Tonic and Kaida

This is one of Tonic's favorite ways to lay on me now. Arms stretched out around the belly and head resting on the bump.



It's like he's giving Kaida a hug.

Eviction Papers

I haven't been enjoying the third trimester very much. Which sucks because I'm not very far into it.

Last night I was telling JR how I was thinking of filing eviction papers. She hasn't paid her rent in nearly 31 weeks. I think the courts would be on my side.

He said that's probably not a good idea 'cause you never know how a disgruntled tenant will leave a place once they've been evicted. She might tie my intestines around my ribs on her way out or something.

So I guess we'll just wait until she's ready to leave on her own.

We're planning a nice weekend together. It's the last weekend we don't have some other plans until about 3 weeks before her due date (and I'm going to guess that I won't be enjoying the third trimester any more by that point). So we're going to try to get a room at a B&B in Erie so we can spend the day at Presque Isle and then do some fun stuff around here and hopefully a little bit of work too.

Baby Kicks

One night last week Kaida found my ribs. She was kicking them, the ones on the right. She does that occasionally to my left hip. I think she's exploring and trying to find out what the hard parts are when everything else is nice and squishy. I thought it was cute, "Oh look! Baby's kicking me in the ribs, that's adorable!" The next day, though, was a different story. It felt like I had a bruise under there. The pain went away within the day but it was still surprising. You don't expect a three pound baby to be able to put up enough of a fight to leave a mark.

Speaking of a three pound baby, I'm starting to wonder. If average birth weight is 7.63 pounds that means she has to gain more than 4 and 1/2 pounds in 9.5 weeks. This does not sound pleasant at all. 30 weeks to gain three and then 9 weeks to gain four more?! Can I get the epidural now please?

In other news: she has the hiccups right now. :-)

30 Weeks

10 more weeks to go! Which is good 'cause the third trimester is already starting to wear me down.

Had some more braxton hicks. There was that first one which was kind of high across my belly, then there was one that was low across the underside, and a third kind that actually felt like menstrual cramps. I've had a bunch more like the second version. It took me a while to realize that's what it was though. I kept wondering why she was grinding her entire body down into my pelvis. Then I felt my stomach and it was all hard. And since she can't be everywhere on my stomach at once making it hard, I finally figured it out. So I had, maybe, two today and one or two yesterday. At least now I can explain to people why I'm making those horrible faces.

She's been very active the last couple days. I don't know if she's trying to find a new comfy position or if she just likes beating me up from the inside.

The Happy Baby Company is having a contest on facebook. Upload a picture of your baby wearing a cloth diaper, I think the winner gets a diaper. I don't remember. Anyway I uploaded this picture:

There's lot's of adorable babies in cloth diapers so I don't think I'll win but I thought it was funny.

Mommy's stats
I seem to be at about 20 pounds total so far. They aren't kidding about that one to two pounds a week thing. Seeing the numbers on the scale is kind of horrible. I especially don't like when the 10s place goes up a digit. That's going to happen again next week probably.
Stretch marks are even worse. Still not awful but worse. I bought Mama Bee belly balm by burts bees. I doubt it will help but it's nice to give myself a belly massage.

Kaida's Stats
Almost three pounds and about 15.7 inches long. Her eyesight is getting better, but it's still pretty awful and will be for a while after she's born. I guess she's mostly cooked now, just waiting to get bigger 'cause they didn't list much in the development part of the e-mail.

Now that the nursery is done it's just a waiting game!

Dragon Stickers

So we decided to print some dragons on sticker paper and put them on the wall of the nursery. I think they're super cute.



Some close ups.







I hope they stay stuck.

Indiana Jones

Last night we walked up to Dairy Queen for ice cream. On the way back, as we were walking down the hill on our road, I told JR not to get too far in front of me in case I couldn't stop my momentum (it's a very steep hill).

He said we could reenact that scene from Indiana Jones. And he starts running away down the hill wildy waving his arms.

