Hand Sanitizer & The Swine Flu

Apparently there has been a shortage of hand sanitizer on store shelves lately. I thought this was due to the swine flu panic, but I was wrong...

...It is apparently due to the fact that my company has bought them all and is hording them in our supply closet shelf. Go figure.


In other news, I got the H1N1 vaccine last Saturday. I had heard they were doing vaccinations at 4 public health clinics in Salt Lake, starting at 7am, with the high-risk groups being eligible. (Pregnant women are considered high-risk.)

My doctor had advised me to get one if at all possible, and I felt like this might be my last chance to get it before the Bambina arrives. So I woke up at 3:30 AM, showered, and got to the clinic by 5:00 AM. I plopped my camp chair and snacks down on the sidewalk behind the 60 people already ahead of me, and crocheted one of the Bambina's blankets while I waited for go-time.

Everything was organized very well, the vaccinations went really fast, and I was shooed out the side door as a vaccinated woman by 7:30 AM. I almost felt guilty as I walked to my car past people still waiting in a line that zig-zagged around the entire building, parking lot, and down the street. As the police directed me out of the parking lot in the opposite direction, I began to cry as I realized how long the line actually was. It stretched from the clinic on 3600 south all the way to 3900 south. I felt desperation for the families with children standing in the back of the line in the freezing cold, who were sure to be turned away by the thousands.

I also felt gratitude for a mother who taught me how to go after something whole-heartedly if it's something worth having. I may never have needed the H1N1 vaccine, but I feel better now knowing I did everything in my power to protect this little Bambina when she comes into this world.

37 Week Belly Pic (...it's a long one!)

I went in for my routine 37 week checkup on Tuesday (I'm loving this every week appointment thing!) and there's no more action going on down there than last week. Everything looked good except that my growth has slowed a lot in the last few weeks. The doctor couldn't tell if it was because the baby had dropped, or if her growth really had slowed. So she sent me downstairs for an ultrasound. (Yipee!)

They got me right in because we have a friend that works in the high-risk OB's office where they do the ultrasounds. It helps to calm your nerves when the technician is a friendly face! Plus Chris wasn't with me at this appointment, because I thought I'd be in and out in 20 minutes.

The ultrasound went well and we got some cute profile pictures of the baby, and the whole thing on DVD to show to Chris since he missed it (thanks, Janeal!). We tried again to get a 4-D picture but the stubborn little thing always has her hand up by her face! (I have a feeling she's gonna hate me when I try to swaddle it down later.)

When the doctor came in to verify everything on the scan, he noticed a little bit of fluid around her heart. He double checked the blood flow rates in her brain, liver, umbilical cord, etc and said everything looked normal. If we hadn't had a scan that day, we probably never would have known or cared that the fluid was present, but he sent me to have a non-stress test just to make sure the baby's movement and heart rate were good. (And I get to have one every week from now on!)

I went across the hall and hopped up on the cushy bed for the non-stress test. Why did no one tell me that's where all the comfy beds are? Seriously. Suzy hooked me up to the machines and showed me the baby's heart rate and the contraction monitor. As she was hooking up the monitors she felt my stomach and said, "Oh, you have sort of a tight stomach." As soon as the monitor popped up on the screen, she could see why. On the scale from 0 to 100, my uterus is constantly at 25, so I'm basically having tightening in my uterus at all times (she called it "fluttering").

Fantastic. No wonder I'm so uncomfortable!

Until this point, I wasn't entirely sure I knew what a contraction felt like. After Suzy left the room I was laying there on the bed staring at the ceiling by myself. I started to feel my stomach get tight right by my belly button. It started to spread and get tighter and tighter, and my back started to hurt. I looked over at the monitor and saw that it was climbing straight up!

{The proof that I now know what a contraction feels like.}

I watched it climb and climb and I started thinking to myself, "Oh my gosh, I'm having a contraction! Maybe I should be using my breathing techniques!" So I started breathing, but it hurt so bad I began looking around the room in panic for someone to yell at. I almost wanted to yell for the nurse! Then finally it peaked and started to lessen.

When Suzy came back in the room I told her "I just had a big contraction!" She looked at the monitor and said "You did! Good girl, those are the ones we like!"

So now, like it or not, I know what a contraction feels like.

