37 weeks or the big fat fail....

So, last night was Chris's birthday and we went out for a nice dinner. I wasn't feeling well I had crampy contractions and such. Dinner was awesome though and on the way home I realized the contractions were pretty close together and pretty uncomfortable. When we got home, I timed them for an hour and they were 4/5 minutes apart and lasting longer than a minute. I called L&D and they said I could come in now or labor at home a bit more. I decided to labor here while we got the bags together and such. Well by the time we got the bags together Chris and I had a misunderstanding about when we were going, so we just ended up heading out (he thought I wanted to go right now, I really wanted to wait, but thought he wanted to go haha). I didn't really feel like it was "go time" but I started thinking about all of those women who don't realize they are in labor and decided I better check it out just in case. Well, long story short, Sully is still picture perfect in his movements/decels. Contractions are real and I was timing correctly, but I am just not dilating (ok fine I am 1 cm and my cervix is still thick, but that might as well be nothing). I kept apologizing, I think because I felt stupid. Sully is staying in there, for quite some time probably, and I just need to get used to it. I *can* do another month of this, I just don't want to. Here's the weekly update:

How far along? 37 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: over 40 lbs, honestly I don't even want to check
Maternity clothes? oh yeah
Stretch marks? butt and thighs, no belly
Sleep: much better these days
Best moment this week: My baby shower/Chris's birthday dinner
Movement: Yep, hes super active
Food cravings: Beer/wine sadly this will have to wait for a bit
Gender: Handsome little guy
Labor Signs: Ugh don't even talk to me about this. Yes contractions but they aren't going anywhere
Belly Button in or out? Innie :)
What I miss: My old body, and having a skinny face
What I am looking forward to: Meeting my son.
Weekly Wisdom: You really REALLY need to be in pain before you make the trip to L&D
Milestones: First false alarm!
Weekly Picture:

My Sully Monster

Sullivan James,
You are already facing my front instead of my back. If you continue to put your hands by your face, and thus threaten getting them stuck there for delivery, we will need to have words. This is not ok, you are already most likely going to rip me to high heaven because you insist on facing the world please don't add insult to injury by making this even more difficult than it already must be. I will not appreciate having to have reconstructive surgery after your birth.
Thanks,
Mommy, who loves you very much

Can I Have a Baby Now?

Not really, I am just getting antsy. I Think all the ladies having babies on the Bump is giving me a touch of Labor envy. I thought last week I was having signs of early labor, but they had stopped pretty much completely until this morning. We are rocking the contractions! They aren't really time-able or labor inducing or even that painful yet, but hopefully they are doing *something* to my cervix!

In other completely wonderful exciting news, my future BIL is returning from overseas sometime before tomorrow night. I won't get to see him (because they live in Texas), but I am beyond excited for my sister!

A Quick Anecdote from Saturday Night

Chris and I are the old people of our friends, they go out way more than we do, even when we weren't pregnant. Happily, when I went to pick him up from his Diaper Crawl the other night, we both experienced our first post-marriage pickups. I was coming back from the bathroom (surprise!) and a guy looked at me, opened his mouth like he was going to hit on me, looked down, saw the belly, his jaw dropped, he looked back at my face, made a "haha my bad motion," and turned away. It took everything I had to not laugh until I was out of sight. Then, not five minutes later, Chris was standing with his friend. This girl was kind of hitting on both of them, and started in on Chris in earnest. She made some obvious advance toward him, he held up his hand, wiggled his ring and pointed to my big round belly. Yeah, we may be old, and chubbier than nine months ago, but we are still hot! Wewt! (Lets not even DISCUSS the looks a pregnant lady, drinking a sprite, waiting to drive her adorably drunk husband home, gets in a bar!)

Adventures in Registry Completion

Saturday I had my shower (which was amazing), Saturday evening Chris had his Diaper Crawl and EARLY Sunday morning I drove his adorable drunk singing butt back from the city. Sunday we woke up with the best intentions of hitting Target to use my registry completion coupon to get all of the little things we still need (and a few big things). I hadn't received a coupon, but figured they would give me one when I closed the registry.

A quick note about my Target Registry. We don't have a Target in my teensy town, so I just registered at BRU because it is a bit closer. The Target registry was my secret only-for-the-completion-coupon registry. It contained all of the same things as the BRU registry, but Target's prices are cheaper and they have nursing camis. I was going to keep this completely secret but one girl wanted to shop at target so I extended the registry (which originally "ended" Jan 8th) until my shower so that she could shop there.

