31 Weeks - The Checklist

For anyone who knows me, I am very type-A personality. I create lists for EVERYTHING. In fact, every Sunday morning when I put my grocery list together, I try to organize it in order of the store. First, fruit and produce. Second, cereal and breads (you get the point). I just makes things so much easier! I can be in and out of Jewel in 20 minutes - tops.

Call me creature of habit, but my baby checklist is in an Excel spreadsheet on my laptop. This week, we've checked things off and added some more items. Crib/mattress bought and delivered? Check! Pre-register at hospital? Check! While reading the trusty What To Expect - month 7, it goes into the "Birth Plan". Some of the things in their checklist are so odd, that I couldn't help but laugh. One of the potential items is to make sure you chosen the right lighting and music while delivering. Um..Ok. I think my Birth Plan will consist of a few items: Get to hospital in one piece, have a safe and hopefully painless delivery. Check!

Steve was insistent that we become Costco members before D-Day. The value of being able to purchase diapers in bulk and hopefully save a buck-or-two was reason enough. Each box holds about 258 diapers to his comment "at least they'll last a long time - since babies only go through about 3 diapers a day". Oh my poor husband...

Picture Note: This is not the same picture as last week...Beasley was being entertained by the wildlife Steve feeds on a daily basis.

29-30 - The Baby Shower

No disrespect to week 29, I just didn't have a chance to update anything last week. We went to Denver for my Colorado Baby Shower! My mom, sister and best friend threw me a fantastic baby shower held at Maggiano's. It was great to see my family and friends that I haven't seen in a long time. Cletus received some great gifts..in fact, this kid is going to have his choice of one-sie's and will be warm with all of the blankets! Thank you again to everyone who was able to make it and for all of the wonderful gifts!! Now, on to the Thank-you card writting...

The Dr appointments are now starting to be 2 weeks apart rather than 4. This doesn't bother me so much, but just knowing that I have the potential to sit in a waiting room, for sometimes hours, kills me. Hopefully the cookies that I shared with the staff this last week will minimize my wait time in future visits. Go me for the creative thought process! Our last checkup went well. Everything is going smooth and we're both on-track. See you all in 2 weeks!

We're also pre-registering for the hospital. I remember thinking a while back how long it would be before I would have to do this. Well, here it is! I'm still working through it, but will hopefully be pre-registered and ready to rock-and-roll by tomorrow.

28 Weeks and Rounding Third

I'm officially saying sianara to my second trimester and hello to the third! It's funny, all of my pregnancy books congratulate you on getting to this point in pregnancy. One book even compared the third trimester to driving through the state of Texas. I have to admit and agree with many, the second trimester was so far the best (this includes finding out I was already 1/3 of the way through it without knowing, but that's another story). Although you see some light at the end of the tunnel, there are plenty more obstacles you need to experience, so I shouldn't be thinking I'll be getting off easy until May! This week, I think my body wanted to give me a sign that I was for sure in the last trimester by increasing the pain on my lower left back. After some reading and talking to my baby yoga friends, the symptoms sound like sciatica - nerve pain. One way to relieve it is to see a chiropractor. While I'm not thrilled to visit any more doctors in these next 3 months, if it cures my new gangster-looking walk, I'm all for it.

Later this week, Cletus and I are heading back to Colorado for my baby shower!! I'm ridiculously excited to go back home and see my family and friends! I've been really looking forward to this trip for a while now and am grateful that I have so many caring people in my life. Steve will be staying back in Chicago and attending the infamous St. Patty's Day pub crawl. For those of you who will also be attending, please make sure he doesn't lose anything.

27 Weeks and Everyone is Nice to the Pregnant Lady

A friend of mine once told me that dolphins are naturally attracted to pregnant women. For some reason, if a pregnant woman went to go swim with the dolphins, they would flock to her. While we were in Florida, I did see advertisements for swimming with the dolphins, contemplated to see if this was true and then questioned if they were attracted to pregnant women or if they just thought I had food for them hidden in my belly, kind of like dogs when they know their owners have treats in their pockets. I decided to opt out of this experiment.

I've noticed however, that people in general, are overly nice to a pregnant woman. For example, we weren't supposed to be able to check into our hotel room until later in the day. The very nice lady came back to us after speaking with her boss and let us check in early. Her reasoning toward this was "they're such a nice couple and she's pregnant and everything". The pool waitress also checked on me EVERY time she walked by - no matter if she had drinks for others already in hand. I wonder if their kindness comes from sympathy - 'oh man, I was just there...I know what you're about to go through'. Either way, the treatment from others is understate-ably kind.

