Productive Day...

Not productive as in I had a baby, but productive. This morning we all went out. First of all, I slept awesome last night! No back or rib pain. It was amazing. I was awake an hour earlier than I had been all week. So once we were all ready, we hit the stores. Me and my mom got some kitchen gadgets I was missing and got a few small baby items at Target while the hubs walked the kids through the pet store and book store. Then we had lunch, came home and it was naptime. The hubs went to read and nap, and I was pretty bored. So me and my mom went to the fabric store and thought about projects and a few things we had in mind to make. After we got back, we had a dinner of leftovers and then the hubs played with the kids until bedtime. It was nice. It felt good to be that busy. It took my mind off of other things. I've still been having contractions on and off all day. I haven't bothered tracking them much. I figure that when they get close enough and consistent enough to be important, I'll easily take notice. Although my new theory is that my water is going to break spontaneously and that'll be the beginning of it. I just hope I can sleep as well as I did last night. that would be fantastic.

Moose was very emphatic that he wanted the baby to be born today. At around naptime, he said very sadly that he didn't think the baby would be born today. It was so sad. He's so eager and excited for her to come.

In another note, Monkey has had (what we think are) 2 night terrors. It happened two nights ago, and then again last night. She wakes up screaming, says "no" to everything and eventually just goes right back to sleep. Neither of then have lasted very long. They're pretty horrible to see as a parent. there's nothing you can do about them. Just wait until they're over, basically. But I'm hoping it's a random occurrence and doesn't become anything regular. We'll see.

Tomorrow's the due date. Here's hoping she'll come soon!

Since I'm Blogging...

I must not be in the hospital right? No. Not in the hospital. Although today was a good day. The hubs needed to go to work and get his lesson plans ready for his sub, so me and my mom spent the day at home with the kiddos. She also painted my toe nails. :) I decided not to do any walking today, since I've been doing but it's not really, really helping. Sure, it gets my contractions going. Just enough so that I can't sleep at night and then once my body cools down I'm back to square one. I figure if my body's ready to go into labor, the contractions will come and stay. I'm still 2 days from my due date so I've decided to stop stressing so much. I wish I'd never thought she was coming early in the first place. Silly notion. I'll never make that mistake again. They were coming every 6 minutes for about an hour. The most consistent they've been. But they've started slowing a tiny bit. I had the notion that perhaps I might stay up tonight and keep tracking, but if they slow and don't stay consistent I'm not going to get my hopes up.

Tonight as Moose said his prayer he prayed that the baby would be born tomorrow. Such a sweet boy. I love him! :) Now let's see if his sweet prayer will be answered. :)

Still Pregnant...

Today was a good day, despite the fact that I'm still pregnant. I saw my doctor. I, most unfortunately, had made no progress to speak of. Boo! She offered to strip my membranes. I didn't know what that meant, but I was prepared for the possibility and told her to go ahead. She said she wasn't able to do a very thorough job. Either due to her small hands, or maybe because of the baby's position. But she tried anyway. She said my cervix needs to soften. Anyway, it was a bit disappointing.

Me and the hubs spent a few hours walking outside during naptime, while Grandma stayed at home with the kiddos. For the last 4 hours, my contractions have been between 6-9 minutes and getting stronger. But if things don't pick up, or if my water doesn't just break, it might be a long night. I don't really want them to stop so I can sleep. But if they keep up this way I certainly won't get a good night's sleep tonight. So we'll see. We talked about going walking again this evening. But the weather is just so yucky outside. (It was drizzling while we walked this afternoon.) And I just don't particularly want to talk around Home Depot or Lowe's for a few hours. So there's no telling what's going to happen next. But I'm not due til Friday, so I'm not late, and therefore am not going to allow myself to get discouraged.

It has been absolutely wonderful having my mom here and having the hubs home all day. She made us an amazing dinner of buttermilk fried chicken, baking powder biscuits, corn, and some jell-o with cool whip and pears blended in. (Super yummy if you've never had it.) It was delish.

So send me happy thoughts and let's hope this picks up so we can get on with having this baby! Oh, Monkey's doing tons better. Yay!!

Let's Get This Show On The Road...