I show up at Target, ready to drop some serious cash. I talk to someone at customer service and he helps me at the kiosk. He tells me it should be coming in the mail, or that it should have come by now, but if I close my registry they will just give it to me now. He goes back to do so, and his manager mentions that I am still pregnant. She explains to him that the coupon is only to be used *after* the baby is born and thus, they will not give me my coupon because I am still obviously pregnant. Oh yes, because sure I really want to wait until I have an outside baby to buy breast pads and nipple butter and burp cloths...

Well Chris suggested that we peruse and price, so I wrote everything down. I came home pretty livid. A bit of internet research led me to Amazon.com's baby registry. Same completion coupon percentage, except it was online... hmmm....

Sure enough I can get the EXACT same products (minus the camis which turned out to not work for me but plus several other things) for six dollars cheaper. I got my completion coupon instantly and the only reason I haven't yet ordered it all is because I am waiting for my visa gift card to magically become a amazon gift card.

36 Week Appointment and Doctor Thoughts

Just got back from my OB appointment. Measured a touch small, which my doctor said meant I "certainly dropped" like I was wondering. He also said Sully's head is about half in my pelvis (from what he can feel) which also indicates that he has dropped. he also said, "Wow you are perfectly on schedule then!" Because I guess in a textbook pregnancy, a woman should drop at about 36 weeks. Had my Group B Strep test done and that was the biggest joke of my life, super easy. He didn't do an internal exam, because they don't at my office, but Sully's HB was high 130's, which is pretty par for the course for him at this point. He confirmed that I have some swelling in my legs, which made me feel better that they aren't just fat and that it will go away pretty quickly.

After we left, Chris and I were discussing delivery day, and which OB I would prefer to be on call at the time. I happily realized that I would be just fine with any of them, and in fact, kind of hope for each one for different reasons. Here is why: First, there is Dr. L. whom I saw today. He is really even keel and professional. He seems like he would be a calming presence in the room and would be very honest with me. I also know he delivered my co-worker's daughter and said co-worker said that he really seemed to love water births. Granted, this was like 17 years ago, so he might not be as excited about it now, but if he loved it then, he is probably at least really good at it now. Next, there is Dr. W. He wears a bow tie and has circular glasses if that helps with a visualization. He is always really happy and seems to be genuinely excited about birthing babies after all this time. I think it would be great to have a doctor who was just plain happy to be part of our miracle. Finally there is Dr.S. She is younger than her partners and really down to earth. She is very laid back and has always seemed really open, honest and understanding to me.

Luckily, all three doctors pretty much jive well with my theory of birth. They are all gung ho about water births (my hospital was #4 in the nation to implement this), and generally look at episiotomies as a last resort. They prefer if a woman is able to go natural, for breastfeeding reasons, but also understand if you decide you need some help. They have signs posted in every office that basically say "Unless there is a serious medical reason, we will not even consider inducing you before 41 weeks, so don't even ask. Even then, you can safely make it to 42 and as long as baby is ok, that's ok with us." I appreciate that my doctors will not be pushing me to have this baby before he is good and ready. They also recommend stripping membranes (not before 41 weeks) in order to reduce the need to pitocin.

So, I am feeling pretty good about my labor at this point. I know it will probably not be ideal, but I feel that at least my doctors' version of ideal coincides with mine pretty well!

36 Weeks (okay I am two and half hours early big deal...)

How far along? 36 weeks
Total weight gain/loss:40 lbs, I don't wanna talk about it...

Maternity clothes? For sure, or Chris's clothes, or some from Mom Martin or Mrs. Piemer 

Stretch marks?Legs and butt, but the belly is clear!
Sleep: Whats that? But mostly because my sleep schedule got all whacked from snow days /blush
Best moment this week: Shopping with Mom Martin for baby shower stuff, and getting Sully's letters posted
Movement: Still pretty consistent
Food cravings: Oreos and milk, but reduced fat and skim milk
Gender: Handsome little guy
Labor Signs: Contractions for sure, I am feeling them in my back. Certainly not hardcore, but they exist.
Belly Button in or out? Innie :)
What I miss:  Sleeping on my back, sex not hurting.
What I am looking forward to: My baby shower, and meeting Sully of course!
Weekly Wisdom: From something that JUST happened: Dear dumb college kids, don't light up a doobie underneath the window of your dorm manager. His pregnant wife with the super sniffer will catch your ass!
Milestones: I think I may have dropped!
Now, the weekly photo:

Too Far to Waddle

Chris was leaving for his rounds about 40 minutes ago. He has had a rough few days at work, basically working non-stop. I asked him if he wanted me to get suited up for the cold and go with him to keep him company. He looked at me all funny for a minute then said "Honey, I think its too far for you to waddle." I cracked up a little bit. Sure, some wives would tell me I should have shot him an icy look, but it was too honest and apt for me not to laugh. I love this man. Thanks for knowing how far I can waddle these days honey!

