Shower Weekend

What a great weekend I just had, but it started off on a rather bumpy note....

I flew to Michigan on Friday. I was supposed to arrive into Detroit at 6:18, but was delayed in Philly for most of the afternoon and didn't wind up getting into Detroit until about 9. I was exhausted. But at least I arrived safely. Also, for the first time, a stranger put her hands on my belly without asking. It was the flight attendant and she was being really nice, so I didn't bat her hand away, but I'm surprised that this was only the first time. I had heard that it happened a lot to other mothers.

Saturday we did our traditional trip to the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market and then breakfast at Zingerman's. Mmmmm, delicious! On Saturday afternoon, my sister and the girls came in and we went to a little fall festival close to my parents' house. See the flickr page for pictures of that...it was really cute.

Sunday was the shower. Stacey left to go to the shower quite early with no explanation...more on that later. It was SUCH a nice shower. It was a brunch and the three women who hosted it made it just perfect! We got such lovely and thoughtful gifts from everyone. My aunt and cousin even drove in from Troy...which was awesome. There were friends from all different times in my life. It was a very special day.

Now onto the reason why Stacey arrived at the shower early. She created the most amazing gift that any sister could give. She printed my registry and walked through Babies R Us and chose a bunch of stuff. She then went home and wrote a little speech of advise for her little sister. To present this all, she had about a 10 foot piece of PVC pipe (see flickr picture) with 32 hangers on it all with a little paper bag hanging from it. Each bag was hand stamped (with loving help from Erin and Emily) with a little pink teddy bear...so cute. Anyway, as she read the words of advice, she had correlated the script with the items in each bag. I will post the script and describe what she got me for each one in a day or so...it'll take me some time to type it in. At any rate, it was the coolest thing...EVER!

Of course as soon as I got home yesterday (late), I tried to get back on track with my sleep schedule, only to wake up at 7:45 worrying about all that we had to do for the baby's room and I ended up getting up and taking all the tags off of her clothes and sorting them into piles for the wash. I then slept from 11:15-1. I am so tired right now I can't see straight. Ugh. Back to reality.

Hefty Little Turkey

As you saw in yesterday's update, the furniture is here and set-up, so I won't blog about that today.

Yesterday was also my now bi-monthly visit to the doctor. I saw Dr. Russino...the "coolest" doc in the group. He's a great guy, but like the rest of them...always in a rush, so I come armed with questions for him just to get him to stay in the room and talk for a second.

Baby's heart rate was great, my blood pressure was perfect and so I was cleared to fly home for the weekend today. He wrote me a prescription to fly...kinda funny. He has the WORST doctor's handwriting I've ever seen, by the way.

He said my belly was measuring right where it should for 33 1/2 weeks. He felt around my belly mushing it here and there and he determined that her head is for sure down (YAY!) and those are indeed her hands that I feel punching me in my bladder. Her little tushy is just up under my ribs so she's a good size so far. He estimated her weight at just a little over 5 pounds. So, if you do the math, I have six weeks to go and babies gain about 1/2 pound per week at this point, so that would equal 3 pounds. So at this rate, she'll be at least 8 pounds. Can you say epidural?

It's Here!!!!!!

Click on the cloud picture on the right to go to my flickr photostream....the furniture is here, it's assembled and it looks better than I could ever imagine! Can't wait to get the rest of the stuff in...but just wanted to show you the look so far! YAY!

A First

I woke up to the alarm clock today.

That's right....I woke up to the alarm clock today! Not at 9 p.m., not at midnight...but right on time at 1:15....WITH THE ALARM!

It's the first night in I don't know when that I have slept all night long without getting up to go pee. I think it's because I didn't drink much water after about noon yesterday. It was WONDERFUL! I was also exhausted from a crappy night of sleep Tuesday night so that may have helped too.

Exciting stuff today...the baby's furniture will be delivered at 11 a.m.!!!! I am so excited I can't even express it! Of course, you know me...I'll take pictures of the delivery and set-up and I'll try to post them today before I go to the doctor. I have a regular appointment today and I will be getting either the red or green light from the doctor for travel tomorrow. Cross your fingers...I really want to go. Of course, there's a massive coastal storm approaching for late tonight and tomorrow so even if the doc clears me to fly, let's be real, this is Philadelphia and I'll for sure be sitting in the airport for at least 5 hours for a delay. Good thing there's food there...can you say Chickie's and Pete's Crab Fries? Mmmmm. Of course, I probably won't get them because they're soooo salty and I'll already blow up like a balloon on the flight, so maybe I'll just walk by and smell them.

