And salty really sounds good

Well, it's that time again. You know, the time I announce that WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!! That's right. Bras(s) baby #3 will join our family early February 2012.

To answer some FAQs:
I am currently 7 weeks, though I am already undeniably showing. I think I will start my belly pics next week.

I've been feeling quite good so far in the way of nausea. I've only had a couple of "oh I think I'm going to puke" moments thus far.

I have been quite tired. I haven't figured out if that's due to pregnancy or the fact that my kids have been waking up between 5:30 and 6 am for the past 3 months or so. Probably both. I've been going to bed earlier, but boy some mornings are hard to get up. But for now, I'd rather put my kids to bed on the earlier end and have an evening of not being mommy than sleep in.

I am hoping we have a girl, but if we have another boy we will be just as happy.

I had two previous c-sections (one emergency and one planned) and felt kind of coerced into the second one since Matt's reasoning was "would you rather die or have a c-section?" and my doctor didn't seem too keen on the idea. What's done is done. I really, really, really want to avoid another c-section (recovery with other small children was WAY harder than when I just had a new little baby, plus I feel like it really contributed to postpartum blues for me), so I'm going to start doing consultations with ob-gyns and midwives who will consider vbacs after 2 c-sections. There is one in Denton (about 30 min. away) who is fairly famous for having a high vbac success rate, and has delivered successful vba2c and vba3c even. We'll see what happens, though, since Matt's really not supportive of it.

As for cravings, nothing specific but salt. Salty foods have sounded sooo good to me. Even things like tomatoes with a generous dusting of salt. It doesn't just have to be greasy foods, though chips and the like have sounded good too. The other day when I was eating chips and salsa, I was salting each individual chip. I know. Hopefully I can cut back on that before it starts making me retain a lot of water! =)

I've still been running 4 days a week and lap swimming 1. I just borrowed a road bike from friends and I'm hoping to start riding about 12-15 mi. one day a week. We'll see how long I can do that before I start bumping my belly. I wanted to do a tri-sprint in Sept, but I'll be 18 weeks and last time at 18 weeks I was pretty pregnant! There is one in July, but I don't know if I can feel confident biking by then. I'm quite the beginner, and this 26 year old road bike is much, much trickier than anything I've ever ridden.

I think the kids will do okay with it. Right after we found out we were pregnant, Dean told me (we hadn't told him we were pregnant yet) that he wanted to go to the hospital and bring home and new baby that day. I explained it didn't quite work like that and told him it was a much longer process. Today Dean randomly rubbed my newly protruding tummy and I told him that there was a baby growing inside. He seemed excited. Much better than last fall when he told me he didn't want any more kids in the family because "Walter was enough brother."

We're excited though a little scared to be out numbered. I'm already starting to feel the same sadness about not living near any family that I had when I had Walter. It was really, really hard for me to not have family around last time. Hopefully it will be better this time though. Or maybe I can convince Matt to move somewhere closer. Yeah right. Not impossible, but not probable either.

And finally, I'm really happy to not be 9 months pregnant during another Texas summer!!

Announcing Walter James

I'm pretty sure by now my announcements should have arrived, so I will post it now here.

The front of the announcement said, "Just arrived" and after that the details varied. Some had a stamped animal train. Some had felt cars, trucks, or planes. The colors were all similar, but I didn't have a cookie cutter announcement. I can't ever replicate anything exactly. Just not my style I guess.

Is he not one of the cutest little (big) guys ever?? When I snapped this photo (about a month ago) I was so happy I finally caught him on camera so perfectly.

At 3 1/2 months he weighs in at 18-19 lbs on my scale and by my measurements he's about 26 inches long! That means he's gained about 11-12 lbs. and grown about 5 1/2 inches in just a few short months!! That just seems like a ton.

He is my wonderful little Walter. (I call him both Walt and Walter depending on my and his mood.) He is a fabulous baby. If he's fed with a clean diaper and has had enough sleep, he is just as content as can be.

He is in a very fun stage right now.

He is gaining control over his hands and arms and licks/sucks his hands like little lollipops. He rarely puts individual fingers in his mouth, though.

It's easy to make him smile and giggle.

He is ticklish, especially when I'm changing his clothes.

We just moved Dean's old crib into our bedroom since Dean is happily transitioned over to the toddler bed and has been for a few months. I am so glad to be done with the pack and play. He was so long I had to put his feet in first (under the changing table) and then lay his body down. I will get a real mini-crib (or a wooden rocking cradle) the next baby we have if Walt's still using the regular crib! I am not a fan of the pack n play bassinet any more.

