The Nursery

Finished!!!!!!!

A day in the life

Since Sunday night, I have been contracting on and off.  Some very uncomfortable, some not so much.  It’s just getting annoying.   Like my Granny used to say, “shit or get off the pot.”

C-Dub is taking all of this very seriously and is hardly letting me go pee by myself.  I feel like I have to explain if I just want to go to freaking Target by myself.  Yesterday, I was forced to go to a “workshop” at the unemployment office only to learn that I have to go to three more “mandatory workshops” to keep getting my money.  AND I learned that pregnancy can be held against me because, (and i quote here) “we are not paying you to be pregnant.  When you have a baby, then you are obviously not looking for work, so we don’t need to pay you.”

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm………………………………………………..

Can you imagine the curse words that came to mind?

So afterwards, since I can’t drink, I needed Starbucks.  Sure it was raining cats and dogs, but I made my way safely to the Barnes and Noble and sat down to have a Grande Decaf Nonfat Caramel Machiatto with extra caramel syrup.

And then he calls like, “why didn’t you go straight home.”

Of course I felt like cursing him out too by that time, but I was firm instead, just saying that I wanted to.

Geez!!

All of this leads to C-Dub taking the day off today because I had plans to be out all day doing various baby related stuff( ob appointment, breastfeeding class).

Because obviously, I can’t be trusted by myself.

Whatever.

So, my first weekly fly by appointment was longer than previous ones.  It seems my office is getting the H1N1 vaccine in sometime in the next few weeks and they plan of vaccinating all of their pregnant patients.  Great…….if I really wanted one.  I’m still on the fence about that one.  Next, I had to get all sorts of info on circumcision( yes please) and cord blood donation.  Now…..cord blood donation is expensive!  I hadn’t planned on it, but will go to the website and check it out.  I gained one lovely pound this week, blood pressure was good.  Heartrate 140s.  Then I had to get the lovely GBS test done and that was that. 

We went to lunch, then off to breastfeeding 101.

Now, just cause I’m a Labor and Delivery Nurse, does not mean that I know EVERYTHING about breastfeeding.  I can tell you how to latch a baby on, but after that I am clueless.  The class was interesting and very entertaining.  I got lots of info. LOTS.

Now, I’m tired and home.  With C-Dub.

Damn, I kind of miss my alone time.

My first hospital visit.

Well, my child decided to act a fool today, and not move. 

At all.

For 4 hours.

I tried everything.  I drank juice, ice-cold water, laid on my side, jiggled my belly.

Nothing.

Told C-Dub, and the next thing I knew, I was on my way to the hospital.

Got there, the strip(the heart rate) was 140s, but not exactly what they call “reactive.”  They buzzed him, turned me from side to side.  Nothing. No movement.

And my blood pressure was 138/98.

Ahhhhh yes.

And of course I was contracting every 3-5 minutes.

GREEEEAAAAATTT.

The blood pressure went down after about 30 minutes, and with me on my side.

So, they sent me down to ultrasound for a BPP(Biophysical Profile) and as soon as the ultrasound was on, there he was….moving and grooving, like nothing was wrong.  He is a busy boy in there.  I guess he had just been taking a nap.(Stinker)

So, he passed the BPP with 8/8.  We did get to see his chubby, cute little face(awwwwwwww!) He had his whole hand in his mouth and was kicking and squirming like NOTHING was wrong.   Why couldn’t I feel any of it?  It seems I have a lot of fluid(not too much, but at the higher limits of normal).  They said that could be the reason why I don’t feel as much movement as before.

Hmmmmmm.

So, anyway, solved the baby movement issue, but not the contraction one.

They were really steady, and the funny thing was, I had been feeling the contractions all day, but thought it was gas!  So, they weren’t/aren’t painful.  I just feel the tightening/cramping.  It’s like an afterthought. 

Beth, my midwife, left it up to me if she should check my cervix to see if I was dilated.  I said yes, because if she didn’t, I would just wonder, and worry myself to death. 

Closed!!!

I didn’t want to know about effacement .  But the way she said closed, made me think there is something else going on in there.  But I’m not feeling them, I’m almost 36 weeks, and she said they wouldn’t stop me now if I was.

NOOOOOOOO!!

I need another few weeks!! I’m not ready!  As much as I complain about being uncomfortable, I need him to stay in a little while longer.

So, long story short, I went home with the “come back if your water breaks, or your contractions get stronger” speech.

Aye!

35 weeks

35 weeks down

5 to go.

FIVE!!

Had a fly by appointment on Wednesday, nothing new.  I learned that there will be no more ultrasounds unless something is wrong.

But moving on:

How far along? 35 weeks today.

Total Weight Gain? Let’s just say like one my midwives said: it is what it is.

