head to bed and get rest just in case....

while laying in bed thats when the lower I dont know to call them contractions b/c they dont last long but I can only describe them as lower pelvis pain like maybe she is squeezing a nerve for like 30 seconds and then letting go... its sharp but quick... well I had those a while and then shortly i drifted off to sleep.... at 11 I woke again, same thing, and 12:45 same thing, and the head pain was still around but not bad, by 2:15 I woke up and was just WIDE AWAKE, with nothing....but i just could not sleep, so I came out ate some home made granola and made a prego smoothie and turned on animal plannet and watched the deep blue or something like that, I stayed up till around 4:50 and got back in bed and slept till just a bit ago...

so today is Christmas morning and we are getting ready to head over to my moms for christmas breakfast in our PJ's.... So so far today there are no signs but I def think my body is getting ready, and is showing me some pretty good signs that I will be holding a little girl in just a few short days :)


Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and stay tuned for some more updates!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Time to Sit back and Relax

no more Workey for me...

time to sit back, relax and wait for this Beautiful Baby girl to enter the world.

today I filed for my FMLA time which will cover me through the rest of this year, and then if Miss Jada is not here by the 1st of the new year I will re file to be covered until she is, then once she is here I will be on the good ol Maternity Leave for 6 weeks and then after that I will have to file a leave of absence if I choose to take longer, which I will, I believe 6 more weeks... but any who... thats the plan....

so now that I will be off work until she is here i should be more relaxed which can aid in labor, I have read that stress can keep you from going into labor, which i can understand.. so we will see what happens. but YayYa for no more work!!

now lets just hope and pray that everything gets filed correctly and I get paid!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Sleep Positioners

Alright,  question, as we are coming down to 12 days till the due date, I am trying to make sure we have everything ready.. and the sleep positioned idea came into my mind last night and I was wide awake tossing and turning trying to figure out if I should get one or not.... for those of you who don't know what it is I am talking about it looks something like this 

they actually make lots of different styles, but I just don't know if I should or should not get one.... so I thought I could trust my trusty blogger friends, so please help me out, should I go out today and get one of these? what are the pro's con's? do you think Baby will like it? to me the pro is while they are an infant it will keep them on their back while sleeping so i won't have to worry AS MUCH as I would possibly with out one... but are they comfortable? I mean I think about me in my sleep and I like to roll around just a little..... so as you can see I need some helpful input here... please and Thank you :)

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Getting Ready..

in preparation of the Big Day I have been cleaning, almost every day... I will sweep the carpet, dust, clean the counter tops, you know just to stay on top of things, that way when we leave the house in an uproar,well  in case we leave the house in an uproar, it will still be organized and clean when we come back with a BABY! I know this is very common for pregnant women to do when the end is in site so i am not freaking out about it, but I am pretty sure my carpet is yelling at me....

in other news, its ok you can laugh, I was at Walmart the other day and i bought a waterproof mattress protector  for just my side of the bed, just in case my water breaks while I am in bed or something crazy like that happens, you know just trying to prepare myself, and I figured for $8 it was worth it not to have to clean a smelly water stain out of our mattress after we arrive home with a BABY!! and nick was fine with it, as long as it didn't go on his side of the mattress.. haha

I also have packed the bags.. well kinda sorta, Jada's is all packed in her cute diaper bag, and mine is packed but not all the way as there are certain things I will still be using on a daily basis up until its time to get up and go so I figure I will just have a written list of those items so come Game Day I will just grab my list ( or nick will grab my list) and throw everything in the bag....

camera is charged, cell phone charger is packed ( we had an extra) video camera is charged, I tell ya we are getting ready around this house....

Jada on the other hand... I think she's getting more and more comfortable inside her mommas womb... some days I feel like wow she really wants outta there, by the way shes moving and the contractions I get, and then there are days where I feel like I am only 6 months pregnant and she is just a swimming around with all the room in the world or sleeping... so who knows what she's really up to, but her and God know, and one day here I will e receiving the greatest gift of all :)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

*the dates*

today marks the first date picked for me to deliver... which made me want to post the peoples picks on here so I will always have them to look back at. Now although today seems like a huge stretch now that it is here, it was my husbands pick a Loooong time ago and so he has told me these past few days, I know its not going to happen on the 17th, but I am too stubborn to change my date. So yes he picked the 17th but he doesn't really think it will happen today, but he says he's already picked and isn't allowed another date ( but he has secretly told me between the 21st- and the 28th)

so here are the dates people have picked so far..

