New Years Eve!!!!

As I mentioned in my precious post (two posts in two days..I'm on a roll) my mother will be coming into town today to spend the night so the Mr. and I can go out and bring in the New Year right! I am SO excited I can barely contain myself. Now, I'm not excited about leaving my baby behind, but I am excited to have someone else that I trust keep her while I go off and live a little.

I can't recap what's happened, since, well it hasn't happened yet, but I can tell you what the plan is....
Sushi
Shrimp (bleck)
Chicky Chicky Chicken
Boooooooze
Kinect
CornHole
Toasts
Kisses
Bed.

Sounds like a good night to me!

Now since tomorrow is the first day of 2011, I should have a resolution ready and prepared to begin.
Well, I don't.
It's usually always been my resolution to quit smoking. Guess what?! I did that this year! I still have moments of weakness and want to smokesmokesmoke, but I don't. How selfish would I be if I did? My poor baby would have to smell the stench of cigarettes every time I held her, her clothes would stink..etc.etc.etc.
It's not fair to her, and so, I wont be smoking.
Now the only task I've yet to complete is to get the Mr. to quit.
Maybe that should be my resolution. Or his.

If I think of something for myself, I'll let you know. Until then, enjoy tonight.
Eat, Drink, and be Merry.
But don't drink and drive, it kills people.

2 Months Old!!

So today my little one is two months old. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was downing black cohosh, and doing acupressure trying to jump start my labor...only then to be in said labor for oh, 20 hours or so.

She's so stinkin cute. She smiles all the time, and follows you with her big, blue eyes. Granted this last week she has turned into the newborn I remember quite well. She went from waking up once during the night to eat, to getting up 3 times at night..again. Boo. I am one tired momma this week, but it's ok, I'll survive. This will only go on so long and then she'll be going off to kindergarten ::cries:: I can't begin to think about that yet. She also weighs 11lbs 1oz!! A big jump from 7lbs7oz!! AlsoALSO! She got a glow worm for Christmas, she freaking LOVES that damn thing, she will stare at it forrrrrrreverrrrrr! (She got a penguin pillow pet as well, and since she's too young to really enjoy that, I guess momma will get to keep it all to herself;) )

Tomorrow is New Years Eve, and my mom is coming up to spend the night so Ariana will have a baby sitter. This way she is in her own environment, and I don't have to ask someone else to keep her so late at night. The Mr. and I are really looking forward to having a night away, spending some quality adult time with friends. When I say "adult time" I mean we'll be acting like 10 year olds playing Kinect. (With a little drinking thrown in!)

Here's a picture of my pretty baby! I'd add more, but my connection is sloooow right now! Gotta love free wifi!

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Or Happy Holidays, whichever is less offensive.

I guess I should update...

Since my last post things have changed a bit.

We finally made it to the pedi who prescribed baby A some Zantac. While it's only been 2 days, I can already see a difference when I'm feeding her. I hate that she has acid reflux, especially since I've had heartburn maybe once in my life, so I have no idea what she's going through, but I'm glad they diagnosed her and gave her something to make it better. They also decided to give her her 2 month vaccines. I thought it was just going to be a well baby visit so I hadn't prepared myself for what was to come. 3 shots, and an oral. It.Was.Awful. When the nurse gave her the first shot she screamed and didn't catch her breath right away, which was sad, but babies do that sometimes, but my mom just happened to be there and she went ape shit on the nurse who almost didn't wait to give her the second shot once she had caught her breath. Picture my mom being a complete bitch yelling at the nurse for almost giving my kid a shot while she wasn't breathing. Now, don't get me wrong, she wasn't turning blue kind of not breathing, she was exhaling from crying and it lasted a little longer than it usually does. But come on, she's a nurse, she knows what she's doing, she does it everyday. Anyway, we stopped off and picked up some infant Tylenol and headed home. She was not happy at all that night. I thought most babies sleep after getting their shots; not mine. Not until screaming for hours did she finally go to sleep. The next day she was fine as frog hair, so everythings ok!

The best friend anyone could ever ask for has been spending the days with me this week to prevent me from going insane from loneliness. As of Monday I had hit my breaking point and needed someone to be here with me. Yesterday we spent the afternoon doing a little last minute Christmas shopping, and had lunch at the Olive Garden..yum. Baby A did pretty well, fussed a little, but I think it's because she knew I was trying to eat. She has a tendency to want to either be held, or fed as soon as dinner is ready. It was her first time in a restaurant and I've got to admit, she did very well.

So I'm feeling better emotionally, but now, I'm sick. Of course. Sore throat, pitiful cough, body aches....yep, that's me. I'm praying I don't get my newborn sick, that would be terrible. So everyone please cross your fingers that she doesn't come down with something.

Well tomorrow is Christmas Eve. The Mr. will be home (yay!) so he will be hanging out with the little one while I make Red Velvet Cake Balls for Christmas dinner.
Check them out HERE.
I'm really looking forward to it, and I hope they turn out well! Christmas Day we'll be making the hour or so drive to have lunch with my mom's side of the family, and them making another 30 or so minute drive to have dinner with my dad's side. Every one's excited to get to spend some time with baby A, and I'm excited to get to eat some delicious food!

Before I go, I've got to give a shout out to a couple of amazing ladies who made me realize that this infant stage will get better, and there's a light at the end of this hellish tunnel. Thank you so much Carol and Max! It's nice to have someone who's been there give me some advice. I ordered the book 12 Hours Sleep by 12 Weeks Old (thanks for the recommendation Carol) and I plan on starting it New Year's Day!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.

Broken

This may be long, and run on, but I can't say that I'm sorry, because I'm not. I've got more important things to worry about than my blog entries being perfect.

I am at my wits end. I honestly don't know what to do anymore. I need help. I need someone who knows what the hell is going on to come and help me, and take care of the child that I cannot.

I am her mother, and cannot soothe her cries. She screams, and screams and it absolutely breaks me heart. I don't know why she cries. I don't know. I've tried everything imaginable to fix it, to make it better and I just can't. I am at a loss and I don't know what to do anymore.

All she does is sleep, which is fine, if she wants to sleep, then so be it, I'll let her, but when she decides she is ready to eat, she gets furious. She turns red, screams bloody murder, thrashes her head back and forth and will NOT take the bottle. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't just me at home by myself, if I had someone to help me. She'll scream, and scream, and scream. I literally have to get her to sleep to feed her. I broke down last night. The Mr. worked until 945pm and I had been alone with her all day dealing with her screaming. And then when it was time for her to go to bed, it started all over again. Finally I just handed her to him and let him attempt to make it better. He got her to sleep but as soon as he put her in the bed she was up again. I held her and attempted to feed her and she screamed. So I put her in her swing. Instant sleep.

Is it colic? This only started happening a week ago, shes 6 and a 1/2 weeks old, wouldn't colic have kicked in earlier?

Is it her formula? Does it upset her? She is fine during her late night feelings. Eats with no problem, and goes right back to sleep. So I don't get it. Wouldn't the formula bother her at all of her feeding?

Am I trying to feed her too often? Is she not as hungry as I think?

I don't know what to do anymore.

Do you really need a title?

It's been a week or so, and I apologize for the delay. Nothing spectacular happened, so don't get your panties in a wad.

