3 days to go...

39 and a half weeks

So, my due date is looming near and yet there isn't a whole lot that tells me Grace is on her way. Went to the midwife yesterday and she checked and said that I'm 1cm and about 60% effaced (which is progress from last week) but at the same time it's not like I'm in labor. But, that's okay. I've really wanted a September baby ever since I found out I was pregnant. So, I'm okay right now.

Something I've been meaning to write about is a couple of things that I just don't "get." The first is the fact that total strangers (grocery store clerks, nail salon tech's, cleaning ladies) feel obligated to tell me that I "look small." Meaning, they don't think my baby is big enough to possibly be born on Monday and with a tone that questions if a baby that small could be healthy. Just as it would be incredibly rude to tell a very pregnant (hormonal) woman that she is "huge" it is just as rude to say the opposite. To think that the size of one's baby has anything to do with the person carrying it is ridiculous. Meaning that I can't control her size. She is what she is; Maddie was small too and perfectly healthy. I JUST MAKE SMALL BABY GIRLS! At least that's what I feel like saying. But instead, I try to be cordial and smile, but now I'm sick of it and I'm determined to come up with a better comeback for these sorts of comments, but I'm sure that by the time I come up with one, Grace will be here! Making small baby girls brings me to my second point that I don't "get." Why is it that whenever someone (anyone) asks me if I'm having a boy or girl, and I reply "another girl :)" (I say it with a smile-to show them that I'm happy about having another girl) they give me a look and then say something along the lines of "you'll get a boy next time," or "gotta tell Gabe to keep trying." NO. We don't want to "try." We are pretty (90%) sure that we are done having babies and we are fine; scratch that, we are THRILLED to be having 2 girls. Sisters. That's what I've always wanted; is to have girls because I know the importance of a sister. And, no offense to boys, but why are they deemed such a prized possession? I mean, we're not in China and we're not royalty looking for an heir to the throne. So, I just want to say, for the record, that we are ecstatic about having another girl. Another total individual to love and know. Now, if we could just meet her...

Maddie's Picture

I just wanted to post and say that the picture to the left of Maddie is not one I took. It's beautiful and I love it so much, but a man named Tim, who works at Dog School is studying photography and he took this picture of Maddie yesterday when she was there visiting. Just didn't want to take the credit :)

The Update

So, the official update is that there still isn't anything to report :( Went to the midwife today and she finally checked me and came to the conclusion that I'm not dilated at all! Now, they always tell you that just because you aren't dilated today doesn't mean you won't be tomorrow. But, who knows. She also said that I'm measuring small again (which is what happened 2 months ago and they sent me for that second sonogram to find that nothing is wrong-she's just a small baby). She said maybe the baby has "dropped" (ya know, into the pelvis to get ready to be born) and that's why I'm measuring small. Last week and the week before I measured right on track with what I was supposed to, so this is a change, but not one that concerned me. To be honest, if she just dropped now, maybe we'll start getting somewhere :) But, as I was reminded when I told my mom about it, I really want Grace to be born in September. Plus, Gabe really thinks she isn't due on the 1st but more like the 9th (that's the due date given by the sonographer) and that would also account for her being a little small. So, anyone's guess is as good as ours. To not be too boring, I'll only post the most pertinent information as it comes along. My next appointment is next Wednesday.
On another, totally different note, I got an exciting phone call today. The preschool that is less than a mile from our house, half the price cheaper and more Christian based called today and they have an opening for Maddie!!! The bonus of this school is that it's also a co-op so I have the opportunity to help out and meet the teacher's, etc. So, we're in. I called the other preschool and said we are withdrawing. It just feels so right for her to go to this preschool instead, but it had been March, the last time I heard from them and it was only to tell me that we were on a wait list. So, prayers are answered :) Now, her first day of school will be on September 8th and my mom will be here for that which will be a really great memory. So, I'm glad this happened today because it kept me distracted from thinking about when on earth Grace would be born.