Seriously. My contractions last night were between 15-20 minutes for a few hours til we went to bed. We had to get up a few times with Monkey's cough last night. Fortunately she seems to be doing way better today. We are so happy about that! Today the contractions have been in the realm of under 15 minutes. Anywhere from 15-6 minutes apart. But nothing consistent. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow at noon. I'm really hoping that I will have progress to show for all these contractions. If I haven't dilated more, I'll be feeling pretty bummed out. Last time I was dilated 1 1/2 and effaced 75%. I've got to be doing better now! But I'm feeling pretty at peace with waiting. I know that my body's prepping up and this is not Braxton-Hicks speaking. I'm confident I'll go into labor sometime this week. It's only a matter of time. But I'm soo ready. Really.

Think baby-having thoughts for me. I'm totally ready to get this show on the road!

The Girls...

Today has been all about the girls. Me, Monkey, and the baby. Poor Monkey has had her worst day yet. Her cough has been really bad, keeping her from sleeping well. She's one of those kids that just looks so sad when they're sick that you just want to hold them all the time. She's currently sleeping and hasn't coughed yet. We're hoping she's just too tired to cough. I really hope she gets better soon. Everything that happens is so much more dramatic to her when she's sick. The smallest owie or offense will send her to tears and it'll take a lot more effort to calm her down than is usual for her. So we're crossing our fingers that she gets a real good night's sleep tonight so she'll be feeling better tomorrow.

So, me and the baby. We've been having a good day. Nothing really spectacular. I have been timing my contractions this evening. During dinner I noticed I was having them semi-regularly, so after that continued for about an hour, I figured I'd start timing and keeping track. I've been at it for almost 2 hours, and they've been anywhere from 8-20 minutes apart. For me that's a pretty big leap to one an hour or so. I know it doesn't necessarily mean I'll be having her tomorrow or anything. But it certainly means my body is gearing up, which excites me. My mom has been massaging some pressure points in my hands and feet in the hopes that we'll help things along. At this point I'm all about it! If things are still doing this tomorrow, we're going to go on a nice long walk!

So send me nice, baby-having thoughts. Perhaps I'll be right and she'll be born tomorrow! Wouldn't that be awesome?! Here's hoping. :)

Thanks For Having A Baby...

We had a baby shower today. It was great to sit around for 2 hours doing nothing but chat with friends and talk about babies and whatnot. I always love when showers are over, because people will thank you, and I always think, "Yup. Thank me for having a baby so we could have a reason to get together and have a shower." I've been known to thank people for having birthdays so we could get together, or for having babies for the same reason. It still makes me smile, though, when people say "thank you" to the one who's pregnant.

Today ended up being a really beautiful day. 51 degrees at one point! (I know for some of you that's dreadfully cold, but for us it was glorious!) It actually felt like spring for the first time. Now I just hope it stays that way. Poor Monkey has a cough that is driving her nuts whenever she goes to bed. She doesn't hardly cough otherwise, but laying down just does a number on her. She's covered in Vicks, has a humidifier, and a Vicks vaporizer thingy so their room is a vicks sauna. I hope she gets feeling better soon. Her cough is so sad. And it ruins her naps more often than not so she's a real grouch in the evening.

Mostly, our days are filled with thoughts of "When's this baby gonna be born?" I really, really hope she doesn't wait until Friday. I've been so set on her coming just a little bit early (which I shoulda known better than to do) because Monkey was 5 days early. Oh well. I know she'll come when she comes. As long as she's not past my due date, I think I'll be fine. I don't even wanna risk having to have a c-section because she's late. Not happening. But I'd really, really love for her to come this week. Oh well. What I want doesn't really matter in this case, I'm afraid.

She's Here...

Not the baby. My mom. Just as exciting. Well, okay, super close to. We picked her up at the airport today, waiting anxiously until it was time to leave. It even rained as she came in, just for her. :) That's really the most noteworthy thing about today.

The hubs is officially on Spring Break. Yahoo! Things are coming together. I could now go into labor at any time and the kiddos will be covered. But I've got a baby shower tomorrow, and Moose is giving a little talk in church on Sunday. But my Mom is prepped to give me all sorts of pressure point massages after church Sunday so we can get me in labor asap. :)

I've actually slept pretty decently the last few days, so I haven't been as disgruntled. But the rib pain continues throughout the day too, so that's no fun. Moose is extremely excited for the baby to be born and will mention that to me at least once a day. And we have a bassinet (our last missing thing) in our room now, so should we bring her home in a day or two, she can sleep right next to me. :)

So excited for this little lady to come. I've been counting down for a while now. (Who wouldn't be, right?) But now the countdown has really begun. Can't wait to see when she decides to come!