My kiddo slept from 9pm last night until 3am! It.Was.Wonderful. This has only happened twice now, and it is amazing. I feel like I could do anything after nights like this. She went back to bed and slept until 6, ate, then back to bed a final time and got up at 830. She woke up gagging and choking, and coughing and sneezing, so I'm thinking she may be coming down with something. I hope not, so I'll be giving her even more love than usual to (hopefully) make her feel better. I sucked her nose and throat and took her temp just to be on the safe side. No temp, luckily so maybe I'm just being paranoid after hearing about everyone suffering from a bug.

She started this new trend lately where, if she's hungry, she will fight like hell. It's frustrating because we know she's hungry, but she'll scream and thrash her head back and forth until she finally gives up. My mom, God bless her, says we should give her either cereal in her bottle, or water. Um..I've done lots of research mother. Babies don't get cereal until they are at least 3 months old. And as far as water, not until she is 6 months is she allowed to have even just a few drops. Once she is 1 year old she can have as much water as she likes, and until then, she wont be getting any. Better safe than sorry. Times have changed mother.

I did a little research and asked a popular baby forum for some suggestions as to what we could do to help with this issue. Someone suggested we swaddle her. We had been doing this up until a week or so ago, and we stopped when she stopped sleeping in her bassinet. She didn't seem to mind not being swaddled, so we figured no big deal. Well, we swaddled her up, and she ate like a champ giving us NO fight at all. I think we may have solved our problem, and she slept 6 hours straight....coincidence? I think not. Thank you Internet stranger for making my life a little better. She is currently sleeping soundly, swaddled in her swing. (Say that 5 times fast!)

My brother in law is in town for the week, which is super exciting, since he is my favorite member of the hubs family. He is also the first of them to meet baby A! He was very excited to meet her! The rest of his family will meet her when either we go to Tennessee and visit, or when they come here to visit. We shall see.

Also! Christmas cards went out TODAY!!

Back to work, and a sneak peek!

It looks like this weekend I'll be going back to work. It doesn't really feel like maternity leave is ending since I'll only be working on Saturdays and Sundays, so I'll still be home all week by myself with the little one. I'm excited and happy to be going back to work, but I can't help but think that it's really just going to be a pain the the ass. I mean, those days are the days that the hubs is home and he lets me catch up on sleep that I missed during the week. I can see it now, I'll be scheduled to be there first thing in the morning both days, so I'll be super tired and any chance of me being able to sleep in will go right out the window.

It's fine, we need the extra income right now anyway. Not that it's much, but some is better than none.

Income tax time is rapidly approaching. And although I'm usually excited about blowing our extra money on superfluous shit, I'm extra excited about it this year because we're (hopefully) getting my happy ass a car. I have been without a vehicle since March! Do you know how bad it sucks to have to rely on other people to transport you from place to place?! Even if you just need to pick something up from the grocery store? It sucks. I hate being stranded. I should probably also mention that the Mr.'s car is a stick shift, and although I've attempted to learn, I've never mastered driving the damn thing. So aside from borrowing a friends car once or twice, I've hardly driven at all in 9 months! 9 MONTHS! So, God willing, I will be the happy owner of my own car (eeeeeek!) in a few short months! When that happens, I'll be looking into getting a new job as well, somewhere working nights. I still want to stay home with A because I don't want a stranger raising my child. I'll most likely get a restaurant gig. Serving is easy, I'm really good at it, and the money is good. I mean, how awesome is it to work 3 hours and go home with $150 in your pocket. $50 an hour is not bad at all! Hopefully I'll be able to find a serving job in a decent restaurant fairly quickly. Fingers crossed!

I'm feeling great today, by the way. Kiddo went to bed at 11pm, woke up at 230am, 630am, then we took a short nap from 7 to 8, got up had some breakfast and took a totally awesome nap from 8 to 1030. I feel well rested and ready to take on the world! She is waking up now and wants lunch so I'm outta here! Have a good day!

Here is a sneak peek at our Christmas photos!

Even though it's blurry, this is one of my favorites.
More to come after cards have been received by all ;)

Happy Monday

Good morning all! It's Monday, and another day closer to Christmas! Sadly we're not getting a Christmas tree this year both for financial reasons and for lack of space. Our apartment is too small and adding in a tree would make it all the more cramped. So next year when we're in a bigger place, definitely!

This weekend was pretty good compared to the horrible week I had suffering with a constantly crying little one. She was actually in a really good mood, and still is surprisingly. What it was causing her to do this, I still don't know, but as long as it's over, I'm a happy momma. I can't imagine what it must be like for parents that have a baby with colic. My heart definitely goes out to them.

Saturday we spent the afternoon taking some family photos! They turned out great, and I'm really happy with our photographer ;)
I'll post some of the pictures after we send out our Christmas cards.... I don't want to give anything away!

I keep going back and forth on whether or not I should post a link to my blog on my Facebook, and I always end up not doing it. I think I'd rather have strangers of the interwebs reading about my personal life than people I actually know. Plus I don't need anyone else judging me.

I really need to work on my posts not being all over the place...maybe one of these days!

Have a great week!
(Oh, by the way, it's cold outside!!)

Times are a'changin

Let me start this by saying I am running on about 3 hours of sleep.

Now that that is out of the way, Oh.My.Cod. I am so effing tired. And not just from last nights lack of sleep, oh no. This entire week has sucked. Big ones.
My darling daughter is going through this stage, if you will, where if she isn't being held, she's crying. If she's hungry, which is always, she is crying. If you are trying to put the bottle in her mouth to feed her, she is crying. If you put her in her bassinet after taking nearly an hour to get her to sleep, instantly she is awake, crying. What.The.Fug. I don't get it. I don't understand why she is crying all the time. She also isn't napping like she used to. Now she'll take maybe one or 2 naps a day. Cat naps, not like her previous naps that lasted hours, these only last about 30 or 45 minutes. This week will live forever in my mind as "Hell Week."

Annnyhow. No matter how frustrated I get, I know that once the weekend comes, salvation has arrived. My dear, dear husband wont be working so he can stay up with her at night, and wake up with her in the morning. I will still get up and handle the overnight feedings, only because this ensures the Hubs will be rested enough to get up and take care of her once morning hits and she's ready to start the day.

Got to cut this one short, the little one has risen...
I'll post pictures later.

One down, one to go....

This week has been kind of crazy. So here's my attempt to recap...

Thanksgiving was Thursday, we woke up and hung out around the house for most of the afternoon. We didn't have to be anywhere until 4pm so we had plenty of time to kill. So the hubs and I sat around watching football and relaxed a bit. About 345ish we loaded up the car and headed out to the Greene's for dinner.

Baby A was the main attraction as always, which I can honestly say I don't mind because I love that everyone loves her, and loves to hold her and take care of her, it gives me a much needed break.

I knew most of the people there (there were like, 20 people there btw) but you know it's always awkward when you're hanging around people you don't know. Luckily I knew the majority, so it was fine. Dinner was ready about 430ish and it was amazing. There was everything from turkey, tofurkey, sweet potatoes, and even a turducken (turkey/duck/chicken) which I didn't try, but heard it was good. I was super proud of myself for eating small portions, but I did go back for seconds on the sweet potatoes and green bean casserole (YUM)...I wanted to save some room for dessert...derr.