Monday

We had a great weekend, but still no baby :) To be honest, I was up at 3:30am today thinking "this might be labor" but then the contractions and crampiness stopped :( Plus, everything I've heard/read/experienced tells me that if I'm wondering if it's labor, then it usually isn't. So, another week ahead. I don't go back to the midwife until Thursday so we'll just wait until then.
This weekend, Gabe and I got to go out on a date on Friday night, then on Saturday we just did family stuff and bbq'd ribs and then yesterday we went to church and then hung out and went to our meetings in the evening. At church, when we went to pick Maddie up from the nursery, she said "bye-bye park" and I reminded her that we're at church, not the park and so she said "bye-bye church; bye kids." The teachers were laughing. It's pretty funny to hear. She loves going there though and we're so glad because it's been good practice for pre-school. She has her orientation for pre-school on the 10th of September and then she officially starts on the 17th. I'm really looking forward to her going because it's only a couple days a week (Wed. & Thurs.) and she'll get to play with other kids her age and have a break from me and the baby. But, I'm also sad at how old she seems getting ready to go to school. I'm sure that lots of moms feel this way when their oldest is starting some sort of program outside of the home, but deep down I know it's so good for her; I always said I wanted her to be independent and this just seems to be one of those stepping stones. I'm hoping that I can maybe have the baby in enough time to be out of the hospital by the day of orientation because I really want to go to that. We'll see.
We don't have a lot planned this week. The weather seems nice today so maybe the park? Happy Monday :)

Still waiting...

Well, there's no real news to report. Went to the midwife yesterday and she didn't "check" me or anything. I think maybe next week they will... not that it makes a difference because the only real sign that the baby is coming is contractions! I've been crampy for days, but nothing that makes me feel like it's EVER going to happen :) So, that's where I'm at. Maddie is feeling much better and hopefully we can stop using the nebulizer on Saturday. She's still coughing/runny nose, but not contagious, so we've been laying low waiting for her to get better. We made it to open gym at Gymboree yesterday for about 40 minutes and she had fun. Since we missed our class on Tuesday because of Maddie not feeling well, the people who work there thought that I must have had my baby. Well, obviously not :) Gabe has dog shows tomorrow and Saturday and they are sort of far away, so he won't be around much. Maddie and I will have to come up with things to do. I ordered Maddie and "I'm the Big Sister" t-shirt for when she comes to the hospital after Grace is born and it came in the mail the other day and it's so cute! I may take a picture of it and post it later. Have a good Thursday!

August so far...

A quick note about some of the pic's: The first one is Maddie lounging in my bed after her bath one night (all she needs is a cup of tea and she'd be me:) The next one is of her playing with Daddy's shoes which she does every day lately. She puts them on and tries to walk, but usually doesn't get very far. The pic in the middle is her "getting dressed" over her pajamas-she thought this was pretty clever. The next pic is her modeling an outfit that her Nonnie sent her. Then, there's the pic of the tummy last week. The final 2 pictures are her trying to wear our dishtowels :) Enjoy!

Doctor appointments and Nebulizer treatments

So, as you can tell from the title of this post that Maddie has gotten worse! She was having trouble breathing yesterday (wheezing) and I called the doctor and had to drive to Fairfax to have her seen at the other office. So, the doctor there gave her Singular to take last night, but wasn't feeling like she needed asthma med's yet. He said "let's see how she does." Well, to answer that, we woke up this morning to Maddie's breathing being shallow and rapid with lots of wheezing/coughing mixed in. It really scared me. I have asthma, but I can't remember the last time mine was so bad that I sounded like she did. Thankfully the doctors office was open this morning and they took her as the first patient; they could probably hear the worry in my voice over the phone. We went to the doctor and Gabe met us there and sure enough, they decided she needed a Nebulizer treatment. If you have kids and you've never done this, count yourself lucky. Here's the thing; I'm sure in time, she'll get more used to it and it won't seem so scary, but this was not that time. It's a loud little machine and I have to basically hold her arms down and simultaneously hold this little mask over her nose and mouth. She screamed the whole time and I thought that the stress of that was enough to make me go into labor! It's one of those parenting things-you know that what you're doing will help her in the long run, but in that moment you want to make her feel safe and not so scared. I think that can be an analogy that is useful to parents of children that are any age. So, we survived. As soon as the medicine was done, the crying and screaming stopped. Her lungs sounded better the doctor said, but now we have to do Nebulizer treatments every 4 hours for the entire weekend and then take her back on Monday to have her listened to again. Hopefully each time we do the treatments, she'll get a little less scared; I'm sure watching a little Elmo can help in that department. Too bad they don't have a DVD about Elmo getting a Neb. treatment :) So, that's been our Saturday so far. Gabe and I are supposed to go to the Redskins pre-season game tonight, but now I'm not sure. I want to go because this is probably the only game I'll get to all season, but if Maddie is still as bad as she is now, then I can't put that on Sandy to deal with. So, we'll see how the day unfolds. Also, I'm 37 weeks pregnant today (no big deal) and to be honest, I almost feel less pregnant than last week. Not sure how that's possible, but maybe because my mind has been so preoccupied with Maddie's sickness I don't have time to focus on me. That's the news for today :)

