Parents Visit

Currently my parents are visiting.

My dad & Al have been working on the nursery. It appears that the crappy painting job the painters did on the ceiling when the house was built was actually a crappy primer painting job. There has been no real paint on the ceiling for 15 years. We looked at my sewing room upstairs and it has the same crappy primer job. That is a project for another day.

I am getting kicked out of the house whenever they put a layer of paint on. (No paint fumes for me.) This is NOT easy for me... I am not exactly the most mobile person when 32 weeks pregnant and with a cold that prevents me from being able to breathe through my nose 50% of the time. Not getting enough sleep at night is also slowing me down.

Insomnia has kicked in. I fall asleep somewhere between 10:30 and 11 every night. Then I wake up somewhere between 2:30 am and 3:30 am. Usually I can get back to sleep around 6 am. However, my alarm goes off at 6:30 on the weekdays. I am trying to take naps to compensate.

Acid reflex and my sliding hiatal hernia are killing me. It is no wonder that the hernia is bothering me more now than before I was pregnant. Lain(e) is quishing my stomach upwards! "Eating frequent small meals" does not really solve the problem in the middle of the night. Actually, it really doesn't solve the problem during the day either.

On a positive- I have the top of the monkey quilt completed!!


Now I just need to put it together. (The part I hate.)

May not be appropriate for younger readers (or male relatives)

So, as we all know, boobs get bigger during pregnancy. Yes, mine went up two full cup sizes by the beginning of the second trimester. I am expecting another growth spurt when lactation begins. However, after today’s event, I think nature it trying to tell me that they are too big as it is.

Fifteen minutes ago I went outside to get the mail. When I came back in I brought the mail upstairs to the office. I sat on the couch and leaned to the side. I felt some hair brush against my collar bone and didn’t think much of it. Then I felt it continue to move across my collar bone and fall into my cleavage. (Note: my hair is not long enough to fall into my cleavage.) I pulled my shirt out slightly to see what had just fallen into my shirt. I took one look and loudly shouted, “Al! Help!”

See, when I looked in my shirt, there was a bee sitting on the bridge of my bra (bridge = fabric that connects the two cups). It was trying frantically to climb out but kept slipping because, well, my boobs are kinda big now and it was having difficulty with the incline and my smooth skin. (A compliment, I guess.)

What to do… what to do… I couldn’t get up because that would only upset the bee more and make it fall further into my shirt where I would certainly get stung. Al couldn’t reach inside because he would have been stung as well. Squishing it was out of the question. So Al suggested that I lean back so that the poor little guy wouldn't have to climb such a big incline.

So I leaned back and pulled my boobs apart to give the bee some place to go. It promptly started walking up my cleavage and out of my shirt. Al had a piece of paper ready for the bee to climb onto. Once the bee was safely on the paper, Al took it outside.

So, if D sized boobs can trap bees, what kind of animal can I expect to trap if I become a DD?

1 Day 2 Posts

Al has been getting gifts from co-workers. Thought I would share some here. Below you will see Linda (my childhood teddy bear) sporting a clothing set given to Lain(e) by KG & Andy, along with a set of onesies.












I never did post our gifts from Nathan & Colin (Al's boss' kids, aged 4 1/2 and 2 1/2). This picture also features Colin's letter to Al. (Note: the one with the circle for a belly is me.)

Two Cute Stories & One Normal Story

Story #1
Yesterday I was on the phone with my mother. Meanwhile, Lain(e) was awake and moving around quite contently. I was leaning back on the couch so that I was basically at a 45-degree angle. Lain(e) stopped moving for a moment and I felt her begin to push against the back of my uterus near my spine. As she pushed against me, the famous bump to the right of my belly button appeared. I realized then that she was trying to push herself into her favorite position. Unfortunately, as I felt her relax the push, the bump went away. A few seconds later, she pushed again and the bump reappeared. She held her push for about five seconds and then slowly released it, which of course made the bump go back down. She repeated this exercise several more times before giving up. I guess a good mommy would have sat up to permit her to get into her favorite position, but I was having too much fun watching and feeling her problem-solve. I wonder if this has taught her about the “miracles” of gravity.


