third trimester Archives - Stories of Our Boys

J.D.’s Nursery

aprilmomoffour — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:14:00 +0000

nursery decor

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No baby yet….but we put the finishing touches on the nursery this week! Mom gave us the bedding and monkey wall circles. The store was out of bumper pads, so those are still to come….

The bedroom is so super tiny, so I couldn’t get it all in one shot. This is the nursing/rocking corner of the room.

Best benefit of having a fourth baby: I purchased zero pieces of furniture for this room. That was Dan’s crib, the guest room’s chest of drawers, and Caleb and Dan’s old rocker/recliner. They may not be perfect LOOKING, but they are PERFECT functionally. ; )

I LOVE this 31 brand diaper bag from my friend Abby!

And I LOVE how this boppy from Yoga Monica perfectly matches John David’s room! (side note: I have two good friends named Monica. In order to quickly distinguish the two I refer to them as Yoga Monica (my yoga trainer) and blonde Monica. : ) I just love both Monicas!

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Of course, I pulled a whole lot of the nursery stuff straight from Dan’s room to J.D.’s room, so I figured he deserved a room makeover as well! We went with a sports ball theme for Dan, because he is our most sports oriented child ever. I’ve never had a two year old that likes to bat with no tee, throw, catch, and watch the Nats play!

You won’t believe who arranged those wall stickers: Caleb! I thought he did a great job.

Nonna painted the ball painting and the name letters. Thank you, Nonna. By the way, in redecorating, Daniel insisted on keeping the Pooh Bear painting Nonna did in HIS room, not the basement (which is where I sent the other Pooh decor).

Joshua has started asking for the desk to be moved to his room instead of Dan’s, so that will probably happen soon. My little artist wants his own desk, and I think that’s fair.

Before I could get a picture of the whole room, my battery died. BUT I took more with my actual camera. It just takes longer for those to make it to the blog, so those are coming soon. ; ) (My uploader is downstairs, and April the Pregnant gets tired of stairs…..)

It’s amazing that we have left Dan baby powder in his room, considering the day of the “snowing in his room” incident…….(who knew baby powder made such great pretend snow). What a mess. Nice bonus: my vacuum cleaner smelled like baby powder for weeks!

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Ya’ll, in less than 15 hours our new baby will be out of my belly and in his daddy’s arms.

YES! NOW I’m excited!!!

The first day of a c-section is hard, so give me a couple days to get the photos/info uploaded to the blog. For those of you who are friends with Alan on facebook, an update there should be up fairly quickly tomorrow. Maybe I can talk Alan into posting a pic to my blog as well. : )

Oh! And school is officially out for the summer!!! The kids are so happy. My accomplishment of the day is that I took the sparsely decorated, furniture-pushed-to-the-wall (from where we pulled up the carpet…..you remember the flood?) basement, and I turned it into a REAL playroom for the boys to use and abuse this summer to their hearts content.

I am happy to report that it is a riotous mess down there: train tracks built, battery checks complete, cars everywhere, Batcave in place, and the floor is covered in TOYS. It’s a blessed sight!! : )

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Prepping for a New Baby

aprilmomoffour — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:57:00 +0000

my 38 week photo

I don’t think I look that shocking. I think I just look like a short-waisted 9 month pregnant lady. Still, I can’t wait to see how big he is. My guess is still around 8 1/2 pounds, but who knows!

*** Prepping for the New Baby***

My parents arrived a week ago, and LOTS of work has been going on around here to prepare for the arrival of a tiny little new person!

Last Minute Accomplishments:

— Last week Mom and I finished off my Babies R Us shopping.

— Alan installed the car seat.

— I packed John David’s bag as well as my bag.

— Alan packed his bag! We have forgotten to do that in advance before!

— I made a list of easy meals that we have the groceries for already for Mom.

— I made a list of things that must be remembered everyday for Mom and Alan.

–I FINALLY cleaned the marker stains off the dining room chair that Daniel colored..

–I cleaned the worst stain out of the living room carpet (which btw had nothing to do with the children. Some stains just happen.)

–I packed away SO MANY maternity clothes.

–We have his room ready for him.

–I have my house cleaner hired for the duration of the 6 week recovery.

precious time with Granddaddy

What’s cuter than a squeaky clean toddler?

Toddler at work

and precious time with Nana

I think Nana and Granddaddy may actually experience grandchild-overload this summer!! They do a great job.

Hopefully, Nonna will be doing well, and Nonna and DaddyO will also get in some good time with the littles too. We’re still praying, Nonna!

Right now Nana, Granddaddy, and Joshua are at Target picking out a backyard baby pool for Dan. He will be so excited!

Caleb just got home from a play date with his best bud, Nicholas B. Daniel is cuddled up to me, watching Max and Ruby.