He has beautiful blue eyes.

He is close to rolling over. Every time he's on his back he cranes around to the left and twists till he is all but flipped completely.

He no longer sleeps all swaddled up, but it has been a little harder and taken a little longer to get him to sleep. I think he's getting closer to the point where I don't have to put him in bed asleep, but will fall asleep on his own without his arms jerking and waking him up.

His longest naps seem to take place in my bed after I've nursed him/taken a nap with him. I finally figured out how to nurse in bed! I never could get it down with Dean. I only do it during naps though. It's too frustrating at night.

He "talks" a lot when I am out of sight. He squeaks and squawks letting me know that he wants a little attention. He doesn't cry a whole lot (unless he's been "talking" for awhile without any response from me), but he does let me know he wants to see me or be picked up.

At night he sleeps from about 7-7 and normally eats 2-3 times during that time.
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Walter's Birth Story

I never actually told his birth story. Since he was a scheduled c-section it just seemed a little anti-climactic.

He was due August 3rd and we scheduled his c-section 1 week earlier on July 27th. I never had any contractions with him. We were the first surgery that morning and we had to get there around 5:30 am. My friend Alexis came to our house about 5:15 that morning and hung out on the couch until Dean woke up. She then took him to her house to play with her daugher who's 2 weeks younger than Dean until Matt could come get him.

We drove to the Medical Center of [our town]. After we got inside they immediately had me dress in a hospital gown. Since we'd forgotten to check in and pay our co-pay, Matt went down to do all that while they were doing my IV and vitals.

When they put in my IV the prick hurt worse than any prick I can remember. My blood pressure dropped really quickly, and I nearly passed out. Another nurse was taking my vitals at the same time and my numbers were like 60/40 or something crazy like that. My lips and face lost all color and when Matt came back, I was white as a sheet and they were trying to get me through that.

We waited about 30 min. for the doctor to arrive and prep and then they wheeled me into the OR. I got a spinal and my anesthesiologist was a great. He was really nice, warm, upbeat and a calming influence. I think I twitched the first time he tried to do my spinal, but he got it the second time and it really didn't hurt. While the drugs started kicking in, he made casual conversation, mainly about that YouTube wedding video where the wedding party danced down the isle that was circulating at the time. And he talked about fishing at the lake in his back yard.

The spinal was WAY better than the drug route I went with Dean. They put up a sheet to cover my lower half and they brought Matt in. He stood by my head and held my hand. They cut and tugged (all the while I didn't feel a thing. I love modern medicine.) and within about 15 min. they pulled out our baby. Matt snapped a picture of the doc holding him right after she pulled him out and you can totally see my belly all cut open. Pretty crazy.

Nurses took him and cleaned him up a little in the corner of the OR. They wrapped him up and someone held him by my head so I could see him while the doc. continued stitching up my belly and whatnot.

While I was drugged and barely had use of my arms, I was lucid and was able to actually see him. That was nice. I didn't have the body convulsions I had after Deans, and I felt very calm. It was surreal, but I was calm.

They took him and did all his tests and measurements and I waited somewhere (in the OR?) about a 1/2 hour until a recovery room was ready. While we were waiting for our room Matt and I talked about name impressions since we hadn't settled on a name beforehand. The name that came to Matt was Walter Campbell. After seeing his super blond hair with possibly a tint of red, Walter James or James Campbell kept alternating in my mind. It took me 2 days, but I finally went with Walter James. I'm glad we did. He's a good little Walt.

All of the nurses and hospital personnel continually commented on how much blond hair he had. I guess it's pretty uncommon to see so much blond hair on a new born.

They brought him back to my room after all his tests. He seemed so little. He was a lb. lighter than Dean was when he was born, and he seemed so bony! While in the hospital we had a little scare that he might have strep (though my doctor thought that was nearly impossible) because of some weird blood counts, so they had him on an IV the whole time. That was so sad to see his tiny hand all wrapped up with the IV.

Since I couldn't lift him out of the cart by myself and Matt wasn't with me the whole time, he mainly stayed in the nursery and they brought him to me to nurse.

