It's not getting any bigger.

Okay, this is as big as I'll get. Thank goodness!

Can you tell that I am sick of taking these pictures? I don't take them very seriously anymore. 

~

Waiting

We are just two days away from Harper's arrival!

Kevin said last night

"It's like every Christmas, birthday, and vacation from your entire life is on the same day and you are waiting for that day."

That just about sums it up. We keep saying things like

"This time next week...."

and

"You might as well eat that (insert unhealthy food here) now, cause you won't be able to in a few days"

A few stretch marks popped up in the past week. All this time, I had been safe and stretch mark free and then in last two weeks, they had to come on out and play. They came out of no where! And I am just hoping my skin can hold out for a few more days. Because they may pop up in no time, but they sure won't go away in 'no time.'

I will say that if Harper had more than a few hours left in there, she would run completly out of room. It's a tight squeeze now, I can't imagine if she had to wait 10 more days to her actual due date. I've decided that she realizes that one day she will be grounded for something, or get a spanking, and so she is getting me back now. She's trying to cause as much pain as she can while she's still tiny and cute so that she'll have her revenge out of the way. It's amazing how someone so small and tiny can push so hard and cause so much discomfort.

Kevin is keeping himself busy during these last few days. He has moved our fence, built new gates, re-wired the dogs perimiter wire; he's just a workin' man! I guess, since I am not contributing at all, he feels like he needs to work twice as hard to make up for my slack.

I will say, as positive as I am trying to be, I am thrilled to be off of bed rest in a few days. I know I will have a baby to take care of, and won't be getting enough sleep, but it will be so nice to go outside without getting in trouble, and go to the bathroom without justifing how bad I need to go, and to drive, and to be on my feet for more than 3 minutes. Wouldn't you know that the most comfortable position for me right now, is standing?

Just a few more days, and I will be free. Oh yeah, and our lives will change drastically! =)

5 days....

We have an end in sight. Or should I say a beginning in sight?

Next Tuesday, we will be inducing Harper. Kevin & I are suppose to be at St. Francis at 8:00am and the process will (slowly, I'm sure) begin.

Although there is really no way of knowing how long it will take, our nurse, Andy, told us that expecting her between 3:00 and 5:00pm would be realistic. But we'll see

For now, I have been put on blood pressure medicine and even stricter bed rest (I thought I had it bad, Kevin is a full fledged bed rest nazi now!). I'm also starting to feel contractions. I wasn't sure what they were at first because they were so minor. But when they did Harper's stress test yesterday, it also measures contractions and it confirmed that I was in fact having contractions. But when I say minor, I mean it, they are very small contractions, and very sporadic.

Harper is still doing well. Her heartbeat was strong and the ultrasound checked out good. She was curled up and we could hardly tell what was what. She's running out of room in there; she was just a big ball o' baby.

So her birthday could be March 8th or 9th. I think those are good days, not too close to a holiday, not too close to a relative's birthday, decent weather that time of year, pretty birthstone, good time for birthday parties.

For now, I am going to try and not go stir crazy waiting. And as many mothers have warned me, I am going to try and enjoy my last days of rest for a while.



~

Appointment Today

We have our appointment with Dr. Christy today at 3:00. As you know, we were told to bring our hospital bags with us today. That little comment has given me an overwhelming need to "prepare". Realistically, I do not think we will be induced today, but just the thought has me cleaning every surface in sight, washing every fabric in our home, making lists until my hands are callused, and checking/re-packing our hospital backs over and over again.

I am only blogging because Kevin has enforced a mandatory break time right now.

Most likely, they will send us home today without a baby and all my preparing will be for nothing (because I am positive I will just do it again before our next appointment). Oh well, at least we will have a very clean and fresh smelling house to come home to.


~

Shower Season Con't

We had another great shower last weekend. This shower was hosted by our church ladies; it was at our friend Beth's house. It was a very "entertaining" shower, I must say. Lots of games and jokes to go around.

Cute Custom Cupcakes

Hannah took on the role of "official gift list coordinator". She took her job pretty seriously. =)

Rylee (my niece) and our hostess Beth

The new mama and her mama

Thank you to all the girls who came and showered us with gifts. We had better not get used to this type of spoiling! 

~

It's Time!

