Braxton-Hicks (31 weeks 1 day)

Last Sunday night, I developed some Braxton-Hicks contractions which are basically fake or practice contractions. I knew they were Braxton-Hicks because there was no pattern to them and they did go away once I changed activity. They were a little painful for me but they went away by Monday evening. I have been active and may have over did it at the rec center on Sunday so that may have contributed to some of my abdominal pain.

Also this past week, we finished touring daycares. We ended up touring 8 total. There is one near my work and one near Brian’s work that we like. This week we are going back to both of them and hopefully making a decision. It will be nice to have our daycare figured out.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. Brian’s mom came up for Thanksgiving which was great. We went to Grandma and Gramp’s house in the morning to visit them along with Carol and Mike. Then we went to my parent’s house for dinner. Grandma and Gramps also came to dinner with us which was wonderful. We had a nice dinner. I have so much to be grateful for this year. This baby is the greatest gift ever. It was a really nice day visiting family.

Friday morning, we got up early to go out shopping with all the other crazy people. We were out by 4:45am. There was not anything that we really wanted but we figured this may be our last year to be able to do this so we did. Its kind of fun to be shopping on Black Friday morning. We came home around 6:30am and then went back to bed. It was great that we could do that too. Sometimes I have to work on Black Friday so I would go shopping then go to work but this year, I went back to bed.

Carol, Mike, Grandma, and Gramps came over for dinner Friday evening. It was the first time they got to see baby’s room basically all finished. Baby seems real when you go into his/her room and see everything all set up and waiting. Everyone is getting really excited!

I am starting to feel more tired again at this stage of pregnancy. I have been trying to rest as much as possible. I am able to sleep better with all my pillows around me now however I get up every 2-3 hours to go to the bathroom. That makes things a little challenging but I am doing okay. I am also starting to get severe leg cramps especially at night. The best way to deal with them is to stand up and walk it off. It hurts but it goes away quickly. All and all everything seems to be going along very well.

Cavs Season Ticket Party (29 weeks 6 days)

Last weekend, we set up all of our Christmas lights. Our Christmas lights are synchronized to music and it is a lot of work to get them all set up. Luckily the weather was beautiful. We were almost hot setting them up. That has never happened before. Usually we are freezing out there and it’s miserable. My dad came up to help us with was great. The more people willing to help us the better especially with me being pregnant.

This week was yet another crazy week. On Monday night, we went to a Cavs season ticket holder party. It was a Dave and Busters. They had food, drink, games and the Cavs players were there. We have friends who are also season ticket holders so we hung out with them throughout the event. It was really a lot of fun. Our friends convinced us to get our pictures taken with some of the Cavs players. At first I was not so sure about going up to them to get a picture taken with them but after a few times I did not mind at all. I was so excited because I got my picture taken with Mo Williams. He is my favorite Cavs player. It was a great night out together.

I have still been working a lot so I have been tired. Actually Wednesday night I was lying on the floor while Brian and I were doing our relaxation exercises for birthing class and I fell asleep. Brian was nice and just let me sleep. I have been getting up between 5:00-5:30am all this week. So a little nap on the floor felt really good.

Overall I have been feeling well. Baby has been active which is a great feeling. At the Cavs game, when they would announce Daniel Gibson’s name, baby would kick me. I guess that is baby’s favorite player. I have gained 20 pounds now. I am so lucky because all the weight is in my stomach. I really have not gained it anywhere else. I have been trying to keep as active as possible.

We were asked if we were getting really excited about baby’s birth coming soon. We are excited but right now we are still very task oriented. We have many things we need to do before baby comes. Brian is going to set up his own type of baby monitoring system. It will be very cool of course (with picture in picture on our TVs). I am still looking at getting a mattress for the crib. There are many options out there. Plus we are still working on figuring out day cares and then pediatricians. Finding the right daycare does take a lot of time. We have 3 more daycare tours then hopefully we will have our decision narrowed down and can move forward with a decision.