After I was settled, Matt went and picked Dean up around noon. He took Dean home and put him down for a nap then they came and visited me in the hospital after he woke up. Dean was a little confused, but kind of just thought Walt was a passing novelty. He waved to him and could say Walt's name. He was really nice to him in the hospital. He took me not being at home for 4 days better than I thought he would. That was scary and hard for me since we'd never been apart for more than 2 hours before.

On a side note, here is the best advice I can give to people having c-sections: Bring Fiber-One bars. There's a high probability of being constipated from the drugs and surgery. After Dean I drank a ton of warm prune juice mixed with soda. It wasn't horrible and worked ok. But let me tell you! This time I ate 3 fiber bars (that were delicious) and a bowl of Fiber One cereal the first day and by the next morning, just 24 hours after my surgery, I had a bm and it wasn't even painful. I ate 2 more bars and a bowl of cereal that second day and I didn't have one problem with it at all after that. I had to laugh when they asked if I'd passed gas yet and I said, "Well, I've already had 3 bowel movements!"

The first shower I took in the hospital was a crazy experience. I got in and turned it nice and hot. It felt good to stand under hot water and get clean. But then I started feeling very woozy. I had shut the door and it was super hot. I had a chair in there and somehow got myself into it. Just when I felt like I was going to pass out, I heard a nurse in my room calling in to me, "Is everything all right in there?" I told her I was feeling woozy and she came in and got me. She quickly called for help because she could tell I wasn't doing so well. Another nurse brought some smelling salts because I was on my way out of consciousness. Those things are strong! But it helped and they wrapped a towel around me and took me back to my bed. It was pretty crazy. They said maintenance had been working on the water and must have turned the heat up higher than normal. I leveled out after I got some cool air. I hadn't rung for help, so I asked the nurse how she knew I needed something. She said, "Well, I just got this feeling like I needed to come check on you." How grateful I am that the Lord sends promptings to everyone willing to listen! I am positive that's what it was. She was one of the nicest nurses (and I knew her from my first stay there as well). I felt very blessed.

This time I was able to walk quicker, stand up straight quicker, and over all I felt better faster. I have to say, though, that it was pretty hard not to be able to pick Dean up for 6 weeks. I only made it 4 and then I couldn't take it. I kept worrying that I was doing too much, but I just couldn't not pick up my little Dean. After I started picking him up, all I heard for about 2 weeks was "Hold you me mommy!"

I stayed alone in the hospital since Matt had to stay home with Dean. I had some really great nurses this time around. One of them was LDS and had 5 kids of her own. She was really helpful one night when Walt didn't want to do anything but sleep when he needed to eat. Matt came and visited me about twice a day with Dean. My parents got there on Wednesday (I had surgery on Monday) and then I came home from the hospital on Friday.

Walt's just been a dream baby. He is just the baby I needed this time around. I love seeing his personality form. Dean's really coming into being a big brother. We all still have our "adjusting" moments, but he's just been such a blessing to our family.

The name game: a follow up

When we got to the hospital we were still unsure of a name for our baby. We had 5 names that were on the "short list" for a first name: Edward, James, Luke, Garrett, and Walter. James is a family name on both sides, and Walter is Matt's great, great grandfather (though we didn't know that when it first made our list). Edward was a name that topped Matt's list for years, and Garrett was Matt's current favorite boy name. Luke was a name my dad suggested since Matt's dad's name is Mark. Mark, Matthew, and Luke.

For middle names we only had two ideas: Campbell and James. Campbell is the Scottish clan on Matt's mom's side.

Initially Matt got to see the baby longer than I, so as we were waiting to get him back from the clean up and tests, I asked if he had any names stick out to him. He said there was a name that came to him, but he wanted me to see him and hear what I thought before he told me his idea.

After I saw him, two names popped into my head and I thought both were quite suitable for our little blondie. One was Walter James. The other was James Campbell. The name that came to Matt was Walter Campbell. I thought that was also a suitable name after hearing it. I was totally torn and couldn't figure out what name was "the best" for him. After mulling it over two days in the hospital, I kept coming back to Walter. Maybe it was because I mentally referred to him as such the last few months of pregnancy.

I really liked Campbell for a middle name, but it just didn't seem to flow right syllabically with Walter. Wal-ter Camp-bell Bras-field. It wasn't bad; I could live with it, but it just didn't feel right to me. So then I was back to Walter James. When I told Matt I was leaning toward that, he said to go with it.

Even after we put it down on the birth certificate papers, I was a little worried we'd given him the wrong name. Was he really James Campbell?