Pregnancy Statistics
How far along? 37w1d
Gender: Girl
Current Cravings: Apples dipped in caramel.
Weight gain: +30 lbs
Worst moment this week: Going to an appointment without Chris.
Best moment this week: Getting to see the Bambina again!
Funniest moment this week: I put on my one-piece footed sleeper (it still fits!), clipped on one of the Bambina's binkies, put my hair in pigtails and went to the Spencer Halloween party as a baby.
Belly button in or out: Out.
Labor signs: 50% effaced, baby's at a -2 station.
What I miss: Being able to bend my fingers and wrists. I feel like I have arthritis!
What I'm looking forward to: Getting to see the Bambina every week during the NST with my appointments from now til showtime.

{The Bambina's cute little profile! Please don't let that head get any bigger.}

{The cute little arm that's always by her face.}

Party, Party, Party

On Sunday we had birthday celebrations with the Spencer family for Chris's sister Stacey and I, who have the same birthday. Aunt Lynne even found special New Moon napkins just for the event! They were so cool I told Chris he wasn't allowed to wipe anything on his because I was saving it.

Remember Old Blue? I got a pink replacement for my birthday! The new nano's have video cameras on them now. How cool is that? I also got an awesome New Moon cup (filled with chocolate, of course). I think the Spencer family is trying to make me feel better about missing the premiere on the 20th!

On Monday we had a birthday celebration with the Pace family, which wouldn't be complete without goofy pictures behind the cake. :)

36 Week Belly Pic

I went to the doctor on Tuesday for my 36-week checkup and everything's looking good! Weight is good, blood pressure is good, life is good. Thanks to everyone who's helped me do more sitting still in the evenings, especially Chris. I love you all!

The morning of my checkup as I was walking up the stairs to work, my thighs were literally kicking my stomach with every step. (So weird.) I told the doctor I could tell the baby had dropped and when she checked me she said "Woah, she has dropped!" And then told me she's at a -2 station, so she's waaaaay down there.

No wonder I can't cross my legs like a lady anymore.

No wonder I also can't wear pants (comfortably) anymore. If I pull them up to where they need to be, they cut across my stomach something fierce. So now they're always sagging and uncomfortable.

Skirts here we come.

Pregnancy Statistics
How far along? 36w1d
Gender: Girl
Current Cravings: Blue cheese bacon burgers and cheese fries
Weight gain: +28 lbs
Worst moment this week: One day this week I got home from work and both of my pairs of preggo lounge pants were in the wash at the same time. I almost cried.
Best moment this week: Hanging the curtains in the nursery, and purchasing the final touches for the walls. It's so close to being done!
Funniest moment this week: Trying to jump in order to see what was on a high shelf in the closet. My feet may or may not have actually left the ground.
Belly button in or out: Out!
Labor signs: 50% effaced and baby's at a -2 station.
What I miss: Being able to roll in the night without waking up to do it.
What I'm looking forward to: Two baby showers this week and doctor's appointments every week from now until showtime!

The Real Deal

Last spring I bought a skirt at Pea in A Pod when I was 10 weeks pregnant. I tried it on in the dressing room using one of their faux bellies and laughed at myself in the mirror. There was no way I was going to look like that soon! (insert sarcastic eye-roll here)

One of these pictures is at 10 weeks with the faux belly, and one is at 36 weeks with the real one. Can you tell which one is the real deal?

Find the answer HERE. Did you guess right?

The Finished Product - Our Master Bathroom

BEFORE

Here is what the bathroom looked like when we bought our house. There was wallpaper on every wall of the entire first floor, that took us 6 weeks to remove (even with steamers!).

More retro awesomeness. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but there are two toilet paper holders. Seriously? We need more than one?

Here are the quick fixes we made to the bathroom. We bought a new mirror (~$60 at Home Depot) and a new light fixture (~$45 at Lowe's). I saved my Amazon gift cards and bought some new cabinet pulls and hardware on Amazon. Then we painted and called it good.

The shower was unavoidable ickyness. It had 30 years of mold growing from the inside out, which is why I could never get the grout white, no matter how hard I scrubbed. The shower also had big old metal bars screwed to every wall, and textured grip strips glued to the floor. (On the bright side, we never fell once in that shower!)

Our granny toilet. It was so high my feet dangled when I sat on it. Seriously.

AFTER

We kept the same towel hardware and spray painted our old white mirror with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint ($6 at Lowe's).

We also kept the same cabinet pulls and purchased a few matching knobs for our newfound drawers. Yay! Never had drawers in this bathroom before.

We had our cabinet guy build us a space saver above the toilet since we had extra room there and our vanity is so small. Now with the new, smarter vanities in addition to the space saver, I have tons of extra space! There are literally empty drawers still, which feels fantastic.