Maternity Clothes? I’m running out.  I am down to 2 pair of jeans, a pair of stretchy black pants(yoga like), a pair of capris, and a thick maternity sweater I found at Ross.  I hope it doesn’t get too cold before I deliver.

Stretch Marks? NONE!!! The cocoa butter is still being slathered on everyday religiously.

Sleep? What’s that?  I now wake up on the hour, every hour, to pee, or change sides, or to readjust a pillow…..you get the point.

Best Moment this week? Getting a Boppy from my baby brother.  Who has no idea what it’s for.  When I tried to explain, I think I heard him gag!

Food Cravings?  Food, any type of food.   Oh, and the Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  Did you know they have a new Red Velvet Cheesecake? OMG!

Sex? It had better still be a boy in there!

Labor Signs? Braxton Hicks out the yin yang.  Especially when I have to pee.  Which is all the time. So………

Belly Button? Not exactly a innie, but not exactly a outee.  Very weird.

What I miss the most? Bending over from the waist.

What am I looking forward to the most? Seeing what he looks like.  Will he look as chubby and cute as I dream he will???

Milestones? Reaching one appointment a week.  It means the end is in sight! 

My current reality

The unemployment office is a degrading, depressing place.  You see people from all walks of life.  The person waiting next to you could be a laid off city worker making 20K , an executive  who made 100K, or me a nurse who was firmly in the middle.  We’re all in the same place, at the same time, wanting the same things:

A job, and some help until we get one.

As a nurse, I never, EVER thought that I would be here, in this place, at this time.  I’ve always had it in my mind that stuff like this doesn’t happen to people like me.  I went to school for 5 years, graduated with relatively good grades with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from a good school.  I majored in a field where “the possibilities were endless.”  I chose a field where it seemed I would always have a job.  It was supposed to be “recession proof.”

But here I am: pregnant, unemployed and a statistic.  Yes, I am a part of that 10.2% unemployement rate in Georgia, and the  9.5% unemployment rate in the country.  It was my lot in life to be the last hired, first fired in my 7th month of pregnancy.  To be a victim of “reorganization.”

And I find it ironic that because I am pregnant, I can’t get another job. 

The one thing that I have prayed for, wished for, cried for, rejoiced in, is keeping me unemployed.  Because who will hire the obviously pregnant woman who will deliver  sometime in the next 5 1/2 weeks,and then have to take 6 more weeks off to recuperate?

WHO?

I’ve searched, I’ve asked, and I can’t find them.  I can’t even find someone who will interview me now, and let me start in January.  Who knew a job search would be so hard? Who knew that last weeks of my pregnancy would be so stressful? Who knew I would be reduced to begging for a unemployement check from the government that will barely help cover my regular bills, let alone the new ones that will surface once a baby arrives?

As uncomfortable as I am most days, I would give anything to still have the option to work.  I would give anything not to have to worry about how my bills will get paid, how I will pay for this baby, and how will I support him when he is born.

But this is my reality at this time.

And this reality sucks.

A busy week ahead

After an extremely long day yesterday, I got a chest of drawers for Baby Dub.

My cousin(who I used to be extremely close to, but as a teenager/young adult, got on my nerves) had a chest of drawers to give away.  Now, it doesn’t exactly match the crib, but it’s close enough, it’s big enough and it’s free.

Nuff said.

She told me about it last Sunday, and called on Friday to tell me to come get it this weekend.

So, C-Dub and I got the pick up truck from my sister-in-law and waited.  And waited. and waited.

Luckily, my sister-in-law was cooking for a party and had snack food and fruit all around.  But damn, we were hungry.

So finally, after about 6 hours of waiting, we finally got the chest of drawers and got it home. 

Geez.

I admit it looks nice, and now I am going to HAVE to start washing those baby clothes!!

Plus, my mom decided that she needed to finish the nursery and got the bedding set(woohoo!), and another of my long time friends sent a bouncer thingy(hey it looks cute and I know I’ll use it!)

So this will be the week I start finishing up the nursery.  I’ve got to get C-Dub to move the glider upstairs, and put together the changing table.  I found a website that sells the breast pump I want waaaaaaaay cheaper than the store.  I’ve got a list of things to buy with the gift cards I got at the baby shower.  I’ve got a fly by OB check this Wednesday.  This is going to be a busy week!!!!!

I just wish I would stop contracting.  

It’s slowing me down!!!!

34 weeks

34 weeks down, 6 to go.

SIX!

Ok, I’m getting excited!