Story #2
Last night I had a dream that Lain(e) had been born a couple days ago. We put her in a miniature car seat because she was an itty bitty tiny girl. She was dressed in a full body suit, like she was dressed for a New England winter, and had a fuzzy pink hat on. Al picked her up out of the car seat and was gleaming like any proud daddy. I have to admit that she was absolutely adorable, especially when she started to smack her lips in her half asleep daze.

Of course since it was a dream, it had to have some sort of absurd component to it. Supposedly the doctors took her out to address some issue, but planned on putting her back inside me until she reached 40 weeks. I remember thinking in my dream that since she was born early with no complications, and was completely healthy, that there was no reason to put her back in. (My dreams are always interesting.)


A Non-cute story:
The Braxton-Hicks contractions I had today were quite tolerable, thank god. I took a walk around my floor at work and they started to go away. Unfortunately, there were two people along the way that wanted to engage me in a conversation. I need to devise some sort of signal that says, “Can’t talk, walking off false labor pains.”

A new kind of Tummy Time

Just so you know-
A- It is difficult to draw on skin lightly. (I'll use marker next time.)
B- It is very difficult to draw upside down.
C- It is nearly impossible to draw in an area where you can't see. (She is smirking... yeah, that's it!)

Childbirth Class

Today we had our “how to get a baby out of a mommy” class. We were one couple out of ten in the class. People ranged from 37 weeks to 30ish weeks. No one was pregnant with multiples. Eight and a half of the couples were having their first child.

Let’s see… topics covered: pain, stages of labor, relaxation methods, breathing methods, more pain, various positions to move the baby into a more favorable position, various positions to open up the pelvis, vaginal versus c-section births, unbearable pain, pain management options, practice sessions, textbook first delivery time frames, oh yes and there was some mention that even though our bodies know how to deliver babies naturally there might be some discomfort and pain associated with it. Go figure.

We did an exercise where the support person stood along a continuum regarding their feelings on the use of pain medications. I would say two-thirds of the support people stood with the favoring of pain meds and the rest stood on the non-favoring side. Al stood pretty much exactly where I felt. I am pretty much aiming for natural, but I want to be completely realistic that drugs may be needed, especially if I am in labor for a long time or if the pain gets too unbearable. Even though I want to avoid them at all costs, I will likely be easily swayed after many hours of labor.

Monday’s Beating & Today’s Appointment

On Monday, my daughter beat me up. What did I do wrong? I wore a pair of pants to work that she did not like. (Explanation below.)

I was given a pair of pants that are off-white and actually have pockets! Since I hate purses, pockets on pants are essential. It had been over a week since I had worn them and Lainey had never taken issue with them before.

Since I personally like low-riding pants, I pushed the elastic band down below my belly. I could tell she was right side up because she kept taking her feet/heals and pushing against the waistband. Apparently she is now big enough to notice the elastic band there. She was kicking it hard. She was also moving her foot along it trying to push it away. Seriously, this girl has some strength! I was starting to get quite sore after 20 minutes of these shenanigans.

The only option I had was to pull the waistband as high up on my tummy as I could get it. I was able to get it close to the top of my uterus. Lainey stopped kicking. Thank god! But then I felt her moving around quite feverishly. There were kicks and shuffles and movement and pushing. “What are you doing down there silly girl?” I asked. Well, apparently she turned herself upside down, because I started to feel her kick and push against the waistband at the top of my tummy. AAA!!!

I knew it was a losing battle. I did get some relief when she tuckered herself out and slept for an hour or so. However, the damage had been done. My bladder, colon, stomach, and all sorts of other internal organs were all causalities of war. Needless to say, I was in rough shape Monday night.


