Rocking Out in Richmond

We had a blast in Richmond this weekend. It was soooo great to leave our annoying rental house with all of its issues and have Aubrey's parents take care of us for an entire weekend. His mom was so sweet and once she saw my feet, she refused to let me do anything but keep them up. Awwwww.....

We left Annapolis around 4 on Friday and got to their house around 7 p.m. I made sure to get out and walk around at exactly one and a half hours of traveling to prevent blood clots. I ended up sitting in the back seat of Aubrey's truck so I could keep my feet up on the front seat center console the entire time. They were still super swollen when I got there but I figure they might have been worse...

Good times.

On Saturday we had lunch with Sam and Ashley Bennett (Sam is Aubrey's childhood best friend and one of the members of the band we were there to see) the parents of Baby Swinson's future best friend, Emory. Ashley had their first little boy in October so they had TONS of great information to share with us about the first couple of months.

After lunch we took Molly over to one of Aubrey's parents friends' houses so she could run around in their backyard with their dog. It was great for Molly to get some exercise and even better for Rick and Debbie because she would most likely be calmer while we were downtown that evening.

Here's a pic of us before the show. I'd like to think I looked better than this photo shows- silly iPhone. I had on skinny jeans and a top but all you can see here is the top and I kind of look like I'm wearing a tent. I guess I was actually. And, of course, my black Reef flip flops. I can't think of the last time I wore flip flops out. At least in the summer, I wear Jack Rogers or something KIND of cute. DISgusting.

Ok, for the life of me, I CANNOT get this stupid thing to rotate and save. So, pretend you can see us right side up.

After about an hour of standing up before the band went on, Aubrey found me a bar stool that we dragged to the middle of the bar so I could sit and watch and be comfortable. I'm sure people were super annoyed but hopefully they then saw my 9 month pregnant belly and forgave me??

Sam is the one in the middle here rocking out his saxophone....

It was a great show and so good to see all of Aubrey's friends and family before the big day arrives. Three weeks and three days away (if not sooner...).

Car Seat Safety

Ok, I'm climbing up on my soapbox. I REALLY try not to do this because we're already a culture that's overwhelmed with information but here goes.

We're less than a month out until we have this baby of ours. Since there's a possibility every day that my medical team could induce me earlier than expected, I'm constantly making sure that everything is ready for his arrival. It's why I wanted the nursery "done" in December and the house unpacked. Some call it nesting, I call it thriving.

Aubrey and I decided we would go ahead and install the car seat in my car (hospital transport vehicle of choice since it requires the least climbing in and out of) a couple of weeks ago to avoid frantically reading the manual on the way to the hospital right before an emergency induction. How hard could it be? I’ve been around kids all my life and even baby-sat and nanny-ed all through college so I’ve buckled about 3000 kids in about 3000 different car seats.

So I’m reading the manual aloud to Aubrey as he’s in my backseat grunting and buckling. Keep in mind, we just got a regular infant seat. Nothing super fancy. Duh. You buckle the base in, tighten and then put the infant carrier thing on top. NO engineering degree required.

Or, so we thought. For the life of us we could not get the base buckled in tight enough. So if you pushed the base, it moved back and forth. I thought for sure if we were in a serious wreck, the whole thing would slide across the entire backseat. My middle seat in my backseat has an automatic latch thingy meaning you can’t pull it to make it tighter- you have to let it catch and then tighten. Stupid British car. We researched all the entire car seat manual, the car's owner's manual and even tried to read stupid Land Rover blogs to figure out how to make this thing tighten around the base. No such luck.

Because of my amazing time at Hughes Agency doing events and public relations for the Bradshaw Automotive Group, I knew there were people that were certified in car seat safety. I called the Annapolis Fire Department who referred me to the Fitzgerald Auto Mall (think Bradshaw Superstore but for Mitsubishi and not nearly as nice). I made an appointment and a nice man inspected our seat last night.

Here's a picture of the car seat check Hughes Agency did for Bradshaw Automotive (courtesy of Debbie Wallace):

Just as I thought, the base was not tight enough. He showed me this little tool that came with the car seat that would help tighten the seat belt more so than any human could possibly do. Funny thing is, NO where in the car seat manual or on their website does it talk about this little tool. I mean, how many people out there know about this little tool or know how to even use it??

The tool I'm referring to is the flat, metal thing right above the buckle. It was fastened to the inside of the base...

Isn't it sad that two grown adults with three college degrees between them couldn't figure it out. Can you even imagine how many babies are riding around in a base that's too loose.