Nothing to report

Just a quick note to say we went to the midwife today and there isn't any news to report. She didn't check me like I thought she would. She just did the usual stuff and thinks that Grace is probably around 5 and half pounds at this point. Gabe and I both think she'll be just a little bigger than Maddie at birth, but maybe not by much. I go back to the midwife in a week. So, other than that, Maddie has come down with a little summer cold (runny nose, sneezing, clingy, etc.). Which means we may just be laying low tomorrow. We'll see how she sleeps tonight-hopefully well because I'm exhausted.

Sick as a...

pregnant woman in her last weeks of pregnancy? (Betcha thought I was going to say dog!) So, last night I was up until 12:30am because the nausea that I was experiencing was unbearable. I did not have this issue this late in pregnancy with Maddie. It was reminiscent of the first 3 months of pregnancy where the only thing I could stomach were saltines and ginger ale. It started with heartburn right after dinner and then progressed to I-could-vomit-at-any-minute by 10pm. Then I spent the next 2 and half hours watching TIVO'd episodes of Bridezillas (don't ask) and trying to wash down the acid that kept coming up with some Sprite. So, needless to say, I'm tired. And, unsure of why last night's sickness occurred and determined to not feel like crap today. So, that's where I'm at.
Separate from all that drama, Gabe and I went to see Coldplay in concert at the Verizon Center in DC on Sunday night. It was awesome! To be honest, I've always liked Coldplay, but not enough to want to trek to DC at 9 months pregnant and listen to loud music (it's not the Dixie Chicks-for which there are no obstacles :) But, I went and promised to be a good sport. Well, it turned out to be a terrific show with great songs played. Gabe and I had a blast and I kept calling it my "last hurrah." We didn't bring a camera though, so there's no pic's to post. I have a few funny ones of Maddie to put up and hopefully I can get to that later today.
Doctor's appointment tomorrow and hopefully some news to share. We're off to Gymboree :)

Not much to say

The title of this post says it all. We're pretty much just in waiting-for-the-new-baby mode around here. We put the double stroller together yesterday and Maddie LOVED it. She kept getting in the front seat (the big kid seat) and saying "bye-bye." Gabe and I were saying the new stroller is like a limo for kids. It's so long compared to a regular stroller, but I'm sure I'll get used to it! A couple of other mom's at Gymboree have them and they look normal pushing them around the mall :) Gabe and I finished our Prepared Childbirth class this week and we have all the breathing exercises that we need to practice. Last time I went into labor, my water broke, but no contractions-so the breathing wasn't as necessary. I'm hoping this time will be a little different, but we can't plan these things. My next doctor's appointment is Wednesday next week and that will be the first time they will "check" me to see if I'm dilating at all. Sorry if it's TMI, but that's what's going on. Today is the 1st of August and it's exactly 1 month from my due date. So, not much longer to go. I'm trying to enjoy these last weeks of pregnancy since I won't be doing it again, but that's hard to do when my back hurts bad enough to bring tears, I'm too big to turn over in the night to try and get comfortable, and it's 90 something degrees with humidity. Maddie is constantly talking about the baby. She sees me and says "hi, baby" every morning. She lifts my shirt and uses her stethoscope to listen to the baby and then she says "baby okay." I try not to talk about the baby too much with her, but she's seen and been around a lot of babies recently and she has a natural curiosity about them. I keep thinking about when I'm in the hospital and Maddie is being taken care of by Sandy, Gabe and my Mom. I've read that she'll miss me, but I may miss her more! I'm sure she'll do fine, but it will be a change for her and then when she does see me, I'll be showing up with this baby that we've been talking about since December 28th! (That's the day I found out I was pregnant). Gosh, that seems like forever ago.
So, I thought I didn't have much to say and now I've just rambled considerably. But, that's what's happening at Casa de baby. Also, I plan to change the title/address of this blog once Grace gets here, but I'll post what that is and how to find it when it happens. Have a great weekend.