After having him home for a week I feel like we made the right choice. Walt just works.

Be Back Shortly

No picture update (our camera battery's being charged for the hospital). Our c-section is scheduled for 7:30 tomorrow morning. I'll probably be in the hospital until Thursday, so there will most likely be no pictures or updates till then. See you when I have a new baby!

As reality sets in

Last night I shed a few tears thinking about what will happen next week. It's hard to think of being away from Dean for more than 3 whole days. Sure I'll see him in the hospital a couple times, but that's a big change from being with him nearly every waking hour for the past 21 months. Heck, I'm tearing up just writing this. Matt thought I was being a bit over the top, but when you don't leave your kid with anyone (including your husband) for more than a couple hours every 4-5 months (I guess now once a week with nursery), you get kind of attached. And then you worry about their attachment and adjustment as well. And then to top it all off, Dean woke up sick this morning. Fever over 100*, hasn't eaten a thing. At least he's drunk some milk, gatorade, and a little soda. Once the Tylenol kicked in, he acted fairly normal, but as it wears off each time, his fever returns and he gets lethargic and cranky (for good reason). I really, really hope that he'll get over this quickly. It would be so much worse leaving a little sick boy for 3 days for others to care for him...

I'm not worried about loving Dean less or the new baby not enough or too much, but the unknown is still a bit scary. How do you divide your time when you're used to giving yourself exclusively to one little being?? Will the new guy be as fussy/colicky as Dean was? How will I get through the day when I don't get to take naps like I did when Dean was a baby? Oh, I know we'll figure it out, but I do anticipate a rocky adjustment. Hopefully I really am being over the top and it will all come more easily than I expect. But I've found that life rarely is easy than you expect.

woohoo!

Well, I just got back from my last pre-baby doctor's visit. I'm throwing Dean off schedule again; he's late going down for his nap. Ah well. Learning flexibility...right?

Well, I have NO GESTATIONAL DIABETES!! Hooray! She said my glucose level was 62 which means that if anything, it's low! Still sugar in my urine. Just an odd thing I guess. That makes me so happy since it's kind of stressed me out this past week. Probably contributed to my cold.

My last set of stats 5 days before I have my baby:
Weight: 155 still, so 24 lbs. total so far
Blood pressure: 110/60, so that's better today too
Dilated between a 1 and 2

The questions I had answered:
What happens if I or Matt still has a cold? Well, nothing, really. We still have the c-section and Matt can still be in the OR with a mask on.

How long does the c-section take? Well, the baby will be out within a few minutes of cutting and with stitch up and everything, it will all be done in about 1/2 hour.

How long will I be in the hospital after? It depends on me and how well I'm feeling and how quickly I want to leave. I could leave as early as Wed. or as late as Friday, but most Monday c-sections generally go home on Thursday.

Pain management? I only asked this because my sister said to make sure they didn't give me demamorph in my IV. The doc. said she usually won't use that. She said something else, but I didn't pay that close of attention. Oops.

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This baby is feeling sooo much bigger this week! He's kicking out in places he hasn't before. Lots of side action, which is unusual. I really hope having him a week before his due date isn't going to affect him poorly for respiratory issues or jaundice or anything else.

Other than my cold I'm feeling pretty good, really. A little tired and hot, but Dean and I were still able to take advantage of the cooler morning (low 80's with a breeze!) and take a walk (1.2 miles round trip) to the park and play for 2 hours. I can still get up and down from sitting on the ground while holding Dean if I have to! I've slept on the couch the past couple days since I don't want to get Matt sick and I'm cooler under the living room fan. Less puffing and water retention than last time. I'll post one more picture on Sunday probably.

One week

One week left people. One week. Just enough time to get over this cold I have. Hopefully.

Gestational Diabetes at 37 weeks???

I'm not sure yet if I actually have gestational diabetes, but today at my apt. my doctor said that last week (met with the midwife since my doc was gone) and this week I've had sugar in my urine. It could mean diabetes, but they took some blood today to confirm if it is or not. Ack. She said at my 28 week diabetes test my sugar count was 78 and anything under 140 is normal, so I wasn't even borderline. She only sees a patient develop diabetes this late in pregnancy once every couple of years, so it's pretty rare. I REALLY hope that the blood work comes back normal, but if not at least it's only 11 days of having to really watch what I eat. I don't even know where to begin with that, so I'll probably have to do a little web searching.

