Preparations.

Week 39-


Now that I am on maternity leave, still pregnant, and prepping for the holidays, I have found that the days are definitely blending together.  This week was filled with some last minute holiday shopping, nursery prepping and continuing to put our house back together post the flooring project- it truly is amazing sometimes how much slower I feel like I move pregnant!  Between greater bouts of fatigue combined with bursts of energy I feel like I go from accomplishing a ton to then having to slow down and just be.

It is said that right before delivery, you can actually feel the baby settle down and drop.  If this is the case, she might be around for still a bit longer.  She is consistently active on daily basis and those 'little' movements that I felt before are now at times very pronounced as she continues to pack on the ounces!  Little elbows and knees are now easier to make out when they protrude from my belly.  Her hiccups are so violent sometimes that they catch me completely off guard.  As crazy as it seems, I know I will miss those hiccups on a daily basis when she is here!  Although actually being able to hold her and snuggle with her will be irreplaceable and something that I look forward to on a daily basis.

While I have been afforded more time than I sometimes had estimated, I wanted to post some of the beautiful maternity photos that my dear friend Tiffany Vaughan captured for Chris and I.  We couldn't have been happier with how they came out and were so grateful that we were able to capture this moment in our lives just the two of us with 'baby on board'.

~'Roots and Wings'...advice my mom has passed onto me.  You give her roots that she will always come back to, and wings to explore all the possibilities that she has in this world.~

~One of our faves!~

Our Birth 'Hopes' for Autumn

Week 38- (behind again, but what's new??)

38 weeks and going strong!

Autumn has yet to make her arrival and I must say, I have definitely called it that she would be here this long.  And again, not complaining one bit.  She's continuing to add that all important layer of baby fat and her brain is still developing like wildfire.  She's about the size of a small watermelon, according to sources, and will continue to be around this size up until birth.  Still hard to conceive there is a little one that size inside my belly.  It really is unreal.

We finally got around to decorating our Christmas tree, one of those small feats that I really didn't think would happen before Autumn arrived.  I know she'll never remember it but I am satisfied in knowing now that we were at least decorated for the holidays before we brought her home!  We made it a family affair, drank hot chocolate and listened to just about every old Christmas song that you can think of.  I absolutely adore all of the rat-pack Christmas Carols and can't get enough of them.  It reminds me so much of my Grandma Libby and spending Christmas time at her house.  I so treasure those memories.

Speaking of family though, look who decided to finally join us back stateside??

I think Andy and Chris have been inseparable since he came back, for the most part at least.  It's awesome having him back and Jack now has a real dad again! Yay!

I've been feeling great for the most part, still able to get out on long walks (although I am pretty sure I might have run my last mile this week~the contractions that I have been getting after have just been too uncomfortable and it feels good to taper off once again).  I really can't complain though being able to run almost into my 39th week.  Who knows, if she decides that she's sticking around for much longer I may find myself out there beating the pavement in hopes of getting her here sooner than later.

This week marked the LAST week of work for the next 3 months at least (give or take) and it was busier than I had anticipated.  I spent more hours than I imagined tying up loose ends and finishing up several projects that came up last minute.  But officially, I am physically (though not virtually) out of the office and happy to begin knocking off the million things I have on my to do list.  Not only are we eternally grateful for Chris's grandparents continuing to finish the floors (the thresholds have become quite the project) but this week my mom decided to come assist in helping to finish up her nursery, at least for the most part!  Thanks ma!

And look what finally arrived that Chris's grandparents so wonderfully put together for us!  I'll be doing an update on her nursery progress very soon!

On to the important questions of the week, how will I know that I'm in labor?  Besides Chris and I attending Bradley Birthing Method classes every Sunday/Tuesday for 2 months, and reading countless articles/blogs on the signs, the true signs should look something like this:

• regular contractions:  the Braxton Hicks (or false contractions) I have been having are sometimes no joke, but the real ones will be much more consistent and show a specific pattern.  Right now so long as I change activities, eat or drink something, the contractions disappear.  When they're the real deal, NOTHING will make them go away-a sure sign that it is time.
• the DROP: according to everything that I have been told/read, I will feel a sense of relief when she gets her little feet out of my ribcage and I can breathe easier. Right now, I continuously have shortness of breath and the one thing that actually makes me breath easier believe it or not is to get out on a walk, get my circulation going, and with gravity, she settles out my ribcage.  Both Chris and I are of average height so it will be interesting to see how long she is!
• continuous pressure: this has definitely increased over the past 2-3 weeks at least but this week it is at an all time high as i can't not be near a bathroom for more than 30 minutes, her head is right there!  Which is good, in fact it's great because it means she can't hopefully make any more somersaults before birth but it makes for very intense nerve endings that feel like an electric shock down there, it puts me in a dead stop multiple times throughout the day!
• feeling....well...different: some women swear that you will just know.  You'll wake up one evening or one morning and just have an epiphany.  I feel pretty in tune with my body but to know whether today is the day may or may not occur, I guess I can only wait and see!  It's a crazy feeling being on constant alert for changes that's for sure!

I haven't gone into much detail on our plan for natural childbirth simply because I really don't like calling it our 'birth plan'.  If you know me, although I like to forecast my goals and dreams for the future, I live a lot of my life flying by the seat of my pants.  Chris is the planner in the relationship although I know motherhood will definitely change that for me!  Routine will be a part of my daily life with Autumn and I completely ok with that.  It will be a nice balance!   

Chris and I did develop what we refer to as our birth hopes, inspired by another mom blogger who felt the exact same way.  No matter what preparations you do in your pregnancy, no matter how fit or healthy that you are even, you never know what the actually labor/delivery is going to be like.  EVER.  So we outlined what was important to us, some in a rank./file type of order from what is most important to us to what is least.    We made ourselves aware of what is hospital policy but also made sure that we knew what choices we had that were on the table for us (i.e. I will have to have an IV upon being admitted but have the option of getting a heparin lock so that I can still move around freely during the first stage of labor- I don't want to be bedridden when  I could be walking halls/stairs trying to get her to move down!)  

Ultimately the top priority for Chris and I is to have a healthy baby.  Period.  But if possible, I would like to avoid a C-section.  I have an extremely high tolerance for pain and therefore want to go as natural as possible with no-epidural  and, if possible, avoid Pitocen pending that she decides to make her entrance on her own before December 28th (at this point in time, that is as long as they will allow me to go beyond her due date.)  Even as I re-read our 'Birth Hopes' that we turned in in our Bradley Class that are a bit more detailed than what I just went into, I become more and more comfortable with having the options and control in the beginning, but knowing in the back of my mind that birthdays and healthy babies are what matters the most in the hospital I am perfectly OK with that as well.  There are no failures in delivering a human being, no matter how he/she decides to make their and entrance into the world.

I'll leave you with a few pics of the first experience with giving the dogs a bath in the bathtub (it was just too chilly outside and much easier, albeit, way more messier, than bathing them outside but at least we got some of the stink off of them!)

 ~Jack was so chill and so well behaved.~

 ~Lola was the most relaxed of them all I think!  She almost looked like she was falling asleep a couple of times!~

~Toga exuded the most appreciation, she kept pushing her head in Chris's lap, it was too precious.~

Odds and Ends:

• Total weight gain: 26 lbs
• Next Appt: December 16th, 39 week check-up!
• Kicks per day: infinite, i really loose count.  She's so active!
• Overall feeling: anxious.

Full Term and the nesting instinct hits HARD.

Week 37-

I honestly feel as if these last few weeks have flown by rather than dragged on as I had anticipated.  I guess that happens when your to-do list reaches a mile long and it doesn’t seem like there is ever enough time in each day to sleep, eat, pee (100X), work and then accomplish all that we want to get done before Autumn’s arrival! 

Grow, baby, Grow!

Full term and still going strong.  I’m excited that we hit this milestone as realistically Autumn could be born and be 100% on her own at this point in terms of breathing.  Her lungs have fully developed and all that she will literally be doing from here on out is packing on the baby fat and I am definitely OK with that!  With most babies loosing up to a pound after birth, I want her to be as plump as possible since she’s only measuring at about 6.5 lbs at our last appointment (just an external estimate given to us by our midwife).  After this week it is estimated that she will put on about ½ lb. every week and I am definitely already feeling the added gain in her weight, my belly seems to be getting huge these last few days! And yes, in just DAYS.  Autumn is measuring in close to 20 inches and is roughly the size of a watermelon, YES, a watermelon.  She is head down officially but moving from side to side as I can see her little butt protruding from the left on occasion and then swiftly moving to the right~it’s really quite the sight.  She’s busy practicing skills that she will need in the outside world like sucking, blinking, exhaling and inhaling.  