Dreams

I know they say in pregnancy, women have crazy dreams. Well, mine are certifiable! I woke up really upset today because my dream included someone dying, infidelity, and someone getting waxed. It was BIZARRE. So, no more Milano cookies for me before bed :) I forgot to blog the other day about my doctor's appointment. Maybe that's because it was such a non-event. I went in (Maddie came with me) and we saw one of the doctors and not a midwife because that was just the luck of the draw. He's a really nice doctor. We listened to Grace's heartbeat (very strong) and we measured my tummy (34 weeks and right on track). Blood pressure was great and I'm feeling fine. Oh, if by fine I mean aching feet, back, and small cramps between the Braxton-Hicks contractions I'm getting every once in a while. Yeah, I know... the end of pregnancy is supposed to be like this because then you're not so scared of labor because you have such a desire to not be pregnant anymore. It's funny though. Gabe and I are taking this childbirth class (the last one is this Wed.) and I realize that I don't feel scared about labor like last time, I feel more interested in how it will be different. Like, I really hope the anesthesiologist can put my epidural in the right way the first time so that I don't have to have it done a second time and then get a spinal. And, if this baby is jaundice, I won't be so quick to cry and worry that she's going to die like I did when Maddie was one day old. Don't get me wrong. We watched 3 birth videos in class this week and it's not a walk in the park just because it's the second time I'm doing this, but I have faith in God, the medical staff and myself to do just fine. My baby books say that I should get the car seat for the baby situated in the car and pack the labor bags because from this point on, it could happen at any time. Given my history, it will probably happen closer to the actual due date, but regardless, I'm preparing. Gabe and I are going on a date tonight :) Movie and dinner in Bethesda because he says that's where we're going to get some great sushi! I've been craving sushi since last weekend. Don't worry; I don't eat the raw stuff.

Some pictures of the past few days...

Friday 7:30ish pm
That's my belly she's resting on and Tucker is resting on her leg :)

The Girls' Room: 1 GIANT crib and one tiny crib :)

Gracie's crib

This is where I decided to hang her name. I love the
way it turned out :)

I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, so I figured I'd blog about that tomorrow and tell you all how things are going. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our Friday night (not like they used to be :) and of Maddie and Gracie's room. It's ready for the baby!

She's her mothers' daughter

Yesterday Maddie went over to her Grammy and Poppi's house to try and swim again. It was 95 degrees here and miserable and Sandy had offered to give me a break by taking Maddie for a while. Gabe and I bought Maddie a new bikini at Sesame Place with Elmo on it and she hadn't seen it yet. I sent that with her to maybe entice her to get in the pool. Well, she LOVED the bikini, but still HATES the pool! She's definitely my daughter. When I was young, I signed up to do both track & field and indoor soccer as sports I'd like to try. The truth was that I wanted the shoes and apparel that went with each sport, more than I wanted to play the actual sport. That's what Maddie's doing! She doesn't want to swim, but she wants to wear the apparel and lounge on the chaise :) I don't have any pictures of this, but I'll get some to post so that we can tease her about how much she's like me when she gets older. Sandy said that when it was time to take the suit off for a bath, Maddie really protested. That must be an almost 2 year old thing. Suddenly she takes notice of what she's wearing. She hasn't argued or protested about anything I dress her in, but from what I hear from moms of kids a little bit older than Maddie, it's just around the corner :)

The countdown begins...

33 weeks (between 4-7 weeks left to go!)

