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.