No more granny toilet! The new one has the soft-close lid which we love, and it's super efficient.

The new shower has no mold, no slip-grip-strips, and no metal bars on the wall. It is heaven.

My only qualm with the shower is the squeegee-ing of the glass door. I hate squeegee-ing with a passion! I'd like to blame it on the fact that I'm 9 months pregnant and I don't bend very well...but I think the true culprit is sheer laziness. I'd rather wake up 30 minutes early and shower right before Chris (so he has to squeegee), than shower after him and have to do it myself. Oy.

Fitting Fortunes

I went to lunch with Michelley today because her class got canceled so she had some free time! We went to Charlie Chow's for Chinese food, which was really yummy. At the end of lunch, the waiter brought us our fortune cookies.

Michelley's cookie had 3 of the exact same fortune inside.


This is what it said:


Ya think?? I thought it was fitting.

35 Week Belly Pic

I walked in the door to Young Women's on Wednesday night and had one of the other leaders come up to me and say, "Woah, you look like you're about to pop!"

I laughed it off and said yeah, just 5 more weeks, we're getting there! Her response was again, "No, but really, you look like you're about to pop!"

Seriously? Do we ever need to say this to a pregnant woman, even if she does look like she's about to pop? Seriously.


Lately I've been having trouble estimating the extent of my girth. For example, I'll step out of the shower or the car, and step away enough that I think I can swing the door shut. Inevitably, I swing said door shut and it whacks my belly good as it goes past. This literally happens at least once a day.


Pregnancy Statistics
How far along? 35w2d
Gender: Girl
Current Cravings: Candy corn
Weight gain: +27 lbs
Worst moment this week: Trying to sit still in the evenings.
Best moment this week: Getting our new camera!
Funniest moment this week: Trying to crawl under my desk at work to plug in a cable behind my computer tower. Wow. Made me feel huge.
Belly button in or out: Out!
Labor signs: She's dropped a bit. (I can breathe!)
What I miss: Sleeping through the night. But I suppose I should get used to this, huh?
What I'm looking forward to: Finishing crocheting the Bambina's blankets


In other news, Chris and I bought a new camera this week! It's nothing fancy, just a little reliable point and shoot, but I've been trying to save for it for a long time. Our old camera was getting pretty bad, and the flash was terrible for indoor pictures. It's done the job until now because the only thing I take pictures of consistently are my shopping trips. With this baby's arrival being so close, I've been feeling a little bit of panic in my throat. I didn't want her to come until we had a camera that could do her arrival justice.

So now I can breathe a little bit.

{Chris and I, loving the new camera}

Prayers

On Friday night we got home really late from watching football with our friends. We were super exhausted after a busy day. As we went to climb into bed, it was Chris's turn to say prayers. He started the prayer in the usual manner, and then I heard this come out of his mouth:

"Please bless the food that it will nourish and strengthen our bodies, and do us the good we need. These favors and blessings we pray for, in the name..."

As this was coming out of his mouth, I peeked over at him with one eye to see if he was serious.

And he was. Dead serious. And seriously sleepy.

I busted up laughing for about 20 minutes. Chris's only defense was that he was tired. Maybe he was blessing his breakfast for the next morning? By the time I finished laughing, my sides and ribs ached. And tired ol' Chris was long asleep.

DownEast Giveaway

If you haven't checked it out yet, there's an awesome DownEast Basics Giveaway going on at my other blog, with four winners. I love their stuff because it's cute, modest and so darn cheap!

And let's face it. I love cheap.


{There's also a vinyl lettering/decal giveaway and a $25 gift card to Little Cherry Blossoms.}

34 Week Belly Pic

Alternate title: Let The Swelling Begin

I sat on the table with my feet dangling over the edge, waiting for the doctor at my 34 week checkup this wee. I kicked my shoes off like usual because, let's face it, no shoes right now are comfortable on my ever-expanding feet.

The doctor walked in the room, took one look at my sausage feet and said, "oh, dear." She also informed me that I'd gained seven pounds in the last two weeks. When I told her about the headache I'd had for the last two days (that not even Tylenol helped), she was very concerned. Basically all signs point to my blood pressure going up in the near future, which is bad for the baby. (I was sent to Labor & Delivery for high blood pressure at 24 weeks with these same symptoms.) The doctor said it would happen again if I didn't change my activity.

