Possibly a Very Big Boy

Tuesday was the big day for the ultrasound to see how behemoth "little" Gabriel is. The concensus is.....mind you the ultrasound lady did say give or take a pound....8.12 pounds!!! So anywhere from almost 8-10 pounds with two and a half weeks possible left to go! Some people have said that many times they are wrong and they come out a lot smaller. But when the tech has to scan my crotch with the ultrasound thingy to get at his head and my ribs for his feet and butt....I'm leaning towards the larger side! Which would explain more of my crazy pain symptoms. I'm still a good 2 cm and 80% effaced so my doc says I could possibly go early....But I wonder....So still scheduled for induction on the 21st and am counting down the days on my calendar and hoping the Gabe doesn't get too much bigger. My feet have already swollen to ten times their size and I gain about 3 pounds a week in water retention. I have at least 5-8 BMs a day and around 2 at night since he's suffocating my intestinal tract and things only move a little at a time, which causes a lot of cramping, especially when the contractions start and stimulate the bowels!!!! And I just got rid of one UTI and am hoping no more to follow during these last couple of weeks!! Sorry to be so detailed, but goodness, I had no idea I was in for such a long miserable last three months. I also get these tingly, numb sensations all over my belly and up by ribs. Every time I need to get up in the middle of the night to pee I feel like my whole stomach is going to rupture and explode!

We also just had our last prenatal birthing class last night. It was a very enjoyable class. So fun to meet new people who are going through what I'm going through. I should be the first to pop out a baby...but you never know. We met Amanda and her mother, Melissa and Jake, and Nancy and William. Thanks for sharing all your miseries and pain! It made me feel better like I was not alone! After everyone has their babies, we'll have to get together and see everyone's!!

The birthing class was very informative since it let Archie and I know that I definitely will need my mother with me in the delivery room. We watched a birthing video and Archie barely made it through. If for some reason he really does pass out or get sick then it'll be nice to have my mommy there for some extra moral support! He's my hero!!!

So I guess we are officially ready...well, I'm definitely ready to have him out!! I want to meet my "sweet" little, but probably larger than life boy!!! We learned about breastfeeding last night in the class and the nurse had dolls for us to practice positioning with...my belly was so big I couldn't even get the doll into the football hold! One more reason not to have kids too close together...he he. We've got the crib set up with sheets and the mobile, the dresser/changing table just arrived so Archie will put that together as soon as he gets home tonight and then I can put all his cute little clothes into the dresser! We have a playpen/bassinet from my mother. And a stroller/infant carrier as well.

The infant seat has quite it's own special story...since it came with a stroller it's not one of those extra fancy ones. When we put it into my VW it wasn't sitting balanced. So Archie had to attach an extra bracket in order to get it balanced, which meant drilling into the seat to attach said bracket. This was on Saturday. I came out to see how he was doing and he said: "Everything's good, just ran into a little snare." I'm thinking the bracket didn't work and it wasn't balancing right....nope. "What little snare?"

"Um, while I was drilling in the back seat, I accidentally drilled a bit into the gas tank." Wow. It was a bit scary for awhile while driving back from Ty and Cristi's that night, but the next day Archie was able to get all the parts he needed in order to repair it! He's my handy Man! I guess the second thing with the infant seat is the VW Jetta is a bit on the small side and it wouldn't fit in the middle of the back seat, so we had to put it on the back passenger side. So we need to eventually get a bigger, more family friendly car in order to put a bigger car seat in when he grows into one. I mean what was VW thinking? If the car has four doors it should definitely fit a car seat for crying out loud!!!! I'm pretty sure Germans have kids too.....

Let's see, I've got most of my goody bag for the hospital put together...I am still reading a few books about breastfeeding and helping my baby sleep and all that, but we're all but there! I just can't wait till I can move again without being in pain! I can't wait to meet my new little baby and give him all the love he deserves!

I want to be a kind, loving unconditional, understanding, and always there for you kind of mother. This is, has, and will be the most life changing event of my life. It's humbling and am grateful for the opportunity to be a parent. Archie will be the world's greatest Dad since he's the world's greatest husband as well! It's going to be crazy, happy, depressing, loving, disappointing, want to kill myself, but am glad I did it experience ever! He's our little miracle from God!