3 signs that it is time for this baby to come on out:


1. Last night, on one of my many trips to the bathroom, I noticed that my shorts were on inside out AND backwards. This should be a big enough sign right there. But to add to it, I didn't do anything about it. It would have taken me all of 5 seconds to remedy that, but no, I just went right back to bed, tag leading my way.

2. Last week, we were watching a show about rescuing whales. I asked Kevin how long whales could stay under water, because they are mammals. Not a ridiculous question. Next on the show, they were working with alligators. Then I asked "Are alligators mammals too?".... As soon as the words came out, I slapped my hand over my mouth and just sat there in embarrassment. Could there be a more obvious reptile than an alligator?!?!?!

3. A couple days ago, I was trying to ask Kevin if we had bought any new rubber boots for me before I went on bed rest. This is how it came out "Hey, did we buy me any hot dogs?"....... Had we eaten hot dogs that week? NO Was I craving hot dogs that day? NO.


All of these lead to one of two conclusions:

1. This baby needs to get out before I further embarrass myself.

2. I am have lost my mind. 

~

Shower Season

I have had two wonderful baby showers this month. We were flooded with gifts; it's been amazing!

The first shower was a family shower hosted by my cousins. It was held at our cousin Paula's house (which is gorgeous, by the way). And I have to say, she had the most delicious strawberry cupcakes. They were just what this pregnant woman ordered!

I can usually be found near food at this stage in my pregnancy. =)

Most pictures taken of me while opening presents are ridiculous. This is one of a few decent pics.  I make the goofiest faces when I open something cute (which is typically everything). I could actually do an entire post of my facial expressions. (But I think I have a little more pride than that). 

The generous hostesses

My second shower was from my co-workers. It was adorable! The decorations were very unique. The hostesses said that they knew I was crafty, so they had to step it up a notch. Well they blew me out of the water! I am no competition for their adorable designs. 

It's cute, right!

Kevin was very involved in our registry, can you tell?

This is perfect! Seeing as how she already has an awesome collection of Dr. Suess books!

Instead of a diaper cake, they made diaper cupcakes! I loved these!

Both showers were awesome, and the ladies who spoiled us are even better!

Thank you to each of you.

And here you go folks, this is the official stance of pregnancy, hand on hip, cup resting on belly:

~

Entertaining Myself

While on bed rest, I have done many things to entertain myself: read, watch tv, make lists, watch Kevin do things around the house, fold tiny little baby clothes, etc. But my favorite thing to do is get crafty. I've had to adapt my crafting area, so that my feet can be propped up. It isn't easy and I work slower than normal, but it's working.

Here are some of my bed rest endeavors:

I usually change what's in these frames depending on the current holiday. But what's a better holiday to celebrate than a baby being born!

A new wreath for the front door

Not everything in our house is baby related. (Almost everything, but not quite)

This wreath is on the fireplace. I am currently in LOVE with rosettes. I'll make them out of anything, and I'll put them on anything. Nothing is safe from rosettes in our house!

A new frame (currently on the mantle). I picked up the frame from my parents barn (you never know what you'll find in there). It was gold (ick!) and it didn't have a back or glass. So I added the clip for ease of changing pictures and no need for glass.

 

New curtains for the guest room. I already had the curtains and the fabric. The bedding in our guest room is the bedding we recieved for our wedding. The fabric I added to these curtains used to be the same fabric as our headboard. So as I  update our room, the guest room gets the hand-me-downs. But I have to change things up a bit. Plus, I like ruffles. =)

Here is one of the super cute ____________'s that I referred to in a previous post. These were the gifts I made for my shower hostesses. Of course, I made one for myself as well. They can be used to hold pictures, recipes, notes, whatever.

I wasn't kidding about the rosettes.

Another of my current projects is card-making. I said before that I am not a scrapbooker; the same goes for card-making. Any sort of paper crafting is new to me. But I am learning. And I enjoy myself, which is a good thing, seeing as how I am in need of a large amount of thank you card's these days. 

Here are the designs I've made so far:

So far, I've made about 30 something cards, and I have about that many more to go. Hopefully, you and your loved ones will be a recipient of one of these little darlin's.

So there you have it. That's how I've stayed sane for the past few days. If Harper stays in there awhile, I plan on completing another wreath, making some bows and headbands for Harper, and working on 2 scrapbooks. But we'll see, from what I hear, babies have a mind of their own.

