Moving Right Along

Well, the nursery is ready (LOVE my rocker/recliner), the house is ready and now it appears that momma is ready too. I went to the OB yesterday and he said that I'm not dilated yet, but my cervix is softening. Looks like we're starting the process, which is really excited. I suspect we'll have a baby in our arms in the next 3-4 weeks. Watch. She'll be late!

I'm only 35 weeks but measuring 36, and we have a sonogram in 2 weeks to look at the little darling. Dr. Howell is really pleased with how we're progressing and has given me permission to head off to a friend's house an hour away for the Fourth of July weekend. Since I've been "grounded" to the Fort Worth area by my mom, this is an exciting feat for me!

My in-laws made a short visit the past few days. It was good to see them, but the work involved with hosting guests is very exhausting. They left this morning, so I am spending the day washing towels, sheets, etc. and putting the house back together. It's amazing what a mess can be made when there are people in the house. So often, I spend my days here quietly and Mark comes home late, watches tv and heads to bed. It makes keeping the house clean pretty easy. Add 3 folks and all of their stuff to the mix even for just a few days, and you've got a lot more to manage. Again, it was great to see them...but I'm happy to get things back in their proper places. It's the OCD coming out- forgive me.

So, yup, that's it. I need to pack my bag for the hospital, but I plan to spend the rest of my time resting and being bored....I don't get bored too often. Tomorrow, Mark was supposed to be off work, but he has to go to training in Plano (about 75 miles away). I'm going to tag along and maybe do some shopping while he's in meetings and then we'll play around the rest of the day. I guess that means I'll be resting Thursday...

Woo hoo!

I love feeling productive on a Friday! I woke up at 7 this morning and got started. I had to clear out some things so the electricians could come in and have space to work. Consequently, the formal dining room went from being baby central to serving as a storage area for pictures that need to be hung. The study, unfortunately, is now baby central....until we get the dresser put together this evening! I will do baby laundry tomorrow and start putting things away where they belong. Life is good! My kitchen is clean. You can actually see the counter tops on the island. This makes me very happy.

I'm headed back to Lowe's now to get new covers for our pendant lights. I also need some potting soil and a pot for the plant on my dining table. The end tables need a coat of paint on the inner legs, so I may try to get that done too. Other than that, I'm staying inside doing laundry and napping in between loads....oh, and I need to iron the curtains for the bedroom.

My bestest friend, Jennifer, is coming in tonight to help do some stuff. I think we'll assemble the dresser, maybe the crib too. I'd also like her help hanging photos throughout the house. She has a good eye for these things.

Sounds like a lot of work to be doing at nearly 34 weeks, but I figure just one more week of work before the in-laws arrive, and then I can be a total bum for the rest of the pregnancy. Good trade, right?!?

Making Progress

Our OB appointment (33 weeks) went really well. My bp was 110/57 and baby's heartbeat was about 144. Doctor says I'm measuring right on track (fundal height was 34cm), so I guess that's good too.

I'm making so much progress around the house. Mom asked the other day if I was nesting. I responded, "I'm trying to get shit done. If you call that nesting, there ya go!" We've run into some issues with the electrical in our house-- it's a brand new house, so it's not the wiring in the house that's been problematic. We're trying to replace some of the standard fixtures that were in the house package, but running into problems there. Our builder came out and got me hooked up with an electrician, and that makes me SO much calmer.

Mark and I spent the last few days ironing curtains (my job) and hanging curtain rods (his job). He, of course, doesn't understand the need for curtains, but they make me feel so much homier. The nursery is coming along too. We just need to clean it up, address the lighting issue and then assemble furniture and load it up. Our formal dining room is baby central these days-- I'm looking forward to that stuff having a better home.

We got the bed set up in the guest room, and I'm going to make the bed Friday. My bestest friend is coming over Friday night to help me hang photos and decorate and such. She might also get cornered into helping us assemble the crib. (As you may know, my husband works for AT&T, so he's working a 14 hour day Friday due to the release of the new iPhone.)

The new arm chairs for the living room come in Saturday and the recliner/rocker for the nursery will be here next week. It's amazing how quickly things can come together when you have the time (even though not the energy) to focus on the projects. We've lived here since January, and we're still unpacking boxes-- wild!

Alright, I'm off to bed. Mom and I are going shopping in the morning for items needed for the hospital and my niece and nephew are coming over in the afternoon to swim. We moved the pack-n-play (bassinet) into our bedroom tonight. Let's pray I don't injure myself in the middle of the night by running into it.

And life goes on...

Since the bit of spotting Wednesday evening, I've been pretty cautious not to do too much. I've also been pretty diligent about looking for more spotting....obsessed, maybe, is a better word. But I'm pleased to report there's absolutely nothing to report.

Thursday, mom and I went to Ikea (it's about an hour and a half away) and piddled around for a while. With 310,000 sq. ft, that's a lot of walking, but we took our time and even found some bargains along the way. Friday, I ran errands in the morning and enjoyed some time in the pool in the afternoon. We had some pretty rough weather roll in Friday evening, and we ended up in the master bedroom closet. I huddled in the corner with Shi-Thead while Mark sprawled out in the middle of the floor playing with his laptop. I guess you can tell who was afraid and who wasn't.

