Babies are weird.

I'm 38 weeks now!  Crazyyyyy.  I'm mostly uncomfortable.  And feel huge.  But all in all, I'd say for this far along in pregnancy, things are going well.  

And really, I only have ONE WEEK left.  Or less. But I doubt I'll be going into labor anytime in the next week.  I'd love to have this baby before the weekend, since I am scheduled to work this weekend. It is getting really hard to be on my feet for a 12 hour shift at work.  But those are my last two days, and then I have 12 weeks off, so I might as well suck it up and do it.  :)

So, why only one more week left, you may ask!?  Well, because babies are weird.  At least my baby is.  But she probably takes after me.  I mean, why would any baby want to be stuck in this position for the last many months!?  

Seems pretty uncomfortable if you ask me.  She's probably been kicking herself in the head for a while now.  Before you ask, I've been through the options of baby flipping and all that fun stuff.  In the end, it turns out I was not a good candidate for the External Version due to my anterior placenta, the fact that it's my first pregnancy, and the fact that this baby had apparently already dropped at that point. (I was not sold on the external version anyway)  And I was not interested in doing anything "weird" (by my standards) to get her to flip.  If she's been content in that position for so long, then who am I to mess with it?!  

Therefore, I will be having a c-section A WEEK FROM TODAY.  Unless, she miraculously decides to flip herself in the next week.  Or I go into labor before that.  

Just not tomorrow.  Because tomorrow's my 30th birthday, and while I'm not a person to make a big deal out of my birthday, it would be nice to keep that day for myself.  :)  And since you're asking, all I really want for my birthday this year is to be able to sleep comfortably for one night, and a nice big red freezee drink from Speedway.  Yummmmm.  

And here is most likely my LAST baby bump picture!

 

34 weeks!

34 WEEKS as of yesterday!  I go through periods of being anxious that that's not a lot of time left, and then have times where I don't know how I'm going to make it through the next 6 weeks because I'm already uncomfortable.  Either way, I want my baby to keep cooking until the end for their own well-being.  :)

We got our maternity pictures taken a couple weeks ago, and I love them!  We used Laura Borkenhagen Photography and they turned out so well!  She's awesome.  You should check out her page.  She has a Maternity and Newborn package that we used, so stayed tuned in the future for newborn photos.  I'm sure most of you have seen a few of the pictures on facebook, but if for some reason, you can't get enough of us and want to see more, you can check them out.  Go to http://www.lbpclient.com/photocart/ and find our gallery.  The access code is Josh13.  

Not much else to be said right now.  Baby is still breech.  I have checked out that Spinning Babies website that has been recommended to me by many people.  Yesssss, I will admit that I haven't tried any of the techniques yet.  I was going to wait until 35 weeks to see if she'd just spontaneously flip herself first and then give something a try.  Or maybe I'm just lazy.  Probably the latter, but I know I should at least try something.  And I will.  

Now, I will leave you with a picture:

  And I will leave you with something funny from a pregnancy website I like to read:

Courtesy of pregnantchicken.com (http://www.pregnantchicken.com/pregnant-chicken-blog/2012/1/17/porn-for-pregnant-ladies.html)

I sent that link to Josh when I saw it and he said 'yup, those seem all too familiar.'

32 weeks and LOTS OF STUFF!!!

I feel like it's the question everybody asks.  How can something so new and little need so much stuff???    I know in reality they don't NEED a swing, a play gym, a bouncer, a pack 'n play, stroller, millions of clothes, a car seat...  Just kidding about that last one.  I'm pretty sure a car seat is on the list of things they won't let you leave the hospital without.   But anything to help with a crying baby and make her happy, right!?  

My mom and sister threw me a wonderful baby shower last weekend and I am so overwhelmed with all the great gifts my friends and family got us for Charlotte!  They really all went over the top and I love them all for it.  :)  

Here are the wonderful hosts (niece included!):

Josh decided to put together a couple of the bigger items we received, just because it's fun and so he doesn't feel overwhelmed towards the end.  And because it's fun.  Did I mention that!? Jermichael wanted to get in on the action and check out the stuff and make sure it's good enough for Charlotte.  

I locked him into the high chair pretty well.  No chance of getting out of that thing!

He thought the rock 'n sway bouncer was pretty cool, as well.

And of course he had to check out the rest of the stuff that still needs to be taken out of the boxes.

 

And lastly, he had fun playing with his new squirrel pull-toy.