Speaking of, there was apple cobbler (I think), carrot cake, and pumpkin cheesecake. I had the cheesecake since it is fall, and there wasn't an actual pumpkin pie, this was the next best thing. Jessica made it and it was suuuuuper good. I couldn't finish it because I was still full, but Chad had no problem finishing it off for me.

I guess I should mention that the night before, the guys went to the liquor store to stock up on drinks. I'll have you know, I had 2 glasses of wine, and 3 margaritas (patron margs at that) I was a little buzzed, but knew I wouldn't be driving and was still able to take care of my baby responsibly.

Before and after dinner there was corn hole in the backyard being played. I didn't play 1)I was wearing a dress 2)I already know I suck so there was no reason so show everyone. They all had a good time playing!

Anyway, after dinner we all hung out in the kitchen had a few more drinks and then it was off to Jessica and Vann's for a little game playing. We played HedBanz (google it)... I hadn't heard of this game before, but it looked fun. We ended up playing it for hours and it was super fun, but also realllllly hard. You should definitely buy it!

And that, my friends, was Thanksgiving.

Black Friday. Boo. The hubs, bebe, Jessica, Lindsey and myself went to the Florida Mall to do a little browsing and shopping...Dumb. This was our first real outing with the kiddo, and there was about a million people there. We were there until Baby A started throwing a fit, which wasn't long, well maybe it was I don't really know. We did, however, purchase a super cute dress from baby gap for our family Christmas card! So I'll say it was a success.

Now Saturday....Awesome. Chad and I got new cell phones! My phone had been broken for a year. It was really sad. Chad inherited a phone from Linds after his old one took a shit. He got some LG andriod, and I got a blackberry. Finally. Now that they are no longer cool, I got one. Whatever, I love it, and it's super cute and not to mention purple! I thought it was going to take me foooooorever to learn how to use it, but after a couple of hours, I've got it down. Texting, however, may take a little longer than expected due to the size of the keys. Whatever, I'm a happy camper. They were early Christmas presents to ourselves, since this Christmas is going to be about the little one and not so much us.

That was our holiday week(end) now all that's left is to get a tree, some stockings, decorate them both, and do some shopping/wrapping for the bebe and we'll be ready for the next round of holidays. (That and mentally preparing ourselves for Christmas lunch & dinner with my family.) Wish us luck with that!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

There are so many things to be thankful for this year....

I'm thankful for my amazing husband, who turned out to be an amazing father, I swear some days I don't deserve him.

I'm thankful for my gorgeous, healthy daughter. She is the light of my life. I didn't believe in love at first sight until she came along.

I'm thankful for the most amazing friends and extended family a girl could ask for. I am truly blessed to have the people in my life that I do.

Enjoy your day and forget your diet.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Another holiday post? Check!

As of today, we have started the search for our first official family Christmas cards. While we have yet to actually take the photo for the front of it, I'm sure that will be less stressful than picking out the card itself.

Since this will be our first Christmas with our brand new baby, I've been searching high and low for good deals on Christmas cards. And guess what I found?! Shutterfly.com is doing a promotion and giving away 50 free holiday cards! Don't be jealous, you can get 50 cards for free too, if you blog that is! If you're interested (and lets face it, who wouldn't be) you can check it out for yourself here http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

I've never used shutterfly.com but I've been doing lots of research, and from what I can tell, they are fast, reliable, affordable....all great things, so I'm sure I will be using them more and more during the coming years.

So here is my problem... I am the most indecisive person on the planet. I promise, just ask my husband, or my friends, or, well, anyone that knows me at all. I have narrowed it down to a select few cards that I love, but can't seem to pick just one. So, I need your help.

So there they are. Help me pick one since I am incapable of doing so myself! Then when you're done doing that, get to blogging so you can get some free holiday cards too....and while you're at it check out other fun stuff you can do on shutterfly's website!!

.Christmas cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

· photo Christmas cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

· desk calendars to http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/desk-calendars

· holiday cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

· personalized mugs to http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

· mother’s day cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/mothers-day-cards-stationery

Have fun, and Happy Holdays!!

How I love the holidays

As of today, Thanksgiving is 3 days away.

Christmas is 33 days away.

New Years Eve is 39 days away.

I LOVE the last 2 months of the year. I love the changing weather, the smell of fall (granted it's usually in the form of candles) the changing leaves (although that really doesn't happen here) all of the holiday decorations around town on the light poles, and the fact that Walmart has Christmas decorations up the day after Halloween!

I am a holiday FREAK! I want to decorate my place with crazy amounts of decorations, and a big ass tree, and I want to sit on the couch, wrapped in a snuggie (hahanotsomuch) sipping on some hot cocoa with the windows open reading a book...does that make me a nerd, maybe. Do I care, nope.

Annnnnnnyhow. Thanksgiving is Thursday (derr) we'll be spending A's first turkey day with the Greene family....and I am suuuuuper excited about the redonk amount of delicious food, and of course, the booze!! Woot! I can officially drink again!! YES! Pie eating contest? Maybe....we'll see. I, however, will not be participating, I have currently lost....ahem, 33 POUNDS and just because it's the holidays does not mean I am going to fall off the wagon. Nope. Not happening.

This past weekend was spent at an amazing restaurant with amazing friends. We were celebrating Lindsey's 25th birthday, and I had my first post baby liquor. Mmm mmm. Sake, and shots. Didn't even get a buzz. I was quite surprised, but oh well, it was still yummy. SN: I had sushi for dinner there....best sushi I've ever had. Honestly. Here we all are, before the festivities began. *Please excuse the quality of this photo, it's from an iPhone.

This post has been all over the place, so I'll come back after Thanksgiving and give you something real. Until then, for your viewing pleasure....my gorgeous child.

A day of pictures..

My bundle of beauty!

One of the first pictures of mommy and baby

Streeeeeeeetch!

Such a pretty little diva!

No more puppies and/or rainbows

Gah.
Baby A is apparently going through a growth spurt.
I knew it was coming. I guess I didn't quite prepare myself for what it would entail.

I suppose it started the night before last. Kiddo sucked down 4oz as opposed to her usual 2, right before bedtime. She slept like a champ. It.Was.Wonderful.

Sadly, when she has a good night, it is more often than not followed by a terrible, horrible, very bad night. Believe me when I say, this rang true last night. (Insert sadface)

Little miss drank (ate, whatever) her 4oz at about 10:30. Got all snuggled, and swaddled, and I put her to bed around 11ish. Usually she will sleep 2 1/2 to 3 hours at a time before waking up to eat. HA! She woke up for her first night feeding at 12:30. It took her about an hour to eat and get all snugly again, and I put her back to bed. Previous nights would lead me to believe that she wouldn't wake up again until 4 or 4:30....again, ha! She was up at 2:45. Repeat cycle; eat, snuggle, swaddle, bed. 4:00 rolls around, she's up again. Repeat cycle. Daddy comes home during this feeding, and the 3 of us hit the sack, it's now 5:30ish. 7am...little miss is up. We get up, and eat. I try to put her to sleep...she is wiiiiiiiiiiiide awake. She is grumpy. She wants to eat every hour, and in between if she isn't fussing, she is straight up crying.