People. Run, don't walk, to your phones. Call your local fire department and ask for a recommendation on who can check your children's car seats. It's a free service and takes 15 minutes of your time.

He even showed me how to easily loosen the straps and walked me through exactly how to use all the features. I already knew how due to my practicing with a doll (yes, I did) but it was great to have an expert reassure me that I knew how to get Baby Swinson in and out safely and when I would need to adjust the straps.

All set and ready to bring him home!

Silly Symptoms!

Not sure if people care or not, but I thought I would share my most recent symptoms. For all you newly pregnant readers, consider these something to look forward to.

I'll start at the very top.

Hair: During the second and third trimesters, it's been really dry. Now, I have dry-ish hair anyway, but now I have to glob on the conditioner and Moroccan oil. It could have something to do with the harder water in Annapolis, but this is ridiculous. At least I don't have to wash my hair as frequently...



Brain: I have lost my vocabulary. It's not like I was some profound speaker/writer to begin with but now i have the hardest time remembering the simplest words- hospital, pizza, guacamole, you name it.



Skin: Besides being a little dry, it seems that my skin is definitely clearer than ever. So that's wonderful and because I work from home, I don't wear make-up every day so I can definitely slather on the moisturizer!



One weird skin thing (sorry if this is TMI) is the stretching. Knock on wood, I don't have any stretch marks yet but my insulin pump sites are healing weirdly because my stomach is stretching. So normally when I change a site the area is red for a about a week or two and then it heals and is completely gone within a month. Every once in a while, a site will bruise but it typically heals fine.



But now, the sites seem to be bruising and stretching out like long purple eraser marks. They're not stretch marks because they originate from the site locations. So, needless to say, I've starting putting my insulin pump sites up really high on my abdomen away from all of the stretching. I'm thinking about trying Bio-Oil to see if that will help the purple marks heal - has anyone tried that before?



And now, for the piece de resistance...

Can you say cankle???????????

I can't believe I'm posting a picture of my nasty, swollen foot on the Internet, but I've told you all- I'm not holding anything back.

This picture was taken yesterday after I had my feet elevated all day long under my desk. I even sleep with the foot of our bed elevated. I STILL wake up with swollen feet and ankles. Plus they fall asleep all the time because I have them up constantly.

I haven't worked out in about two weeks due to a nasty cold I got. Then I finally started feeling better but was afraid to work out for fear that my feet might explode. Well, I got permission to walk briskly and some say it might even help the swelling. Hallelujah! I'll try anything. I took Molly for a long, brisk walk this morning but it was pretty uncomfortable wearing shoes with laces and bending my feet to walk.

Oh well.

I wish it was summer so I could swim. And by swim, I mean flop around behind a kick board or something. I read that's great exercise for swollen pregnant people.

Guhross.

Worst part of the feet situation is that we're going to Richmond this weekend to see a friend's band play and I've picked out a "cute, rock and roll maternity" outfit complete with comfortable heels. I don't want my feet to muffin top out over my shoes!!!!!!! What's a girl to do?? I guess I might have to wear flip flops. To a bar. In January. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

35 Weeks

If anyone is feeling bloated or having negative body image issues, I hope this helps:Haha. I think I look a lot bigger in the picture than I really am or maybe I have some distorted body image issues. Oh well.

We had our first non-stress test (NST) of the week yesterday. The goal of this test is for his heartbeat to increase at least 15 times within 20 minutes. Think of it as if you're sitting at your desk working calmly and then you reach for the phone or scratch your leg- anything to increase your heart rate. They want to ensure that he's not just base lining at 140 beats per minute and that he's still getting his heart rate elevated.

I had two of these last week and we passed the first one with flying colors. Then on Friday, he wasn't cooperating and I had to lie there for 40 minutes (two 20 minute sessions) to see if he would behave. Of course not.

They decided to do a sonogram for a bio-physical. This entails recording his diaphragm movements- they want him to "practice breathing" for at least 30 seconds in a 30 minute session and they check my fluid levels. Of course he was fine. He was just being high maintenance. Wonder where he gets that from?

Needless to say, a nurse told me that if I ate 30 minutes before my test, it might convince him to cooperate more. So, as I'm pulling up to the hospital yesterday, I'm devouring an orange. I figure natural sugars have to help.

Not so much. I laid there for 40 minutes and then had to have another sonogram. Now, I know most moms-to-be would LOVE to have two sonograms a week. I'm not really complaining except it takes another 45 minutes to do one and I'm expecting to pay about $75 out of pocket for each one based on the cost of my first...