Preggo Update

It's been a while since I have last written. Not a lot has transpired, but here's my latest status:

We went to see Dr. Christy on Monday. My BP was still high. She wanted to do a stress test on the baby, and we did. Harper passed with an A+ (good heart beat, etc). However, we will keep doing that test each week and if Harper is starting to be effected by my blood pressure, we will induce. Also, (cover your eyes boys) I was dialated to 2 centimeters. So basically, she could could be here earlier than we thought.

The doctor said that if my BP is higher next week, if I have protein in my urine (again, sorry boys), OR if Harper doesn't seem to be doing as good, she will induce. So of course, the planner than I am, says "Will you let us go home and get our bags and then go to the hospital or will we have to go straight from here?". To which she replied "Start bringing your bags with you."

That slightly totally freaked us out!

I told her about the contest we have going, seeing who can guess her delivery date. My guess was two days AFTER her due date and so I said that it sounds like I probably won't win. She laughed and said "Yeah, you'll be lucky to make it two weeks." She doesn't mess around, that's for sure!

Our next appointment is next Wednesday at 3:00. I don't expect anything to change, but I am getting prepared just in case.

Also, we did our hospital tour at St. Francis on Tuesday. We saw the type of room we'll deliver in, the nursery, and the room we'll stay in after we deliver. Here are some things we learned:

• Labor & Delivery is on the 2nd floor
• There can only be 4 people in the L&D room, until I go into labor, then there can only be 2
• You cannot eat in the L&D room (Kevin wasn't thrilled)
• Harper will have a bracelet on that sets off an alarm if you try and take her near an elevator, so don't get any ideas
• The bed Kevin has to sleep on looks miserable, so feel sorry for him.
• The hospital is under construction, so people might get confused.
• They have a sits bath (spelling?) available for new moms. Kevin was totally weirded out by that.
• The babies in the nursery were tiny! TINY!

It was nice to see everything though, and have an image of where we'll be. If you plan on visiting, remember: 2nd floor, prepare for construction, don't try to steal our baby.


~

Cupcakes!

Yesterday was my birthday. And as you know, Kevin and I are both on mandatory stay-at-home duty right now. However, yesterday Kevin had his MRI and had to leave the house. This is what he returned with.

If you didn't already know, I LOVE cupcakes!

When he opened the box, he said "One of every kind"


He's such a good boy!


Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone

Two Peas in a Pod

Here's the update since I was put on bed rest:

Nothing has changed.

My BP stayed high all week, like 150-160/75-80ish. That is, with what I call 'Extreme Bed Rest-Kevin Style' and a boringly low sodium diet. So the doctor told me to stay on bed rest until my next appointment in two weeks. That gave me hope, that maybe after that I could go back to normal. The nurse quickly squandered my dreams and let me know that once your blood pressure rises during pregnancy, it doesn't go back down. All we are doing now it keeping it from rising anymore or turning into preclampsia (preclampsia's a bad dude!)

So here I am, living my nightmare, trapped at home with lots of rules. If you don't already know this about me, I am stubborn, I am a busy-body, and I do NOT like to be waited on. So when I say 'nightmare', I'm not kidding.

But I have rigged the guest bed as my craft area, where I can do something without cheating. So far, I have made Valentine's gifts for my nieces and nephews, made Kevin a Valentine's card (since I can't go to the store), made gift bags that are about 10x more interesting that the gifts in them, and made a wreath for the front door. Also, my Disney trip photos came in the mail yesterday, so hopefully I can get that scrapbook finished this week. However, I am not a scrapbooker, so that might not be good on my BP.

If I thought that was bad, I didn't know what was coming. Last night, at 11:45, I got a call from one of the firefighters that work with Kevin (A firefighters wife's actual worst nightmare). Kevin had gotten hurt on a call and they had taken him to the hospital. Luckily, it was just his knee and nothing worse. Of course, I thought it was a joke, because, well, Kevin was involved. When Kevin is involved, you never believe anything you hear. I knew he was either tricking me or he was in a lot of pain, because Kevin would NEVER let someone take him to the hospital. And when they said they gave him morphine, I just knew they were joking. Well, it was not joke. Here he sits, all braced up, and unable to walk.

He'll meet with the doctor this week and hopefully get cleared to go back to work. Unlikely, but he'll try.