Amazing

This is the little blanket my mother-in-law gave to me at the shower last weekend. I thought it was so cute and so soft. When I spoke to her on the phone a few days later...she told me that she made it. She MADE it! This little blanket will be carried by our daughter for many, many years and it is so special because Grandma made it. How cool is that?

Just thought I'd share.

Why is this News?

So, Clay Aiken and Lindsay Lohan are admitting that they are gay. WHO CARES????? Clay, we kinda knew all along. Lindsay is probably just doing it for the publicity. It's just too bad that we are in a society where people are so eager to "out" those who really don't want to be "outed." Is it really our business in the first place?

I'm in a grumpy mood today (work issues) so I really don't feel much like blogging. However, I do find it quite interesting that my mood has affected the baby's mood. She doesn't feel much like dancing today either...unless I'm eating my favorite organic vanilla yogurt...that really caused her to jump. She loves that stuff!

Blissful Birthday

Yesterday was great. What's a better way to ring in your 37th than by getting a massage and a pedicure and then topping it all off with a hot fudge sundae?

I don't know, but it was fantastic!

Birth(ing) Day

Today is my birthday, and this is the first year I really don't care that it's my birthday...all I care about is someone else's birthday coming up in November! However, Jon, the amazing husband that he is, made sure I had a nice day on Saturday (the day we celebrated my birthday). We had our birthing class all day and I'll write more about that in a second, but after class (it was ALL day) we came home and I fell asleep. The LAST thing I wanted to do was to go into the city for a fancy dinner. So, Jon plopped me on the couch and heated up the veal that my mom made when she was here and made a salad and served me my birthday dinner...just as I wanted it...at home. He also gave me two presents. One for the baby and me, and the other just for me for having the baby (aka...push present). For the baby and me he bought us a sterling silver picture frame with bunnies on it from Tiffany. It's beautiful and we'll put the baby's picture in it for her room. So very sweet. The mommy gift was amazing....a very delicate diamond necklace which also came in a little blue box. He is incredible. It is beautiful!

Now, on to the birthing class. Class was 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Paoli Hospital...which is where we're giving birth. Jon wanted to get a haircut before class, so we were at the barber promptly at 8. All was going well, I had a cute outfit on that actually fit and Jon was on time, so the morning was going great. The barber was on time and didn't go over and so we went on our merry way with plenty of time to get up to the hospital. About two minutes after leaving the barber shop, I took a sip of my yummy Dunkin' Donuts decaf coffee...my favorite and half of it spilled all down my front all over my cute shirt. INSTANTLY, I started hysterical crying. We had NO time to go home and change and I didn't want to show up late with a huge spot on my shirt. So, I got creative after I stopped crying. We pulled into a gas station and I used my bottled water to get the coffee stain out...and then walked into quite possibly the most disgusting gas station bathroom on the planet looking for a hand dryer. No dice. So, 75 cents later, we were standing at the air hose. Jon held my shirt out and I dried it with the air hose with my belly exposed for all of Lancaster Avenue to see. It was hilarious. We finally made it to class...about 5 minutes late. I learned one thing: just like spilled milk, it's no use crying over spilled coffee.

The class was great. There were 12 other couples there and we learned a TON! What to expect in labor...what the signs are, when to call the doctor and of course, we saw "the movie." Now, most people who have attended these classes have said that "the movie" usually causes at least one person to faint or get sick. Ok, basically "the movie" is a woman giving birth. You see everything...vajayjay, blood, baby and placenta. It's not gross, though. Even Jon was like "that's it?" when it was done. He also was told it was awful, and we're both pleased to report that it was fine. And, nobody wussed out and fainted.

The day ended with a tour of the labor and delivery wing of the hospital. It was so cool seeing where we're going to be for a few days and it looks comfortable and nice and the nurses all seemed very very cool.

We left the hospital with a great feeling and we feel like we're ready for the birth and MORE than ready to meet our little girl.