17th - nicks
19th- Madison ( my 7 yr old sister)
21st- Mo
23rd- Grandma Nora
24th- Sam
25th- Aunt Rhonda
28th- Mom's pick
29th-grandpa Tom
Janurary 3rd - Uncle Al

Looks like the 21st through the 28th is a pretty good pick, what are your guesses?!?! January 1st is my actual Due date.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Shake Ya Booty

Today I had my 38 week appointment with my Midwife, baby and I both checked out fine, I even got a compliment that i still had ankle bones, she was pretty impressed ! any who, so Jada's heart was right in the 140's she so consistent, no complaints here.  I gained less than a 1/2 lb, ( also great news) so during my appointment Kristen ( our midwife) told me that Jada was on my right side, pretty far over... which I of course knew because hello I can totally feel her, but anywho, Kristen said that Jada's head was down like it has been for a long while now but she still needed to drop lower into the pelvis because she could still feel her whole head, she also told me that she wanted me to start doing some booty shakin, thats right she told me to bend over with my back flat belly towards the floor, grab onto the kitchen counter and shake my booty... this should help her get more lined up in the center instead of her trying to get comfy on the right side because what can happen when she is over there is that her body will want to turn which would mean instead of her remaining face down like she has been forever now, she could turn and be face up which would mean the crown of her head would be at my tailbone which means BACK LABOR on top of Labor.. and hello no thank you.... so I will be doing lots of kitchen booty shaking ! 

I asked kristen if there was anything I could do to help the baby drop and she told me the hip shaking will also help with that, but that it is completely normal if she doesn't drop until right before labor kicks in, she says that happens a lot, and that I should feel when she drops because there will be lots of pressure in my pelvis area when I am sitting and also standing, I wont want nor be able to cross my legs and I will be visiting the bathroom often while walking with a waddle, now I must admit I feel like right now I pee all the time and waddle already, I def. can still cross my legs and sit comfortably.. so I must say i do agree with her that there still is some dropping that needs to take place. 


towards the end of the appointment she told me that when I leave I need to schedule out all the rest of my appointments for week 39,40,41,and 42.... my jaw dropped... seriously this is  a possibility?!?! but I did it anyways... I must admit I am ONLY hoping to have the 39 and 40 wks appointment... but whatever needs to take place is what will happen, so I just need to prepare myself that we ultimately could have 5 weeks left... 

ok seriously, that just seems CRAZY! 

Friday, December 11, 2009

Full Term Baby

today marks the 37 week mark which means FULL TERM! a day I have been hoping for, now resting knowing that I made it to the marker where she is fully developed and now is just getting bigger and stronger.  I had my appointment with my midwife this AM and thing went great, did the usual weight, blood pressure, urine screen and answered any questions I had... today on the scale I hit the 30 lb. mark... thats right, 30 lb's I have gained thus far, hopefully it will only be a few more tops which is probably so as I have averaged 1 lb to a 1/2 lb @ the past few week appointments, boy its the second trimester that gets you though :) any ways moving right along...

baby girls heart rate sounded beautiful, 145 beats per minute she sounded strong and consistent, just what a mommy wants to hear, as she was measuring me I was having a contraction ( she told me I was, I wasn't actually feeling anything) so I am measuring still a little past 37 weeks, but she thought that could just be due to the contraction. so after all that we went over a little worksheet of some things I can start doing in order to help thin out my cervix, since it starts off the thickness as your index finger and has to thin out to as thin as a piece of paper which is known as effacement, there are some things I can do to help this process, here is what was on the list...

sex-the prostaglandins that are in semen help soften the cervix, making it more responsive to contractions
Evening Primrose Oil- this is a substance that changes into prostaglandins which is the same as what the semen does to help soften the cervix, they recommend taking it 3-4 times daily by mouth
Nipple Stimulation-when nipples are stimulated the body secretes oxytocin, which causes contractions, they say you are to replicate a movement similarto the intermittent squeezing that would happen if the baby was nursing, do this for 5 minutes on 5 mins off for a 20 minute period.
Red Raspberry Leaf Tea- this encourages the uterus to let go and function with out tension, allowing the uterus to work more effectively making birth easier and faster, you are to use one teaspoon of dried herb per cup of boiling water, drink 1 to 3 cups per day
Clary sage- use this oil in your bath and rub on belly
Balsamic vinegar- this contains a derivitive of pitocin
and last but not least, Castor oil cocktail ( although not recommended til 41-41 weeks of pregnancy) which I hope not to see! -  this is the nasty stuff you g ma prolly told you about

so there you have it. that is what was recommended to me, not to do all of those, but just to pick some things off the list and do it like it was "homework"

after my appointment I deep cleaned my car, vacuumed all the dog hair out and threw away trash and sanitized making it good for our eventual right home with baby :) I even took the old speaker box that has been in my trunk since i was 16 years old out ! no need for base with my music, I will now be needing room for a stroller, and I clipped my college graduation tassel from my rear view mirror, I decided carrying a baby around in car I didn't want people to mistake it as a high school graduation tassel... call me crazy, and truthfully it was plain just getting in the way. After this was completed I went to the grocery store and STOCKED up I mean STOCKED up..... I got a whole lot of goodies.... that way when labor decides its going to happen, we will have food in the fridge and pantry and I even got stuff that will be easy for daddy to make  :) I also stocked up on the little travel size things like a tooth brush for me and daddy , shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, tooth paste, and mouth wash for our stay in the hospital come delivery time... all of this is just getting super real and extra exciting...