As for my other stats:
I'm now at 155, so I've gained a total of 24 lbs. since my first visit.
My blood pressure was 98/60, so it's in the low normal range.
Dilated to 1 cm.

Hello Heartburn

I have been having horrible heartburn the last few days. I never really had it with Dean, so this is new for me. I've gotten it after eating anything, really. I had oatmeal for breakfast this morning followed by a good dose of heartburn. Apples for a snack. Heartburn. A large glass of water. Heartburn.

I am grateful that my "pregnancy suffering" is quite minimal compared to a lot of people I know. At least it wasn't like this the whole pregnancy. And even this is quite low on the scale of suffering.

The name game.

Well, we've had a lot of people recently ask if we have a name picked out for our little guy yet. My most common answer is that we're still not 100% sure, and I leave it at that. I've been more hesitant giving out our name ideas this time around, though I'm not positive why. Maybe it's because we'll probably not be 100% sure of his name until we're at the hospital.

It's hard coming up with names we both agree on. We do, however, both prefer masculine, traditional names for boys that are not over used. Matt's very anti-made-up-sounding names, especially if they're really trendy at the moment. For a long time Matt really liked the name Edward. It took him 4 years to convince me that I could name one of my sons Edward, but during this pregnancy he told me he's over that name now. Fine with me, especially with the whole Twilight craze. I've trended toward somewhat British sounding names like Calvin, Ivan, Gavin, Simon, etc, but Matt wasn't super fond of any of those, and I wasn't feeling all that strongly about them for this baby anyway.

My dad suggested Luke since my father-in-law's name is Mark and my husband's name is Matthew. We both found it pretty funny, and we honestly think that Luke is a pretty decent name, but not this baby's name.

About half way through we happened upon a name that we both liked enough to put on our "consider" list. I've stood by it since then, but Matt's gone back and forth. He did feel better about it after finding out that we do have at least one ancestor with the name.

Anyway, I looked it up on the social security site for the popularity, and in 2008 it was ranked #393. Awesome. Dean was ranked #353 the year he was born. That got me curious about my name.

I love my name. Honestly. I feel like I have probably the best girl's name ever. It's common enough that I don't get weird looks but uncommon enough that I've only ever met 1 other Celia in my entire life! I'm entirely grateful that my parents didn't name me Cecilia, though people (usually older people) have been known to call me that. The year I was born it was ranked #616. Last year it was #757. I love it.

The count down.

I changed my due date count down widget to reflect my c-section date. 20 days left...

Officially Scheduled

In the beginning of this pregnancy, I went back and forth on whether or not I should try a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) or just schedule a c-section. At first I was all for VBAC. We've discussed having a total of 3-5 kids, taking it one at a time and seeing how we feel after each addition. Since we're not sure how many kids we'll have, I was worried that having too many c-sections would limit that number. I've heard many doctors only recommend 3 c-sections, but my sister just had her 4th and she said recovery was easiest this last time! So, who knows.

Matt was very opposed to trying a VBAC. He was worried I'd have the same problems I had with Dean. If my original c-section had been the result of a cord wrapped incorrectly, the baby being breech, the baby having a BM before delivery, etc. I would have tried VBAC. But I was just plain too small for him to fit through. Since I haven't gotten any larger, and this baby probably won't be any smaller than Dean (he was only 8 lbs. 6 oz.), it's highly likely that this one will get stuck as well.

So, in the end, we decided to eliminate the 18 hours of labor and the emergency part of the c-section and just schedule one instead.

While this option is nice because 1. I will get to deliver a little early and 2. We can plan a little better as to when we need help, this is not without it's drawbacks. Matt's done a lot of internet searching as to the problems that can arise with scheduled c-sections. Apparently the chance for respitory and other problems is higher for babies born before 39 weeks. My doctor won't deliver any more than 1 week from the due date (so 39 weeks), so this shouldn't be that big of a deal. But it still scares Matt, and if anything happens to go wrong health wise, I know he'll always blame it on the c-section being too early...

Yesterday when I told him his concerns just made me want to try a VBAC, he said that scares him even more than scheduling a week early. So on the books we go; the scheduling nurse called me today and set it up.

If all goes according to plan (and who knows, I could always go into labor before this. People tell me all the time that "it must be any day now, right? You look like you're gonna pop!"), I'll be having this baby on Monday July 27, 2009 at 7:30 am. That is exactly 1 week before my due date of August 3rd. Monday is the day she normally does surgery, and I want to be sure that she is the one doing it. She did such a fabulous job the first time around (even after a full day of delivering babies and going home only to be called back in under emergency cicumstances), I don't want to risk someone else botching this one up.