What’s IN:

Contractions:   That’s right:Contractions, not Braxton Hicks.   I’ve been having a few here and there, but they started really coming last night.  I was cooking dinner, and had one.  I just sat on the floor, surprised.  2 min later, another.  5 minutes later, another.  Finally, I got a clue, laid down on the couch and proceeded to chug down a gallon of water.  (better that than IV at the hospital).  Within the hour, they gradually spaced out, and I had a couple every hour or so instead of every few minutes.  Hmmmmm.  I didn’t call the midwife because I knew what she would say:

Lay down

Drink a lot of water.

Call me back in one hour if they don’t slow down.

Yeah, being a Labor and Delivery nurse comes in handy sometimes.

I woke up this morning, and was still having a few, but much better than last night.

Gifts: They are arriving in the mail now! It’s like Christmas!!!!  One of my best and oldest friends sent the changing table I didn’t think I would get.  I LOVE her!!

Pediatrician Search: I know NOTHING about Pediatricians, except to know that I am supposed to interview one.

Lists:  I have a running list of things I still need to go out and get.  Lord, I feel like I will never be ready!!

What’s OUT:

The cold:  I finally got a humidifier, and it worked miracles in terms of me being able to sleep at night.  I didn’t need it last night at all!  The coughing remains occasionally.  I just have a lot of mucous that needs to come out(YUCK!!)

So, my goal right now is to get everything put together and organized in the next two weeks.  I want to be READY by 36 weeks.  I don’t think I am going to deliver  or anything, I just know that i am not going to feel like doing a damn thing by November.  So Halloween is the deadline to:

• Wash all of those baby clothes and put them away.
• Finish the nursery(ie, c-Dub needs to put up the changing table, move the glider upstairs and I need to chest of drawers).
• Pick a pediatrician
• Get everything else that we need to function when a baby arrives.
• Pick a name for this child!

Hmmmmm.  At least the pack and play is up in the bedroom……………

Misery

I am so damn uncomfortable.

I sit on the couch, my back hurts.

I lay on the couch: my back, my hip and my belly hurts from the pressure of leaning to one side.

I lay in the bed, and just can’t get comfortable.

I walk around, and feel like there is a bowling ball in my crotch, or that my belly is going to just come off, it’s so damn heavy.

My feet are swollen.  They hurt.

I’m just tired.

I haven’t slept well since last Wednesday night.  I coughed all night last night.

I’ve got stress incontinence.  I laugh too hard or cough to hard and ………..

So you can imagine last night.

Today I am just so sore from coughing.  And I keep contracting on and off.  Not Braxton Hicks! The REAL thing. 

Since I drank a ton of water and laid on my side, they are gone, but I’m leaking everywhere and just damn tired.

I’m sorry that this post is all about complaining.  I know I should be happy and grateful and nesting and all.  But DAMNIT! I am so over this!!! And I have 7 more weeks!!!!!!

33 weeks:No swine, baby showers, and baby stuff

Week 33:

7 weeks to go!

I feel better. The it turned out to be a bad cold.  I thought it might be the flu when my temperature started inching up Thursday night, but I took some Tylenol, and it never went back up.  Lots of juice and water later, and my temps stayed around 98 degrees.  My mother and Father arrived friday in preparation for the baby shower on Saturday.  I love having my Mother around.  I love my father too, he just gets on my nerves because he only knows about three channels: ESPN,CNN, and MSNBC.  After watching the same thing all day with different opinions, wouldn’t you get tired of it?  Wolf Blitzer, Rachel Maddox, and all the other hosts, don’t you realize they are all saying the same damn thing?????

ANYWAY.

By Saturday, I felt a little better.  The roofers came to start on the roof, so there was just so much noise!  I was glad to be able to escape.  My mother and I got dressed(and I got medicated) and off to the baby shower we went. 

It was fun! All of my really really good friends came.  I was kind of disappointed that a few people who said they were coming didn’t, but hey.   My mother in law did make it, bringing her own special brand of cheer.  I really do like her.  Just in small doses

I got waaaaaaay to many clothes.  This will be the best dressed child in creation.  There are a few things still arriving in the mail from people who couldn’t make it(once again, REAL friends), and we went and got the travel system and the tub today.

Ahhhhhh. I am in baby stuff heaven.

So it was a busy weekend. 

Got to go, I need my cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. Yum

 

( just some of the stuff I got yesterday! Literally, my crib runneth over!)

 

 

 

 

I feel like…

Shit.

I’m tired, my nose is runny, my throat is scratchy(even though that is an improvement from last night), and i feel the beginnings of a headache.  A migraine like one.  I even have a cough.  Post nasal drip? I hope, but I don’t think so.  It’s moving down into my chest.  I can feel it.  I’m trying to drink plenty of fluids and use vicks vapor rub because I can’t take anything else really.

I’m just grumpy.

Oh, I did sign up for a breastfeeding class for the end of the month.

Joy.