I am miserable at this point. I haven't had nearly enough sleep as one needs to function. She stays awake. No break for momma. Daddy gets out of bed around 1 (he's working nights this week by the way) and I hand over the kiddo, and get in the shower. This is "me time." I'm in the shower for maybe 20 minutes, I get out, and low and behold....she is sleeping on her daddy's chest. SERIOUSLY?! You make mommy suffer for 6 hours being a fussy, crying baby, only to pass out immediately when your daddy takes over? Why little girl? Why do you enjoy making me miserable?

So, of course, she has spent the majority of today sleeping. Trying to keep her up during the day so she will sleep at night...ha. Not happening. I'm not looking forward to tonight.

Wish me luck.

Ouch

This may be a little TMI for some...well most actually, so if you have a weak stomach, turn back now.

Seriously, it's not too late.


OK here goes...
Why the hell don't people tell you what it's like after you have a baby?
No, I didn't expect it to be all puppies and rainbows, but seriously! Here comes the TMI.
Oh.My.Cod.
I feel like someone has kicked me straight in the lady parts whilst wearing a steel toe boot. No I didn't expect it to go right back to normal, actually to be quite honest, I didn't even think about the repercussions of having a vaginal delivery. Never again. Never. I promise you that. I don't remember exactly how the contractions felt, but I remember telling the Mr. that it was the worst pain I had ever experienced in my life. (This is how people have more than one kid, they forget.) Of course I had some Stadol, followed by an epidural, so the delivery itself didn't hurt, but now....if I stand too long, or sit too long, so sit in an odd position, I feel like my pubic bone is going to fall out of my body. I'm not exaggerating.
And of course, I tore. So I have God knows how many stitches holding me together, and holy shit, get some pee on those suckers...I'd rather not drink anything for days just so I don't have to go to the turlet EVER.
So I raise my glass, to all the women of the world who have children, and those who are brave enough to have more than one, this toast is for you.

Of course, I'd do it all over again to have my amazing baby girl.

Sorry for the delay...

So life has taken quite the turn. For the better, of course. Since we've been home, we've all been adjusting very well. Baby A is amazing. I'm trying not to jinx myself with this, but she is such a good baby. We are definitely blessed to have been given such an amazing little one. She hardly ever cries, only when we don't feed her fast enough or when we're changing her diaper and she's not in the mood. A binky usually solves that pretty quickly though.

We had our first doctor appointment today. She is, believe it or not, perfect. She is in the 50% percentile in both weight and length.. I'm one proud momma. She lost 7 ounces before we left the hospital, but gained it all back. Today she weighs the same as she did when she was born, 7lbs 7oz. This means I'm doing a good job as far as feeding her, she's getting just enough!

Speaking of feeding, I am, unfortunately, having to supplement formula because I am not producing enough milk myself, to satisfy her needs. I was pretty devastated at first...we had been home not even a day, and I had to give in. I couldn't handle her screaming because she was hungry, and there was nothing I could do to make it better, so she got some formula. She still gets formula, but I try to give her as much breast milk as I can. I'm only producing about 10 to 12 ounces a day, but hopefully, if I keep doing what I'm doing, I'll up my supply. So keep your fingers crossed for us!

She also got her first shot at the doctor today. While I'm sure it wasn't the first time she had been pricked by a needle, it was the first time it happened while I was there to see it. Actually, I didn't even watch, I turned away. She was fine, then she started screaming. It breaks my heart when she cries, especially when she's screaming like she did today. So of course, being the mom that I am, I cried..more than she did. The Mr. said it was because A)I'm a good mom, and B)Because baby A is tougher than me.....which is definitely true when it comes to situations like this. Anyhow, she's been napping since we left the doctor's office, and I feel after her traumatizing day, she can sleep as long as she likes. That's all I have to say about that.

For your viewing pleasure

She's here!!

That's right folks, no more weekly updates, or belly pictures. I'm going to attempt to give you the best birth story I can, but keep in mind that I was drugged, tired, and in pain all at different times during my labor and delivery, so if not all of the facts are correct, I'm sorry, I'll try to come back and edit.

Friday (10/29)

I spent all day with Lindsey. We went to lunch with her mom, and then off to Mall at Millenia to walk around to get some contractions flowing. I had a few but nothing compared to the night before. Thursday I had them every 10 minutes, and GOD did they hurt. I knew labor was on it's way. So we went back to her house after the mall failed us, and we did some acupressure, and she had some black cohosh pills, so I took one. Well, that kind of got things started. I was having them about every 20, or 30 minutes. We all went to dinner at Alf's, and I ordered some hot wings (just in case) and some DELICIOUS sweet potato fries. By the time we got our food, I was having SERIOUSLY painful contractions very regularly. By the time we were done with dinner I was ready to go to the hospital (about 8pm), this was it! Lindsey and Wes dropped us off and we went in, got hooked up, checked, and sadly I was only about 2 to 3 centimeters. They said I could either walk around for 2 hours to see if that would dilate me more, or I could go home. There was no way in hell I was leaving, when people tell you contractions hurt, they are NOT lying. I had to breathe through them, and concentrate on something to keep me from crying. So, Hubs and I walked around the hospital, and Linds came back to keep up company and to stay updated. After about 2 hours we went back to get checked. I hadn't changed; BUT my blood pressure was through the roof, which was unusual since my BP was always good, and under control. They took some blood and sent it off to the lab to check for pre-eclampsia and to see if I would be able to get an epidural if I was admitted. HOURS later, they came back and at 4am they moved me to LABOR & DELIVERY!!! This was seriously it, it was time, oh.my.god. I was going to have a baby soon!

Saturday(10/30)

So like I said, around 4am we got a room in L&D and I was introduced to one of my many nurses. She was super nice, Christina I think. I told her I needed meds, I was in pain and it was bad. She checked me and again, oh.my.god. I was dilated to 5! No shit I was in so much pain, I was in active labor! So she told me I could either have the epidural now, or I could have a shot of Stadol in my IV to take the edge off. I chose the Stadol because I've heard horror stories of epidurals wearing off right when labor starts; I was not down with that. So about 10 seconds after she added that to my IV I felt drunk! And the pain was almost gone. It was awesome. So we hung out, updated FB, watched some TV, and tried to sleep. I should mention my poor, poor husband had been up since 5am Friday morning, so here we were, all of us had been up for 24+ hours. I couldn't sleep. I tried, but my mind kept wondering. So after a few hours, the Stadol wore off, and I was ready for the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in, and asked if I knew the complications that could arise from getting an epidural, I said yep, and he said ok, here we go. I was not scared of getting it. I hear some many people say they are terrified of getting one, and I just don't get it. He stuck me with the numbing meds, that kind of burned, but that was the worst part of it. He inserted it into my back and it was in a blood vessel so he said, so he had to re-do it. The second time he got it right. Within minutes, I felt amazing. It was kind of odd, not being able to move my legs, they were like, dead, but whatever, I was no longer in pain! Hubs called the fam and let everyone know what was going on, and some of them decided to come on up. Way too early, if you ask me, but whatever. They decided to give me Pitocin to speed things up, and came in a while later to break my water. Here's where things get fuzzy. I don't remember times for anything after that. I got checked again and was 9 & 1/2! Hold Crap! This was happening really fast. They said I would probably deliver by noon! NOON! Well, I had progressed pretty well, but the baby was not moving down into the birth canal. She was still really high up, so I sat up to try and let gravity do it's job. Next time they checked me I was fully dilated, don't get too excited, I couldn't start pushing because she was stillllll too high. So I had to lie on my right side for 30 minutes, then on my left side for another 30 minutes. Everyone had arrived except my dad's side, and some of them even had to leave around this time (that's what they get for coming so early). After the hour of flip flopping they checked and it was time to push. I did a couple practice pushes to make sure I knew what I was doing, apparently I did. So with each contraction (which I couldn't feel, even though the nurses kept asking... the nurse was also Sarah by this time) I pushed 3 times. I pushed for about 20 minutes (thanks to Lindsey for keeping track of this) and then they told me to stop! They had to get the doctor because she was coming! The doctor came in, and I pushed one, maybe two more times and out she was at 3:02pm on October 30th 2010! They put her up on my belly and we had some skin to skin time for a minute. She was here. I was a mom. I was crying, Hubs was crying, Linds was crying....it was amazing. She was so alert, looking around with her big grey eyes, then they took her to clean her up and get her weight and length. She was 7lbs 7oz, 19 & 3/4in long. She got 9's on both of her Apgars. Healthy, tiny, and beautiful.