Next week is Thanksgiving. It will be nice see and spend time with our family. We have not seen much of them recently since we have been so busy. I am really looking forward to it. Also Brian and I only have a 3 day work week. I need a mini vacation. Brian and I will be out shopping on Black Friday. This might be the last year we can do it for a while so we will definitely be out there with all the other crazy people.

Tomorrow night, we are going out on a double date with another couple. I am looking forward to it. It will be nice to go out with some friends.

Baby Shower Invitations (28 weeks 6 days)

This week I got the invitations to my baby shower in the mail. Melissa ordered extremely cute baby shower invitations. I love them!!! I want to cut the monkey out and just hang it on the wall it is so cute. At first, I think people thought I was crazy by going with a monkey theme but now I think people are realizing it is a good theme.

When I got the invitation in the mail it was addressed to me and Miss Baby Mattie. I thought that was a cute touch too. Melissa is really going all out for this baby. I am also getting really excited about having our baby. I cannot wait to meet him or her (okay I guess I can wait because we want baby to get big and healthy before being born).

Also the girls at work are throwing me a baby shower too. I got that invitation this week as well. I thought that was extremely nice of them to do this. I work with really great people. On many days work is stressful but the people I work with are wonderful.

Thinking of work, I have a major job decision to make this weekend. There is an opportunity for me to advance my career and I have to decide if I am going to apply for it. This has been a very difficult decision for me and I still don’t know what I am going to do. Being pregnant makes this decision very hard. That is all I am able to say about it for now. (I am very emotional about this).

We have been blessed with this baby which we are both so grateful. Therefore we need to make decisions that are best for the baby not necessarily us anymore. There are no guarantees in life. Getting pregnant is truly a miracle. Having this baby inside me has made this so real. There are a lot of couples that are unable to get pregnant. My heart goes out to them because having a baby is the best gift in the world.

We got advice from a couple on our cruise ship to enjoy each stage that your baby/child is in because it will go fast and you never know if you will be blessed with this opportunity again. You don't want to wish it away (e.g. I can't wait until they sleep all night; I can't wait until they can talk; I can't wait until they are potty trained, etc.) We are taking that advice to heart. We would like to have more children someday but the only thing we know for sure is we have this baby now. We are going to treasure every moment. Even with being pregnant, I am enjoying it as much as possible.


Also this week, Brian made me homemade applesauce. It was so good! He cut up all the apples and created his own recipe. I told him he now he has to make it once a week. I think my favorite food during this pregnancy is applesauce. When I get up in the middle night hungry I eat applesauce. I cannot get enough applesauce. I also like apple juice too.

We went to the doctors on Monday. He said everything looks really good. No issues with my blood pressure or anything. My glucose test came back fine too. I have gained 18-19 pounds. I did not gain much weight last month but he said that is okay because it will catch up to me. All the weight is in my stomach. My belly button is going to pop out soon and I am not happy about that! For the most part I feel pretty good. I am tired but that is to be expected. I am working a lot plus we have something to do every night of the week (day care tours, Cavs games, doctors appointments, birthing class, etc).

We toured a local daycare this week too. We liked it but I think we are still leaning towards KinderCare. We have 4 more daycares to see then hopefully we will make a decision.

I am still really enjoying our Bradley classes. They are very informative. It is also nice bonding time between Brian and I. Last night, we had to answer questions from a card that was handed out. My question was what is my biggest fear during this pregnancy. It was when I was spotting so much early on. Brian’s question was how the pregnancy has changed our relationship. He said that the focus is now on having a baby and being parents and how we are going to adjust to it. We have been married for 6 years so we are comfortable with our routines and the life we have made together. Baby is going to change things a lot and we are trying to get prepared for it.

The weather has been perfect this week for November. The highs have been in the 60s with mostly sunny skies. We have been putting up our Christmas lights this week. We hope to have them all up by tomorrow. That will be impressive if we get that accomplished too!