(Sorry, all my pictures seem to be squished, and I'm not sure how to fix it :) )

And then don't even get me started on the CLOTHES!!  I never thought I'd be overwhelmed by baby clothes.  I mean, they are just clothes right!?  And I've never been one who was too into clothing anyway.  But between the stuff I bought myself, we got at our shower, or from family and friends in general.  Andddd all the clothes my very generous sister gave to us that her little girl wore in the first few months, I don't know what to do with it all!  I know they say you can never have enough clothes, because off all the poop, pee, spit up, etc.  But I think it's safe to say we're set for the first few months anyway.  

This whole laundry basket is filled with new stuff from myself, family and friends, all sizes Newborn through 3 months:

  I feel this picture doesn't even do it justice.  It really is A LOT of clothes.  

And then this pile is all hand-me-downs from my sister from sizes Newborn through 3 months:

All of these were enough to fill our BIG washing machine to the top for 3 loads.  

And then there's the fact that you just really don't know how big your baby will be!  How long will they fit into newborn clothing?? When will they start wearing the 3 month stuff??  From the looks of the baby pool at my shower, people think I will have a somewhat smaller baby.  (Is that because I'm smaller??  Because I feel like I always hear that it's the smallest people who end up having the biggest babies.  So cruel. :)  )  I have some super cute summer outfits in the 3-month size that I'm nervous won't fit my baby while it's still summer!  

I mean, come on, how cute is this!?

It's little baby shorts.  And a crab!  Gotta love crabs.  This is in the 3 months size.  And my baby will wear this in winter if that's when she happens to fit into it!  (Just kidding--I suppose I'm not that bad).  

But in all reality, they are just clothes.  If they fit, they fit.  If they don't, well then they don't.  All I really want is a healthy baby.  The rest doesn't really matter.  

Lastly, here is this week's 32 week picture and questionnaire:

How far along: 32 weeks!

Total weight gain: I believe about 22-25 pounds so far.  It seems to fluctuate a lot.

Maternity clothes: Just wearing the same old comfortable stuff.  But I did buy a cute new top to wear to our maternity pics this Friday!  

Stretch marks: None yet, yesssss.

Sleep:  Not horrible, but not awesome.  I seem to wake up pretty early these days for no reason at all.  And the leg cramps are back and brutal.  I need Josh to stretch my leg just to get them out at night! 

Best moment of this week: Well, hopefully it'll be Friday when we have our maternity pics!

Miss anything: Sleeping on my stomach!

Movement: Tons of movement.  I'm trying to figure out which position she's in by her movements, but I'm just not sure.  At my last appointment, my doctor seemed to think she was breech, but I know she has lots of time to turn around still!

Food cravings:  Watermelon and cantelope! yummmm.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!  

Have you started to show yet: Uhhhhh, yeah.  I feel huge.

Gender: Still a girl!  Charlotte!! 

Labor signs: Nothing, thank goodness!  :)   

Belly button in or out: It's out, booooo.

Wedding rings on or off: Still on.   

Happy or moody most of the time: I'd still say happy 98% of the time.  :)

Looking forw ard to:  Our maternity pictures on Friday and my friends wedding on Saturday!

Third trimester!

As of last week, I am now in the third trimester!  I will be 29 weeks tomorrow.  Time is just flying by!

My last post was about all the fun stuff I was looking forward to!  Sadly, today is the last day of my 10 day vacation from work and all that fun stuff is over.  But everything really was a lot of fun and I now have a lot of new things to look forward to!

First, a recap!

Last week, I got to see my two old college roommates and their new babies!  So much fun!  They both had girls.  I can't wait for Charlotte to get here and we can all have playdates!

Last Tuesday, we went to the live Price is Right show in downtown Milwaukee!  I wasn't sure how it was going to be when we first got into the theater, but it was actually a lot of fun!  Sadly, neither of us got to 'Come On Down!', but it was still a lot of fun being in the audience and yelling out prices to the people on the stage.  Of course, I think I'm always right and am awesome at all the games, so I yelled out prices just like everyone else and was probably wrong the majority of the time.  :)

Yesterday, we just got back from our 4 day mini-vacation to Minneapolis.  We had AWESOME weather there.  I think it was even nicer there than it was here in Milwaukee this weekend!  

We had a super nice dinner at this Italian restaurant called Ciao Bella.  Probably the most expensive meal we've ever had (well, Josh's wine probably made up half the total cost!), but definitely well worth it for our 5 year anniversary.  We never go out anywhere 'nice', so it was a good treat.  It got the salmon special of the day and it was a great choice.  We also got an amazing dessert.  I went in there definitely thinking I wanted the Tiramisu for dessert, but the waitress and Josh changed my mind and had me step outside my box, and we got the special of cheesecake with a huckleberry sauce with some kind of fruity gelato on top (can't remember what it was exactly) and it was AWESOME.  Here's a picture of the masterpiece:

Also, here we are all dressed up at the restaurant (well, the most dressed up I've been so far in pregnancy, haha): (and thanks to my friend, Liz, for letting me borrow some of her maternity clothes!)