The proud poppa! She looks just like him, you can't even tell she's mine.

I'm sorry this turned into such a long post, but it was a long weekend, and I wanted to document as much as I could remember.

I am so in love, and so happy and excited to be a mom.

Happy Due Date To Us!

•How far along?: 40 weeks

•How big is baby?: According to What to Expect around 7 to 8 pounds and between 19 and 21 inches. Actual, real baby size.

•Maternity clothes?: Yep, what still fits anyway.



•Stretch marks?: Meh, I'm not worried about it.



•Sleep?: I have good nights and bad nights. Last night was terrible, so maybe tonight will be better.


•Food cravings?: Sweets I guess.


•Labor signs?: Yep. Lots of them. We'll get to that later...


•Belly button in or out?: In. It's not coming out!


•What I miss: Lots of things, but it's OK, it's almost over!



•What I'm looking forward to: Meeting my daughter.


So last night we had our second trip to labor and delivery. I have been having contractions on and off since Monday, and finally yesterday I had a couple that took my breath away. So when the hubs got home off we went. Of course once we get there and I get hooked up to the monitors, the contractions pretty much stop. Just my luck. But they did an internal exam, and I am 1 centimeter dilated, 70% effaced, and at a -2 station, so we are making some progress. They sent me home and told us not to come back until they were 5 minutes apart, and I couldn't walk, talk or breathe through them.

This morning I had my last weekly appointment. My doctor saw in my chart that I had been to L&D, and decided she wanted to do an internal exam herself to see if I had progressed at all over night. Nope. Nothing. Still the same. So she officially scheduled my induction for next Thursday, November 4th (which, by the way, she will not be able to attend, so some random doctor that I haven't met will be delivering my daughter. Nice huh?)

I might add that after coming home from L&D last night I took a shower and attempted to go to bed. This was when I had my first set of contractions that I could actually feel begin, peak, go away, and I could time them. They lasted for about an hour, at about 5 minute intervals. This is when they said to come back to L&D, but I wasn't going anywhere. Which is kind of a good thing since after the one hour, I had another contraction that peaked, and just stayed there. It didn't go away, it just.....stayed. And God did it hurt. I didn't sleep more than 3 hours because I was hurting so much. I tried switching positions, laid on the floor, the couch...everything I could imagine, and nothing worked. So I felt like shit when I "woke up".

After the appointment this morning, Lindsey and I walked around the mall, since it was so hot outside, it saved me from having to walk around the block like I usually do. Once she dropped me off, the pain came back.... I can't sit down without feeling like she is being shoved back up, and I can't stand up without feeling like she is going to fall out. I am in so much pain, and am so uncomfortable. I'm just so ready to have this baby. I'm ready to get to the hospital and get some pain meds. And of course, meet our daughter. I'm sorry if this is jumpy, I'm typing between contractions...

Festive Fall Weekend

Friday was a crappy day. I was an emotional wreck for some reason. I thought the days of random emotion were behind me, at least for the most part, but alas, I was wrong. I sat around all day watching movies and doing a whole bunch of nothing. Cried on and off for the majority of the afternoon waiting around until Chad got home from work. He decided that ice cream would make me feel better, he was right. we stopped off at Dairy Queen on our way to Lindsey and Wesley's house and we got/shared a banana cream pie blizzard. Oh.My.Goodness. It was delicious. We hung out at their house for a while, then headed back home and called it a night.

Saturday we were supposed to get together with everyone and carve pumpkins and such, but the Mr. and Jessica's boo Vann both had to work so we held off until Sunday. For the life of me I cannot remember what happened on Saturday. So if I remember later, I'll come back and edit.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.... It was a good day. Hotter than hell though. Started the day off getting some groceries with the Hubs, came home had a little lunch, watched a little football, then off we went for some punkin' pickin'!

The hubs and I with his pumpkin. Excuse my pregnant fat face. The Mr. said he looks fat in this picture, I almost punched him.

This was my first year carving a pumpkin myself, I was very excited and decided I would carve a baby pumpkin. Jessica G gave me the idea of carving an "A" in honor of Baby Ariana, so that's what I did!

Now I know I mentioned previously that the hubs is a master pumpkin carver, well, here's the proof. He got extra fancy with his, and put us all to shame.

Here are all the final pumpkins, from left to right, My baby A, Hubs' Bat, Wesley's one ear'd pipe smokin' pumpkin, Lindsey's pirate, Jessica's winky face, and Vann's evil angry face.

After all the carving, it was dinner time! We had some Mexican burgers! Me, still trying to get this baby out decided to eat as much spicy stuff as possible. So I had some chips and hothothot salsa, and a burger with the hothothot salsa, and guacamole/jalapeno spread. It was super spicy. Also, there were some sweet potato fries....YUM. The spicy stuff gave me some contractions, but nothing came of it. As usual.

I've got 2 days until my due date, and I really hoped she would come early. By the looks of things, however, it's not looking good. The doctor told me when I have contractions that come every 5 to 10 minutes to go into labor and delivery. Last night, I had 4 in an hour, and I need to have 6 for it to be the real thing. We were so close....maybe sometime this week....I've got a feeling!

hmm......

So it's only been 2 days since my last post, but I seem to be having blog with drawls. Maybe it's because all of the blogs I follow haven't been very "post happy" this week, I don't know. So here I am, I'll update you all on whats been happening in my life these last 2 days.

Not a whole lot actually. Haha. I've totally given up on trying to get this baby here. I still drink my red raspberry leaf tea, but it's good, and I like it, so I'll continue drinking it until I run out.
I've also been walking. Every.Single.Day. I just walk around the block, it might be a half a mile, maybe, but that could be stretching it.
This baby is going to come when she wants to, I've come to terms with that. As much as it may suck, and as badly as I want to meet her and have an outside baby, I'll wait for her. Unless she doesn't come by November 4Th, then the doctor will force her out...bwahahahaha!