Apparently I was playing the part of the boulder.

Tippy Dresser

This weekend we cleaned up JR's temporary workshop (the second bedroom). After all the tools were picked up and placed in their temporary tool boxes (target shopping bags) for their trip to the garage, we gathered up all the extra crib and changing table parts. There were a couple pieces for the changing table that were in their own little bag.

These pieces are used to attach the dresser to the wall so it won't tip over. We both thought they were not necessary but I apparently have mommy brain now (I made them attach JR's workbench to the wall in the garage) so I said we should test it.

I must have seen something on TV years ago that said if you open all the drawers and put pressure on the front of a dresser it can tip over. So we're opening all the drawers and JR said, you would never do this because you can't get to the lower drawers if you open the upper ones. By then everything was opened and I was gently pulling on the perfect hand hold shaped edge at the front corner when the dresser tipped over.

I guess neither of us would ever do that but that doesn't mean a little person wouldn't. I don't think I ever tried to climb a dresser but the drawers would seem to make a perfect set of stairs. And I know as much as you try you can't supervise them all the time. One weekend with Tara when she was barely three and I now understand that very well. It was four against two (1 and a half since Ryan was confined to the pack 'n play most of the time) that weekend and we still had salt and pepper shakers in the living room and an incident with some scissors that were left out.

So looks like we'll be securing it to the wall after all, once we see how the diaper pail and hamper fit in the room and we've got everything in its final place.

In case you wonder what I meant about perfect hand hold shape.
The dresser's not very tall so we were both surprised that it tipped at all. I'm glad we tested it though.

Week 29 pics

More Pictures

Here are some of the pictures I've been falling behind on.

Grandmom found this super cute bassinet at a thrift store in Indiana. It was a pretty sweet deal. She found the dragons at a neighbors garage sale. Super cute!


Here's JR putting together the crib. It was very easy. Notice the unfortunate circumstance that we are in the living room and not in the nursery.
Next time we put a crib together we'll know. :-P




This is JR putting together the changing table. We made sure to measure all the doorways before he started building it. It was a bit harder to put together than the crib but he did it!


Gin scoping out the changing table. She's pretty sure we built the nursery for Tonic and her to play in.


And the invite to the Buffalo baby shower. He's from the same artist that did all the dragon prints in the nursery.

More Nursery

We got the picture hung and the furniture in!

Here's the crib and rocker with the sleepy dragons on the wall. The rocker is partially sanded, we just wanted to see how it would fit so we left it for the picture.


Changing table and pirate dragon. We're thinking of a wall sticker for over the changing table. A castle most likely.


Night and Day dragons inside the door.


Adorable dragons hanging out on the changing table.


And the pirate dragon.

Week 29

Week 29 was mostly uneventful.

Had that Braxton Hicks but that's the only one I've felt. I assume there are others but I'm not feeling them?
The last couple days I've felt kind of bad right after work. I don't know if it's something I'm eating or what. So that's weird.

We still haven't gotten the prints up in the nursery. Once that's done we can put the mattress in the crib and call it done for now. I still have other little projects like the curtains and the rocking chair but she could live in her nursery and be more than comfortable at this point.

I got the invitation to the Buffalo shower, it's adorable. I'll have to post a picture of it later. Along with the bassinet pictures and a week 29 bump. The bump pictures are starting to get a little scary. I don't realize that I'm as big as I am I guess. And when I see the picture it freaks me out. We had some good ones we took earlier this week but some crazy pregnant lady managed to delete them off the memory card without saving them anywhere.

Jen started a pool on facebook for people to guess her birth date, weight, length, etc. It's fun. I guessed JR's birthday, and 8 lbs 2 oz like the crazy lady said!