Today’s Appointment:
I had another doctor’s appointment today. (Now they will be every other week until week 36.) My uterus measured 29cm, which is right on target. My weight was 138 lbs, which is right on target. (I weighed 117 at 6 weeks and 114 several months before getting pregnant.) Her heartbeat was in the mid to high 140s, which is perfectly normal. My sugar tests came back normal, which means I do not have gestational diabetes.

My doctor felt her to see what position she was in at the time. She was upside down, with her back and butt just to the right of my belly button. Which explains why I get a bump there and look lopsided! She has her feet and hands slightly to my left, and she pokes out her butt and back on my right. Not sure why this is her favorite position, but it is. Perhaps she likes my heat against her tummy and face? Perhaps it is because I sleep more on my right side and therefore it takes less time for her to get comfortable at night? Perhaps it is because the major artery that feeds her is to the left and she doesn’t want to squish it? I just don’t know; I will have to ask her when I meet her face to face.

I talked with my doctor about some cramps I have been feeling over the past week. I told her that it is quite uncomfortable but that it doesn’t feel like my whole uterus is contracting and that it doesn’t feel like labor is coming on. She thinks that it is Braxton Hicks. I told her how I had been remedying the situation, which she thought was the appropriate thing to do. She told me what I should look out for with the cramps and when I should call in when warning signs appear. It is good to know that my body is already getting ready by doing regular exercises. While I am certainly not a fan of these uncomfortable moments, I at least know that my muscles are building up some strength. And god knows I am going to need it in a couple months!

Second car seat base

It has been a whole week without a post and I have been getting complaints.

Let’s see… what to write about…

We bought a travel system a while ago. It is currently in the box in the garage, so I have no good pictures of it. If you click this link though, it will show you the item. For the life of me, I could not find a second base online. I spent hours entering every variation I could think of for “Evenflo Aura Elite Travel System- Oh So Big.” I found na-da! Google, Evenflo, Babies R’ Us, etc. searches were all useless to me. When I looked at the Evenflo website it said to call a 1-800 number to purchase a second base. I thought that was my only option, so I called on a furlough day (so many places are not open during non-business hours).

There was a good ten-minute wait to talk to someone. I went out in the garage because I figured they were going to need the model name to link it up to the appropriate base. Once I got the lady on the phone she asked what car seat I had. I told her that I had the Evenflo Aura Elite Travel System. She then stated that that was the name of the travel system but that there was a specific name for the car seat inside. I asked in an almost teasing manner, “I don’t know the name of the specific seat, but it is a neutral color and has animals on the fabric. Does that help?” Her cold response: “No.” She then said that it would be listed as Embrace or Discovery at the bottom of the box. I looked and looked, but saw nothing of the sort. (Imagine pregnant lady doing squatted laps around a 2.5’ x 2.5’ x 3.5’ box.) When that approach proved fruitless, she stated that I would have to look at the car seat itself. I asked if she could look it up based on any of the codes listed on the box. The answer was a definite no.

Now let me tell you, those boxes are difficult to get into! It has more staples and glue holding it together than all the glue and staples I’ve ever used in all of my grade school projects combined! Lainey and I struggled getting into the box but we finally managed to get it open. Then it came time to actually FIND the car seat amongst the stroller, car base, cardboard, random packing paper, and pamphlets in the box. Alas, we did find it after making an enormous mess! “It is an Embrace,” I said exhaustedly. The lady told me the cost and the amount of shipping and handling. I said okay. THEN (and only then) she stated that I could get it at any Babies R’ Us or Walmart in my area, and that Walmart would order without shipping charges if it is not carried by that particular store. I responded, “Well, I do not support the evil company called Walmart, however I did look online at Babies R’ Us to add it to the registry but was unable to find it.” “Well, you have to enter the name of the car seat not the travel system to find it,” she said. “You sure?” A cold “yes” was given. “Well I’m sorry to have wasted your time, but I will just go and do that then.”

I got online and searched “Embrace car base.” I half expected it to not show up based on my previous searching experiences, however, it ended up being the first hit on the list. (Headdesk.)

Reward Offered…

... for information leading to the capture of the Houdini that is making my belly button disappear!