I thought that in the third trimester I would be hit with the "nesting instinct" well, I haven't yet. As far as cleaning goes anyway. I have, however, been a baking fool! I have made brownies twice this week, and today I made some banana bread (it's in the oven right now, and smells delicious by the way). Maybe that's my nesting, I don't know. I keep our place really clean all the time, but I thought I'd be scrubbing the tile with a toothbrush, or pulling out kitchen appliances to clean behind them...nothing. But oh well, the hubs has enjoyed coming home to treats, and I like making him happy. I have the worlds best husband in case I haven't mentioned that previously. *wink.

Tomorrow is the Greene Family Pumpkin Carving Party. I am super excited about this by the way. I love fall. I wish the weather were cooler, and the leaves would change, but alas, that's what you get when you live in Florida, an 85 degree Christmas, and either green or brown leaves. Hubs is a master pumpkin carver so I'll be sure to take some photos to show you.

Back to baby, tonight there will be a full moon. I know it is most likely a myth, but it's OK to hope. And I know, that any nurse will tell you that when there is a full moon, the hospitals are packed (with pregos and weirdos). My back has been killing me today, and I've had a few Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing serious.....of course.

Anyway... well I'm glad I got to fulfill my blogging needs, and I hope you've enjoyed reading my random thoughts. Have a good weekend!

39 weeks....and a surprise update

•How far along?: 39 weeks

•How big is baby?: According to What to Expect around 7 to 8 pounds and between 19 and 21 inches. Actual, real baby size. Craziness.

•Maternity clothes?: Yep. Pretty much everything.

•Stretch marks?: Meh, I'm not worried about it.

•Sleep?: I have good nights and bad nights. I have gotten up early the last 2 days though, and I've got to admit, I kind of enjoy having a longer day.


•Food cravings?: Meh, honestly nothing in particular... well, sweets I guess.


•Labor signs?: Random contractions, nothing serious yet though.


•Belly button in or out?: In. It's not coming out!


•What I miss: Alcohol.

•What I'm looking forward to: Meeting my daughter.

So today I had my 39 week appointment, at 8:45 this morning might I add. The doctor actually found her heartbeat within the first 5 seconds (after 6 weeks of her taking 10+ minutes to find it) so that made my day a little brighter.

She also told me that if I haven't had her by her due date (8 DAYS...omg) that she will induce me on November 4th. So I could have her as early as today (I can wish right?), or no later than 15 days from today. Two weeks from tomorrow.

It hasn't hit me yet. It still doesn't feel real. I don't think it will until I'm in the hospital bed, hooked up to monitors feeling the contractions. Soon enough I guess.

Anyhow, after my appointment this morning Lindsey and I went to Babies R Us, I was going to pick up the AngelCare Baby Monitor. While we were there, I met a lady who said she had one, gently used that she would sell me for half the price. I was like, um hell yes! Then of course after I give her my address and phone number so she can bring it to me, I think, oh shit, what if she is some sort of crazy baby snatcher, and when she comes to my house she ties me up and cuts me open and steals my baby?! I never think about the dangers until after the fact. So keep your fingers crossed that I don't get killed today, and everything goes well.

Until next time....

Edited to add:

So she came, and went. I got my AngelCare baby monitor for half the price, she didn't kill me, and it is in great condition and still works! Woo! I didn't die, or get ripped off!

I'm baaaack!

My Internet has been wonky for the last 4 days. I didn't realize how much I rely on the Internet for evvvvvverything until I had to go without it. Insert sadface. Anyhow, needless to say, I'm back, thank goodness. I've missed being able to keep up with the blogs I read and facebook...how I ever made it without knowing what was going on in other people's lives for 4 whole days I'll never know.

Weekend recap.

Saturday was the Step Up and Walk for Down Syndrome walk at Lake Eola. I went with Lindsey, her momma Penny and her friend Liza (I think, pregnancy brain, sorry). It started out as a beautiful day, weather wise I mean. I woke up that morning at 5am, why....I don't know. It was actually chilly when we left for the walk at 9ish. I love fall.

Check out this cutie! This is Nora, she is two and I totally fell in love with her.

So we walked around the lake once, we were almost last in line thanks to none other than myself, I had to stop and pee....surprise, surprise. Then we stood around took a few pictures, and visited with friends and went home.

Here is Lindsey and I with Bullwinkle..poor guy had to be sweating his ass off!

What am I thinking?? I totally forgot about FRIDAY! Derr, sorry I don't know where my mind is today.

Friday I spent the entire day with Miss. Lindsey herself. She picked me up around 11ish...we had big plans. We were going to do anything and everything we could to make this baby come. We started off at a park (by the way, the weather was FREAKING AMAZING) someone told me that swinging can help bring the baby lower into the birth canal, so we swang (if that's even a word lol). Then we had lunch with her dad, who I love just so you know. Olive Garden....YUM. I could eat their soup everyday and never get tired of it. Seriously. After lunch we went to an organic market to pick up some Red Raspberry Leaf Tea (delicious), and stopped off at Publix to get the ingredients to make Labor Cookies. Lindsey made them, I watched. They failed. Maybe it was because we left out an ingredient, or maybe because my child is stubborn...I believe the latter. They are tricky cookies, they look like cookies, smell like yummy cookies and even taste good for the first 10 seconds....then they set your mouth on fire. Lindsey tried one (well half of one) and had to wash it down with milk and cheese. I, being the determined mommy to be ate as many as I could, hoping it would work.

Well, labor cookies, red raspberry leaf tea, swinging, spicy food, nothing worked. She is still an inside baby. Annnd that was Friday.

Back to Saturday....

After the walk I went home and took a much needed nap. Then the hubs and I sat around watching a little football before getting ready to go to Vann and Jess' house for Vann's 25 birthday celebration! We ate some super yummy wings, danced around like lunatics to Justin Bieber, and ate DELICIOUS carrot cake made by Jessica. Sooo goooood. I think I ate more icing than cake though. Sorry I can't rotate it ;)

All in all, Friday and Saturday were awesome. I had a great weekend.

Then Sunday came. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed for some reason, but I had to suck it up and go to work for my last day before maternity leave. So I went, worked, stood around on swollen feet and then left. It was a normal day at work, I wont miss working, but I will miss my paycheck, not that it was much, but still.

So here I am, it's Tuesday, day 2 of official maternity leave, house is clean, laundry is done, dishes are washed and brownies have been baked....now what? I guess we'll just wait around for our little one to show up. There will be a full moon on Friday, so maybe that will be the day.

I'm sorry this is so long, I probably could have separated this into 3 posts, but oh well. Thanks for reading!

38 weeks and an update

Okay, so I'm a day early, big deal.


•How far along?: 38 weeks...


•How big is baby?: Big and heavy. Since I wont be getting a growth ultrasound to measure her size before she arrives (thanks sucky OB) I wont know exactly how big/small she will be until I deliver.

•Maternity clothes?: Yep. Everything. I have two nice shirts that I can wear out, and one pair of pants. It's sad. I did have a decent amount of maternity clothes about half way through my pregnancy, but now the things I had to wear, don't fit quite as nice. So I'm pretty limited. :(


•Stretch marks?: It could be so much worse.