Day Care Visits (28 weeks 1 day)

I am now in the 3rd trimester. It has been a journey but I am very happy to have made it this far. If baby would happen to be born now, the chances for baby to survive are high.

Last week we started looking at day cares. We know that baby will be attending day care after my maternity leave. Everyone’s situation is different and for us our child must go to day care. I am unable to be a stay at home mom. Brian and I have talked extensively about day care and we are both satisfied with our decision to send baby. Therefore we must find the perfect day care for baby and us.

Our first day care tour was at Kinder Care near Brian’s work. We met with the director and toured for over an hour. Day cares are really amazing. I think they get a bad rap however they really teach children a lot starting very young. At Kinder Care, there are three different infant rooms so the 3 month olds are not with the 14 month olds. We really liked that. Also in that room, they start teaching baby sign language. We don’t know sign language so this is just one example that they will be able to teach our child something we cannot.

Nowhere in the day care are there TV’s that the children just sit there and watch. They have rocking chairs and interactive toys for babies. They have a schedule for the day with lessons plans as they get older. In the infant room, baby has his/her own crib and dresser. Baby would have his/her name on it. It is cute. As parents of an infant, you give the day care a report of when baby naps and eats and they follow that. At the end of the day, you get a written report that everything baby did for that day (eat, sleep, potty, play, etc).

We toured each of the rooms since our plan is to find a day care and stick with it until baby goes to school. Obviously things can change but we don’t want to be changing day care every year. We really liked it and think it would be a good fit for us and baby.

Also last week we toured The Goddard School. Again it was a very nice day care. One thing that we like about day cares is it gives the child structure and social interaction that cannot be learned at home. The Goddard School is very similar to Kinder Care. There are some differences but we don’t think we could go wrong with either of them.

Things we liked a little better at Kinder Care is that they are open from 6:30am to 6:30pm. That would allow us to drop off baby early if needed. The Goddard School does not open until 7am. Also Kinder Care will supply the child with breakfast, lunch and two snacks a day once they are eating food. It would be nice not to have to pack meals each day. Also The Goddard School is closed two weeks between Christmas and New Years. That means Brian would have to take vacation during that time each year because I would not be able to get that time off working at a hospital. Again we could make arrangements but these are little things that are having us lean towards Kinder Care.

We still have at least three more day cares to tour before making a decision. We want to make sure that we make an informed decision and not just pick one. Day cares are expensive however we really believe it will be best for our child to attend. The socialization and learning should be worth it. As we continue to tour more, I will update on how we are doing with this process.

Also last week we went to a Halloween store on November 1 because all costumes were 50% off that day only. We bought baby a Halloween costume for next year. We really like to plan ahead. Baby is going to be a monkey next year. It is so cute!!

We have had all kinds of troubles recently with appliances around the house. First our refrigerator water dispenser is not working properly. The water has what we call “floaties” in it. Brian tried replacing the water line thinking that would fix it however it did not. We are still trying to figure that out. I am very annoyed that I don’t have my ice and filtered water. Then our fireplace was putting off some weird odor. Brian took that apart. We realized it was a chemical reaction between open flame and wood stain. Brian stained the baby’s room woodwork where the old doors use to be. Even with the door closed it caused a terrible kerosene like smell whenever we used the fireplace or oven. We had to evacuate the house leaving all windows open for a while until the smell was gone (remember it’s pretty cold here). That was not fun but at least we have that fixed. Now our furnace is not working. The good news is at least our fireplace is working. Brian thinks the igniter is bad. He ordered a part online, but we will be without a furnace for the next few days until it arrives.

Our lives are extremely busy right now. Every night we are either touring day cares, going to child birthing class, making doctor appointments, or heading downtown for a Cavs game. We have also been working longer hours so it has been a little crazy. I am trying not to get too burned out, but sometimes it's difficult. I am hoping once we decide on a day care things will slow down a little bit for a while... however next we need to start interviewing pediatricians next!