Guess What...

Did anyone think I went into labor? I didn't. Wish I had. Although my mom arrives tomorrow. But I'm pretty sure I'll still be pregnant when she arrives. So we're in good shape. I had an exhausting day today for no other reason than being pregnant and not having restful sleep. Then me and the hubs spent the evening talking about work issues (darn those awful budgets for education) and our night was taken up quickly. So there was no blogging for me last night.

This morning I thought the baby might've dropped. I slept so great last night, meaning I had hardly any rib pain at all. But I was wrong. She's still right up in my ribs, making up for the lack of pain last night by giving it to me all afternoon/evening. But I prefer that (slightly) over not being able to sleep. I gave my last piano lesson for a while, not to mention the last meal I'll cook for a while. (Certainly something to celebrate over!) We're picking my mom up at our airport tomorrow shortly after 4:30. Wahoo! The kids are so excited! (Mostly Moose. But I'm sure Monkey will pick up on it tomorrow. I'll be lucky if I can get them to nap tomorrow.)

I had a small moment today, as I was blogging and catching up on message in my inbox before the baby comes and I get behind again. I was thinking about the baby being born and had this overwhelming feeling of love for this new, distinct person. I've wondered at times what it'll be like. It was easy enough to imagine it being different with the first 2, since they're boy and girl, and you expect differences. But since this is our second girl, I've wondered how I will feel about her that is different from how I felt about Monkey when she was born. But I had this moment, a moment of clarity perhaps, where I just felt a very different, and distinct love for this little one and who she will be. It was pretty amazing.

My mom arrives tomorrow! (It's about time, right?) I'm due in 8 days. Any bets as to when she'll actually show up? Any day from tomorrow til April 8th. (My deadline.) My current guess is March 28th. Ooh, or how big you think she'll be. I'm thinking around 7 lbs. 10 oz. (Monkey was 7'7, Moose was 9'0.) Moose was 22 in. and Monkey was 21, so I'm betting 21 in. long. Can't wait to find out!

Baby Update...

Alrighty. I had my doctor's appointment this morning. I'm still effaced 75% and am now dilated a whole 1 1/2 centimeters. So not much difference. But I think I'm glad that I'm not moving along too quickly, because I think if I were I would be even more impatient about going into labor. So today has actually put me in a good mood about still being pregnant and dealing with the rest of my week. I have small things to do almost every day this week, so I'm okay with being pregnant til next week. Although I think Monday would be a great day to have a baby. ;)

I know I've thought about small, cute things the kids have done lately tha tI hsould mention, but I tend to forget a lot lately. My mom pointed out that I swapped the kiddos names in my blog last night, although I've already fixed it. I think my brain is just as done being pregnant as the rest of me. I've already lost too many brain cells. But I'm feeling good, and not too grouchy about still being pregnant. I'm sure I'll be able to make it til whenever she decides to be born. In the meantime, I can look forward to my mom coming.

3 days til my mom arrives. 10 til the due date! :)

I Think I Can...

I feel like I'm definitely in the final leg of this pregnancy marathon. I stayed up later than I should've reading a book last night, and consequently spent as much time in bed as I could this morning. This kiddos accomodated me, but were probably slightly restless the rest of the day because of it. Then when the hubs gets home, they flip a switch and become slightly insane. I feel awful when they're suddenly fighting over everything or running around being noisy. But they just get so excited when he comes home, there's not much I can do to stop it from happening. I think it'll be something that dies down as they get older. They're now sleeping. I'm exhausted. Feeling very pregnant. I have an appointment tomorrow. I sure hope my body has progress to show for this last week. I need a pick me up to keep me going.

4 more days til Mom gets here. I talked with her today. We're both so excited. Moose asked me twice today how many more days were left til she would come. He's definitely excited. 11 more days til the due date. And I'm certainly hoping it ends up being less than that. We'll see. I might have a better picture come tomorrow. I always said I'd wait til my mom shows up, then it would be any day. Now my new deadline is Sunday, since Moose is giving his first little talk in his Primary class. So excited! So I have to be there for that. But come next Monday, it's on! I'm so ready to deliver this baby. No joke. Please send me positive thoughts to get me through the end of this week. I'll need it! :)