40 weeks!!!

Well a lot has gone on this past month, and my due date is tomorrow!!! I can't believe it's here already!!!  I've been going in for my weekly appointments and last week on Wednesday I had an internal exam and the doctor said I was 1.5 centimeters dilated and 50% effaced!! That was good news to hear since I'd been having some cramping and I'd lost my mucus plug slowly over the past few weeks. The problem was that my blood pressure was high that day. Normally, I have PERFECT blood pressure all the time so for me to have anything other than that was very very strange so they kept me in the office and took it a few more times and even though it went down a little, I went home and it went back up so, they sent me to the hospital for a few hours and their blood pressure cuff showed that everything was just fine and I was sent home. Just to be safe, they had me back in the office on Friday and my blood pressure was back to normal and nothing had changed so I was sent home yet again with an appointment for today, Tuesday, August 7th.

I was feeling restless this weekend because I've basically been sitting around the house waiting for labor to start so I called my brother on Sunday and told him I was coming for a visit, so my hubby and I packed the dog in the car and went to visit for a nice afternoon BBQ and my parents met us there for lunch as well! What an interesting day that was... first of all I was having bad cramps every 15 minutes. We were timing them and everyone thought I was going into labor but after going for a walk and laying down they seemed to dissipate so no labor there... Then my dog decided that she was going to get her period for the first time that day in my brothers kitchen!!! Now she is a giant dog being an Old English Mastiff so we had to go to Walmart and get her depends underwear for women and cut a hole in the back for her tail. This was a first for me... I've never had a pet go through this, and it definitely made the day interesting. No labor for me, but now my dog is in heat so when I DO go into labor, someone will need to come to the house and take care of her!! My little girl is growing up lol....

Anyway, so today I had an appointment this morning and my doctor said I was now 2 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced. At this rate, Liam's just gonna fall out of me!! He also asked if I had much bleeding and I said no, but when he finished his exam there was a lot of blood on his glove. Now up until today I really didn't have much bleeding at all. I mean, the most I'd had was a little bit a few hours after my internal exam last week but that's about it. Today however, looked like I'd just gotten my period and I actually had to wear a pad! But once again the doctor said it was normal at this stage. He also said that he had a feeling that this exam would speed the labor process along, but it's been about 9 hours and I don't feel anything going on.

After I was done being checked I told Dr. R about my family history with births. My mom was about 2 weeks late with both children and therefore had to have c sections for both of us because we were so big and I told him I really don't want to let things go that far, so he scheduled me for an ultrasound on Friday to check the size of Liam and then we will make a decision on whether to induce me or not. I'm hoping I go into labor before then however, but it doesn't feel that way at the moment. Keeping my fingers crossed though :) I promise to update as soon as little man makes his appearance!!!

Bumpdate 36 weeks and Nursery Pictures!!

Today marks 35 weeks and 6 days. and I can't believe how close we are to meeting our little Liam!! Everything is done in the nursery, and all of our bigger things downstairs (swing, bouncer, pack n play, stroller) are assembled and in place and ready and waiting for his arrival!! This week has been kind of hilarious though because we're babysitting my moms cat Roan and he seems to think all the baby apparel belongs to him and is just there for him to have fun with!! Roan and my cat Bob have been having SOOO much fun in the pack n play and the bassinet up in the bedroom, but it's been driving my husband and I absolutely nuts! I've also noticed my hormones has been going sorta crazy.. everything I watch on tv makes me cry, or I feel bad for everyone, or I just start crying randomly for no reason. I'm also incredibly uncomfortable all the time. My legs and back hurts, my boobs hurt a lot, I can't sleep at night because I can't find a comfortable position in bed and my gigantic belly seems to be weighing me down every time I lay down and try to get comfortable to sleep!! Aside from all this however, I can't WAIT to meet our little Liam, and I would do it a million more times!!

My moms cat Roan sleeping in the Bassinet upstairs

my 36 week bump :)

Bumpdate with pictures! Almost 33 weeks!!

I've been slacking on my blogging for the past few months, I know, and I do apologize. It's just, there hasn't been much to report! I had my shower which was wonderful and a week later I went to my cousins shower (she's due 2 days after me, also with a boy!) and my husband and I drove to Williamsburg, Virginia and went on our babymoon! We had a blast and I have a few pictures to post. I also had my prenatal massage which was my mothers day gift from my momma, and it was seriously needed, and it felt WONDERFUL! I've never had a massage before, and it really was such a relaxing experience!

My bump! I'll be 33 weeks on Wednesday, and this photo was taken at 30 weeks but I don't think I've grown that drastically from then until now. I'll post a new one next week with the nursery pictures.

Our ferry ride out of Cape May was so foggy you could barely see anything, but there were dolphins swimming alongside our boat!!

The boats at the Jamestown Settlement

My hubby in the Military barracks at Yorktown.. this tent was for an officer and compared to the other tents, it was huge!

Holding hands with Pocahontas! Jamestown was our favorite place out of the whole trip. It's an actual archaeological dig site where they are still finding new artifacts every day. It was fascinating! They said it would be about 20 years or so before they would be done excavating the whole area!