I have to check into the hospital at 5:30 AM, so we'll probably have someone come and hang out here until Dean wakes up and take care of him until Matt gets home from the hospital a couple hours later. Today I asked a former piano student of mine (oldest of 5 kids and I trust her and her family completely!) if she could, and while she didn't have her schedule with her (we were at the store when I saw her), she thought she'd be able to do it.

It's kind of weird to have such a detailed plan involving a birth.

Guilty as charged

Ok. I wasn't actually charged. I just know I'm guilty of having perfectly good things to blog about and choosing to do different things all together. So, this post is merely to tell myself that life is still moving forward even if I'm not religiously blogging about it. I know, catch up posts are never as good as "in the moment" posts. Too much stuff. Too disjointed. Whatever though.

We had been renting out an electric piano we are keeping for my in-law's and it was returned to us last week. After a year of renting they decided they needed to make a commitment and buy something if their son was going to continue. We pushed down our dresser and set it up in our bedroom so I can have something quiet enough to practice on when Dean is sleeping. It is not a piano, nor does it feel like a piano despite the pedals and weighted keys, but does allow me to practice when I could not otherwise. I am grateful to have it back. I don't know if we'll have room for it when I set the baby up in there, but maybe, just maybe, I will be able to pull something together for my spring recital. It is the first time I'm attempting to learn and perform an entirely new to me piece for a solo performance since...well, I guess since the Miss Navajo County pageant way back in 1999. Brahms' Hungarian Dance no. 5. The song is not extremely difficult except that it has a HUGE left hand range that jumps back and forth with chords that make my hand feel too little. I just have to work on my hand strength and extension and musicality a bit. We'll see if I can pull it together in a month...

It has been hot and oppressively humid (my mom said it was 85% humidity or something) here this week, and I have not liked it one bit. I have gone to bed feeling very sticky almost every night this week. Yesterday the heat broke, we had our windows open and fans blowing, and our temperature in the house was a nice 71*. So much nicer. The temp. started to rise again today, so when it really heats up again this week, I'll have to break out sprinklers or go to a sprinkler park or something. I wish I wasn't so paranoid of playing in our big yard. Darned fire ants. It will be quite nice when the pool opens again on May 23rd. I have a feeling many of our mornings will be spent there instead of the park.

Dean's obsession with the park has been rekindled. He begs every day to go, and regardless of how long we stay, he always wants "mo bahk" or "mo bahp"(more park). He's getting very good at climbing the fake rock wall up to the slides by himself. He won't slide by himself, so if I slide down with him, I am very careful to keep his feet inside mine so we don't hurt his foot again.

I got a whole slew of books to read from my friend Laura. I'm nearly finished with Emily Climbs, and I just got it on Thursday night.

I attempted to work on my unfinished skirt on Friday. I made a little progress, but as I was trying to gather the bottom ruffle, the basting stitches busted so I will have to figure out a different method to gather it. It's just way too much ruffle to pull through the thread I have.

Our garden's starting to look like a garden with everything popping up. We've had tons of rain this week, so that's been helpful. I really hope it does well this year since we got it planted much earlier than the last two years. We have planted:

• 1/2 row watermelons (though I don't have much hope for them)
• 1/2 row cantaloupe
• full row green beans
• pickler and straight eight cucumbers
• 4 tomato plants (I had only planned on two. The first two I got looked like they froze since we had a freakish cold wave in April. I pulled them up and left them on the side of the garden with their root ball still attached. My friend Erin noticed that they were alive and growing on Friday! So I replanted them along side the two replacement plants.)
  
• 2 bell pepper plants
• 1 jalapeno plant
• 1/2 row of yellow squash
• 1/2 row of zucchini
• 3 planter boxes with strawberry plants (I think we have about 7 plants that made it through the cold spell)
  

I had my 28 week check up on Friday and things are looking on track as usual. Gained another 5 lbs. this month, so I'm now up to 147 with a total weight gain to date of 16 lbs. I think by this point I'd gained about 20 with Dean and continued to gain about a lb. a week thereafter. We'll see how this one compares. It was the 1 hour glucose visit, so I had Matt work from home so he could stay with Dean. I can't imagine trying to entertain him for over an hour at my doctor's office. It was a pleasant hour by myself and I spent most of it reading. I'm leaning toward Monday July 27th for my c-section. Four days before Matt's birthday. One week before the due date. We're having a hard time coming up with names we both like.

