40 Week Picture

Here I am at what should have been 40 weeks pregnant - surprise, where there was a big belly there now is a little Maggie! Big changes coming to the blog soon. Now that Maggie is here she can start doing her own blog entries. And of course we are no longer "Waiting for Baby O", so a title change is on the way too. Keep checking back!

37 Week Picture

So, I know we got a little lazy at the end with posting my belly pics, but here is the last one we took. It's me at 37 weeks and 5 days in the hospital waiting for Maggie to get here. She just couldn't wait any longer, she HAD to get here a few weeks early. It was a lot of hard work, but she was definitely worth it. Pictures of Maggie coming soon...

Here it is...Maggies room

So even though she is not going to be sleeping in here for a while, here is what she has to look forward too. Lots of pink! Ill bet you want pictures of the baby don't you? Well just hold on a second.

Willa likes the baby's room

We were putting up some finishing touches in the baby's room yesterday - well, John was putting up some finishing touches while I supervised from the comfort of our new glider rocker, when Willa comes running in with one of her favorite toys (her "baby" that she carries around). She sat on the floor contentedly playing with her toy while we worked. Isn't she just adorable!

35 Week Picture

I'm getting caught up on posting my belly pictures. Here I am at 35 weeks - my God just when I think my belly can't get any bigger it does! I'm still feeling good in general, except for this pesky pain in my neck (No not John. It's an actual pain in my neck.) This is a preexisting ailment which I think is flaring up because of all the extra weight. I go back for my weekly appointment on Monday and I'm hopeful that my doctor can refer me to someone who can help with the pain. Unfortunately all I can take is Tylenol and that doesn't do much for muscle aches. This injury has added a new level of complication to my already restricted state of movement (and sleep!).

I've been thinking

Not that this is something new, but I've been thinking about my mom a lot. I just can't help but wonder what advice she would have given me at this point; how she would feel right now on the verge of seeing her baby have a baby; what would her face look like as she held my daughter, her 20th grandchild. It's harder than I ever could have known to not have her here, particularly right now. This feeling of loss doesn't get any better or any easier. I still shake my head at least once a day because I really just can't believe she isn't here and that she won't be here when my little girl arrives.

I love you Mom and I miss you so much.

34 Week Picture

Ok, so I'm still a little behind on posting my belly pictures. With less than a month to go things are really starting to get busy. So here I am at 34 weeks. As you can see Willa is just thrilled about the baby! I went to the OB yesterday and I'm now officially on the once a week plan until I deliver. Everything still looks good. She is really active, although it's a different kind of movement now that she is getting bigger. I feel a lot of rolling, or a foot sliding across my belly. My belly changes shapes on an hourly basis! It's really just amazing to me that in a few short weeks she'll be here! There will be an actual baby in this house. For so long now it has felt like this idea just floating out there and now it's getting more real every day.

Yesterday I also met with the Birth Advisor at the hospital where I will deliver. She was very nice and put my mind at ease about a lot of things. Overall I feel well prepared for the delivery - mostly because I know I can't control what happens. It's all about managing my expectations. I'm just ready to meet our daughter!

Look at That Little Face!

So Erin went for her ultrasound last week, and we got some great pictures.

I think the first picture is the coolest, I don't know how it will translate to the web, but you can totally see her little face (in this picture it looks like shes lying on her left).

In the second picture you can see how much hair she has already. As she is floating in fluid, the hair is sticking straight up. I'm sure shes going to cost me a fortune at the salon ...just like her mother.

33 Week Picture

Sorry, no 32 weeks picture. We got busy and missed our window of opportunity, but here I am at 33 weeks. Yikes - I'm really getting big! Believe me I definitely feel it. Way back when I was in the 20's I thought I was starting to get uncomfortable, but that was nothing! I laugh at myself. Now, I'm lucky if I can find a comfortable position to sleep in, but even when I do I have to get up at least 2 times a night to go to the bathroom. Not that I'm complaining. I have had a relatively easy pregnancy and I know I'm lucky. For the most part I feel good and I still like being pregnant.

Something I was expecting to happen during pregnancy that hasn't happened too much is all the unsolicited help your supposed to get from strangers. I haven't really had a lot of experience with that. I've seen some people look at me like they should help, but they usually just keep going. Twice I've loaded a 20lb bag of dog food in my car while a male PetSmart employee looked on yet offered no help. Maybe I just look exceptionally fit and capable or maybe it's because people in this area don't really care. Who knows? The good news is I've managed just fine so far. Thankfully John does all the heavy lifting when he's around - including going up the stairs to the kitchen to get me a Popsicle. Mmmmm, I like popsicles!