All Tuckered Out

After the minor earthquakes on Wednesday and Wednesday night, I awoke again last night. Only this time I didn't feel the earthquake...just sheer panic. I didn't feel her at all. So I just sat there awake, willing her to move so I knew she was o.k. A hour passed...and nothing. I finally got up and joined Jon downstairs on the couch...and I told him I was worried.

Nothing to worry about....she was just sleeping. Probably tuckered out from all of her activity the last few days. She started movin' and shakin' right after I was up for the day.

My mom told me that I probably wouldn't ever sleep soundly for about the next 18 years, and now I believe it. I mean, I feel her every move and I know her patterns by now. I'm responsible for another human life for God's sake and that scares the hell out of me. But, it also makes me smile...even if it is a sleepless smile.

Minor Earthquake

This actually brought on some concern. Last night, about an hour into my sleep, I woke up to seriously VIOLENT shaking in my belly. It was so strong that I got concerned that she was going to rip the placenta out of place or worse, punch her way right out of there. She had both arms and both legs going all at once...something I haven't felt much before and it was a VERY strong hitting and kicking. It was cute for about 2 seconds, then I was worried. Anyone out there in blogland have this happen so strong? I've really noticed that her activity has increased in the past two weeks and I've read that this is the peak time, but I think I'm going to talk to my doctor about this next week at my visit just to make sure it's ok. Let's just hope she's a little more mellow when she's born!

I also had my first childbirth dream last night. I dreamt that I had been in some small hospital down the shore and that the baby just came right out with no pushing or effort. I asked the nurse why I had such an easy birth and she said that I had been there for two days in excruciating labor but must have blocked it out of my memory. Odd. Dreams are odd.

Finally, the picture at the top is of the moms and me. Mother-in-law is on the left, mother is on the right. This was snapped right before the shower.

Do You Think She'll Care?

Do you think she'll care to know that she was a VERY active baby in utero?

I'm not kidding you. See, I'm partially writing this blog so far away friends and family can keep up on the pregnancy, but I'm also writing it so that I can print it out and save it for our little girl to read when she's older. I want her to know that right now, at almost 32 weeks of pregnancy, I'm convinced that she's going to be a professional soccer player. It's so cool, the motion in my belly can now be seen on the outside. Every roll, turn and kick she does, you can see it as plain as day. I'm also feeling her movement up by my ribs right at the top, and also down low by my bladder where I'm told her hands are all on my right side...so she is very active indeed. Sometimes I feel a roll and then a jump, and sometimes, she gets both her arms and legs going at the same time and it's a trip! However, when I'm in the middle of the show and have to pee and she pulls that, it isn't funny.

So, those of you who are reading this who are also pregnant (I know of at least two of you), this is what you can look forward to. It's an amazing feeling and not for one minute do I get tired of it. I'll miss it when she's out, but I'll have the bonus of holding her in my arms. I can't wait.

The Shower

While I'm still waiting for pictures, I'll post about the shower because it was JUST SO FANTASTIC!

First, I'm honored that both of our sets of parents traveled here for the weekend. It was so nice of them to come and the weekend wouldn't have been nearly as special had they all not been here. Jon's parents flew in from Atlanta, while mine drove in from Ann Arbor.

The shower was...in a word...amazing.

First of all, it was 91° and VERY humid, so the little summer strapless dress I bought for the occasion was perfect! Thankfully, our gracious hostess and my dear friend Sue had the shower INSIDE so we didn't all melt!

Sue thought of EVERYTHING! She used to be a caterer, so the table was filled with a full spread of food. She had made EVERYTHING by herself...chicken marsala, rice, salad, spinach casserole, tomato salad from her garden AND she marinated and grilled a WHOLE salmon which she served at room temperature and it was AMAZING! So, after we all chatted and ate, it was present time! There were tons and the baby got some incredible stuff. Everyone was so generous...I was truly overwhelmed.

It was neat, there were friends from different aspects of my life here in Philly at the shower and they all mixed and mingled so well.

After the presents, the desserts were all out on the table...yes, I said desserts with an S. Sue made...from scratch, brownies, peanut-butter bites and apricot bars all cut into little pieces...and then she ordered a cake from a fantastic bakery in the area....the only thing she didn't make. It was all incredible and we all had such fun.

So, this blog is for Sue. I can't even begin to thank her enough as she is such a dear friend and an amazing woman.

Pictures will come within the next few days, I'll let you know when to look!

Quickie

No time to post a lot now, but click on the photo under flickr and you'll see a few new pics from the shower and other stuff.