Pregnancy Updates!

I went for another doctor's appointment on Tuesday! Oh, the joys. I found out I have a UTI and am now on antibiotics. Also my doctor said I gained 8 pounds in two weeks, but not to worry since it's all probably from my water retention since I look like a balloon now. And...my measurements from two weeks ago jumped up more than normal, cuz my belly's so big, so she has ordered an ultrasound for next week!!! She wants to check out how big my boy is and if how much fluid I have in there as well. So I could be having a 12 pound boy!!!! So we get a sneak peak on how big he really is....very scary. She said it could be that he's measuring big becuz he hasn't dropped very much yet so we'll see! But I've been trying to walk around more, but I need to keep my feet up so they don't swell so much and if I walk too much my insides just ache anyway so it's no good! And my left foot is twice the size of my right foot, which is still really big! I can't wait til he's born!!!!!

And Monday Archie slept wrong on his back or hit a pothole that was too big becuz when he woke up his upper back was in excruciating pain. So we're both pretty out of commission right now! But we're keeping the faith, keeping the postivism of life!! HAR HAR!!!

Being Pregnant

Wow! Can I just say that being pregnant is really hard?? I think so...I have about six weeks to go and I'm miserable! I got a sinus infection a few weeks ago and had to go on antibiotics and then a week later I got a viral infection as well. So I have been out of commission for about two weeks now and to top that off I've been having contractions that are keeping me awake more than usual at night. It's crazy. Me and the sofa are now new friends, since I spend most of my waking days there and now Archie can no longer sleep by my side at night; I keep him up with my every hour pee runs and my tossing and turning and complaints at night! So he and the sofa are lovely friends at night. One advantage is I don't feel so guilty about peeing and keeping him up and another is my kitties now seem to think that only one person in the bed leaves room for them to sleep in it now! So I get my cute kitties at night. I'm also measuring about two centimeters above normal so I fear little Gabe isn't so little. He's so big now I can actually start making out his foot or elbow when he starts moving around! I also never imagined I would be so immobile while pregnant. I saw women waddling around at about 7+ months, but I never actually thought it would happen to me. Since I'm so short Gabriel only has one way to grow and that is out. He is putting a lot of pressure on all my joints, especially the pelvic bone. So doing anything really hurts and is comfortable, thus immobile and I waddle! And I have panic attacks about whether he's doing all right or whether labor and delivery will go well and all the crazy things that could happen run rampant through my brain. OK, so enough complaining. Archie gets plenty of it from me on a daily basis! Oh, the joys.....only six weeks to go.....

I thought I'd add these pics too of my computer kitty!

Frodo loves to stay warm on the monitor.

Stupid Smoke Alarms!

I definitely almost killed myself yesterday morning. The smoke alarm in our bedroom decided its battery juice was depleted and therefore needed to annoy me early in the morning, of course right after Archie had left for work. They're VERY LOUD!! No way was I going to be able to sleep anymore. It's a good thing I'm tall....OK not at all. I could barely reach the alarm while standing on a chair so I had to add a couple of my thick books in order to reach it. It wasn't very stable and it took a few tries to get it off and then to actually detach the stupid thing from the ceiling! GRRRRR. I wasn't a happy camper. So I chucked it down stairs in the basement with a lot of blankets to help muffle the very annoying beeping sound. I wish they could make the alarms smart so they would only alert you in the late morning and early evening hours! I could've been one of those women "who fell and couldn't get up." And Archie would've found me half dead and insane because the alarm would still be blearing and I'm too large to actually get up off the ground....

Rhogam Shot!

Just went in for the big shot this morning! I was a bit scared, but they were super nice and gave me free juice and warmed up a blanky for me while I waited for the shot to be prepared. I wish I didn't have to get one of those, but I'm a negative blood type and thus the precaution. Hopefully, Gabriel is negative as well, but they've got to take precautions. They made me stay after the shot was given for another 30 minutes!!! They wanted to make sure I was OK. That's when I got really scared. I kept waiting for something really bad to happen, like a heart attack or kidney failure! I think I even saw a crash cart outside the door?? Anyhoo, I guess I'll need to get one more after he's born, but it hasn't been too bad, the hip's a bit sore is all! Now I'm gearing up for the feast of the year! Yummy turkey!