It's Definitely a Girl!

I went to the OB yesterday for my 34 week check up and ultrasound. I'm now going every two weeks and after my next visit it will be weekly. Everything looks great. She is growing at a good rate and currently weighs about 5lbs 2oz. She's moving around a lot, although she doesn't really have the room to do a lot of big karate kicks anymore. I mostly feel her rolling around and moving her arms and legs. The best news from yesterday is that her head is down and it doesn't look likely that she will move from that position - yay! It was really good to see her - it's been about 14 weeks and I liked checking in on her. I got to see her opening and closing her mouth and sticking her tongue out (she's being fresh already). Her room is almost ready. We've got all the furniture set-up, bedding is washed and on the mattress, and now we just need to put on some finishing touches. I'll post pictures later in the week of both the ultrasound and the progress on the nursery.

Is it possible for this to be going so fast and so slow all at the same time?

31 Week Picture

I'm starting to get behind again on posting my belly pics, but here I am at 31 weeks. At this point the baby weighs over 3 pounds, can turn her head from side to side and is gaining weight every week.

In other updates - I went back to Labor and Delivery over the weekend. It was just as a precaution, but I'm glad I went. On Friday night I starting have a mild cramping feeling low in my belly and to be on the safe side I called the on-call doctor. He suggested that the only way to be sure of what was going on was to go into L&D and get checked out. Great, so much for having a wild Friday night. I did as I was told and again was put on monitors, given some water (although the nurse said I looked very well hydrated), and examined. They did a test looking for a protein that is released when labor is likely to start in the next two weeks. Thankfully that test came back negative, which means that they can tell me with 95% certainty that I will NOT go into labor in the next two weeks. But I was having contractions (not the real kind), so they gave me a pill to stop them and sent me home with a prescription for that medication in case this happens again. Again, the good news is that the baby looks great and these little episodes don't indicate that there is any reason I will go into labor early.

So, that was our fun Friday night - wooo hooo! This little girl is already causing trouble - she is going to be a handful! Any advice Lynne :)

Grammy's Day

Tomorrow at St. Rose of Lima school in Cicero, NY, my niece Michaella's school, will host a "dress down" day in honor of Grammy. Everyone has been asked to wear blue, at Michaella's request, because it was Grammy's favorite color. So please, help Michaella and her school celebrate her Grammy and wear your blue tomorrow!

I love you mom and I miss you!

Lethal Combination

Last Tuesday we had our final childbirth class. Of course the finale to this brief education into the world of having a baby is a video of an actual birth. I'm sure we all saw "The Miracle of Life" in high school biology class and it was gross then, but now it's just so much more relevant now. The following evening we did the tour of the maternity ward of the hospital. It's very nice. Actually, all I could think about while I was there as how impressed mom would have been. No sterile hospital waiting room like the old days. They have a beautiful lounge with a cappuccino machine, computers, WIFI, and a small kitchen. I could just picture my mother in there with a coffee and her book, not reading but talking to every other person in there. I'm sure she'd have their life stories before she left(and have given them mine in return, of course).

Anyway, this combination of the birthing video followed by the tour of the place where I will actually deliver this baby was a little bit frightening to me. I guess it just made it all seem so...real. I've enjoyed being pregnant so far and haven't really given a tremendous amount of thought to the baby actually coming out. Well, at least I know I can get a cappuccino after the delivery.

30 Week Picture

30 weeks - I can't believe it. Some days it feels like I am way past 30 weeks, but overall I'm still really enjoying being pregnant. Actually I feel like this picture is a little bit deceiving - I'm not really this big. I think it's the shirt. The third trimester has been more anxiety prone than even the precarious first trimester. I guess my trip to labor and delivery got me more shaken up than I expected. Other than that one little incident everything has been going very well. Nighttime is my only really bad time of the day. I tend to get cranky and uncomfortable. Too bad for John this is mostly during the time he is home. Hmmm, maybe that's not just a coincidence - only kidding.