•Sleep?: It's hit or miss. Some nights I can sleep just fine, others I'm up every hour on the hour only to wake up and actually get out of bed at 6am.

•Food cravings?: Whatever is currently shown via commercial. Right now, candy corn.


•Labor signs?: I had contractions last night consistently for an hour or so, then nothing. So far today, I've had 2 or 3.

•Belly button in or out?: It's kind of flat. So neither I guess.

•What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach, and caffeine.

•What I'm looking forward to: Going into labor and finally meeting my baby.

I had my weekly appointment today, and I'm not happy with how it went. My OB sucks. I really, really liked her at first, but with each meeting, I like her less and less.

Today I went in, after having contractions last night, and being in so much pain from the baby dropping ready to be induced (haha, I knew it wouldn't happen but a girl can dream right?!) I've known for weeks now that she will not do internal exams to let me know about dilation until I'm either overdue, or am having regular contractions. I know it's really pointless anyway, she'd either tell me that A) I am dilated or, B) I'm not. So I asked about sweeping my membranes, she said no. Thanks doc. Then I asked how long she would let me go overdue before talking induction; she said that if I came in for my 40 week appointment and had no signs of labor we could talk induction and set a date for the following week. So I guess I wont be going over 41 weeks. Thank God, but honestly I would much rather have her now, at 38 weeks.

There are more things I could be trying to jump start my labor, but I guess I'm just lazy. Things I haven't tried;

Evening Primrose Oil

Spicy Food

Castor Oil (eww)

Olive Oil

Pineapple and

Red Raspberry Leaf Tea

I don't want to do Castor oil, seriously I would rather not have to deal with diarrhea before going into labor. The tea, I would try if there was a Whole Foods Store near us, alas, there isn't. I've heard you have to eat 7 whole pineapples for that old wives tale to work, and that's just too much. I'm hoping to have some spicy wings this weekend if little lady hasn't made her arrival. I've also been walking everyday, and doing squats. The Mr. suggested I do some jumping jacks, but I'm not sure if that's safe, so I'll have to ask Dr. Google. Please, please send me some labor dust, I'm begging you...

I'll leave you with my 38 week bump picture.

Pain Pain Pain

Today, my darling child dropped a little more. It's hurts! It's painful to stand, to walk, really to do anything other than sit (I haven't tried to lie down yet, so we'll see how that goes).

I have an appointment tomorrow and I plan to bring up induction. Now, I know what you're thinking, "You're not even 40 weeks yet! Wait it out!!!" Well I have 2 words for you....SHUT IT! You don't understand that pain I'm in these days. Now that she has really dropped I feel like she will fall out at any minute. Not to mention my swollen feet, ankles, fingers, face, my aching back, and my inability to sleep. Okay, I'm done complaining....sorry about that mini vent.

Anyhow, I'm afraid my doc will shoot down any hopes I have of an induction. To be quite honest, I don't really want to be induced if I can help it. I hear that pitocin contractions are way more intense than natural ones, and it also makes your chance of having a c-section much higher (and we all know I don't want one of those). Ask me this if I'm still pregnant in 3 weeks (please God don't do that to me). My doctor kind of sucks sometimes. She wont give any internal exams to let me know if I am dilated until I am past due (which makes me think she's not down with inductions) she's also really sucky at answering questions. My last couple appointments she has really rushed, I'm sorry but I am just as important as your other patients; give me the time I deserve please!! I will also find out tomorrow if I am positive or negative for Group B Strep, fingers crossed for negative!! And, if I remember, I'll try to get a flu shot.
I'll let you know what happens probably on Thursday when I do my 38 (squee!) week update!

Super pukey

ughhhhhh. I just tossed my corn pops. I love that cereal, I do, so I'm pretty disappointed.

Is this a sign of early labor? God, I hope so. I'm so ready to meet this baby. A friend that was due a week before me had her baby this past weekend. I'm extremely jealous. My time will come...blah blah blah....

But seriously, I'm not feeling well all of a sudden. Everything was fine, I was sitting here catching up on some blogs, and BAM! I run to the bathroom and puke... over, and over and over. Of course I run to Dr. Google, if you will, and look it up, and for a lot of people vomiting is a sign of early labor. SQUEEEE! How exciting. We shall see. I'll let you know.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of my first baby, my fur baby Mordecai.

Sleep is for pansies

That's right. I said it. Sleep is definitely for the weak. I don't need sleep. I can sleep when I'm dead. HA! I don't know what is going on lately but I have not been able to fall asleep to save my life. It's become really depressing, but maybe it's my body or mind or whatever preparing me for what life will be like when baby A gets here. I "go to bed" around 11 or 12 every night, and there I am, snuggled all comfortable in my blankets all cozy, and I then proceed to toss and turn for hours. Now when I say hours, I really mean it. It's been 3:30, 4am before I've actually fallen asleep lately. How do I know this you ask? Why, that's because I'm getting up every hour, on the hour to pee. Yes, don't forget I am in my ninth month of pregnancy and this kid weighs somewhere around 6+ pounds. When you have something that heavy just sitting on your bladder, let alone jump, and randomly headbutt you in the middle of the night, you learn it's either get up and go now, or there's going to be a mess to clean up on your totally awesome and comfortable bed. But I digress.

Saturday turned out to be quite nice, surprisingly enough. Lindsey and I made plans to go to the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival with her momma. We wanted to look around at the art neither of us could afford, and try to walk this baby out of me. This meant me getting up early. Now I should let you know, that I wake up naturally everyday. I don't set an alarm, I just sleep. I've been loving it, but like I mentioned earlier, nowadays it's essential since I'm not falling asleep until the early morning hours. So after falling asleep at 4:30 in the morning, I then had to wake up at 8:30. Yep, that's right...I got a whopping 4 hours of sleep. Was I tired? Yes. Was I going to make the best of it? Yes. Did I? Hell yes I did. The Mr. stopped at the store, and I grabbed a coke to boost my energy level. It seemed to do the trick.

We left for the festival, I don't know, about 10 or 10:30, it was nice out, (being that this is Florida) but it could have been a tad cooler. Believe me when I say there was not a cloud in the sky. Freaking beautiful day. I wore jeans, because sometimes I'm an idiot. Plus, I had to work later that afternoon and just wore what I was going to wear to work (which these days is limited since I see no point in buying more maternity clothes to wear for another 2 weeks or so). It was crowded and I was sweating, so after we finished walking the festival, which didn't take long, we went into the Gap so Linds and her mom could do some shopping. They shopped, I cooled off. It.Was.Wonderful. Then it was lunch time...Panera. Yum.

I am trying to start taking more pictures but I always seem to find reason not to bring my camera. I'm sure that will change when Miss. A arrives. So I have no photos to share with you of my journey in the land of fake boobs and expensive cars.

So all in all, even on 4 hours of sleep, sweating my pregnant ass off, dodging rude people cutting me off in the sea of people, I had a wonderful time. I was in great spirits, with great company, on an absolutely beautiful day.

I promise, promise, promise to start taking and sharing more photos with you!

37 Weeks! Full-Term!!

•How far along?: 37 weeks...