Just like Momma

Last night I informed Chris that I am fairly certain that Sully is taking after me, he is convinced that he is going to college in my belly. If he were to take after his dad, he would be born within the week. Honestly I don't think there is any concern about this happening! I *think* I may have dropped, but if I am wondering about it, then I probably haven't. I don't really want Sully to come after my due date, just because things would work out so well if he came right on time. We have the next week off of school anyhow, so its not like I would be getting paid. I think I would just be annoyed to sit at home, 40 weeks pregnant, waiting for my little boy to come, no fun. Dear Sully, please be convenient and show up on the 17th/18th, thanks Mommy.

Weight Gain Guilt

My goal, set by my OB and myself for this pregnancy, was, like most women 25-35 lbs. I found out this morning I have blown that goal. My weight gain throughout the pregnancy has been pretty steady, but also faster than ideal. At this point, 35.5 weeks, I am up 39 lbs. A few of those might be water weight as I have had some intense swelling the last few days. Still, I feel very guilty. My mother gained quite a bit of weight with me and so I wanted to keep my weight in check. However, I have never been a very disciplined person. The only time I have ever *really* lost weight was during my student teaching. I think the majority of this weight was lost because I was simply so busy during that time. Also, I drank a slim fast shake for breakfast everyday and ate a reasonable lunch. I have never been an exerciser, but I did my best at the beginning of the pregnancy to do so through aquatics. When my braxton hicks got out of control, that stopped immediately. Since then, I haven't been a bump on a log, but my contractions get pretty intense after small amounts of activity. Chris tells me not to worry, because he is confident I can easily lose as much as I want. He thinks I look great and doesn't understand where I am keeping nigh on 40 pounds.
Honestly though, I am scared. I am scared I won't be able to lose the weight and I will have this double chin forever. I am scared that my hips will spread so that even if I do lose weight, I will have to buy all new pants. All in all, I already love Sully, I love Christopher, and I would do anything for our family, but I am scared of what my body will be like afterwards. I want to be a mom, but I don't want to have a "mom" body for the rest of my life. I would like to be able to look good in a bikini again, you know?
To top off my anxiety about not being able to lost the weight, I am afraid that my weight gain will have hurt Sully in some way. Because honestly, I could have done more to watch what I ate and snacked healthier or less (see the post below) and I didn't. Will my lack of motivation affect his health negatively? I am just scared.

I need a snack...

Thought about something healthy, nope, probably gonna be waffles...

To do this weekend:

Chris has a TON of work this weekend. The CA's (called RA's everywhere else on the planet) have returned, and in preparation of the students coming back Monday, he has tons of training to get done. As a result, I have possibly the loneliest three day weekend ever ahead of me! Luckily enough, I am wicked pregnant and thus have lots of crap that needs to be done!
So, here is my to-do list for the weekend:
-Type up a list of recipients for thank you cards so that I can just print address labels after my shower
-Type up a list of recipients for baby announcements so I can do likewise once Sully arrives
- Hang Sully's letters above his crib
-Do the math on savings of store vs store (factoring in registry completion coupons and sales) so that we can be efficient by completing everything we need for Sully next Sunday after my shower
-Go shopping with Chris's mom and sister for a crib for the in-law's house and baby shower stuff
-Bake cookies for baby shower favors
-Go through my wardrobe and clothes to get rid of really old clothes and make it all fit!
-Play some Vindictus to get caught up to Chris
-Put on my big girl panties and play some WoW (heroics are brutal these days :( )
-Relax while I still can!

Hospital Bag list

I made the longest list yesterday, and it looks gargantuan, and I think I need to pare it down. We will be at the hospital for two days post birth, and if I need a c/s it will be four days, so we are bringing stuff for three (also because we plan a water birth, we are considering that some things may get wet) Here is the long form:

-Shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, blow dryer, straightener, makeup, hair ties, bobby pins, round brush, body wash and lotion

-Camera and charger, laptops and chargers

-Eye mask and slippers

-Snacks: Fiber one bars, yogurt, cheese and crackers, carrots, plum organics baby food (DH eats these as snacks, and LOVES them), $40 cash (for DH's meals at the hospital, they run $4 a meal for him), small bottle of champaign, milk and cereal (?) (our hospital only serves food from 8-6, so we figure we will probably get hungry other times as well.