I'm Normal

I just got word that the results of my 3 hour glucose test were normal! Wooo Hooo! Let me tell you that test was not fun. I got to the lab at 7:45am for my 8am appointment and there was already a line. How is it that I had to wait in a line when I actually had an appointment? I finally get in and the woman explains to me that they will take a fasting blood sample and then another sample every hour for the next 3 hours. So she draws my blood and then gives me the bottle of glucola to drink. After I finish she sends me off to the waiting room with the advice "try not to throw up because then we have start all over again." Super. Now, when I did the one hour test I didn't think it was that bad. This time around I still didn't think the drink itself was that bad, but the after effects were a little different this time. I proceeded to sit in the waiting room and try to read my book. At first all is well, then about 30 minutes into my wait I started to feel very ill. I assured the tech that I would be fine and wouldn't get sick - at this point I'm starting to doubt that promise. Finally I leaned my head on my hand and closed my eyes and that seemed to do the trick. While I continued to feel sick to my stomach for a little while longer, it got better as the morning went on. What did not help was the fact that they had to keep going back and forth between the same two spots for the blood draw because my other veins "were not cooperating". Stupid stubborn veins!

The moral of the story is that taking the 3-hour glucose test really sucks! But I passed, so it was all worth it. Yay!

29 Week Picture

My trip to Labor and Delivery over the weekend has certainly not stopped this little girl from moving and growing. We're both getting bigger by the week and she is still as active as ever. As a matter of fact the one fun part about my trip to the hospital was that we could both see and hear her kicking the fetal monitor. I guess she didn't appreciate the invasion of her space. No grass is going to grow under her feet!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all the moms out there. It's a tough day for this mom-to-be. It's nice to be celebrating my "first" mother's day and to think that this time next year I will be celebrating with our daughter. Unfortunately that is overshadowed by one very significant absence. It's hard to describe what it's like not to have my mother to call and say "Happy Mother's Day" or send a (late) card to. But the truth is I miss her like this every day, Mother's Day or not. Today it just happens to be right there in my face. We celebrated in our own way, but it's just not the same without her. It's still hard for me to even believe she is gone.

All of this is made even more difficult by the circumstances surrounding the start of my very first mother's day. My day started out in the Labor and Delivery department of our hospital. I called my doctor for a small amount of bleeding on Saturday evening and she sent me to the hospital to get checked out. It turns out I was having some pretty regular Braxton Hicks contractions. They were not painful, as a matter of fact I couldn't feel them at all. The concern was the frequency and regularity of the contractions. So after a lot of fluids and a quick shot to stop the contractions I was released from the hospital at about 12:30 am on Mother's Day. I was relieved and glad to go home and go to sleep (and see my dogs!). It's times like these that I wish I could call my mom. She would have know exactly what to say to put me at ease before I even called my doctor. I miss her so much. Happy Mother's Day mom!

28 Week Picture

So, I'm a little behind on posting the pictures, but it's been a busy few weeks. Here I am at 28 weeks - I really cannot believe how fast July is approaching. We started our childbirth classes this week, which has been interesting. The teacher is a labor and delivery nurse that used to work both for my doctor and for the hospital where I will deliver. She is fantastic - very much the kind of nurse mom was. She was truthful without trying to scare us and she was very frank about everything. I like her a lot. We have two more classes and then we "graduate". I guess that means I know all that I can know in order to have this baby, right?

In other news I go in for my 3-hour glucose tolerance test on Monday. I've got a good book to read while I wait and some knitting to finish for a certain set of twins that will arrive shortly before our little one. Say a prayer that I pass this test!!

27 Week Picture

Somewhere in the craziness I can't seem to find my 26 Week picture - oh well. This is me from last week at 27 weeks. I am starting to learn my limitations. For example, when my cell phone rings and it's on another floor of my house and I run to get it - I WILL be out of breath when I answer the phone. I am also not as agile as I was before I got pregnant, as was evidenced when I tried to prop myself up on a low wall outside the Air and Space museum. I was a little too front heavy to push myself up high enough to sit on that wall, but I certainly gave it a shot.

The baby is moving constantly! I can now feel what body part is poking me - like her little arms and hands, legs and elbows. It's pretty cool. Not too much longer and she'll be here for real!

I flunked

My doctors office called today to tell me that I failed my 1 hour glucose test. I worked so hard in school only to fail a simple blood test - boo! I only failed by a few points, but they still want me to come back for more testing. Grrrr. So now I have to go to a lab, drink 100mg of that glucola drink and then have my blood drawn once an hour for 3 hours. I know it sounds like a lot of fun so try not to be to jealous.