•How big is baby?: The size of a watermelon. Around 6 and a half pounds and 21 inches long. Give or take a little.

•Maternity clothes?: Almost everything. Sadly I'm down to one pair of maternity jeans that fit, but luckily I'll have an outside baby before it gets too chilly; hopefully anyway, it's been really nice out, so I know the cold is right around the corner. Finding it hard to believe we're in Florida...but I'm not complaining.


•Stretch marks?: ::Raises hand:: Yep, but it could be so much worse.


•Sleep?: Last night wasn't fun, keep reading to find out why...


•Food cravings?: Whatever is currently shown via commercial.


•Labor signs?: Nothing. Unfortunately.


•Belly button in or out?: Innie. It's not coming out!


•What I miss: My pre preg body and weight, being able to shave easily, and the parts of my body I can no longer see. Being able to get up easily, and not peeing 100 times a day.


•What I'm looking forward to: Meetin my beebee!!

Well folks, we've made it. As of today we are full-term. This means that if baby A were born now, all of her organs would be functioning well enough that she would make it outside my womb. I have to admit, this pregnancy has been a breeze, and I honestly can't complain (with the exception of crazy, raging hormones in the first trimester) but I'm to the point NOW where I'm just ready. I'm heavy, tired all the, hot constantly, it's hard to get up from the seated position or lying down...I could go on and on. Honestly, I'm just ready to meet our baby. So i'll keep the complaining to a minimum.

Anyhow, on to my lack of sleep last night. Ugh. The Mr. and I got in bed at midnight (after of course watching Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report) hubby was tossing and turnng, and coughing about every 5 minutes or so. He drank some water hoping that would fix it, it didn't. So he decides around 1 that the ceiling fan is the cause of his cough. So he turns it on it's lowest, quietest setting.
Now, normally this would not be an issue, but I CANNOT sleep without some sort of noise; the fan is the perfect amount of noise to put me right to sleep. This solves the Mr.'s coughing problem and he is sleeping within 15 minutes. His lovely wife on the other hand, not so lucky. After tossing and turning for what seemed like hours, I decided I would take a sheet, go into the living room, turn the fan on full blast and pass out on the couch. Awe, sweet, sweet sleep. 2 hours later my lovely cat Mordecai decides he doesn't want me to sleep anymore, so he begins to meow...constantly, until I get up, and go back into the bedroom. My cat is a spoiled brat sometimes.
By now it's 4am. I'm exhausted, and cranky. Of course Mordecai follows me into the room, jumps on the bed again, and again, and after kicking him off over and over I finally get up and lock him out! I toss and turn and fall asleep for maybe another hour until the hubs wakes up to get ready for work. As he is kissing my goodbye, I ask him to "please, for the love of God turn the fan on high, and keep that damn cat out of here before I kill him!!" It is now 6:30am and I sleep blissfully, uninterupted until 11:30 when I wake up. Needless to say, I'm a bit tired today, but I'm sure it's good practice for when A arrives...

I did it!

I promised myself I would walk or do some sort of exercise everyday in my 3rd and final trimester. Well....I've been slacking. I started out okay, but then it just kind of went downhill. Then last week the Mr. and I decided we were going to walk/run (he'd be running, I'd be walking) the lake everyday of the week. Well those plans went to hell and back when it rained every.single.day. last week. So we would attempt to do it this week. Well wouldn't ya know, the Mr. was scheduled to work nights Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday he gets home around 4am and he shows me this;

That's right folks; he dropped a 25lb piece of pipe on his poor little pinky toe. Thank God it's not broken, and according to him, it doesn't hurt as bad as it did, which makes me happy. I was a good little wife, and mom-to-be yesterday when he didn't have to work, I made him keep it elevated and keep ice on it. Poor thing. So who knows when we will be going around the lake together. At this rate, baby A may be here before we get to go. Anyhow! Today, the Mr. called to tell me he would be working late, and wouldn't be home until 9pm. So I decided that since it was SO nice outside (HELLO FALL!) I would walk to the grocery store and pick up a few things we needed. So that's just what I did. It took about 30 minutes, not too bad if you ask me! I can't get over how nice it is outside. I almost forgot we live in Florida.
Now lets just see if I can keep this up.

We're ready.

Well, we have an exciting few weeks ahead of us folks. In as little as 3 weeks I will have a brand new baby, here, with me, at home, to take care of, to raise, to teach, to love, and hopefully to not fuck up. I say "as little as" when really she could come at any point now and be perfectly healthy, ready to go. She will be full term in 3 days.

It seems like yesterday I got my big, fat positive from peeing on a stick. Well, some days it feels like yesterday, other times I feel I've been pregnant forever. I actually think it went by a lot faster than I've let on. It seems like it dragged on, when in reality it has flown by. In a couple of weeks (at the most) I wont be pregnant anymore. I wont get to feel her move around in my belly. I wont get to watch my belly jump when she has the hiccups. I wont be the only one who gets to bond with her 24 hours a day. I'm a little sad that it's coming to an end, but I'm so ready to meet her.

I can't wait to see what she looks like, how she smells, what her personality will be like. Will she be like me, or like her dad? Will she be a good baby? Will she sleep through the night at an early age, or stay awake all night for the first year of her life? Will she be a big baby, or will she be little? Will she be quiet or will she scream at the top of her lungs at all hours of the day? I don't know. These are all things that I wonder on a daily basis. I'm ready to meet her... to have my questions answered.

I worry about labor. How will I do? Does it really hurt as badly as everyone says? How high is my pain tolerance? I would absolutely love to give birth to her naturally, with no drugs, but I honestly doubt I'll be able to do that. I would love to be able to get up and walk around as soon as shes made her arrival. I will do what I can as far as lasting through the pain before I get the epidural. Maybe I'll surprise myself and be able to do it. You never know. However, I will NOT be disappointed in myself if I'm unable to do it naturally. My plan all along has been to get an epidural, so I'll let you know what happens in the end.

Post par-tum also scares the shit out of me. The healing part. I can only imagine how much pain I will be in. OUCH. To quote Look Who's Talking I'm going to be "pushing something the size of a watermelon out an opening the size of a lemon." Again, ouch! I know it will be worth it, and I'll be home constantly to heal, but then again there's all the gross shit that happens....yeah I don't want to get into that right now.

What if I have to have a c-section? Not being able to hold her as soon as she makes her appearance. After carrying her around for 9 months, I want to hold her in my arms as soon as possible. Before anyone else. Call me selfish, I don't care. Then I'd have to get stitched up, and all that jazz while she gets whisked off to the nursery to get cleaned up, and Chad would leave me to be with her. I don't want that. I want the 3 of us to spend the first moments of her life together. Daddy, mommy, baby bonding. Not daddy, baby, and nurse bonding while mommy is on the other side of the hospital getting wheeled to recovery. Then there's that...recovery. After they cut me open and mess around with my guts only to shove them back in. I'm sure that doesn't feel good afterward. Would I even be able to stand up straight? I doubt it. Anyhow, we shall see what happens.

All in all, I'm really excited. I can't wait to be a mom. I can't wait to be a family. I can't wait to meet our daughter. I really hope she comes sooner than we expect. So feel free to send labor dust our way. <3