The next day we went shopping ALL day at the Mall of America!  I made it the whole day walking around and felt completely fine.  I wasn't sure how I'd last, but I think having to be on my feet all day at work definitely helped with this.  Josh made out much better than me, but it's not as much fun to shop while pregnant because everything I want doesn't fit me. :)  I did find a nice dress to wear to an upcoming wedding though!  

That night, we saw the movie '42' and it was great!  I highly recommend it!

And the next day, we took the light rail to a Minnesota Twins game!  Josh and I like to see different baseball stadiums, with a lifetime goal of seeing them all.  The Brewers weren't playing there, so I wasn't personally invested in the game, but it was a nice day and their new stadium is beautiful.

Now, for all the new stuff to look forward to! 

My mom is coming into town this weekend!!!  She will be staying with my sister for a week, so I'm not sure how much I'll see her next week, but I'm hoping to make it up to Oshkosh one day I have off of work to hang out with her and my niece!  

Then, the next weekend is my baby shower!  I am so excited to see all my family and friends at that!  My mom will then be staying with us for a couple days.  She'll be here just in time for Mother's Day!  We're going to have a spa day somewhere in there, hopefully go out for breakfast at her favorite breakfast place when she's in town: The Peachtree Restaurant in New Berlin.  You can get a giant bowl of fresh fruit, which is why I think it's her favorite. :)  And hopefully we'll also get to do some shopping while she's here!

One of these days, we're going to have to start cleaning out the nursery so I can start to get things set up.  But I still have time for that.  And Josh is still in school til mid-May, and we all know I'm not doing this myself.  So I will wait for him to help.  :)  I suppose I need to get going on buying stuff for the nursery, though!

How far along: 29 weeks tomorrow!

Total weight gain: At my doctor's appointment 2 weeks ago, I was up about 16.5 pounds.  So maybe a tiny bit more since then?

Maternity clothes: I finally got to wear my new maternity shorts and capris with the nice weather!  It's always nice to change things up :)  

Stretch marks: None yet, yesssss.

Sleep:  Still pretty decent.  I did wake up once super early while on vacation just starving.  But I can usually sleep all through the nice just fine.  Fortunately, my leg cramps have been a LOT better lately and I don't think I've woken up with a bad one in over a week! 

Best moment of this week: Today, since it's beautiful outside and I have off of work!  And I am looking forward to going to the Brewers game on Wednesday with some girls from work!

Miss anything: Sleeping on my stomach!

Movement: Feeling her move every day!  (Which I hope I do--if I don't, I should probably call my doctor :)  

Food cravings:  Nothing great, but at the grocery store this morning, I had a sudden urge to buy a box of Orange Dream bars.  Yummmmm.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!  

Have you started to show yet: Uhhhhh, yeah.  I feel huge.

Gender: Still a girl!  Charlotte!! 

Labor signs: Nothing, thank goodness!  :)   

Belly button in or out: It's out, booooo.

Wedding rings on or off: Still on.  And still big on me.   

Happy or moody most of the time: I'd still say happy 98% of the time.  :)

Looking forw ard to: My mother coming into town and my baby shower in a couple of weeks!

26 Weeks! And so much to look forward to!

I am in my 26th week as of a few days ago!  I'm not exactly sure when the 3rd trimester starts--I've heard varying weeks--but I feel like this is my last week in the 2nd trimester.  After this week, I have 13 weeks left to go! 

April is such a great month.  Starting out with April 1st, the Brewers season has begun again!  Josh and I went to Opening Day.  While tailgating was cold, the game was a lot of fun and the Brewers won in extra innings.  And then they went on a nice losing streak after that game, but I still love them. :)

Last weekend, we went to Oshkosh to visit my sister, her husband and our niece.  We went outlet mall shopping and I got some baby clothes and maternity clothes.  And best yet, we then went out for a great steak dinner at our favorite supper club!  Yummmm.  I need to go back there at least once more before I have this baby for some goooood food!

The middle of the month has one thing to not look forward to--my glucose test on the 15th.  Luckily, my doctor gave me the great orange drink at my last appointment, so I can drink it at home first and then go in for my appointment to get my blood drawn.  I've heard it goes down better with a straw, so I plan on doing it that way.  