Matt and I went on our anniversary date last night. Nothing too fancy. Dinner and a movie. (Our annual Olive Garden visit- purely for the salad dressing on my end since I'm not terribly impressed with their entrees, but Matt likes their food better than I do- and X-men: Wolverine.) It's something we never really do, so that was nice. The movie was good and entertaining. I really do like that Dean goes to bed early enough that we could put him down before we left. Nice to not have to mess with a sitter trying to do it. The girl who baby sat for us was our 12 year old neighbor (or R.S. Pres's daughter) and she did it for free! The missionaries challenged their family to do service for 3 people in our neighborhood, so she chose this as one of her opportunities. Cool.

So, all-in-all it was a good week. It went by quickly and it was nice to have a low-key week after our medical craziness last week. However, Matt has had a rash for the last 3 days, and the doctor thinks he's allergic to the antibiotics (sulfa).

The end.

Best and Worst baby products

My SIL is due the same week I am and was asking our opinions on best and most useless/worst baby products we've purchased in the last 5 years. I am interested to hear all of your responses. She wanted top 5 of each, but give me whatever you want to give me. Oh, and for my NY friends, she lives in NYC, so you may have some ideas of what does or doesn't work in the city that I'd never think of.

A few of my best/ most used:
white noise machine
diaper geenie 2
bumbo seat
bjorn carrier
jogging stroller

My worst/least used:
Regular travel system
high chair that can't fold up
Small store bought flannel receiving blankets
Medela Harmony Breast pump

I've hit that point

I've hit that point in my pregnancy where I'm starting to really feel pregnant. The belly's kinda in the way when I try to bend, reach, cook, etc. My back aches more frequently. It's a little harder to carry Dean around. It takes more effort to roll over in bed at night.

However, I think the hardest thing right now is a half-dollar sized spot on the right side of my belly that is in constant ache mode. It hurts a lot more than I remember with Dean. I know I had that same ache in the same spot with him, but I don't think it was this strong.

This year I really am 28

For some reason this past year I thought I was 28. If I really thought about it, I knew I was 27, but my automatic answer when people asked was always 28. Well, as it turns out, I just turned 28 today! When Matt brought out my cake he had the numbers 68 on there and said, "Happy birthday Grandma!" He always calls me grandma at my birthday since I'm 3 months older than him.

I had a doctor's appointment, a nice birthday song (in harmony) from my grandparents, and a nice and unusual 2 hour nap by Dean (so I got to lay down for a little while after I finished a couple things). I taught 3 piano lessons (Dean started melting down half way through so he ended up in with Matt for about 45 min.), and Matt picked up some cheesesteaks and fries for us for dinner. See, I've come a long way. I actually enjoy a good cheesesteak. A thick slab of steak, not so much. But a nicely shaved and cooked lean steak with some good chewy bread, melty cheese and onions is kind of nice once every other year...(I'd probably have picked Taco bell, for my "cheap" birthday meal but like I mentioned before, they tore it down.) My friend Erin is going to hang out here on Friday night so Matt and I can go to the Temple. Next Friday or Saturday I think we'll get a babysitter and actually go to a sit down restaurant and maybe a movie. Not that much of anything is out right now...





So at 23 1/2 weeks, I've gained 11 lbs. total (since my first visit at 10 wks. It's a little more if you go back to my still nursing and pre-pregnant weight.) which brings me to 142. My blood pressure was 104/60. Once again she said the baby is a super wiggly guy and it took her awhile to get a good heart reading since he wouldn't stay still. Dean was captivated by the doppler thing and I told him we were listening to the baby boy in my tummy. Later today he pointed to my belly and said, "boy" (his new word the last few days). It's getting harder and harder to take him with me to my appointments. He's just so busy and curious I have a hard time keeping him out of everything!