As Kevin said, "We're just two gimps in a pod tree." I don't think he quite understands that phrase.

Doctor Visit Update

As I promised, I am updating you on today's doctor visit.

Harper is as healthy as can be. Her heartbeat was good and everything looked "beautiful" (as Dr. Christy always says). She weighed 6 lbs. However, the doc said that she was in a weird position and this weight might not be perfectly accurate. So she said she's "6 lbs, give or take a few".

I, on the other hand, didn't get such a good report. My blood pressure was abnormally high. They took it twice and it was high both times. I tried to convince them that I was trying to blog from my phone in the waiting room and maybe that stressed me out. They didn't buy it. So I have to go back on Friday for a BP check AND I have to be on actual bed rest (not just Kevin enforced bed rest) until then. BOO!

I'm hoping and praying that it goes down and we can continue on as normal.


~

Crossing my fingers....

This is another test.
Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone

Hooray! My test worked. Here's what this is all about: Kevin found out that I could use my phone to update the blog. This would be great once Harper is born, because I will obviously have a lot less time to sit at a computer. This picture was a test run, to see if I could quickly upload a picture from my phone.

Result=Successful!

The picture itself has a story of it's own. Kevin thought it would be a good idea to buy a skateboard. This was from his first day on the board. His first words at the skateapark were:

"Whoa, sketchy! This is going to be a lot of work."

~

Quote of the Week

This took place yesterday morning, as I was squirming in bed..

Kevin: Are you about ready for your audition?

Cara: What audition?

Kevin: For the wiggles.


He's a funny guy!

This is a test.

If I succeed, I will be very happy.

Visiting Dr. Christy

Tomorrow is our next doctor's appointment.

3:45....just as the snow moves in. Perfect!

I'm assuming that Harper is in the 5lb range. (She was 4lb 2oz last time)

I think that after this week, we will be visiting Dr. Christy every week from here on out. Oh boy! We're getting close!

Will update tomorrow

Still snowed in....

Tomorrow is our 6th day out of school, in a row. And we're gearing up for 5-10 more inches on Wednesday. I really thought we would be back at school today & tomorrow and I was very wrong. So I am going to quit guessing and just go with the flow. If I weren't pregnant, this time off would be driving me crazy. But I'm actually pretty laid back about the whole thing.

I have begun to be more productive also. My to-do list from a few days back, now looks like this:
grade about 180 5th grade essays
*didn't grade essays, but I did grade one set of papers....progress!
make Valentine's cards with my Cricut

*nope, but I did make 'thank you' cards....well, I am currently making them

about 7 more loads of laundry

*check

clean the house
*cleaned bathrooms & bedrooms
organize our closet
*did I ever!

So I don't have to be that ashamed of my laziness. As the snow melts, my slothfulness is also melting.

~

A major project that I conquered (well, pretty much conquered) was packing our bag for the hospital. I made a major organized list, broken down in to 6 categories:

Cara clothes

Kevin clothes

Cara toiletries

Kevin toiletries

Harper stuff

Other

I have almost everything ready to go. The 'other' category is the one I need to work on the most. That would be things like the cameras, pillows, etc. I hope we don't need that bag for another 5-6 weeks, but just in case, we're ready!

~

I've spent the past two days working on a major craft project. Here's how this went:

Dilemma: realized I needed 10 gifts...fast

Solution: make 10 super cute ______________ (can't say,
recipients might also be readers)

Time saver: recruit Kevin

He worked for about 2 hours (this included the 2 trips to Lowe's) and he had reached his limit! After about 6 more hours of the 'girly work', I had 10 super cute ___________!

Don't you wish you knew!!

Don't worry, I'll share pictures after gifts have been given.

~

Hopefully I will continue to be productive. But if I'm being honest, I will admit, the comfy couch, fuzzy blanket, and HD TV are more tempting that I would like to admit.

Snowed In

This snow is crazy! We received 20 inches in less than 24 hours. That doesn't even seem possible.

I would love to tell you all that I have used my time wisely and have been productive in these past two days. That would be a lie. I have not been productive. However, I am very rested and my feet are not near as swollen as they usually are at the end of the day.