Exercising for two.

She is still letting me get in those 400 meters of running in spurts over the course of 3 miles and I am quite amazed I must say.  Although this week I did far more squats than I have done my entire pregnancy (due to the story to follow about replacing our floors) nothing feels better than to get out on my run/walks with her.  The chill in the air feels remarkable and has been a wonderful reminder of my long runs in Kansas come fall and winter time.  I know I have said it before but I have such fond memories of running during those two seasons in Kansas.  What I wouldn’t give for a snowy run down here in Florida.  Instead I live vicariously through several of my adventure racing buddies up north as they trek through the snow in their gators and spikes just to get in the miles.  I am still working on laying out my plan for my post-partum training, perhaps this weekend I will finally have a moment to focus on what my workout goals will be.  Realistically I know to not set my expectations to high, but I am the type of person that likes to see a plan ahead of me and make every effort to GET THERE.  Plus, there are several adventure races around the corner in the spring near Chris and I’s neck of the woods and since we missed them this past year, we’d love to put them on the calendar for this year. 

The Nesting Instinct.

I found it amusing that my resources were saying how I might be getting bit by the nesting bug this week.  Oh how I longed for it weeks ago and then it hit me upside the head like a ton of bricks.  And thank goodness it did.    And then, on top of that, what does Chris decide to spearhead?  Ripping up the last 3 rooms of carpet and laying down new flooring!  I joke with him that he has now had every form of sympathy for me: sympathy cravings, sympathy pains and now sympathy nesting instinct.  It was quite the task to begin but I was sure that Autumn wasn’t coming early (my midwife even scheduled my next appt. for week 39 rather than 38 because she was sure that she was sticking around) so I thought what better of a time than to just get it all out of here before Autumn comes and begins crawling on that awful carpet. 

Here’s a visual run-through of the progress.  I have to make a special note that these floors would NOT have been possible without the guidance and hard work of Chris’s grandparents and my mama! They truly have been amazing in teaching us homeownership 101. Grandma and Grandpa have been working diligently every day towards the official completion of the project and we couldn't be more grateful!

 ~The living room BEFORE~

 ~Carpet gone and Lola scoping it out~

 ~the Helpers/brains!~

 ~Chris laying down the tile in the living room.  We LOVE the earth tones.~

 ~Chris getting guidance from Grandpa~

 ~Autumn and I contributing where we could~

 ~Lauren and Chris 'ninja-ing' the hallway debacle~

 ~the guest bedroom BEFORE (finished pictures to come!)~

 ~One of my many energy bursts to clean windows, walls and baseboards.~

 ~The transformation of the master bedroom is AMAZING.~

The baseboards are on their way to being nailed in and then after a good mop and sweeping of each room, we will be able to put our house back together by this weekend.  It already feels like a completely different space.  It’s open, clean, and we even feel like we can breathe easier.  We have this sense of ‘completion’ that we haven’t felt in awhile about our house that is an amazing feeling.  

 Oh and how could I forget that this week, we in Northern Florida had our first frost.  It's the closest to snow that we will get so of course I ran outside to capture it before taking a brisk walk in the crisp air.  The dogs absolutely loved it and I'm pretty sure were outside for a good hour just wrestling and frolicking in it.

 

 Next up, FINALLY getting the nursery completed, hospital bags packed, and getting Christmas decorations put up so we can stop feeling like The Grinch on our block!

Thankful in so many ways.