I should feel so excited b/c I only have about 36 hours before I leave this house for my c-section. Instead, I’m still crunching time schedules, trying to figure out when I can squeeze in everyone’s supper and a pool trip for Joshua and Caleb. I don’t get in the water now, as my cervix is probably open, but I want to let them go while I can!

In pregnancy, you have good days where you feel almost normal–that’s me today–and you have AWFUL days, full of fatigue and contractions–that was me yesterday. I need to do all I can while I have this good day! Who knows what tomorrow will bring!!

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Father’s Day: Birth Week 2013

aprilmomoffour — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:10:00 +0000

My boys are so ridiculously blessed. Here’s what they did with their dad for Father’s Day:

1. gave Daddy his presents

2. went to church with Daddy

3. picked up Papa John’s pizza for lunch with Daddy

4. went out on the BOAT with Daddy– for the second day in a row (um wow)– AND even got to take along some friends with them on the boat today. I wonder if Alan took pictures….

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before, but Alan is an amazing dad. THANK YOU, Alan for taking such good care of us and being so patient and wonderful. Alan, I’m so thankful that YOU are my boys’ dad!!! Love you, Alan!

We are doubly blessed this Father’s Day b/c my dad is also here with us. Love you, Dad!

Alan also has a fantastic father, and we love you too, DaddyO!

THE BOAT

Alan was so exited to have my dad here to take out on the boat because my dad has owned a boat off and on for years. Alan figured he’d have some good expertise to share, and he did.

They had a great time. Dad came back from the river yesterday feeling rejuvenated, Alan felt happier about his purchase, Caleb had a BLAST, and Joshua finally seems to be over the boat-fear.

Awesomeness.

They even have found this beach area where the kids can get out and play in the water and the sand.

OH! And Caleb even did some tubing behind the boat with Mr. Sean today. Way to go Caleb!!

Now normally, I do love boating. When I was a kid, we used to go out on Dad’s ski boat, and it was always so much fun.

Alan and I took some sort of Marriage Inventory early on in our marriage, and it turned out that we have all of ONE interest in common…….boating…..so this purchase really does make sense for our family.

This weekend marks the beginning of something super exciting: BIRTH WEEK. Unfortunately, for me that means that this weekend I’m not feeling so good. I have opted to spend the weekend mostly in the comfort of my home. I’ll be more FUN in a few more months!

Yesterday I was mostly just cranky. Today I’ve had a lot of pain, but I’m not quite in labor yet. The good news is we’re putting an end to this show on Wednesday.

I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!

Lesson learned: Peek in the boys’ Father’s Day bags in advance to make sure no one feels left out. I’m sure Joshua would have really enjoyed making some creative coupons for Daddy. Joshua’s class DID make a really cute card for their dads, shaped like a tie.

HaPpY FaThEr’S DaY!!!!!

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My LAST doctor visit

aprilmomoffour — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:27:00 +0000

Today was my very last doctor visit of this pregnancy. Wow!
I am 38 weeks and 2 days.
So you may be wondering if I had dilated, effaced, etc. The answer is….I don’t know. No one checked me. I guess it’s different when you’re having a c-section.
I left the house at 8:20 this morning, and I just now got home at 4:15.
My blood pressure and heart rate were so high this morning that they retook it a few times and then decided to send me up to labor and delivery and make me stay for testing and observation. (145/88 and heart rate in the 120s) Weird. I never have blood pressure issues.
So three hours, a blood test, a urine test, a non-stress test, and an ultrasound later, I finally got to leave.
By the time I left all was normal. Just a weird morning.

We got to look at the baby, so that was a bonus. He’s doing great. He has half the amount of amniotic fluid that Daniel did at this point. Dan was swimming in 20, and J.D. is swimming in 11. Don’t ask me what unit of measurement they use for that b/c I have no idea.
The baby is big. My belly still measures right on schedule, but the baby does seem to be large–no great surprise there.
The baby still doesn’t like to show us his boy parts. The doc doing the ultrasound asked us, “What is this— a he, a she, or an it!?” I just groaned. We (Alan had arrived by that point) told him that this is supposed to be a boy. We did have that one day where we saw a scrotum, so I just remind myself of that.
3/4 guesses have been that this is a boy though…..plus you have my track record of having BOYS, so that is still what we are expecting.

After the appointment that wouldn’t end, Alan took all of us: Mom, Dad, Daniel, and me into the city for lunch. Daniel really enjoyed riding the train, and we got to see where Alan works now.

5 days until our baby arrives! Not a moment too soon!

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Quotes and Such

aprilmomoffour — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 02:17:00 +0000

Today I was at the Walmart check-out line, beginning to consider buying a Kit-Kat bar…..when suddenly I heard from behind me, “Excuse me. Are you having twins?”