Mommy
Gained a total of about 18 pounds so far. It seems mostly in the bump but is spread everywhere else too, face, hands, arms, legs, probably butt except there's no way to really measure that with the super comfy maternity pants. I guess JR could tell me, but I think he values his life.
The stretch marks are still stretching. Before it was two on the right hip, then it was two more on the left, now there's another joining in the fun on the right. I guess it makes sense. The skin would be weaker and more prone to stretching there since it has already stretched in the past? Whatever, I'll take it.
Belly button is still an innie. Only time will tell!

Baby
2.5 pounds (the weight of a butternut squash) and a bit over 15 inches. That's the length of my arm from the elbow to the first knuckle of my pinky finger Just about 5 inches to go! Lungs and muscles are developing, I'd say muscles definitely. She seems pretty strong in there. And her head is getting bigger to hold all those brains she's growing. So she needs lots of nutrients - protein, vitamin C, folic acid, and iron while she's growing. And lots of calcium. Makes me feel good that I had a glass of milk with my twinkie last night :-)

Breathing

Sometimes it looks like she's breathing. She's moving just a little bit so my stomach is going up and down slowly, like she's taking deep breaths.

Other times it's like she's on a trampoline and invited her best friend over to play on it too.

Nursery Pics!

The Nursery when it was just the third bedroom. Notice the water damage under the window.


Window and wall sanded primed and painted. Thanks to Grammy for all the help!


Horizontal stripe drawn.


Purple painted.


Blue and pink stripes painted.


Grandmom is happy with all we got accomplished Memorial Day weekend!


Green and Yellow stripes painted.


All the tape off. Uh-oh, it ripped off some paint with it :-(


White stripe painted, everything touched up, new rug down.


First part of the trim attached to the wall.


Second part of the trim attached, what a nice corner!


Trim caulked and painted.


All Done!


Pretty Princess light switch that used to be in my bedroom :-)



Pictures range from February to June.

Our Baby

In October 2002 JR and I went on a cruise. This is the cruise where he asked me to marry him.
One of our excursions was the Party Boat. We just got on a boat, had some rum punch, and they took us to a beach and brought us back to the port later in the day.
On the Party Boat we met an interesting woman. She was very inquisitive. She wanted to know all about us, if we were married and all sorts of things.

Then she told us that she saw a baby in our future. We thought this was a riot so we wrote down what she said when we got back to our cabin. I saved the piece of paper in the photo album from that trip.

Here's what it says:

Our Baby
Baby Girl
8 Lbs 2 oz
Curly Hair
Big Dark Eyes
Crazy Lady on the Yellowbird

She had a 50/50 shot on the gender and JR has curly hair so it seems that the chances are almost 50/50 on that one too. I guess we'll have to see how accurate she really is in a couple months.

Here's a picture we took of it as soon as we wrote it down.

Ouch!

So Friday was a very productive day, I got the trim painted and touched up the last bit of stripe in the nursery, not to mention picking up the house and the laundry I managed to do as well.

JR got home a little bit early so we went out to pick up his gear and do the shopping for the Dive & Dine this weekend.

On our third trip through Target (we were comparison shopping) I got this pain. It went all the way across my belly and it felt really tight. He asked me what was wrong and I said I don't know, I hurt. But it went away. It wasn't enough to make me double over but sitting down would have been nice.

Thinking about it later I've decided it was a Braxton Hicks contraction. Just one lonely contraction.

It's exciting!

Kaida was trying to dig her way out through my side yesterday. I told her she's digging the wrong direction. Hopefully she figures it out sometime in the next 11 weeks.

Nursery pics should be up later today!

Week 28

Well this past week I gained a bunch of weight and now I seem to have lost it again. I'm going to blame Memorial Day, Ryan's party, and celebrating father's day. But that puts my total weight gain to about 16 pounds as of this morning.

I asked the doctor about my weight gain, since in the beginning they said I should only gain 15-20 pounds. He said that it's fine. And I should gain 1-2 pounds a week for the rest of the time. 84 days or 12 weeks for those of you keeping track.