36 Weeks-

This week was incredibly eventful with the highlight of it being Thanksgiving with family.  This year we had the pleasure of having Chris's grandparents in town and were so grateful for the opportunity to have a Thanksgiving with them.  We missed Cory and Lauren as they were at Cory's parents spending time with his family and grandma, but we had a wonderful meal at my mom's that was absolutely delicious.  There was enough food to feed an army but then again, that's my mom's style!  Always has been, always will be.  The 26 lb. turkey was divine and the dishes that went along with the bird were incredibly mouth-watering: wild rice and butternut squash with leeks, corn casserole, mom's special stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce with persimmons and pomegranates, the always classic, always tasteful green bean casserole, mom's delicious sweet potato casserole (with a coconut spin), grandma's yummy rolls, and a unique pumpkin pie that everyone seemed to love despite it's secret ingredient (one thing most people wouldn't even dream of consuming, especially on Thanksgiving....Tofu! Head over to Daily Garnish to check out the recipe..no we're not going vegan but it's fun to experiment in the kitchen!)
Although pregnant and in a position where I strategically saved some weight gain for the holiday season, I found it surprisingly difficult to take in as much turkey dinner as I wanted and then became increasingly more lethargic than normal ( I suppose it's the effect of the tryptophan on TWO individuals that had me wanting to take a siesta within an hour after dinner?) Still, it was a wonderful evening, the food was fantastic, the conversation and company was perfect.  It's funny how it takes the holidays to remind us how important just 'conversation' is in a room full of people.  We get so caught up in the constant connection to the outside world with the technology at our fingertips (guilty!) that we forget to connect with those inside those 4 walls.  The holidays are in fact a perfect time to practice disconnecting while at the same time re-connecting if you get my drift.

How Big is Autumn?

This weeks milestone is that Autumn has been busy shedding the downy covering of hair and the vernix caseosa (waxy substance) that have both been protecting her skin inside the womb.  Not too bad for a weeks worth of work, eh?  She is getting ever more bigger, packing on an ounce a day up until she is born.  Can I just repeat myself again this week when I say that I can feel every bit of each ounce that she is growing?!  She's reaching or has reached about 6 pounds and close to 19 inches long (think the length of a large pineapple, crazy!)  And with Autumn's growth spurts, the belly grows...and grows..and my favorite attire these days (and frankly all that I can fit into) are leggings or tights, a skirt and my boots!  Thank goodness for hitting these final weeks in the winter where I can get away with wearing this combination everyday to work. 

~Wow to the backsplash spray...item #125 to add to the to-do list!~

Running and Pregnancy

I can honestly say that I set zero expectations for how long I wanted to run while I was pregnant.  I am surprised that week 36 has come and gone and I still find myself putting one foot in front of the other to fashion together a run/walk ratio for about 3 miles.  Surprisingly, I found myself having a quicker pace than last week clocking in at 10:45-11:00 for my 400 m run portions.  I think I have found that with every week, running while pregnant is an art.  I have mentioned frustrations before with seeing decreases in paces, decreases in mileage and the worst, coping with an additional 28 lbs of weight at this time on some very achy joints.  There have also been revelations such as how from one week to the next there can be positive changes like discovering how much being pregnant forces you to keep your center of gravity low and really run from the balls of your feet to prevent additional jarring on the joints.  I have found humor in the fact that while before I could only see the decline in running while being pregnant and now, 36 weeks in I am able to realize that I will be taking lessons away from this experience that could quite possibly make me a better runner post-partum.  Next post...the training plan post-partum.  I know myself and while my focus will be that little bundle of joy that we get to meet in two weeks, it will help me to get back to 'normal' if I have a training plan semi-mapped out and begin to learn to incorporate little Autumn into our active lifestyle!   (i picked up these little car signs recently, in lieu of the typical 'baby on board' one's~I love them!)



Done and DONE

This was  a week full of accomplishments and entirely refreshing in comparison to the weeks where we weren't able to check but one or two items off the to-do list.

• Black Friday/Cyber Monday Week: Thankfully, the sales seemed to not only start earlier than Black Friday, but seemingly ran for an entire week.  Notice the camera in the belly pictures?  That was our big find that we did quite a bit of research on before we made a decision.  We were proud and happy that we came across this gem/steal especially in time to catch the millions of baby photos that are sure to be in our future
• the BIG Amazon order: we have been adding to our 'cart' for months and it was finally time, post baby-party to get the rest of the items we needed!  Here are just a few that we acquired:

~Chris loves this already and we're stoked to jump on the trails just the 3 of us (plus the pups!)~

• Clean house! I lost count of the loads of laundry that I did and frankly, I would most likely be embarrassed by the number but FINALLY, the laundry is complete, the closets are looking more organized, the kitchen is clean, and while there are still plenty of things that I want to sparkle before Autumn arrives, I feel content with how things are looking.  (I suppose this can be refereed to as the last 'nesting' bug that I will get before she arrives??) I must admit too, that I haven't been the only one with the nesting bug, I think Chris has the 'sympathy' nesting bug, and I find it pretty cute!  Sympathy cravings, sympathy pains, and now sympathy nesting.  Chris has definitely checked every box during this pregnancy.
• O Christmas Tree! We found it! And while I feel like I am being tortured having to wait to put up decorations until Chris gets back from the field, I can't wait to be able to trim the tree (and the rest of the house) when he returns!  