-Bag of lotion for nurses gifts

-Boppy, Moby (we are allowed to co-sleep at the hospital if I have LO in the moby, which they are HUGE supporters of), Breast pads, Lanolin

-Nursing Camis (x2) Nursing Bra, Maternity jeans, Maroon sweats, yoga pants,  long sleeved shirts (x2), cardigans, sweatshirt, tankini swim suit, Nursing nightgown (x2)

-for Chris: Jeans, grey sweat pants, 3 comfy t shirts, sweatshirt, swim trunks, sleep shorts, soap, 3 pairs boxer shorts and socks, book, slippers, melatonin, glide, 

For Sully: Coming home outfit, carseat 

Fixed the bed, only for it to break again...

Last night, my genius husband figured out a way to kludge together the bed risers so we could sleep until I get to home depot this weekend. His fix lasted great until I got up for work this morning, at which point they both broke again. BUT IT WASN'T ME THIS TIME! Hooray!
So, between my runs at work (aka right now) I am heading over to Belletete's (a locally owned hardware/lumber store) to get some 2x4s which I, crafty me, will then have cut, I will glue them together so that they stack higher than 6", then I will drill a hole in the top of each. The bed legs should fit inside these holes and voila! our bed will be fixed!
I figured I can do this all (it shouldn't be that hard) and Chris has training at work until 8 tonight (all the little monsters are coming back to school this weekend, thus the new RAs need to be up to speed) and a project will keep me busy until he is home. Damn we are so codependent! There are worse ways to be I suppose:)

35 weeks

35 week poll:

How far along? 35 weeks, 35 days until I am due!
Total weight gain/loss:  35 lbs, hopefully I won't pack on too much more!

Maternity clothes? For sure, though today I *did* wear a regular long sleeved t shirt! Size small even!

Stretch marks? Only on my butt and thighs, clearly Sully doesn't understand where he is supposed to make me fat and where not...

Sleep: Depends, I have figured out a good position so it is actually better now than most of the pregnancy.
Best moment this week: Getting Sully's letters all painted and laying in bed next to his spot in his crib
Movement: OH YES! I think he is confused about how birth works and is actively trying to tunnel his way out through my belly button and ribs.
Food cravings: Still spicy food, I love anything spicy
Gender: Bouncing baby boy, Sullivan James
Labor Signs: Nope, my Braxton Hicks contractions have even stopped!
Belly Button in or out? In, and amazingly enough, I think it might just stay that way! Hooray for having a a really deep innie!
What I miss:  Being able to put my shoes and socks on by myself, and being able to help my husband with stuff. 
What I am looking forward to: My baby shower in a week, and then finishing up with the little things we still need to buy like pacis and nursing covers and such.
Weekly Wisdom: Don't be afraid to ask for help, or for people to slow down.  
Milestones: Getting his crib set up. Also, reading my weekly update from babble, it basically said "yeah, your baby is pretty much just getting fat at this point. Maybe his lungs aren't quite done, but other than that, he is just hanging out waiting to be born." Crazy!
Now, the weekly photo:

Sooo yeah...

I frequent the pregnancy site thebump.com and have noticed that many women there have blogs. I have always wanted a blog, and aside from a very strange bit where I had a livejournal, haven't had one. So, I decided, now is the time! I like to post about my silly little mishaps and such, and soon will need a place to be a depository of all things related to the greatest kid ever (coming to your intarwebs February 17th ish).

The blog is called Martian Martins because we have somewhat of a strange obsession with science, space, and all things manned mission to Mars related. Also, our last name is Martin. I anticipate this will probably be your typical mommy blog, with a eating in New England flair. The hubs (Chris) keeps mentioning that he wants to start a food blog about eating out around these parts, and until he does that, it can just be here.

Feeling a bit fat...

So last night we went to home depot so we could finish Sully's crib. We are doing a sidecar arrangement and are doing are darndest to make sure it is super safe. We bought some high density foam that has been covered in a sheet to make sure that his mattress is rammed crazy hard against ours so that he cannot even possibly fall between. We searched and searched for the perfect bed risers so that we could match the height of the mattresses perfectly. Found the perfect bungee cords to secure his crib to our bed. Sweat-ed our booties off getting it all set up and went to bed feeling all content and happy that our little boy had his bed where I could easily check on him and feed him at night.

Aaaaah peaceful contented sleep knowing that tomorrow would be a snow day, and thus both Chris and I could sleep in...CRUNCH. At about oh say 2 am, the riser under my head decided to crack. Mind you, these are rated for 300lbs on EACH corner. Sure, I have gained some pregnancy weight, but I am no where near 300. Whatever, we go back to sleep, at 8, the same thing happens, again on MY side of the bed, just by my feet this time.
Now mind you, Chris still has a good 15 lbs on me. Why is it my side of the bed that cracks? GRRRR Needless to say, these things are getting marched right back to home depot for a refund. That is, as soon as the ice age is over.
In other news, I did get the letters for above his crib finished. Go me!