Like Manna From Heaven

Hooray!

Our baby stuff has started arriving from Buy Buy Baby!! See what poor Aubrey had to lug inside the house the other day?

He built the larger items while I organized the smaller stuff (changing table pad, burp cloths, etc.).

All done! Now Baby Swinson has somewhere to "sit" downstairs while I'm eating bon bons on the sofa. Just kidding...

Up next: waiting on the crib bed skirt and shelves to arrive so I can finally take pictures and do a finished nursery post before he arrives.

The Fit Keeps Hitting the Shan

As you all know, we've had to make some HUGE financial adjustments in our lives to afford rent and utilities in Annapolis (super expensive- like three times what we paid in Charlotte) and the mortgage in Charlotte (still waiting for rent to start coming in- should be soon!!). So that means no more dinners out, no more nail appointments, no random Target trips, etc. Now add in child care costs.

Right.

Now, do you know why I want a margarita so bad or an ENTIRE bottle of wine?

Basically, we've sucked the fun out of life. Just kidding.

Kind of.

We've gotten really good at finding cheaper ways to have fun. Let's look at New Year's Eve for example. In the past, we've gone to a super fun dinner with friends and lots of alcohol (around $200 once you add in cabs, etc.). This year, we ordered take-out Thai food ($23, thank you very much) and ate it in the bed of Aubrey's truck which was parked in a retail parking lot (for free) to watch the children's fireworks show in downtown Annapolis. I even brought a bottle of sparkling grape juice. It worked just fine. I was asleep by 10 p.m. and no hangover!

Now, I did really miss champagne and friends but there was no way I could have either this year so a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do....

Just as we start to get used to our new lives, I feel like we keep getting punched in the gut... On Sunday evening, we ran to Babies R' Us to pick up a random item we kept meaning to buy and since there's no Buy Buy Baby here we had to settle for BRU. We got home around 8 p.m. and I climbed out of the truck on the passenger side (DUH). Yes, I can still climb in and out of Aubrey's truck. Aren't you proud of me?

On Monday morning, Aubrey gets to work and goes around to the passenger side to get his briefcase out and cannot open the front or back door because the side rails have been bent up so far that the doors won't open.

It appears that someone tried to either steal his tires (of course, he has fancy truck something or others because of his job), wheels or something called a catalytic converter??? I have no idea what the third item is but apparently it's a hot commodity and people have been stealing them all over up here.

Now, keep in mind that his truck was parked behind our house and our two useless dogs heard nothing. Those of you that have had the pleasure of meeting Max, the little one, know that being quiet is not something he excels at.

So, OMG. We had robbers behind our house. Even weirder, both of our GPS devices were sitting on the dashboards of our cars. So, they must have really wanted something on or under his truck.

The cost of fixing his side rails is estimated at $500 - $1000.

Perfect timing.

Let's just say he took the bent ones off his truck and they're patiently sitting inside our shed until we win the lottery.

It is, however, a LOT harder for me to actually get in the truck now.

Oh well.

Stressed Out By The Non Stress Test

Today was our appointment with the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist (i.e. super high risk obstetrician) for our birthing plan consultation and first amniotic fluid check and non-stress test.

Aubrey worked from home this morning with me and we headed up to Towson together. We left the house super early in case of traffic and even had time for a decaf latte' (me) and a white chocolate mocha (Aubrey). Such a nice change of pace because we're usually rushing into these appointments because they're so far away!

Dr. Koklanaris is thrilled with my progress and said she is still optimistic that I can carry Baby Swinson until 39 weeks. Hooray! So we've scheduled the induction for Thursday, February 23. Now, don't start booking flights today. There's still a chance they could want to take him earlier.

My blood pressure was a little elevated this morning and I've been having increased swelling, especially in my feet. EWWWW. So, I'm still at high risk for pre-eclampsyia (pregnancy induced high blood pressure). That can be even riskier for diabetics so they'll be monitoring us VERY closely over the next month.

The non-stress test was pretty boring. I worked from the hospital bed while Aubrey watched TV. I'll be doing these every Tuesday and Friday until I deliver so please think of fun things to send me to read via smartphone around 10:30 on these days. Then we had the amniotic fluid check which scared me because I immediately thought BIG NEEDLES!! But, no, it was a sonogram. No pain at all. Fluid levels look perfect for my gestational age so hooray. They did confirm that he is head down and just hanging out waiting on D-day...