Bed-head but beautiful

So, I've been thinking about this baby a lot lately mostly because she's kicking me all the time and also because of all the ways being pregnant changes me. For example, yesterday I felt like the most irritable person EVER! No matter what I did, I felt irritated and I've come to know that's just part of being 8 months pregnant in July in 90 degree weather. Then, I ate some pizza yesterday, only to be followed by a bowl of cereal an hour later and then I seriously considered eating an avocado that Gabe brought me, but changed my mind and ate an Almond-Roca instead. So, yeah, I'm hungry and none of what I eat seems to really "go" together. Plus, as I'm blogging, I've just heated up a leftover piece of pizza and it's only 10:30 in the morning. Something I normally don't do is eat pizza in the am, but it was all I could think about. I'm eating lots of fruit and drinking lots of water, but I'm hungry all the time. I'm tired too, but it's survivable :) So, we don't have a lot going on this week. Just the normal stuff. Our internet has been on the fritz along with our home phone, so if time passes and I don't blog or email, you'll know why. They're sending someone to fix it Friday between 8am-7pm. Nice window, eh? I was ready to really complain about the 11 hour window of time when the guy on the phone told me that they'll actually call me Thursday and tell me a more definite time. So that's good. Have a good week.

We're Back!

Well, it was a great trip to PA for the past couple of days. Sesame Place was a lot of fun (even though it was 90 degrees) and Maddie did have the best time. She wasn't scared of Elmo or any of his friends whatsoever. When we first got to the park, there was Oscar in his trash can. He was hiding inside and she didn't notice him. We walked over and he came out and the look of recognition and awe in her eyes was priceless. It was like she couldn't believe he was right in front of her. A slow smile crept across her face and she looked at me like "is this real?" It was so cute. We had breakfast with Elmo, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird and Zoe. Maddie visited each of them and mostly leaned in to love them (as you can see in some of the pic's). Sesame Place has a lot of water activities and as you can see from my previous post, she's not that into water right now. So, we skipped water activities and figure that she may enjoy them more next year. Maddie went on one ride with Gabe, they climbed on the ropes course for a few seconds, she played in Big Bird's nest, went through a maze, watched a live taping of "Elmo's World" the show (that was really fun even for adults to see), and she ate an Elmo cupcake. We had a blast and it was a great memory to make with her. I'm 32 weeks pregnant now and that means that I'm definitely slowing down. This was the best time to take a trip and now we're back and just going to take it easy. On the drive home yesterday, Maddie couldn't stop coughing. The cough has been progressively getting worse and yesterday it was bad. So, I took her to the dr. and sure enough, she has an ear infection! Only her 2nd one and even with an ear infection she was a great traveler and hotel sleeper! What a trooper. So, now she's on antibiotics and sort of tired today. Last night Gabe and I went to our first refresher of our prepared childbirth class. We hired a babysitter that I found and she did great with Maddie. What a relief. The class was good; shocking, I know but Gabe and I are the only couple who is having our 2nd baby. Everyone else is first timers. Also, we had to say our due dates and we're committing to September 1st at this point and of course, I'm due first out of the whole group. We're just going to remember all the breathing we learned because it did come in handy during Maddie's birth (especially when the epidural didn't work). So, that's what's going on here. Hope you enjoy the pictures! Click here to see them.

Maddie Swims (sort of :)

So mad!

Getting more comfortable (kind of)

Eating dinner and happy that the "swimming" part is over

She's saying "Cheeeeeeeeeeese!"

Well, we took the plunge. Literally. We decided that it was time to get Maddie back in the pool at her grandparents house the other day. We asked if she wanted a swimsuit, "no." We offered her a new boat to ride around in and she said "no." So, we decided to just carry her in, naked. She was upset, but to be honest, she calmed quickly once I held her and we just sat on the stairs and relaxed. She's been teething, with a fever, for the past few days, so I'm sure that played a role in her mood that afternoon. Here's the pic's that will haunt her when she's a teen :) We're off to Sesame Place tonight and I'll blog with pic's when we get back. Have a good few days!!!

Holiday Weekend

Happy 4th of July weekend! We're staying put for the weekend and hopefully we'll be doing some swimming tomorrow over at Sandy and Carlos' house. We've tried to help Maddie be interested in swimming a couple of times so far, but it's been a no-go for her. Maybe tomorrow will be the day. Just got home from having my hair trimmed and that's always a good feeling. How come the hairdresser people can blowdry your hair so perfectly and as the client you know that it will never look this way again until the next haircut? Funny. Another funny thing that keeps happening to me (and especially with Latina women) is people ask me how far along I am and then they say "boy?" Why does everyone think it's a boy based on how I look? It's so strange. I've had 3 ultrasounds and each time I've been reassured it's a girl. So take that :) Gabe and I are having a date night tonight. Going to dinner, a meeting and then to see a reggae band that Alexa and I used to love in our early 20's. The band is from Northern CA (local for us) and it should be fun to relive our youth for one night. I'll post about how it goes. Happy 4th a day early!!!