And while I have refrained from buying too much for Autumn before she makes her arrival, I couldn't pass these up in lieu of the typical 'Baby on Board' signs!  We can't wait for her to be tagging along with us in everything we do and everywhere we travel to.

Hello first trimester. Nice to meet you again.

35 Weeks-

While I thought that I had left the first trimester far behind me, especially nearing so closely to full term, I was proven wrong this week.  What I have read about in other blogs, articles,  and resources that are all-things-pregnancy and baby have been proven correct: symptoms of the first trimester DO and WILL come back when you near full term.   Not cool.  DEFINITELY not cool.

How I'm Feeling:

While not all symptoms that left me lethargic and completely unlike myself during the first trimester have waged their ugly head, I have definitely been more noticeably low on energy, nauseous and  just all around achy in my mid-section like I was back in April/May and June.  It seems so incredibly far away to think that far back as I can't believe that it is already almost her birth month.  'Wow,' we keep telling ourselves, 'She's almost here!'.  I have taken several of only a handful naps that I have taken during my pregnancy this week and let me just say they felt amazing.  They may have only lasted 45min-1 hr. but re-energized me and set me back up to to continue on with my day.  Braxton-Hicks contractions have gotten more fast and furious as of lately and have me up in the middle of the night more than my usual 4-5 times just to use the bathroom.  They have actually waken me up several times and thankfully, have all been false alarms.

Exercising and Pregnancy

The gym has quickly become my comfort zone for getting in a good workout since beating the pavement and trails have begun to wind down these past few weeks.  I have continued to focus more on exercises that will be beneficial in labor and a typical workout the past few weeks has looked something like this

• Treadmill fast paced walk/light jog: 10 minutes
• kettlebell swings, thrusters -(3 sets of 15, circuit style, resting 1 min. between each circuit)
• shoulder circuit (lateral raises, frontal raises, shoulder press, butterfly)-( 3 sets of 15 circuit style)
• incline push ups/dips (on a bench)- (3 sets of 12, circuit style)
• good mornings/lunges-(3 sets of 15, circuit style)
• tricep extension/lat pulldowns/row-(3 sets of 15, circuit style)
• yoga/stretch 10 minutes

The squats and lunges are especially important during labor as they help the pelvis area widen for birth (TMI I know, but it's true!)  I continue to feel energized while I am working out and am just as motivated to get to the gym while I'm pregnant as I was when I wasn't, the major difference is that afterwards I literally feeling like crashing into a deep, deep sleep.  With labor on the near horizon, I can only imagine how drained I will feel after.  I am placing no expectations on myself at this point in time.

Grow, Autumn, Grow!

The size of a honeydew, or 4-5 lbs. give or take and about 18 inches long or so.  I have been informed by sources that my uterus has grown 1,000 times it's original size.  The belly is definitely showing that.  Both Chris and I just stare in awe sometimes when she goes on her little spurts of movement because while we may not see a precise foot or hand, we see lots and lots more definition of her showing through!  I feel as if the belly has at least grown several inches in the past week.  I laugh when I catch Chris off guard and he just goes 'whoa'..as I turn to face him..'it's getting so big'!  I kindly reply with 'yes, yes she is!' and then I will often take another look myself as sometimes I am still in awe at how much she has grown in there.   While she is almost complete in developing the majority of her physical movements, she'll continue to simply fatten up from here on out.  Again with the 'to-do' list still being completed, she can hang around for at least a couple more weeks in my opinion!