Bradley Method (27 weeks 5 days)

Last week, we started our child birthing classes, The Bradley Method. It focuses on natural childbirth. We will be attending class two hours a week for 12 weeks. I did not know what to expect but I really like it. I am hoping to have a natural birth. I really don’t like drugs and hope to not pass any medications to baby. It will take a lot dedication and work but it will be worth it. Since I am a nurse, I am realistic too. I understand things happen and I may need to take medication and I am okay with that too if absolutely necessary.

During our first class, we did introductions first. There are 6 other couples in the class. I was surprised how many women there do not work. They don’t even have kids yet and they are not working. I find that kind of crazy. I could not imagine not working. (Maybe I don’t want to be working so hard and so much, but not working at all... wow!) Then we did a task where Brian had to give me directions on where to walk while I was blindfolded. It was a trusting exercise. I trust Brian completely and we did not have any issues with it. I knew it would not let me run into anything or fall down the stairs. Initially he did tell me that the instructions said we had to go outside and cross Cedar road (4 lane busy road) but he was only kidding. It was fun. Then the “moms” had to give the “dads” a backrub. (It is weird to think of us as mom and dad). Brian enjoyed his nice backrub. After that was over the instructor told that dads that they better have enjoyed it because it was the last time they would be getting it. Poor dads!

At the end of the class we were given our homework assignment. First we have to write down everything we eat for the week. Of course they chose the week of Halloween for that! They are concerned with how much protein the moms are eating. They want us to eat 100gm of protein a day. That is impossible for me!!! I looked online and the general recommendation for pregnant women is 70gm per day. That is a little more realistic. I am currently eating 50-80gm a protein a day. I am trying to eat more but it is hard.

Brian staged this photo earlier in the summer. Despite being
hungrier, I don't eat an entire box of cereal at a time!
My other homework assignment is to do several exercises to prepare my body for childbirth. I need to walk as much as possible (at least 10 minutes a day). I definitely have that covered. I should also sit on the floor Indian style more often instead of sitting in a chair with your legs in a dependent position. I do that a lot too even while sitting in a chair. I also need to squat often. When I first started doing them my legs were a little sore but now I am good and do about 10-15 per day. Another exercise I am doing is pelvic rock. They want me to do 20 four times a day and 40 at bedtime. Now for those women who do not work that is possible however for me this is not. (I’m not doing them on the hospital floor!) I am doing about 40-60 per day. That is the best I can do right now just because I don’t have the time. Another exercise I must do everyday if the butterfly working my abductor muscles in my legs. I only have to do 5 a day so that is easy. Plus I am to do 100 kegel exercises a day. I do them often so I am close to that. It is a lot of work to do all of this but it will be worth it in the end.

Also this past week, the Cavs started. We are planning on going to all the Cavs games until baby is born. It was fun to go and watch them again. I hope they do well this season even though it is not looking too pretty right now. I think we may be taking baby to a Cavs game in the spring. That should be fun too! Baby is getting use to hearing all the Cavs chants right now. I dressed up as Moondog for the Halloween game.

Also this past weekend, we had to finish registering for our baby shower. It was fun to look through all kinds of baby things and pick out stuff. However it was also difficult because we wanted to make sure we were registering for good things so we would look at reviews and compare them to others. We are just crazy like that. We mostly registered at Amazon.com. It was perfect for us to look at reviews and pick out things. We buy so much online anyways so it makes sense to us. It is much easier than going to a store and trying to find something. Plus they have free shipping so it’s great. We also registered at Target for those people who don’t like to shop online. That was not as fun of an experience but we did it. I am excited to have our house looking like a baby lives in it (as long as too much clutter does not accumulate).

This week we are touring daycares. It has been a very interesting experience. More to come on them on my next post.