I saw Dr. Hurt this time. He seemed very laid back. He wasn't stabby with the heart monitor. He was excited that she's been trying to beat me up from the inside. Next time I see Dr. Stern. I'm going to guess he's not so stern since Dr. Hurt didn't hurt me at all. :-) We'll see.

So those stretch marks are definitely extending themselves. They're maybe an 1/8 of an inch longer than they were but they're pink. So far not anywhere near as nasty as some of the stretch marks I've seen pictures of. The left side seems to have joined in on the fun too.

Last night I noticed a patch of shiny skin high on my stomach just underneath my bra. I'm not sure what it is. I moisturized, we'll see what happens.

I still have that cold. It's not quite as wimpy as I thought in the beginning. But I've made it to work every day this week. Dr. Hurt said I could take Sudafed and that helps a little.

This week
Baby weighs 2.25 pounds and is 14.8 inches long. She can open and close her eyes and now she has eye lashes. She may be able to see light that filters in, so we should try the flashlight trick soon to see if we get a response. She's mostly working on gaining fat now, which is good 'cause we want a chubby healthy baby.
They think we should pick a doctor this week. I've done some research and narrowed the choices down a bit. I guess I should start calling and see if they're accepting new patients and what I need to do before she comes.

I guess I'm 7 months pregnant now. Woo-hoo! That seems like a big milestone.

Work work work

This is exhausting. Every night it's something. This week it was grocery shopping/cutting the lawn and then painting the white stripe in the nursery. Then it was breastfeeding class and registering at Babies 'r us. Last night it took two hours to find a rug for the nursery and we picked out the moulding but it was pouring out so we couldn't buy it and bring it home (well, not without getting ourselves and the entire inside of the car soaked).

I'm very used to sitting on the couch all night so this is getting tiring.

Tonight we need to go back and buy the trim. Then he can start working on that while I do the last (hopefully) touch up on the paint. I also need to clean the radiator since Tonic decided to pee on it.

At least I'm getting used to things taking longer than they should and not going according to plan. Seems like good practice for having a kid.

While I was away this weekend JR managed to clean the nursery floor. It looks better but it will need to be refinished eventually. We bought a rug for it since I don't want cold tootsies next winter.
He also painted the trim around the closet to match the window sill.
I went with my mom to find frames for the dragon prints (we found them super cheap!). I went with black and the one we've framed so far looks really good. We're going to get the "child safe" picture hangers. I realize that there's really no such thing as child safe though. Just ask my mom about the pretty glass box she had hanging on the wall in our living room.
JR also replaced a bunch of the magnets on the cabinet doors in the kitchen. They're very good. Almost too good. I have to tug really hard to get some of them open. We may not need the child safe cabinet locks we registered for after all.

Since I'm so far behind on getting pictures off the camera I may just wait until the nursery is all done to post the pictures. It might be more impressive that way. We'll see.

Travel System

Last night was Breastfeeding 101 at Babies 'R Us. We watched a video made by Medela about breastfeeding. It was informative, I learned a few things. It wasn't high pressure make sure you register for a Medela pump but they did tell about the different styles. So that was good too.

I ended up registering for the Medela Swing. It's an electric single that can be used every day (apparently some singles are only for ocasional use). Since I'll be staying home we thought a double might be overkill, especially since they're so much more expensive. And we don't even know how often I'll be pumping. Maybe just enough so that she knows how to take a bottle. It's all a big mystery until she gets here.

That was the easy part.

After the breastfeeding class we went to register. I've done most of it online, and I did a bunch on Saturday with my mom. So we just needed to decide about the car seat and stroller and a few other small things. We decided to go for the travel system instead of seperate car seat and stroller.
Once we made that decision we went through all of the systems they had on display in the store. Seeing which features we liked, which were too heavy, which were too flimsy stuff like that.
It took two hours and the store was closed by the time we made our decision. Luckily the staff wasn't pissy about it. We went with the Graco Stylus in "Ben" It's very neutral and a little boring but we thought it was the best stroller and car seat for us. It'll match the tan and black of the car perfectly.