What's left of the 'To-Do' List

Sometimes I swear for every check-mark we make the list grows, but perhaps I'm just imagining.  Here's a snapshot of what we would like to accomplish before little Autumn Rose makes her debut:

• Finish the nursery-curtains to hang, 0-3 month clothes washed/organized, diaper bag prepped, cloth diapers washed and prepped, floor mopped, ORGANIZE
• Pack the hospital 'bags'- We learned in our Bradley birthing class that dad's need to be prepped for the hospital as well and often get forgotten! 
• Deep clean entire house- I realize this is a bold statement.  But after every weekly cleaning the house I feel just needs that extra bit of TLC before she arrives.  I am hoping my nesting instinct kicks into overdrive in the next few weeks.  Chris has already been a huge help in getting things accomplished!
• Decorate for the holidays- This is a no brainer but I felt it had to be on my list otherwise I literally might forget with all that is going on.  And that's not like me given that the holidays are absolutely my most favorite time of the year.  We are planning on a real tree yet again this year but we will see how that goes!
• Re-do our floors- Torture ourselves with projects constantly?  Its what we do, it keeps us busy and keeps us on our toes! Ha!  If this doesn't get done before little Autumn arrives we're ok with that, it is something that we can do with her attached in a carrier keeping us company!

This and That:

• Chris's grandparents have arrived!- They'll be here camped out in our backyard for several months enjoying the Florida 'winter' months.  They have already been a TREMENDOUS help to Chris and I tackling projects here and there that have been on our task list for months.  It has been wonderful having their company.
• Appt's upcoming: 1, November 30-I am not sure that we'll get another ultrasound but after that appointment we will start going on a weekly basis until her arrival!
• Days of work left: ? I really haven't determined yet if I want to take much maternity leave before her arrival or if I plan on working straight up until we have her.  I am trying to complete quite a few tasks ahead of time so that I will have minimal telecommuting to do in the first few weeks. 
• Newest craving: cinnamon EVERYTHING- the smells of the holidays have kicked my cinnamon obsession into overdrive and it's pretty uncontrollable at this point.  Especially cinnamon rolls.  I have had to just 'walk away' several times!
• Maternity pics this week!-  Our dear photographer Tiffany Vaughan gave us maternity photos/newborn photos as a gift and we are beyond thankful for her wanting to share her talents behind the lens with us.  I already have several ideas for the maternity photos but have a PLETHORA for the newborn ones.  Oh. My. Gosh.  Those ones will be the best!

5 things I will miss/not miss about being pregnant.

Week 34-

I decided to change it up a bit this week as I have been analyzing/reflecting on the last 8 months of pregnancy.  I figured as I am getting closer to my due date that I would try to reflect as best as I could on the last 8 months and what I have enjoyed/not enjoyed about being pregnant (I am fully aware that this list may change in one month, particularly under the category ‘Things I won’t miss about being pregnant’.   I continue to have the theory that every pregnancy is different and what I may love about pregnancy others may not enjoy and vice versa.  Still, I want to be able to remember the good with the bad and have some things to reflect on when I am no longer staring at the beach ball that is currently my belly!

5 things I love about being pregnant:

·         Having Autumn with me every day, everywhere I go.

o   I have heard some mom’s say that this is what you will miss most about being pregnant, especially working moms who leave their little ones after the first few months.  Knowing that I will be in that boat myself, I can imagine I will be going through withdraws.  Especially being able to just sit at work, and watch her kick and twist and turn.  She definitely keeps me company.

·         The bella-band.

o   One of the greatest pregnancy inventions ever.  I wish I could wear it especially after going out to eat after a big meal~ lets face it, it’s much more acceptable than just unbuttoning the top button.

·         Not feeling bloated.

o   There is no uncomfortable ‘I need to unbutton the top button of my pants’ feeling after a big meal because, it’s a wonderful feeling.

·         Autumn’s hiccups.

o   Yes, I will miss them.  No matter where I am, no matter what time of day they always make me smile.   

·         Eating extra calories

o   I’m a foodie at heart, what can I say.  So any excuse to dial up the number of mini-meals I can eat in a day

5 things I won’t miss about being pregnant:

·         The dogs being completely oblivious to my belly. 

o   Some people are blessed that there dogs begin to have a curiosity and a exercise more caution because they just ‘know’ something is up.  While Lola has been an incredible guard dog when I was able to take her out on walks, other than that awareness, they continue to want to play/roughhouse with me like my pre-pregnancy days-it’s a constant battle to try to train them that things are just…different…right now.