and not to mention, our little girl has been MOVING like she was a professional dancer no joke. I got some great videos on my blackberry but cant figure out how to send them to my computer to upload them on here... but they are crazy, and its been consistent throughout our whole days work of events, even during my nap!

well now that I have thoroughly typed out my excitement with the day, I should go get dinner ready.... but boy and I getting so EXCITED to meet my precious baby girl!!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

a new Discovery

So today while driving home from work I had a new discovery... on my way home I passed a small school and saw a bunch of little ones all lined up walking out of the school towards a bus and here is what happened.....

I pick up the phone to cal my husband Nick

ring...

ring....

Nick: Hello

me: hii honey, do you have a minute

Nick : sure whats up?

me: so i just passed this school that had a bunch of little kids outside and I know this is so far away and your going to say there are going to be soo many things that are going to happen in her life before this but just listen to me...

Nick: haha ok

Me: I just realized that we are going to have a little girl who is one day going to line up and listen to her teacher and wear a backpack and go to school and make friends and all that stuff ( tears in my voice- not sad ones happy ones... )


Nick: haah awwe Chels, your right that is a ways away from now but that will  happen.

me: I know its just crazy, here I am like getting all excited that we are having a baby, and a baby is going to move in with us and we are going to take care of a baby.... but we are having a DAUGHTER like a real live PERSON who is going to grow out of being a baby and be a person who wakes up to an alarm clock and gets herself dressed and grabs her backpack and goes to school... OMG OMG OMG!!!!

Nick: I love you

me: I love you too honey

Hehe Whoo Who

tonight is our last bradley class... or as my grandma refers to them as our hee heee whoo whoo class.... I can not believe it has already been 8 weeks!!! Nick and I have really enjoyed these classes together and now that they are coming to an end, its so real, I remember signing up for the class thinking OMG I will be 37 weeks when the class ends and she could totally come like any time after that... and here we are... at the last class.. Tonight's class will be focused on whatever we want to discuss, we will practice more positions for labor and breathing techniques but after that it is free game so we can just ask all the questions we still have.

this class has been great for nick and I, we now have a Much greater idea of what the body goes through during the birth process and ways to help aid it naturally.  we learned the different stages of labor and when to know you are transitioning which is great for both of us to know this information because Nick will better be able to tell where I am at and can talk me through.  our teacher has been wonderful, Maureen Favorite is her name and I totally recommend taking her class if you live in the area! so as tonight comes closer it is bittersweet, I am sure our class will get together from time to time to see each-others babies which i am sooo excited for!! the first one in our class is due December 18th and then I am next in line for January 1st.... so I am not sure if the other couple will be there tonight but i am assuming they will because I haven't gotten an e mail with a birth announcement... it's all becoming so so real! we are super close, and the time keeps passing quickly, everyone says it starts to slow in the last month, but WOW not yet, time is still melting off the clock....

Saturday, December 5, 2009

oh the joys in life

Ahhh to the excitement... that's right, I am talking the excitement of the Medela breast pump, I just ordered mine last night thanks to a nice 20% off coupon becuase these suckers are not easy on the wallet... so saving 56 bucks with free shipping I was all over that. now lets take a look a this here machine, I mean really take a look at it, you have an extra stylish modern black back pack, when walking down the street which i am sure I will often be doing toating this pump around with baby in arms HAHa but really, I am very excited about this, it has verry good reviews and with it being a double pump i figure I can get the job done the quickest when it is time to come back to work : / it will also help in the beginning of helping to bring my milk in if our little girl takes a little longer to get a good latch. do any of you momma's have this pump? if so what have your experiences been? Oh the joys of entering into motherhood :) - and I am not being sarcastic

Friday, December 4, 2009

the B word

more like the S word but whatever... I ' am talking about group B Streptococcus... I am sure most of you women who are pregnant or are already mommas know exactly what I am talking about so I am not going to take the time to get all "dictionary" on here but the main point being is that I got tested for this at my last appointment which was tuesday and today I found out my results...


NEGATIVE!!!!!!