So I've basically been ordered to come straight home from work and lay on the couch with my feet up. Doctor-ordered laziness. Doesn't sound that bad, right? Well, it's surprisingly hard for me to do. I always walk in the door from work and want to fold laundry, do dishes and start dinner. And I run to the grocery or drugstore on my way to or home from work at least 4 times per week. (See here.)

I'm not used to my running myself ragged affecting anyone but myself. I'm used to it. It's what I have to do to keep a functioning household and work 40 hours a week. But now that my behavior affects the health of more than just myself...it really sucks. And of course I'm more than willing to do whatever it takes to keep this Bambina cooking for six more weeks. But sheesh. I have a to-do-before-baby list that's thirty items long, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to kiss that goodbye.

Boo-hoo. Pity-party for me.

Wow, even my face plumped up this week.

In other awesome news, Chris has taken it upon himself to be my personal dietitian. Because if I gained 7 pounds in two weeks, I must have been gorging myself on junk food and sweets, right? Needless to say, all of the brownies, twix's, and other goodies from our house have mysteriously disappeared. He even banned me from buying any more chocolate milk! (Baby needs her calcium, dang-it!)

I think he's punishing me for all the newfound housework and cooking he's just been assigned to do in the evenings.

Pregnancy Statistics
How far along? 34w1d
Gender: Girl
Current Cravings: Waffles & chocolate milk
Weight gain: +28 lbs
Worst moment this week: Wearing a pair of turquoise Crocs to my cousin's wedding reception because I literally could not fit my feet into any other pair of shoes.
Best moment this week: Borrowing a pair of bigger shoes from my sister. It saved me from having to buy a pair for church on Sunday from the "wide" department at Payless!
Funniest moment this week: I walked in the door from work wearing a brown and orange wrap sweater (really, it was much cuter than it sounds!) and Chris lovingly informed me that I looked like a pumpkin.
Belly button in or out: Out!
Labor signs: None
What I miss: Spooning and deep breaths
What I'm looking forward to: Our last birthing class this week!

I'm In A Funk

I feel like I'm in a bit of a blogging funk. It could be because I'm in a bit of a do-anything-but-nest-funk.

I'd like to say I spent the weekend laying on the couch watching conference...but that would be a lie. I spent the weekend cleaning, organizing, and building closet-organizer shelves for the baby's closet, while listening to conference on the radio. Which is probably why the doctor keeps reprimanding me and instructing me to sit on the couch and relax when I get home from work. (But seriously, I got so much done this weekend! It feels so good to succumb to the nesting!) More on that later.

While I was listening, I was thinking about motherhood, and all of the miraculous things that happen to your body to make it possible to have a baby. (I know, probably an odd thing to take away from this weekend....but whatever. I've got baby on the brain.)

My inner-monologue:
Seriously, who decided that the baby would grow inside you until it was ready to be born? It's so silence-of-the-lambs. Oh, and we'll have it float in a giant bag of water to protect it from bumps and bruises. Oh, and by the way, it can breathe underwater while it's in there. And it will know on it's own when to turn upside-down for delivery. And we'll even separate its blood from your blood by the amniotic sack and placenta, so that even people will serious blood diseases (like HIV) can give birth to a perfectly healthy baby...

Seriously. This took somebody a heck of a lot of thought and creativity. Pretty stinking miraculous.

33 Week Belly Pic

{PREFACE: The bigger I get, the smaller my old clothes feel. This is to be expected when you're 8 months pregnant, no? Most of my maternity purchases to date have been wear-to-work type clothes, as opposed to lounge clothes. The lounge clothes (like pajamas), I just sort of make due with.}

As I'm getting out of bed one morning this week and swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, Chris comes running over to me with urgency in his voice and says "Ew, gross!" and points to my stomach, which happened to be partly exposed, due to the non-maternity shirt I had slept in.

"What!?" I asked in a panic.

"Oh, nevermind. It's just your bellybutton."

Awesome. My bellybutton is offically gross. Anyone have any maternity pajamas I can borrow, to spare Chris from my gross-ness?



Pregnancy Statistics
How far along? 33w1d
Gender: Girl
Current Cravings: Twix candybars (will it ever end?!?)
Weight gain: +23 lbs
Best moment this week: The Empathy Belly
Funniest moment this week: Watching my feet swell so large they exceeded the capacity of even my Crocs. Oy!
Belly button in or out: Out!
Labor signs: A few braxton-hicks.
What I miss: Wearing my wedding ring. (Did I mention my hands swell, too?)
What I'm looking forward to: Finding curtains for the nursery.