: /

I turned around to see a little old lady, and there was really no where to run and hide, and yet my ability to smile at such suggestions has just left me completely. I told her, with no smile whatsoever, “No. I am just at the very end.” Then I turned around, hoping that would be the end of it, but of course it wasn’t.

I am officially tired of talking about my belly now. I think I’ll just hide in my room until my c-section next week.

I didn’t buy the Kit Kat.

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Tonight, Alan surprised us each with a chocolate treat. There’s a chocolatier near where he works that makes chocolates in all sorts of molds. Occasionally, Alan will bring us home things like chocolate baseball mitts and baby rattles.

Alan gave Daniel a chocolate airplane, the boys chocolate basketball goals, me a princess, and then he said to my dad, “Sorry, Dad, they didn’t have any trolls.” baaaahahaha. Don’t worry. My dad has a good sense of humor.

He got my parents chocolate landmarks.

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Tonight I told Mom that I would take Joshua upstairs to start his shower first, since we’d already put Dan to bed, and Joshua is the quieter one……sometimes I mistakenly forget that all of our children are ALWAYS listening, ESPECIALLY if we are not talking to them.

Caleb piped up, “What!? Joshua’s the quiet one? I’m loud? Joshua’s quieter than me! Seriously?”

(Um, well, YEAH.) I couldn’t help but laugh, and I’m really not sure what else I said….

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They were so sweet. DANIEL even found Waldo first on one page. Impressive!

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Daniel was cuddling in my lap today, and I was explaining to him how the baby would come out soon. I pointed the bassinet out to him as the baby’s bed and told him he would be the baby’s big brother, just like Joshua and Caleb. Daniel listened intently.

Then he took his sippy cup of milk and tried to feed it to my belly.

SO PRECIOUS!

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6 more days! I’m just tickled pink that I will be delivering this baby at a smaller pregnancy weight than ever before, even Joshua, when I was only 24 years old. But perhaps I should stop rewarding myself with KitKat bars. Man, those things are GOOD!

This was a quiet uterus day, no very painful contractions, only a few mild ones. I’m glad I have that c-section scheduled, or I’d be worried this baby was getting a little too comfortable!

Serious Accomplishment of the Day:

wrote ALL my thank you notes!!!!!!! I even got MOST of them delivered. Now if I can just find the notes we did for Caleb’s bday party, that’d be really good. Why am I always losing things?

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Braxton-Hicks Contractions: Friend or Foe?

aprilmomoffour — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 23:20:00 +0000

At the end of each one of my pregnancies, something common to many expecting mothers begins to occur: “Braxton Hicks” contractions. I can never decide if they are a good thing or a bad thing. See the problem is that they are too easily mistaken for the real deal!!! I have had one bum trip to the ER with every single baby. Ridiculous, I know!

I REFUSE to fall for it this time, Hicks! I don’t care how regular you come, I will NOT waddle down to that hospital until I hurt so bad I cry, or it’s the day for my c-section. End of story.

There is something very humiliating about thinking you’re in labor, only to be told that you are not…and being sent back home. It always seems to occur exactly one week before I actually go into labor, so perhaps this means that today I am one week out from when real labor will begin. We shall see! My c-section is exactly a week away anyway.

So yes, I have had contractions all day long, and as the day has progressed, so have the contractions. This morning I only had occasional, non painful ones. Now I’m having them constantly, but only some of them actually hurt, so I KNOW this is not the real deal, and I will not be taken in.

The thing about having contractions this close to the end is that you start to have hope. Hope that you really are about to go into labor. Hope that this whole ordeal is really about to be over. Hope that you will soon get to hold your baby!

…..Then eventually the contractions stop completely, your uterus is quiet and calm and the pelvic pressure is gone, and all you’re left with is…..

Crushed hope.

Even as I have been writing this, my uterus has calmed down a good bit, and within the hour I’m sure I’ll be back to feeling like a semi-normal person again.

There are GOOD things about those contractions though. They really do prepare the body for labor. I have never had to start labor at ground zero. With Joshua, I was over 50% effaced before I started labor, with Caleb I was 2 cm dilated for a couple of weeks, and with Daniel I was 3 cm dilated for a couple of weeks.

I always spend the last few weeks having both non-contraction days and contraction days.

The last two days have been contraction days, but it is a good reminder that perhaps I should go ahead and pack my bag…

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Can I be done now??

aprilmomoffour — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:26:00 +0000

As of today, I have 14 days left of being pregnant. The average baby at this point weighs 7 lbs. I figure that means that my baby weighs 8…..just going off past experience and the opinion of the general public, who all seem to think I’m the largest pregnant woman that ever walked.

I couldn’t remember at what point it is that you reach the feeling of complete misery, where it’s hard to even get out of your chair, bend over, walk 2 feet, etc, etc.