The nursery is finished and I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed when I walk into it. Everything is in it's place but for some reason I feel like I need to re-organize everything or write a list of everything that's in it and keep it on hand.. maybe It's nesting, maybe it's just anxiety but there's so much baby stuff, that I've never used before and I'm afraid I'm going to get overwhelmed when I finally have Liam and then forget where I put everything, or forget where to find things I'm going to need! And I feel crazy every time I think about it!!! I'll try to post pictures next week of the finished room...well almost finished.. my hubs needs to fix something in the closet and then it's all done. Crazy that we're so close to having Liam already!! We can't wait to meet him!

I'll post another update with pictures next week. My doctor scheduled me for an ultrasound because he says I worry too much, which is absolutely true, but miscarriages, infertility and IVF don't ease a pregnant woman's mind, no matter how far into her pregnancy she is. Every time I see him I ask him if I'm gaining enough weight, or too much, or what position the baby is in and if everything sounds fine and he can feel my belly but he can't give me definitive answers. He uses the doppler every visit and but I didn't even pay attention to it this last visit. I've had so many questions about the baby and they can't be answered unless I see him. He keeps saying that everything feels fine and everything with me is perfect and he really is a great doctor, but he can't tell me what position the baby is in because my uterus is hard and the baby's not big enough yet so... Ultrasound next week on Wednesday and more pictures after that. Talk to you all soon!

Third trimester is finally here!!

The second trimester seemed to last FOREVER, but week 28 began on Wednesday and now I'm officially in the home stretch!! My belly is getting bigger, but I'm in the in-between stage of clothes where the mediums are a wee bit too small and the larges are a wee bit too big just yet, but at the rate I'm going, I should fit into them in no time. Liam moves almost constantly. I haven't had much time to rest because the moment I sit or lay down he immediately begins to move or kick (it kinda feels like he's doing yoga in there), in fact, I have my laptop resting on my belly and he's kicking right now and making it move as I'm typing this. He certainly is a strong little guy!
My baby shower is this Saturday and I'm really looking forward to seeing all my friends there, I feel like it's been so long since I've had any fun since I became pregnant! There's not much for us preggies to do, and now that I'm getting bigger, it's getting even harder to get around or not want to take naps constantly lol.
Our babymoon plans are made as well! My husband and I are driving to colonial Williamsburg in Virginia on June 1st and we are really looking forward to it. We've been wanting to go there for months now and he finally got a 4 day weekend at work so he immediately booked it, and my mom agreed to come babysit the big baby Ruby-- our English Mastiff puppy that weekend as well as out cat Bob so all is in order for our big trip. I just have to deal with a ferry ride over the Delaware as well as a 20 mile bridge ride into Va. Might I also mention that I have a serious bridge phobia... my husband saw this bridge on TV, apparently it's the longest bridge in the world and he's been dying to drive over it because he loves bridges.. we are quite opposites he and I.. I'm not exactly looking forward to this but it might be the only chance he gets to do this so I'll try not to freak out too badly..
Aside from that I'm just trying to relax these next 2 months or so before the baby comes. The nursery is pretty much finished-- we got our final piece of furniture last night which was our very VERY comfortable rocking chair and my mom came last week to get us our stroller, and yesterday in the mail I got a very nice surprise which was the Baby Mat Play Place off of my registry from my friend Holli!! Out of all the things we've gotten to prepare for the baby, that gift made me cry when it was delivered yesterday, I wasn't expecting it at all, so I just want to say thank you sooo much to Holli, you are such a sweet person for thinking of us!

That's all for now, Hope you all have a wonderful week!!

So sweet!!

I had to post this because it was so sweet!! My pregnancy cravings for the past few months have been pretty normal with what most women want-- chocolate, pickles, ice cream, salty stuff and sweet stuff as well as citrus things but recently I've been craving cole slaw really badly, and not just any cole slaw. Theres a little mom and pop diner by us called "Shut up and eat!" that makes the BEST homemade cole slaw. All the waiters and waitresses wear pajamas and patrons are encouraged to come to breakfast in their pajamas as well (you get a 12% discount on your check if you do!) and we usually have breakfast there on Saturday or Sunday mornings. We go so often that they now know us there and everyone is so nice. Today I walked in NEEDING their cole slaw like no ones business. I was telling our waitress about how badly I was craving their specific cole slaw during this pregnancy and we ordered a side of it to take home with us because the store bought stuff wasn't doing it for me. Not even the good deli cole slaw could compare with this, and any pregnant woman knows that when you're craving something, you want that and only that. There is no settling. A few minutes later the owner walks over to our table with a side of cole slaw for me to eat with my chocolate chip waffles, which I devoured immediately and then she gave me an entire bag of cole slaw and said it was on the house because it was for the baby! So sweet!!

21 week update with pictures!!