I wanted to post earlier about my fears and anxiety i was having pre test but figured it would do me no good... I would just wait it out and pray it out... so today when my midwife called to give me my results I was sooo excited and called Nick right away and said are you ready to do the happy dance?!?!?! he too was excited for this news. our biggest reason for excitement you may be wondering?!?! well there are many, first being because I tested negative i will not have to have an IV attached to me when I go into delivery, most of you already have read our goal is to have very little medical intervention throughout the birth process, and if I had tested positive I would have had to be hooked up to an IV and they would have had to administer an antibiotic ( 2 doses) before i deliver, that way it reduced the risks of baby getting it while passing through the birth canal.  so with no IV line ready to go, when the pain gets crazy mazy like people say I wont have a line ready to just plop some drugs into ( which makes me thankful.) also with no IV I will be able to walk and move around freely...

another big reason for excitement that we have learned in our bradley method classes is the hospital really pays attention to strep B positive mothers meaning they put A lot of emphasis on it which brings A lot of restrictions, for instance if baby and I are healthy and everything is looking good to go Nick and I may decide to request that we be able to leave within 24 hrs instead of the 48, but not if I had tested + for strep B because they would want to keep eye on baby and make sure nothing develops....

so although Strep B is highly common, and the risks being passed on to baby are low,especially when antibiotics are given,for us not having to deal with any of that is going to be a true blessing, and brings more hope and encouragement to the birth plan and Nick and I have taken the time to come up with together will go smoothly.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Thirty SiX

So here is the deal, these pictures were both taken today because this marks 36 weeks, I lifted up my shirt a little for the second photo because to me it looked like she was lower that earlier... did she drop?!?! YIPPIE!!! I have been feeling contractions starting Tuesday evening at labor class, nothing like OMG iam going into labor or anything, just my body getting ready I would say, although they were persistent and time to time uncomfortable to the point where i had to change positions I was sitting in, I was excited. Wednesday there were a few and today, maybe a couple but no pressure just the tightening of the uterus up top.  as you can see from my face, I am very excited to be at this week marker... hard to believe that this time next week i will be considered Full Term! it's truly hard to believe as excited as I am to hold her in my arms and watch her daddy stare at her, I can honestly say, I am not rushing anything because I also realize that once she is out and enters the world, I am no longer Pregnant, which means no more little kicks, flutters and little rolls, no more waking up in the middle of the night dreaming of what she will look like, no more belly, it just truly makes me so thankful for the entire experience. Pregnancy is a truly wonderful and amazing experience and I have greatly enjoyed every moment of it, not one complaint.... so we have an estimated 29 days left till little Jada Grace will be here, and I am sure it will come soon enough. until then, I will be enjoying the "daddy snuggles before bed"where we both place a hand on my belly and feel her dancing around.  

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

-GrO BaBy-



Ta Daa... our decision has been made. We are going to order the complete system of Gro baby diapers and both the hubsters and I are super excited about it.  pictured above is what some of the system looks like... here are some reasons as to why we chose them..... 



  • Less waste in our landfills
  • Save hundreds of dollars each year
  • Healthier for baby, less diaper rash
  • No Dioxins
  • They’re cute
I always liked the idea of cloth but must admit i was intimidated by it, however after discovering that you don't have to use the old fashioned white cloth with pins on the side I was interested. as many of you know we were considering baby G diaper system for a while because we 
liked the idea of using biodegradable, so they weren't going to go in the trash instead we would just flush them and they would  decompose within 50 to 100 days, much shorter than the time it takes the regular disposable diapers. so after doing some research on available products I learned that baby G diapers and Gro diapers offer both types of systems, cloth and biodegradable.... I was very excited by this idea and began looking at the cost, trying to figure out what would be best for our family and discovered that Gro baby was the answer, the main reason being is the reviews were higher and also they are one size hence the name GRO BABY, they grow with your baby, so you dont have to re purchase the outer shell as the baby gets bigger.... if we went with baby g diapers we would have to buy a system for when she is in a size Small and then re order the whole system when she gets into a medium and large.... so we figured we would be shelling out alot more dough.... therefore we chose the GRO baby. 



We will most likely become the "Hybrid" user meaning that we will be on the cloth when we are home and making short trips around but then when we are out and about for longer adventures and travel we will have the biodegradable insert on hand, however i must say i really think I will dig the whole cloth idea, we will also be purchasing this.... 

this is a pale that we will have on hand with us as we are out and about and when it comes time to change her we put the diaper in there and seal it shut and then come home and drop it into the washer, we will also have one of these in our laundry room, it is not just a bag, i know you are thinking eww grose that stink that will come from that bag, the idea here is you change her diaper take it to the bathroom and use one of those hard core sprayers that will be attached to the toilet ( daddy has to rig that one up still) and then you toss the diaper into the bag, and wash every 2 days.... so that is the system... I am excited to start, however if our little girl is under 8lbs when she is born we will not be starting off in these as she would be to tiny, we have purchased some earths best organic newborn diapers just in case she needs to start off in those. so there you have it, my little excitement for the day, Diapers.....