After a quick picnic in the car (yes, I'm that cheap), we headed over to my regular OB's (the one that will be delivering the baby) for our two-week check-up. It was nice that Aubrey was there since he usually misses these fun times.

After measuring my fundal height (we're measuring 37 weeks!!!!!!!) and listening to the baby's heartbeat (140 beats), she did some scary culture tests and then checked to see if I was dilated. Let me just tell you this. After today's appointment, there is no way in the entire universe that I will attempt to deliver this baby without heavy medication. No way Jose'.

Five weeks and counting....

Nesting in Annapolis

So I've been debating as to whether or not I'm actually nesting. For those of you that know me really well know that I can't stand stuff out of order. I literally have an obsession with plastic bins and my label maker. So moving is really hard for me until everything is put in place. I guess I feel a serious need to have it all done by the end of January in case Baby Swinson makes an early arrival.

I don't know why I have such an innate sense to have everything perfect. I think it's because I'm nervous I won't feel like doing much when he arrives??? Sweet Aubrey has been wonderful even as his "honey-do" list continues to grow.

This past Friday I hired a local moving company to move our home computer armoire from the basement to the den. I realized that I'm not going to want to go into the basement every time I want to pay bills or blog once the baby arrives. The thing is massive so there was no way Aubrey could move it himself. Now that it's in the den I'm obsessed with finding the perfect chair to put beside it and use in front of the armoire when it's opened.

I'm thinking I might want a rattan chair or a bright colored covered patrons chair...

I love this one from World Market:

I also want to replace the rug in the den with a new more colorful one. I love the rug we have but since I recovered the sofa to be a darker brown, I think it makes more sense to have a lighter, more colorful rug upstairs in the den and we'll move the solid brown one to the basement.

Like maybe this one from "old faithful," a.k.a Pottery Barn:

That means we then will need to slipcover the sofa down there and buy a couple of side tables. Does it ever end???

Aubrey hung some shelves in the laundry room and helped me organize the basement. We also hung some accents in the baby's room, organized the spare room, cleaned out the linen closet and the bathroom closet, ordered drawers for our bathroom and shelves for the baby's room. I even convinced Bed Bath any Beyond to let me get the rest of the stuff we need for the baby's first month at their store versus driving over an hour to the nearest Buy Buy Baby. I even convinced them to let me use five billion expired coupons and NOT pay shipping. Happy day in my life.

So I'm really excited for the stuff to start rolling in- hopefully by the end of this week we'll start to get some stuff to put together like the swing and pack and play!!!

Here are some cookies I made for some ladies I met that have helped me in many ways since we moved here. They let me us their printer and fax when I couldn't find ours during the move. They also helped me find an electrician one late Friday afternoon. So I wanted to do something for them...

Now they're helping me find a new housekeeper and possibly a nanny. I call these ladies my Annapolis Fairy Godmothers...

We're Having a Baby

It's true. The thought of having a baby next month is starting to really scare me. I know I always wanted children and feel so blessed to have gotten pregnant so easily and to have had such an "easy" pregnancy but now that we're so close to delivery, I'm scared to death.

I think it's more the fear of the unknown. I don't know if I'll deliver naturally or with a c-section. I don't know if the epidural will work. I don't know if he'll be healthy. I don't know if nursing will work.

I like plans. I like structure and organization and strategy. I guess I need to learn to like change and strive to be more patient.

I'm 33 weeks today and have a lot still to accomplish.

Pediatricians: we met with the most recommended practice in Annapolis a couple of weeks ago and neither one of us was impressed. We met with another group earlier this week and meet with the third option tonight. I'm really hoping to make a decision tonight.

Child care: I'm planning on going back to work after being home for 12 weeks after his birth. That means I need to find good, affordable child care. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I put him on all the waiting lists for the top schools in Charlotte. Then we moved. So here I am, eight months pregnant begging schools to let us in.

There are only four places in Annapolis that take newborns. I visited one on Tuesday and almost cried when I left. I visited another yesterday and really liked it but it's really expensive and they can't take him until November. I have two other appointments next week so fingers crossed I can make a decision by end of next week.

House stuff: Mom thinks I'm nesting but for those of you that know me really well, I think I'm just trying to get my house in order after a move. This weekend we need to buy a snow shovel, buy and install shelves in the nursery, get the basement organized and unpacked (including rearranging furniture), hang pictures in my office, go find and buy harps and finials for the lamps in our bedroom that mysteriously disappeared in the move, and go buy a piece of glass for the side table in the nursery.