This week, my co-workers got together and purchased a few items off our baby registry. It was a total surprise and I'm so grateful to work with such amazing people! Thanks to everyone again!

Also this week, Cletus and I had our monthly checkup. This one was the glucose test. I enjoyed a stale orange beverage, waited for an hour, got blood drawn and almost passed out from hunger due to not being able to eat or drink. The results will be this week.

We are signed up for our baby classes! The first one is Great Expectations. They go over birthing methods and other things. I'll attend but my theory is modern medicine is here for a reason...start the drip of pain killers as I check into the hospital, please. We're also enrolled into Infant CPR and Baby Basics. I wasn't sure on the Baby Basics class, but after Steve mentioned that he doesn't know how to hold a baby, this will be well worth the money.

26 Weeks - The Babymoon

I had never heard of the term "Babymoon" until I was flipping through an "Oprah" magazine. The official meaning would be "get away before you're life changes F-O-R-E-V-E-R". Although we typically try to break up the brutal winters by heading to Florida for a long weekend, this one had special meaning to us. This would be last trip that we would take - just the two of us. The weather was perfect and the nojitos (aka virgin mojitos) were tasty. As we found out, we weren't the only Babymooners at the hotels we stayed at. We spotted at least 5 other expectant couples enjoying themselves in the sun.

As Steve jokes with me, I read EVERYTHING about what not to do, what not to eat, etc during pregnancy. One of the controversial items is sunbathing. Online, you will get every opinion from the "go ahead" to the "stay in the shade". I decided to stay middle ground. The first day was at the beach, so I rented an umbrella to stay shaded. The second day was at the pool and was nice since the first half was blocked by palm trees (I know, rough life). I did, however, keep myself fairly covered only taking off my wrap around to jump in the pool to cool off.

Needless to say, the 2.5 of us had a great trip! Hopefully we'll be able to go back next year with Cletus in toe.

Picture Note: I think Steve feels left out that I'm the only one who gets their picture taken. I also really hope Cletus and any future offspring inherit my ability to tan nicely.

25 Weeks and Officially Lost Sight of My Toes

There are many milestones in pregnancy. First and foremost, finding out you're pregnant, telling people you're pregnant, first doctor's appointment, first time hearing the heart beat, first ultrasound, clothes not fitting, first feeling of a real kick. This week for me was learning, if I look straight down, I no longer have a view of my toes. If I stretch my neck enough, I can see them, but I'm sure this tactic will be gone soon too. Although they are not in my sight, they definitely need a pedicure!
This week consisted of purchasing a changing table (it's HEAVY) and a glider. Good thing we did this early since the nice sales associate informed us that it was going to take anywhere from 12-14 weeks to be completed. You can imagine my OCD response finding this out since I only have 14 more weeks to go. I really hope the glider gets here first.
I haven't read too much into this topic, but what is up with the weird dreams?? This last week, I dreamt that Cletus was born and we had no clothes, no diapers and we brought him home in Brawny paper towels. It doesn't take a dream analyst to diagnose this one. I'm not fully prepared. All in due time.
This week, the 2.5 of us will be taking a long weekend and heading down to Miami. Although I don't have a maternity swinsuit, I figure Nicole Richie can pull of the bikini, why can't I? Note - I'm not planning on posting any of THOSE pictures.

24 Weeks=6 Months=4 more to go!

I am now 6 months along in this pregnancy (woohoo)! I really feel that this last month, I've "popped". I told a co-worker of mine this last week that I was 6 months along and they had a shocked expression and mentioned "wow! I couldn't even tell". What does that really mean "I couldn't even tell"? Does that mean I look smaller than 6 months? Or that you didn't know I was expecting? I'm guessing since it came from a male co-worker, they thought I had just put on some weight and didn't want to be rude by saying so and felt relieved he didn't have to ask.

Cletus has been an active little fetus this week. He's been so active that at night, he sometimes wakes me up. I think he's trying to give me a preview of what's to come...

Although I'm not near my family during this experience, I've had a great deal of support from my Chicago family. Not once have I felt left out of any activity just because I'm pregnant - in fact, they have been so kind to make sure I don't feel this way. Thinking about it, Cletus has attended a wide variety of events and life experiences already in utero. His first rock concert (thank you Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dudey), his first college football game (thank you Uncle Dan), his first motor boating experience (thank you Aunt Katy) and countless happy hours complemented with cranberry juice. Yes, this life of ours is about to change, but the support of my friends here help me realize that this baby will have plenty of love from them.