The shower was AMAZING. I'll write more tomorrow morning...but now, I've got to get to bed.

Mahler Fan

So, the baby is apparently a fan of my favorite composer, Gustav Mahler. This morning at work I called up Mahler's first symphony on youtube and put the headphones on my belly. She started kicking immediately! I was surprised because she had been quite active since 10 last night which is yes, when I woke up...never got back to sleep either.

The good news about the sleep is that I have a free morning so I'm going to sleep until noon. Can't wait! Then, our little miss has some important visitors this weekend. BOTH sets of grandparents are coming to see her, so maybe that's why she's so active...she's excited! Also, my dear friend Sue is having a shower for us on Sunday, so we're all jazzed up!

As a result of the weekend festivities, I won't be posting for the weekend, so have a nice one!

Worst. Day. Ever.

You are NEVER going to believe the day I had yesterday...and all before 9 a.m.

So I'm at work and I was in a bit of a mood because our regular traffic guy wasn't here and we had a fill-in who is a tad annoying. She tries, but she's just one of those people, sorry to say. Anyway, about 6:15 I felt something I hadn't felt in the pregnancy and it was odd enough that I was a bit alarmed. I decided I'd call the doctor at 9 when the show ended. More on that in a bit.

I then took my cell phone out to text Jon that I was going to call the doctor and my phone read "check SIM" which means basically that the SIM card was fried. Dead. No mas. Which means that all of my contact information was lost. AWESOME! So, on a day when I knew I needed to possibly be seen by the doctor, I had that to deal with too...no way of calling Jon on the way to the doctor, etc. Again, it was AWESOME.

Then, about a half hour before the show ended, we got a rare morning line of severe thunderstorms and at that precise moment, my weather computer crashed. I had no way of showing radar, the warnings, or anything else. It was again, AWESOME!

By the time the show ended and I took off my microphone, all I could do was cry. Then I called the doctor. Here's the deal with that: they listened to my symptom and decided it'd be best to have me come in. They fit me in and I had a full exam and am pleased to report that nothing is wrong. They never made me feel badly for coming in, they just said that whenever I had something odd going on that I should call at all times. So they turned that visit into my regular appointment which I was supposed to have next week. No weight gain, low blood pressure (a miracle considering the day I'd had), and a very, very active baby. The doctor said she is head down and in the correct position so all systems are still go for the last 8 1/2 weeks. Whew!

After that I went to the Cingular store where the dude there confirmed that my SIM card was dead and I had to get a new one...a blank one...with no contacts. So, if you want me to have your cell number, please e-mail it to me at cganas107@comcast.net. This is my home e-mail and if you've been using a work e-mail, please switch to this one now as I will not be allowed to access my work e-mail once I am on maternity leave.

SO, today is a much better and brighter day...but boy was it tough getting here...and I didn't even have cake at home to make me feel better.

An Open Letter

Dear Person Who Suggested This (who shall remain nameless),

Cloth diapers are NEVER going to happen at our house. Yes, I know it's the "green" thing to do, but swishing poo up to twenty times a day out of some over-priced boutique diaper while the baby hangs off a breast about a dozen times a day isn't happening.

But thanks for the suggestion.

Love,
CQG

Village Idiot

I felt like the village idiot yesterday while taking my first prenatal yoga class. Why'd I feel so dumb, you ask? Well, it was my first yoga class....EVER and the instructor seemed a bit horrified that it was.

First let me start by saying that I work out about 5 days a week (give or take a day)...elliptical machine, treadmill, lifting weights and I'm still going to kickboxing class once a week. It's all quite simple and relaxing for me and I'm told that my exercise now will help with labor. I've been having some baby-related back issues, so it was suggested that I take a prenatal yoga class. I thought it'd be no problem considering how much I still exercise...plus, there just happens to be the best yoga studio in the Philadelphia area about 5 minutes from our house, so I signed up.

Let me just say that yoga is hard. People who do yoga on a regular basis are my new heroes. It looks so easy, but when you're pregnant, the room is hot and you've never contorted your body into so many odd positions, it's the hardest thing in the world...well, that and trying not to fart while doing it.