I had another ultrasound this morning, accompanied by my husband and my mommy. If we hadn't gone to the ultrasound tech last month, we would be finding out the gender of the baby at today's appointment, so I almost laughed when the doctor asked if we wanted to know the gender, not knowing that we already knew, and we all said yes, and then he told us and no one seemed all that excited about learning that fact because we've all known for over a month now haha. Anyway, we got some great ultrasound pictures and we saw him moving and waving his arms and legs again. I'll post 2 of the good ones and then a few other pictures from this week :)

His little profile

This picture we all got such a kick out of. Sometimes babies are uncooperative during their gender scans and the doctors can't tell right away, but this little guy was ready for his close up!! Those are his 2 legs, spread eagle showing the world that he is, in fact, a boy!!

My husband came home with this last week. We've been having so much fun buying clothes for this little guy.

This is me with my other baby... my 9 month old English Mastiff Ruby, who acts like a toddler most of the time, but as we have learned already, is WONDERFUL with children. They can pull her tail or her ears and run around her and she is so gentle and just sits there and allows them to do whatever they want to her. She's gonna be a great Nana in a few months and we love her so much.

And finally, a picture of the little baby bump. Please don't mind the pasty complexion lol, It's been a long winter and even though I live in NJ, pregnant ladies can't tan, no matter what Snookie thinks. People keep saying I look great for 21 weeks pregnant and that my belly is still pretty small, and once again the doctor told me today that my weight gain was relatively low (7 pounds since the start of pregnancy) and I really find that hard to believe because, as I told Dr. C this morning, I crave the most random foods including chocolate pudding which I've been eating almost on a nightly basis (and then also for breakfast this morning lol ) and tons of Taco Bell which I have to lie to my husband about for the most part :P

We still keep up with our prayers and thank god daily for this gift. I am also thankful for ice cream, chocolate pudding, taco bell, cole slaw, chocolate chip pancakes and pickles! And I hope that I can find good excuses to eat all of these things after the baby is born lol

So much to write about!!

It's been quite a while since I've posted and part of it is because I haven't been to the doctor very much, like I was during the in-vitro process and that's when I would mostly blog, but I'm in my second trimester now and so much has happened!!

I'm now in week 20, so according to my doctor I've officially hit the halfway point in my pregnancy!! For someone who never EVER thought they would ever be pregnant, it's very surreal to me, as well as my mom, who seems amazed to see her daughter with a pregnant belly and some ridiculous food choices/cravings. We've been working on our nursery and it's actually almost finished. When we first moved into our house in November of 2010 the room across the hall upstairs was sooo creepy that we actually kept the door shut until I got pregnant. We used to refer to it as the crack den because it looked like a creepy room you would do drugs in.. no floor, no light fixtures, the walls had one coat of primer over a very dark paint color, the windows were full of dust and in the middle of the room was a small couch and an old box of tissues lol. For a while it turned into our junk room from all our other projects throughout the house, but then this past November I got pregnant and we realized we could actually start working on that room!!

We painted the walls a nice yellow color and we now have our crib, dresser, changing table, pack n play, bouncer, and a ton of new clothes for the little guy!! My mom informed me that my shower was going to be in May, but we were so excited to be having a baby that we already have diapers and clothes and socks and already a large selection of onesies and bath towels... My husband and I do like to plan ahead and make sure we have absolutely everything we need!!  The only piece of furniture we didn't buy was the rocking chair and that is on our registry along with a few other cool things at babies-r-us. Oh and this past weekend we put up dark blue curtains that goes very nicely against the yellow walls.

Onto the little guy in my belly... ok so about 3 weeks ago I was reading my pregnancy app on my iPhone (it gives me a tip every day about how to deal with various things throughout your pregnancy and how to prepare yourself as well as your partner for the arrival of your little bundle) and it was mentioning that I should be feeling him move. Now when my second trimester started I was feeling absolutely wonderful! Not even pregnant!! No nausea, just a little tiny bit of acid reflux but really barely that at all. Now anyone who knows me well knows that I worry about just about everything and being pregnant has been no easy ride for me. Every little tiny feeling has had me worrying and calling my husband up crying and freaking out and calling the doctor. That only got worse in my second trimester. I started feeling great and thinking there might not be any baby in there because I'm feeling so great!! Of course that was so far from the truth because my belly was growing so much and I wasn't even really noticing it! Finally my husband lost it on the 4th day in a row of me calling him up crying and complaining that I could swear something was wrong and he told me to go online and rent a Doppler, which I did and have only used 3 times now when I was really freaking out... anyway, last week on Thursday evening I was in NY and watching a Broadway show and right in the middle of the second act I felt 2 kicks right in my lower belly!! Of course I started texting everyone and I was so excited but that was all I really felt. It was very sporadic. I'd feel him every other day and only at night until yesterday, he was moving ALL day since the afternoon until dinner time and then this morning again around 6:30 am. I've also found that he moves when my giant English mastiff's head is on my belly snoring. Apparently that wakes him up and makes him move around!!

So I think it might be time already to return the Doppler. My next ultrasound is a week from today and both my husband and my momma will be there for it and we are all very much looking forward to it! I promise to blog again soon and not get lost in the world of "those who used to blog every now and then." Those people annoy me, I certainly don't want to become one of them!!! We are still praying, and now thankfully we can pray for a healthy delivery!!