But thennnnn, the end of the month brings LOTS of great things!  Starting on the 20th, I have 10 wonderful days off of work!  I took a week of vacation a long time ago because Josh and I were originally planning this nice trip to California for our 5th anniversary.  We were going to see the Brewers play in San Diego and hang out there for a little bit, then drive up to Los Angeles and see the Brewers play there and hang out, and even try to get in the Price is Right audience.  But then I found out I was pregnant, and decided to skip this trip to save some money.  But I still have all the days off of work, and I will make the best of them!!

Here's what we have to look forward to:

--Saturday, April 20th:  This is a busy day!  We start out with a tour of the hospital I will be giving birth at.  Then, my good friend from my old church is having a birthday/bachelorette party!  I can't go to the whole party because we already have plans that night, but I will be attending the spa day of the party and will be getting a wonderful facial and manicure. :)  Then, at night, Josh and I will be going to the Mark Schultz concert at a church close to our home!!  Mark Schultz is a Christian artist and is AWESOME in concert.  You should check him out.  Here are a couple of my favorite songs by him: Walking Her Home and Love Has Come.

Tuesday, April 23rd: THE PRICE IS RIGHT!!!!  If I can't go to LA to be in the audience, then this is definitely the next best thing.  The Price is Right will be in Milwaukee at the Riverside Theatre.  They will be picking people from the audience just like on the show and playing the same games!  Drew Carey will not be the host (I'm not sure who is) and I'm sure the prizes aren't as extravagant, but I know it will be fun and I am soooo excited for this!  

**On a side note--if anyone has any good ideas for a t-shirt Josh and I could make, let me know!  Either something 5th anniversary related or baby related!? 

Sometime on my days off: Going to visit my two good friends and old college roommates, Liz and Melissa, and their two new babies!!  Yayyyyy. So excited to meet both of them!  They both just recently had baby girls--one a few weeks ago now and one just last week.  So happy for both of them!

April 25th-28th: Josh and I are going to Minneapolis for a long weekend 5th anniversary/"babymoon" (I hate that term, but I'm still using it, haha) getaway.  We are staying by the Mall of America and will definitely be doing some shopping and eating there.  We also plan on checking out Target Field and going to a Twins baseball game.  They're not playing the Brewers, but oh well.  We like baseball and seeing new stadiums.  Of course, they don't have a roof, so we are going to wait to buy tickets until we get there to see which day has the best weather.  We are so spoiled here in Milwaukee with our roof.

And saving the best for last: Our 5th Anniversary on April 26th!  I can't believe it's been just about 5 years.  It goes by so quickly!  We will be in Minneapolis for this, so I'm hoping to go out for a nice dinner there and whatever else the day brings.  

Here we are on that wonderful day 5 years ago:

And now I suppose for pregnancy related stuff:

How far along: 26 weeks!

Total weight gain: Not sure--I haven't been to the doctor in almost 5 weeks, but I go on Monday.  I'm going to guess about 17 pounds so far--but I have nothing to base that on. :)

Maternity clothes: Still loving them!  Just got some shorts for the summer (now it just has to warm up!) and a dress to wear to my shower next month.  

Stretch marks: None yet, yesssss.

Sleep: Is going ok.  I still need to get that pregnancy pillow I talked about in a blog weeks ago.  I've learned how to manage my leg cramps at night, but now to add on to that, once in a while, I'll wake up with a cramp on the side part of the bottom my leg (like ankle area) and side of my foot.  Not quite sure how you'd stretch those areas and unfortunately those cramps are worse than any calf leg cramp I've gotten so far.  I'm almost crying in pain from those!  

Best moment of this week: Well, this week kind of sucks because I've been working a lot and I work this weekend, but I will say today and tomorrow, since I have off and can watch The Price is Right. :)

Miss anything: Not really, this week.

Movement: Lots of it still.  I've heard of people getting jabs that hurt, and I've had none of those so far.  Maybe my baby is just weak like I am. :)

Food cravings:  Nothing new.  I still eat a good amount of salami sandwiches though!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!  

Have you started to show yet: Uhhhhh, yeah.  I feel huge.

Gender: Still a girl!  Charlotte!! 

Labor signs: Nothing, thank goodness!  :)  Working at Children's Hospital makes me very aware that my baby could be born this early and most likely survive, but I'm still hoping to make it until week 40. 

Belly button in or out: It's kind of half way in and out.  So weird.

Wedding rings on or off: Still on.  And still big on me.   

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy for the most part.  Except for a random moment of moodiness when I came home from work super tired and sore Monday night.  You can ask Josh about that one. :)

Looking forward to: Read the rest of this blog post.  I'm looking forward to everything!!!!