We spent today doing some final tweaks to the nursery.  A good friend I know thru dog rescue wanted to order the tree decals for me as a gift, so those will be the last piece of the project, and we’ll put them up as soon as they arrive.  Today we hung a shelf, Stella’s name, and a little “shabby chic” clothes line that holds mine and my brother’s Christening outfits and will also have Caleb’s dedication outfit hanging from it.  Just a little reminder that we were all babies… and the time goes by FAST. 

I’m looking forward to tomorrow!  Friends ask if I’m nervous or scared, and I’m not yet.  I expect that’s coming, though.  But I’m sort of glad this is all planned… there’s a lot of comfort in that.  And I’m even glad it took this long, because I think Caleb is much more relaxed now with all he’s been thru in the past few weeks.  I am so glad he’s my husband and that we are about to do this together!!!  I cannot wait to meet our baby.

Maybe the last bare belly pic, due to the now multiplying stretch marks across the bottom of my ever expanding abdomen. 

I haven’t posted lately because there’s been little change with me and lots going on around here!  Caleb graduated from nursing school — Hooray!!

Caleb graduated May 8, 2010

It is very nice to not be dragging myself into the office anymore, and to have time to relax, organize, nest, eat, nap, whatever… in my own home.  BUT… the waiting is really the worst part.  Since I’ve been having these Braxton Hicks contractions for months now, and pretty regularly for weeks, I felt pretty sure she’d come any time since week 36.  But two false-alarms later, I’m wondering if she’s EVER going to make an appearance!   

Mom has been awesome!  She’s here “babysitting” me during the day when Caleb is in Indianapolis for job training.  She’s keeping my house clean and my laundry done, taking me to my doctor’s appointments, and basically keeping me from going nuts with anxiety and anticipation.  She and Dad gutted my flowerbeds and have been working really hard on doing the things I haven’t been able to do outdoors this spring. 

Today’s doc appointment showed little change… still only 1.5 cm dilated, but Dr. Vinson “stripped the membranes” around my cervix, which is every bit as unpleasant as it sounds.  But everyone I know swears that once the doctor does that, labor starts soon after.  We shall see! 

The nursery is coming along very nicely, and I will post pictures of that tomorrow.

Note my new friend, Mr. Stretch Mark.

Today was kind of a meltdown day.  Hormone overload, physical stress, emotional stress, financial pressure, time tick tick ticking away, depending on other people for stuff, depending on myself for a paycheck for another week and half, trying to take it easy and hoping my pseudo contractions don’t become real contractions before the 36 week mark, because Stella would have to go to the NICU….

Add to that the fact that our new neighbors are making me NUTS with excessive screaming and dozens of people coming and going all day long.  That should be really nice with a new baby.

I know I’m in the homestretch now, and have the support of awesome family and friends.  I guess it’s normal for it to start getting rough right about now.  I just kinda wish I could hole up for the next 3 weeks and not think or worry or do anything but let Stella “bake.”  :)

Over the past week or so, I’ve been having a lot more of what I guess are just Braxton Hicks contractions… no pain or any other real symptoms associated with them.  So I didn’t pay them much attention.  Then Molly was telling me about having contractions over the weekend that sounded a lot like mine, and she went to the hospital about it.  Soooo… I got a little more concerned.  Caleb and I timed them the other night, and I was having them every five minutes for about 60 seconds each.  The reading I’d done says if you have more than 5 contractions an hour, you should call your doctor.  They tapered of after about 9pm, so I just kinda let it go.  But I emailed the doc office to let them know what was up.

So today I had my regular 34 week appointment, and they hooked me up to a monitor to see how things were going.  Stella’s data looked great!  She’s moving around a lot and her heart rate is strong.  Results for me showed I was definitely having some regular contractions. Too early for that!  So Dr. V prescribed some meds to stop the contractions and now wants to see me once a week.  She told me to go home and take it easy.  Here’s what that looks like:

And while my midsection continues to expand exponentially, check out how great Caleb is doing… he’s getting healthy in preparation of being a daddy!  We were a little worried about his high blood pressure and risk of developing diabetes, so he’s really worked hard to get himself in shape!  He’s looking quite nice….