·         Not being able to wrestle with the crazy pups.

o   I miss being able to get down on the floor and roughhouse with them, it’s good bonding time and I know right now they probably think I have just gotten boring and not as interested in them.  If only they could refer to my answer above, they just don’t get it at this point, but once she arrives, I hope they’re able to become acclimated to her and be super gentle with her, just a few gentle licks here and there is what I fully expect.  We’ll see how the introductions go!

·         Sleeping on my sides.

o   While I am surprised at how quickly I adapted I cannot WAIT to sleep on my stomach again.

·         Sneezing.

o   While I don’t have the urge to run immediately to the restroom like some women do, I do get some incredibly fierce side-stitches that hang around for 5-10 minutes.  I’m guessing because of the extra pressure down there and the force of the sneeze just sends my abdominal muscles into a crazy spasm!

·         Crazy joint pain.

o   It has only gotten worse in the last couple of weeks as I approach my due date.  Knees, hips, you name it, they are ALL feeling the extra 26+ pounds lately.

I know I’ll look back on these and probably be amused.  It’s amazing how well a woman’s body adapts to pregnancy but I am quickly realizing that the next few weeks may be the most uncomfortable of all.  Through all the aches, pains and crazy adaptations my body has gone through, my sights are still set on her ‘birth’ day and no amount of discomfort will be able to replace the feelings that I know I will have on that day.  I can’t wait to share her with the world and to start our family of ‘5’! 

Progress.

Week 33- (playing catch-up AGAIN...but here goes! :-)

7 Weeks left.  Just 7 weeks until this little bundle makes her grand entrance and would you know that I still feel SO completely underprepared?  I am still anxiously awaiting for the last jolt of energy/nesting instinct to fully kick in to get some of the things done that we have been putting off for some time and this week there did seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel; both Chris and I had energy and motivation to accomplish some tasks that we have been putting off for far too long. 

With loads of laundry stacked up (this is my all time least favorite thing to do) I found it a good excuse to begin putting away some of my pre-pregnancy clothes and inviting into the closet, in a more organized manner, the maternity clothes that I had been putting off getting for so long.  I had no problem wearing the bella band in the beginning of my first trimester, why then did it take me until month 8 to finally acknowledge that yes Katie, it is necessary to have maternity clothes!  Perhaps it’s because I had been fortunate to still be able to wear the bella band with about 3 pairs of my pre-pregnancy pants thus far, but it is getting to the point where it just isn’t as comfortable and the giant elastic band on the maternity pants feels much better around the belly when it is actually attached to the pants.  It’s a wonderful feeling though to accept the changes that have occurred in my body and be able to accept that someday soon I’ll be back in my ‘normal’ clothes (hopefully by January!)  Right now though, the longer and more belly conforming the shirt the better and the looser in the butt/thighs/belly the pants are the better.  Thankfully I have no complaints over the maternity clothes I have acquired thus far and they fit perfectly with my style still.  I know I may be recanting this statement in the next month or so but fingers crossed that I can still fit into at least a week’s worth of clothes by the end of term!

Chris was in the field this entire week and therefore things were a bit quiet/lonely around the home front.  The dogs were in full-force protection mode to the point that one night what I thought was an intruder in our back yard by their reaction was actually a poor baby opossum shaking for its life on the top of the fence.  I refer to this as a proud moment in Jack’s life where he finally found his inner pit-bull-his bark was ferocious and he was bound and determined to catch the little rodent!  Needless to say it escaped without harm, but it kept them entertained and pacing in the yard for some time. 

How Big Is Baby Autumn?

Is it even possible that I have a baby the height of a pineapple inside my belly?  It doesn’t even seem possible but at the same time I believe it!  She is growing like a little weed it seems and noticeably more active than EVER this week.  Quarters are cramped in there and she is making it known!  Her wrinkled looks are beginning to disappear, so the resources say, and her skeleton is beginning to harden a bit more.  That being said they won’t harden too much because the bones still have to be malleable enough to make it through the birth canal. And speaking of birth, that part of this experience is getting ever more real for me lately...the end is so near! Exciting but frightening at the same time!