It's official

I am in my third trimester. Where did the time go? I can't believe that I'm in the final stretch - and stretching I am doing. I feel like my belly gets bigger by the hour! I went to the doctor on Monday and all is still well. The baby's heartbeat is strong and everything looks good. I'm still on a monthly appointment cycle, although that will likely change after next months visit. These are the easiest doctors visits ever! You go in, they listen to the heartbeat, measure your belly, and you're out. You don't even have to get undressed. We signed up for childbirth classes which we'll do in May.

We're still working on the baby's room. We'll post more progress pictures soon.

Nursery in progress

Here are some pictures of the baby's room while we were painting a few weeks ago. These are pictures after painted the walls pink and were prepping to paint the brown stripe. The green on the walls is the painters tape, although the color does look pretty cool with the pink. Now we are working on the closet and replacing the moulding. John cut and placed the moulding last night and will secure it and paint it this weekend.

Next steps: Paint the closet and put in shelving, select light fixture, and choose wall decor.

25 Week Picture

I missed Week 24, but just picture me about 1/2 inch smaller than this picture. This is me at 25 weeks. My belly is rapidly expanding and consequently making some things a little more difficult to do. For example: Bending at the waist, putting on socks, getting the dogs in their harnesses, getting up off the couch, and did I mention bending at the waist. All in all I feel really good - I have very few physical symptoms to complain about.

I go back to the doctor next week and pretty soon I'll start going every two weeks. Next week I get to do my glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes - yes this is the test where I have to drink that sickly sweet orange stuff. I hear it's not so bad. Keep your fingers crossed that I pass with flying colors.

Pink Hearts

We were painting the baby's room this weekend. I couldn't resist. Room update pictures to come.

Rough Day

Today is going to be a rough day, not that every day hasn't been rough, but today is one month since mom died. I still can't believe it actually happened. I struggle every single day to try and understand that this is real and that she's not here anymore. I miss her more and more every day. At least a few times a week I think to myself "I haven't talked to mom in a while. I should give her a call." Then I remember that I can't. I haven't gone a month without talking to my mother ever in my whole life. I still just don't understand this and I hate it - I hate this feeling. I want to go back in time and somehow make it not happen. I dream about her all the time. I miss her so much.

23 Week Picture

Here I am at 23 weeks. She is moving around like crazy! I feel her kicking and rolling around all day. I can't believe how active she is. I went from not feeling her move at all to this constant motion. And we can clearly SEE my belly move as she kicks and rolls. Forget TV, our favorite activity at night is to sit and watch my belly jump - it's amazing. She even wakes me up in the morning, but I guess I should get used to that. Sometimes I don't feel her until about 7am - do you think I'll be that lucky after she's born?

Candy and elastic waist pants

Look what my wonderful friend Tamara sent me. It's the pregnant women's trifecta: candy, onsies, and elastic waist maternity pants! Oh and there is also a "Taggie" blanket for the baby, but as you can see in the bottom of the first photo Willa is already eyeing it. The peanut butter egg is for John who is not pregnant, but eats like he is. The onsies are in three different sizes - 0-3 months, newborn, and preemie. The preemie one is the smallest little thing I've ever seen! It so cute. It looks like it's made for a doll. As you can tell from the last picture Willa likes the pink newborn onsie the best. Unfortunately I will NOT be putting the clothes on the dog like John wants to.

The things people say

Now that the weather is a little warmer (although not so much today) more people are starting to notice that I'm pregnant. Wearing the bulky sweaters and heavy coat of winter just made me look like I'd gotten pudgy. So now the coat comes off and is replaced by a large sign that reads: "How do I look. Please be (brutally) honest." I honestly don't mind when people comment on my pregnancy. As a matter of fact I like it a lot. I love for people to ask when I'm due, what I'm having, or is it your first? I love to hear older women tell me that their daughter, granddaughter, daughter-in-law, friend, neighbor, etc. are also due this summer. It's all a lot of fun. I'm excited about this pregnancy and I'm happy being pregnant. This attitude changes slightly when people feel the need to be, as mentioned above, brutally honest. Take my neighbor for example. She has had these things to say about my pregnancy thus far: 1) Oh, so that's why your face has gotten so chubby (said at 14 weeks) 2) Labor really hurts (also said at 14 weeks) and 3) Wow, you've gotten really big (said at 22 weeks). I know she means well.