The ultrasound was super cool!!  That 3D stuff is so amazing!  All of the measurements looked good.  Plenty of amniotic fluid, and she weighs 3 lbs and 1 oz.  That’s right smack in the middle of the growth curve, so things look great.  The technician told me that’s a good sign, because they think if I had gestational diabetes, she would be above average in size.

She was moving all over the place and has a VERY expressive face!!  She was putting her fingers in her mouth and smiling at us!  The standard part of the ultrasound even showed that she has quite a bit of hair on the back of her head!  A little duck tail!  :)

We’re thinking she has my nose and mouth and caleb’s eyes and brow area.  Here’s a pretty funny side-by-side comparison pic of me as a kid and Stella flashing a little grin:

And here are a few more!!  Very exciting to get our first glimpse of our little boogerhead!!

Here she is with open eyes!

Chewing on her fingers....

Another smile for the camera!

She is already in an “upside down” position and has been for a while.  The lump I keep seeing and feeling kind of high up on the top right side of my tummy is actually her bottom, and her feet are kicking at my left side.  So the pressure I’m feeling down low is her head.
I’m REALLY getting excited now!  Very eager to meet my little Stella Bean!!  :)

I'm not sure how much this thing weighs, but my back is definitely complaining about carrying it around!

I’m at the point now where the digestive system has slowed WAY down, making me feel bloated and really uncomfortable after I eat even the smallest thing.  I have a lovely new varicose vein making an appearance on the back of my right knee.  I have to get up twice in the middle of the night to pee.  And…. I have horrible charley horse cramps right smack in the middle of my back starting around 1am and continuing until just before the alarm goes off.

I saw the doctor the day after the back spasms started, and was a little worried, because everyone said it sounded like premature “back labor.” Ugh!  But Dr. Vinson thinks (based on the location of the spasms) that it’s due to muscle fatigue from a change in posture and the way I am now having to walk.  So that’s kind of a relief.  I had a massage last week, which was AWESOME, but the next day my muscles were so sore that when a spasm hit, it was even worse!  I think in order for massage to really do a lot of good, you have to go pretty regularly, and not surprisingly, insurance doesn’t cover it.  So….  I probably will only go once in a while.

The good news is that for the first time in a week, I had a pretty decent night’s sleep with only one minor cramp in my back.  So maybe my body is just kind of taking over and carrying this extra belly weight is actually starting to build up those muscles now.  In any case, I will be receiving a “prenatal cradle” in the mail this week that will help to take some of the strain off my back.  It’s quite attractive……

I think this should also come in gold or silver with flames and bedazzling.

I guess my spring wardrobe will need to consist mostly of crew neck tshirts, because this thing isn’t going to be easily concealed under anything else!  haha!

Aside from the very normal discomfort, I am getting more and more excited as the days go by.  Mom and I have been talking a lot about the nursery and my ideas for that, which is really fun.  She and I put together some little paper flowers that I worked into a whimsical arrangement for Stella’s room.  Here’s how that turned out….

I’m pretty happy with that!  I’ve picked out some birch tree decals in white that will go on the walls, and I will mount a couple little birdhouses that will appear to hang from the branches.  I’m finding lots of cool things that will make the room seem kind of “garden-y,” but in a whimsical, child-like way.  We have really tall ceilings in that room, so the walls will be a Laura Ashley color called “Heath Green” and we’re going to paint the ceiling a darker lavender called “Evening twilight”.  There will be white bird decals on the ceiling that look like they are in flight, and at night, the Twilight Turtle that Mary got for me will project stars on the ceiling.  I think it’ll be pretty cool!  Here are the trees and birds I’ll use… all in white….

So yes… the nesting has begun!  haha!!  Caleb, Joe, and Rex are making progress in the garage, getting it insulated and drywalled, and as soon as that project is all complete, the garage becomes the dog room and the dog room will start becoming the baby room!  :)