~it never fails I seem to ALWAYS have something spilled on or near my belly as of lately!~

Running and Pregnancy

While it feels AMAZING still to get out on my walk/runs, the joint pain is noticeably increasing and has been something that I am now dealing with on a daily basis.  I have always been someone who pushes through pain, every ounce of my body could be saying stop but over the years, starting in middle school track with Coach Altobelli coaching me on distance ‘ladders’, I have built up the mental fortitude to ‘Just. Keep. Going’.  Of course during pregnancy, that attitude has had to change, and from the beginning it did, when I first began backing off my mileage and backing off my pace.  I have always found homeopathic ways to get rid of any aches/pains I have felt and I am treating this joint pain no differently but let me just say that it has been a BEAST.  Every day at the office I know my co-workers look at me like I’m crazy when they walk by and see me doing  yoga every hour, just to stretch out my tight hamstrings/hips for the most part.   That and short walks are the only things that get me through a full day at the office anymore and I find myself jonsing to get home, throw on my running shoes and get outside.  Even if it does bring on more soreness/tightness, it feels good at the time and I know is still excellent for both myself and little Autumn. 

My runs have now simmered down officially to more walk/run than even run/walk if you know what I mean.  I am envious of some of the other moms I read about on the running blogs that are still striding out for 5k’s with little stopping.  Between having to pee every .5 miles as well as the weight of the belly beginning to be felt (which leads to abdominal tightening/intense side stitches) I am running .25 miles, walking .25 miles at this point at about an 11-12 minute pace for the jog portion.  It is better than nothing I keep telling myself and I have read that sometimes you hit peaks of discomfort, get over them, and then improve.  I definitely noticed this throughout my first and second trimesters where I would have bad weeks, my body would then adapt/overcome and then all of a sudden I was back in more of a routine stride.  I will say that I am going to try the treadmill a little more this week than I have been.  While I love getting outside and beating the pavement/trails, maybe tying in a few walk/runs a week on the treadmill with my lifting will provide more cushion/stability.  Even as an avid vibram five-finger runner pre-pregnancy, I know that running with an extra 25 lbs of weight added in matter of 8 months requires some TLC for joints and feet, that which possibly the treadmill could provide (as much as I despise it.)

The Weekend.

This past Saturday was a blast as Alaina, Lauren and I headed out for a 6am shopping spree at Belk for a charity event.  We all found a few good items we had been looking for and also finally got our rain boots that will complete our ‘work’ ensemble.  We can’t wait to wear them at the next wedding, they are incredibly comfortable!

Even though I had a very early morning, waking up at 4am, I decided to tough it out and venture out to Destin with Chris.  We had a few errands to run, plus we wanted to watch the K-State game somewhere and meet up with a couple of his buddies that were down from Kansas in training at Hurlburt.  We ate dinner at Bonefish Grille (still one of my all time fave places to dine in this area) and then headed to Poppy’s Crazy Lobster Bar in Harborwalk Village to watch the Cats take on the Pokes.  Even though we didn’t come out with a ‘W’, it was by far one of the BEST college games I have witnessed, and literally was down to the last second, 4^th and goal, but no one could get open for our quarterback Klein to throw to.  2 losses in a row to Oklahoma and then Oklahoma State, I’m hoping for a BIG W against the Aggies this weekend~ We NEED it!

We spent part of Sunday organizing the nursery from all of the wonderful things that friends and family have given us and beginning to inventory just exactly what we still need to purchase before her arrival.  The list isn’t huge, but it’s not super short either.  Good thing is, there isn’t a whole lot you need in the first few weeks, so we’ll have time I know to acquire things even after she gets here before we need them.

Our cloth diapers arrived and we are stoked!  I thought this gave a good run through of how they will work.

 We still have about 16 more we want to purchase (we hear 2 dozen is the magic number) and we also need to order disposables online as we know for the first few weeks we will be tired/getting into the routine of things and need to be able to change her quick until we figure out how the cloth system will work best for us. 

I also made sure Chris had a ‘daddy’ diaper bag that was a bit more outdoorsy/manly than the JJ Cole one I scored at TJ Maxx and that arrived this week as well.  He was secretly excited about it even though he said he didn’t need one.  It’s a Kelty, which means its extra durable, and I think will last through a couple kids I hope!

While we still have progress to make in the nursery, the goal is by week 36 it is complete and ready for her arrival.  That’s 2 weeks, which I think we can manage, just in case she decides to make an early entrance.  Hold on tight little Autumn, Mom and Dad still need prep time~we want everything to be just perfect for you!