I also need to do some work to the spare room upstairs that Aubrey so wonderfully started to organize while I was in Greenville last weekend. Currently it contains my wrapping paper and supplies, our china and crystal and random serving pieces. I want to be able to fit a blow up mattress in the room for when the baby comes so my mom can stay on the same floor as us to help out. Oh, and we have our breastfeeding class on Saturday afternoon.

Sheesh. Now I feel overwhelmed. Oh well.

Next week starts the crazy doctors' appointments. Being high risk, they will start monitoring both of us twice a week with those crazy belly monitors. So from now until D-day, I'll have to lie in a hospital bed on Tuesdays and Fridays for 30 minutes each to be monitored. Thank goodness the hospital has WiFi so I can work from there, but how boring....

Fingers crossed we're both doing okay and they let him stay in until the 23rd....

Date Night

So, Aubrey and I ventured out for a date night in Annapolis. I consulted my good friend, Yelp. This is where we decided to try. I really like pasta and rice and I was getting tired of Italian. Pad thai anyone?Yes, this place serves Thai food and doughnuts. It's quite strange to be waiting on your Panang Curry and smell doughnuts. Needless to say the food was great and they threw in free doughnuts when we left. Amazing!


Fried green beans to start? Yes, please.

The House Strikes Again

So, I've been documenting all the issues with the house. We've consulted an attorney (my stepfather, haha) who assures us nothing our landlord is doing or neglecting to do is legally wrong. He just stinks. Can you believe that a landlord has 30 days to repair something that makes a dwelling uninhabitable? That is ridiculous. I need to write the President or the Governor or a Senator or something. Better yet, I'll just drive down to D.C. with a handmade sandwich board.

Here's a picture of our December water situation. Would you want to drink, bathe, wash clothes or dishes in this?

Exactly. Welcome to my world.

This water makes you smell like a penny after you shower. It has stained all of the brand new toilets, showers, etc. making the bathrooms look something like I remember the SMU KA's looking like. EWWW.

Luckily while my parents were here, they helped us scrub the bathrooms with these super tough chemicals that I can't use while pregnant so the toilets look much better. I'm hoping Aubrey will continue to work on the shower floor this weekend....

Yes, We're Still Alive

So sorry for the unexplained blog absence. I just felt like all I was doing was complaining about Maryland and the house so I was trying to wait until some super positive stuff started happening. Not possible in our lives. Allow me to do a photo dump to hopefully prevent you all from coming to Annapolis and punching me in the face. However, I would like to see some friendly faces...

This baby is definitely Aubrey's. Not that y'all were suspecting anything else but all of the sudden I love all of Aubrey's favorite foods (except meat). Peach rings, sugar cookies, milk, fruity candy (i.e. Swedish Fish). OMG, my mouth is watering while I type this. So, the first weekend in December I decided we HAD to make Christmas cookies right away. Well, of course it turned into a competition on who could decorate the best cookies. It's obvious I won.

Aubrey's (and, yes, he created a snowman complete with a dollar sign??):Mine:
Duh. I win. I made him eat all the ones with frosting. I only wanted the ones with sprinkles. Yummo!

Mom came to visit the second weekend in December. She washed and helped me organize all of the baby's clothes and helped get his nursery ready. I know y'all are dying for some pics but I wasn't thrilled with the length of the bedskirt so Polka Tot Designs (love them) is redoing it for me. So amazing. As soon as I get it back, I'll do a post about the nursery. I promise!

Needless to say, Mom and I spent a lot of time shopping, organizing and eating!! Check out our yummy appetizer from my new favorite Italian restaurant in Downtown Annapolis, Piccola Roma.It's a puff pastry on top of fresh crab meat and artichokes with a yummy cream sauce. Heaven? Yes.

This is my entree- porcini and portobello risotto. Italians sure know how to satiate someone that can't eat chicken or beef. Here's mom enjoying her Pasta Bolognese. Not the best pic of her but you can tell she's loving it!

By the way, I'm pretty sure the guy over her right shoulder is in the FBI. There's a huge FBI branch/office in Annapolis so I'm constantly trying to figure out who works there. Doesn't he look like an FBI data analyst or something?

While mom was here, HH Gregg decided to just replace our entire refrigerator since the ice maker wasn't working. Believe it or not, the new one stopped working yesterday too so I'm pretty sure the reason is that our landlord is cheap and buying crappy appliances. Here are some pics from that fun adventure.

I can tell you're jealous...