Yesterday, I spent the day with my bestest, Jennifer. We had lunch to celebrate her birthday (which is today) and then ventured north almost to Oklahoma for our friend's daughter's 5th birthday party. It was certainly a glimpse into my future. There were less than 10 little girls there, but it seemed like 40! I'm all about renting a place to hold birthday parties in the future....what a mess! We had a good time even though it was RIDICULOUSLY hot. My rings ended up getting a bit snug, so I took them off only to find I couldn't get them back on. Once I cooled off in the a/c, they fit again.

So, today is laundry day. Of course, it's 1pm, and I've not started laundry yet. I spent the morning watching (and crying through) High School Musical 3-- we're blaming the crying on those damn pregnancy hormones. My bestest just called to say she's engaged, and I hate I missed her party today--- mom has put me on restriction: I'm not allowed to leave the city, and I have to be escorted if I want to go into Fort Worth...but I'm not allowed to go as far as Dallas anymore. This makes me giggle, but it reminds me that I'm loved.

Alright, enough of this- I better get productive. Got an OB appointment in the morning and then lots of chores to do while Mark is off work then lamaze (tour of labor and delivery) tomorrow night.

A bit of a scare...

We had a bit of a scare last night when I noticed some slight spotting after a visit to the bathroom. I tried not to be too concerned because I still felt Parker moving, but went ahead and called the doctor's after-hours number just to be safe. (The gal at the answering service they use was a complete beyotch, but that's another story.) The physician on call said not to worry and to just take it easy the rest of the night. It provided some relief, but you know I was on "spot watch 2009" all night. Fortunately, no other spotting, and I'm still feeling baby move. I still haven't noticed any braxton hicks, so that's good too (according to the OB).

I am taking this experience as a wake up call. While I may feel like I do everything, it's not in the best interest of Parker. I'm heading on an adventure with my mom today but have cut out the typical stuff I would have done in addition to the outing. I'm going to start bonding with my couch a bit more and rely on others to help me get the nursery completed.

Here's a sneak peak!

Turning the bend into the final homestretch

32 weeks and all is well. I feel like a total failure for not blogging more in the past few months. I wanted to blog to have a record of this experience, but life got too crazy and something had to go. Nevertheless, all is well, and that's what really matters.

(If you don't want to read a bunch of backstory, scroll down to where I talk about the shower!)

This whole journey to motherhood thing has been a wild one. While I know in many ways we were blessed and didn't have to endure what many couples do, it was still a long road in comparison with those teenage crack whores who get pregnent without thought. My entire married life has been a bit chaotic. In fact, our whole relationship has been wild. Mark and I met as I was finishing the dissertation for my doctorate. Not an ideal time to begin a relationship, but I promised him that if he could survive those first two months, we could get through anything. We made it through the dissertation defense, the multiple edits and graduation in May (2006). Of course, I was also responsible for planning a week-long conference in July, and that created more stress for our relationship. I began a new job and we moved in together in July too.

The first year we lived together, things were alright. I got used to my job, got used to living with someone (which isn't easy after being independent for 10 years), and we got to know each other better-- fell in love, if you will. We got engaged the following March- a year after we began dating-- and planned the wedding for the following July. Yup- while living in Mississippi, we planned a Texas-sized wedding back "home." When we returned from our honeymoon, I had my yearly visit with the gyno scheduled. Because of some previous stuff, I thought it important to ask her "permission" to stop taking birth control pills.

The next 18 months have been chronicled off and on through this blog. I share all of this information for my own perspective, really. The first two years of our married life have been an emotional rollercoaster. All of the things I did to my body to get pregnant made me a wild mad woman-- and while I'm thrilled it worked, I really put Mark through hell. Of course, after we got pregnant, the first trimester was ridiculous. We were thrilled to be pregnant, but I was still an emotional mess. Things seemed to level out a bit during the second trimester, but I was so overloaded at work, you couldn't really tell much of a difference.

So, here we are now at 32 weeks. I finished with the Spring semester in mid-May, finished my mim-mester course at the end of May and started my online course June 1. Fortunately, the online course is much easier on my physically. I seem to have a great group of students in that class, which will make the process MUCH easier. And now, I finally feel like I can enjoy life again. Sure, we've got TONS of things to do to get the house ready for Miss Parker, but it'll happen. No biggie! I think Parker agrees-- she just gave me a kick.

Yeah, not sure what that whole blog was about, but apparently, it needed to come out.

I had my second shower last weekend, and it was a total blast! Two of my sorority sisters planned it and did an amazing job. We had a couple's shower at the BlackFinn American Saloon. The movie Sweet Home Alabama comes to mind: "You have a baby....in a BAR!" It's really more of a restaurant than a bar at 4pm. The girls decorated the place with balloons and confetti and had the most amazing cupcakes you've elver seen. There were no pastels for this shower-- bright pinks, yellows and greens made for a lively atmosphere. Of course, maybe the beer and shots helped with that too....

Before the shower, Mark and I met some of my college buddies and their wives at the Rahr Brewery in downtown Fort Worth. I was the designated driver, of course, but that didn't stop me from having a bbq sandwhich! I got lots of crazy looks at the brewery with my baby belly hanging out, but I just sipped from my water and gave a smile. We had a good time. After the shower, we went over to some friends' house and hung out for a bit. It was after midnight when we got home. I was exhausted and my feet were really swollen.

Here's a picture of some of the ladies at the shower (including my mom!):

I'm telling you-- these cupcakes were GOOD!

And some pictures of gifts. The first was made by one of my college buddies (male). The second is us cheesing it up.

That's all for now. Next OB appointment is Monday. I will post some pictures of the nursery soon-- figured I'd posted enough for now though. ;)