Tuesday

Sorry I've been slacking on the blog, but here I am. It's been a busy week since I last blogged. I've painted the letters for Grace (still need to hang them) and we put the crib together. It's really cute but definitely smaller than Maddie's. I was saying to my mom that it looks like Maddie's crib is for a queen and Grace's is for a peasant! It's really nice and cute, but it's much smaller so that it could fit in the room! This morning we have Gymboree and last week when we went, Maddie didn't have that great of a time. I'm going to test those waters again this am and hope she has a better time. There was a little girl there who grabbed (pretty rudely) a toy from Maddie and it really hurt her feelings. She normally lets things like that blow off her, but she was upset and kept saying "bye-bye." Then we left. So, hopefully today is better. That other little girl just got a new sister a month or so ago and I think she's probably just out of sorts because she's normally really nice and sweet. So, we shall see. 4th of July this week. Not much going on here. I mean, yes, it's the Nation's capital and there's tons of fireworks and events, but to be honest, that means major traffic in DC and for all 4 years that I've lived here it has rained and thunderstormed on the 4th. I don't really want to be stuck on the mall in a down pour. Gabe and I haven't really talked about what our plans will be, but probably just mellow. We leave on Monday evening next week for Sesame Place! It's like Disneyland for 2 year olds in Pennsylvania. We're taking Maddie there for a couple of days and we're considering it our vacation as well as her "I'm about to be a big sister" trip. To be honest, Gabe and I have watched so much Sesame Street and Elmo that we are excited to see what it's like too. I'm sure I'll take a zillion pic's so be prepared for that. That's pretty much our news at the moment. Oh, and Maddie is getting at least one new tooth that I can feel/see. It's the tooth next to her left front tooth. It's about time :)

A little update

It's been a bit since I blogged about how I'm doing, so I thought I'd take a minute to do that. I read a lot of other mom blogs and many of us are pregnant right now. They seem to be really being in the moment of being a mom to one about to be a mom of two and I think that feeling or idea has only really recently hit me. I was rocking Maddie in the rocking chair the other night because she was having a tough time with teething and the whole time I was holding her, Grace was kicking us both from the inside. That's a crazy feeling. By crazy, I mean special. Holding someone you love so much and know so well, while a little stranger that you love equally is kicking your bellybutton from the other side is a pretty neat experience. It's strange because it feels like both a long time until we meet her and also it feels like it's right around the corner. I'm 30 weeks pregnant this week and I have a check up tomorrow morning. Basically, at the most, I have 10 weeks until Grace gets here, but she could really come any time in the next 7-8 weeks. That's exciting, but because it's going to be my last pregnancy (I'm pretty sure) it's also a little sad. Don't get me wrong; I'm uncomfortable for sure, but I always looked forward to having kids and it's kind of crazy to think of that part of my life as done. On the other hand, it will be nice to have my body back to myself and to get out of dealing with diapers, bottles, sleep deprivation (I know it will return when I have 2 teenage girls), etc. In the here and now I'm definitely in baby mode; going through all of Maddie's newborn sized clothes, buying some new things, finding the little hats and mittens they wear in the beginning (to not scratch their face), painting and hanging her name, putting the crib together, putting the double stroller together (it's HUGE), etc. It's busy stuff, but it's so fun and over and over I'm reminded how happy I am to be having another girl. I always wanted Maddie to have a sister and I'm so happy they will be so close in age. Maddie has such a loving nature to her that I feel like she's going to be a really good older sister. I'm not expecting there to not be jealousies in the beginning, but I think deep down she's going to do a great job. So, that's what we're up to. Maddie is still using her potty every day (mostly for pee, but today she's decided to use it 2x to poop :) She's getting the hang of it because with each drop, she gets jellybeans and hey, what wouldn't you do for a couple of JellyBellys?

Baby Grace

Went and had a 3D ultrasound today and of course, Baby Gracie was only sort of cooperating. Much like Maddie did when I had her 3D scan done. So, here's the best shot. It looks a little alarming, but don't they all. If you look close ( on the left of the pic) you can see her eye, cheek, nose and her mouth is open to yawn :) Enjoy!