For me that point was yesterday. Week 37. The very end is here, and it is….not pleasant. Pelvic Pressure. Achy back. Achy belly. Oh, and I just fell asleep writing this.

funny…..and relatable : ) (She doesn’t actually look like a pregnant person, though.)

When the bottom part of my belly peaks out of my shirts, I don’t even care anymore. If it bothers anyone, my best advice to them is to not look at me. After four babies in 7.5 years, I am so finished caring about that.

I have one swimsuit that pretty much covers my watermelon baby, and I am fully aware that when I wear this swimsuit I am accepting my role as public spectacle. There are downsides to the neighborhood pool…. Every time I meet someone new around here, they say, “Oh! I’ve seen you! At the pool, with your belly!”

Yep. That’s me. Because here’s the thing. I can’t just quit life and chill in my chair. There are three boys counting on me still. None of them should have to miss out on the pool just because Mommy is pregnant again…

There have been a couple scares, though that are ushering me into my next phase of life: independence failure.

Two times now Daniel has gotten away from me at the pool, and catching him wasn’t easy. The first time, he made a run for the diving area. Unfortunately, he did this in front of mothers that I actually don’t know, and none of them got out of their lounging chairs to help me catch him, so there I was, 9 months pregnant, running on a wet pool deck after a running toddler. Not our best moment. (This freaks people out sometimes to see me run. Many sweet souls have even used the word “impressed” when referring to my quick jump up and run reflex. But it’s not like if I’d tried that with some of my past pregnancies. Remember, I did run 2 miles several times/ week for the first 5 months of this pregnancy. Then I did cardio/strength training as well as yoga, so I am really no beached whale. ; ) )

Yesterday he got away again, only this time he was quickly apprehended by the shallow end by Lee, one of the Park Moms. Lee is actually a Park Grandma, and boy was she a life saver yesterday!

I am going to make no further attempts to take all three of my boys to the pool unassisted this summer. I’m handicapped now, and I will be even further handicapped when they do the c-section. I might recover well this summer, but we’re also adding a newborn to this picture. I would say my solo pool days are over.

I picked up the paperwork yesterday for a “nanny pass” for the pool. Now if I can just convince someone to be our very part-time Nanny…. I’m hoping my friend Sherry’s daughter, Megan, will be able to do it, but I need to check schedules with her.

There are still so many things to do. The literature on the subject all says that at this point I should have my bag packed, the baby’s bag packed, and the car seat installed…. I have none of those things. I don’t feel too stressed about that either. I’ve never delivered before 38.5- 39 weeks before, so I don’t have any grand delusions of starting now.

I really just have to make it on my own about 5 more days, until my parents arrive to help with the boys. (Not really on my own. Alan has been doing a GREAT job of picking up the slack!) And of course, we have something on the calendar almost every single one of those days. Life slows down for nothing, not even sweet little arriving- soon John David.

my horrible job of a self-portrait….37 weeks.

Flashback Fun:

third trimester (7 or 8 months) with Joshua

I was 24 years old and 39 weeks pregnant with my first baby, Joshua.

Joshua was 8 lb 8oz.

At that point, I weighed about 6 pounds more than I weigh right now.

sweet little newborn Joshua, calmest baby ever

He was the kind of newborn you took everywhere with you, and he just happily slept in his carrier. Unfortunately, we were too new to parenting to know what a great thing we had…. Caleb changed all that.

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5 months pregnant with Caleb

6-7 months pregnant with Caleb

(Joshua’s first Easter basket)

very, very pregnant with Caleb, but I don’t remember exactly!

My weight was exactly the same with that pregnancy as it is with this one during most of the third trimester, but I gained 10 lbs less this time….I just started heavier.

Caleb was induced at 38.5 weeks: 9 lb 9 oz.

I only know of one 9 month pregnant photo taken of me from that pregnancy, and that was at Amy’s wedding. I seem to have lost it though. : (

newborn Caleb with Mommy

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This one has always really amazed me. That doesn’t even look real. No wonder people look at me the way they do!

38.5 weeks pregnant with Daniel

I was 30 and weighed 17 pounds more than I weigh right now.

Daniel was 9 lb 4 oz and only 20.5 inches.

Just look at how BIG that looks

*****

The ladies at my shower made guesses and wrote them all on a big poster board as to how big this baby will be. That day, I was feeling light and happy and went low. Today……I’m thinking more like 9 lb 13 oz…..or…….going all the way to 39 weeks, could this be my first full 10 pounder!? Glad it’s a c-section! You know, my little brother, Allen, was 10 lb 13oz. He was two weeks late, though.

My lower back is killing me from digging through all those old photo albums to find these pictures, but I’m off to work on the nursery. : )

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