My friend Tamara on the other hand has it much worse than I do. Since she is carrying twins she is the same size now as she would be at full term with one baby. People have a LOT of very honest things to say to her - Postal Worker: "When are you due?" Tamara: "The end of June." Postal Worker: "Oh, you'll never make it to June." Tamara: "I'm actually only in my second trimester so that would be bad. I'm carrying twins." Postal Worker: "You're still never going to make it to June." I don't know how she walked away without hitting that woman.

The Coolest Thing Ever!

Last night while watching TV, I felt the baby kick for the first time. It was pretty much the coolest thing i have ever seen.

Doctors appointment today

I went to the doctors today for my monthly check up and all things look good. I heard the heartbeat as I do at every appointment and it was strong. I'm still having the occasional fainting episode so my doctor did some more blood work to check and see if I'm anemic. I don't really have to do anything even if I am, but she did start me on an Iron supplement anyway.

The doctor I had today was one I hadn't met before and I really like her. She's got a very nice bedside manner. I go back in 4 weeks - for now everything looks good.

The Desk

Here are the before and after pictures of the desk.

We were going to buy a new desk for the office, but we could not figure out how to fit a desk and an armoire in the room. It was at that point I realized we didn't really need the armoire since we just put in a new closet organizer, and that it would probably make a good computer desk.

With a few parts purchased at home depot I was able to add the slide out tray for the keyboard, and allow the doors to open fully to accommodate a chair. It was a fun little project and we are very happy with the results.

Phase One Complete!

So today we finished the change over of the office to the guest room/office. The "before " picture is kind of in progress but you get the idea. After a newly remodeled desk, some paint, and a new closet system we have a new guest room/office. Next step picking paint colors for the baby's room.

She's going to be a soccer player

This baby just won't stop kicking. Last night John thinks he felt the baby move for the first time - it was faint, but he thinks he felt something. She was kicking up a storm up near my ribs (ouch!) and more than the flutters I feel all day, these felt like real kicks! You could actually see a few of them, which is really unbelievable. I think she was really excited about Siena's AMAZING win last night in double OT! They certainly had mom on their side to pull off a win like that. One of the best college games I've ever witnessed - mom would have loved it!

Update on the baby's room: We're not painting this weekend because the paint samples we got were not the right ones. We ended up having to order them on the internet. Once we get them we can order the paint and get the room started. We're still not sure what color we're painting the room. The furniture is dark brown and the bedding is light pink with brown accents. We're thinking about doing a neutral color and accenting the room with a large pink horizontal stripe with a smaller brown stripe on either side. It's kind of hard to visualize, but if I can find a picture I'll post it. Let me know if anyone has any good ideas. You can see the bedding at our other registry on www.rhbabyandchild.com

21 Week Picture

Here I am at 21 weeks pregnant. Things are still tough, but I'm grateful that I feel physically good and my baby is healthy. Right now she weighs 1 pound and is using all of her pound to kick me! She moves all the time and like I said before, she definitely moves more when I'm hungry. It's like she's saying "Hey mom, eat something. I'm starving." Feeling her move is just so amazing and knowing that it's a little girl in there kicking away is so cool. I really feel like I'm getting to know her already. She's already a lot like me. We both get irritable when we're hungry.

We're making progress on the baby's room. Well, we haven't actually started, but we are finalizing paint colors this week and the new guest room is almost done. John did a fabulous job turning our armoire into a desk - it's awesome. Pictures coming soon. We should be able to start the baby's room this weekend. We did finally get out and start our registry. Primarily we're registered at Babies R Us, but we've also registered for our bedding and a few items at Restoration Hardware www.rhbabyandchild.com.

Here SHE is!

Here she is - our little girl. We love the third picture which we are calling her American Idol picture - she's singing already. In the last picture you can see that she is sucking her thumb. Amazing, just totally amazing.

It was an amazing day among so many sad days. It was devastating to not be able to call my mom on the way out of the doctors office like I normally would have. I know she would be so happy to hear that we're having a little girl. It's really hard to do this without her, but I'm so very grateful to have so much support and enthusiasm from my family and friends. I hope this little one knows how important she already is to so many people. It's all just so hard and I only hope I can teach this baby what a great "Grammy" she had. It hurts so much to know that she'll never get to meet her.

On a positive note, I did start to feel the baby move last week, which is amazing. It started just when my mom told me it would - 20 weeks. I like to think Peg had something to do with that. And now she is moving all the time - especially when I'm hungry. I think it's her way of making sure I'm eating enough.