I would say the biggest challenge, besides figuring out how each stroller worked, was figuring out which features are important. The first one looked good but as we went on we saw what other features each system had and a couple times had to go back to compare. Luckily we got faster as we went along. We figured out what to look for, and we could tell how it worked without reading the instructions. So far I'm happy with the choice we made.

I need to figure out some of the little stuff now. I want to register for a baby book (even though I think that's something people might buy anyway), maybe a few more toys. Things like storage baskets, a toy box, and a lamp I'm not sure how they'll fit into the nursery but they would be nice to have so I'll have to see about those.

And then there's the jumperoo, bouncer, and swing I registered for. I hadn't seen them in any of the stores I've been in. They have the ocean wonders but not the rainforest. It turns out that they're online only. And the jumperoo isn't available online at the moment. I'm not sure if I should switch those or not. I tend to shy away from buying stuff online for showers, probably 'cause I always wait too long. So I don't know if it's a problem for other people or not.

So if you're looking at my registry and see something I've missed or have other suggestions let me know!

KRH

This weekend I woke myself up by snoring. Not sure if it's part of this cold I just got or a being pregnant thing.

I have a cold. So far it seems a little more wimpy than the other two colds I got. I hope it stays this way.

Last night she was kicking me super hard. I assume it was feet since they were so strong. JR thought it was probably arms since she's going to be a volleyball player. After she kicked me I was rubbing that spot since it wasn't exactly pleasant feeling and she kicked me again. She did it several more times before I decided to stop the vicious cycle of abuse. Unfortunately that's right when Tonic decided to leave my lap by walking across my stomach, so that started her right up again!

Right now it looks like she's dancing through my stomach. Live it up baby, it's just going to get more and more crowded in there.

We decided on her name. It took a while. Mostly we were working on her middle name. Anyway, baby will be Kaida Rose Hagy. It's pronounced Kay-Da if you weren't sure. It's Japanese and means Little Dragon according to a few sources. Some other sources disagree. We don't really care what it means though, it's pretty and we like it.

Week 27

91 days to go!

It's been a very busy week so I'll post about all we've accomplished when I can put up the pictures etc.

Seems like she's started playing with me. When she kicks I'll poke her back and she kicks again. It used to be if you pushed on her she immediately stopped. Unless of course these are hiccups.

I may be getting stretch marks. Well, more like the stretch marks I've always had seem to be slightly extending themselves. On my right hip two of my old stretch marks have little pink tips on them. I guess we'll see how they develop.

I got another hemorrhoid, yes I'm sure you want to know that but this blog is for me to remember as much as to share baby news. Last time I was constipated and felt awful so I can understand why it happened but this was completely unprovoked. I'm guessing the downward pressure of Lady Spud helped contribute to this condition. I may start taking a fiber tablet in the evening as well as the morning.

My engagement ring is off more than it's on lately. The wedding ring is still fine and my feet seem fine too. I think I might just be getting fat hands, since my watch feels tight too.

This week Spud is almost 2 pounds! She's about 14.5 inches long. They say she's sleeping and waking at regular intervals which I kind of notice. She's opening and closing her eyes and may even be sucking her fingers. Her lungs are immature but could function with a lot of medical help if she were born now. And from now on hiccups will be pretty common.

I started the registries at Babies 'r Us and Happy Baby Company. Happy Baby is a local and online store that does cloth diapers. The password to view the registry at Happy Baby is Spud.

We picked up the dresser/changing table, now we just have to put it together.

I'll post pictures of the bassinet and our progress on the nursery. We should be done painting it early next week. The list of stuff that's left to do in there seems huge though, maybe 'cause I keep adding things to it. ;-)

We're going to the cord blood info session tonight and I have a doctor's appointment Monday evening.