38 Weeks and...Resting

I officially started my five hour work days today. Ahhhhhh. It was nice to get off at 12:30 and go home and rest for a little bit before picking up Ella from day care. I hope to get a lot done now that I have the extra time. I still need to finish packing my hospital bag and wash baby clothes. I'd also like to pack away all of my maternity clothes and get them ready to re-gift or donate. But of course, on the top of my list is resting!

I had my 38 week appointment today and everything looks good. I am 2 centimeters dilated which is great news to me since I didn't dilate at all with Ella. I was actually at 2 centimeters when I checked in to the hospital last time! I'm mostly just happy that all of these contractions I have been having are actually doing something.

Because all of my vitals were good, I don't have an appointment again until March 8th (my due date). If I make it that far I will have an appointment that morning and if Peter and I choose to, we can set a date to be induced a week from that day. I, and the nurse, kind of doubt I will make it that far. But of course, you never know!
Here's hoping that my next post is introducing our new son!

Ready to Bring Him Home!

Anna and I spent last weekend getting the nursery ready for our new addition. It really didn't take as long as we thought it would and Peter and I are really pleased with the way it turned out!


Ella has figured out how to climb up the changing table and her new favorite thing to do is get her diaper changed while laying on it. I figure this is actually much easier for me to do, so I let her do it. She has wanted to get into the crib too, but I told her that only babies go in there. So now she puts her dolls in there and covers them with a blankie so they can take naps.
Now that the room is done it has given us a lot of opportunities to talk about Miles and explain to her that her baby brother will be here soon and will be sleeping in the crib and getting his diaper changed on the changing table. She seems to understand a little bit, but of course, the idea is still a little foreign to her.

Finishing his room really put me at ease, but I did start to think about all of the other things that we need to get done around the house. I really need to pack a bag for the hospital and need to get Peter to set up the pack 'n play and swing.
My baby brunch is tomorrow so I figure after that I can finish getting things organized and figure out what else needs to be done.

This past week has been really hard on me. Working a full 8 hours is getting hard and usually by 1:00 I am ready to go home. My feet and ankles started to swell this week to the point that my shoes start to feel really tight. I'm walking much slower and get tired much faster. I also started to get a sore throat and chills yesterday, but seem to be okay today.
I came home last night and pretty much didn't leave the couch. After resting for a few hours though I started to have Braxton Hicks that were really painful. I had six in about 25 minutes. Following the rules the doc told me (laying on my left side and drinking water), they subsided and I just fell asleep. I have had a few more today as well, so it's definitely something I will bring up at my appointment on Tuesday. (This is why I need to pack a hospital bag!)
I may start working half days soon to try to get some more rest as I know I will need it before labor and delivery, and of course after!

On to other news--
Blake has been working on a science project for about the last month. He decided to make cornstarch into quicksand and test if certain objects would sink and how long it would take them. It was pretty cool. The cornstarch mixture looked like liquid, but when you touched it, it felt solid. If you picked it up, it would liquify and run through your fingers! His science fair was last weekend.
Here's our mad scientist!

35 Weeks and Counting!

While I feel like this pregnancy has taken forever-it was kind of weird to type out that I am 35 weeks pregnant! But here we are!
This pregnancy has been very different than my first. It has taken much more of a toll on my mind and body. I'm sure that toting a toddler around has something to do with that, but I am surprised at how different it has been. I feel like it has been the longest 8 months, and I am much more ready to just have this baby and get my body back!!

I haven't been taking many pictures lately and I'm kind of bummed about that. Ella is such a character and wish I had more pictures to post so you could see her silliness.

She loves to take pictures with the camera. When she wants me to smile for the camera, she says, "Mom, cheese me."

She's a pretty good photographer!

We have been dealing with the terrible twos over the last few months. Ella is quite the tantrum thrower when she doesn't want to do something. The worst tantrums seem to come when we are trying to leave the house and she doesn't want to go. Or lately, it has been when we try to leave my mom's house! She is quite the fighter!

She has also taken to just completely ignoring us when we are asking her to do something. That can get pretty frustrating, and I have found that it's very hard for me to find the patience to deal with her sometimes!

I just keep telling myself it is all temporary! Soon enough I'll miss her being this little, so I just deal with the bad moments, and relish the good ones!

Everything is going well with the pregnancy. The doc says I'm on "cruise control" right now. I have been having a lot of Braxton Hicks that have been pretty uncomfortable so I did have a cervical exam to make sure that I haven't started dilating yet. Everything was fine. Of course, in a few weeks we are going to want me to start dilating!

I have been trying to be good about relaxing and staying hydrated, but it seems like the contractions start once I actually lay down to relax. Last night I was pretty uncomfortable with the pain actually radiating to my hips. I don't worry too much though because they usually stop within an hour or two.

I'll be working on getting the nursery set up this weekend so I will take pictures afterwards and post them. I will also try to get some more good pics of Ella.