If nothing else

Making that one diaper inspired me to try a cloth trial before I make any more diapers, just so I can know first hand what's out there. I just purchased it from Jillian's Drawers. There is an initial cost of $100 plus shipping, but that's all refunded back to your card, minus the $10 trial fee and the shipping (both ways). (I decided to also get their detergent sample.) So, I'll be out about $35, but I'll gain a lot more knowledge. Of all the trials I found, this one looked the best for me. Most only give you store credit or half your $ back in cash, but this one gives it all back. Plus it included the 2 diapers I've wanted to try the most (Bum Genius 3.0, regular and organic). It only has 7 diapers, so it's not quite enough to do it exclusively (even washing every night) for the 2 week trial, but that's ok. At least I'll get a better idea of "modern cloth diapering". If I do switch I'll for sure get one of these little sprayers so I don't have to mess with dunking on those less than easy diaper clean ups!

BB: 20 Weeks, Maternity Skirts, and Ultrasound Results

This post is tri-fold as you can tell by the title. Oh, and I guess I'm sporting my new haircut that I got last week. I love getting my haircut. Too bad I only do it once or twice a year. (I last got it cut April 2008.)

Reminder of 20 weeks my last pregnancy:

20 weeks this time around (sporting my 2 newly made-by-me maternity skirts): Interesting. I look more pregnant in the tan shirt than I do in the white even though they're the same exact shirt (old regular small shade shirts) in different colors. Maybe it's because the blue skirt has elastic and the green doesn't...
I made the green skirt a long time ago (with a pattern) but never really wore it because a) it was a little too big and b) it was a drawstring waist and bunched up in the front at the waist. So I chopped it at the top, took it in 1 inch on the side, and added some jersey knit for a waistband. I am pleased with the results and think it will be worn a lot more as a maternity skirt.

I made the blue skirt this past week or so by drafting my own pattern (thanks to the book Sew What! Skirts) and referring occasionally to See Mommy Sew's instructions. Just a very simple, lined, A-line skirt. I like the feel of the elastic better, but 3-in. elastic is nearly impossible to find. I stole the elastic I used from an old pair of maternity pants I inherited but will never wear.

Here are some front shots of the skirts and the belly bands:

Now, onto our ultrasound results. Since we had an ultrasound at 13 weeks, we had a good idea it was probably a boy, and today that was confirmed. Yes, our second child is a boy. He was not shy one bit about it. He was extremely wiggly and kept burying himself up by my placenta sack, so we couldn't get a good 3-D picture, but overall things are looking just great. The one 3-D picture she snapped made him look like a smiling crazed zombie. We were all busting up at it.

Nausea in the morning, nausea at night

My official statement on how I'm feeling this pregnancy:

"I have nausea in the mornings, nausea at night, and I have a throw up session every other day (or night). I'm still pretty exhausted in the morning. If I actually get a lot done in the morning, I almost always have to take a nap when Dean naps. Pregnancy is harder than I thought. I get heart burn occasionally and drinking water makes me feel nauseous, so I haven't been drinking as much as I should."

When I was pregnant with Dean, I had a total of 1-2 weeks of very minor nausea. I only threw up once (and that was after eating orange roughy. I think I'd throw up after eating orange roughy even when I wasn't pregnant. That's some fishy fish.) I didn't actually feel pregnant until about 2 weeks before he was born. Compare that to today: I threw up this morning, and here I am feeling nauseous again at night. Blech.

I had hoped that I was going to be the perfect pregnancy person like my sister Julie who has been pregnant 4 times now with little to no sickness. Guess it just depends on the pregnancy.

Working on that better day

Well, Dean did indeed wake up dry! Early and thirsty, but dry. Still not much of an appetite, but I'm not going to force it since so many of you said it's pretty normal. He only ate 1 peach slice for breakfast, 1 cracker for snack (and drank a little of my Isagenix shake), and an applesauce cup for lunch. He refused the other foods offered (as well as his milk for nap, but he went down anyway without a peep), but I guess he'll be fine in the end. I guess I'm just super worried about ending up with an uber picky kid. Lets just cross our fingers this is just a phase, right?

He was the perfect little angel at the doctor's office. I had my 13 week ultrasound to check for chromosomal abnormalities. It was my second ultrasound since I had one at 6 weeks to make sure everything was ok with me fainting. This was much funner, though, because it really did look like a baby instead of a throbbing blob. The baby was asleep or very lethargic when we were doing it, so I had to cough a couple times to get it to shift to the right position. Everything looked fine and her best guess (they can only be up to 80% sure at this point) on the sex of the baby is male. Before she said anything I looked at the screen and thought, "I really think it's a boy." We don't really have a preference, though it would have been fun to add a girl to the cousin pool on Matt's side. All boys so far. Cheaper this way, though, since we already have boy stuff.