The teacher pointed out that "since I was the biggest one there" she'd help me the most. Ok, lady, first of all, the proper words would be "furthest along" and second, you grow a human inside and try to bend like a damn Cirque du Soliel acrobat for the first time and not fart and we'll see how you do. Oh, and apparently gum isn't allowed whilst doing yoga. Maybe that interferes with my connection to the mother planet? I don't know, but she stopped her introduction to the class to ask me to spit out my gum. Ok, that hasn't happened since third grade....I felt like a total moron.

All in all, it was fun and I'll go back next week (without my gum) and for the rest of the session package I bought. It was nice being in a room of other women who are experiencing what I am. The earliest pregnant woman (or "smallest: as the mean instructor would say) was 16 weeks and the latest was a woman who is due 5 days before me, so a wide span for sure. It ended up being fun...but I am sore today :-)

Oops

I think I just gave the baby ADHD.

Remember yesterday when I was telling you about the cake at the party yesterday? Well, in case you were wondering, it was DEEEE-VINE! Oooo it was so good. The frosting was that pure sugar yummy butter cream. Oooo, yum!

But an odd thing happened after I downed a fairly large hunk of the sweet goodness: the baby went nuts. Not just regular nuts, but berserk nuts. She was literally jumping after the cake. See, I don't eat a lot of high sugar stuff so that sugar spike really sent her every which way. It was like a mini-earthquake going on in my belly. Poor little thing. I think she crashed by the evening, because I didn't feel much movement until this morning. She's back to her gymnastics again.

My friend who we had the party for yesterday told me that babies tend to keep the same schedule as newborns as they did in the womb. If that's the case, our little one is going to be rearin' to go from 4-8 every morning. Poor Jon. I'll be at work, so it'll be daddy duty VERY early each day.

Unbelieveable News!

I can't tell you who cuz I don't think they've announced yet, but...literally my oldest friend (well, the first friend I ever made...we grew up across the street from one another...he's like a brother to me) is going to be a daddy! I am beyond excited for him and his amazing wife.

They are the only couple we know who waited longer than we did :-)

Congrats you guys, we couldn't be more excited and can't WAIT to see you at Christmas!

Random Thoughts

-The Phillies now suck. They blew 2 games against the Washington Nationals and are now 3 games out of 1st place in the division. They head tomorrow to face the Mets for 3 games and at this point, the season is a loss. Way to go. They were doing so well.

-The Phillies now suck...so why did the seller from Stubhub decide to not sell his tickets to me when I secured them? I had 3 sweet seats for my dad, father-in-law and Jon so they could go to the game while the ladies were at my baby shower next weekend....now they've got to watch it on TV. I'll still try to get tickets, but it doesn't look good. Did I mention that the Phillies now suck?

-Baby brain is now spreading to my job. I just boobed up a weather hit because I thought we were at a different point in the show. My director had to save my butt. Funny.

-We're finally about to get some rain. Tropical Storm Hanna is coming and our brittle grass is about to turn into a swamp. Hope the basement doesn't flood.

-Pro football starts this weekend. So long Jon....see you in January.

-The baby went through her seemingly monthly slow down in activity. I still felt her (the last two days) but the movement was less than usual. Slow enough to make me notice, but not slow enough for me to panic like I did last month around this time. She is back to normal activity this morning. Little turkey...she's just trying to keep her mommy on her toes...and it's working.

-How pathetic am I? There is a party for a friend and co-worker down at CBS today, and while I love her dearly and want to go for her, I'm also really excited that there will be cake served. Honestly, that's more than half the draw. To be fair, I've been jonesing for a piece of cake for the last two weeks...really...you can ask Jon. Mmmmmm, cake.

Out.....Of.....Breath!

I didn't post yesterday because I was really busy with the coverage of Hurricane Gustav, but I felt it then too. Man, I am WINDED when doing the weather each day. Ugh. It's a struggle getting through an entire weathercast (which happen to be every 5 minutes for 4 straight hours). This feeling has really started to kick in this week and I hope it's temporary, but I'm thinking I'll feel this way to the end. The little muffin is growing....so my organs inside are getting squished...thus making it hard to breathe. Oh well.

In fact...this morning I learned that she is over 3 pounds (or at least the average baby at 30 weeks is), and is 17 inches long. If born now (God forbid) she would have an excellent chance at survival. However, I'd much rather keep her here for 10 more weeks. I need the time to get everything ready, plus I like feeling her every move and I know I'll miss that when she's born :-)