Here are the things I actually have done this week:

Two loads of laundry
Ordered photos from our Disney vacation, in order to scrapbook (a year and a half late)
Made chicken salad, french toast, stroganoff, chocolate chip cookies
Did the dishes from those meals
Watched Kevin get his truck out of the driveway (a bit unsuccessfully)
Discovered a show called 'Raising Sextuplets' and watched an entire marathon
Read a parenting magazine
Watched my belly squirm

Here are the things I hope to do this week:

grade about 180 5th grade essays
make Valentine's cards with my Cricut
about 7 more loads of laundry
clean the house
organize our closet


You can see why I chose the first list instead of the second. But like I said, my feet sure do feel good. =)




~

Bedrest

Kevin has placed me on bed rest.

Well, maybe I am being dramatic.

Here's the real story: By the time I get home from work each day my legs, hips, and back all ache. My ankles look like cream puffs. My heartburn has sky-rocketed to maximum level. And needless to say, I am exhausted.

So he has decided that I am not allowed to do anything once I get home. On one hand, I am so tired (and really don't feel good) that I can't argue with him. However, on the other hand, my body feels bad, but my mind feels fine. I don't want to do "nothing". I want to feel better and be productive. But the minute I stand up, I remember why he put me here in the first place.

So here I sit, bored with TV, bored with the Internet, bored with reading. And does Kevin feel sorry for me? No! He won't even let me get my own drinks. At least that would give me something to do! ;) I think I might start knitting.

I really do feel like an incubator now; just waiting patiently for my little bun to fully cook.




Oh, by the way, today is the first day of his enforcement and I have only been home for less than three hours. I guess I am being pretty dramatic.

~

Kevin's Blog

http://www.diaryofazombiebeliever.blogspot.com/

My husband created his own blog recently. He would like you to check it out.

I will not be held accountable for ANYTHING that you see there.

Nursery Update

Here are a few more recent photos of Harper's room:

I finally decided to remove the polka dots from the curtains. It was just too busy. Although I loved the idea, it just didn't turn out the way I imagined it. I breathed a sigh of relief when I removed them; they are much more peaceful now.

It's amazing how much I will over analyze something as simple as curtains.

Another of Kevin's contributions. If you aren't a fan, these are storm trooper helmets from Star Wars. And no, in the movie they do not have bows and they aren't pink.

The changing table will go here. Not sure what all will go on the shelves, probably some more changing necessities eventually. We just kind of threw some stuff up there. Including her pink, sparkly deer and her 'Daddy's Girl' frame from her Aunt Lindsay, also her firetruck is a piggy bank and Kevin would like everyone to know that they are more than welcome to put money in her bank every time they come over.

Some of her artwork awaiting it's frame. Although this was Kevin's idea, I really think it's cute. We know we are nerds, and we know this is proof, but it's ok, we can can embrace it.

Again, not sure what all will go on her book shelf. Hopefully it will soon be full of 100's of books. That would please me. Kevin probably would like it to be cram packed with stuffed animals (mostly moose, deer, and lions)

I have a feeling that this chair and I will have a very close relationship in a few weeks.

Her animal collage

And her buddies, Sherpa and Chipper, can keep a protective eye on her from the roof of their dog house =)

it keeps growing....and growing...and growing

Here's a more recent picture of the baby belly. As you can see, it is getting quite large. But once again, the doctor said that both her and I are an average, normal size for 32 weeks.

Did you hear that? 32 WEEKS! That means she will be here in 8 WEEKS! Whoa, that is not long.

But back to the doctor, she is 4 pounds, 2 ounces. We saw her moving her mouth this time. (And yes, it was very cute)

~

By the way, the nursery is pretty much complete. We are waiting for the changing table to come in the mail, and we have two more things to frame. And then we are done decorating for now. So I think my goal of completing the nursery during January will actually be reached. Hooray for us! And I do mean us, Kevin has been a huge help with completing the nursery, even adding his own touch. Below is an example of one of his contributions.

Her very first mount.

I know what you are thinking, but hey, she's his baby too! =)

~

Nursery

As I've said before, January is 'Nursery Month' and we are off to a great start!

Yesterday I made the crib skirt (which I love). Today my mom came over and helped me make the curtains (which are growing on me). And Kevin is working on some sort of 'star wars baby' decorations that he is going to contribute. hmm...

It's not anywhere near finished, but I am getting closer. It's actually starting to look babyish.